Knowing the difference and how to improve each of these will allow you to train harder, smarter.
Your capability involves the weights you can lift, your technique on your lifts, the skills you can do and the times of your short duration conditioning.
Your capacity looks at percentage based repetition ranges of weighted movements, technical efficiency under fatigue, repetition ranges of skills and pace based longer duration conditioning.
“A lot of people want to be a part of the outcome, but not a part of the process.”
Examining the correlation between these two categories can provide great insight into your strengths and weaknesses at a much deeper level than just the surface level numbers. The goal is to have good balance between your strength and strength endurance. If there isn’t, then it usually means one or possibly more of these three things:
Your strength needs to increase relatively
Your endurance needs to increase relatively
Your mindset needs to shift
Let’s take a look at an example from each of the following training modalities:
Traditional Barbell Strength: Back Squat one rep max compared to a Back Squat 10-rep max
Olympic Lifting: Power clean one rep max compared to Max weight for 10 unbroken Power Clean reps
Gymnastics Skills: Max weight on a Weighted Strict Pull-up compared to max unbroken Kipping or Butterfly Pull-ups
Conditioning: 500m Row compared to a 2,000m Row
Traditional Barbell Strength
If your strength and strength endurance are balanced then your one rep max will correlate very closely with the reps that should be completed according to percentage of your one rep max. Think of your heaviest back squat…now take 75% of that. Could you do 10 reps?
If the answer is no and by quit a bit then you may need to work on your strength endurance. Focus on sets of 8-12 at 70+%.
If the answer is yes and pretty easily then you may need to work on your strength. Focus on sets of 1-3 at 85+%.
Another question to consider is about your mindset when doing high rep sets as compared to heavy, single rep sets. Which do you prefer? Some can push through the grind of reps much better than getting amped for one rep and vice versa. Both of these take time to learn how to reach a true maximum.
Check this chart for more rep/percentage comparisons.
Olympic Lifting
In these lifts we not only have to consider strength vs. strength endurance, but also your technical abilities fresh vs. your technical efficiency under fatigue. Using a similar example from above, think of your heaviest clean…now take 75% of that. Could you do 10 reps?
If yes and easily then you may need to focus on your overall strength for the lift and/or your technical limitations of the lift. If you are hitting solid positions within the lift, but the weight just limits you then increase your pulling and squatting strength. If the weight does not feel that heavy, but you are just technically out of position then strip the weight down and work empty barbell complexes.
If the answer is no and not close then you may need to work on your strength endurance either as a whole or particularly in your grip and/or your technical efficiency under fatigue. If you stay fairly efficient, but you just gas then work on your endurance as a whole or specifically in your grip. If the muscles feel good, but your technique falls apart then work on moderate to heavy doubles and triples with short rest.
Once again, your mentality can be examined to see how you approach heavy weights and high rep sets.
Gymnastic Skills
Just like the Olympic lifts we not only have to consider strength vs. strength endurance, but also your technical abilities fresh vs. your technical efficiency under fatigue. As your strength increases on a one rep weighted strict pull-up, your number of unbroken reps on kipping/butterfly pull-ups should increase as well. If not, you may need to work on your muscular endurance, grip endurance and/or your technique in the movement. Remember, with skills we must first gain the strength required for the movement, then use drills to get your first rep and lastly build bigger sets.
This build happens in three phases:
Under no fatigue: 10-minute EMOMs work very well for this. Starting at 2-3 reps depending on the skill, this allows you to work stringing reps together under little to no fatigue and accumulating a good amount of volume over the 10 minutes. Slowly increase to 6-8 reps over time, then move to the next phase.
Under general fatigue: Use an EMOM or every 2 minutes format to increase your heart rate through rowing, running or burpees before doing the repetition sets. Slowly increase to 10 sets of 6-8 reps with this format, then move to the next phase.
Under specific fatigue. Once again using an EMOM or every 2-3 minutes format you want to specifically fatigue something that is involved in the skill. Grip before rope climbs, shoulders before HSPU or handstand walks or row before pull-ups. Slowly increase to 10 sets of 6-8 reps with this format.
Conditioning
As stated in Paul’s Law of rowing: An athlete with balanced speed and endurance capabilities, for every doubling of distance the 500m split should increase by five seconds. This means if your best 500m is 1:45 then your 1,000m should be at 1:50 pace (3:40) and your 2,000m should be at 1:55 pace (7:40).
If those paces for your 1k and 2k are much slower then you may need to focus on your endurance. Use easy to moderate pace longer distance intervals to improve this area.
If those paces are very easy to maintain then you may need to focus on your strength and power for the shorter durations. Utilize short, high intensity intervals of 1-2 minutes with around 1:2 rest (rest twice as long as the interval).
As with the other training modalities previously mentioned, technical ability, technical efficiency and mindset can also be a factor in these time disparities.
“If there is no inventory taken and no specialized plan based off what that inventory is, then you are just training to train, not training to reach your full potential. ”
In order for you to progressively improve over time you need to take ownership of every aspect of your training, your client’s training and/or your gym’s training. Stop doing the same $h!t other’s are doing just because others are doing it, find what you specifically need to work on. A lot of the time, your biggest areas of opportunity can move the needle the most.
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