Press
Performance: Medium Intensity, 75-80% x 5 x 4
Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Add a few pounds to last week
Exposure 5/8
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Deadlift
Work up to one heavy set of 3 reps
Go heavier than last week.
Exposure 5/8
Post loads to comments.
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5 Rounds Not For Time or 18 minutes:
5-10 Strict Dips
5-10 Strict Chins
5ea Side Turkish Get Up Sit Ups, as heavy as possible
Perform the dips on rings or a Matador. If you can not perform 5 strict bodyweight dips then work up to a heavy set of 5 on the Dumbbell Bench Press. Use bands or 5 negatives if you can not perform the strict chins. A TGUSU is simply the first step of the TGU. These are great for shoulder health and for training the obliques which don’t see a lot of action in CrossFit. Start with a medium load and go up each set. Let your weaker side determine how heavy it gets.
Check out this how-to video about Kettlebell “Get Up” Sit Ups.
Post time/rounds and Rx to comments.
Ben A. practicing his pistols
Not a True Novice Anymore: Failing, Resetting, and Transitioning
By Chris Fox
Getting strong is simply and entirely about maintaining stress and recovery. Unfortunately, what most magazine articles and Internet coaches tell you (sell you?) is either hogwash, like “30 DAYS TO RIPPED ARMS/WASHBOARD ABS/BEST BOOTY!” or too advanced, creating too much stress for a novice, like ”TRAIN LIKE THE CHAMP RICH FRONING!” A novice, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a person or creature who is new to a field or activity.” If you haven’t performed systematic barbell training before or if you’ve had a significant lapse in your training, then you’re considered a novice. Let’s discuss what a novice’s training looks like at CrossFit South Brooklyn (CFSBK), and when to consider moving on to an intermediate program.
At CFSBK we use linear progression (LP) on the slow lifts (squat, press, deadlift, and bench press) as the barbell training program with all of our novice or detrained athletes. We like the 3 sets of 5 (3×5) protocol as recommended in Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. This is generally what Fitness strength programming looks like at CFSBK. The basic idea is to start light and slowly and incrementally add weight to the movement each lifting session, which for us would be one to two times each week depending on the lift and on the training cycle. Novice lifters require relatively little training stimulus (stress) to invoke an adaptation response (recovery), and as such can lift progressively heavier weights each and every training session for quite some time. If this were to continue indefinitely however, we’d all be able to squat 1,000 pounds eventually, if only we would consistently perform the lift week-in and week-out adding weight each time we did it. While that sounds like an amazing world to live in, it doesn’t work like that and this method eventually runs out, unfortunately.
Let’s look at an example lifter below…
On Jessica’s first back squat exposure with us, she squats 3 sets of 5 reps at 65 lbs (65x5x3). It feels very light for her but since she’s never back squatted before it will be enough of a stimulus to produce a training response. Jessica eats, sleeps, and recovers and the next time she squats, she’s able to do 70 lbs for 3 sets of 5 (70x5x3), then 75, then 80, and so it goes for quite some time. Eventually after 4 months or so she’s squatted 145 for 3 sets of 5 (145x5x3). The next week she fails the 4th rep on her last set. What is Jessica to do? At this point in her training she’s still a novice (4 months in) and thus would still benefit from a novice program like the LP she’s been following. We’d probably instruct Jessica to try 150 again next week and see if she can’t make all 15 of her reps. Maybe she was out late the night before and had a few cocktails that left her hungover, or maybe she just wasn’t feeling 100% since she was coming down with a cold. Either way the best case scenario is that next week she’d squat 150, make all 15 reps, and continue along the LP for a while longer, possibly making smaller increases each week of 2.5 lbs instead of the 5 lbs she’s been using.
Eventually though, it starts feeling very heavy and two months later she fails her 5th rep on her first set at 175 lbs, then can only do 3 on her next set and struggles on an ugly 3rd squat on her third set. At this point (6-7 months lifting experience), Jessica would probably still benefit from a novice program, but she was feeling good that day and wound up failing early on in the sets. Jessica now should back off the weight a bit (which we call “resetting”), and build back up. We’d have her go back to somewhere between 5 and 10% lighter (so between 155 and 165), which we already know she can do. She would then get back to that 175 and probably passed it before failing again.
Eventually, after a few resets, Jessica will simply no longer be able to make strength gains on an LP since she can’t recover from this type of approach, and thus will benefit from transitioning to an intermediate type of program, aka Performance programming. This will happen to us all assuming that training and recovery are consistent for anywhere from 6-12 months in.
