Programming
Mummyadams
Posts: 1,125 Member
I'm interested to hear how other boxes do their programming or how you perceive their programming to be. Ours seems to have no consistent 'plan'. I hear of other boxes having heavy weeks and then not so heavy weeks. We sometimes have weeks of doing pull ups every day. I try & go 5 x days a week & am not sure this makes for great planning.
Do you have input on programming? Is it explained to you?
Do you have input on programming? Is it explained to you?
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The owner at our box does most all of the programming-I think some of the other coaches give input from time to time. Looking back at each week, seems like there is a definite theme to work certain muscle groups. I go M-F so by Wednesday/Thursday, I have a good feel for what areas he's targeting. It's a good mix though (although I whine silently sometimes) :grumble: They recently started posting the WOD's on their website, feel free to take a look. It's always sort of interesting going to other boxes when out of town to see how they do things.
http://crossfitironmile.com/blog0 -
We follow a very specific formula -
Typical week is as follows:
M: Upper body - Strength ->Some type of press (bench, strict, push or 2); EMOM - 8-12 min of Push pull activity (ie, push ups, rows); Then WOD: typically based on a shoulder strength movement
T: Lower body - Strength ->Some type of Squat (front, OH, Back); EMOM - 8-12 min of OHS, Back squat and sit ups; Then WOD: typically based on a lower body movement, or would have snatch or clean in it.
Rest W
Th=M; F=T with a different movement for strength
We then cycle through each week, the strengths so if its back Squats for the month, we do it progressively heavier week 1-4, then the Wods are all similar week to week and can repeat so you can beat your time and see progress over a month.
In a 5 week month - they work in a skill week and/or a deload week based on how everything is going in the gym. So this week we are doing Skills of the Oly lifts, and start our regular programming next week.
W, S, Su are used to make up workouts, or team WODs or we are doing more strongman stuff so they have been practicing those elements then.
Its nice because, if i cant make crossfit, i can go to my regular gym and know what lifts i missed, and still get in a similar workout even if its not exactly the same due to equipment. I really enjoy the fact i can see progress over a month too.0 -
While it generally isn't explained to us, you can usually figure it out and I know the workouts are planned months in advance.
We go through regular cycles on exercises like squats, where we will do them (or variants) twice a week and then the next month every Monday is 5x5 squats, try to add some weight each week.
Then it will be deadlifts, then a focus on skills/gymnastics, then the dreaded week or two loaded with metcons.0 -
I just started here, but they seem to have a program. They do post the work out of the day. Yesterday the owner was explaining the program they are on now, unfortunately, I am still new to crossfit, so not all the terms "sink" in for me. Here is their website, they post the WOD as well.
http://www.devildoggcrossfit.com/0 -
The head coach and owner at my gym does all the programming. I'm not 100% sure where he gets his ideas, but I believe a lot come from Conjugate Strong.
There is a definite plan and reason for why he chooses what he does. We have dedicated strength days which are usually Mon (Max effort Lower), Tues (Dynamic effort Upper) and Friday (Dynamic effort lower) and then Wednesday (usually like snatches, cleans, etc) and Saturday (Max upper)
About 45 min of our classes involve a warm up and focusing on the strength movements followed by a very short WOD, usually not longer than 12 minutes or so. Then we can do optional accessory work. On saturdays we generally do our upper work and a partner WOD which can be longer, depending on the day.
We will usually hit 1RM days every month or so depending on the movement, sometimes longer.
For instance here is today:
Box Squat, 70%, 8×2
7 Front Squat + 13 Back Squat, 60% of 1RM Front Squat x 3 sets
Single Leg Kettlebell Deadlifts, 3×10-12/leg
superset
4×25 Single leg band curls
For Time
400m Run
200m Med Ball Run
120 Lunges
You can see them all on their website. I chose my gym because they lift heavy and don't do the typical Crossfit workouts. We rarely do any of the benchmark stuff.
http://www.crossfitzeal.com/blog/0 -
Ours are pretty haphazard with the exception of a random strength cycle on a specific move periodically. Also, we run in the summer and row in the winter. They only plan about a week out; I know this for a fact. They have general ideas of directions they'd like to go but not concrete WODs written out. I don't believe they do a yearly strength cycle. For this reason, most of the competitive people in our box have either switched to doing the Outlaw Way on their own or like me, they do significant strength training and Olympic lifting practice outside of regular Crossfit. There is only one box in my town or within 65 miles. I love the folks but I am really dissatisfied with the programming compared to some of the other Montana boxes whose pages I follow.
They seem to throw in a lot of "kitchen sink" made up WODs with 10-15 movements to satisfy a bunch of zany endurance/calisthenic/cardio folks to the great detriment of strength training. We have lots of people at my box who have been doing WODs for 3-5 years who can't *ever* Rx anything with a barbell due to lack of strength. :huh:0 -
Ours are planned a long way in advance. Sometimes the head coach will do a special occasion WOD for someone's birthday or an event, and always makes sure to make it fit the programming for the week.
We even get deload weeks planned in.0 -
Our owners run our programming (both are elite competitors) and it's pretty well-organized. A lot of planned cycles where we do strength work and testing on the bookends (so, a snatch cycle for 4 weeks or a 6 week C&J cycle with two complexes a week and others worked into the WODs themselves). We're in a snatch cycle and a CTB pullup progression right now, with metcons thrown in in different arrangements based on the skills we are learning/perfecting and the parts of the body they want to work.
