As many of you have heard or seen, we are in the process of creating new “Performance” program. Yesterday we started to implement the program with both very positive feedback and some confusion. The program is being established with our athletes best interest in mind. That being said, we ask that you remain patient as we are using the next few weeks as a trial and error period to allow the program to run as effectively and efficiently as possible. If you have any questions throughout this period, we encourage you to talk to either Coach Drew or Coach Nick to iron out any issues.
Over the past 6 months, we have not only grown in classes, but also as a gym that offers great barbell and strength programs. This has resulted in several athletes experimenting with different programs to suit their individual needs and reach their goals. As we observed this, we noticed that there were inconsistencies in the programing and training for our athletes. As a coaching staff, we want to steer our athletes in the right direction and help them achieve their goals under a consistent program and supervision.
This program will be for the athlete who is ready for the next level of training and is wanting to dedicated their time to improve their overall performance across all avenues within CrossFit. The program will cover Olympic lifting, strength movements, and gymnastics movements amongst many other aspects. Athletes following this program will have their own daily programming and therefore will not be taking standard CrossFit classes. Over the next 10 weeks, this program will be specifically designed to prepare athletes for the 2014 CrossFit Games Open.
This program is not for everyone, but is for the athlete who has mastered all the basic movements and is ready to make that commitment to training for a specific goal. To make sure that all of our athletes are performing the movements correctly and getting the most out of this program, Coach Nick and Coach Drew have created a schedule where they will both be instructing this program via two different session times: Morning and Evening.
We highly encourage you to come experience what this program entails even if you are currently following other programs. We are excited to bring together a higher level of training and tighter community of performance athletes. If you are doing other programming, feel free to do so, however we ask that you stay in the barbell area that will be blocked off from here on out.
Morning Session Times:
Monday – Thursday (5:30 – 7:30am)
Evening Session Times:
Monday – Thursday (5:00 – 7:00pm)
***Sessions will run in a domino effect meaning that we will start new groups as preceding groups have completed a piece of the program. Please be warm and ready to go at the beginning of each session. If you arrive before a new group is starting, please take time to warm up and be ready to get started with the next heat***
This is an article that we found written by Spencer Arnold, a nationally renowned coach, athlete and programmer that both Coach Nick and Coach Drew respect. This is what performance training is all about: coaching, environment, then programming. We highly encourage you read it and understand our vision with this program.
“I want to set the record straight with this blog post on some assumptions that have been made on how valuable I find personal programming to be for a successful athlete. Clearly, I believe that programming plays a huge part in one’s success and is largely irreplaceable in many aspects. However, I do not believe it to be the top priority. Today I wanted to post a quick synopsis of what I believe to be the top three priorities for successful training in any sport or fitness endeavor.
First on the list is coaching. Eyes on and consistent coaching from a qualified, passionate, invested coach is the most invaluable thing an athlete can have. Nothing replaces the eyes of an experienced coach watching you complete workouts and compete on a regular basis. The consistency of a coach whose eyes know what to look for and who knows how to correct common errors in your movement; ironically, is not an exception in major sports, but it’s the rule. There is no baseball team in the MLB without a batting coach. There’s no basketball player in the NBA without a shooting coach. There’s no NFL team in existence without a defensive coordinator. Successful sports teams and athletes have found that acquiring eyes on coaches, who know what they’re doing, is crucial to their success. I believe the same is true for weightlifting and CrossFit.
Secondly, a positive and success driven training environment is crucial for success in competition. I recognize that there are exceptions to this rule as there are many who have trained by themselves or train in a less than ideal training environment and have succeeded still. However, the vast majority of successful athletes are surrounded by other successful or striving athletes with the same passions and desires for the sport. This is obviously a requirement for any team sport but even sports like wrestling or golf or weightlifting work to create training environments conducive to success. The more people you can surround yourself with who are driven the same way that you are, the more likely you will succeed on days when all you want to do is quit or fail. Training environment goes so far as to include training partners. On the same note as the importance of a consistent coach, and importance of a consistent training partner or a consistent team of partners is invaluable. People who will push you to beyond your limits on a regular basis are crucial to success. Furthermore, training partners in a consistently positive training environment will help make your bad training days better and your good training days exceptional.
The third priority on this list is programming. I recognize that this is likely the aspect of peoples training that gains the most attention in the sport of weightlifting or CrossFit, but without the other two previous aspects, programming will do very little for your success. However, given the right coach with the right training environment, the right programming can be the last missing piece to your success. Ultimately, having a wise coach who is experienced in their field writing your workouts is much more beneficial than you writing your own, or worse a coach that doesn’t know what they’re doing writing your workouts. Programming is however, only as effective as the athlete who performs it. The best program in the world will fail with an athlete who doesn’t give all they can to the program. The importance of programming really is built upon two assumptions. The coach who is programming knows some of the basic tenets of strength and conditioning, and the athlete who is performing the programming is giving it all the effort they can.
I have always stated that my priorities for athletics rank in this order. Unfortunately, all three of these are often hard to find and bring together for one athlete. Furthermore, a good coach, a premier training environment, and smart programming will still only create success if the athlete applies themselves. Even the best of situations can fail if that athlete isn’t willing to commit. So I guess really the number one priority is a mindset for success before any of these markers are part of that athlete’s life.”
– Spencer Arnold
WARM UP
3 Rounds of :30 Drills:
Jumping Jacks
Seal Jumps
Air Squats
Push Ups
Pull-ups/Ring Rows
————-
2 Sets of Fence Drills
SKILL
Double Under Work
5:00 to Complete a 10-1 Scale of Single Leg Jumps, Then ME Double Unders for the Remaining Time
WOD
100 DU
then
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Pull-ups
WBS (20/14)
then
100 DU
