Saturday, July 24, 2010

NOTE SCHEDULE CHANGES. (All classes will be 45 minutes). THE WEBSITE WILL BE UPDATED BY THE WEEKEND.

Mon-Thurs:

6:15 and 7:15am (only Tues/Thurs/Fri- will be adding these soon for everyday!)

12pm

5:15pm, 6:00pm, 6:45pm, 7:30pm

 Fri: (only difference is that there is no 7:30pm)

6:15 and 7:15am

12pm

5:15, 6:00pm, and 6:45pm

Sat:

10:00am, 10:45am, 11:30am

WOD for Saturday:

Snatch Balance Practice

2-2-2

AMRAP for 8 minutes: (Inspired from Crossfit Football)

1 Power Snatch

3 Overhead Squats

5 Box Jumps

*NO set Prescribed load- go as heavy, and as high on the box jumps 

*Recommended presscribed load for similar workouts- 135/95lbs- 32/27"

Announcements:

Good luck to Quint Fischer this Saturday at the Keystone State Games (Olympic Lifting meet)!

Bike to the Beach is next Friday!  We will be spending the remainder of the weekend in Dewey Beach.  For those of you who are still interested, please contact Graham King at graham@balancegym.com   For those of you interested in participating in "Drive to the Beach,"  please contact Danielle at danielle@balancegym.com

 STRENGTH TEMPLATE FOR UPCOMING MONTHS:

At Crossfit Balance, we have been employing a strength biased programming alternating power lifts and o-lifts weekly into a schedule and coupling those days with shorter met cons.  We prioritize the other training days to skill work/conditioning.  This approach allows for progression of the basic lifts and improvements in overall conditioning.  Overall,  CF Balance athletes who have been consistent in our programming have been making significant strides in strength, enjoying the variety in the met cons (including integrating benchmark WODs), the overall variety/structure of the classes.  Please post comments on these points.

However, we do not find success nor pursue excellence by doing the same thing.  Programming is evolving.  We would like to lay out for the next two months a basic template for athletes.  This approach will benefit the new athletes and crossfit veterans at CF Balance regarding strength gains in the basic lifts, moving closer to using prescribed loads, smashing your own records on the heavy lifts and benchmarks (where plateaus may have or been occurring) all while maintaining your metcon (cardiovascular/muscular endurance) fitness.

Our approach:

1.)    We will set out the lifts for you in advance and the days we will be doing these for example:

Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
Lower Upper Ex: 1A. Squats 1B. Push Press	Skill Conditioning	Lower Upper 1A. Front Squat 1B. Military Press	Skill Conditioning	Lower Upper 1A. Deadlifts 1B. Dips	Skill Conditioning

2.)    Importance of attending M/W/F: Based on the above chart, you can see that it is imperative to get to CF Balance on M/W/F.  These are the strength days and build the foundation for our approach.  If you are new to training with us/training in general (just out of foundations), these should be the days you prioritize and then gradually add in additional days.  There will still be some form of assessory work or a shorter met con on the strength days.  For those of have been attending classes and seeking 4-5 workouts per week here are some following schedules to follow:

Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
X	Rest	X	X	X	Rest
X	X	X	Rest	X	X
X	Rest	X	Rest	X	X

*X- means you are attending class

*Rest- may be interpreted as an active recovery day- light run/row/yoga if you feel the need to do something

*Other option- is that you will have the lifts/loads pre-determined (more details in below point) and if a strength day is missed you may complete these in the adjacent facility

*If you find you are only able to attend 2 of these days- this will be better than the hit/or miss of our prior approach

3.) Pre-determining of loads- What we ask of you-

We will be approaching our strength sets in the upcoming months based on Bill Starr's 5X5 model (with necessary exercise substitutions).  The weight for each lift will be increased on each set of 5, from a light warm-up to an all out set of 5.  For example (as in Squats), 135X5, 185X5, 225X5, 275X5, 315X5.  The weight should be increased evenly from your first to your last set.  Increase the poundages for each set by 5lbs the subsequent week and soo forth.  Do not increase the poundages unless you have successfully completed the prescribed number of reps the previous week.