So, we would test C&J maxes--then work through our complexes over the following weeks using percentages of that max and moving up 5-10 pounds each week. Then we would attempt a max at the end of the cycle in an EMOM or EOMOM type of way. With squats--we might do 5X5 at 75% one week, then 4x4 at 85% the next, etc. until we 1RM at the end--then we work squats in of some sort every week just to keep our leg strength and explosiveness on point.
It's a deload week this week where we do shorter, lighter work to rest our muscles and then we hit it heavy next week for the next month or so.0 -
Ours are pretty haphazard with the exception of a random strength cycle on a specific move periodically. Also, we run in the summer and row in the winter. They only plan about a week out; I know this for a fact. They have general ideas of directions they'd like to go but not concrete WODs written out. I don't believe they do a yearly strength cycle. For this reason, most of the competitive people in our box have either switched to doing the Outlaw Way on their own or like me, they do significant strength training and Olympic lifting practice outside of regular Crossfit. There is only one box in my town or within 65 miles. I love the folks but I am really dissatisfied with the programming compared to some of the other Montana boxes whose pages I follow.
They seem to throw in a lot of "kitchen sink" made up WODs with 10-15 movements to satisfy a bunch of zany endurance/calisthenic/cardio folks to the great detriment of strength training. We have lots of people at my box who have been doing WODs for 3-5 years who can't *ever* Rx anything with a barbell due to lack of strength. :huh:
That stinks. I'm surprised a couple of folks haven't gone out and opened their own box touting better programming.0 -
Our programming is done by our head coach (who was a Crossfit Games Masters competitor, Army Ranger/Special Forces and competition athlete). He has also coached several athletes in the Games.
http://www.crossfithuntsville.com/coaches/dennis-berry/
I know he does linear periodization for our basic movements (press, back squat, front squat, bench, deadlift) and our metcons that follow those strength portions also tax the same muscles, so whatever muscle he is targeting that day is SMOKED after the WOD. They also post our WODs daily if anyone wants to take a peek.
Honestly, I just follow his programming blindly. He does the programs months in advance with emphasis on getting you stronger and faster. It's working for me
Our box also offers Yoga (programmed by our dedicated yoga instructor), Running/Endurance and Olympic Lifting classes (these also programmed by our head coach). I love our box!0 -
I've done programming for two boxes now. There is *usually* a method to the madness if you've got a good owner/coach.
Crossfit is all about being constantly varied, so if things made *too* much sense, then it would negate the main principle of being prepared for the unknown.
At the L1 and L2 certifications, this is how we are taught to program:
take into consideration varying days that are light, medium, and heavy. As well as varying gymnastics moves (anything bodyweight), monostructural (rowing/running/single unders/basic cardio stuff) and weighted stuff like cleans/snatches/anything that requires some form of weight. Some days may be all cardio, others may be all gymnastics moves, others may be half cardio, half gymnastics, etc etc. Many possibilities there. They have to balance Gymnastics/Cardio/Weight, all while keeping light/medium/heavy days in mind, ALL while still keeping in mind muscle groups that were just used the day or two before and what will be used a day or two after.
In addition to making sure that along a week goes together well, I also make sure that going down a string of mondays (or tues, or weds, etc) for the month I'm not doing anything similar. That way, if I have any M/W/F peeps, there not going to cycle through the same crap every time they come in.
Hope that makes sense0 -
The owner of my box selects programming goals for the whole box each quarter. We are just finishing up a cycle and this week we are testing our 1RMs. I can't find the current goals but if I find them I'll post it. We do a lot of mobility work at the start of each class that is pertinent to that day's strength/WOD, and he will program in different mobility if he notices a lot of people are mentioning sore shoulders or whatever. There is always a strength or skill portion prior to the day's WOD; I'd say 75% of the time it is strength. I am pretty sure there's been some type of squat 1x/week for the past few months, but he varies what kind of squat and what day it's on.
I do know for us, Fridays and Saturdays tend to be a little bit more random; Fridays are sometimes just a random throwback to some WOD from years past, and Saturdays are metcon only and are often partner chippers. BB Club (Oly class) on Saturday is definitely based on some kind of periodization scheme.
I like that my box has a plan and goals even if the workouts sometimes seem random.0 -
Ours are pretty haphazard with the exception of a random strength cycle on a specific move periodically. Also, we run in the summer and row in the winter. They only plan about a week out; I know this for a fact. They have general ideas of directions they'd like to go but not concrete WODs written out. I don't believe they do a yearly strength cycle. For this reason, most of the competitive people in our box have either switched to doing the Outlaw Way on their own or like me, they do significant strength training and Olympic lifting practice outside of regular Crossfit. There is only one box in my town or within 65 miles. I love the folks but I am really dissatisfied with the programming compared to some of the other Montana boxes whose pages I follow.
They seem to throw in a lot of "kitchen sink" made up WODs with 10-15 movements to satisfy a bunch of zany endurance/calisthenic/cardio folks to the great detriment of strength training. We have lots of people at my box who have been doing WODs for 3-5 years who can't *ever* Rx anything with a barbell due to lack of strength. :huh:
That stinks. I'm surprised a couple of folks haven't gone out and opened their own box touting better programming.
Most of the people at my box are there for general physical fitness, and they like the programming. The people are great and it's like a big family. I don't think many would leave if there was another box. There is a just a huge contingent of people who like running, cardio, and strictly bootcamp stuff with a lot of zaniness. Probably 85% of the people who go love it that way!0
