The Quick and the Dead

by Pavel Tsatsouline

  There are multiple factors in play. Bigger and better mitochondria are front and center. Russian scientist Andrey Antonov calculated that a regular untrained adult’s heart pumps out enough oxygen to enable him to keep up with advanced runners in a long-distance race.

  Then why does he not [keep up]…and, moreover, gets out of breath climbing to the third floor? Because his muscles have few mitochondria…Without mitochondria, a muscle cannot utilize oxygen. The heart delivers enough oxygen to the muscles to run at a Master of Sport level, but the remaining oxygen is wasted.

  While we do not yet know how to fully develop our mitochondria to the point where they vacuum up and use all the incoming oxygen, the point has been made.

  Scientists used to believe that the VO2 max was the bottleneck and the end-all of elite endurance performance. Today’s prevailing point of view is that it is the muscles’ ability to extract arriving oxygen and utilize it in the mitochondria that limits further growth of results and thus must be the training priority.

  Thus spake Verkhoshansky.

  Of course, it does not mean that oxygen transport is irrelevant. If you aim high in an endurance sport like cross-country skiing, you will have to train it. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from “Tabatas” and other pop-HIIT. Why? That we will discuss some other time. Stick with the VO2 max training methods proven at the highest echelons of your sport.

  The Delta 20 Principle

  Everyone is familiar with the concept of progressive overload. Tomorrow you will lift more weight, do more reps, or get the same work done in less time than yesterday. Next week, the volume, intensity, or density will be higher than this week...and so on and so forth. Although periodic deloads are taken—light and medium days, easier weeks, a brand-new 12-week cycle—the overall pattern of progression is straight as an arrow.

  An alternative training principle, variable overload, was developed by Prof. Arkady Vorobyev:

  Both non-organic and organic nature is characterized by the so-called step-like function change. Conversion of chemical energy into mechanical, electromagnetic, and thermal energy also happens stepwise. Discrete changes on sub-cellular and cellular levels are most likely one of the characteristics of live organisms. Although not excluding the principle of gradual overload [over a longer term], we propose sudden yet fitting the given athlete’s functional abilities changes in load—‘jumps.’ This principle of organizing the training loads allows one to achieve higher results with a smaller loading volume.

  Prof. Arkady Vorobyev, one of the greatest sports scientists in history—not to mention, a twenty-time world record holder and a two-time Olympic champion in weightlifting.

  Soviet weightlifters and, decades later, Russian powerlifters saw spectacular results from variable overload. At StrongFirst we developed Plan Strong™, a general strength training system faithfully adapted from the Soviet weightlifting methodology that produced records that still stand.

  “Perhaps the principle of variability applies only to strength sports?” inquires Prof. Vorobyev. “As it turns out, no. [Experiments] convincingly proved that this principle has a significantly larger effect on the increase of athletic results, compared to other methods of load organization, in track and field, swimming, and gymnastics...The principle of variable load organization is applicable to athletes of any sport and any qualification.”

  We applied elements of Plan Strong™ programming to Strong Endurance™ training protocols with great success. The key is the Delta 20 Principle. It means that a minimum volume change from one training unit to the next is 20 percent. Thus, “∆ 20 %” or “Delta 20.”

  Compared to the baby steps practiced in progressive overload, variable overload volume whiplashes up and down with ∆ 20 percent as a rock-bottom minimum—and ∆ 100 percent and higher on a regular basis. This shocks the system with expectedly superior performance gains—and, as Prof. Vorobyev’s research revealed, unexpectedly better wellbeing.

  Fabio Zonin, Master SFG teaching a Plan Strong™ seminar.

  Given the Q&D mandate to maintain max power, the regimen is treated as a power regimen. Variable overload is a perfect match for power training, where progressive overload makes no sense at all. You are already giving each rep 100 percent, so there is nowhere to go up, at least in the short term. Your resistance has been optimized for max power production, so increasing it would be counterproductive. It could be varied, but, as the word implies, that is variability rather than progression. Increasing the reps per set or the number of sets would compromise the power and unrecognizably alter the metabolic events and the resulting adaptations.

  In summary, while you will see power go up over weeks and the weight enabling max power increase over months, there is no short-term progression, only practice and variability.

  The perfect parameter to vary on the Q&D protocol is the daily volume, the rep total.

  We already know the top end: 100 reps. How low can we go and what other options will there be between the high and the low?

  The answers are 40, 60, 80, and 100.

  These numbers were picked for several reasons.

  First, they are multiples of 20—the number of reps per series.

  Second, any two consecutive numbers guarantee a minimal volume change of 20 percent (from 100 to 80), with the delta shooting much higher in other combinations, all the way up to 150 percent (from 40 to 100).

