Ok, I thought I had a grasp on this. Can someone please explain to me EXACTLY what strength is and what power is? and why its important for a boxer? Im gettin' really confused.
Strenght is the ability to lift x amount of weight. Power is being able to lift y amount of weight very quickly. Y is usually less than X here. Power is how much force you can exert in a given amount of time. If you can put however much energy into your hand very quickly that will give you a powerful punch that the other guy won't see.
What he said ^^^. But I'll explain it differently and give other examples to make it more applicable to real life Strength is force developed without respect for time/speed, for example you might be able to lift a very heavy weight or push a car that weights well over a ton, but you wont be able to do it very quickly. Power is force developed in the minimum amount of time, to throw a kick or punch or pitch a base ball requires less force than lifting a heavy weight or pushing a car, but the force has to be produced in a split second.
There are different types of strength. There is maximum or limit strength which is how much you can lift in one single attempt regardless of the time factor and at the other end you have speed-strength which is how much force you can produce in a very short period of time. This is the type of strength required for KO power also starting strength is important. Power is basically just strength over time, that can be a short time or a long time. So really it isn't specific enough for describing an athletes KO power. Powerlifters are immensely powerful but that doesn't mean they can produce enough force in the very small time frame required of striking.
Force F = m (mass) * a (acceleration) You could produce the same amount of force (F) on a car or a base ball, i all comes down to the acceleration. Ofc this would be much more complicated if you were to calculate a punch, someone has probably allready pointed this out before.
