Muscular Endurance, Part 2

Last week’s post on training muscular endurance generated some questions requiring further explanation. Let’s do a little q and a.

Jonathan Mann asks, “Would this work well alongside marathon training?”

Yes, depending...(remember this answer). All athletes benefit from training muscular endurance and, in fact, it also will help those who are just trying to change their body composition. The more efficient the systems in your body work the easier it is to target the one you need to make the biggest physiological changes. This is true whether your goal is to run a marathon fast, a quick 100 meters, or to look better in a bathing suit.

The variation lies in how much time you spend training it. A 100 meter athlete will very little of their time on muscular endurance but will still address it*. A marathoner, being an ‘endurance athlete’, would appear have more direct need to train this system but this mainly gets covered in your sports specific training so, while you’ll still want to spend a phase training muscular endurance you will be best served by periodizing your training to cover all the bases: endurance, strength, and power.

Also, as I said in my short answer to his question, you’d want to do this training away from the time you’re trying to run fast. When body composition training is occurring it always takes a toll on your performance, which is why most hard training is done during the off-season.

Off topic, but on a similar theme, there were a couple of questions on mixing running with P90X2. The answer is it depends but the above paragraph spells it out further. You can run during X2 just fine but you’ll want to do mainly base work (aerobic and/or drills). If you wanted to do X2 during the last prep phases before a race (and you care how fast you run) I would severely abridge the program. Search “P90X running steve edwards” and you’ll find an article or two I wrote on how you might do this.

Finally, Bobby from Norco writes, I was curious when you would put this into a cycle and when you would see the relative benefits (also how long they would last so you could see performance gains including this glycolytic boost)?

Of course, this depends. I like to put muscular endurance training early in a cycle in general because it will make the processes your train later more efficient. There are arguments for placing it elsewhere, all based around your ultimate goals, personal weaknesses, and how much time you have to cycle your training. It’s easier to increase endurance parameters than power parameters so if absolute strength is what you want to increase most you may begin with training that, whether you are a power or endurance athlete. The only answer here that doesn't depend is that you get the best results targeting one system at a time. This is why if time is no issue (rarely the case) systematic training is a better option than trying to improve all of your physiological processes at once.

The same answer applies to how long the results with last, which is based on what you do. If you stop training your results won’t last very long and the same is true if you over train. If you train perfectly you’ll basically never lose your results but if that were possible this entire game we’re playing and, in fact, probably even sports would cease to exist. As a general rule I like to do at least one cycle (3 to 6 weeks) of muscular endurance per year in the gym (how much sports specific muscular endurance training I do, well, depends...).

*Power athletes should all read Speed Trap, a book written by Charlie Francis, former world record 100 meter runner Ben Johnson’s coach

pic: don't confuse muscular endurance with endurance training. too much endurance training takes away from power and vice-versa, but efficient muscle cell function gained by training allows you to better target goals in either realm, power or endurance.

Muscular Endurance

“What are you training?” asked ex-MLS player/now BB employee Johnny Alcaraz while watching me do 30 reps (each side) of step-up convicts last night, which reminded me that I hadn’t reported on my training in a while and should probably share this phase with the world. Muscular endurance was my answer, which I followed with some details on my particular block that’s also targeting pelvic and scapular stability. “But mainly muscular endurance.”

I’ve explained why you’d want to train muscular endurance in other articles. For a detailed explanation click on the summary below:

What 30 reps does is train your glycolytic energy system. As I said in an early post, the glycolysis is what allows a fast 100 meter sprinter to win at 400 meters. Essentially, it’s the system that uses glycogen and oxygen to recharge your body’s anaerobic system.

That article explains why women might be drawn to training muscular endurance (it ensures you can’t build bulk) but it’s also extremely helpful for almost any athlete except those in complete power sports, and even those will benefit from training this system enough to keep it efficient. Its downside is that gym sessions get long and the workouts hurt.

During 30 reps sets you can actually feel your system load change. The weight you use may seem impossibly light during the first 6-10 reps. Around 15 (or less later in the workout) you’ll start feeling it. At 20, the point where most traditional weight exercises end and about as long as your can reasonably hold your breath under duress, you’re muscles will begin to give out as you change systems. From then on it’s a fight to the finish (providing you’ve used enough weight which takes a little practice). If you do these sets correctly you’ll be dying (in my case screaming) to get your last five reps done.

This time around I’ve put a spin on the Workout From Hell format, essentially supplementing P90X2 movements. Those of you who’ve been following along know that I altered my original round of X2 when I hurt my back (getting tripped running down a mountain). It recovered quickly but I’d already designed a 3 block hangboard cycle (will be published in an article if I like it) and a supporting training that includes a three week block of muscular endurance. Here’s the workout I’m doing 3x a week. You will notice a lot of instability. Next week I transition to PAP.

