Like just about all lifters, I got a lot bigger and stronger in my first 1-2 years of training in spite of the moronic stuff that I did in my weight training programs. In hindsight, I was about as informed as a chimp with a barbell – but things worked out nonetheless. That is, at least, until I hit a big fat plateau where things didn’t budge.
Think I’m joking? Sadly, I’m not; otherwise, I wouldn’t have spent about 14 months trying to go from a 225-pound bench to 230. When you’re finished laughing at my past futility (or about how similar it sounds to your own plight), we’ll continue.
Ready? Good – because self-deprecating writing was never a strong suit of mine. I have, however, become quite good at picking heavy stuff off the floor – to the tune of a personal-best 660-pound deadlift at a body weight of 188.
My other numbers aren't too shabby, either, but this article isn't about me; it's about why YOU can't necessarily get strong as fast as you'd like. Let's look at a few mistakes many people make in their quest to increase strength. Sadly, I made most of these myself along the way, so hopefully I can save you some frustration.
Reason #1: You're only doing what's fun - and not what you need.
As you could probably tell, deadlifting is a strength of mine - and I enjoy it. Squatting, on the other hand, never came naturally to me. I always squatted, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that it took the back seat to pulling heavy.
Eventually, though, I smartened up and took care of the issue - by always putting squatting before deadlifting in all my lower-body weight training sessions (twice a week).
In addition to me dramatically improving my squat, a funny thing happened: I actually started to love to squat. Whoever said that you can't teach an old dog (or deadlifter) new tricks didn't have the real scoop.
Reason #2: You're not taking deload periods.
One phrase of which I've grown quite fond is "fatigue masks fitness." As a little frame of reference, my best vertical jump is 37" - but on most days, I won't give you anything over 34.5" or so. The reason is very simple: most of your training career is going to be spent in some degree of fatigue. How you manage that fatigue is what's going to dictate your adaptation over the long-term.
On one hand, you want to impose enough fatigue to create supercompensation - so that you'll adapt and come back at a higher level of fitness. On the other hand, you don't want to impose so much fatigue that you dig yourself a hole you can't get out of without a significant amount of time off.
Good weight training programs implement strategic overreaching follows by deloads - periods of lower training stress - to allow for adaptation to occur. You can't just go in and hit personal bests in every single training session - and if you try, you're going to wind up exhausted.
Reason #3: You’re not rotating movements.
It never ceases to amaze me when a guy claims that he just can’t seem to increase strength on his bench press (or any lift, for that matter), and when you ask him what he’s done to work on it of late, and he tells you “bench press.” Specificity is important, folks, but if you aren’t rotating exercises in your strength training program, you’re missing out on a wildly valuable training stimulus: rotating strength exercises.
While there is certainly a place for extended periods of specificity (Smolov squat cycles, for instance), you can’t push this approach indefinitely. Rotating my heaviest strength exercises was one of the most important lessons I learned along my journey. In addition to helping to create adaptation, you’re also expanding your “motor program” and avoiding overuse injuries via pattern overload.
I’m not saying that you have to overhaul your entire strength and conditioning program each time you walk into the gym, but there should be some semi-regular fluctuation in exercise selection. The more experienced you get, the more often you’ll want to rotate your strength exercises (I do it weekly). We generally rotate assistance exercises every four weeks, though.
Reason #4: You’re inconsistent with your training.
I always tell our clients from all walks of life that the best strength and conditioning programs are ones that are sustainable. I’ll take a crappy strength training program executed with consistency over a great program that’s only done sporadically. In my daily practice, this is absolutely huge for professional athletes who need to maximize progress in the off-season; they just can’t afford to have unplanned breaks in training if they want to improve from year to year.
If a strength and conditioning program isn’t conducive to your goals and lifestyle, then it isn’t a good program. That’s why I went out of my way to create 2x/week, 3x/week, and 4x/week strength training options – plus various supplemental conditioning options and a host of exercise modifications – when I pulled The High Performance Handbooktogether; I wanted it to be a very versatile resource.
Likewise, I wanted it to be safe; a program isn’t good if it injures you and prevents you from exercising. Solid programs include targeted efforts to reduce the likelihood of injury via means like mobility warm-ups, supplemental stretching recommendations, specific progressions, fluctuations in training stress, and alternative strength exercises (“plan B”) in case you aren’t quite ready to execute “Plan A.”
For me personally, I attribute a lot of my progress to the fact that at one point, I actually went over eight years without missing a planned lift. It’s a bit extreme, I know, but there’s a lesson to be learned.
