Playtime at the Track

This last Sunday, we went back to the track to have a little circuit fun, following a basic Fight Gone Bad format. We had four stations total with a one minute rest period, most consisting of paired exercises that were designed to stress similar parts of the body differently. This comes from one of Dan John's favorite training methods, with the simple idea that you make the athlete tired, then make them do something fast. Twight uses something similar called a "Litvinov Conversion," although that seems to specify a heavy deadlift or squat followed by a sprint.

In any case, the stations consisted of Tire flips/box jumps, L-pull ups/kipping pull ups, Shuttle runs/KB swings, and HSPU. Jon and I followed that with an interval workout of tire flips, box jumps, KB tosses, and shuttle runs. Shaul writes about the interval we used:

"Over the past month I've delved into Coach Vern Gambetta's "Athletic Development: The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning."

Coach Gambetta discusses the 30/30 interval protocol extensively in his chapter on Energy and Work Capacity. First, he offers valuable insight into the concept of "work capacity."

"Conventional wisdom dictates that," Gambetta writes, "in order to build a sound training program, you must develop a large base of general fitness. There is no question of the validity of this; however, many training experts and coaches confuse building a training base with developing an aerobic base. Certainly an aerobic base is important for endurance athletes, but for nonendurance athletes an aerobic base is only part of the bigger picture .... The real goal is to build a strong foundation of general fitness that has specific transfer to the demands of the sport, position or event and considered individual needs. I prefer to conceptualize it as building a work capacity base that encompasses all aspects."

"Work capacity," Gambetta continues, "is the ability to tolerate a workload and recover from that workload." He gives work capacity three attributes:

(1) The ability to tolerate a high workload on a consistent basis.

(2) The ability to recover from the workload sufficiently for the next workout, or event.

(3) The ability to resist fatigue, whatever the source. "Fatigue is more than metabolic," Gambetta writes, "it involves the nervous system and mental capacity."

Drilling down even further, Gambetta describes three "conceptual terms" that help explain the idea of "work capacity."

The first is "capacity" which he defines as "the size of the tank." To increase capacity, Gambetta writes that you need to increase workout volume.

Second is "power" or, "the amount of energy that can be produced per unit of time. High intensity work increases "power" Gambetta writes.

Third is "efficiency" or "economy" which includes both metabolic efficiency and mechanical efficiency or good form. "Efficiency allows an athletes to work at a greater percentage of maximum with less energy cost."

Interval training, explains Gambetta, is the most effective method for a non-endurance athlete to build work capacity. The 30/30 workout, Gambetta describes as an "Extensive Interval Workout" which can significantly increase VO2 max and he attributes its invention to Veronique Billat.

Gambetta's description of the 30/30 interval protocol differs from the Gym Jones' approach in two areas.

First, Gambetta prescribes 30/30 intervals beginning at 20 rounds and increasing from there. Unlike Gym Jones, he doesn't limit the total number of intervals to 4 rounds.

Secondly, Gambetta wants his athletes to put 75-85% effort into the work intervals, not the full on intensity of 100% effort prescribed by the Gym Jones' 4x 30/30 or the Tabata protocol.

As the intervals progress, the heart rate of the athlete elevates, thus, with every succeeding interval, the athlete's heart rate is just a little higher at the beginning of the next interval. This just builds and builds."

the next interval. This just builds and builds."

Our next workout will be this coming Sunday, details TBA.

Yep, she's pregnant. And doing KB swings.