Macrocycle 3 is done and dusted! 24-3 included what was one of the largest changes we’ve made to our programming since opening our doors: A transition to an 8-day, rotating cycle. Beyond the positive feedback I received, there was also hard evidence in the form of multiple PRs from long term members that proved this was a welcome, if unexpected, change. 24-3 included some of what I believe are the most valuable lifts of the year— block work. The blocks are a great tool for isolating various portions of the Olympic lifts. Our strength work was what I would define as hybrid—not quite hypertrophy and not quite raw strength, but still challenging and a great way to build resiliency.
The Numbers:
You Weightlifted — Snatch Pull/Snatch from the Blocks, Clean from the Blocks, Jerk Dip/Push Jerk with Pause and Squatted 876 reps at an average intensity of 77.22%. As touched on in the intro, I believe lifts from the blocks to be one of the most technically-beneficial types of lifts that we perform throughout the year.
You Sumo Deadlifted 314 reps at an average intensity of 77.68%. This was accomplished by waving intensity and volume.
You Back and Bis’d (definitely a word) — Prone Bench Dumbbell/Barbell Rowed, Strict Ring Chin Upped and Dumbbell Bicep Curled 750 reps.
You Metconed an average of 13:21. In addition, You MAP’d 5 hours and :05 minutes total.
How did we get there?
Strength Work Why(s):
This cycle’s concentration was work from the Blocks. The Snatch and the Clean are made up of three distinct pulls. The first is from the ground to the knee, the second is from the knee to the hip crease, and the third is from the hip to the receiving position, or when you are “pulling” your body under the bar. By utilizing the blocks at the knee, we concentrated on the second and third pulls. The first pull doesn’t really add much to the rate of ascent of the bar. Its job is literally just to get the bar into the correct position to start the second pull. The second pull is where most of the power/strength/leverage/rate of travel come from. By taking out the first pull and starting on the blocks at the beginning of the second pull, we can put ourselves in the perfect position to take full advantage of this without fatiguing ourselves or getting out of position on the way up. This is why some of you saw all time PRs from any position when lifting from the blocks. They set us up for success under less fatigue.
Snatch Pull From the Blocks at the Knee + Snatch from the Blocks at the Knee
The Snatch included some pulls at the beginning of the cycle and finished with the Snatch only at the end. The pulls were included for a couple of reasons. One, to practice creating tension in the pull from the blocks. When using blocks, we save the fatigue of pulling from the floor, but it can be a challenge to create the instant tension needed at the beginning of the second pull. Adding multiple pulls before attempting the complete lift primed the body before adding the complexity of the reception. In addition, because of the 8 day cycle, our volume did dip a little bit. The extra pulls helped to offset this without exhausting the Overhead Squat. This culminated with a few single heavy rep attempts at the end of the cycle.
Squat
This cycle’s Squat was performed as a standard Back Squat utilizing a wave sequence of intensity and volume, finishing with a 5RM. Performing higher reps with lower intensity one week and following that with lower reps and higher intensity the next, waves are a great way to get the best of both hypertrophy and strength without overreaching on either.
Prone Bench Dumbbell or Barbell Row, Ring Chin Ups or Dumbbell Bicep Curls
These movements were performed in a super-setted and alternating manner. The intent was simple: Build your Pull Up muscle’s size, strength and resiliency without overtraining. Our last cycle concentrated on Strict Pull Ups, so this cycle was a chance to think outside the box. The rows have dual benefits. Beyond building barn doors for backs, they also strengthen the same muscles that we use to keep the bar in the correct position from the floor when completing the Olympic lifts. While we took out the first pull by using the blocks, we didn’t completely omit the strengthening of the muscles associated with it.
Where the rows concentrated on the lats, the Strict Ring Chin Ups and Dumbbell Curls were more of a concentration on the Biceps. The Chin Ups were completed at a tempo to enforce strict movement patterns and add to the hypertrophy with increased time under tension. The Curls were a pick your own weight adventure with increasing volume week over week. This was done to make sure that we built up the tendon, ligament, and muscle belly resiliency over time.