Reason #5: You’re using the wrong rep schemes.
Beginners can make strength gains on as little as 40% of their one-rep max. Past that initial period, the number moves to 70% – which is roughly a 12-rep max for most folks. Later, I’d say that the number creeps up to about 85% – which would be about a 5-rep max for an intermediate lifter. This last range is where you’ll find most people who head to the internet for strength training information.
What they don’t realize is that 85% isn’t going to get the job done for very long, either. My experience is that in advanced lifters, the fastest way to build strength is to perform singles at or above 90% of one-rep max with regularity. As long as exercises are rotated and deloading periods are included, this is a strategy that can be employed for an extended period of time. In fact, it was probably the single (no pun intended) most valuable discovery I made in my quest to get strong.
I’m not saying that you should be attempting one-rep maxes each time you enter the gym, but I do think they’ll “just happen” if you employ this technique.
To take the guesswork out of all this and try some programming that considers all these crucial factors (and a whole lot more), check out my resource, The High Performance Handbook.
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I often get questions on what the best approach for fat loss is - and the truth is that there is no one correct way. Everyone responds differently, and different fat loss programs have different outcomes for different people. That said, I wanted to outline two resources and the population to which they appeal the most.
First, for the general fitness "Joes" (and "Janes") that read this blog, I wanted to give a shout-out to Dr. Kareem Samhouri's Double-Edged Fat Loss program , which is a resource that I'd highly recommend if you (or a family member or friend) is someone who is new to exercise and looking for a program that can deliver excellent results without much equipment. It certainly isn't right for everyone (particularly a lot of the hardcore fitness enthusiasts and fitness professionals) reading this blog, but Kareem definitely offers an excellent resource to those who need help getting the ball rolling on an exercise program and want to do so without a ton of equipment. He's also a great dude and an excellent motivator, so I think you'll find it to be good reading, should you make the investment. Click here for more information and to see if it's a good fit for you.
Second, for the fitness professionals out there, Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove recently introduced an online education series, Counting Reps to Counting Revenue, about how they have built up their gym, Results Fitness, which is arguably the most profitable gym per square foot in the country. What does this have to do with fat loss? Well, the fat loss market is their bread and butter - so you can't have a successful business model without a successful training model. For more information, click here.
I hope you all had a great weekend. I'll be back tomorrow with more fresh, new content.
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Everyone likes to think that they bust their butt all the time in their strength and conditioning programs. The truth is that deep down, we all know that we dog it sometimes. Nobody can give 100% every single day (or 110%...ever; I hate that adage).
Along those same lines, here is a pretty amusing study that shows just how much your mind can get in the way of the efforts you SHOULD be putting out in your workout routine. Researchers had three groups each perform ten 6s sprints on a cycle with 24s rest between sets. The first group (control trial, or CL) knew they were doing ten before the session. The second group (deception trial, DC) was told they were only doing five - but then informed that they had five more to go after the fifth sprint. The third group (unknown trial, or UN) weren't told anything; they were just stopped after ten sprints.
When researchers examined the total work performed over the first five sprints, they found that the deception trial group was 6.5% greater than the control and unknown trials. The others had paced themselves because they knew the ending was further off. People are going to pace themselves and hold back a bit whenever you give them a reason to do so - so plan accordingly in your exercise prescriptions.
What's one way to work around this if you aren't being coached in-person? Make yourself accountable to a program. There is a tendency to want to skip the last set or strength exercise when you design your own programs, but when you're answering to someone else's program, you're more likely to stick to it. Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better is a great resource to check out in this regard. Just ask James Cipriani, a personal trainer who used the program to kick his own personal gains up a notch:
“I just read your recent blog post in which you mentioned sending Show and Go testimonials. Well…it would be a travesty if I didn’t give you a shout out.
“I’m a personal trainer myself. And after over 23 years of training myself and 16 years of training others, to say I grow “bored” with conventional weight training programs would be an understatement. I first trained to augment sport (football), then I got into powerlifting, and really became addicted to it when I started bodybuilding. I competed for eight years in the sport and did very well. But…I outgrew it. Yes…I was bored.
