If you think lifting is dangerous, try being weak. Being weak is dangerous.’
— Bret Contreras, Sports Scientist
Beginning next week, Aspire classes will be embarking on our next strength cycle. Consisting of 10 weeks of prescribed lifting, culminating with a test week during the week of December 7th. Not only are we looking to continue the amazing progress we’ve made during the last strength cycle, but also in preparation for the 2021 CrossFit Open, which will begin in February 2021. Being stronger isn’t just about putting big numbers up on SugarWOD. The benefits to a strength program are numerous: from building healthier tendons and ligaments, increasing bone density, preventing sarcopenia (naturally occurring muscle loss as we age), increasing fat loss, and proper hormone homeostasis. Though we still don’t mind the obvious benefit of better performance on workouts and crushing life overall.
During these 10 weeks, our weekly schedule will consist of the following:
(these are not rules, but general patterns)
Monday
Strength: Squats, focusing on the Front Squat
Conditioning: 8-12 minutes of CrossFit Conditioning
Tuesday
Strength: Pressing, focusing on Jerks
Conditioning: 12-15 minutes of CrossFit Conditioning
Wednesday
Strength: Pulling, focusing on Olympic Lifts and Deadlifts
Conditioning: 6-10 minutes of CrossFit Conditioning
Thursday
Strength: Squats, focusing on squat variations
Conditioning: 15-20 minutes of CrossFit Conditioning
Friday
Strength: Pulling, focusing on Olympic Lifts and Deadlifts
Conditioning: Variable CrossFit Conditioning
Saturday
Strength: No prescribed strength, but could be heavy in the MetCon
Conditioning: 30-60 minutes of CrossFit Conditioning
Sunday
Rest or Sunday Runday
Our strength training will consist of warm-up lifts, these lifts start light and become progressively heavier, increasing the load to our “working set.” These will be the heavy sets for the day and the correlating percentages will be programmed. Stick to these percentages as accurately as possible and seek a coach’s guidance if you are unclear of the loads you should be lifting. We are there to help! These percentages are written with scientific backing for a safe, progressive overload to increase everyone’s strength. More load on a given lift will not necessarily yield better results in the long run. A rest period of two minutes will be taken between lifts, giving ourselves the opportunity to recover, accurately load the bar according to the percentages prescribed, and chat a bit with your classmates (this should be fun after all!).
To best find these numbers while lifting, reference your previous results on SugarWOD by clicking the “PREPARE” button and/or reference the lifting calculator found on the app as well.
The strength program will be written for the intermediate athlete with 3 working sets. More advanced athletes should include more warm-up sets in order to complete 4-5 working sets. Novice athletes can build throughout the 5 sets programmed, increasing by 5-10% per set up to 1-2 sets at “working load.”
As in CrossFit tradition, our daily conditioning workouts are constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. All CrossFit workouts are based on functional movements, and these movements reflect the best aspects of gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing and more. These are the core movements of life.
We are excited for the results these next 10 weeks will bring not only to our tests that we will repeat in December, but to all aspects of health and fitness.
See you in the gym!\
Do you have body composition goals or are interested in our program’s inevitable positive change over the next 10 weeks? Book an InBody assessment with a coach today and see how much your body fat can go down and your lean muscle mass go up!
Click here to book your InBody Appointment Today!
