|
NERVOUS BANKERS
Obj: Sport-Specific Power Endurance, Sport-Specific Strength
Training:
(1) Hike/Run 1.5 hours, 1,400 foot elevation gain carrying
47# back pack
****Change mode to Climbing Gym****
(2) 12x Frenchies
(3) 10 Rounds
UP and down climb 5.8 Route, carrying 25-35# pack, then
drop pack, and up climb same route fast as possible.
600 hand movements total
Comments:
One of the puzzling and interesting things I've seen in the gym is the difference between maximal strength at the top
end, and strength/power endurance with less load.
Several well respected, traditional strength coaches believe strength is "king" - and the best thing we can
do for our athletes is get them stronger in terms of maximal strength. But in my gym I often see a difference between maximal
strength, and strength endurance/power.
A good example is 1 RM squat clean strength, and the load used for a 10 round, every minute on the minute complex of 3x
power cleans, 3x hang squat cleans, and 3x push presses.
Some of my athletes who have the best 1RM strength in the squat clean, flail at more than moderate loading for the complex.
Other athletes, who don't have that top end 1RM strength, are able to complete this complex with equal or even higher loads.
Often, these differences can be significant.
What's the difference? Work capacity? Mental toughness?
Traditional strength coaches fail to explain. In their world, it seems this never happens. But it happens in my gym quite
often.
Maximal strength and work capacity have to be connected somewhere. It should be easier for someone who can squat clean
225# to complete the above complex with 100# than it is for an athlete who can squat clean just 185# right? I would think
so, but this hasn't always been the case.
The main focus on the CrossFit approach is increasing work capacity. And several traditional strength coaches use strongman
implements and training to do the same.
Sometimes I struggle with what is most important. During my stint into CrossFit-only type training, my CrossFit-specific
work capacity was increasing, but I wasn't getting any stronger. And before, when I was lifting heavy and tried a CrossFit
type workout - I got crushed.
I don't have the answer - and I'm sorry for rambling on here, but I find this intriguing. At Mountain Athlete I've begun
to use the barbell complex as a weekly measure of an athlete's work capacity. It is an incredible tool. We track the ending
weight, and watch for opportunities to increase.
An increase in the ending weight, begins with an increase in the starting weight to. Each complex deploys six reps of
six barbell movements, and we do 4 rounds.
To review, 1 complex = 6 reps each of: dead lift, bent over row, hang power clean, front squat, push press, back squat.
So, if an athlete does the four rounds with: 75#, 85#, 95# and 105#, the total volume lifted is 12,960#.
The next week, if the athlete jumps up, and does the complex with 85#, 95#, 105# and 115#, the total volume lifted increases
to 14,400# - about a 12% increase.
(If my math here is all messed up please keep it to yourself and don't embarrass me. I'm a political science major.)
When an athlete first makes the jump to the next level of loading, the final complex is a pure sufferfest. Not only is
strength and work capacity stressed, but mental toughness is pushed too.
Anyway, I'm coming to believe that the overall strength, strength endurance, and work capacity demonstrated by events
like the barbell complex are more transferable to mountain athletes, soldiers, industrial athletes, and others than raw maximal
strength. Certainly the two are related, but exactly how, I'm still trying to figure out.
- Rob Shaul
|
| Rob Hess is one of my athletes with great work capacity. He's one tough bastard. |
|
