How much Power do you bring to your workout? June 25, 2008
Posted by hardly Uncategorized
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Power is an engineering term used to describe energy used, and the calculation looks something like this:
Power = (Mass x Distance) / Time
Usually, we see Power described by the given measurement system’s term, commonly watts or horsepower.
Over the last several years, we’ve seen an uptick in the use of this measurement to assess the work done in a workout, particularly with rowing machines & bicycles. These measurements are very helpful in assessing one’s performance over time on these machines.
It’s also useful to think about when lifting weights, especially if you’re comparing your workout against someone else’s.
Let’s say you’re doing a pull-up competition with your friend, and you want to create an apples-to-apples comparison. You weigh 200 lbs, and they weigh 150 lbs. Further, let’s say that you have to raise your body 24 inches (2 feet) to get your chin over the bar, and they have to raise their body 18 inches (1.5 ft). Here’s the math for your respective Work loads (Work = Mass * Distance, which is one of the main components in the Power equation, noted above):
Your Work: 200 lbs * 24 inches = 400 ft-lbs
Friend’s Work: 150 lbs & 18 inches = 225 ft-lbs
If your friend can do 20 pull-ups in 1 minute, they use 225 ft-lbs/minute of power. For you to generate more Power than that, you would need to complete your 20 pull-ups in 1:46.1. To convert this all to watts, use the conversion factor of .0226. So, your friend generates 5.085 watts to do their 20 pull-ups in 1 minute. You generate 5.0855 watts.
Kinda puts that 60-watt lightbulb into a clear context?
That was like hard June 25, 2008
Posted by hardly Bar, Dips, Kettlebell, Pullups, Pushups, Row
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Today’s wonderful workout had a couple of components to it that were hard. I like that, and yet…
Warmup:
- 1200 M Row, alternating 200 M at < 20 strokes/minute and 200 M at > 25 strokes per minute
- 50 Wallballs @ 14 kg
Workout:
- 10 sets of:
- 10 Deadlifts @ 100 lbs
- 10 Pullups
- 20 Dips on the rings
- 20 knee-raises on the rings
- As many sets of the following (must complete the set within 2 minutes):
- 10 Double Kettlebell Swings @ 12 kg kettlebells
- 10 Double Kettlebell Cleans @ 12 kg kettlebells
- 10 Double Kettlebell Squats @ 12 kg kettlebells
- 10 push-ups
- Sets completed: 5 (too many as it turns out, next time I move up to 16 kg kettlebells)
On the 10 sets of deadlifts & pullups, it became clear that if I could do the pullups using the infamous kipping maneuver, this would go faster. So, I worked on that a bit - still have more to do on that.
Also, I highly recommend to those of you who are bored w/dips to try doing them on rings instead of a stationary stand. These are decidedly not boring!
Workout:
- Type: Other
- Date: 06/25/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
How do you know when you’ve succeeded? June 25, 2008
Posted by hardly Strategic Concerns
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Seth has another rant about customer service today. I love his rants about Customer Service - they are always so spot-on!
A long time ago, in galaxy far away, I ran Customer Service and Technical Support teams. I've been on the opposite side of his frustration, creating the process that should solve customer problems.
The thing that's interesting about Seth's post is that the intense focus on certain metrics in Customer Care end up creating something that actually hinders the Customer Care process, and indeed, actually harms an organization's reputation. This has come about because it's much, much easier to measure costs than it is potential future revenue.
What does this have to do with recruiting you ask?
Simple. What are your measurements for recruiting success? Just because you can measure something doesn't make it meaningful to your business.
