Coaches and exercise physiologists sometimes apply a test to asses power
production. Since power is work per time and since work is a product of force and
distance, pure application of these laws suggest that power is measured merely by moving a
fixed resistance as fast as possible to yield a power value. As stated earlier, there is
no consistent relationship between muscular power and mechanical power. Therefore, this
test does not serve any worthwhile objective purpose. Moreover, power testing is performed
in defiance of another Newtonian Law: F = MA, whereby force is the product of mass and
acceleration. Power testing is, therefore, dangerous and unethical to apply to anyone.
Note that this crass behavior is applied in physical therapy and has long been included as
a test mode for the Cybex dynamometers.
Also, a test of power, if it were accurate, is highly skill dependent. Such skill is
specific to the test and not necessarily meaningful to application apart from the test.
This is discussed in a later section on skill.