State of Fitness Address 21-4

The State of your Fitness

Happy New Year! Apologies for the slight delay getting this out to you.

As we go headfirst into 2022, let’s take a look back on the last cycle of 2021. 

As a quick review, our Macrocycle is spread out over a year and is broken down into four separate Mesocycles. Each of these Mesocycles lasts three months. This past cycle was the third of our fitness “season,” the intent of which was to improve our top-end strength and work on some shorter conditioning time domains. This means that many of you got a crack at a new 1RM on the major lifts. In addition, we sprinkled in a few more CrossFit Girls and introduced a new Rx+ option for some of our more veteran members. Based on the lifts and scores logged, it appears our goals were met with some achievements!

The Numbers:

You Weightlifted—Snatched, Squat, Clean and Jerked, Jerked, and Hang Power Snatched/Cleaned—1045 reps at an average intensity of 82.9%! This tied for the highest average intensity I’ve programmed for all of you since we opened our doors. It was also slightly higher in volume than that first year. The great news is that I know of a few long time members who hit all time PRs this cycle, which means that upping the intensity a bit paid off. 

You Powerlifted—Deadlifted and Pressed—600 reps at an average intensity 81.45%. This was a tough cycle and we weren’t even building to a 1RM yet! But you all performed very well and the base strength you built here is going to pay off during our next cycle when you get a chance to hit that 1RM DL. Plus, you can put your new found pressing strength to use during sHSPUs. For those keeping track, that is 1645 reps at truly challenging intensity. 

In addition to your strength work, you also CrossFitted an average of 10:48. This, too was tied for one of the shortest average work times we have had in our history. This was great to see as a programmer because generally, the rule is that the harder we work on the lifts, the less our CNS has left to give us for the conditioning. Between the PRs and the shorter WODs, we hit the sweet spot for your bodies to do what was asked.

Last but not least, you built your aerobic base by completing 4 hours and 48 minutes of MAP training, plus an additional hour for the 12 Days of Christmas ;)

How did we get there?

Weightlifting:

This cycle was almost entirely about top-end strength. This means lower reps (volume) and higher intensity (% work) without time spent on the traditional lifts (from the floor). 

Monday: Snatch and Squat. For the Snatch, I broke the Mesocycle into two, six week blocks. The first was spent building up to a 3RM, and the second to a 1RM. What I like about the 3RM on the front end is that it gives us the opportunity to work higher %s but also keep our volume up just a bit. Higher volume means more touches on the barbell which means a bit more practice. When things are dialed in, we can also get into the 90%+ range of our 1RM, which means we are still keeping our CNS primed for the heavy work that was to come in the second six weeks. 

The Squat was programmed with a similar mindset, the exception being a 5RM for the first six weeks vs a 3. I chose the 5RM for the first six weeks to keep the intensity just a little bit lower. This is because the Squat takes a bit more out of our CNS, and I wanted to make sure that you all were prepped for the big push at the end of the cycle. 

Tuesday: Clean and Jerk. I broke this one down into two, six week cycles as well. The difference was that I kept the intensity high across all twelve weeks by working you all towards a 2RM in the first six weeks, and a 1RM during the last. This route was chosen because we had a bit more time to dedicate to the Clean and Jerk since it was the only lift on Tuesday. In addition, we did not have a dedicated Front Squat pattern day in this cycle. I felt it appropriate to push you all a little bit more for both of these reasons.

Wednesday: Deadlift and Pressing Variations. The Deadlift work was split between a six week pausing 3RM, and a six week 3RM. You’ve likely noticed that this was not a 1RM attempt. That is because I wanted to save our 1RM push for a time closer to the Open. In addition, a 1RM Deadlift massively taxes the CNS. I’ve seen articles reporting that it can take up to 10 days to recover from a true 1RM DL. The decision was made that this wouldn’t be prudent in addition to all of the other top-end work we were doing. Just because it wasn’t a 1RM doesn’t mean it was easy! 3RMs are still very demanding but they allow us a bit more wiggle room to bump up the volume and work the weaknesses within the lift. Generally speaking, those weaknesses are the start. That is why we spent half of the cycle utilizing the pause—to reinforce our strength from the floor. The outcomes I was privy to were very satisfying, as members were hitting above their 1RM for 3! Awesome work. 

