HomeTwo Week Endurance Cycle
Two Week Endurance Cycle
Submitted by Brad G. on Mon, 2010-02-22 12:08
I am excited to see some routines making their way into the different zones. This new Endurance cycle looks very comprehensive... really time consuming. From what I can see you need to be able to devote 2 hours at a minimum to complete some of the days workouts. Lack of access to a pool and needing to combine BBW and FF with Aquakinetic work on some days means this will not work for me I'm afraid but I appreciate the effort that went into putting this together.

Re: Two Week Endurance Cycle
I will give this some more thought but a few things come to mind right away:
1. Most endurance athletes who aren't pros structure their weeks around doing the largest training volumes on the weekends where they have more time. In my case, I take my rest day on Mondays and train both days on the weekend. The current schedule puts the largest volume on weekdays.
2. Is it essential to do BBW and FF every day? These are phenomenal tools but substituting a shorter workout that hits the key areas a few days a week would free up some time. It also breaks-up the monotony of doing the same routine every day and allows you to focus on a few key movements.
3. The AquaKinetic work (I hear) is amazing but I would imagine for most folks it requires a special trip to the pool. Scheduling it in-between FF, BBW and sprints makes for a long day considering these might need to take place at different locations. Options for what to do if you don't have access to a pool would be great too.
4. On Monday of week two, you have scheduled BBW, FF, Plyos and 3-5 mile repeats. First of all that is a huge day (on a Monday no less :)), secondly, I don't know about everybody else but I would be pretty worked before getting to the mile repeats if I hit the prior work with any intensity. Not sure how snappy those miles would be at that point.
5. Bottom line, most endurance athletes don't do anything but cardio because they feel like they don't have the time. Obviously they should incorporate additional work for performance and health reasons but if it seems too complicated or time consuming I fear they won't even start. Endurance athletes (most of them anyway) don't like spending time in "gyms". Efficiency is the name of the game. Maximize the efficiency of their time away from the sports they love and I think you'll get more converts. Core Performance Endurance does this very well in my opinion (but it's not SSL).