Hey Folks!
A friend of mine is taking over the programming for a little while, which puts us on the same programming as some pretty successful CrossFitters (The San Francisco Fire in the NPGL, and 39 unique individuals who made a total of 85 appearances at Regionals and the Games, including multiple teams from Diablo, Alessandra Pichelli, etc.), as well as some great progressions and scales that will help with the development of those just interested in having fun and staying healthy (most of us). The structure is pretty similar to what we’ve been doing over the years, though with a couple subtle changes to verbiage. Here’s the structure:
Mobility: This may also appear as the typical “Warm Up”. That’s what it is 🙂 DO what’s on the whiteboard, or add/sub in what you know will help prep you for the days movements.
Skill Practice Warm Up: This is whichever skills we’re working on for the day – usually weightlifting or gymnastics movements.
Strength: Our focus for the ~6 weeks. We’re about to start in towards the end of a deadlift cycle and then move into a front squat cycle. The cycles blend into each other a bit too, which is nice as we’ll constantly be improving and PRing different lifts/movements. There will also be some nomenclature to let you know where we’re at in the cycle (i.e. tomorrow is “5×1 deadlift – 10 of 14.”)
Super Set: Pretty much the same as when we do an alternating EMOM, just called a “super set” (old school!). So the next week or two has weighted pull ups with the deadlifts, so we’ll deadlift, then do our weighted pull up, then rest. Rinse and repeat.
Metabolic Conditioning: Same as usual 🙂 JJ names the WODs, so that he can recall them easier, I’m cool with that. He usually posts “compare to”, though we won’t have done most of them yet, but eventually this will help.
There will be usually 3 weights or options for many things. It’s best to think of it as written (performance/athletic*/health), though if you’re concerned about being “RX’d”, then the * on athletic denotes the “womens Rx’d weight”, and the performance would usually correlate to the Men’s weight. MORE importantly though, would be to check the scaling guide. If you aren’t within the guide, then you went too heavy/light. Some WODs will be obvious, others will be a bit of a guess, which is OK.
Scaling Guide: This will let you know what to expect, score-wise on the WOD. This should help with knowing which weights to use or movements to scale down/up.
Compare to: If we’ve done the WOD before, the date will show up here 🙂
Coaching Tips: This is also going to help with strategy for the WOD, and to help with knowing how to scale up/down and target stimulus. Sometimes this is just what JJ has written, though other times I’ve added in my own advice/opinion.
Optional ‘Cash Out’: This is for Folks that feel like they need a little extra fitness on any given day. They’re usually added in on days with shorter metcons, and don’t require a tonne of equipment or strategy. These are typically either skill practice or just redline testing. So practice the quality movement asked of it, or stomp that gas pedal to the ground.
Mobility: As usual – do your mobility!
Not every day will have each thing (it has to fit in an hour haha), but there will be a constantly varied amount of functional movements, and it’s up to us to put in the high intensity efforts. It’ll be good.
This will also combine “Health” and “Longevity” for now. It should work out just fine 🙂 But as with everything ever, we’ll constantly evaluate (that’s where communication from you guys comes in!) and decide how things are going and where we want to go next 🙂
This should give us a solid platform to crush extreme from. I’ve spoken with JJ at length about the programming and he’s gone over all his programming with me from the last 10+ years, it’s cool to see the parallels between us and it’s a bit of a view into where I would be in ~5 years, so why bother reinventing the wheel when there’s a great guy that is willing to help out and provide professional programming for us.
If you’re interested in full on competitors programming, and you want to approach CrossFit as your sport – let me know. It takes a solid commitment, but approaching it intelligently is the difference between just beating yourself up, and making solid progress while minimizing risk for repetitive strains or injury.
See you in the gym!
Adam