AT CFSBK, we employ a few different types of rep/set schemes for our intermediate population. Intermediate trainees need more training stimulus (stress) and hence require more time to adapt (recover). The point of this article isn’t to outline the many (many, many, many…) viable options when it comes to intermediate strength training programs. It’s to say that if you’ve been running up against a wall and keep missing at or around the same weights on a few lifts in your strength training, then it’s probably time to move on to the Performance side of things for those lifts. You may not be able to do the ring muscle-ups and handstand push-ups in the WOD portion of class, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t progress your slow lifts into new territory. It’s perfectly acceptable and expected for many of you to be doing Performance squats/presses/deadlifts and then jump into the fitness version of the WOD. Our programing and timestamps for every class make this possible.
If this is you and since many intermediate programs use percentages of a 1RM to prescribe load, then it would be prudent to test some maxes at the end of a cycle. We usually test between a 1RM and 3RM at the end of a cycle so you can use those numbers going forward. You can pretty reliably extrapolate a theoretical 1RM from a 3RM, anything much larger than that get less and less reliable. If it’s not programmed and you fit the bill of someone ending a novice LP then go ahead and tell a coach you’d like to test.
I’d be remiss not to mention that failing lifts may be due to factors other than your training age. I’m fond of telling my Foundations groups that “fitness doesn’t happen in a vacuum.” If other stressors like work or relationship stress, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, disease, etc. are present, then you can expect to not recover as well from training as if you were eating well and sleeping 8 solid hours a night. If that’s your case then either work on being better in those lacking areas or be humble and make smaller increases in weight each week so as to ride out the novice gains a bit longer. You’d probably benefit from frequent and moderate resets as well, aiming to finish each cycle only a few pounds heavier than the previous one.
As always, if you’re unsure of what tract you should be on then ask a coach and we’ll point you in the right direction! Three Cheers to Happy and Effective Lifting!
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The Benefits of Leveled Programming Inside the Affiliate
Failing, Bailing, and Training Culture at CrossFit Affiliates Inside the Affiliate
When and why did you first decide to follow programming other than a linear progression (if you have)?
I think I'd been training here at CFSBK for over two years before I did anything other than a LP (and then it was a Wendler cycle). This is because the various breaks that entered training – illness, vacation etc- often just made it necessary to be modest, reset, and try to climb back up the hill again. I've definitely plateaued in the six years I've been here, and now, it's a struggle–with parenting etc–to maintain strength at the levels I'd like. I shift between LP cycles and performance programming for various lifts depending on where I feel like I need to just regain strength or where I try to need to break through. Sometimes I do performance programming for variety and because there are new challenges to be found there.
Large 6am class with Fox and McD
Press
Four sets of 5 at 115#. Felt quick and strong. Ready for some bigger jumps I think.
Deadlift
Heavy 3 at 335#. Still moving well. 10# jump next week.
NFT work (4 rounds)
Chin ups were quick sets of 5.
Ring dips were unbroken sets of 10. Should have added weight here.
Turkish sit ups. Used the 45# DB for all sets. The first rep on each side was the hardest to organize.
QOD
I almost exclusively use performance programming with the exception of Wendler cycles. When Wendler shows up I follow fitness programming. For some reason Wendler just doesn't do it for me.
6am with Fox and McDowell
Press – 140x5x4 – felt much easier than 130x7x4 did last week
DL – 375×3 – hoping to hit 395×3 in two weeks
Got through just about 5 rounds (ran out of time before the last set of sit-ups). Did 10 strict chins and 10 strict dips per round. Sit-ups were 35, 40, 40, 40
6 AM, whoa. I got to lift with badass ladies Kayleigh and Linda, yay!
Press 75x5x3. This was WORK. I have a feeling I may start failing next week at 77.5, which was historically where I started failing 3x5s before I was injured, so it's cool that I'm around the same place.
DL 235×3. IIRC 245 is the heaviest I've ever done for a 3 so we'll see how that goes next week.
Pre-injury, I was doing almost exclusively performance programming when in group class (in strength cycle I just did whatever Jeremy told me to) because I've been lifting for a while and I'm pretty aware of what my true 1RMs are. Now that I'm coming back, I'm doing performance for HBBSQ, because I think I established a pretty accurate 1RM last cycle, but fitness on the press because this is my first cycle in several months doing it without the football bar.
Oh…I guess to answer the Q that was actually asked, I do performance if I'm pretty sure I know what my max capacity is, and fitness if I think I have room to grow.
Also, NFT work was super fun! I was pleasantly surprised to find that I can do strict ring dips without pain.