“I, like many others that I train, look to other sources to not only motivate me in my own training (mentally more than physically), but also to broaden my horizons as a trainer. That is what led me to purchase your Show & Go program. I have to say, Eric, it is the most comprehensive, integrated program I have ever used. From the warm-ups, to the strength exercises, to the stretching, to the cardio enhancement….my strength, flexibility, conditioning, and muscularity all improved ten-fold. And my bodyfat level went noticeably down without me tweaking my normal diet. I even had nagging shoulder and low back pain that inhibited me from doing certain movements that are now gone. I was able to deadlift weight I haven’t been able to use since my powerlifting days. Plus, a couple of the core movements you include are ones I have never seen or done and I loved them! I now use many of them with my own clients.
“One last thing to note…I very rarely get through a 16 week program. I tend to grow bored and need a different style of training. That never happened. Not only that…I am starting a second go-round this week of it with a few of my own personal tweaks to it. Great product, Eric! Thank you so much!”
James Cipriani - CFT, CSCS, NS
Brookfield, CT
I suppose this blog title is more of a rhetorical statement than an actual question, but I'm going to write it anyway.
Just about every week, I get someone who comes to Cressey Sports Performance - either as a new client, or as a one-time consultation from out of town - and they have some issue that is bugging them to the point that they opted to see a doctor about it. This doctor may have been a general practitioner or an actual sports orthopedist. In many cases, the response from this medical professional is the same "Just rest."
"It hurts when you lift? Then stop lifting."
Huh? When did COMPLETE rest because a viable recommendation?
In case folks haven't noticed, a scary number of Americans are overweight or obese. Even if rest was the absolute key to getting healthy, telling them to not move is like not seeing the forest through the trees. Your bum knee will feel better, but you'll have a heart attack at age 43 because you're 379 pounds.
Oh, and nevermind the fact that exercise generally improves sleep quality, mooed, and immune, endocrine, and digestive function. I'm not going to lie: I would rather have an achy lower back than be fat, chronically ill, sleep-deprived, impotent, angry, and constipated.
But you know what? The good news is that you can still exercise and avoid all these issues - regardless of symptoms. I can honestly say that in my entire career, I've never come across a single case who couldn't find some way to stay active.
And, when I did an internship in clinical exercise physiology, we trained pulmonary rehab patients in spite of the fact that they often had interruptions during their sessions to cough up phlegm for 2-3 minutes at a time.
All over the world, people are using exercise to rehabilitate themselves from strokes, heart attacks, spinal cord injuries - you name it.
However, Joe Average who sleeps on his shoulder funny and wakes up with a little stiffness needs complete rest and enough NSAIDs to make a liver cringe.
Sorry, but you're going to need to be on crutches, in a back brace, with poison ivy and a punctured lung to get my sympathy. And, you're sure as heck not going to get it if you're just "really sore" from your workout routine. Seriously, dude?
I don't care what your issue is: "just rest" is almost never the answer (a concussion would be an exception, FYI). When a health care practitioner says it, it's because he/she either a) doesn't have the time, intelligence, or network to be able to set you up for a situation where you can benefit from exercise or b) doesn't think you have enough self control to approach exercise in a fashion that doesn't make it more harm than good.
There is almost always something you can do to get better and maintain a training effect. While adequate rest for injured tissues is certainly part of the equation, it is just one piece in a more complex puzzle that almost always still affords people the benefits of exercise.
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As EricCressey.com grows in popularity, I wanted to create something to say thanks to my loyal newsletter subscribers - and today, that thank you gift was sent out. It's detailed video looking at deadlift technique for the conventional, sumo, and trap bar variations - while troubleshooting the common errors we encounter. If you aren't a subscriber to this FREE newsletter, enter your information below to receive access to this great teaching tool (you'll receive an email follow-up with the link and password).
I came across the abstract for this interesting Australian study the other day: Actual versus perceived lifting ability in healthy young men (18-25 years).
Basically, researchers compared what men under the age of 25 SAID they could lift with what they actually COULD lift when tested. According to the researchers, "One third of subjects were able to accurately self-report their lifting performance, approximately one-third underestimated, and the remaining third overestimated their lifting ability."
So, out of every three people, we have one person who is pretty even-keeled and honest with himself about his physical abilities.
And, we have another who is either a) intimidated and doesn't think he can do it or b) lazy and unwilling to "do it."
Finally,we have everyone's favorite: the tough guy who talks a big game. These are the guys who sit behind their keyboards claiming to squat 500 pounds - or bench 400, or throw 95mph fastballs. However, nobody every witnesses it. They have big balls on the internet.
How many times have you walked into a commercial gym and seen a 400-pound bench press? I think I've seen it once - and the guy weighed about 330 pounds.
How about a legitimate 600-pound squat? I've never seen it in a commercial gym, only a few times without a squat-suit in hardcore powerlifting gyms, and only twice college weight rooms in my life.
