Friday, 05.18.12: Building vs Testing Strength

Mike went to another affiliate and started coming here in late February.  Before coming here his max Deadlift was 315, in 2 1/2 months here of working the program and never testing a 1 RM he pulled 365 last week for a 50 lb PR!!!

I posted this article to Facebook and wanted to post it here as well as add my thoughts.  It is about whether you are building strength or merely testing it.  Here is the article from EliteFTS:  Building vs Testing Strength

The basic gist is that if you just simply come in and keep trying that 1 RM instead of working a program and working to build strength you will hit a sticking point and go nowhere fast.  The author, as well as me, have fallen victim to this many times.  You get a lift and then everytime you come in and just try to beat that lift and get that new PR, at this point you are no longer building strength!  Get back to building strength, work to add a little more weight to the bar each cycle and beat your old AMRAP.  Below is an example of our program based on a 400 lb Deadlift:

Cycle 1

Cycle 2-  In this cycle add 5 lbs to your Deadlift/Squat and 2.5 to Bench Press/Press

In this scenario you got stronger no matter what your 1 RM is.  By liftinmg 385 x 5 you are stronger than a month earlier getting 380 x 4.  If you keep building strength like this your 1 RM's will come up but if you just come in and keep trying 405 everytime we Deadlift you will stall and go nowhere.  Also, the muscular endurance you gain from that 5's Wave is invaluable to CrossFit.  Think of yesterday- if you can get 325 x 10 then 225 in a 21-15-9 is going to be much easier for you.  This is why we work so hard on building strength and not just throwing in a random 5,5,5,5,5 or 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 as is commonly seen in CrossFit.  By building strength you become better at CrossFit and in life.

Thursday, 05.17.12: Leaderboard

Alexis pulls 200!!!  This was a HUGE PR of 35 lbs!

On the front whiteboard I tried to have everyone on there with all of your numbers buit it became way too much to manage.  So what I have done is turn that into a Leaderboard for 5 CrossFit Benchmark WODs as well as the main strength work we do.  The WODs are Fran, Grace, Helen, DT, Elizabeth, Diane as well as Deadlift, Squat, Press, Bench Press, Clean and Jerk, Snatch.  I want these to be numbers that you shoot for and strive to get on the board.  The lefthand side is for the guys and right for the girls.  This is a great way to track your progress and to work towards certain goals. 

Take a look at the board, there are enough examples to show how to put your name up if you qualify.  If you are not sure grab me and I will be happy to go through it with you.

You guys are all kicking major ass!!!

Wednesday, 05.16.12: 39 Things... Just for you TRL and Andrew!

I have posted some of these lists before and I will get harassed about them, and that is EXACTLY why I am posting this one from Jason Ferrugia...  Seriously I know some, if not most, of this list is not possible as you add in things like jobs and kids but there are some good bits in here that you can do, I will bold them.  Here you go Todd and Andrew get ready for your eat only grass fed fish, sleep more, make more money, be happy list!

Here are 39 ways that would be a good start.