Betcha any money,
you can’t do that again
The ability to
repeat efforts is what differentiates a ‘one trick pony’, from someone who can
prove that they’re not just a fluke. As it relates to strength training, work
capacity (the ability to repeat efforts in a set amount of time), and your
ability to build upon it, can be the catalyst for newfound progress when it
seems like all else is failing.
The ‘results chain
of events’ typically sees trainees making strength gains first, followed by
increases in muscular development (this happens because it’s a lot easier for
the nervous system to become more efficient than it is for the body to slap on
pounds of muscle), but after that gains taper off. While you could ‘switch it
up’ and continue to see small increases in strength (primarily as a result of the
nervous system adapting to the new stimulus), the gains are generally minimal
at best. There comes a time when getting stronger becomes seemingly impossible,
especially at a given bodyweight, and when that happens, the only way to see
your strength go up is to simply gain more weight (easier said than done,
otherwise everyone would already be packing on pounds like nothing).
For most, gaining
more weight isn’t an option (if it was, it would already have happened, and
would still be happening), and when strength gains have pretty much been maxed
out at a given bodyweight (as we can only deadlift, squat, or bench press so
many times our bodyweight), you arrive at a crossroads and are left with a
decision to make – do you keep doing what got you to where you’re at, with the
hopes that the progress you once experienced will magically pickup where it
left off, or do you re-evaluate the situation and use the strength you’ve
acquired to your advantage?
If ya keep doing
what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten
Sadly, most simply
choose the former by default of not knowing another way, and keep truckin’ down
the path they started on way back when, pushing harder and harder, and seeing
minimal return on investment. A more effective approach may be to play the
cards you’ve now been dealt and use what you’ve got to the best of your
ability. This is where developing work capacity becomes a very viable option.
Instead of trying to
lift more and more weight, work capacity focuses on lifting the heaviest (using
that term loosely, as relatively light weights are recommended) weights you can
lift, as many times as you can, in as short a time as possible. Progress is
quantified by being able to complete a given rep total in less sets. For
example, when you can perform 100 reps in four sets with your current 20 rep
max (which mathematically should take over 5 sets to do), you will have
increased your work capacity, at which point you could move on to something
else, or increase the resistance by 5-7 percent and aim to keep making
improvements.
Not only is
improving your ability to repeat efforts trained when performing capacity work,
but it also provides a very effective stimulus for those primarily looking to
build muscle, and secondarily for those looking to improve strength. The high
volume of work, with a weight that allows a great deal of perfectly executed
reps to be performed will help ingrain proper technique, while also completely
depleting glycogen stores. The resulting pump also helps with feeling the
muscle, thus improving the ability to recruit the muscle at will.
Generally when
targeting work capacity, you want to select a weight that you can manage for at
least 15 reps, and the focus is on increasing your ability to lift that weight
by 5 reps for multiple sets (at least 4 sets of 20 in this case).
If you select a
weight that is heavier than what you can manage for 15 reps, you’ll be
targeting a different strength quality (non-functional hypertrophy in this
case), and there will likely be a greater drop off in performance from set to
set. For example, with a weight you can lift 15-20 times, you should be able to
perform almost as many reps for each set, without needing much rest to do so.
If you can’t perform within 5 reps of what you got on your first set the weight
is too heavy. For example, if you can perform 15 reps on the first set, you
should be able to manage at least 10 reps on every set afterwards until hitting
your rep goal. If you can’t, it’s too heavy.
Due to the high
volume, capacity work is generally best suited at the beginning of a training
session when you are fresh so that you are not limited by fatigue, which makes
it easy to quantify progress (if you’re not completely fresh, performance can
be dramatically altered because of fatigue, and thus it will be very difficult
to know if, or by how much, you’re improving). Upon completion, there is little
need to perform any more direct work for the trained muscle(s), although, for
those who can tolerate a high volume of work, or have difficulty feeling the
muscle they want to be training, this method could be used to flush a muscle to
improve awareness (AKA, the mind-muscle connection), before moving on to a few
other exercises (which will now be more effectively executed because of the
enhanced awareness). In this situation, because the goal would be to fully
exhaust a muscle, a couple of super sets should do the trick, and be all that
you need to ensure no muscle fibers are spared.
