RX THE WOD

The Magic of Programming Consistency at CrossFit Trec

Posted on June 27, 2017 by

As it’s clear from this blog, in the last 6 years my travels took me to some great Crossfit boxes with a great variety of approaches to programming. I found the background of the head coach determined the philosophy applied to training. Some followed the mainsite years after every box adopted their own training, some brought in gymnastics, endurance training, boxing, climbing and even swimming in the mix. After every trip something stuck with me that shaped my own WOD preferences.

Many times however I was stuck in a town with no CF options and had a hard time finding travel WODs that had the structure and flexibility I liked. WOD should be done in under an hour, have the variety needed, not require a lot of equipment and be fun. More importantly have the structure I liked (AMRAPs, EMOMs) and less of what I don’t (open ended task priority programming).

I tried following many box’s online WODs and even tried Fleeletics. In the end I kept coming back to the programming from a small gym in Hungary, CrossFit Trec. The founders had background in wrestling and in Crossfit Games and they had the structure I wanted. In general the template is something like this:

EMOM for 10-12 mins of heavy lifts
EMOM for 8-15 mins of 2-3 alternating movements
AMRAP 15-25 mins of any and all movements from running, gymnastics to lifts

Every Saturday they would have a 30-40 minute EMOM or AMRAP of 4-6 movements.

The variety, the time structure and the weekly overload kept me coming back to their WODs for 18 months now. Both when traveling and when not.

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Finding Preferred Modality

Posted on July 30, 2016 by

Some of us tend to have a bias towards task priority (“for time”) and time priority (EMOM, AMRAP) workouts. Over the last 5 years I noticed my tendency to prefer certain programming styles. During my crazy travel schedule I experimented following programming from various boxes and settled for Invictus most of the time. The extensive use of EMOMs during weightlifting sessions and Metcons keep cadence and focus outside the gym.

I noticed that I prefer time priority workouts outside of Benchmark WODs. AMRAPS and EMOMs allow for various athletic abilities to complete the task at the same time while allowing for more and less intensity during the workout. EMOMs in particular I found much higher intensity than the second half of a long WOD.

Being in Europe in the summer I found several gyms that program mostly for time priority and still have immense workload and intensity. It reminds me of visiting a gym 5 years ago that had a week of Tabatas and argued that nothing beats 4-6 tabatas in a row under 20 minutes.

Closeup of athlete holding kettlebell weight

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Putting the Long Run Back in CrossFit

Posted on February 26, 2016 by

Back in the good old days of the first CrossFit Games, circa 2007, there was a lot of WOD programming of long runs (and the requisite debate about them). Almost a decade later even bumper stickers proudly announce the 0.25 distance so common in our sport.

As we are getting ready for the next CF Open (I’m looking at you overhead lunges), I decided to plan out my long runs for the summer. Spartan Trifectas, 10 milers, city obstacle runs and even great mountain hikes could add a great variety to life in the box. Most importantly I get to finally dust off my 2012 CF Endurance training manual…

With that, I’m heading next week to my favorite run on Montara mountain in Half Moon Bay. Already registered for the Broad Street Run, a Spartan and just maybe a hike in Tibet.

But for now, time to tackle 16.1

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So What Can an Average CrossFitter Do?

Posted on June 10, 2015 by

I was watching the highlights from the Regionals with a friend when he popped a question that I didn’t have a good answer for: “Every sport has elite players, but what can the average CrossFitter do?”. With millions entering the sport and hundreds of thousands participating in the Open – it is hard to have an exact answer. Each box tracks their own members’ performance but what is the average across regions, ages and experience levels?

Until we find the perfect answer I found an imperfect one that could serve as a good proxy. I looked at key movements in Beyond the Whiteboard where at least 10,000 athletes posted to get a better statistical distribution. Again, no science here as we cannot control the demographics of submissions but the results are still quite insightful. Recognizing that no single person is equally strong or weak in both gymnastics, weightlifting and monostructural movements (meaning the average Joe/Jane may not exist), still here is the

Profile of the Average CrossFitter:

Weightlifting maxes of 50th percentile Crossfitter (male/female)

Power Clean: 205 / 121 lbs
Bench Press 230 / 110 lbs
Back Squat 293 / 174 lbs
Deadlift 365 / 220 lbs

Gymnastic maxes of 50th percentile Crossfitter (male/female)

Max unbroken pullups 25 / 13

Monostructural maxes of 50th percentile Crossfitter (male/female)

Row 500m 1:36 / 1:57
Row 2000m 7:44 / 8:57
Run 1 mile 6:56 / 8:14

Benchmarks of 50th percentile Crossfitter (male/female)

Fran 5:51 / 7:00
Grace 3:48 / 4:27

P1020869

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Top 4 Lessons from 4 Years of CrossFit

Posted on June 4, 2015 by

I reflected on what made CrossFit such a great experience for me for the last 4 years considering I’m not a competitive athlete and certainly not #gamesbound. There are these 4 lessons I found made this sport better than anything I have experienced before:

1. Try different coaches and many boxes

For most of us our local box becomes like second family. What I learned though that for my athletic development different coaches and gyms could provide new and refreshing perspective and coaching. CFKOP and CFDV gave me a great foundation. CF Central London fixed my muscle up, CF Thames worked on my overhead squats and introduced me to competitor training, CF Munich made sprinting central to my training, Paul Bunyan reconstructed my olympic lifts, CF Beijing gave me the best ever mobility routine. The point is, the more varied expert perspective you get on your training, the better you will become.

2. Keep a training log and celebrate progress

I’m always amazed when athletes do not keep logs. Keeping score not only makes us improve our skills, it also reminds us how much CrossFit actually improves fitness. When I was running long distance my 10K splits barely got better in 10 years. In CrossFit all my metrics are moving up constantly. It is such a confidence boost to look at my Oly lifts or Hero WOD scores from 4 years ago vs today. Who was that person back then? If anyone asks why Crossfit, I show them my PR chart going back for years.

3. Surround yourself with high performers

A lesson that is true as much in CrossFit as it is in life. If your friends become people who do not give up, do not complain, set goals and reach them – you will be challenged to never give up either. As you step out from your normal group of friends and colleagues and know people from all walks of life who are as dedicated and passionate about self improvement as you are – you actually change the way you look at the world.

4. There is more to life than CrossFit

It is easy to be caught up in talking, drinking and dreaming CF all the time (and a sure way to turn off non-Crossfitters). The best way to be a CrossFitter is to transcend the WOD and bring the attitude, determination and passion to new sports, activities and other aspects of our lives. Tackling our todo list, personal challenges and our job as a WOD will benefit us way beyond the Box walls.