To increase power to weight ratio should I put on muscle or lose fat?

Download our free sports training reports. Enter your email address below: (As a bonus, we'll start sending you our free weekly newsletter, Sports Performance Bulletin.)

Email:
reggieb's picture

reggieb

Question:

To increase power to weight ratio should I put on muscle or lose fat?

I am 43, 204lbs and 18 per cent fat. I want to increase my power to body weight ratio to help with sport (fencing). Should I lose fat or put on muscle? Will putting on muscle help me lose fat anyway?
My sport is very explosive and has similar requirements to martial arts or even short sprinting.

monkian's picture

monkian

niether of these will automatically make you more powerful. a high muscle to fat ratio will improve your stength or power to weight, but that muscle must be trained to be powerful. you need to do some power specific training, such as the olympic lifts (snatch, clean, etc.), though some more specific movement pattern training will be more beneficial. i would suggest using medicine balls, cables and kettlebells if you can get hold of some and get someone to teach how to use them properly. simple plyometrics would be great, like clap pressups and scissor jumps, then more advanced stuff like a squat jump with medicine ball throw from chest.think about the movements you do in your sport, and then about how you can load them to make you stronger in those specific movements.

MartinM's picture

MartinM

At 18% body fat you would most certainly benefit from losing some body fat to improve your 'to weight' ratio.

It would be VERY hard to improve it substantially though the gaining of muscle.

M

hanahbr's picture

hanahbr

Certain sports and professions require extreme power to weight ratios. In the military and law enforcement the adequate P2W ratio is the difference between life and death. Athletes such as gymnasts, rock climbers, sprinters, and sport combatants at the most elite level have superior firepower in a leaner, meaner, frame. Any added weight had better increase power! Karate master Mas Oyama called any cosmetic size increase 'sukiyaki muscle'. "It did the animal you ate more good than it is doing you!"