State of Fitness 23-2
The State of your Fitness
🎵Ooooooohhhh oh we’re halfway there!🎵 Unbelievably we are already half way through 2023, and that means the second cycle has been completed. Macrocycle 23-2 was all about positions. Each of the lifts were selected to reinforce proper mechanics and movement patterns. The rep schemes, tempos and time under tension were chosen to support that goal and illicit hypertrophy. Conditioning for this quarter was meant to be a bit more creative than the Open allows. This meant dusting off the KBs and some of the other odd objects. Of course, we couldn’t start the summer without preparing for and successfully completing Murph.
If you felt that your motivation this cycle was lacking, it’s OK! Preparing for and competing in the Open can take a large toll on our CNS and mental game. I always find myself a little “over it” after the Open finishes up. But after a few weeks, I find my groove and enjoyment of “fitness for time” again. Kudos to everyone who held the course and continued to work on their health leading into summer.
The Numbers:
You Weightlifted— Pause Snatched, Pause Cleaned, Jerk Dipped, Jerked, and Tempo Squatted —2040 reps at an approximate average intensity of 81.50%. Like last cycle, this intensity is an approximate because we used some percentage-based work and some feel- base work. Percentage-based work was chosen to help really dial in the intensity we were after on a weekly basis. This likely meant that sometimes you had to push beyond what you were comfortable with to hit what was prescribed. While it can make programming more precise, it can also be a challenge for those days you just aren’t feeling it. Do not stress if you weren’t batting 1.000 with your lifts; some days are just going to be like that. While we utilized exact percentages on the Snatches and Cleans, the Squats and Jerks were left open to RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion—whatever felt “challenging” or “moderate” to you on that particular training day. Whereas percentage work makes you go beyond or work under where your body is at, RPE allows you to work exactly within how you are feeling that day. This was done with the Tempo Squats and Jerk Dips/Jerk complexes because these are movements that can have large variations depending on your body’s condition for that day’s training. Plus, I wanted to give you a bit more of a choice in the matter and allow you more opportunity to practice feeling what light, moderate, and hard are to you.
You Accessorized — Push Pressed, Varied Grip Pull Upped and Rear Foot Elevated Split Squatted — an additional 1464 reps. If this looks like a chunk of volume, that’s because it was. Remember what I said in the opening paragraph; hypertrophy was the name of the game. We wanted to stimulate muscle growth, and one of the best ways to do that is high rep work. These lifts were chosen to compliment what came before them, in addition to being able to program them at higher volume.
You Benched — 409 reps at an average intensity of 77.5%. The bench was chosen quite simply because it’s that time of year! But also because the bench carries over to our more CrossFit centric movements like push ups and dips. Like the other lifts from this cycle, we chose to work with tempos and positions.
You Metconed an average of 11:01. In addition, You MAP’d 8 hours and 30 minutes total. This is nearly 3 and a half hours longer than the previous cycle!
How did we get there?
Weightlifting:
Our Weightlifting this cycle was multiple stop pause position work for both the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. This helps to accomplish the two major goals for this cycle: Nailing our positions, and working hypertrophy.
Monday: 3 Stop, 2 Stop and 1 Stop Snatches. The Snatch is the most technically demanding lift we do within our programming. It can be both extremely gratifying and frustrating all at the same time. The value of practicing it over the course of your life as an athlete cannot be overstated. The coordination and explosiveness you derive from it are invaluable when it comes to learning other skills and really seeing what your body is capable of. The challenge of the Snatch is getting all of the parts to happen in the correct order with the correct timing. This is what including stops helps to accomplish. It slows down an explosive lift into its various parts, and reinforces the strength in those positions. The Snatch includes 3 pulls. The first is from the floor to your knees, the second is from your knees to your hips, and the third is from your hips to the receiving position of the Overhead Squat. Each stop we performed was meant to reinforce portions of these pulls. Where we would normally spend only a fraction of a second, we were spending :01-:02, allowing you to think way through the lift. This additional time also increased your time under tension throughout the lift, leading to the hypertrophy we were after.