Both were completed a few reps shy of failure. By going just shy of failure we helped to ensure proper and strict movement patterns while still getting the benefit of “bodybuilding” the support structures associated with them.
Clean from the Blocks at the Knee
The Clean was also completed from the blocks at the same position as the Snatch for the same reasons. Given that the Clean is less complex than the Snatch, we opted for increased volume vs pulls at the beginning of the cycle while still finishing with heavy single attempts at the end.
Jerk Dip Squat + Push Jerk
The Push Jerk and its complex took a more deliberate form this cycle. The intent was to really spend some time in the more challenging positions of this lift. This was done in an effort to highlight any weaknesses that may be missed when performing the lift at full speed and to allow you time to fix them real time. The first of these positions was the Jerk Dip. Remember the first pull discussion from above? The Dip is the equivalent when performing a Push or Split Jerk. When performed correctly it sets us up for maximum power production from the bottom of the dip and hopefully a successful lift. But when performed incorrectly/thoughtlessly it will likely be the first domino in a series of unnecessary corrections and positions that lead to a leakage of power and potentially missed lift. We practiced perfecting this by performing the Dip in isolation and at volume. This was followed by a very challenging pause in the reception of the Push Jerk. As I would imagine you can all attest to now, there is nothing that points out flaws in your overhead position like being asked to hold what is arguably one of the most awkward positions to hold. We started with relatively high volume dips followed by lengthy pauses, and finished by putting together everything we learned in the form of a regular Push Jerk. The Push Jerk was chosen this cycle to help perfect the vertical dip drive and catch of a shoulder to overhead lift. Getting comfortable and proficient here will allow for more aggressive attempts on the Split Jerk, where the margin of error is greater given the greater stability and generally more accessible reception position.
Sumo Deadlift
The “Sumo” portion of the Sumo Deadlift is a pretty drastic qualifier vs the standard Deadlift. It requires a different set up and demands a greater degree of mobility. The payoff is an excellent strength builder for the hips and posterior plus an aggressive “spreading” of the floor via the quads. This lift takes some time to get comfortable with, but once the sweet spot is found, it can often be a refreshing change of pace and position and feel more stable than a standard deadlift due to the vertical positioning of the spine. In addition to the benefits listed above, we are also a CrossFit gym, which means we practice movement and strength through various planes of motion and modalities. This is an excellent way to keep something as straight forward as pulling weight from the floor fresh.
CrossFit
Cyclical + Rope Climbs (followed Snatches)
Exactly as the title suggests! A cyclical movement was paired with Rope Climbs. Rope Climbs are one of my favorite exercises. When done correctly, they require the entire body, primarily upper body pull and midline flexion with a bonus leg drive. This utilization of the legs can allow someone who cannot do a Strict Pull Up to complete a full Rope Climb. The cyclical movement was chosen as a break from the Snatch that came before. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t often include high repetition lifting within the conditioning immediately following weightlifting completed as strength work beforehand. This is to ensure that the CNS sets the correct technical pattern in the brain vs the high speed version we sometimes utilize when lifting lighter weights for time.
Multi Part AMRAP + Handstand (followed Squats)
The Multi Part referred to the the Metcon being completed over multiple sets with rest periods between. The AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) stayed at a constant 4:00 while the rest between these AMRAPs declined over each of the four rounds from 2:00 to :60. We have been practicing our pacing with MAP days for many years now, with the new 8 day cycle we gained more time to utilize work rest periods within our WODs. This little bit of rest allows for a more intense workout. Knowing there is a rest period generally allows us to push our limits a bit more than we would if the same 4x4:00 was just a 16:00 AMRAP. I am sure you also all realized that while intense, this was also an exercise in pacing! Pacing is important whether the workout is 4:00 or 40:00; it just changes in kind. There are very few workouts we can do all-out without our fitness completely giving out. Even if it’s something you can do unbroken, you still may have to throttle back just enough to hit that finish line UB. Physiologically you are out of the all go no slow sugar (ATP) your muscles utilize to contract after the first :10-:20. After that it’s how efficient your body is at creating more energy and ushering it to the cells. Without going too far down the rabbit hole, the takeaway here is that we have an individual pace for each workout. I believe a perfectly executed PR WOD performance is one where you are moving nearly continuously throughout with planned breaks and end up completely spent at the end. This means you nailed your pacing.