And, I'm certainly not seeing 95mph fastballs at every high school baseball game. In fact, as I recall reading last year, there are only about eight pitchers in all of Major League Baseball who have consistent 95+mph fastballs. Maybe the rest of the pros need to spend more time on the internet to be able to throw baseballs faster?
However, go on to any internet forum - whether it's for lifting or pitching - and you'll come across all this hidden talent that is yearning to be discovered. Sorry, folks, but you're the 1/3 of people I referenced above. Put up or shut up. I'd actually say that this 33% figure also applies to baseball fathers; about one in three is CONVINCED that his kid is much better than Junior really is.
Finally, as an interesting little aside, ever wonder why nobody ever lies about their deadlift numbers?
I have to assume that it's because the deadlift is a pretty "yes or no" exercise. You either can or can't pick something heavy up off the floor. It's not like a squat or bench press, where you can shorten the range of motion and instantly improve your numbers.
Related PostsCrazy Dads and Kids Who Throw CheddarShoulder Mobility for Squatting
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I have to admit: when I first saw this subject line for an email, my mind was a bit in the gutter!
However, as it turns out, it was an awesome review of the Maximum Strength program from a female exercise enthusiast who had undertaken the program from start to finish. Check out what she had to say:
"My name is Alison Minton, I'm a 25 year old 'recreational' lifter. I was given your book, Maximum Strength, about 5 months ago by a friend at my gym (who happens to be one of your guniea pigs for your next project). I just finished the program today and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. A little background: former avid runner, sidelined by unsuccessful bilateral fasciotomies for compartment syndrome in my lower legs 3 years ago, which lead me to really hit the weights. My workout routines were getting pretty stale in the last year or so and I was getting frustrated and bored from circuit after circuit of moderately heaving lifting. I had exhausted everything I knew from years of reading about fitness/running/lifting and realized every female fitness magazine I received was going straight to the trash. I begged my friend at the gym for help and he gave me your book for guidance. I've since read your and Tony Gentilcore's blogs religiously!
"I know you have gotten tons of very well deserved feedback by satisfied guys who have read the book/complete the program. I wanted to write to you because when I was thinking about starting it, I searched high and low for any information about women doing the program, and I found very minimal material in the way of feedback, tips or special considerations (if there even are any). Even after that, I figured, what the heck, if some random guy at the gym can do this, then so can I! So, I had my friend help me with packing day and the rest is history! I absolutely loved the program, stuck to it like glue and got some decent results:
Broad Jump: 72 inches --> 78 inches
Bench Press: 100 lbs --> 115 lbs
3 RM Chin Up: BW + 7.5 lbs --> BW+17.5 lbs
Deadlift: 175 lbs--> 190 lbs
Box Squat: 130 lbs --> 135 lbs
"I would loved to see the DL and squat go up a little more, but I did do a bit more cardio than prescribed (in the form of sprints and technique workouts, mostly) and wonder if that hindered me a bit. My body composition also changed significantly for the better and my before and after pics totally rocked.
"Just wanted to tell you that as a female 'lifter' I loved your program and the ideas/concepts that come out of the CP team blogs. I would LOVE to see a little more encouragement to all the ladies out there! It didn't intimidate me to find minimal feedback regarding women attempting Maximum Strength, but some women need a little more persuasion to get over the apprehension of starting a program in a book geared towards men.
"Definitely looking forwards to your next book/program! Thanks again!"
-Alison Minton
Here's this week's list of recommended reading from the EricCressey.com archives:
The Proactive Patient - This is still, in my eyes, one of the best articles I've ever written.
The 315 Deadlift Fiasco - This article, on the other hand, pissed a few people off. There were good lessons to be learned, though.
Why I Don't Like the 5x5 Workout - While the classic 5x5 set and rep scheme certainly has its place in some strength training programs, it definitely has its limitations.
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I just got back from Chicago yesterday, and am playing a bit of catch-up, so I don't have time to write much today. However, as I was tinkering with a formatting issue on the site last night, I realized that I now have almost four years worth of archives - and that many readers haven't seen a lot of that older work of mine. So, I think I'll be using my reading recommendations for the next few weeks as a way of bringing older (but still applicable) material back to the forefront.
How to Progress Back to Deadlifting after a Back Injury - Here's a step-by-step progression we've used quite a bit with excellent success.
Bench Pressing with the Feet Up? - Not a good idea. Here's why.
