When This Number Goes Up, You Will Win More.

In the world of strength and conditioning, we are drowning in data. We track dozens of lifts, hundreds of workouts, heart rate, sleep, and nutrition. It’s easy to get lost in the noise, chasing a hundred different goals at once.

What if there was one number that mattered more than all the others? A single, unifying metric that, if you focused on improving it, would force everything else—your strength, your skill, your nutrition, your recovery—to fall in line?

There is. It’s the simplest, most brutal equation in all of physics:

Power = Work / Time

That’s it. That is the entire game. Understanding this formula is the key to unlocking your absolute potential as a wrestler. For us, this isn't just a theory; it is the North Star that guides every single decision we make.

Defining the Weapon: What is Power on the Mat?

Let’s translate this from the classroom to the mat.

Work is moving a load over a distance. For a wrestler, that load is your opponent. The distance is moving him from his feet to his back.
Time is how fast you can do it.

Think about a double-leg takedown. A slow, grinding, five-second struggle to get the finish is a low-power movement. A violent, explosive shot that puts your opponent on his back in under a second is a high-power movement. The Work was the same—you moved the man—but the Time was radically different. The second version is what makes an opponent feel "shocked." It is the physical expression of dominance.

The Winner's Metric: Average Power Output

This is where the game is really played. The strongest wrestler doesn't always win. The wrestler who can sustain the highest average power output throughout the entire match always does.

A wrestling match isn't one maximum-effort lift. It's a six-minute war composed of dozens of high-power exchanges: a shot, a sprawl, a stand-up, a mat return. The winner isn't the guy who has the single highest peak of power; it's the guy whose power fades the least from the first whistle to the last.

This brings us to the most misunderstood pillar of them all: Skilled Movement.

The athlete with sloppy movement is like a race car with a misaligned chassis. He might have a massive engine (huge maximal strength), but he leaks energy everywhere. Every movement costs him more fuel than it should. His balance is off, his force is misdirected, and his body has to work overtime just to stay in position. His work capacity is crippled by his own inefficiency.

A Skilled Mover, however, is ruthlessly efficient. By mastering the fundamental patterns of movement in the gym, his body learns to produce force with no wasted energy. He can execute the same takedown as the inefficient wrestler, but it costs him a fraction of the energy.

This efficiency is the key to a high work capacity. It allows him to perform more high-power movements before his engine redlines. His average power output stays high throughout the match, while his less-skilled opponent's power plummets. He's not just stronger; he's smarter on a physical level.

Power is the Ultimate Truth-Teller

This is the central truth: you cannot cheat the power formula. To improve your average power output, you have no choice but to improve every single aspect of your preparation. Power is the ultimate truth-teller. If your power numbers are going up, it is undeniable proof that your entire system is dialed in.

Let’s break down how this one number governs everything:

Technique (Skilled Movement): As we just saw, perfect technique is ruthless efficiency. It allows you to do more Work in less Time with less energy. Sloppy technique is the enemy of power.
Maximal Strength (Myofibril Strength): A stronger muscle can produce more force. More force allows you to move a heavier load. This is the Work side of the equation. Our focus on building your 1-rep max on the big lifts is about increasing your raw horsepower, giving you the potential to do more work.
The Engine (Heart & Lungs): Your cardiovascular system is what allows you to recover between explosive efforts. A stronger heart and more efficient lungs mean you can replenish the fuel needed to keep the Time component of the formula low, again and again. This is what builds a high average power output.
Fuel & Recovery (Food & Sleep): Your body is the engine. Food is the fuel. Sleep is the repair crew. If you put garbage fuel in the tank or never let the crew fix the damage, your ability to produce force plummets. Your body won't be able to perform the Work, and your reaction time and speed will slow down, increasing the Time.

Improving your power is not a part-time job. It demands a 24/7 commitment to the entire system.

How We Build and Measure Power

Our training is a relentless, systematic attack on the power formula. We don't guess. We have a blueprint, and we’ve taken it from the most powerful athletes on the planet: Olympic Weightlifters.

