CrossFit Centurion employs a defined strength & conditioning program where nothing is left to chance or randomness. Our program template was created due to the CFC Skills Testing done every six months. The template is designed to build clients up to the test as well as provide small testing cycles throughout the six month cycle. Our previous "Strength Bias" programming alhtough effective, hadn't done as much good as it had in the past due to tweaks made to change the program to a progressive transition from the "Big 4" (Squat, Press, Deadlift, Bench Press), to the Oly lifts several months later.
The previous program was intended to get clients strong, then work on the derivative movements of the Big 4, and then transition those more technical movements into the Oly lifts. It has made much better Oly lifters out of the majority of the CFC clientele, but we gave up some pure strength gains in the process due to the fact clients were not working on their absolute strength as much. In either case, one testing cycle showed us less 1 RM PR's and a decline in relative strength as was evidenced in some of the other areas of testing.
Our current program is designed to get ALL clients on a barbell almost every day of the week where they will squat, press and deadlift. Also included in the week will be a day including Olympic weightlifting instruction, a day including specific skill instruction, and an independent mixed modality, CrossFit based workout day. Each cycle will be 4 weeks in length and each phase is 3 months in length. Two phases will be run during the course of the program between testing.
The time domains of the MetCon workouts and the intensity of the weightlifting components will be prescribed and increase over the course of the cycle until the fourth week where the barbell work will be integrated into the CrossFit MetCon workouts that will comprise the final week of stress. The cycle repeats itself on week(s) 5 & 9, where everything starts over at lower intensities and time domains again to build back up over the course of the month once again.
By constantly allowing clients to build up stress, recover and then adapt using the primary strength movements on a regular basis, we see more benefits as a whole for the gym, as well as during the testing process every in June and December. This current program presents itself to more clients throughout the week thereby allowing a wider base of clients to gain the exposure to the lifts and the strength gained from them. Additionally, the weekly Oly lifts and inclusion of specific skill work will help develop the well rounded capacity and capabilities of CFC's clients much better. We fully understand some people might not get some of the instruction, but this is the best we can do and the rest is up to the clients to figure out their attendance schedule and consistency.
The process of programming a functional and effective strength and conditioning is a never ending learning process. What may have worked well at one time, may suddenly change for a variety of reasons, and no longer hold the desired effects needed to elicit change and improvements in health and athleticism. Sitting down and spending many hours and days plotting a course and all possible contingencies is what any good S&C coach should do for the benefit of their clients, and it's exactly what I did in this case. In the end, the goal of CFC is the improvement of human performance in ALL of it's clients, not just the ones who want to be competitive - that's not what we are about. Our testing process allowed us to see weaknesses in clients as well as ourselves, and in the vein of self improvement for the good of all of our clients, we chose to address our mistakes, fix them and improve upon them. Our current improved programming template has done the trick nicely.
If you have any questions or concerns about our strength and conditioning program, please feel free to ask.
Ian Carver