For
most of us, it can be quite difficult to hit the Wods hard week in week
out ad infinitum. Your ability to successfully train at high
intensity over a period of time is determined by genetics, recovery,
nutrition, injuries and training age. At CrossFit South Brooklyn we
follow a 3/1/2/1 weekly microcycle which looks like this:
CFSBK Microcycle
Saturday On
Sunday On
Monday On
Tuesday Off (AM class does Monday or Wed make-up Wod)
Wednesday On
Thursday On
Friday Off
By
allowing at least two non sequential days off we can train at high
intensity over the course of a week. Consistently training CrossFit
more than three days in a row can lead to a decrease in performance due
to accumulated inflammation and a lack of recovery. Many of you guys
have been following our 3/1/2/1 schedule with great success.
But what about training over longer periods of time than a week?
The
type of training we do as CrossFitters leads to degrees of adaptation
much more closely related to competitive athletics than traditional
“fitness” programs. That being said, it’s important to note that most
organized sports teams map out their yearly programming goals based
around a competitive season. Conversely, CrossFit is a GPP
program which aims to achieve a consistently high level of work
capacity over a life time. There are many individuals who use CrossFit
to train for their sport or occupation (MIL/LEO etc.) and an ever
growing number of people who are competing in CrossFit as their primary
sport. These individuals will generally modify variables of their
programs to better prepare themselves for competition or deployment.
But what about “me”?
The
majority of us are training CrossFit without any regard to a specific
competition or training goal other than health, longevity and elite
fitness. It’s therefore necessary for the average CF’er to take it
upon
themselves to consider their training over longer periods of time than
a week. As mentioned earlier, hitting Wods hard can take a toll on us
and we’ve got enough people coming more than three times a week that it
has become prudent to formalize some cyclic recovery into our program.
Starting today, we’re going to implement posted “Back Off” weeks every
fourth week. We encourage our athletes who train with us three or more
times per week or more to use this as a period to scale back intensity
and give your body a chance to clean house. The workouts we post on
back off weeks will not be dramatically different than traditional
programming but will favor Max Effort days and shorter (sub 12 min)
Metcons. Athletes who are following the back off should treat the
workouts as maintenance and accordingly decrease intensity. If you
train with us less frequently, perhaps once or twice a week and are not
considerably active outside of CrossFit then you shouldn’t worry as
much about the back off week and simply listen to your body.
CFSBK Mesocycle
Week 1 On
Week 2 On
Week 3 On
Week 4 On
Week 5 Suggested Back Off