Tara from CrossFit Loveland has put together a whole page of videos from the EmerFit Games. Thanks Tara! The official EmerFit videos and photos are still in the works. We got slowed down by a dieing hard drive on the computer we use for photo/video editing. We hope to have it fixed this week.
Introduction
We are trying something new this week. One of the problems with group classes and a flexible schedule is that we never know when people are going to come in. This is especially true this time of year with changes in the weather, the time change, and the upcoming holidays.
Sometimes we like to assume there is a Monday-Wednesday-Friday crew and a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday crew but that really is not the case. When we dig into our attendance records we see how extremely variable your schedules are. For our conditioning work this is not really a huge deal since we are mostly focused on general fitness or cross training. For strength work, on the other hand, it is a real limiter.
If we deadlift on Mondays for a 4 or 8-weeky cycle but you only attend class on Monday every third week then you hardly get any deadlifting in. We have tried all sorts of remedies for this, mostly involving rotating the lifts. For most of 2011 we’ve done heavy lifting on MWF one week and then TuTh the next week. The results continue to be mixed especially when we compare them to the strength program where the lifting schedule is more fixed.
Some gyms solve this problem by making the schedule less flexible. They might force you to pick training days and times for each cycle. This is kind of what we do with the strength program and it works. Yet, in our annual client survey we get very clear feedback that our ultra flexible schedule is very important to you.
For a long time we have considered the idea of having a list of 2-4 lifts for the week that you need to get done and a set strength period at the beginning of each class. For a variety of reason that I won’t go into here we have never tried this idea out. This month’s Performance Menu has an article entitled “The Bucket List” that presents one gym’s implementation of this very idea. The article inspired us to try this out with a few little tweaks of our own, see the details below.
The Strength List
During the week strive to get at least the 2 primary lifts completed during the strength period of class. Complete the lifts in the order listed here. Only do one lift per day. There will be no strength period on Friday.
- Push Press 3-3-3-3-3 (primary)
- Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 (primary)
- Chin Up Max-Max-Max (secondary)
- Back Squat 3-3-3-3-3 (secondary)
Monday
Strength: See the list.
Conditioning:
20-15-10 reps of:
- Dumbell Hang Squat Clean, (40/30)
- Burpees
Tuesday
Strength: See the list.
Conditioning:
10 min. DB Snatch Test
Scale Up: KB Snatch
Wednesday
Strength: See the list.
Conditioning:
12 min max rounds
- 20 Box Jumps
- 10 Knees to Elbows
- 30 sec Plank
Thursday
Strength: See the list.
Conditioning:
For time
- Run 800m
- 30 Burpees
- 20 Weighted Sit Ups 45#/25# plate
- 10 Knee To Elbows
- Run 800m
Friday
Conditioning:
“Karen”
- 150 Wall Ball for time 20/12
I very much like this format – I do hope it works out.
I’m also VERY excited about this format! Hope is the best programming choice ever!!
I think this is a great idea. I like to attend on the lifting days but am limited because of travel and end up doing much more cardio (and much less lifting) some weeks.
I also hope this works outbecause my schedule seems to be constantly fluctuating.
Agree with previous comments. Programming allows for flexibility in scheduling while allowing one to stick to primary programming goals for the week/month/3 month cycle. Well done and innovative.
Any place we can see photos of the event???