How to Train for Work Capacity

This week's episode is all about work capacity. What is it? How do you train for it? What programming principles apply?

This is another one of our recurring "how to" episodes, and it essentially fills in the gap left after our strength and endurance episodes. Somewhere between those two is the fuzzy concept of work capacity, which brings up related concepts like "mixed modal training" and even the dreaded CrossFit.

We start with a few definitions (some better than others) and even a quick science lesson. After that the bulk of this episode focuses on Drew's "Theoretical Guide to Work Capacity" which lays out his multi-pace theory. We highly recommend you pull up the blog post if you can, some of the framework is easier to digest when you can look at a chart. To some extent, this also builds on the previous blog post "Three Strategies for Functional Conditioning."

Subscribers to our Long and Strong program may enjoy this look into the method behind the madness of the work capacity sessions they've been doing a lot of. If this episode gets you curious, we'd love to have you join us!

One of our definitions of work capacity came from the very smart Greg Nuckols of Stronger by Science.

Another came from T-Nation, which can be a good resource as long as you're on guard for their shameless and aggressive supplement sales.

Unsurprisingly we also touch on CrossFit's definition as well

And Drew also specifically cites OPEX's framework, specifically maximal aerobic power.

Finally, and perhaps oddly, one of our definitions came from the Indian Journal of Environmental & Occupational Medicine. It turns out there is a large body of research focused on work capacity in the context of manual labor. Based on their less than impressive grasp on physiology, this might be an opportunity for some exercise physiology folks to help them out.