Frequently Asked Questions
What is Amper?
Amper is a power-based workout platform meant for those that want a fun, engaging and objective means of improving their fitness. This is a world-class system meant for people that want to track their fitness progress. Follow our Free Workout of The Day or your gym's programming or participate in one of our events.
Founder, Jim McDade, has been writing Strength & Conditioning and CrossFit-style programming for 25 years for thousands of athletes and workout enthusiasts. He started off as a Strength & Conditioning Coach in 1995 and has lived the life of a competitive athlete in Track & Field (Pole Vault), Soccer, Rowing, Cycling and CrossFit, having reached elite levels in two of those sports: rowing (PennAC and NYAC, 2k Row 6:16, 5k Row 16:46) and cycling (category 2). It is these lifetime experiences that helped Jim shape Amper. Jim wanted to create a platform where volume and intensity (work and power) can be captured regardless of the exercise modality, a process traditionally adopted exclusively by endurance athletes.
Amper is also fun! Jim built it similar to an adventure game in that a level-based system is built for you to climb. Leveling-up requires earned work points and completion of 3 tasks per level. Once you reach level 20, the tasks switch from being completion/participatory-based (although there are some basic strength requirements to be made along the way) to being performance-based in one of three areas: strength, conditioning or crossfit. Your ability to climb past Level 20 is going to require that you specialize in each of those three areas.
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Why Amper? Why is measuring work and power important?
Amper measures the exercise work you do and the power you generated to do it. All of this, regardless of the mode of exercise, is aggregated into a feedback loop for you and those in your community to share and grow.
Fitness technology companies tend to build their fitness products and services around what they can measure (i.e. steps, heart rate or ergonomic data) rather than what they should measure - true, accurate, objective work measurements across all exercise modalities.
Measuring steps shows one's non-sedentary status, not their fitness. Measuring heart rate does indeed show cardiovascular fitness, but heart rate response lags significantly behind the effort at hand; so, short bursts of activity such as interval-based training, strength training and high intensity training are poorly measured.
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What is Total Work?
The Total Work metric is a precise measurement of how much work, expressed in Joules, you did in your workout. Joules (J) is a unit of work or energy, named in honor of the English physicist, James Prescott Joule.
Accumulate work points to improve your fitness. To maximize your fitness, complete about 750,000 work points per week (1 Joule = 1 Work Point).
Once you establish workout consistency, and show an ability to hit your work point targets week-over-week, we can then work on increasing your intensity, or power.
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What is Average Power?
Your average power per workout is expressed in watts. A Watt (W) is a unit of power, named after James Watt, an 18th-century Scottish inventor.
We measure Watts to show how much work (Joules) you can do do in a specific time period. This tells us a lot about your fitness. Producing a high average power output for any given work segment will dramatically push up your fitness. Achieving a higher power output is not appropriate for every workout, but a relatively high power output should be expressed 3-4x per week in relatively small doses.
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What is Power Index?
Power Index (Pi) is calculated by dividing your average power output for a given workout by your bodyweight. It is the best indicator we have of measuring one's true fitness.
For example, a large, heavier person, generally, has an advantage when moving an external load (mass moves mass) while a smaller, lighter person has an advantage when moving their own bodyweight. That said, a taller person will have to do more Work, to complete an exercise versus a smaller person because the taller person has a longer distance to travel. Power Index (Pi) filters out these inherent advantages or disadvantages and allows us to see your fitness for what it is, or is not.
In other words, the fact that one person beat another on a time-based workout, or one person lifted more weight than another on a strength-based workout, lacks significant meaning without knowing the sizes of each person involved.
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What does this icon mean?
This is your Work Status icon; it is the main metric Amper uses to understand your commitment to achieving a high level of general fitness.
The color indicates your average weekly work production over the last 7 weeks.
The circular progress bar shows how far away you are from achieving the next highest work status color.
The number in the middle (8 as shown in the example) is your level. You advance levels by accumulating work points and by completing specifically assigned tasks at each level. The tasks get more challenging at each level.
Weekly Work Average (in Joules) ranges:
Purple range = 0 - 350,000 Joules
beginners
Blue range = 350,001 - 700,000 Joules
pure weightlifters
Green range = 700,001 - 1,050,000 Joules
general fitness, CrossFit
Yellow range = 1,050,001 - 1,750,000 Joules
general fitness with endurance orientation
Red range = 1,750,000+ Joules
endurance athletes
What if I can't do an exercise on my workout?
There is a "Scale It" button below every prescribed workout which will allow you to change a skill-based exercise down (i.e. Push-ups to Incline Push-ups). Once you hit "GO", you'll then see your scaled variation of the workout. If the weight on the workout is too heavy for you, simply go lighter and record the weight you used.
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Power per Energy System & Time Zone
Three metabolic pathways generate the energy required to perform an exercise: ATP-PC, Anaerobic Glycolysis and Aerobic. These pathways are commonly referred to as energy systems. These three energy systems work concurrently to replenish ATP. At no point will only one energy system be used; there is often a predominant system.