  Third, students of Plan Strong™ who choose to dismantle these digits will recognize that they hit the bull’s eye of Prof. Anatoly Chernyak’s “magic numbers” or stable structural constants.

  Great news for programming simplicity: In the Q&D context these numbers can be arranged in any order.

  Traditional athletic training periodization calls for a preparatory period and a competition period. The former builds stable long-term adaptations in strength, endurance, and other qualities. The latter does not build anything, but creates the perfect short-term conditions to realize the potential built in the prep period.

  If one is peaking for a given date, the order in which the “magic numbers” are arranged must follow special formulae. But in the prep period, any order works.

  And for the purposes of many Q&D readers, peaking is irrelevant—at least in the Q&D drills.

  In the early 2000s, I introduced variable overload within the context of tactical periodization to special operations teams I was working with as a subject matter expert.

  Traditional periodization involves long-term planning and peaking on a given day. Both are out for a deployed serviceman and, more recently, servicewoman. On any given day, bad guys may have some ideas other than a heavy squat.

  In contrast, tactical periodization is short-term training planning that emphasizes sharp and near-random variation of the training load. In other words, it is Prof. Vorobyev’s sharp variability adapted to highly kinetic environments.

  Of course, war is not the only such environment. Less dramatic but equally unpredictable are a suburban house full of kids or a start-up campus. Hence, most adults should model their training on that of warriors rather than athletes.

  To introduce more randomness within our strictly defined load parameters, you will be rolling a die to determine the rep count for each of your three weekly Q&D sessions.

  Note that you will always be doing an identical number of reps in both exercises: 40+40, 100+100, etc. In the one-arm swings, count the sum of both arms. For example, on the day with 40 reps, you will do 10L, 10R, 10L, 10R.

  Here is how it works with swings and pushups.

  Of course, occasionally, when circumstances insist, you may choose not to roll a die and simply pick the daily volume most suitable to what happened yesterday or what is about to happen later today or tomorrow. Just do not make a habit of it, as your bias toward some numbers would reduce the randomness and thus the effectiveness of the method.

  A word about days when you are supposed to train, but you just do not have max intensity in you: Do a minimal volume ses
sion of 40 reps, but do not go full power. Relax and keep your effort dial at around three-quarters of max. You will still net many benefits from such a session, one being the ability to learn to minimize counterproductive tension in antagonistic muscles. This applies to both swing plus pushup and snatch loads.

  The snatch variability is the same, but the length of a training session is two-thirds of that of swings plus pushups:

  Note that on days with three and five series, you start and finish with your non-dominant side, thus giving it 20 extra reps. Try not to let this drive you crazy.

  Once you have established the daily volume, roll a die to set the daily set and rep scheme:

  [ 6]

  [ 7]

  Finally, choose the swing variation:

  If you are equally comfortable pushing up on your palms and fists, you may add an additional degree of variability by rolling a die between the two:

  Built to Last

  There are times when an athlete is forced to cut way back on training or even stop altogether.

  And not just an athlete. A Marine deployed into harm’s way. A sleep-deprived parent. An entrepreneur.

  Aimed at a reader living a life full of sharp turns, Q&D was designed to minimize deconditioning during layoffs. Here is how.

  First, the Q&D endurance resides in the mitochondria and is not limited by cardio. VO2 max is one of the first markers to go to pot when you stop training—especially if you have been doing intervals rather than steady-state training. And, unfairly, the higher your VO2 max, the steeper its decline.

  Second, what was built persists longer than what has been pumped up.

  “Brick and mortar” morphological adaptations are far more stable than biochemical ones. Compare the shelf life of muscle mass grown with different methods. A bodybuilder starts losing size days after leaving the gym. Muscle glycogen stores rapidly shrink from disuse and, since one molecule of glycogen binds three molecules of water, his pipes lose their pumped-up look. In contrast, a powerlifter may take a month off and those guns will hardly show it. It takes the “real” muscle—the myofibrils—an entire month of laziness before they start wilting.

  By the same token, the Q&D endurance that relies on increased mitochondrial mass will outlast the metcon endurance dependent on fickle glycogen stores, glycolytic enzymes, and acid buffers.

  Third, what is built slowly will outlast what was slapped together.

  Think of a cathedral erected over decades of loving labor versus a house mass produced without pride in one’s craftsmanship. The former will outlast the latter by centuries.

  The longer the training period, the deeper the adaptations and the more resistant they are to detraining. Soviet scientists made two groups of subjects stop training for 30 days. Before this layoff, one group had trained for 30 days and the other for 90 days. Following a month of laziness, the oxidative capacity in the first “get fit quick” group reverted back to the pre-training levels…like their training never happened. In contrast, the group that put their time in the gym experienced no decrease at all.