The Handstand was any and all variations of upside down work. This was our dedicated Handstand skill building day.
Posterior Odd Object (followed Rows and Bicep work)
Odd objects are kept in the rotation throughout the year because they best mimic the things we are likely to lift outside of the gym. What good is completing a Snatch with perfect technique if we cannot take those same principles and apply them to getting a bag of soil into the back of our cars? The Posterior portion of this day’s WOD just meant that the emphasis should be on building up the muscles of the backside.
MAP (Maximum Aerobic Power ~ its own day)
MAP 7 and 6. The MAPs have officially begun their shortening cycle, with 7 including 9:00 work cycles and 6 including 5:00. MAPs are aerobic pacing practice and volume work. This means our efforts should always be repeatable. Repeatable efforts are the easiest way to tell if our pace was indeed aerobic, or if we were only telling ourselves it was while we completely fall apart on the fourth or fifth AMRAP. Try to keep this in mind whenever completing a MAP day. These are not the same as the Multi Part AMRAPs from above. They are meant to be challenging but repeatable from the first round to the last. The movements put within them are selected for that same reason. Reminder, MAP AMRAP time domain is a quarter of the race time. This means a 5:00 MAP pace should mimic that of a 20:00 race.
High Skill (followed Cleans)
This is the day to test your progress. Some of the movements that show up during these WODs may take multiple years to attain and some may never be reached. That is not something to mourn, but celebrate! It means there is no finish line to CrossFit; there is just the next thing.
Looking for extra guidance and practice for your high skilled movements? Speak with a coach, or if you’re shy, shoot us a message at info@townathletics.com and we will get you set up with one to discuss your best path to reaching that next milestone.
Unilateral (followed Jerk work)
It is important to move through and strength build in all planes of motion. Because we did not have a dedicated lift involving unilateral work, it was included as a part of our WOD. This type of movement pattern helps to identify any imbalances that we may be unconsciously creating during our regular dual leg strength work. In addition, nothing can really build those booties like lunging can!
Chest (followed Sumo Deadlifts)
With the omission of Bench from our lifting rotation, I knew I had to make sure the pecs were still on deck or risk losing at least a few members (you know who you are 😉). In all seriousness, though, while Bench might be the lift we most associate with the LA Fitnesses of the world, it is a plane of movement and a muscle group that needs to be hit like any other. Just like I discussed above in the unilateral section, we want to build strength and resiliency in all planes of motion. Working on chest only gets a bad rap, because if that’s all you work on, then there are going to be biomechanial problems; but the same can be said of any muscle group or lift. Well, maybe not Squats….can we really overbuild our legs?!!
What’s next?
The final cycle of the year is all about Strength. Of course, we are Rooted in Strength throughout the year, but 24-4 is your opportunity to put all of that hard work to the test. This cycle will finish with 1RM attempts (and hopefully successes) at each of the main lifts, Snatch, Clean, Jerk, Squat and Deadlift! This cycle will also continue with our newly minted 8 day rotation. The Metcons continue to pair with each day’s workout in a thoughtful and progressive way, and like all cycles before, will concentrate on movements that help to ensure well-rounded fitness each day and week. Pay attention during the cycle and you’ll start to connect the dots, likely being able to make educated guesses about what’s coming throughout the week as the months progress.
Thank you all for making our gym and the community it fosters the welcoming place that it is. We pride ourselves on thoughtful programming, professional coaching, and top notch equipment, but without you, the members, encouraging one another’s participation it would be impossible to maintain. Please continue to make this gym the best part of your day and welcome new members to the community you’ve helped to build!
Hope everyone has enjoyed the start of the Fall season. Thank you for reading and thank you for being a member with Town Athletics.
