042 Anaerobic Power and Repeatability

The Paul Weber Podcast

Send us a text

Almost everything you do in CF is physiologically sustainable only for short durations

30 UB muscle ups = 90 seconds
150 UB WB = 5 minutes

The movements have one pace – and that pace is above critical power – unlike endurance modalities where the pace can shift above and below critical power

Critical Power - the physiological term for the separation point between sustainable and unsustainable work

In CrossFit, athletes must use constant work:rest scenarios in order to complete the work requirement, or work continuously for the duration of the test

W Prime = Anaerobic Power = the amount of work that can be performed above Critical Power, it is measured in kJ

You can think of this like the number of unbroken RMU or WB you can do

Anaerobic Repeatability – recovery time needed for athlete to complete the next bout above critical power

Think of this like the time it takes you after you do a max unbroken set of RMU or WB to do the next set.

The closeness between your max UB set and your total time is a measure of your anaerobic repeatability:
-max UB RMU and 30 RMU for time.
-max UB strict HSPU and 50 for time.
-max UB WB and 150 for time.

What happens when we use a sustainable modality?

Determining Anaerobic Power:

A single Wingate (30s Row) – 250m Row – 500m Row – 1k Row

Determining Anaerobic Repeatability:

Repeated Wingates – 4x30/30 Row

Decreasing power output – all out effort is essential to the execution of anaerobic power and repeatability TESTS (NOT TRAINING)

The goal is to drain the W Prime completely before the end of the test.

At that point, the theory is that you cannot sustain output above CP since the W’ is drained – so the average power after W Prime is drained is your Critical Power measurement.

The work done prior to the decrement in power output is your W Prime.

4x30/30 Row

1 Alactic power
2 Lactic power
3 Lactic endurance
4 Lactic endurance – some predictive relationship with aerobic ability

1 BW (lbs) in meters
2 95%
3 92%
4 90%

One study found that repeated wingates on a bike strongly predicted CF performance in a 15 minute metcon.

Top end anaerobic power and anaerobic repeatability may be strong predictors of CF performance.

DISCLAIMER – this type of testing is intensive – meaning it is volume-limiting, stressful, and easy to overdose

66-75% of the year in base training. 245-275 days in extensive training.

How to structure anaerobic training

4-12 week progression with deloads every 3-6 weeks.

Frequency 1-2x per week.

Expect a decrease in aerobic power and strength during the progression and then a supercompensation 10-20 days after the end of the progression.

Anaerobic work:rest ratios (1:5-10) and very high power outputs that would not be repeatable without the long rest.

Start with short duration working intervals (10-60 seconds) and extend over the course of the progression to 3 minutes.

Select movements that allow for a high turnover (sled, thruster, pullup, AB as examples)

https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/apnm-2018-0509