Speaking of hypertrophy and time under tension in various positions, the Squat was nothing short of a marathon. Performing a squat at tempo is always challenging, but adding that tempo to your ascent is just mean. But I didn’t program it just to punish you. Like the Snatch above, slowing down the entire lift allows you to really feel where your technique is breaking down. Knees collapsing? You’ll notice. Hips pushing back? You’ll notice. Not reaching depth? You’ll notice. You get the idea. If we are out of position, not only are we missing out on our maximum potential, but we are risking injury. Slowing the lift down, especially on the ascent, forces us to recruit our muscles in the correct order and allows us to feel when we are not. Additionally, it bumps up our time under tension, again giving us hypertrophy without requiring huge amounts of volume.
Tuesday: Pause Clean and the Knee and at 2”. Where the Snatch complexes were 4 weeks each, your Clean complexes were lengthened out to 6 weeks. This was done to give you a bit more time to build up to heavier attempts. Practicing the positions in the Clean is just as important as the Snatch, but is often found to be a bit easier to master as well. As such, I didn’t feel the need to break it down into its parts as much. Plus, without the Jerk attached, we were able to push the weight a bit more. Ultimately, though, this was still a “volume” lift given the 3 rep max and tempo work, both done for the same reasons we paused in the Snatch.
The Yoke Strap Press. This lift is self-limiting. It is meant to reinforce proper movement patterns, as well as build up the stabilizer muscles surrounding the shoulder girdle. I am sure you all noticed that any sloppy movements during these reps were punished by an unruly bar and pendulum effect. Beyond the higher rep scheme, the constant activation of the shoulder to hold the bar path and weight steady meant more muscle engagement and hypertrophy.
Wednesday: Boarded and Regular Bench Press. The Boarded version of the lift was done to really hammer the sticking point of the Bench. If you have attempted a Bench Press 1RM before, you likely got stuck just about halfway up. Adding an elevated surface to press from reduces the range of motion to the sticking point and lets us overload and strengthen it for that heavy attempt. This being a volume cycle, we kept the rep scheme high for both this and the regular Bench. I hope you all felt the difference in strength when you got to the full version.
After we pressed, we had to pull. If you have ever heard anyone say CrossFitters don’t/can’t do strict Pull Ups, then they haven’t come to our gym. We have always prioritized Strict Pull Up work, and this cycle was no exception. The Strict Pull Up is one of the quintessential movements you can do. Much like being able to pick yourself up off the ground (Burpee), being able to pull one’s body weight up is an important measuring stick to your well rounded strength. The first six weeks were spent with mixed grip work—one hand on a rope and one hand on the pull up bar. I like this variation to help get through sticking points. Only ever doing regular Pull Ups can leave you plateaued. This variant gives you a different stimulus, allowing you to utilize your biceps a bit more, as well as strengthening your grip and preparing you for Rope Climbs. The second half of the cycle we went back to the classic, and pushed for big sets. Again, hypertrophy.
Friday: Dumbbell Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat, farmer and front rack holds. Every cycle, I try to make sure that there is dedicated unilateral work. Whether it is in the form of a WOD or strength work, I think it is important to work each leg individually, helping to ensure that there aren’t any major imbalances being created elsewhere. The variation in the hold was to help highlight any weaknesses in the supporting structure and the mobility required for these lifts. If you found it difficult to maintain an upright posture when switching to the front rack, it is likely because your quads are tight, which would force you to lean forward, putting more strain on your lower back to help hold you upright. If this sounds familiar, start using the couch stretch on a daily basis and report back.
Jerk Dip Squat + Push Jerk and Split Jerk. Again, positions and time under tension ruled the day. The Jerk Dip Squat was chosen to help reinforce the difference between a regular Back or Front Squat and a Jerk Dip. The first six weeks were dedicated to the Push Jerk. This is because the Push Jerk is less forgiving of improper positioning in the driving and receiving positions. If you are not moving your bar as vertically as possible, any path forward or backward will make the lift exponentially more difficult to complete successfully. Once we practiced this vertical dip drive and catch, the Split Jerk should have felt stronger and more stable, given the larger margin of error that it allows.
