Insight into Programming

This is the last week of our current programming cycle. During this cycle, our strength work has focused on Front Squats, Deadlifts, and Push Press, and we have seen TONS of PR’s from everyone.

Our conditioning work was geared towards preparing for the CrossFit Open, and we saw some incredible improvements on that front as well. As your coaches, we love to see the progress everyone is making!

Our next cycle starts on Monday, and I want to give everyone a little preview of what’s in store.

First of all (and you’ve probably already seen this), I’m going to be posting supplemental ACCESSORY work on the small whiteboard at the gym. These exercises will change every couple of weeks. I recommend that you choose 2-3 of the exercises to do after class whenever you can. If you have questions about any of the movements, just ask your coach.

Our STRENGTH WORK is going to continue to focus on the core lifts, and we’re going to start off the cycle with a month of high volume work. This means that the number of reps you’ll be doing in each set will be higher than what we’ve been doing, and the recommended weight will be at a certain percentage of your 1RM for that lift.

In addition basing our lifts off of percentages, we are also going to be using a couple of other metrics: Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Reps in Reserve (RIR). These can be very useful metrics if you don’t know your 1RM for a particular lift, AND they allow you to base your numbers on how you’re feeling on a given day.

RPE (1-10 scale) is pretty self explanatory. An RPE of 1 would be something very light, like an air squat. An RPE of 10, on the other hand, would be a 1 rep max.

For an inexperienced lifter, though, RPE can be tough to gauge. This is where RIR comes in. If you’re prescribed a set of 10 with 2 RIR, that means you should be working at a weight where you could get 12 reps. But you’re only doing a set of 10. So you’ll have 2 “reps in reserve”.

I think you’ve all probably heard me say, “some days are stronger than others.” RPE and RIR give you the freedom to decide how heavy to go based on how you’re feeling. If the prescribed percentage feels especially light that day, feel free to go heavier!

Our conditioning work is going to continue to challenge you to push yourself. We will be re-testing some of the Benchmarks that we did in November and December, and we’re also going to see some new Benchmarks during this cycle.

And if you’re not interested in the theory behind the programming, that’s fine too. Just keep showing up. See you at the gym!

~Coach Steph