We will spend next week determining our 5 RM (the last set of 5- this should be challenging, but you should be confident in obtaining it with good mechanics/form).  If you know this/or when determined, we will take 90% of this max obtained (Ex. 200lb DL- would be 180lbs).  This will become your weight to be achieved at your 5^th set (whether its next week or the following).  All other sets will be approached linearly, working up to this weight as noted above.  It is up to you to pre-determine these, soo we can be effective/successful in making gains and for the efficiency of classes.  Coaches would rather and should spend the time encouraging athletes/focusing on mechanics and form, rather than calculating these in class, especially based on the modifications in class time (45 minutes) and class size.

As for athletes out of foundations/new to lifts, we will be spending time focusing on mechanics and consistent application of mechanics prior to approaching these weights. 

4.)    Importance of Tracking Progress:

It is difficult to pre-determine loads without a notebook.  GET A NOTEBOOK.  Tracking your progress is vital.  Write down the WOD, weights, times, scaling.  This way you can see improvements in your strengths, met cons, and evaluate your progress/any plateaus too.  You can't track progress with a mirror.  Body composition changes will certainly occur, but shifting your focus to performance rather than appearance will make a world of a difference.  In other words, form follows function.

5.) Importance of Warm-ups:

Warm-up sets are critical, not only because they warm up your muscles for the coming work sets, but because they give you an opportunity to correct the motor recruitment patterns for the given lift.  This neurological aspect of weightlifting is just as important to warm up as the muscles performing the lift.  Everyone is encouraged to come to classes 15 minutes early for foam rolling/mobility work.  This is critical for athletic development and avoiding injury.  We will be providing more specifics on this.

Comments

[JZ]

sounds good I like it

[Lucille Bluth]

Active rest day....2X2000M Row, alternating between 20s/m and 22s/m every 500M. Thanks for the workout Meghan!

[Chris S]

Snatch Balance:
145-155-165

WOD:
135#/32''
9 rounds + 1 snatch + 1 OHS

Super-stoked about the shift in programming!

[Allison]

Excited about the new schedule and programming!

Today @ 11am:

snatch balance really working on catching it solidly at depth - 45-65-75

WOD : 11 rounds exactly. 75# and a 24"(?) box.

[Lisa]

Excited for hhe next two months!

Out on Long Island for the weekend.

Went to Crossfit Old Bethpage:
Great little space behind an iceskating rink. I really enjoyed the people and friendly atmosphere, it felt very similar to our noon crowd at Balance. Also loved doing pull ups outdoors.

WOD: 20 minute AMRAP
3 pistol squats, 6 pull ups, 9 sit-ups
Completed 13 rounds plus 4 pull ups
Got through 8 rounds in the first 10 minutes and even strung together 5 pull ups in a row a few times. My left hand was bleeding around the thirteen minute mark which is about the time when I started talking to myself and I could only do two in a row or singles but I am really proud of all 82 pull ups I completed today.

[Jen J.]

I think the programming shift will be great! Very excited. I may be confused about calculating the weights: do I understand correctly that the last set (the "stretch set") of the 5-5-5-5-5 will be at 90% of the 5 RM max? So we start with weight well below this for the first set, and then we will gradually add to this each week? I really like the idea of calculating this ahead of time based on prior performance.

Snatch balance practice: 30-30-30
It was hard to balance with the weight overhead and I fell backwards! Did not drop the weight soon enough and wound up with a bruise on my kneecap.

WOD:
11 rounds + 1 power snatch + 3 OHS (25#) (snatches from hip, used low box for jumps)

Could probably have gone heavier on the weight, but very good skill practice for my first time doing snatches

[LaMarr Datcher]

Snatch Balance:
75-75-75

Met-Con: with 85lb on the Snatch & OHS, & 24'' Box Jump:
6 Rounds + 1 Snatch + 2 OHS