Lifestyle Checklists - Here's a quick strategy for getting people adherent to training and nutrition practices.
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This guest blog comes from current Cressey Performance intern, Sam Leahey.Last time, we discussed circuit training and the validity of whether or not it develops "mental toughness" in our athletes. We then questioned whether this "mental toughness" (however one defines that term) is actually translating into enhanced sports performance. This week's article focuses on the implications regarding circuit training and "work capacity".
Simply type the term "work capacity" into YouTube and you'll end up with tons of videos implementing a wide variety of exercises in circuit training fashion, most which consist of modified strongman events, and every one of these claims the same thing: "it develops work capacity." What does that even mean?
Now, enter "work capacity" into the search bar on a peer-reviewed research journal site (PubMed, etc.) and what are the findings? Nearly every study listed with the term "work capacity" in the title is in direct reference to something specific like "physical work capacity," "anaerobic work capacity," "aerobic work capacity," "wingate test work capacity," "upper body work capacity", "cardio-respiratory work capacity," or "functional work capacity."
Compare and contrast these two discoveries and we are left with the simple conclusion that "work capacity" is specific and using it as a general term is scientifically unjustifiable. In fact, it is pretty much theory altogether unless directly tied to something else. Yet, when looking across the landscape of private training facilities and collegiate Strength & Conditioning settings, we find that most coaches and trainers use the term "work capacity" in the aforementioned grossly-oversimplified way as opposed to a specific type of capacity that actually makes transferable sense. I often wonder why that is?
There are many common arguments in favor of the work capacity idea. Coaches and trainers are now more than ever espousing and raising "work capacity" awareness. Let us look at some of the underlying principles and theories behind the "work capacity school of thought" and try to make sense of it and establish how coaches arrived at the solution of "in order to develop work capacity we need to do circuit training". This will lead into the conclusion of this article.
Principle: Work capacity is developed when the human body tolerates and recovers from a workload. Once adapted to that stimulus they need to be able to work above that "work threshold" for continued success.
I can't believe how much this gets parroted these days. When I think about this statement I am left wondering how this is any different from regular strength training or even a stinkin' bicep curl? It sounds to me like just another way to describe the Principle of Overload, not the "principle of work capacity"! Furthermore, I wonder how it's indicative of the conclusion so many people reach: "I have to do circuit training to develop work capacity?"Theory: If an athlete's general fitness or capacity is low, their specific fitness or capacity will not improve.
So you're saying if I take a highly deconditioned athlete with no general fitness and make him play soccer for one week straight he won't be a better, more conditioned soccer player by day seven than he was on day one because his "general fitness/capacity" was low to begin with? Really?
One more time. . .
Theory: If an athlete's general fitness or capacity is low their specific fitness or capacity will not improve.
Though still a vague statement perhaps, now we're getting closer to something actually definable - "general fitness." Many coaches use the terms "general fitness" and "work capacity" synonymously. Perhaps this is where coaches arrive at the conclusion of "I should do circuit training to develop general fitness."
More importantly, though, do I even want "general fitness" for my? Or, just specific fitness? It seems we need a definition or list of components of "general fitness" before we can answer that question. You might say that the progression should go from general to specific and my response there would be general WHAT and specific WHAT? What quality are we talking about - strength, power, flexibility, speed, or something else? I feel that to simply just say we should go from general to specific may be shortsighted; we need to clarify what quality we're covering.
If you do an internet search or academic search to define "general fitness," you most often times end up at the same thing that is still taught in academic settings today - "General Fitness consists of the 5 Health Related Components of Fitness," which are:
Muscular Strength
Muscular Endurance
Cardiovascular Endurance
Flexibility
Body Composition
Once here, we can actually begin to clarify the argument. Am I supposed to develop all these above qualities optimally to attain "general fitness"? Do I even need or want some of these above qualities to be maxed out in say, a sprinter? Nope.
If we're talking about Muscular Strength then I totally accept the idea of general strength to specific strength. However, if we're discussing cardiovascular endurance, then I think most of us would disagree with the general-to-specific thought process. Both Charlie Francis and Mike Boyle have obliterated this general-to-specific idea with regards to energy systems years ago. They speak against doing "general running" (aerobic jogging) and then moving into "specific running" (anaerobic sprinting).
Francis has written about how kids need to do enough power related activity in their teen years to really reach optimal performance in sprinting when they get older. What is he saying by that? He's saying we should start specific and end even more specific.
