We’ve now gotten through almost 8 weeks of my CrossFit program, which many in the world of strength training would consider one “cycle”. This generally looks like one iteration of testing a max effort, training for 6 weeks and then testing again. And this strength cycle model is awesome, and scientifically proven to achieve results in weightlifting, which we are striving for in our CrossFit program… but not exclusively. We want to get stronger, yes, but we also want to get faster, and leaner, and more durable. And so my program in the first 8 weeks has not been characterized by a predictable strength progression, but more following CrossFit’s model of variability in movements and workouts. I’ve heard your feedback, many of you like what we’re doing. Some of you want to know where we’re going, what we’re training for and how we’re going to get there.
Our next 8 weeks will marry the concepts of CrossFit’s unpredictable – if not randomized training – with a focused effort on a few specific lifts that will build strength and mobility, as well as some gymnastics movements that will prepare us well for the CrossFit Open that is coming up soon!
Look out for these strength-building movements to appear in your workouts over the next few weeks – Front Squats, Push Presses, Deadlifts.
Focus your skill training on these movements that will appear in the CrossFit Open and will feature prominently in our workouts until then – Pull-ups, Toes-to-Bar, Handstand Push-ups.
I can’t promise you that these strength and skill movements will occur in a neat progression, like high reps to start and building toward low reps. But we are starting this week with some one-rep tests, and will continue to train these key lifts and skills on a weekly basis.
If you want to know what we’re doing, where we’re going with this program, please know that we’re building strength and capacity in an organized way, maybe just not in the traditional sense that we’ve seen before. If you are consistent with your training, I think you’ll like where we end up.
Ryan