  Q&D was meant to be practiced for months and years, not weeks.

  Fourth, Q&D’s fixation on power enables the athlete to retain all fitness qualities during times of reduced training.

  Soviets discovered that the greater the speed component in low-volume maintenance loads, the more pronounced their detraining prevention effects. “This opens up opportunities for using special low volume loads for maintaining athletes’ training level in situations when the athlete is forced to stop full volume training for one reason or another,” comments Prof. Yakovlev. This is yet another reason to be “fast first.”

  Fifth, the rate of future detraining can be slowed by decreasing today’s training frequency.

  During the Cold War, German scientists discovered that the more frequently we train, the quicker we detrain—and vice versa. Hence, skipping an occasional week or longer will be less punishing to performance if we normally train twice a week.

  Q&D offers an option of training only twice a week. Although training daily favors mitochondrial adaptations, twice a week is enough to make excellent gains, as witnessed by the earlier-mentioned repeat sprint experiment with advanced wrestlers. There is a mountain of evidence that training twice a week is sufficient for power, and for muscle hypertrophy as well.

  The Schedule

  Twice a week is good and three are better.

  In many types of training, twice-a-week frequency is the minimal effective dose, with four times a week being the point of diminishing returns. Hence, the Q&D choice is three times a week, where effectiveness meets efficiency—the timeless Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule.

  On to your Q&D day.

  Given the brief and energizing nature of Q&D sessions, it is easy to fit it with other types of training. Just remember not to do anything right before it. Fast first.

  Q&D after a warm-up of choice. Do the bare minimum recommended by your health care professional plus whatever else you need to stay healthy. Although a much more extensive warm-up increases performance in power exercises (but not strength exercises), it is hard to justify for an ultra-minimalist.

  For instance, here is my personal warm-up before Q&D swings and parallel bar dips:

  Assume a wide stance, about two shoulder widths, with the toes turned out more than 45 degrees, and squat to slightly below parallel. Stay there, “pull the hips out of their sockets” and pry for around 10 seconds.

  Stand facing away from a vertical pole. Clasp the hands around the pole, behind the back at the waist level. Lean forward, spread the collarbones, and force the chest open, readying for the bottom of the dip. That was another 10 seconds.

  A couple of hip circles, focusing on the extension—the final 10 seconds.

  A grand total of half a minute; make it a whopping full minute if you count the transitions. Boom, I am ready.

  I am not suggesting you emulate the above highly individualized routine. I have trained without warm-ups for decades. This is not for everybody.

  Train fresh.

  The best time of the day depends on your top priority.

  For power, do Q&D in the early evening, just not close to bedtime. This protocol spikes your energy and you will have a hard time falling asleep after it.

  For health and endurance, do Q&D fasted in the morning.

  I am appalled at myself for having broken my decades-long policy of not giving out nutrition advice, but this message was too persistent in mitochondrial research to ignore.

  As discussed in the earlier section on ATP, AMPK measures not just AMP, but other manifestations of low energy. As such, AMPK is not as readily activated by training if you are fed like a bodybuilder or stocked with glycogen like a marathoner. This is why Q&D training is most effective in the morning in a fasted state.

  Obviously, sipping some ridiculous “energy drink” before or during a training session would inhibit the effects of your training on the mitochondria.

  And even after. Research suggests that ideally, to reinforce the message, you should stay fasted for a while after stimulating mitochondria with training. How long is a personal compromise based on many factors. Obviously, delaying feeding the cat compromises hypertrophy and glycogen replenishment.

  When you start Q&D, do not jump into the full load, but build up to it over a couple of weeks. The first week, accept only 40 and 60 reps—roll again if the die assigns you more. The second week, accept 80, but still deny 100. After that, you should be good to go with a full load.

  The first week, do exclusively the 5/4 series. The second week, start rolling a die, but limit your choices to 5/4 and alternating 5/4 and 10/2. From the third week forward, anything goes.

  Hold back your power to 80–90 percent for the first week or two, then go full throttle.

  Early on, swing or snatch with a free fall. Once you can comfortably do your 100 total reps with max power, ease into overspeed eccentrics. “Whatever you do, do not overestima
te your capabilities,” warned Dr. Mel Siff. “Remember that this is really a type of ‘supramaximal’ force training and it can impose extremely large stresses on your soft tissues.”

  Start lightly accelerating the ’bell on the way down and back. Build up very slowly until any of the following occurs:

  ✓ You sense that adding even more power on the way down might cause injury.

  ✓ You know that your skin on your palms will not be able to take a more violent deceleration.

  ✓ You are unable to throw the ’bell down and back any faster.