|
"LISTEN TO 'EM WHINE"
Objective: Strength, Power Endurance
Warm up: 3 Rounds
Row 250m
15x Wall Ball (M-20#, W-16#)
Training:
(1) Work up to 1RM Standing Military Press
(2) 5 Rounds
2x Military Press @ 85-90% 1RM
6x Romanian Dead Lifts (Go Light)
(3) 5 Rounds For Time
400m Run with hill
10x Mutant Makers (M-95#, W-55#)
Swings (M-24kg, W-12kg)
1x Mutant Maker = Hang Squat Clean into a Thruster.
Invented by Brian "The Mutant" Harder. Blame him.
Comments:
My thoughts about power endurance training continue to evolve.
In his book Quantum Strength & Power Training, Coach Pat O'Shea argued that cross training, including weight lifting,
was needed for long power endurance efforts. "We know that the major performance demand in endurance sports is aerobic
power (a high VO2 max). This however is only one component of power endurance. Unless you have a hight anaerobic threshold
and muscular strength as well as a good aerobic base, your capacity to attain peak endurance performance will be drastically
limited."
Coach O'Shea continued to define "Short-term explosive power endurance" as the strength and anaerobic power
needed for 30 seconds to 3 minutes of all-out effort.
"Long-term power endurance" however, requires aerobic power, explains Coach O'Shea - the ability to cycle, run
or swim at a hight percentage of VO2 max. "To have this ability, however, requires a high anaerobic threshold. In other
words, to maximize long-term power endurance one must have both a high VO2 max and a high anaerobic threshold."
Coach O'Shea writes that anaerobic circuit training helps develop a high VO2, "teaches your body to tolerate lactic
acid, and pushes back the anaerobic threshold."
"The anaerobic threshold is the point during exercise at which lactic acid begins to accumulate in the blood. With
a high anaerobic threshold you can steady-state train at a higher percent of your VO2 max without accumulating excessive amounts
of lactic acid. In other words, you have a higher tolerance for intensive endurance-type exercise," he explains.
Peak power endurance, Coach O'Shea writes, "is rooted in the ability of muscles to contract at optimal speed for
a given time at or beyond the anaerobic threshold. This requires the body to metabolically be trained to deal with high levels
of lactic acid."
Mark Twight defines power endurance as, "the ability to repetitively apply sub-maximal levels of power..." He
says this is "the most important factor affecting performance."
Twight continues that the more "horsepower" an athlete has, which combines both aerobic conditioning and strength,
the more metabolic room he or she has to operate at a relatively high level, but still below the anerobic threshold.
Joe Friel explains this idea more generally in his book, Total Heart Rate Training. "Lactate threshold is the level
of intensity at which you begin to "redline," he writes. "In other words, the effort above lactate threshold
is so difficult that you find it difficult to continue. Your breathing is deep and forceful, and you may experience a burning
sensation in the working muscles. You can only maintain this level of effort for a few minutes up to an hour or so for a highly
fit athlete. And the higher above lactate threshold the effort goes, the shorter time it can be maintained."
Recovery fitness is something else to consider. This is the ability of the athlete to recover between intense bouts of
exercise both in terms of heart rate/breathing and muscular strength and power. The faster the athlete can recover, the more
fit he or she is, and the faster and harder they can attack the next effort.
Asleep yet?
Sorry, I'm not nearly as smart as Coaches O'Shea and Twight, but what I think they are both getting at is the more horsepower
the athlete has, the harder he or she can go, for the longer period of time.
And "horsepower" is a combination of aerobic base, lactate tolerance, strength, and mental toughness.
Designing power endurance workout is where things get a little "squishy." One could argue that a 10 round effort
of 30 squats 20 push ups and 10 pull ups for time is a "power endurance" effort, but the cardio system wouldn't
be severely taxed. Muscles would fail before the heart and lungs. I would describe this type workout as a strength endurance
event instead.
Duration of the event is another factor. We recently did a 30-20-10 circuit of dead lifts and push presses. I finished
in about six and a half minutes, and was breathing very hard by the end. But I would consider a workout this long more of
a "sprint" than a power endurance effort. Others would disagree, and they could be right - this is just my approach.
I like the longer beat downs for our power endurance workouts - 15 minutes plus, and they must have a heavy breathing
component.
The timed part of "Listen to 'em Whine" is a test of both aerobic conditioning achieved through interval training,
strength gains achieved through heavy lifting and to a lesser extent, recovery fitness.
The hang squat clean to thruster action of the "mutant makers" hammer every muscle in the body, and because
all that muscle is getting taxed, your breathing goes from zero to redline in about 30 seconds.
The swings don't offer much break. When I first designed this effort, I prescribed 15 swings, but on my first round, my
form on numbers 11-15 was very “suspect.” I was hammered - so I dropped the rep count down to 10.
Most days, 10 swings would be nothing, but coming after those friggin' mutant makers (you suck Brian), 10 swings was all
I could handle.
The "recovery" comes during the run. It's by necessity. You should have seen me stumble-running out the gym
door after putting the kettlebell down.
I used 115# for the mutant makers and a 32kg kettlebell for the swings. My first round of mutant makers was unbroken,
but rounds 2-5 were broken into 7 reps, 5 breaths, 3 reps.
I tried to load my athletes so by the third round they had to break up the mutant makers. Having to put that barbell down,
take a few quick breaths, then pick it up again takes serious mental toughness. I watched closely to see my athletes performed.
I finished in 24:56. Then I called my momma.
- Rob Shaul
|
| Christian |
|
| Dave & Christian fight through a round of "Mutant Makers." |
|
| Dave puts the hammer down. |
|
| After... |
|
