Charlie:

Kap in researching a previous post you said, My 5 x 5s take roughly 90 minutes, including warm ups, the sprint workouts are about 75 minutes”, what take so long? Could you please break this down, trying to emulate your workouts but not sure what I am missing. Thanks!

Charlie,

This is a solid question. I dig the attention to detail. Much respect.

Our focus at Kaplifestyle is about power production and the development of lean tissue. Neither our 5 x 5 nor our sprint workouts are endurance exercises. Rather, we want to fully recover in order to optimize for explosiveness and speed.

From strength and conditioning coach John Alvino:

How long you should rest in between sprints can have a huge impact on your training results. If you are training for pure speed, you generally want full recovery in between sprints. For the distances discussed above you could easily rest 3-6 minutes in between sprints.

This may not be the ideal formula for fat burning, but I’m in it for the power and the muscle mass. I believe that more lean tissue is better, long term. The longer the sprints and the less recovery built in, the more catabolic the activity may become.

So, when I perform the 5 x 5 or sprints, I recover fully between sets. Here’s a sample breakdown.

• 15 minute warm up
• 4 x 40 yards with 4 minutes rest between = roughly 17 minutes
• 4 x 60 yards, same rest = an additional 17
• 4 x 100 yards, 5 minutes rest =  roughly 22 minutes
• 15 minute cool down

Total: 86 minutes

No, it’s not an exact science, but you get the picture. The key word is power. Full recovery leads to full power production. Full power production reminds our bodies to keep the lean tissue we have and to lay down more. Lean tissue equals more power production and the cycle repeats.

Strong mind,

Kap

Let me know what’s on your mind in the comments below.