Strength Plus Endurance Equals Strendurance

Posted by Steve ()

February 14, 2008

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Decided to put the 100 Push Ups Plan on hold for a while, use my time more wisely and start a more productive strength workout program. Last year I dabbled with the excellent Strendurance 12 Week Strength Development Program by Troy Jacobson, but was struggling with a foot injury at the time which was aggravated by certain pieces of the program. I made it through the first couple of weeks, but needed total rest to recover properly. I think the time is right to try again!

Strendurance is a 6-workout DVD, designed to be performed repeatedly over the course of 12 weeks in a set sequence. The high intensity strength workouts are 20-30 minutes in length and designed for endurance athletes from a variety of sports. The goal of the endurance athlete is not to ‘bulk up’ with unwanted mass, but rather to boost one’s muscular capabilities and the Strendurance program, according to their web site, accomplishes this goal!

The program suggests you perform workouts A through F, 4 to 6 times over a 2 week period. Tonight would be the first attempt at Workout A, which on paper looks pretty easy, but in reality is very challenging. After a brief warm up, you start off with three sets of the following with no rest between reps:

20 seconds of push ups
20 seconds of upright rows with dumbells
20 seconds of jumping jacks

Yeah, I know, sounds a piece of cake doesn’t it? Normally I’d agree, but there’s something about this 3 minute block of exercise that is really challenging.

The second set is a combination of squats, shoulder presses and mountain climbers, and is definitely no easier than the first set. Luckily you get some rest before moving on to a set of core work (crunches/lower back extensions) and “flicks” to keep the heart rate elevated.

The whole workout doesn’t even last 25 minutes, but at the end I was pretty beat up. For someone who classes himself as a pretty fit athlete, it really is quite a humbling experience! However, I’m sure I’ll adjust to the speed and combination of the exercises pretty soon, and if I can make it through the whole 12 weeks, I know I’ll be a better, fitter athlete.

Here’s a preview to the Strendurance series of strength/endurance exercises I found on YouTube. Enjoy!