Full Body 30

Functional warm-up (stability ball [SB] moves that open X2 workouts)
Plank - 30 sec
Wall Angels - 4 contractions held
Heel slide - 15 reps each side
Calf raises – heels straight, in, and out: 10 each
YT Fly on SB (see X2) – 30 reps
Darin squats – named for Shakeology’s Darin Olien (I saw he and Laird Hamilton doing these in a workout), you support yourself holding onto a bar and squat back and forth on each leg, extending the opposite leg straight (like a reverse hurdler stretch). 30
Superman (prone) pull down – lying on a bench on stomach in superman position, pull downs with a band 30
Toe Raises – Tibealis Anterior exercise, back flat on wall feet out in front raise toes 30

END OF “WARM UP”

V-Rows – Row from the V position (legs and back raised for instability) 30
Pullovers on a stability ball – 30
Step up convicts (see X2) – 30 one side
Fingertip push-up 30
Step up convicts (see X2) – 30 other side
Bridge leg lift - 6 x 30 seconds or 3 each leg
Banana (supine) pull down - 30
Super Skaters with lateral hop – skate slow and then jump 30
Push press - 30
Side plank leg raise (see X2) – 30 seconds each side
Curls in a lunge - 30
Upright rows - 30
Front tri extension w/band in a lunge - 30
Reverse curl on one leg – 30

(REPEAT EVERYTHING AFTER THE WARM-UP)

Neuro-integreated stretch (see X2 PAP and Plyo)

pic: extended side plank on unstable platform - note down turned toe for glute med activation.

30 Is The New 20

Today’s installment of the WFH will discuss lean muscle; the stuff women are always on about over at our message boards. Well, ladies, I’ve got something you might want hear. Any of you seriously worried about gaining too much muscle mass can fret no more. The key is to make 30 your new 20. Or maybe we should call this part II of things your trainer will never tell you.

We’re talking about repetitions, of course. If you’ve been following along you know I’m in the first phase of the Workout From Hell where each set of exercise is done to as close to failure as possible at 30 reps. This is more or less un-heard of down at your local Gold’s, and for good reason. It makes it virtually impossible to gain much size. Conventional iron head wisdom would say “why bother?” So I’ll answer the why, which isn’t going to change their minds. But it might change yours.

Let’s open with the big caveat; the reason you haven’t heard me recommending 30 reps for any Beachbody program over the years. Well, we do 30 reps for some things, mainly abs and other slow twitch areas of the body that are trained well with volume, but never for the prime movers as a sustained target. It’s because it hurts. It hurts and it takes a long time. It hurts, it takes a long time, and it doesn’t yield the type of results quickly that most people are looking for. At this point it no longer sounds like a good idea to me.

What 30 reps does is train your glycolytic energy system. As I said in an early post, the glycolysis is what allows a fast 100 meter sprinter to win at 400 meters. Essentially, it’s the system that uses glycogen and oxygen to recharge your body’s anaerobic (Kreb’s Cycle) system. I ran the quarter and we used to refer to something we called The Bear. The Bear lived in the “block house” (housed the track equipment) that was located at the last turn of the track. In the 400, The Bear attacked at the last turn and slowed you down. Unless, that is, your glycolytic system was firing on all cylinders. Then you’d kick home, passing a bunch of guys who looked like they suddenly had a bear on their backs because their anaerobic system was finished at 300 meters (about as long as you can hold your breath while sprinting) and their glycolytic wasn’t trained well enough to keep their fast-twitch muscles firing.

But life isn’t the quarter so why train this? Essentially because it’s another energy system and the more efficient your body is that better it will work in life. It will allow more progress during your other training, no matter what it is, that leads to better results long term. A strong glycolytic system would be particularly useful for the latter rounds of P90X and high-level programs like Insanity (your ability to do Insanity should improve drastically). Basically, the more efficient your body runs the better it utilizes nutrients and can improve at other things.

During 30 reps sets you can actually feel your system load change. The weight you use may seem impossibly light during the first 6-10 reps. Around 15 (or less later in the workout) you’ll start feeling it. At 20, the point where most traditional weight exercises end and about as long as your can reasonably hold your breath under duress, you’re muscles will begin to give out as you change systems. From then on it’s a fight to the finish (providing you’ve used enough weight which takes a little practice). If you do these sets correctly you’ll be dying (in my case screaming) to get your last five reps done.

There are two very important techniques to adhere to. First is form. Reps should not be rushed and form should remain perfect throughout the set. If your form falters you should stop. There is no benefit to finishing a set with bad form, and anytime you do you risk injury.

Secondly you need to breathe, perhaps both loudly and exaggeratedly. Deep rhythmic breathing is the key to every single set. Remember that you are working on an oxygen based system. The more oxygen your force into your system the better chance you are have of finishing. This seems silly when you hoisting five pound weights because you could do this easily, with no focus at all, in the beginning. But if you don’t breathe early in the set it will catch up to you and you’ll fail near the end. When you nail your breathing it makes the transition between creatine phosphate and glycolytic systems smooth. The sets then get easier and more resistance can be added on your next set.

You should not do 30 rep sets for very long. I’m doing a three week cycle and I’m tired at the end of week two. It’s hard, stressful, and you could simply not remain focused for much longer than 3 to 4 weeks. In fact, 400 meter runners spend very little time actually running 400 meters. They train both under and over and save that targeted distance for peak periods and races. It pushes your body beyond where you want it to be very often.

For anyone looking for a performance edge I would recommend a block of 30 provided you have a decent fitness foundation. You could incorporate it into any weight training program. I think a block of P90X targeting 30 would be awesome. Keep in mind is that your resistance workouts will take a long time so you’ll need to use the pause button. Also, I haven’t guinea pigged this one so, until I do, you’re on your own.

pic: i can’t say whether isabelle patissier ever did the workout from hell but climbing definitely targets your glycolytic system and she did plenty of that. the former world cup champion showing off the fashion sense that made her a late-80s pin-up girl.