CrossFit South Bend

Hey all, this occurred to be this morning that perhaps not everyone knows how to manage their time appropriately during a lifting session to get the most out of it. So it’s worth a quick post to clear up any possible confusion.

But a few things to think about before we get into the lifting.

1. You should have seen the workout already, and have some vague idea of a game plan for this, especially if you’ve been here for a while, you have no excuses – you should have some idea of your most recent or ideal/realistic numbers you’d like to hit. This is why I post the workouts a week ahead of time.
2. Pay attention – the last thing I want to hear at the end of the 20 minutes is “oh, we were supposed to actually do/complete the lift in the 20 minutes?”
3. Show up to class on time – I get it, everyone has lives, and a job, and kids, and there was a gorilla blocking traffic on the way in. But if you have no good reason to be late, try to be punctual – it really does mess up with the flow of the class. If we have to stop and change our game plan because we have someone coming in 10 minutes, and then 15 minutes into class – that was your culprit of why you now have less time to set your max for the day.
4. There are a lot of variables that are adjusted for setting your scheme up – based off of what the lift is in the first place, the time we have, the effect we are looking to create, the skill level of the lifter, the training age of the lifter, the number of reps and sets in the session, we can go on, but we won’t.
5. Move the bar as fast as possible, always.
6. Start with the end and determine what you’d like to hit for the day, realistically. Since most of you are novices, leave a little flex room for another attempt if you need one. hint* not trying to best your old number by 10% is a good start, 3-5% jumps off the top are a good place to look at for a novice.
7. Before any of you bawk at percentages for novices – if you have a prior number go ahead and use percentages off of that number and slowly work it up – these AREN’T training percentages, which for a novice is sometimes pretty ineffective which is why we give a range from time to time – again, context matters, but percentages that are used to work up to an existing PR in this situation.
8. Give the heavier sets a little more rest at the end (derrrrr) so you aren’t attempting two different 5rm’s within 60 seconds of each other. So lets say you are hitting 100% of what you want to hit, at the 17 minute mark. Then work backwards from there.
9. Not sure what to do? ask? still not sure? ask again.

Lets set up a situation. This is also a general guideline, and you can tweak it as you see fit.

We give you 20 minutes to establish a max – You are a novice, you have one prior 5rm that you know of, the lift matters as far as context goes, lets say its a squat 5rm. You have no prior injuries and are healthy as far as we know. Your last 5rm was a grind at 315.

1 minute mark – Write your stuff up

2 minute mark – Set up your rack

3 minute mark – 25-35%x5

4 minute mark – 40-45%x5

now slow it down

6 minute mark – 50-55% x 3

8 minute mark – 60-65% x 2

10 minute mark – 70-75% x 2

12 minute mark – 80-85% x 2

14 minute mark – 90-95% x 2

17 minute mark – 100% x 5 (if this is your attempt, PR or not)

19:40 minute mark – 103-105% (assuming it was a successful attempt and you would like another one)

Now this can change, depending on a lot of things, lets throw a not as much of a novice situation at you.

Let’s use the example of someone going for a new 3 rep max and the goal is 500 for 3 reps. Here would be an effective set and weight scheme to have a better chance of achieving this goal:

Set 1: 135 x 5 25% (of 1RM)
Set 2: 225 x 5 40%
Set 3: 315 x 3 58%
Set 4: 365 x 3 67%
Set 5: 405 x 3 74%
Set 6: 455 x 2 83%
Set 7: 500 x 3 New PR

Now let’s take a look at how we would approach a new 1 rep max. We will use the example of someone going for 600lbs, and then someone going for 315lbs.

Set 1: 135 x 5 22%
Set 2: 225 x 5 38%
Set 3: 315 x 5 53%
Set 4: 365 x 3 61%
Set 5: 405 x 3 68%
Set 6: 455 x 2 76%
Set 7: 495 x 1 83%
Set 8: 525 x 1 88%
Set 9: 565 x 1 94%
Set 10: 600 x 1 PR

As you can see, once we get about 80%, we only do singles from then on.

Now 315:

Set 1: 95 x 5 30%
Set 2: 135 x 5 43%
Set 3: 185 x 3 59%
Set 4: 225 x 2 71%
Set 5: 265 x 1 84%
Set 6: 315 x 1 PR

As you can see the stronger lifter will need a lot more sets to properly build up to their max. I will say that these are only suggestions, and in the end you know your own body best. Try these out and let us know if you hit any new PR’s! Just plug and play with the time you have available, and WORK TOGETHER WHEN YOU ARE ON A RACK!