Believe it or not, not every competitor needs huge muscles to be created. Think of the strength needed by wrestlers, MMA fighters, gymnasts, or competitors who use their own body weight as their main resistance, but the extra mass can be more hindering than beneficial. Lets see the reasons why you’re gaining size but not the strength.
What is important to consider is that power is not strictly a muscle property, but rather a motor system property. But it is not the name of the game here to go for the pump, absolute muscle fatigue and full muscle annihilation. By a) hiring more muscle fibres in a single muscle community and b) increasing the firing frequency of your motor neurons, the body increases its strength (neurons and muscle fibers).
How to get more strength but not size?
Lift heavy
By employing what are called high-threshold motor units, heavy lifting (> 90 percent 1RM) would enhance power. The muscle fibres associated with these motor units have the highest capacity for strength enhancement. They fatigue easily, though. For multijoint workouts, maximal lifting is better added to (e.g., squats, deadlifts, presses, and pulls). Your goal should be to shift the weight as easily as possible, even if the weight is high. This would mean that you recruit as many muscle fibres as possible that are fast-twitch, which is the better way to get denser muscles.
Do explosive movements
Speed lifts (e.g., box squats, speed deads & speed bench) are an outstanding lifting style to teach acceleration and power growth, made popular by Westside Barbell. It is important to use and transfer loads of about 60 percent 1RM as quickly as possible. To further question your ability to accelerate the load, it is possible to apply accommodating resistance (e.g., bands and chains). The Olympic lifts (for example, clean & jerk and the snatch) are clear explosive movements that should come to mind, but medicine ball throws and kettlebell swings both fall into this group.
Perform plyometric workouts
Plyometric training, better known as jump training, involves hop- and jump-type movements that train and improve what is called the loop of stretch shortening. In order to create more and stronger contractions, the stretch-shortening mechanism teaches the body to best use accumulated elastic energy. Enhancements in muscle-tendon stiffness may also describe this increase in reactive capacity. It is possible to use body-weight or weighted plyometric drills, such as successive body-weight leaps over obstacles or continuous dumbbell jump squats.
Sprint often
None on the field builds running pace and rapidity than sprinting itself. It can help improve strength and power unique to running and cutting by doing sprint cycles or hill sprints (linear) or endurance drills (multi-directional). It would help you stand out from the slower, less-coordinated players by being able to accelerate and, most importantly, decelerate on the ground.
Try contrast training
In the same workout, comparison training combines intense resistance exercise with plyometric preparation. Post-activation potentiation, or PAP for short, is regarded as the physiological mechanism behind this training process. The intense strength training exercise (~<5RM) is basically carried out first, followed by a long rest, usually 3-10 minutes. A related plyometric activity pattern exercise is then performed (5-10 reps). Research has demonstrated an increase or potentialization of the plyometric exercise in which it is possible to develop more force and strength. Back squats followed by tuck jumps are an example.
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