Power vs Rate of Force production

[Xicotavares]

Starting.... Low intensity of load develop the rate of force production? According with the size principle of Motor Units (MU) recruitment - Henneman my answer is no! To increase the RFP the neuromuscular system need to recruit the maximum number of MU (high intensity of load - Threshold of Type II fibers), increase the firing frequency of the MU (high velocity of contraction, not v. of moment) and synchronization of the MU.

Very briefly the RFP deals with the inclination of the force curve and depends of those 3 key factors I said above. Therefore, methodologically one should use maximum (or near max) loads and the highest velocity of muscular contraction (contraction not movement) possible.

About the power, (Force x Velocity), there is an optimal combination of both Force and Velocity that result in the maximum power output. According to Tihanyi (1988), there are 3 essential zones of power training... 1) the zone where the Maximum Strength influenciate more the power output; 2) the zone where there the velocity influentiate more te PO; and 3) the zone in the middle where there is an optimal relation between Force and Velocity. Anyway... if you (an majority of S&C) use the amount of load that give the maximum PO (there are lot of research for lot of different exercices but summarizing 30-60%MVC) the adaptions are more in coordination (intermuscular - agonist/antagonist, synergist, etc.).
Therefore it's not strange that some authors refers to Power training as being part of the technical training!

In terms of organization of the strength training, I usually go from RFP to Power training including this last in the "transfer mesocycle", because you can use loads and exercises that are more specific of the certain sport.