In our final follow up blog post about programming, we will follow up on some changes and enhancements we’ve made based on the survey feedback from last month. We also wanted to answer some of the most common questions we received on the survey:
Main changes:
Rotation of strength cycles for those who don’t take Thursdays as rest days
Previously, we geared our SWOD cycles around the most active days, Monday Tuesday (Oly) and Fridays, with rest days (typcially Thursdays and Sundays) excluding a strength component. We heard the feedback that some people only come 2-3 times a week with Thursdays being one of those days. These athletes felt the desire to have a strength component and would often times ask to do a SWOD from earlier in the week. Recognizing this need, we are now going to rotate the non SWOD days every cycle. This way, no day of the week will go for more than one cycle, typically 6-8 weeks long, without a strength component. Conversely, we also don’t want to have a multi component SWOD/WOD combination every day as this is not good programming for athlete development and coaching
Classic CrossFit and OPEX styled WODs
We previously published a write up by Coach Matt entitled “Why All the Rest? Part 2” where we explained the science and logic behind utilizing rest periods in our WODs. While people read, understood, and enjoy this type of programming, there was still a desire to have the “Classic CrossFit” style workouts where there is continuous effort with no rest. You may have noticed we have recently designated some workouts “Classic CrossFit” to ensure there is clear understanding on the type of workout and intended goal. Again, per the true nature of CrossFit, these workouts are programmed with a varied nature, but not just random
FAQ’s from the survey (answered by Matt Grimm):
What if I feel like I’m not going hard enough during a workout and feel like I need to do extra cardio after?
There are so many aspects to this answer.
First off, again, with a higher intensity workout, you create an oxygen debt. So even though you are sitting around doing nothing, you are still getting an aerobic (cardio effect). Another aspect is most WODs are designed to push a little out of your comfort zone. So saying I’m not going hard enough in the workout makes me wonder are can you go harder and aren’t? Also, if the weights are challenging on the strength, 3x 8-10 squats is challenging aerobically. Plus, killing yourself everyday isn’t conducive to long term health nor effective training for strength or cardiovascular performance. And if that is the case, maybe a tweak of the mindset of what it should look like might be helpful. If your goal is to get you mentally tough to go through BUDs, this might not be the best training program for you. (But if your goal is to get fit for BUDs, then we might be able to help with that.)
Who do you program for?
I program with the goal of fitness and longevity in mind. I think about universal movement patterns and try to vary the complexity. With that being said, I shoot for about the 60th percentile as far as load is concerned and with more advanced movement about the average of those who can do them
But the goal of putting a number up there is to give insight into what your experience of that WOD should look like. I don’t care if you and your workout partner have different loads, modify to different movements, all that matters is at the end of the session both of you should have a pretty similiar experience
What was the reasoning to bring back RxA?
I didn’t. Mark was making comments about loading and asking about what about heavier. So I programmed heavier and his response to that was RxA and I said sure.
Honestly you can always go up or down in loading. Whatever is needed to preserve the stimulus. This is YOUR workout, I am writing a program for 400 athletes, there is a good chance that the archetype I am working off of is not you.
But to drive home the same point in the last question, if you understand what the goal of the workout is, then you can adjust it to best fit you.
(Basically I am using the loading and reps to prescribe an experience and you might need to adjust reps or load or both to allow for yourself to achieve that experience.)
What is goal of current cycle of programming?
We are currently in an Open Prep cycle to prepare us for the CrossFit Open which begins at the end of February. We will program around the Open until the end of March where we will resume our standard programming cycle with an emphasis on strength.
Why do we use emoms for oly lifting and will this always be the case?
It is an effective way to ensure you get plenty of attempts (or chances to practice) in in a short period of time. Plus you there are plenty of cases of athletes PR-ing in the EMOM setting because it allows you to flow and just be in the lift rather than thinking about a bunch of random parts of your day.
Is this OPEX programming?
No….just no. This is not programming from Opex. Therefore it is not Opex programming.
Why some days no rest in WOD vs other days more rest? And how does this tie to the strength WOD?
The first part of the programming is the strength. It is from the strength that decided the allotted time for conditioning. But beyond that, if we want to do some tough tough sprints and get all lactatey, then this has to be achieved with explosive leg power and if you just squatted 3×10 with some assistance work, then your legs are in no position to be powerful and you miss out on the lactate fun. So the shorter intervals with the longer rest are done on less leg intense days. As for non lactate training aspects, there is a general aerobic development progression I work off of and vary the days which we hit those and then fill in the gaps from there.