Sup guy’s I’m a Competitive CrossFitter. And an amatuer Power Lifter & recently did my first oly tourny so i’m strong and my training split is strength biased… BUT, I missed Regionals this year by 2 Places. My main focus/passion is CrossFit.
What are some of the best ways for maximizing my anaerobic output?
I do Intervals, but what time/rest ratios do you think is best? How many sets? How many xper week? and what exercises?
Thanks.
I don’t do Crossfit, but I do follow some of the happenings in the sport and training methods. Chad, over at Juggernaut recently held a workshop over on the West coast and addressed some of the weaknesses you speak about. I can’t really remember the entire article, but in a nutshell he spoke highly of increasing your strength in the powerlifts, so when you are competing the weight is actually a lot lower percentage of your actual one rep max. My take was that by increasing your raw strength in the lifts it allows you to become more efficient and less taxing on the anaerobic system. I would work to increase both as much as possible, although it probably won’t be ideal to train both at the same time.
If you saw this article the other day, it is based off the Wingate test. Wingate is used (mainly with athletes) to test peak and mean anaerobic power. I did the actual test about a month ago, and while chatting with the researchers afterward(if you do the test right, you will be at least slightly hypoglycemic afterward), one mentioned a cyclist(might have been Landis, don’t recall) who would actually do the test periodically as part of his training - like every couple weeks, or once a month.
Anyway, point of my rambling was to say, you might try adding this into your training occasionally, see if it doesn’t help a bit.
- Stop training your anaerobic system so damn much (crossfit).
- Get a decent aerobic base for higher anaerobic abilities.
- Increase maximal strength so what was previously anaerobic becomes aerobic, and those things that are still anaerobic simply will result in less lactic acid buildup.
Thanks for all your help! Changing up my programming now.
There was a great article, from 8weeksout or ross training, and its even cited in an article here that I cant remember the name of either, where the guy basically goes over how the aerobic base regenerates the substrates that the alactic pathway uses in repeat sprint athletes. It kind of makes the lactic acid training seem less useful and steady roadwork more important than the HIIT people would have you believe. Someone will have the link for it or I will find it after work…
[quote]whitfit wrote:
Sup guy’s I’m a Competitive CrossFitter. And an amatuer Power Lifter & recently did my first oly tourny so i’m strong and my training split is strength biased… BUT, I missed Regionals this year by 2 Places. My main focus/passion is CrossFit.
What are some of the best ways for maximizing my anaerobic output?
I do Intervals, but what time/rest ratios do you think is best? How many sets? How many xper week? and what exercises?
Thanks.[/quote]
Heh
[quote]whitfit wrote:
Thanks for all your help! Changing up my programming now.
[/quote]
Heh
heres this:
and this:
which convinced me to start running… a little.
Liquid&MT, THX much for the resarch. I’m in Masters’ Cfit and uh…much more aerobics for me. Great site and lecture by Jaimeson; we’ll see if I don’t tank as much late in the WODs.
THX again
Periodise your training - something like the following would work very well for crossfit.
Phase 1 - 6 weeks
Main focus strength endurance and aerobic power (aerobic capacity rather than endurance)
Phase 2 - 6 weeks
Main focus maximum strength and anaerobic endurance
Phase 3 - 6 weeks
Main focus explosive strength and anaerobic power (capacity)
Phase 4 - 6 weeks
Practice crossfit only
There is zero detail here really but if you really are interested PM me and I will send you some templates that I use with elite team sports athletes (World level) - that can easily be adjusted with some thought for your needs. Your energy system requirements will be very similar to the athletes I deal with - “you never quite know whats coming and you have to get through it as fast as you can whilst trying to be as strong as you can”
FWIW,
I followed alot of Joel Jamisons protocol when I was fighting competitively.
I did alot of cardiac output work in the first phases 1-4 weeks, along with some HICT (high intensity continuous training) added in in that time frame (stuff like high resistance cycling for 20 minutes…step ups or lunges for 20 minutes…etc).
I then did his aerobic power protocol of short sprints (resisted with a sled or uphill) for 20 sets of 12 seconds for the next 4 weeks or so.
The goal of the first part is to lower your resting heart rate and improve oxygen flow from your heart to your muscles. Basically you will end up being able to do more/faster//more intense work at a lower level of exertion… such as throwing 100 punches a round and your heart rate will stay fairly consistent or lower than it would without that base.
The second part is supposed to work on achieving quick recovery between bursts of activity…once again, say you throw a flurry of punches, and having your heart rate drop from 170 or so to 130-140 almost immediately after as opposed to staying elevated. Or recovery between rounds.
In shorter duration competitions…ie like a 3x2 minute fight…you can get away with using the anaerobic system more, but its really not ideal. For something like Crossfit or rowing…etc that requires high power bursts over a much longer period of time, the above mentioned training and having a great aerobic capacity is neccessary.
In powerlifting, its building GPP…so that you can eventually do more work in a given time frame.
Jamisons protocols are much more detailed than I listed above and certainly worth some reading.
To continue,
much like advanced lifting methods you should know WHY you are doing what you are doing. Someone saying “I am gonna go do 4x400m sprints or HIIT to get in shape for blah blah blah” is just stupid. You need to identify what you are weak at, and train for a specific goal. It helps to understand what the energy system demands are for your sport and then working backwards. This is also why I think the majority of people using tabata are doing so for the wrong reasons.
Check out Viking Warrior Conditioning by Kenneth Jay. His book is built around the KB snatch, but he goes into some of the science of maximizing anaerobic training. I can’t remember off the top of my head, but a lot of it has to do with finding the right pace for training first then training that pace at specific intervals.
15s:15s work:rest was one, but then I think it moved to
36s:36s
[quote]hambone79 wrote:
I don’t do Crossfit, but I do follow some of the happenings in the sport and training methods. Chad, over at Juggernaut recently held a workshop over on the West coast and addressed some of the weaknesses you speak about. I can’t really remember the entire article, but in a nutshell he spoke highly of increasing your strength in the powerlifts, so when you are competing the weight is actually a lot lower percentage of your actual one rep max. My take was that by increasing your raw strength in the lifts it allows you to become more efficient and less taxing on the anaerobic system. I would work to increase both as much as possible, although it probably won’t be ideal to train both at the same time. [/quote]
Wow increasing your strength makes you more efficient at a lift.Who ever would have thought of that?