Work vs. Intensity (or the misunderstanding of going heavy all the time)

So Weds WOD was a smoker. I actually felt like throwing up for the first time in a long time (and trust me, this is not something that I brag about.) In addition to many of the specifics of my performance that I focused on (i.e. I spent way too much time off of the bar,) I can say that I hit it Rx’d, which was 75# thrusters for men. I felt I did okay at 8 rounds and 8 thrusters, but I hardly put myself in the league as many of our firebreathers. I came in to teach one of the later classes and I saw some of these athletes doing the same WOD but with 95#. Their results were down by 20-25% over mine (i.e. they hit in the 6’s), but hey, they went heavier, that means they worked out harder, right? No! Greg Everett has a great tool called a power calculator, and without going into it too much, it doesn’t take too much to figure out that if you increase the weight by 27% and the total reps go down by 60% you are doing less work over more time. There are cases for going very heavy in short time to push your anaerobic capacity, but 15 minutes is long past that, and a lot of your time will be standing, doing no work.

Height 193.04 cm 76 in Bodyweight 90.72 kg 200 lb Movements Thruster @ 75# Reps - 128 Travel, Body - 0.53 meters Work, Body - 44924.89 joules Travel, Weight - 1.2 meters Work, Weight - 51240.96 joules Total Work - 96165.85 joules Duration 15:00 900 seconds Work Performed 96165.85 joules 9806.03 kg-m 70931.93 ft-lbs Power Output 106.85 watts 0.15 horsepower 78.81 ft-lbs/sec

Height 193.04 cm 76 in Bodyweight 90.72 kg 200 lb Movements Thruster @ 95# Reps - 128 Travel, Body - 0.53 meters Work, Body - 44924.89 joules Travel, Weight - 1.2 meters Work, Weight - 64905.22 joules Total Work - 109830.11 joules Duration 15:00 900 seconds Work Performed 109830.11 joules 11199.38 kg-m 81010.69 ft-lbs Power Output 122.03 watts 0.17 horsepower 90 ft-lbs/sec

Height 193.04 cm 76 in Bodyweight 90.72 kg 200 lb Movements Thruster @ 95# (lower reps) Reps - 78 Travel, Body - 0.53 meters Work, Body - 27376.1 joules Travel, Weight - 1.2 meters Work, Weight - 39551.62 joules Total Work - 66927.72 joules Duration 15:00 900 seconds Work Performed 66927.72 joules 6824.62 kg-m 49365.89 ft-lbs Power Output 74.36 watts 0.1 horsepower 54.85 ft-lbs/sec

WOD

15-12-9

Kb cleans (70/53)

21-15-9

burpees