CrossFit
Monday: Ski + KB. The Ski Erg and the Kettlebell have yet to show up in the Open. Because of this, they go into hibernation during our Open prep cycle. But just like the grizzlies in Alaska, they emerge from their slumber hungry for your calories come spring and summer. I like the combination of these two implements because the Ski Erg demands flexion, and the KB often extension.
Tuesday: Run +. As mentioned at the top, the summer kick off would not be complete without Murph. While Murph signals the start of the season, it also demands we be prepared to run. This meant putting in the miles every Tuesday. Beyond Murph, we also took a couple shots at the Mile Run. Maybe some of you had flashbacks to your grade school gym class days. The mile is truly a benchmark workout, so I hope you were feeling good and made a “run” at your best time. The “+” left the workouts open to play around with various movements to help balance out the week.
Wednesday: Legs. This may be the most vague, but also simple, note amongst my WOD programming. Wednesday’s lifts included no lower body movements. It was this that led to such a straightforward note. I wanted to make sure we still got in some work on the major movers of our bodies. The WODs are always meant to compliment the strength work, and Wednesday’s leg sessions were no different.
Thursday: MAP 9 and 8. This was the start of the MAP season—extended efforts completed with movements that allow for repetition and control. This was your opportunity to practice Zone 2 aerobic capacity. Remember, MAPs are always split up into quarters. That means the 23:00 time domain of MAP 9 would be a race pace that you could maintain for approximately an hour and a half. The goal here, beyond consistency amongst the sets, is continuous movement.
Friday: High Skill. Friday high skill WODs are as consistent as Snatches and Squats on Monday. These sessions are the time to push yourself to try something new, or to see where CrossFit can take you over time. Remember, if these movements seem impossible, or you don’t understand how you could ever get from where you are now to an Rx performance, talk to a Coach about your path in achieving them.
Saturday: Coaches discretion. This is where I let the coaches put their hair down and get in on the programming fun. Whether it’s a hero WOD or a partner outing, I only ask that it compliments the prior week’s work.
What’s next?
The third cycle of 2023 is centered around lifts from the blocks, adding some speed back into your squats and mixing things up with our pulls and presses.
There is nothing like the blocks for adding speed to your lifts. Shortening the range of motion we have in the pull means we need to train ourselves to be engaged immediately. It also likely demands us to pull under the bar into the receiving position faster than we have before. In addition, it allows us to start in the perfect position without fatiguing ourselves to get there.
The Squat will introduce the drop set. This means we will start heavy and drop weight every set. The intent here is to keep our concentric speed up while also still hitting some good volume and higher intensity. It’s a little bit of a hybrid between moving heavy weight, but also getting some continued hypertrophy work in.
The Sumo Deadlift is making a reappearance. The first six weeks will be accessory lifts to prepare us for a heavier Sumo DL 3RM attempt at the end of the second six weeks.
Our accessories this cycle include Seal Rows, Ring Dips, Push Ups and variations of Barbell Lunges.
Fridays will see the largest change. We will only be completing one lift on Friday, leaving us approximately 15:00 to play around with higher skill practice, progression, and scaling options. Each Friday WOD will include a higher skill movement as they always do, except this time there will be dedicated time before the WOD to work these skills with a Coach.
The Metcons will again follow a pattern. I will leave some mystery as to what those patterns are, but as usual they are meant to challenge you and compliment the lifts in addition to giving you a great metabolic hit.
Finally the biggest change of all….SugarWOD is now live! We have always prided ourselves on investing in making your experience with us as smooth as possible. SugarWOD is meant to make the process of tracking your progress with us easier, in addition to creating a more interactive community. You should have already received an email from SugarWOD with your username and temporary password. So log in, log your results, and encourage your classmates! If you have questions, ask. The coaches will be reminding you as well.
Stay Rooted,
Coach_ARK