CrossFit Coach: OPEX Program Design
Last week (28th -30th October 2015) I spent 3 days absorbing a wealth of program design knowledge from James Fitzgerald (founder of OPEXfit.com and winner of the 2007 CrossFit Games). As a strength and conditioning (S&C) coach, co-owner of Momentum Training / CrossFit Hackney (CFH), and the brains behind the program design at CFH, I was curious to hear what OPEX was all about.
James has been working in the industry for 20+ years and his experience is certainly visible. For 3-days, James confidently stood in front of a whiteboard and shared his theories and principles of training with a sizable group of coaches and athletes.
I think box owners/coaches who take on the responsibility of program design will agree that it is not an easy task. Every single workout requires a lot of consideration:
– The point and the effect (metabolic and hormonal)
– The health and safety aspects
– The group setting and the training age of the members (0 years to 5+ years of training experience)
– The priority of each mesocycle/macrocycle and the continued desire to improve
– The time, space and equipment available
– The coach’s experience and ability
The “sport of CrossFit” and “CrossFit for health and fitness” are two very different animals and program designers need to remember that the members in CrossFit classes are not the elite athletes. The worldwide CrossFit community continues to grow and every day new members are welcomed into boxes and introduced to the training protocols. Many CrossFit boxes run foundations/on-ramping courses, but members are quickly launched into mainstream classes with minimal training. It was interesting to hear James comment that members should be doing 5years of bodybuilding before they start participating in CrossFit. As affiliate owner this is not something we want to here, but as an S&C coach we know it to be true. This should not stop us from doing CrossFit, but this should make us stop and think about the ability of our members and the design of every single workout.
Programming for group exercise classes is extremely difficult when you compare it to personal training sessions. As box owners, the little devil on one shoulder is telling us that we need to be “entertaining” our members and incorporating advanced exercises and workouts to keep up with the sport. The S&C angle sitting on the opposite shoulder knows that the majority of our members would achieve better results by prioritising muscle endurance over intensity, and strict movements over kipping. We know that beginners should not be performing max effort attempts on any exercise, and intermediates would see better gains with repetitions to technical failure, not to muscle failure. The best CrossFit coaches always prioritise the health and safety of the client over the “entertainment factor.” It’s comforting to hear that OPEX also believe in this principle, and they have built a successful business on this model.
Day 1 Weight Training
Reps, sets, time under tension (TUT), rest intervals, volume and intensity of each workout, clients goals and training age were all covered in the first day. Loads of aspiring personal trainers always ask what courses I would recommend? For years I’ve said that the Poliquin PICP level 1 and level 2 courses are the by far the best starting point, and now I’ve found another reputable education course.
OPEX paints the same picture as Poliquin and the material James presented on weight training was very similar. The Poliquin courses offer a more practical approach with sessions in the gym, however OPEX does a great job of covering this theory in a short period of time. If you have a solid understanding of training attributes this will be a great refresher. If you’ve not studied the attributes of strength training OPEX will be an eye opening experience into these principles, and something I would recommend to personal trainers and coaches. Knowledge is power; never stop learning if you want to be successful in this industry.
Day2 Energy System Training
Energy system training/testing was the main element of the OPEX program design course that I had signed up for. The conditioning elements of S&C are very important and many coaches simply get this wrong. Aerobic style workouts have their limitations in the “sport of fitness” and many of us don’t appreciate the benefits of anaerobic fitness. You don’t need to look very far to find CrossFit programs that consistently do long aerobic workouts.
In cyclic sports like running, cycling and swimming it’s easy to design specific training sessions to target certain “zones” (energy systems). In the sport of fitness we have mix modal workouts that can quickly crush even the fittest of these athletes. How can this style of workout be used to train energy systems? What zone are athletes working in and how can they learn to pace weightlifting, gymnastic and monostructural exercises?
OPEX does a fantastic job of breaking down the energy system principles of anaerobic, alactic, lactic, and aerobic training. Understanding the differences, how to train them, how to test them, and most importantly how to allow members to recover from them and continue to make gains in strength and fitness. Overtraining may not be a massive problem with most members, but under recovery is. Everyone loves the hard-hitting workouts because of the elevated cortisol and adrenal levels, but continually smashing these hormones will impact the health of members and limit the gains they could potentially be making.
OPEX has given me a lot to think about in my program design, as recovery is a factor I have sometimes forgotten. Members love the gym, most of them are there 5+ times per week and no matter how hard coaches try to educate members many of them fail to see the importance of rest. If members are not going to take the required rest then the responsibility falls onto the program designer. The OPEX program design course gives coaches the tools they need to better understand energy system application and how to successfully program recovery sessions into the week.
Day3 Energy System Application
The OPEX model is also designed to teach athletes how to change gears, how to pace and how to train and test fitness levels. OPEX have certainly done their homework and clearly defined a well-structured process for beginners, intermediate and advanced athletes.
“If you’re good, you will know exactly how to pace every single workout.”
As we have already established muscle endurance, aerobic and anaerobic training, and recovery are all important components of training. Program designers have the tricky job of implementing all of these elements into a weekly/monthly/yearly training program that will deliver results. The “Constantly varied functional movement” principle can sometimes blind coaches into thinking any random mix of crazy workouts will produce results. This is far from true!
OPEX principles are not the be all and end all, nor do they suggest this. There is still a long way to go and a lot of research that needs to be done to figure out the best protocols for improving all aspects of fitness. OPEX have done a pretty sweet job of building a online course and offering workshops and online training to coaches and athletes alike. I would have no hesitation in recommending the program design course to coaches and personal trainers looking to upgrade their skills and knowledge in S&C.
Personally, I’ve signed up to the full OPEX “Total Coaches Program Level 1” course and I’m looking forward to the nutrition and business systems.
Massive thanks to James for travelling to the UK and sharing his time and wealth of knowledge with us.