Mike Boyle took Francis' thoughts and began doing tempo runs in early off-season with his athletes to develop a sprinting base, which is still inherently specific, and then progress them to higher intensity sprints. Basically, he started specific in as broad a way as he could and then got even more specific with the training. He did not attempt to develop an aerobic base first by running miles and then gradually move to sprinting; rather, he started the off-season with higher volumes of lower intensity "sprints" (tempo runs) and then moved to lower volumes of higher intensity "sprints" (shuttle runs). A different way Coach Boyle also approached this idea during his career of building proper sprinting work capacity (notice it's specific and not "general") is represented in this graphic:
Though a different order of intensity and volume, all I'm trying to get you to see is the point that it is not developing "general fitness," but instead specific fitness. So, hopefully now we can all see that the general to specific idea doesn't hold up too well until we clarify what quality we're referencing (strength, flexibility, energy systems, or something else).
Theory: Work capacity enhances and coordinates the cardiovascular, metabolic, and nervous systems and it is composed of 2 components:1) The ability to tolerate a high workload by recovering quickly from the stimulus so that another stimulus can be presented on a consistent basis.2) Being able to resist fatigue no matter what the source.
These two points taken alone, I struggle to see how people are lead to the conclusion that they need to be implementing circuit training to develop this so called "work capacity." However, taken all together with the initial mention of the physiological systems, we may have finally arrived at a specific qualitative point - the nervous, cardiovascular, and "metabolic" systems.
Somehow coaches take this to mean that doing circuit training is the best option for coordinating and enhancing these systems. If I take time in my program to do circuit training, will it coordinate and enhance my nervous system optimally with all that fatigue going on during the circuit, especially compared to what I else could be doing instead to prepare my nervous system? I would say "no;" circuit training does not fit the bill optimally.
If I take time out of my conditioning program to do circuit training, will it coordinate and enhance my cardiovascular system better than what I'm already doing? Again I would have to answer "no."
Will circuit training enhance and coordinate my energy systems (metabolic system) better than my conditioning program? Nope.
The point here is the traditional methods you're already using in your strength training, power training, and conditioning program are far superior in developing those physiological systems than doing circuit training.
Here's another definition being thrown around the internet:
"Work capacity refers to the general ability of the whole body as a machine to produce work of different intensity and duration using the appropriate energy systems of the body."
This is probably the best attempt at defining "work capacity." Yet, the question still arises: do I need or want this "general ability" of my body to "produce work" of varying intensities and times? Instead, how about narrowing it down to what specific energy systems I'm going to need to compete in my sport or event and at what intensity or durations? Doesn't that make more sense that just saying to somebody, "Hey, I've got good work capacity because I can do a million sit-ups, a 1RM squat, a bunch of pull-ups, and then sprint 50 yards - all in under 5 minutes!" Does a competitive sprinter benefit from being able to run a marathon, do a ton of pushups, then do a ton of pull-ups, when he's competing in a 55 meter dash? Would a golfer optimally benefit from doing random "general fitness" activities at random intensities and durations as opposed to specific fitness activities?
So, I humbly ask: why are we doing circuit training to develop general work capacity? How did we ever arrive at the conclusion that a general work capacity was needed as opposed to a specific work capacity like linear sprinting or multiple changes of direction or vertical jumping or asymmetrical rotation (golfer/pitcher)?
Instead, can I suggest we seek to develop specific work capacities instead of general ones? How about we develop the ability of a basketball player to reproduce jumping and hopping performance throughout the course of a game. Also, how about we build a golfer's capacity (through corrective exercise) to take all the swings he/she requires without getting hurt instead of running him/her through a modified strongman circuit to build "general fitness" or "work capacity?"
Eric Cressey has good work capacity by powerlifting standards; he can take a lot of singles over 90% of 1RM in a single training session and bounce back reasonably quickly.
Does that mean, though, that Eric can just walk outside and play soccer and be good at it because his "work capacity" is up? I don't believe so, because work capacity is specific, not general. Instead, develop the specific capacity to play soccer! There's no need to develop tons of different, and in many cases competing qualities just for the sake of saying we have a general capacity to tolerate a bunch of random events. All in all, it may be best to simply stick with the traditional methods of training and develop the specific capacities needed for a specific event or sport as opposed to taking hours during the training week for circuit training.
Just think of what higher-yield activities you could be doing instead while you taking hours of time out each week to do circuit training...
Sam Leahey CSCS, CPT can be reached at sam.leahey@gmail.com. Sign up for our FREE Newsletter today and and receive this deadlift technique video!
