Team! We are 3 months out till 2023. I want to help you reach your goals and help you reach them faster. If you haven’t booked your quarter Strategy Session do it right now! Don’t weight (haha see my joke) do it now!
Now, let’s chat Weight Loss, Community, CompetitorsThis is a big week! Some complex movements and a continuation of metabolic conditioning workouts. You have three workouts this week that are longer than 20 minutes and the classic benchmark workout Annie. This is one of the more challenging weeks we have seen this year with the broad range of high skill movements, time domains, and intensities. The decrease in heavy lifts this week is by design. Don’t worry, you’ll still get plenty strong between the KB Front Rack Lunges, strict press work, thrusters, snatches and the complexity of these workouts. When we’re talking about the complexity of these workouts, make sure you choose a movement variation that allows you to hit the stimulus and move you toward your personal goals. Let’s get after it!
Monthly Focus Workouts: 4
Heavy Lifts: 1
Metcons Over 12 Minutes: 5
Weight Loss: Monday starts the week off with a high volume body weight workout. You have air squats and ring dips. Building up the capacity on both movements is a great sign of weight loss. Being able to move your body weight through space with your legs and your arms is a fundamental piece of CrossFit and for everyday life. Pick a variation that will allow you to keep moving or standing around. That’s the game changer in weight loss today.
Tuesday is a great metabolic conditioning workout. You have a max distance row with a partner. Long and sweaty workout that will get your heart rate going and burn those calories, since you’re with a partner you get to row a little harder which will turn this into a strength piece as much as it is a cardio piece.
Wednesday you have a more complex workout that will take you anywhere from 15-20 minutes to complete. Make sure you find the proper movement variations and loads in order for you to be able to move fast and well. Prior to the workout you will build to a heavy one rep hang power snatch. Realize one rep is relative, we want you to move well first. We snatch because it recruits several muscle groups throughout the body to work all at once. When you improve your movement quality and or weight in the snatch we usually see other metrics also improve.
On Thursday you will dial back on the complexity with the benchmark workout Annie. Annie is a couplet of double unders and sit-ups. It’s abs and lungs. This workout will get that heart rate going and ensure you keep those summer abs. After the workout you also have some running intervals that will make sure you got your conditioning in for the day if the double unders weren’t enough 😉
Friday it’s all arms and core. You have strict press, your version of strict muscle ups, along with L-sits and seated leg raises. As much as we love kipping, and speed this will help you continue to build a solid based where you will reap the benefits of almost instantly to help set you up for success on Saturday. Either way get ready for a serious arm pump and your midline / mental capacity to be challenged.
Saturday has everything you could want in a workout, Midline, elevated heart rate and with a partner! This is a great workout targeting the legs and again, a ton of core. After the workout you have four sets of KB side bends and front rack holds that are really going to work the midline.
Sunday ends the week with a workout that really drives home the monthly focus of conditioning. One of my favorites this week for weight loss. You have a longer running workout with some high skill pressing. Working on that upper body strength and cardio which will elevate the heart rate and get sweaty really quick.
My favorite days for weight loss this week are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sundays
Community: There are two great partner workouts this week on Tuesday and Saturday along with a heavy lifting day on Wednesday.
Tuesday Partner Row where you split the distance and time however you want. Feel free to encourage some friendly competition among other pairs in the class.
Saturday is a fun Kettlebell, Boxjump WOD. Maybe you make it a point to do this one with someone that sn’t always in your classes throughout the week. Another great day for Community is Thursday with the benchmark workout Annie. It’s always fun to throw down on these benchmarks as a community. After Annie you have some running intervals which touch on the monthly conditioning focus. Running is always more enjoyable with friends that will help you push through.
Wednesday, before the workout you have the opportunity to partner up and build to a heavy hang power snatch. Grab some friends, we’ll turn up the music and give you the opportunity to slang some heavy weights with friends. If you’re in the 7:30 we’ll make sure to play Russ’s favorite rock mixes.