6am with Fox and McD
Press: 67x5x4 (75%). This is still moving well and maybe I could've done 70lbs which would be 77%, but I'm happy with this work. It was great to have Stella in 6am and share the bar with her and Kayleigh!
Deadlift: 255×3, up 10lbs from last week. My current 3rm is 265, so I'm hoping I can hit that next week and jump to 275 the following week. I'm really enjoying that there's 4 weeks at a heavy 3 this cycle.
NFT – 3 rounds. Turkish getup sit-up: 20, 25, 30. Tried banded ring dips for the first time with the blue band and wasn't too bad once I got setup (thanks Alex for the assist!). Chin-ups with the orange band, which I probably didn't need but was more of a mental assist to make sure I didn't strain my shoulder.
QOD: I think there may have been one cycle that I tried the performance programming for LBBS in the 2.5 years I've been coming here, until this cycle. I have really been enjoying this cycle and am really excited to see where I'll end up. I felt that I had started to max out on a lot of my lifts for LP and it was the right time for me to make the transition.
Large 6am class with Fox and McD
Press
127.5x5x3. This is definitely getting heavy, but got all 15, so we'll try 130 next week.
Deadlift
430×3. Might be the heaviest set of 3 I've ever done, and it was appropriately heavy. Better form than last week, so I'll probably try 435 next week.
NFT work (2 rounds)
Some movements that tweak existing injuries, so I went slowly and aimed for better form. Shoulder is stabilizing to the point where I might be able to do dips more often.
QOD I don't recall there being strength programming choices when I started at cfsbk, so I think I just did what I was told. Over the last few years I've repeatedly used linear progression when recovering from medium to long term injuries. After about 4-6 months I've normally failed at the same weight a couple of times and its time for performance programming.
6am w/ Fox & McDowell
Press: 125x7x4 — nothing special to report, 5's are alot better than 7's.
Deadlifts: 345 (f). Bar was glued to the ground. Should have read the blog before reporting the gym this morning.
NFT: well, it is not for time work…
OG
(After a week off)
X-O Sym
Band stretches
Press: 45x8x1, 65x8x5 Shitty times
Deadlift: 205, 225, 275×3 Could've gone to 285
5 Rounds
10 GHDs
10 Matadors
RE: The Linear Prog question above:
I'm in the same boat with @Samir. I'd also add that chronic injuries have been messing up any sort of attempt at consistent programming or gains. A fine wine I ain't… More like a mid-November Jack-o-lantern.
60#x5x4 on the press, 185#x3 on the DL. For the NFT, did 5 push ups (dumbell bench felt a bit sketchy on the shoulder), 5 chins with the green band, and a 25# dumbell on the turkish get ups.
Dropped into CF Central London while on the road, had some fun converting lbs to kilos!
600m run holding 6 kg medicine ball
No significant warm up, just some foam rolling quads, IT band
Strength focused on split jerk, worked up to 37 kg, the whiteboard said out of the rack but the coaches failed to get that far in teaching, ended up cleaning it off the floor. Somewhat surprised by the lack of coaching attention and care.. I even gave my partner some tips on their split stance ( I know scary right)!
WOD- 2 min max burpee, 1 min rest, 1 min max burpee. Did 30, then 16.
Little self imposed cash out as I still had some gas in the tank-
50 sit up
30 push up
50 sit up
100 air squats
May try another gym tomorrow.. I see Stella's note now to proceed with caution with this gym. 😉 I miss CFSBK, we have it real good!!!!!
5:45am on my own
Press 120 x 5 x 3. Hit all my reps but starting to get heavy. Think just 2.5# jumps from here
Deadlift 295 x 5. Moved nice and easy. Missed a few exposures and still in my 1 x 5 range so will continue with 5s for a few more jumps
NFT work – Did four rounds of 8 ring dips and chin-ups. I can only get through about 5 dips at a time. Pretty sure I wasn't doing the turkish sit-ups right.
QOD – Feel like I haven't hit repeated limits yet in LPs so will continue doing them until I do
Had a luxuriously light morning today
9am Mobility
10am class
Press
45×5, 75×5, 95×5
115x5x3
Deadlift
135×5, 225×5, 275×5, 315×5
365×3
Felt good. Didn't want to push it since my back felt really off last week.
5 RNFT
5 Matador Dips
5 Chins
5ea TGUSUs w/16kg KB
Then realized that my 11am client was away in Puerto Rico, so…
11am
Back Squat
45×5, 135×5, 185×5, 205×5
225x5x3
Hadn't low bar squatted in a month since injuring my shoulder, and high bar squatting has been pretty rough on my right knee so I was anxious to get away from it. Felt good on the shoulder and better on the knee.
