This might just be the toughest arm workout we've ever seen.
Forget your five sets of dumbbell curls, or the 100 reps you did with a barbell to burn your guns out, this is the Mount Everest of arm workouts - quite literally.
Ross Edgley is preparing to do a 24-hour rope climb that will equal the height of the world's highest mountain.
The World's Longest Rope Climb will see Edgley pull himself up and down a 20m rope repeatedly, minute after minute for a whole day until he reaches 8,848m.
The athlete-adventurer's legs must only be thawing out after pulling a 1.4 ton Mini over a 26-mile marathon distance, but now he's taking on this new insane challenge for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
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If you ever climbed a rope at school, you'll know even getting up it once is tough - never mind climbing up 29,000ft of rope.
Rope climbing is a brilliant test of grip, arm and upper body strength - but Edgley pulling himself is as much a test of mental strength as it is muscular endurance and stamina.
After all those thousands of reps pulling up the rope, those guns are going to be seriously swollen.
So how the hell did the Protein Works sports scientist train for this superhuman challenge? And more importantly, why?
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"Foolishly or not remains to be seen, but for me this was the logical sequel to
The World’s Strongest Marathon," he told us.
"Pulling a 1.4 ton car for 26.2 miles raised lots of money for charity, but it also left me with this newly acquired work capacity, an inability to over train and a tendency to get bored very easily. Basically a few hours among the weights and treadmills no longer seemed enough like it used to."
So basically he bought a rope, found a tree and began climbing towards The World's Longest Rope Climb.
The one thing that Edgley always maintains is that fitness is never just 'black and white'.
With his training he thinks well outside the box of conventional reps, sets and training times.
But there have been one key training variable that has enabled him to get in the shape needed to take on a 29,000ft rope climb - that's
work capacity.
"Once you understand this, everything from climbing a rope for 24 hours to training legs free from soreness the next day all become possible," he says.
He explained to JOE exactly how he does it...
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Functional Training: The Secret to Training Harder, Heavier & Longer
Work capacity is the total amount of 'work' (training) the body can perform and then positively recover from and adapt to.
For example, if you have a high work capacity and you’re training for a marathon, starting day one of training with a 10 mile run becomes doable.
Your body can tolerate this 'stress' and 'stimuli' and — for those who like the science — your body will positively adapt by increasing lung capacity, the muscles' capillary density, mitochondrial efficiency, fatty acid-oxidation enzymes and basically just make you a better runner from the inside out.
If you have a lower work capacity, that same 10 mile run will leave you in bed, over trained with your immune system wondering 'What were you thinking?'
In short, a higher work capacity means you can tolerate heavier, harder and longer training sessions.
Therefore work capacity is good. So how do you get more of it? More sets, supplementary cardio and 'finishers' are your answer.
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Functional Training: How to Increase Work Capacity.
All athletes are so biologically different so there is no 'one-size-fits-all' solution - and the exact answer is still debated among strength and conditioning experts.
But there are three core methods you can use to build up your work capacity to tackle any challenge from a marathon car pull to a Mount Everest-sized rope climb...
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1. Add more sets
The first is also the most simple: add sets to your routines.
Let's say you can do three sets of three repetitions on a 140kg squat. What would then be easier? Trying to complete three sets of three repetitions with 150kg or just adding another 140kg squat for one repetition at the end?
I'd hope you'd say the extra one repetition obviously.
Then next session add two repetitions with 140kg and three after that. Once you're able to do five to eight sets of three repetitions your work capacity has improved.
Now it's time to drop back down to three sets with a bigger weight (maybe try that 150kg now).
The key is that
adding one repetition per session. It's not that taxing on your body over your established baseline.
Then when you drop back to just three sets, it's less volume than you've grown accustomed to, setting you up nicely for the subsequent re-ramping of the volume
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2. Add Cardio
The second is to add additional cardio-based workouts around your strength training. This could exist in the form of 20-minutes of cardio in the morning, which would allow you to perform your usual strength-based training in the afternoon or evening.
Or, depending on your circadian rhythm ( your biological clock, which determines when your body 'peaks') and your work schedule, you could perform your strength training in the morning and your cardio in the evening.
Whatever method works best for you, know that adding cardio specific workouts in and around your usual strength and conditioning routines remains one of the easiest ways to increase work capacity.
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3. Add Finishers
The final way is to add movement specific 'finishers' to your strength training. This is a favourite among strength athletes since many experts warn against the dangers of adding cardio to the end of your weight training. It's theorized this floods the body with a "cocktail of catabolic hormones" that kills your body's natural anabolic response to training.
But if you want to increase your work capacity, 'finishers' are your answer. These are quick, intense, movement specific exercises you can add to the end of your workouts:
- 5 x 20m Sled Sprints after a big leg session
- 10 x 5m Rope Climbs after a huge arm workout
- 10 x 10m Tyre Flips after a colossal dead lift
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The World’s Longest Rope Climb begins at Pippingford Park on April 22. To mark the event, THE PROTEIN WORKS™ have created a limited edition White Chocolate Gold Protein Truffle with £1 of every one sold going to the Teenage Cancer Trust. 
