I want to make very clear that CrossFit is designed to be constantly varied, but should never be random.
We don’t scour the internet and pick and choose workouts from other places. We do look at them to get ideas and see what others are doing, but we rarely scalp someone else’s WOD unless it fits in exactly with what we are doing.
We don’t want to re-invent the wheel and we certainly use other WODs and sites for inspiration and ideas, but each WOD we program is thoroughly thought out and planned to elicit a very specific response from your body.
We have daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and long term goals and plans for ourselves and our athletes. CrossFit is a lifestyle and we want to be sure you can do it injury-free for a long time and continue to make steady gains without plateauing.
We have an hour of your time as often as you come into our gym. We know that no one is coming in 7 days a week, even though we offer classes every day. We know that some of our athletes will come in as they can with their busy lives to enjoy the community, some are using CrossFit as cross training for something else, some of our athletes have goals to compete, and people will fall into all areas of that broad spectrum. We know that and plan for that.
The great thing about CrossFit is that all of those people can still come in and work out together and get what they need. Our necessities as athletes, of any kind, vary only by degree and intensity, not kind.
First, let’s talk about the different aspects of all around fitness. It’s good to know the difference between Areobic Conditioning, Strength, and Power and why we need and program for all 3.
Metabolic Conditioning, or MetCons as we refer to them, builds capacity in each of three metabolic pathways, phosphocreatine happens first and suddenly, 10-15 seconds of hard fast work. Anaroebic happens in the 10-60 second burst. Aerobic is the long term stuff. MetCons increase the storage and delivery of energy for any activity.
Strength is the ability to generate as much force as possible with no concern for how long it takes to perform the exercise. Strength is most important to weightlifters who are trying to perform their one rep maxes such as bench press, deadlift and squat.
Power is the ability to generate as much force as fast as possible. It is the intersection between speed and strength. Power is needed for almost all athletic movements such as swinging a baseball bat, Olympic clean and jerk, and a golfer’s swing.
As CrossFit defines fitness, you know there are 10 different aspects to making you the most well-rounded athlete, we consider all those and work all 10 into your time with us. Maybe not every day, but certainly within the week and month.
We want to be consistent with our schedule so that you as athletes know what days you should come. We all have goals and know the things we are working on specifically or if we just want good all around fitness. (And we can help you decide that if you’d like or aren’t sure what to be focusing on, that is what we are here for.)
Every hour you train with us will include Coach-lead instruction from start to finish. We know you pay a lot of money to spend time with us, we want to make sure you get the most value out of both your time and your money. We as Coaches are here for you.
The general break down for each hour class is:
Dynamic Warm Ups. It won’t be written on a board and we won’t be sitting back drinking coffee as you get warmed up.
Mobility. May be before or after the WOD, depending on what areas we are working on and how we are attacking it. Some mobility is designed to be done before a hard workout, some is designed to be done afterwards.
Skill, Power, or Strength Element. We plan time each day for some skill work on a specific movement or some strength or power component.
WOD. Workout of the Day. This is the portion of the hour where we track the work we do, whether it by time or reps completed.
Cool Down/Stretching. We work our bodies hard. Let’s be sure and finish that tough workout with some TLC for our muscles and joints.
What changes from day to day is the specific Skill/Strength/Power work and the WOD length. And we have a plan/schedule for that.
At CrossFit Recursive, Mondays and Thursdays will be Max Effort/Strength Days.
15-20 minutes of strength work will focus on a heavy lift for some set/rep scheme, your standard strength stuff – presses, deadlifts, squats, etc.
10-15 minute WOD which will focus on heavier weights.
Tuesdays and Fridays are Power Days where we will work hip drive – Oly lifts, kips, box jumps, etc.
15-25 minutes of Strength/Skill portion will focus on recruiting the hip to its full potential. Drills for the hip, Oly lifts, or some variant for sets and reps, box jumps, learning the kip, etc.
8-12 minutes WOD will be fast and furious.
Wednesdays and Sundays are Metabolic Conditioning Days.
10-15 minutes skill, maybe this is where we practice double unders, work on efficient burpees, or nit-pick rowing technique, etc.
20-30 minutes WOD, the goal is to keep moving at a steady pace, get your body into an aerobic state, and work on the gas tank a bit.
Sundays are Wild Card days to be used as needed. If we feel we didn’t get enough of some element during the week, we will use Sundays to work on that some more.
We also occasionally program Not For Time (NFT) assistance work in lieu of a WOD or lifting segment. We execute NFT work exactly like other parts of the workout, meaning we set a time domain and use the timer to communicate and organize time during the class.
Each day as you are training with us, we will be able to tell you the exact reason each element of that hour was planned. What the goal is, what it should feel like, how long it should take, how to scale appropriately, and the response we are trying to get from your body. If you ever have any questions, just ask us.
We all have strengths and weaknesses and we all have things we are working on and working towards. Our hope is that knowing our programming schedule will help you reach those goals.