Ain’t Got No Time For Percentages

In this program I am concerned with getting you as strong as possible. If I had my druthers, you’d be able to lift the world. But in the sport of fitness, lifting the world is hardly necessary. In fact, spending an inordinate amount of time on getting you stronger in terms of one rep maximal strength, has diminishing returns. The goal isn’t to get you strong in a bubble. It is to get you strong for the sport. And in our sport it is more important for you to be strong at repeated efforts at submaximal weights.

Let me explain. In the last two years of CrossFit Games Regional events, repeated efforts with a 225# barbell showed up several times in the form of hang power cleans, squat cleans and deadlifts. A max effort single lift has not shown up in the CrossFit Games for several years (in 2007 Games there was a CF Total and in 2009 Games there was a max snatch). Moving 225# multiple times quickly in a variety of ways was more important than what the athlete could accomplish in one lift. At the Regionals, power endurance reigns. (In the Open it’s mid-range muscular endurance. At the Games it’s a bit of everything.)

It is my contention that loads we commonly see in CrossFit the sport of fitness, for example a 225# clean, should fall at a minimum in a comfortable range of 65-80% of your 1RM clean. That said, the process we go through in this program is to first systemically increase your 1 rep max over time (your maximal strength), and work to convert that strength to a higher “20 rep max”. We make that conversion by primarily working in the “lactic acid aerobic” system, working to increase our bodies ability to store ATP-CP. The ATP-CP system is used only for very short durations of up to 10 seconds and is the primary system behind very short, powerful movements like a clean or a snatch. In other words, we are trying to increase our power endurance.

This is done with efforts consisting of about 20 to 90 seconds in length with a similar amount of rest between efforts. (Rest periods over 2 minutes would make the workout more anaerobic than aerobic.) Conditioning efforts like today would fall nicely in this category.

Which leads me to some of the language used on the site when referring to what loads to use. Remember, I don’t much care what your 1RM is per se. It is simply a tool to get your 20 rep max higher. So although sometimes I’ll write exact percentages for work in your strength and Olympic lifts, it is really there more as a guide and in many cases an articial barrier to you being stupid and doing too much all at once or all the time. What I’m primarily interested in is you getting stronger and lifting heavy frequently and consistently. So here is what you should be thinking when you see certain phrases used in the strength/Olympic work:

“XX minutes to a max” OR “max for the day”: This is exactly what it means. Go as heavy as you can seeking a new personal best. On any given day this could be more or less than your previous work but it is always considered 100%. Misses are not unusual. Too few may mean you are not pushing yourself to new limits. Too many may mean you’ve overestimated your potential for that particular effort.

“greater than 100%”: Usually this is reserved for pulls and negative work.

“as heavy as possible”: Lifts in category will typically range 90-100% of your current 1RM. With the Olympic lifts, this may mean a few misses since you are operating so close to your 1RM. But too many misses indicates you should decrease the weight. This is where a lot of the strength adaptation takes place. This category should not be confused with the next which is…

“heavy, but not maximal”: Lifts in this category hover somewhere in the 80-90% range and misses should be less frequent.

“moderate”: Generally, our conditioning, power and much of the technique work will start in this range, 50-80%. Maximal strength can not be achieved with loads this light but power and power endurance can.

“light”: This indicates a load of less than 50% of your 1RM. We will use weights in this range for our traditionally met-con work and muscle endurance development work.

Once again, I ask you keep these parameters in mind. The program is designed to hit all pertinent areas and changing certain aspects will necessarily mean you may be overemphasizing less important things and underemphasizing very important things.

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By the way, Donny Shankle is back!

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Olympic
1) 5 x 2 snatch on blocks, toes off board @ 50-65%, rest 1-2 minutes
2) 5 x 1 snatch, landing position, no hook grip @ heavy as possible, rest 2-3 minutes
3) 3 x 2 snatch pull > 90%, rest 2-3 minutes

Accessory
4a) 3 x 10-15 GHD back extensions, immediately to
4b) 3 x 5-7 GHD sit-ups, rest 2 minutes

rest > 3 hours

Conditioning
10 minutes to a heavy, but not maximal, power clean,

then quickly to,

5 rounds for times:
5 power cleans at 70-75% of heavy clean
run 200 meters
rest 30-90 seconds

Note: These are sprints. Rest at least 30 seconds. Take enough rest to recover fully for the next bout but no more than 90 seconds.