Do it with ease!

Do it with ease!

Advanced and personal kettlebell case study

When facing an endurance event of any kind and specifically high intensity strength endurance event there is a dilemma how to spread your energy to get the best result. There are two major strategies depending on your genetic predisposition ( the amount of fast twitch muscle fibers vs slow twitch muscle fibers you have in the working muscle), your nervous system type, and your ability to tolerate lactic acid accumulation, and pain.
The first strategy is to ease into it and accelerate throughout the event. It is suitable for athletes who possess predominantly slow twitch muscle fibers, who can afford the patience to hold back and unveil the energy potential gradually. The downside of this approach is the risk of accumulating too much deficit in the first half and not being able to catch up in the second half. The upside is that you get to finish strong at the end which has a powerful psychological aspect and also gives you the position of control and chance to win when the battle among the competition is tight. The biggest biochemical benefit is that it’s much easier to stay within your anaerobic threshold (a delicate intensity that  allows the muscle to use primarily aerobic respiration to generate atp while being on the edge of switching to a rapid anaerobic fermentation ). In other words the usage of energy is efficient and economical. This counts not only in times of competition but most importantly during training. Being economical will save a lot of pain and resources and will make you a better athlete on the long run.
The second strategy is the opposite of the first one but not exactly. It means that you start at a higher intensity so you can get an advantage in the first half and then trying to hold on to the lead. The biggest upside is that you are in front almost through the whole time which can be quite a booster. The biggest downside is that you are going to pay back biochemically for accumulating lactic acid too early, and crossing over your anaerobic threshold way before the final stretch. It is very painful. Especially at the end. The worst thing is that if you do it often enough your body will get rid of the pain by mimicking failure prematurely. Together with the fact that fermentation is the most inefficient pathway to generate energy makes me not recommend this in training. But we shouldn't throw this approach away so fast and here is why. You can try to get the best of both strategies. The reason this is possible is because our body uses the creatine phosphate energy system in an alactic regime. It gives phosphates to regenerate atp without generating lactic acid, and without dropping Ph values ( increasing acidity ). This only happens for about 30 seconds when the pool gets exhausted and the body shifts toward glycolysis ( which produces lactic acid and rises acidity ).  So the mastery is to get the first 20 seconds more intense and then ease into a comfortable pace in order to transition gradually into glycolysis and aerobic respiration. Well, it is easily said than done and my personal case study is no exception.
I did two peak performance efforts with the two strategies in mind where the projected goal was to reach 80 reps ( plus or minus two reps ). In the first attempt I consciously hold back at the beginning and I mentally accelerate every minute, finishing with an attack the last 30 seconds ( switching to anaerobic fermentation ). I say “mentally accelerate” because this is what’s happening inside my head. What you are going to see is mostly an equal number of repetitions inside every minute ( but the mind effort is far from equal ).
I carefully listen to my heart rhythm and slow down every time I feel I am going to go out of my anaerobic threshold ( I don’t use a device for that but my intuition). I use the clock to pace myself, and I look to fit 4 reps every 30 seconds.
Although I decided to miss a couple of reps just to make sure I am inside anaerobic threshold, I was really pleased with the result. There was no excessive pain and everything went smooth, even pleasant.



The second approach got me arguably an extra repetition ( the time expired during fixation, which won’t be accepted by any judge ) and I will choose it in terms of achievement but the pain was excruciating.



So was that half rep worthed? I say NO.
In an absolute form the result of the second attempt is better but the price was much higher. Practically both efforts amount to 78 repetitions. The big difference is how the effort was perceived. The first was pleasant, the second a nightmare. So my advice to you is to be smart and master to do whatever it is with ease.