—
QOD:
I'd lifted for years (from about 12 years old), following silly magazine programs for the bulk of that time. In my early 30s I finally started to actually train more more than curls and skull crushers with barbells and dumbbells and ran a few programs by Ian King and then Eric Cressey. Eventually I found Starting Strength and realized that I'd never really put in the time under the bar that I should have. I started an LP around the same time I started CrossFit in 2007 and so it went. After about 2 years of resets, the first intermediate program I followed was 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler (which I don't personally like very much except for maintenance) and have since then have followed some intermediate programming for a few lifts and also when leading up to a meet. Funny enough. I've also gone back to the basics a few times around and after injuries and followed a basic 3 sets of 5 LP with no regrets. Loss of ego perhaps, but no regrets.
Incidentally, one very good variation on LP is the 5, 5, repout scheme that Jeremy had me do in my second strength cycle. This helped me break through a ceiling I had hit while doing LP work.
12pm with Fox and Nick.
3RNFT
10 x push-ups
10 x OHS
5 x pull-ups
Press (perf)
75 x 5, 70 x 5 x 3
Disappointed again here as 70# is less than 75% of my 1RM but 75# felt really heavy today so I dropped the weight.
Deadlift
290 x 3
Felt good.
NFT
5 x Turkish get-up sit-ups were really hard for me and I couldn't seem to get them right at all. 12.5,15.17.5,20,20
5 x Chin-ups- 1st round strict and unassisted, 2nd round with orange band, rest of the rounds were negatives.
5 x matador dips
Tried to do a Tabata on the erg but lost interest halfway through so went across to 608 and did an Assault bike Tabata instead.
Trying to get my lungs back…
***
QOD
I stopped doing LP when Jeremy told me to during my second Strength Cycle last year which was a year and a half into my training. I still haven't followed a full cycle of performance programming on any lift though because I keep signing up for specialty programs and/or powerlifting meets 🙂
Press: 67x5x.4 As previously stated, enjoyed sharing the bar with Linda and Stella 🙂
Deadlift: 275×3. Up 10lbs from last week, 10lbs away from my 3RM.
NFT – 3 rounds. Turkish getup sit-up: 25, 30, 35. Dips and chins with the blue band.
QOD: I did linear progressions for my first year at CFSBK, then started to dip into performance for lower body lifts because I felt like I knew my limits much more there. While I now mainly do performance programming, I have gone back to LPs a few times – like right now with HBBS since I have no clue where my limits are here. I really like having the cycle available on the page because it allows me to really think ahead about what will be best for my own situation.
Warm up x 3
8 each side single arm handstand
10 FSQ 45#
5 strict T2B
Press 80%
60# x5 x4
Deadlift
195×3 – belt and shoes, not terrible
4 rounds NFT
5 chin ups
5 matador dips
5 each side Turkish sit ups – 30#, 35, 35, 40
10am:
Press
(45×5, 65×4) 80x5x4
-harder today but all still moving.
Deadlift:
(135×5, 185×2, 225×2, 245×1)
265×3
-all still hooked grip but much harder today. Contiplating a 5 or 10# jump next week.
2 rounds of accessory work: 5 strict matador dips, 5 strict chins, 5 tgu sit-ups at 12kg (25#) then 30#.
Went home to hit my crash b's rowing and could only get through 10mins. Felt really out of it and not strong. Think I need to sleep more!
press: unexpectedly rough! 62.5: failed fourth rep. 62 failed third rep. 60: failed fourth rep. I'm gunna try again at OG Friday. Weird!! 60 last week was fine…
Deadlift: 165×3
4 rounds:
5 strict ring dips
5 strict chin-ups
20# tgusu
Really great to read this article! I've been thinking about doing performance programming for some lifts next cycle and this article confirms I probably should. Great advice.
For those of you who want to get better at the performance WOD side of things: anti-gravity!! I'm tellin ya…
7:30 with Ro and David
Press 66x5x3.
DL … definitely loaded the bar wrong.. ended up doing 210 for 2 reps .. I think? Blah
NFT work was chill.
Performance Press: 60x5x4 (75%). Felt great but Noah said I was pushing my chest up so need to pay attention to that next week
Deadlift: 3 reps @ 230#. Noah said I ripped the bar off the ground (I keep doing that on the DL!) and got soft so will do the same weight or less next week.
NFT: 2 rounds. Spent most of my time learning proper form for the TGU situp.
5 matador dips
3 chinups
TGU situps with 20# DB