Mariel Cigarra

Hey, it's Mariel.

So you've heard of strength training and you've heard of cardio, but have you heard of training for explosive power?

Sounds kind of badass, right?

And it is.

Jessica Scott has her Ph.D.

in cardiovascular physiology, and she's the director of exercise oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

She says you'll need to do explosive power training, which is also sometimes called ballistic power training or plyometric training, if you're an athlete and you're running, jumping, throwing, hitting, flipping.

But you'll also use it if you're not.

It's a component of our day-to-day movement.

You even use explosive power when you're doing things like standing up from a seated position.

And here's the thing.

As we age, our muscle mass declines.

And training for these forceful movements

becomes even more important to prevent falls and injury.

Starting at about age 40, we lose 1 to 2% of our fast twitch muscle fibers every year.

These are a type of muscular cell that allow us to do these explosive movements.

But even before you reach your 40s, adding explosive power training into your exercise routine can have a big impact.

For instance, my nephew is a toddler and he's always running around, grabbing at things, quickly changing direction.

And recently he tripped and almost face planted, but I was able to catch his face in my hand right before it hit the ground.

That's a classic example of explosive power in action.