This method is also
a very effective ‘finisher’, especially after performing a great deal of high
intensity work, to pump and flush as much blood into the targeted area to boost
recovery. The high intensity work may also have a potentiating effect (making
lighter weights feel lighter than they are by contrast to the heavy weights
used at the beginning of the workout), enabling you to use heavier weights for
the capacity work.
In either case,
performing capacity work at the beginning or end of a training session, make
sure to proceed with caution, as the volume tends to add up quickly, and can be
counterproductive if the body can’t recover from the workload.
Below are a couple
of examples of how to practically apply a work capacity protocol for various
goals:
Work Capacity To
Promote Growth Emphasis
A: Barbell, or T-Bar
Row, 20RM, 100 reps (resting as little as possible, but enough to manage at
least 15 reps each time)
B1: Cable Row, 3
sets, 15-20 reps, 10 sec rest
B2: Close Grip
Pulldown, 3 sets, 15-20 reps, 2-3 min rest
*C1: Straight-Arm
Pulldown, 2-3 sets, 15-20 reps, 10 sec rest
*C2: Bent Over
Dumbell Laterals, or Cable Reverse Flyes, 2-3 sets, 15-20 reps, 2-3 min rest
*Option to perform
some isolated work for the same region. Generally you would only perform this
much isolation work for larger muscle groups like back, or legs. It would be
counterproductive to perform this much work for smaller muscle groups like the
arms.
Work Capacity To
Promote Recovery Emphasis
A: Bench Press, 4-6
sets, 4-6 reps, 3 min rest
B: Incline Press,
3-5 sets, 5-7 reps, 2-3 min rest
C: Cable Crossover,
20RM, 100 reps (resting as little as possible, but enough to manage at least 15
reps each time)
To take this method
and further gear it towards hypertrophy, you could use mechanical drop sets for
your capacity work movement. For example, instead of performing one movement
which allows for 15-20 reps, you could choose a slightly heavier weight that
allows for 10-15 reps, but with a mechanical adjustment allows for another 10,
or so, upon reaching failure. This enables you to use a heavier weight, and
also target different muscle fibers due to the mechanical change.
Here’s an example of
a workout using mechanical drop sets with a capacity protocol:
*A1: Straight-Arm
Pulldown, 15RM, rest as long as it takes to position your body to perform the
next movement
*A2: Lat Pulldown,
AMRAP (as many reps as possible, should be able to get at least the same amount
as you got during the first exercise)
*The reps performed
for both movements contribute to your overall rep goal. If you can’t perform
within 5 reps of the first set of the seconds exercise it’s ok, as long as you
can manage to perform within 5 reps of what you started with for the first
exercise.
B: One-Arm Dumbell
Row, 3 sets, 10-15 reps, 2 min rest
C: Rack Pull
(deadlift from knees), 3 sets, 10-15 reps, 2 min rest
98...99...100!
Regardless of
whether you elect to begin with your 15 rep max, or your 20 rep max (or
anywhere in between), the goal when training work capacity should be to reach
the century mark (complete 100 total reps), for no other reason than it is
probably the most psychologically beneficial rep count there is. Nothing
inspires one to continue working hard, and indicates complete control and
ownership over a weight, more than the ability to lift it 100 times, at will!
If starting on the
heavier side (15RM) the goal should be to get to 100 reps in 6 sets, while
reaching 100 should be manageable in 4 sets if starting on the lighter side
(20RM).
If you have any
questions about work capacity, or how to determine if it’s suited for what you
want to accomplish, feel free to contact me at ben@paramounttraining.ca. I'm available
for online consulting and personalized program design, as well as one on one
training if you are located in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
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