More strength endurance

The reason I keep obsessing about Strong Endurance is that it is very innovative method of improving stamina without killing yourself every time you work out. I particularly like the idea that it uses weights, and - like with kettlebells in general - you are killing two bunnies with one shot (Russian version of birds and stone). 

I've been reading StrongFirst forum and yesterday listened to their podcast with Al Ciampa, one of the FS instructors. Nothing particularly new, just more confirmation of what I thought of the method. Which, in essence, is as follows. 

Lift for 10 - 30 seconds
Rest long enough to allow for almost complete recovery
Repeat for 3 - 10 sets
Rest enough to shake off accumulated fatigue. 
Repeat the series two or more times. 
Training session should be long enough to imitate a long run - 45 - 60 minutes. 

One possible modification - just sets of lifting and rest, not breaking the session into series. 
One poster on SF snatched 40 kg kettlebell for sets of 5 for something like 30 sets. 

Gauging recovery. This is a little tricky. Heart rate monitor is definitely useful. However, it's not necessarily the only way. You can judge recovery by subjective feel. It is obviously a hit-and-miss way, but if you stay fresh and crisp during sets you are going it right. You can err to the "too easy" side, but this will be quickly corrected as training progresses. 

I am considering the following template. 

Double KB jerk (my favorite lift), say 2 x 16 kg. 

6 reps/1 minute total per set. 
Keep HR below 130. 
Rest until HR goes below 115. 
Repeat until HR remains persistently high. Or until too tired. 

Results to be reported. 

1 comment:

JasonC said...

Smet, you are awesome. Now that I'm (deep) into my 40s, I really value the trail you've blazed.

Care to give an update on how this is working for you for GS? I've gotten a hankering to do it again after 10 years away from it. When I checked out, I was following Federenko's approach, getting great results but also hating it psychologically. In your experience, how is this stacking up?

(PS: WTF is the Russian for Pavel's "courage corner?" When it comes to Russian I'm 100% a dilettante, but I've never noticed the phrase anywhere.)

Gratefully,
JasonC