Coach's Corner
04
Oct
by:
Matt Adamcheck
Published in
Coach's Corner
By Dave Finlay
Thanks so much to everyone at PCF who have hung with us through this busy time. We've taken a lot on this past month and we have successfully opened a new gym, hosted the biggest CrossFit competition ever in Michigan and raised thousands of dollars for the deserving family of a fallen friend in the Canton Fire Dept. We couldn't have done any of this without the help and support of our family at PCF and our new extended family at Hines Park CrossFit.
Tonya, Lynne, Kate and Austin are also taking on classes, personal training and intro/on-ramp sessions for our new members. Stephanie, Chris and Dennis have taken on the Metcon classes.
Congratulations to both Matt and Morgan who have both been promoted to management at each gym (please direct all future complaints to them...). They have both proven themselves invaluable members of our team and true leaders in the industry. We couldn't be more proud of them for spending the time and working so hard on being the best coaches around.
We have also added, as a full time member of our team, Mike Kerul who will be heading our sports training programs and taking over much of our morning training hours.
Tonya, Lynne, Kate and Austin are also taking on classes, personal training and intro/on-ramp sessions for our new members. Stephanie, Chris and Dennis have taken on the Metcon classes.
Here at PCF/HPCF we are always trying to increase the value of our memberships. By adding a second facility, upgrading our training staff, purchasing all new bumpers, plates, rings, boxes, sleds, ropes, bands and bars, we are doing all we can to be the best CrossFit facility in the country.
22
Jun
by:
Jason Swafford
Published in
Coach's Corner
Plymouth CrossFit and Hines Park CrossFit are sponsoring the annual Solstice Run in Northville on Saturday June 23rd. If you have not signed up, click the link below and get registered.
http://www.solsticerun.org/
http://www.solsticerun.org/
10
Jun
by:
Jason Swafford
Published in
Coach's Corner
Congratz To Mr Awesome (Nick Kallas) and Wife for there new addition to the familiy!!! Kid is probably already stronger than some of our members!!!
10
Jun
by:
Jason Swafford
Published in
Coach's Corner
You guys looked great and are a great couple to train! Cant wait to tell your wife to keep kicking your ass Ken!!!
27
Apr
by:
Jason Swafford
Published in
Coach's Corner
A lot of discussion goes on inside CrossFit Box’s about what is the next WOD and what it should be. One thing most clients don’t understand is that behind every box is the programmer and believe it or not, there is a method behind the madness. Whether that coach is doing it based on availability of clientele, building up to something, or following the main site the most important thing to realize is there is no such thing as bad programming! The only type of way you can program incorrectly is if your program is…
A. Your program does not show any client improvement.
B. Your program does not challenge your clients.
C. You do not create an environment of variety
D. Your program fails to create any type of intensity.
These, in my mind, are the only ways you can be failing your clients. Remember that you are your clients coach; they look to you to frequently challenge them. That is the sole reason 90% of CrossFitters do CrossFit. The average Globo gym fails to create a competitive and challenging environment. The programming of your gym must not have a clear line of what you will make people good at. At no point should you be saying to your clients that you want everyone to work only at gaining a 300lb bench-press or a 6 minute mile. This goes against the mainstay of what CrossFit is. We are a versatile group of people and are trying to build all areas of physical fitness. The 10 general physical skills must always be being challenged and when you try to only achieve one goal in your box you damn well better believe you are faltering in others.
So with that said I will be giving out my programming “secret” in this article and my method behind my madness.
Some things need to be discussed before I can truly get all of you on the same page. First of all we need to look at what is our mission as a coach when building up our clients? My goal has always been, whether in the military or training civilians, to be able to toss my trainee’s into any type of WOD and watch them never give up and succeed with the most success. Whether yours is to make great tennis players, rifleman, ballerina’s, or to look good naked it doesn’t matter, a great program will achieve all of the above.