The Pressing variations were primarily to prep us for the upcoming cycle’s work on Strict Handstand Push Ups. The sHSPU requires a good bit of upper body strength along with midline stability. The goal behind the Z and the Seated presses were to kill these two birds with one stone. Upper body pressing strength, midline stability and control. Strict Pressing often isn’t as sexy as the Push and Jerk variations, and the carryover to most Crossfit WODs isn’t as great; but it plays an important roll as a foundational part of strength and injury prevention. 

Thursday: Midline and Shoulders. Our golden rule for building gymnastics skill sets is: control and resiliency first; then dynamic movements. We continued to follow this blueprint by improving upon static midline and shoulder work from the past cycle by adding some more dynamic movements. Hopefully, this will culminate in some firsttime Handstand Walks during the next cycle.

Saturday: Jerk(s), (Hang) Power Clean, and Snatch. Given the abundance of movements we have to improve upon, we don’t often have the opportunity to work on the Jerk outside of its pairing with the Clean. This cycle presented an excellent opportunity to do just that. Jerking from the blocks is a great way to build confidence in the lift by allowing us to work high intensities without our bodies being in a pre-fatigued condition. The cycle began with six weeks of work on the Push Jerk. I chose this because the Push Jerk is an excellent lift to prep our bodies to stay upright in the dip and drive. It does not allow nearly the level of error that the Split Jerk does because our feet are in a single plane. Because it is usually a much lower percentage of the Split Jerk, it allows us to push the intensity some without wearing out. The 2RM was chosen vs a 1RM to give us some practice re-racking a heavy bar. This comes in handy during Crossfit WODs, as well as training our movement patterns to move linearly.  

The (Hang) Power work was chosen to help keep us sharp. It accomplished this by keeping your power output high and bodies moving quickly without the grind that can come with squatting. In addition, the complex is a sneaky way to get us to practice appropriate positions throughout the lifts.

CrossFit

Monday: The note here was simple: “Midline Heavy.” These WODs were meant to illicit a midline response. Midline work can come in multiple forms, from anti-rotational movements to flexion and anything in between. Not all abs are built from sit ups. 

Tuesday: Horizontal Pressing and Unilateral (Single Leg) work. Since Dips and Bench were absent in the strength portion of our programming (sorry, Coach Nick!) I wanted to make sure we touched on the same musculature during the WODs instead.

Wednesday: Flywheel Bike and Odd Object. When the weather turns and we can’t get outside to run, you better believe we are going to chase that metabolic response via the FWB instead. It’s one of the few instruments we have at our disposal that gives us a lactic response on command. In addition, I wanted to stay true to CrossFit’s functional fitness goal and keep some Odd Object work in your weekly repertoire. Nothing preps you for lifting heavy things outside of the gym better than lifting odd types of heavy items in it.

Saturday: Snatch and Overhead Squat or Clean and Overhead work. These days are always reserved for higher skill, higher weight WODs. This cycle was no different. The emphasis here was barbell cycling practice and putting our main lifts, the Snatch and Clean and Jerk, into a more fatigued setting. To those looking for WODs that mimic something you might see in competition, these are the days for you.

What’s next?

The next cycle is Open Prep. It is the final Mesocycle of our Macrocycle and culminates with the Open. For those of you who don’t know what the Open is, check out the following videos from years prior for a quick summary: #1 from last year and #2 the year prior (probably a better break down).  

This prep will come in the form of barbell cycling, rep maxes, top-end strength, gymnastics work, and WODs that more closely mimic Open-type programming. Or in other words, everything. In addition, these lifts will be completed with diminishing time domains as the weeks progress. This is to prep us to lift under aerobic stress. Our MAPs will also count down to their shortest time domains of the year, starting with 2:00 intervals and finishing at :90. This will set up our aerobic and anaerobic systems to peak. 

Not planning on competing in the Open? No worries! You will still get fit, I promise. 

Thank you for reading, for another great cycle, and for your support. The Town Team and I are always grateful to you, our gym community. 

Stay Rooted

Coach_ARK