WOD Blog >> Strength and Power Endurance

This section of the blog will document the training completed by my gym partner "Mr. Simon Aldous" and myself so that we can measure what has worked well for us, and thus report our recommendations.


Last week's workout consisted of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and a circuit of Power Cleans, Deadlifts and Front Squats using a relatively low weight.

This workout was designed to tax the three energy systems:

• ATP-CP system (Phosphogen system) - This system is used only for very short durations of up to 10 seconds. The ATP-CP system neither uses oxygen nor produces lactic acid if oxygen is unavailable and is thus said to be alactic anaerobic. This is the primary system behind very short, powerful movements like a punch, a 100 m sprint or powerlifting.

• Anaerobic system - Predominates in supplying energy for exercises lasting less than 2 minutes. Also known as the Glycolytic System. An example of an activity of the intensity and duration that this system works under would be a 400 m sprint.

• Aerobic system - This is the long duration energy system. By 5 minutes of exercise the O₂ system is clearly the dominant system. In a 1 km run, this system is already providing approximately half the energy; in a marathon run it provides 98% or more.

We started our workout with a Tabata Protocol. This is a method of intense anaerobic conditioning which consists of 20 seconds of hard activity followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times over. The benefit of Tabata intervals is that it can help to improve anaerobic fitness and also aerobic conditioning despite being only 4 minutes of exercise!

Following a brief dynamic stretching routine we got stuck into our main workout which is to be completed as a back-to-back tri-set of:

Power cleans @70kg x 6reps
Deadlift @70kg x 10reps
Front Squats @80kg x 10reps (Simon lifted 80kgs while I wimped out and dropped my weight to 60kg as I felt sore from training the day before)

repeated 5 times, the rest period being when the time it took for Simon or myself to complete the circuit.

This circuit taxes predominatly the ATP-CP system and the anaerobic system which is responsible for producing powerful and explosive movements for short periods of time. Considering my main sport is Muay Thai and boxing, this sort of workout is perfect for mimicking the physical demands of a boxing match which consists of 3-5 three minute rounds.