We Build the Engine (Increase "W"): We use heavy, progressive overload on the foundational lifts: Squats, Deadlifts, and Presses. This is our investment in the Work part of the equation. A bigger, stronger engine has a higher potential for power.
We Install a Turbocharger (Decrease "T"): We use the Olympic Lifts (Snatch, Clean, Jerk) and their variations. These are the ultimate teachers of speed-strength. They train your nervous system to recruit all that muscle you've built and apply it in a fraction of a second. This is how we violently shrink the Time variable.

Our benchmarks are simply different ways of measuring power:

Your 1-Rep Max numbers tell us your potential for Work.
Your scores on benchmark Metcons like "Fran" or "Cindy" tell us your average power output and your ability to sustain it. A bad "Fran" time with a huge back squat is a classic example of an athlete with a big engine but no turbocharger—a massive power leak.

The Brutal Math of Power: A Tale of Two Athletes

Let's put this into real numbers. We will make some simple estimations to prove the point.

Workout 1: "Fran" (21-15-9 Thrusters & Pull-Ups)
"Fran" is a sprint. The amount of Work is fixed. The only variable is Time.

Total Work Calculation: Let's assume a 175-lb athlete. The total work is roughly 37,125 ft-lbs. (Moving 95 lbs on the thruster and 175 lbs on the pull-up over their respective distances for 45 reps each).
Athlete A (Elite): Finishes in 3:00 (180 seconds).
- Power = 37,125 ft-lbs / 180 s = 206 ft-lbs/s
Athlete B (Solid): Finishes in 5:00 (300 seconds).
- Power = 37,125 ft-lbs / 300 s = 124 ft-lbs/s

The Result: The Work was identical. But Athlete A produced 66% more power. On the mat, this is the difference between a lightning-fast shot that scores and a slow, sloppy one that gets you sprawled on.

Workout 2: "Cindy" (20-Minute AMRAP of 5 Pull-ups, 10 Push-ups, 15 Squats)
"Cindy" is an engine-builder. The Time is fixed (1200 seconds). The only variable is total Work.

Work Per Round: For our 175-lb athlete, one round is roughly 7,500 ft-lbs of work.
Athlete A (Elite): Completes 25 rounds.
- Total Work = 25 rds * 7,500 ft-lbs/rd = 187,500 ft-lbs
- Average Power = 187,500 ft-lbs / 1200 s = 156 ft-lbs/s
Athlete B (Solid): Completes 16 rounds.
- Total Work = 16 rds * 7,500 ft-lbs/rd = 120,000 ft-lbs
- Average Power = 120,000 ft-lbs / 1200 s = 100 ft-lbs/s

The Result: Athlete A performed 56% more work in the same amount of time. He sustained a dramatically higher average power output for the entire 20 minutes. This is the relentless pressure that breaks an opponent in the third period. This is the definition of a world-class engine.

The Only Thing to Hunt

Stop chasing a dozen different metrics. Start hunting one.

Focus on your average power output. Focus on your benchmark scores. If those numbers are consistently improving, it is the ultimate proof that everything else—your technique, your nutrition, your recovery, your mindset—is pointing in the right direction. It simplifies the complex and gives you a clear, honest target.

This is how you build a weapon. This is how you dominate.

For The Committed: Your Next Steps

Understanding the formula is one thing. Applying it with precision is another. If you have read this and are ready to stop guessing with your training, I have two paths for the most committed athletes.

1. APEX Remote Coaching: For the wrestler who needs a plan as unique as they are, this is my highest level of partnership. I personally build your program from the ground up, analyze your film, and we are in constant, direct communication. This is not a template; it is a one-on-one coaching relationship.
[Explore APEX Remote Coaching Here]

2. Private Gym Training Camps: For those who want a full-immersion experience, we hold training camps at my gym. This is where you come to train with me and my hammers in person. We spend days in the fire, rebuilding your movement and engine from the inside out.
[Get Details on the Next Training Camp Here]