In II, Work Capacity is dubbed "the close relative" of GPP. I was wondering if anyone could clarify the difference between these two?

Siff defines work capacity as "the general ability of the body as a machine to produce work of different intensity and duration using the appropriate energy systems of the body.”

In summary, just think how much work you body can handle and produce. As your work capacity improves, you can handle more work (ie. more intensity, more volume, more frequency, etc.).

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Now, GPP can serve various needs. Medvedyev lists the following benefits (taken from his A System of Multi-Year Training in Weightlifting text):

1. “the formation, strengthening or restoration of the habits, which play an auxiliary, facilitatory role in sport perfectioning.”

2. “as a means of educating abilities, developed insufficiently by the selected type of sport, raising the general work capacity or preserving it.”

3. “as active rest, assisting the restoration processes after significant, specific loading and counteracting the monotony of the training.”

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This text may look fancy, but take a closer look and you will see that it is not. As you will see, GPP can target unique needs (ex. active rest vs. training abilities that are not adequately developed with sport training alone).

Clearly, these are "general" terms with multiple applications.

Ross

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Thanks! I was wondering about that too.

Some other possible distinctions between GPP and Work capacity:

- You can use GPP to increase your work capacity, maintain it, or even not affect it at all (as when using GPP for active rest)

- You can increase your overall WORK CAPACITY ... but not be generally physically prepared for MMA, or any other specific activity. You would need GPP for MMA (specialization) for this.

I think what gets confusing is that some of the same exercises and protocols can be used for BOTH GPP and for increasing Work Capacity, so they seem almost indistinguishable. I think Work Capacity is a GENERAL concept applied to ones overall capacity for anything... where as GPP is a general concept that applies to a SPECIFIC application of work capacity, and ironically can also be used for active rest and have no impact to work capacity at all (except in an indirect way).

That's what I garnered from the definitions.

Interesting, so what are the main/general principles that focus on increasing work capacity?

I guess I thought GPP was is the ability to perform a wide variety of physical / athletic tasks. In other words GPP is about attaing ENOUGH strength and conditioning with many applications, rather than SUPERIOR strengtrh and conditioning in any one specific area.

As for Work Capacity, I thought it was the ability to perform more work over longer periods of time.

Now I'm a little thick so be patient with me. Are the definitions provided here (especially the one posted by Ross) at odss with mine?

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To tell you the truth, as a layman this sounds more like an academic distinction than a practical one. If you look at the 3 bullets cited by Ross in defining GPP, GPP seems to be about specificity, whereas Work Capacity seems exactly like what it sounds like ... general work capacity


hmmm ... "sport perfectioning" ... ok this begs the question, what sport? You can only answer this with the SPECIFIC sport you choose to apply the GPP to (my take on this).


hmmm ... ""developed insufficiently by the selected type of sport" ... again, the generic term "sport" begs the question of which sport. For me, its the activity of self defense that I look for GPP in.


hmmm ..."as active rest" to counteract "significant, specific loading" ... from a specific sport or activity, I would infer.

My layman's take on this ...

I stand corrected:

... page 117 of II defines GPP (Verhoshansky's definition) as "conditioning exercises designed to enhance an athlete's general, non-specific work capacity".

So, from my simplistic layman perspective, work capacity is an ability which we want to improve, and one way to improve it is through GPP. GPP is a term that refers to actual exercises, routines, etc., ... whereas Work Capacity refers to a state of physical ability.

One term (Work Capacity) refers to a level of physical capability ... the other term (GPP) refers to a type of set of conditioning exercises that will impact Work Capacity.

Now I can sleep ...

That clears it up. But what the hell does GPP stand for?

That's a great way to explain it.



I would also add that GPP is the necessary foundation that leads to SPP.

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