CFH Training Plan 14/12/2015 – 20/12/2015

Week 6 of 10 Energy System Training

COACHES COMMENT:

THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED

I wasn’t always strong, in fact at one point in my life I struggled to squat an empty bar with good form, and I had no idea how to perform a press-up correctly, not to mention a clean or a snatch.

Back in the days when Josh and I both competed in Marathons and Triathlons we considered ourselves to be fit and healthy.  It took us a number of years to figure out that the endurance training path is unhealthy and the impact on our bodies was far from positive.

It wasn’t until we found CrossFit (2009) that we started to change our training approach and started to follow a path that lead to improvements in strength, function and wellbeing.  When we first started, neither of us could squat our bodyweight and both of us had zero Olympic lifting or gymnastics ability.  Let’s be honest, my current lifting ability is still far from perfect and I spend a lot of time working on skills and video selfies.  Yes I love to watch myself perform movements  because it often feels like I’m doing it correctly, but the reality can be very different.  I often take lifting advice from Giles Greenwood and Calum McNamara – I listen to my coaches and apply everything they that they share with me – and when they are not about I use video to coach myself.

The older I get, the wiser I become (I hope)… the more I learn, the more I coach, and the more I train, I start to see how CrossFit can be an amazing tool to improve so many aspects of human function, fitness and wellbeing.  On the other hand I can also see how destructive CrossFit can be if used incorrectly. The responsibility of making sure the correct CrossFit path is followed must be jointly managed by the coaches and students.

My training goals:

I lift weights to look good, feel better, be healthier, AND get stronger.  I don’t really care about 1RM max strength, I do not see the point of being able to bench press a car, this isn’t important to me.  I don’t personally care for CrossFit competitions because this is not my training goal.  Neither of these things helps me achieve my goals; especially the looking and feeling good part.

I’m being totally honest, its more important to me to feel positive about my training and finish each session without failing a single repetition and performing every movement with the best form possible.  I still challenge myself by lifting 80-90% loads and I do occasionally fail repetitions or have an ugly rep here and there.  My aim is to keep these to a minimum and focus on quality as much as possible.  I can simply not see the point of hurting my back by doing heavy squat or deadlifts, or hurting my shoulders doing a heavy bench press or pointless kipping movements, and then being in pain for the next 4 days and not being able to train.  I cannot afford to spend a week holed up and not being able to do something I love.

So as a result, I rarely lift heavy loads – heavy for me – and I typically work off percentages and focus on good form.  I spend a lot of time working on the basics – strength with press-ups, pull-ups, muscle-ups, squats, step-up, lunges, isolation exercises, mobility, wrist strength, crawling, handstands, and partial range Olympic drills to improve body awareness, strength and function.   This is the path I choose to follow because it suits my goals.

Don’t get me wrong; lifting heavy weights and competing in competitions is NOT dangerous. Fact is, the basic exercises like squats, deadlifts, presses and pulls, etc.… are incredibly safe, even with heavy loads.  Competing in competitions is also a great way to test your fitness and you push yourself to a new level.   These statements are only true if you are capable of preforming with EXCELLENT technique.  At the risk of sounding like a jerk, 80% of CrossFit gym goers would fall into the category of not having excellent technique.  They don’t have good enough technique to safely reap the rewards of training programs designed for sports “performance” or “competition”. The professional Chinese Olympic weightlifters spend months learning the lifts by using a bamboo stick when they are kids, and somehow CrossFitters automatically progress to bar?  Why is this?  Because most of them don’t appreciate the time it takes to master technique and to build basic strength endurance.  The rat race of our daily lives encourages us to save time and to take shortcuts, which is a major shame, and many of us should know better.

“Personality begins where comparison leaves off. Be unique. Be memorable. Be confident. Be proud.”  – Shannin L. Alde

Strength and technique takes years to build, not days, not week, not months, YEARS.  Why are so many people in such a rush? The majority of CrossFit students would see far better results by improving their muscle endurance and following a path that is specifically design to do achieve this and most likely their individual goals…. CrossFit Hackney Fitness group.

RECOMMENDED WEEKLY READING:

BetterMovement.org: Why Slow Movement Builds Coordination – Many people will look at very slow and gentle movements and think – how can these possibly do anything? Isn’t harder and faster better than slower and softer? This post is an answer to that question

Box Life Mag: 5 Training Traps You Need to Avoid – There’s always more weight to be moved, more reps to be hit, you can always move faster and for longer. Fitness is a never-ending journey. But because it’s a journey, it’s easy for a traveller (or an athlete) to get snared in various pitfalls along the way that stop them in their tracks, send them down the wrong path or even make them regress in their fitness. As such, we must be wary of these common training traps that athletes fall into.

GymnasticsBodies.com: Perfect Pull-ups: Quality Leads to Better Results – The question, then, is not whether or not you are training pull-ups, but rather are you training pull-ups correctly. There are many factors to consider, such as flexibility, volume vs. intensity, and advanced variations, so read on for more details.

Time.com: 6 Things the Most Productive People Do Every Day – We could all be accomplishing a lot more — but then again, none of us wants to be a workaholic either. It’d be great to get tons done and have work/life balance. But how do we do that? I decided to get some answers.

MensFitness.com: 7 ways you’re destroying your sleep cycle – if you’re practicing good sleep hygiene and still tossing and turning at night (or feel exhausted every. single. morning.) one of these other factors could be robbing you of rest.

DOWNLOADS:

CrossFit Hackney Energy System Training Log Book

MONDAY 14/12/2015

— GET WARM [10min]—

— PART A. [20min]—

— PART B MAP3 [30min]—

TUESDAY 15/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— AEROBIC LACTIC ENDURANCE TEST #3 [40min]—

COACH NOTE:  Each athlete must finish the full round before the next athletes starts.  Athletes MUST complete each round in under 5-minutes, otherwise the round is over.  If they fail to do this they should lower the rowing distance in the next round.

WEDNESDAY 16/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— PART A,B &C. [20min]—

— PART D. MAP1 [23min] —

THURSDAY 17/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— GYMNASTIC —

FRIDAY 18/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— PART A, B&C. [20min] —

— PART D. Anaerobic Lactic Power #3′
[20min] —

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

SATURDAY 19/12/2015

— GET WARM —

— PART A & B. [20min]—

— PART C. Aerobic Power #2 [15min]—

SUNDAY 20/12/2015

— GET WARM—

— PART A,B &C.  [20min]—

— PART C. [30min]—