Work Capacity

When I was shoveling last night I couldn't believe my back didn't hurt like it would have several years ago. Not from shoveling, but from running and deadlifting and shoveling on the same day. I hadn't even realized I made the pairing till I was almost done. It felt good that it didn't matter. My body could handle it.

A simple definition of strength and conditioning is a training program intended to improve your work capacity.

Work capacity is how much effort you can expend over a certain time period. Basically, much can you do?

Work capacity is broad. It scales. We can think of it over an 8 minute density workout in the gym (an AMRAP), or over 60 minutes while shoveling, or even over an entire week. Work capacity not only reflects how much you can do, but how well you can recover.

To use the shoveling example, shoveling is short bursts of exertion (scoop, lift, carry) followed by an aerobic recovery (walking back to prepare for the next scoop). A strength and conditioning workout at Gain is designed to improve your work capacity. Rather, it's a well-desired side effect of programming for improved strength, better movement quality and more endurance.

A typical pairing we use is lift something kind of challenging, do a bodyweight movement, do a core movement or some mobility. Repeat 3-8 times. That improves your ability to show strength (through quality of posture/movement) over time. We can even look at it within different contexts. The time it took to do the pairing, 10 minutes, and within the context of the whole session, 60 minutes. Therefore not only does the specific thing that each of those exercises and pairings are intended for improve, but also your ability to keep expending effort over that duration.

Work capacity is a very basic, and measurable way to generalize how we train. Doing more work in less time has endless carryover to life. Dare I say it's even functional.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain