CFH Training Plan 07/12/2015 – 13/12/2015

Week 5 of 10 Energy System Training

COACHES COMMENT:

THE ROLE OF THE STUDENT

Last week we talked a little about the role of the coach, this week lets change the focus to the students.  The role of the CrossFit student is to firstly listen to their coaches and pay attention to instructions. As a student, your role is to diversify your experience, to stretch your capability across a broad range and appreciate the learning journey.  Traditionally, this is best done by the time-honored method of “working on your weaknesses.”

There is a common phrase that’s says, “Choose the path of least resistance.”  Students often site this phrase to justify working smarter and not harder. But what if working smart actually means choosing the path of most resistance? When engaging in strength training of any kind, the student’s goal should be to work in a way to best maximize results and minimise the chance of injury.  This can be achieved if the correct program (CrossFit Hackney Competitor, Performance, Fitness) is followed. Are students willing to put in the hard work to make slow and steady progress, or are students living in the fast lane and trying to take shortcuts?

To continue to make progress, the student needs to recognise weaknesses and take advantage of coaches to devise drills and exercises to turn each weakness into strengths.  Students must be prepared to swallow their pride and dedicate time and effort to work on their weaknesses over a period of time – “Rome wasn’t build in a day.” Students who are not yet capable of strict pull-ups may see far more reward with barbell rows and far less chance of injury (the risk reward ratio).

So the burning question of the moment is “What’s your weakness?”  Are you trapped into thinking you can avoid certain elements of training and still achieve optimal results?  If you’re serious about developing a comprehensive fitness or skill set, you’ll want to start working your weaknesses.  You need to find the things you’re really bad at, and practice them until they become your strength.  If your flexibility is terrible you need to start working on it.   If your strong on cardio, work strength, or if you strong on strength work cardio. Go towards the points of most resistance, go towards your fear, go towards your instability, your errors and your ignorance.

Most of us do precisely the opposite, which is precisely the problem. The perils of specialisation are obvious in the way that our bodies respond to a limited training exposure.  Simply put, intensive movement specialisation is a recipe for tissue breakdown and injury. The over-use injury is best described as a specialisation injury.  Too much micro-trauma in one place ultimately leads to trouble.  A smart training program is a periodization cycle that switches between different training theories and methodologies.  A training cycle should last long enough to apply enough stress on the body for adaptation to occur, but then a new cycle should appear with a change in focus to allow variety, recovery and new adaption to take place.

If you’re a specialist in one aspect of training or a particular sport, it should be no surprise when some part of your body starts to break down.  Inflammation and pain are the price we pay for repeating a limited range of movements and training practices.  In fact, if you’re really dedicated at single sport or limited movements in the gym, you should plan on injury.  It’s only a matter of time.  The more refinement you develop, the deeper your physical rut and the greater the accumulation on stress on certain tissues.

In contrast we never hear much about diversification injuries. Students who play a variety of movements spread out their physical stress.  Micro-trauma gets a chance to heal when we practice across a broader spectrum. In the short term, diversity fails to develop the incredible powers of the specialist, but they also have a longer training career.  For these students, diversity wins in the end.

Place your trust in the programs created only by coaches with successful track records, and that way you know your hard work will help you progress in the right direction.  Hard work should be the mainstay of every training session and adequate rest between sessions is critical for success.  Once you step foot into the gym, the time has come to switch on your sympathetic nervous system and earn your gainz through sweat and effort.  This is precisely when you should choose the path of most resistance.  Once training is done its time to switch focus and allow the parasympathetic system to “rest-and-digest” or “feed and breed.”

RECOMMENDED WEEKLY READING:

RenaissancePeriodization.com: Sugar, the good, bad, and the ugly! – Sugar can play in athletics and improving body composition – yep you read that right – IMPROVE body composition

Ergo-log.com: Using Knee Wraps For Squats Increases Wear And Tear In Your Knee Joint– knee wraps alter how you move during a squat in such a way that you’re likely to cause more damage to your knee joints.

Gymnasticbodies.com: All About Dips: How to Train Them Safely and Effectively – Gymnasts, bodybuilders, and CrossFitters all do dips on a regular basis, but each perform them with such wildly different technique that they might as well be separate exercises. On the other hand, some athletic trainers, physical therapists, and chiropractors might even recommend that you avoid dips in any way, shape, or form at all costs! With such a plethora of conflicting views out there regarding dips, it is time to sit down and set the record straight.

Strengthsensei.com: Skinny fat is an oxymoron – Skinny fat refers to someone with unappreciable levels of muscle mass associated to a high percentage of body fat. Basically, not a great sales point for mating season… Here are four reasons why people achieve the skinny fat look.

Antranik.org: Hamstring Flexibility Guides – There are many ways to stretch the hamstrings or to touch your toes .  Improve you TTB, improve you burpees, improve your L-sit holds by lengthening you hamstrings.

DOWNLOADS:

CrossFit Hackney Energy System Training Log Book

MONDAY 07/12/2015

— GET WARM [10min]—

— PART A&B. [20min]—

— PART C. MAP1 [30min]—

TUESDAY 08/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— PART A. [20min]—

— PART B. Anaerobic Lactic Power [30min]—

WEDNESDAY 09/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— PART A,B &C. [20min]—

— PART D. MAP1 [23min] —

THURSDAY 10/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— GYMNASTIC —

FRIDAY 11/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— PART A, B&C. [20min] —

— PART D. MAP3 & Aeroboc Power Test [26min]—

COACH NOTE: The Competitor snatch bar and the deadlift bar are the same weight.

SATURDAY 12/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— PART A & B. [20min]—

— MAP3. [32min]—

SUNDAY 13/12/2015

— GET WARM—

— GET STRONG [20min]—

— PART C.—

Coach Note: Take time to teach and practice KB Clean and Press and Snatch.