The next is to hit all levels of fitness as prescribed by CrossFit. A quick refresher will now take place
· Strength and Conditioning: Any action that permits the firing of all metabolic pathways and generally is done with just your body weight. This allows your body to get “conditioned” to where it can use its supplies of ATP as properly as possible allowing more reps, more weight, and less time. If you can breathe well and tire out less you are improving.
o (Ex: Sprints, Rowing, Jump rope, and running.)
· Gymnastic Maneuvers: When we say gymnastic in no sense are we telling beginners to go grab a pair of uneven bars and start attempting flips and dips. We are merely stating that any movement you are engaging in that requires some strength to complete the motion only using your bodyweight is a “Gymnastic Maneuver”.
o (Ex: Air Squats, Pull-ups, rope climbs, muscle-ups, dips, and burpees)
· Olympic Weightlifting: Here we start to build into the hard stuff. This is where we require your muscles to be able to “breath” and be able to move more weight than just yourself around. Adding an external weight is essentially this category. Moving into any lifts other than the basic 9 are up to the coaches and trainees. (Ex: Deadlift, Squat, Snatch, Press, Clean and Jerk, and the Overhead Squat)
Now that we have refreshed what the three mainstays are let’s move into how to combine them affectively.
In CrossFit we have taken these three mainstays and try to complete as many of them as possible while keeping it varied. We make randomized workout in a theory of controlled chaos. Like the atomic bomb, our workouts are brutal and effective but until a catalyst has been added it is just some ink on a paper. Once the element of the human subject comes in that is where we see the toll it takes on people. So with this in mind we have to be able to “maintain the stimulus” which is essentially stating we have to continue to make workouts that our clients or trainees can continue to complete with full intensity until their allotted rest day. To have continuous days of just pull-ups is foolish and you know if they start on Monday they will not be able to put out the same output with their hands on Friday.
It is also fool hardy not to test your clients by eventually giving them a week of heavy pull-ups every now and then. We want them to be able to complete whatever is thrown at them with the most they have in them.
What we try to do is creating variety by using WODS that are around five to 20 minutes long and mixing it up every day. An example week may look like this.
As you can see on the table the program has been completely randomized to maintain variety and also allows for muscle regrowth and ample rest time to be allotted. M, G, and W being the representing letter of our three mainstays. The tops represents a 3 days on and 1 day rest schedule (like www.crossfit.com) and the others show how it can be done in week styles. This style of programming represented above allows individuals to accelerate through the week and give it their all consistently.
Table 4: Describing the letter with its associated workout.
If you follow my site you will see I mainly follow this style of programming because I have found it the most effective in training. This does not mean though that I will never have just a week of “Oly lifts” or a week of “Met-con” as to keep my trainees ready for the unexpected. Also being a coach and a trainees or client means you need to record your times, reps, weights, rounds, and losses. The only way to see if the program is actually working is by comparing past WOD’s.
Again, there is no wrong programming unless you are
E. Your program does not show any client improvement.
F. Your program does not challenge your clients.
G. You do not create an environment of variety
H. Your program fails to create any type of intensity.
Take a look at your programming and ensure that you are still hitting all levels that make CrossFit so successful.
CONSTANTLY VARIED, FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS, PERFORMED AT A HIGH INTENSITY
- Matt Adamcheck
A. Your program does not show any client improvement.
B. Your program does not challenge your clients.
C. You do not create an environment of variety
D. Your program fails to create any type of intensity.
These, in my mind, are the only ways you can be failing your clients. Remember that you are your clients coach; they look to you to frequently challenge them. That is the sole reason 90% of CrossFitters do CrossFit. The average Globo gym fails to create a competitive and challenging environment. The programming of your gym must not have a clear line of what you will make people good at. At no point should you be saying to your clients that you want everyone to work only at gaining a 300lb bench-press or a 6 minute mile. This goes against the mainstay of what CrossFit is. We are a versatile group of people and are trying to build all areas of physical fitness. The 10 general physical skills must always be being challenged and when you try to only achieve one goal in your box you damn well better believe you are faltering in others.
