Today I did 150 wallballs with a 20 pound medicine ball in 7:25. On 5/26 I did it in 9:38. Quite a bit faster! That means I did it faster, but what else?
Using this link I figured the difference in power outputs from 5/26 to 8/20. (I actually used the excel program on this link because the first link did not have a "wall ball" parameter. I originally used a thruster with 40# but then used the excel which had specific parameters for wall balls and most crossfit exercises)
On 5/26 my power output was: 108.16 watts (1.578 W/Kg)
On 8/20 my power output was: 140.48 watts (2.04 W/Kg)
(That is .0000001578 gigawatts compared to .00000014048 gigawatts if you are Doc Brown. His Delorean needed 1.21 gigawatts to get back to 1985!)
Because I performed the same workout with more speed, I have improved my power.
Here is a great article on power output and athletic performance. Basically, power is a measure of (force x distance)/time, or a measure of speed and strength.
Someone who is purely training for strength will not be as good an athlete (or as powerful) as someone who works on exercises that emphasize speed and strength like the clean and snatch. Therefore athletes should emphasize the cleans and snatches.
2 comments:
Hey Michael, I have a question for you. I know you and Kelsa do the crossfit workouts, but do you do any additional cardio or strength training? I know interval training is proven to have great benefits, but the workouts just seem so short. Even while doing P90X (workouts are about 1-1.5 hours) I find myself missing cardio and supplementing with running sometimes. Just curious what your thoughts about this are. Also, I teach at CMU in the PA Program so I probably work with a lot of your old teachers.
Erin, now that I am training for a half marathon, I do three extra running workout a week. But to answer your question in regards to extra cardio with Crossfit, no you don't need to do extra cardio. You are burning calories and fat more efficiently while doing the CF/ interval workouts, so it is not necessary. It's not going to kill you either, but if your nutrition is sound, it isn't needed.
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