Friday is a slower day and an awesome one to move. You’ll actually be able to have a conversation versus catching your breath the entire time. Realize that those L-sits will require a lot of focus, so don’t get too excited with the community piece if you’re a chatty cathy (haha). However it does allow for some extra camaraderie opportunities in every single class since we’re setting you up for the big partner WOD on Saturday.
My favorite days for community this week are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Competitor: Get excited! This week is going to be one of the more challenging weeks you have seen so far this year.
Monday starts it off with an all bodyweight workout that should be completed sub ten minutes. You have air squats and dips. Make sure you really warm up the upper body for those dips and practice cycling them with a kip. If you struggle with muscle ups or upper body pressing let’s make sure the range of motion in the dip is full. Then we can add speed. On the kip for the ring dips the legs might feel a little heavier coming off the air squats, so focus on driving those knees up aggressively. The reps add up quickly here so if you are still working on dips make sure to dial back the volume a touch or do some assisted. You can mix some kipping and some assisted to get some of the dip volume in but not get stuck. Before the workout you have some pistol practice. This is a great opportunity to work on some full range of motion pistols as you will definitely see these in the Qualifier. That practice on Monday will help with getting through Wednesday’s workout.
Tuesday: We see rowing every year in the qualifier, Open and just saw it in WZA qualifiers. What used to be recovery in some workouts like the row is becoming how fast can you push the row and still do other movements. It’s an important part if you want to excel in the sport of CrossFit. You must have a high capacity on the rower and or a high capacity to get off and do more work. That being said, use the row to improve strength, explosive power. What use to be you can cruise and recover is turning into an important part of the WOD. While it’s simple, it’s definitely not easy, give everything you can to this rower today.
Wednesday has Open / Qualifiers written all over it. The volume and complex movements are similar to what pops up in the Qualifiers. It’s heavier than open weight and not quite a qualifier weight. Don’t underestimate that 115/75 lb barbell thought. It’s border line as scary as seeing a 95 lb barbell for some athletes. You can either go bigger sets, which will increase capacity or small sets and small rest which will give you a faster time. Move smoothly through those pistols. For the thrusters, increase that cycle rate by pulling the barbell back down as opposed to controlling it to the shoulder slowly and then going down into the next rep. With the power snatches, keep the cycle speed fast. Get off the barbell if you slow down too much. The pause for both the thruster and the snatch is overhead.
Thursday is a classic CrossFit benchmark and we’ve even seen beefed versions of these workouts for Qualifiers and in the games. Depending on how you feel from Wednesday’s workout you can push this one too. Double unders and sit-ups will target the shoulders, grip, and core so you should be able to come off Wednesday and hit this one with some intensity. This is a double under volume way under open capacity so let it rip from start to finish, don’t let off the gas for one single second. If you want to beef it up with GHDSU you’re welcome too, just make sure you’re prepared for that amount of volume on the GHD. If it’s too much, stick with regular Annie.
Friday looks innocent and very unassuming for the competitor. It is an absolute necessity in order to help you continue to improve all your big lifts, pushing, pulling along with midline capacity. It also is a slower mover which sets you up for success on Saturday. It’s by design.
Saturday you see heavy swings, so if you feel like you haven’t seen enough weights, go heavy and go big. Box jumps and then more single leg movement. We can improve your strength a lot of times by improving your single leg strength, this week there’s a lot of it. We programmed 3 days of it so there’s no escaping it 🙂
Sunday ends the week with a great conditioning piece. Helping build up that engine and work on your higher skill pressing. You will see HSPU in the Qualifier so make sure you try to get some volume in on this day. If you struggle with this movement it’s another opportunity to practice it. Don’t scale this back too much and spend all your time running. You can kip the HSPU so make sure it’s a quick touch and a strong leg drive up. Try cycling them for a few if you can as opposed to controlling too much or too slow on the way down. Put in the volume and the work now so you are more confident in this high skill movement when it comes up later on.
Your focus this week is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
Gymnastics Focus: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
Weightlifting Focus: Wednesday and Friday
Open Prep: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
As always there’s plenty of bonus work below! 3,2,1 Let’s have a great week!