So with that said I will be giving out my programming “secret” in this article and my method behind my madness.
Some things need to be discussed before I can truly get all of you on the same page. First of all we need to look at what is our mission as a coach when building up our clients? My goal has always been, whether in the military or training civilians, to be able to toss my trainee’s into any type of WOD and watch them never give up and succeed with the most success. Whether yours is to make great tennis players, rifleman, ballerina’s, or to look good naked it doesn’t matter, a great program will achieve all of the above.
The next is to hit all levels of fitness as prescribed by CrossFit. A quick refresher will now take place
· Strength and Conditioning: Any action that permits the firing of all metabolic pathways and generally is done with just your body weight. This allows your body to get “conditioned” to where it can use its supplies of ATP as properly as possible allowing more reps, more weight, and less time. If you can breathe well and tire out less you are improving.
o (Ex: Sprints, Rowing, Jump rope, and running.)
· Gymnastic Maneuvers: When we say gymnastic in no sense are we telling beginners to go grab a pair of uneven bars and start attempting flips and dips. We are merely stating that any movement you are engaging in that requires some strength to complete the motion only using your bodyweight is a “Gymnastic Maneuver”.
o (Ex: Air Squats, Pull-ups, rope climbs, muscle-ups, dips, and burpees)
· Olympic Weightlifting: Here we start to build into the hard stuff. This is where we require your muscles to be able to “breath” and be able to move more weight than just yourself around. Adding an external weight is essentially this category. Moving into any lifts other than the basic 9 are up to the coaches and trainees. (Ex: Deadlift, Squat, Snatch, Press, Clean and Jerk, and the Overhead Squat)
Now that we have refreshed what the three mainstays are let’s move into how to combine them affectively.
In CrossFit we have taken these three mainstays and try to complete as many of them as possible while keeping it varied. We make randomized workout in a theory of controlled chaos. Like the atomic bomb, our workouts are brutal and effective but until a catalyst has been added it is just some ink on a paper. Once the element of the human subject comes in that is where we see the toll it takes on people. So with this in mind we have to be able to “maintain the stimulus” which is essentially stating we have to continue to make workouts that our clients or trainees can continue to complete with full intensity until their allotted rest day. To have continuous days of just pull-ups is foolish and you know if they start on Monday they will not be able to put out the same output with their hands on Friday.
It is also fool hardy not to test your clients by eventually giving them a week of heavy pull-ups every now and then. We want them to be able to complete whatever is thrown at them with the most they have in them.
What we try to do is creating variety by using WODS that are around five to 20 minutes long and mixing it up every day. An example week may look like this.
As you can see on the table the program has been completely randomized to maintain variety and also allows for muscle regrowth and ample rest time to be allotted. M, G, and W being the representing letter of our three mainstays. The tops represents a 3 days on and 1 day rest schedule (like www.crossfit.com) and the others show how it can be done in week styles. This style of programming represented above allows individuals to accelerate through the week and give it their all consistently.
Table 4: Describing the letter with its associated workout.
If you follow my site you will see I mainly follow this style of programming because I have found it the most effective in training. This does not mean though that I will never have just a week of “Oly lifts” or a week of “Met-con” as to keep my trainees ready for the unexpected. Also being a coach and a trainees or client means you need to record your times, reps, weights, rounds, and losses. The only way to see if the program is actually working is by comparing past WOD’s.
Again, there is no wrong programming unless you are
E. Your program does not show any client improvement.
F. Your program does not challenge your clients.
G. You do not create an environment of variety
H. Your program fails to create any type of intensity.
Take a look at your programming and ensure that you are still hitting all levels that make CrossFit so successful.
CONSTANTLY VARIED, FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS, PERFORMED AT A HIGH INTENSITY
- Matt Adamcheck