These bar charts show the power performance of each energy system. The aerobic energy system is broken down into 8 time zones (blue bars) so that you can look for opportunities to produce more power. Expect your power output for any given workout to decrease over time.
The bottom time zone bar (deep pink) represents your ATP-PC energy system. These are very short bursts of effort lasting less than 20 seconds. Most of your strength training work falls into this category. This bar should always be significantly higher than the others.
The second-from-bottom time zone bar (pink) represents your Anaerobic Glycolysis energy system for 20-90 second efforts. These are high intensity, short duration efforts that cannot be sustained. Bodybuilding, some accessory and all of your short interval work will be here.
The third-from-bottom time zone bar (lighter pink) also represents your Anaerobic Glycolysis energy system but for 90 second to 3-minute efforts. A lot of your interval and emom-based workouts are here.
The fourth-from-bottom time zone bar (blue) and the ones thereafter, all represent your Aerobic energy system in increasingly longer time zones.
If you were to see your 30 day bar chart heights higher than your 60- or 90-day equivalents, then this is a good indicator that you are performing well relative to the past. Also, if you have a bar chart length that is longer in a longer time range than one in a shorter time range, then that would indicate an opportunity - you are capable of pushing harder in that shorter time zone.
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Dumbbells
You'll need a pair of dumbbells for a variety of movements such as Lunges, One Arm Snatches, Overhead Presses, etc. The weights prescribed for your workouts will vary, and naturally you'll get stronger as you move through your workout program.
Some general guidelines on weights:
Overhead Movements (Women): 10-35lbs
Overhead Movements (Men): 20-50lbs
Lower Body Movements (Women): 20-35 pounds
Lower Body Movements (Men): 20-50 pounds
In most cases, Dumbbells and Kettlebells are interchangeable.
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Kettlebells
Kettlebells will be used for a variety of movements such as Farmer Carry's, Lunges, Kettlebell Swings, One Arm Snatches, Overhead Presses, etc. The weights prescribed for your workouts will vary, and naturally you'll get stronger as you move through your workout program.
Some general guidelines on weights:
Overhead Movements (Women): 8-16kg
Overhead Movements (Men): 12-24kg
Lower Body Movements (Women): 12-24kg
Lower Body Movements (Men): 12-32kg
In most cases, Kettlebells and Dumbbells are interchangeable.
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Medicine Ball
Medicine Balls will be used almost exclusively for Wall Balls. The ball should be 14 inches in diameter as that is the size of the ball in the Hyrox race. The surface of the ball is vinyl and the interior of the ball is stuffed so although the ball is firm, it is soft.
Guidelines on weights:
Women: 10-14lbs (Hyrox Open Division uses 10lb; Hyrox Pro uses 14lb)
Men: 14-20lbs (Hyrox Open Division uses 14lb; Hyrox Pro uses 20lb)
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Concept 2 Row Ergometer
This is the best rowing machine on the market. While there are other brands in the marketplace, the Concept 2 is considered the gold standard. We strongly recommend you use this brand.
Ideally, your Concept2 Rowing Ergometer will have the PM5 monitor which is bluetooth enabled and will allow you to connect to it with the ErgData iPhone app.
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Rings
Rings are suspended above and are used for body weight and gymnastics exercises such as Ring Rows, Ring Push-ups, Ring Dips and Muscle-ups. Oftentimes, Ring Rows are used as a scaling option for Pull-ups.
P90x-style straps are a good substitute option for some exercises such as Ring Rows.
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30 Inch Box
Boxes are used for Box Jumps, Step-ups, Get-ups and as an incline prop for scaled Push-ups. Usually any stable platform that one can step or jump to is a good substitute.
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Push Sled
The Push Sled is used to push relatively heavy weight across the gym floor, usually on a carpet runner or turf. The Sled has a center post which you can stack weights on.
This Sled Push represents the 2nd station of a Hyrox race. It is probably the piece of equipment in Hyrox that is hardest to get access to. Some substitution ideas: push a box with plates on top of it, walk on treadmill leaning forward with power off or substitute altogether for sprints on an air bike to replicate quad fatigue.
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What is Week Number?
This is the week number that you are on in your exercise program. It is often accompanied by a title that describes the phase, or training block, that you are currently in. For example:
Base: This is the early stages of your program where you are adapting to a new work volume and getting familiar with basic movement patterns and exercises.
Pace: This is the phase of your training program where we begin to focus on increasing performance on the exercises and movement patterns we establish in the base part of your training.
Accelerate: In this phase, we really focus on increasing your speed on the runs and your time to completion on your station work.
Prime: In this phase, we lower your training volume and focus on making you faster.
Race: In this phase, we greatly reduce training volume and intensity and focus on bringing your recovery up so that you are ready to go for your race day.
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