CrossFit South Bend

All right everyone we are less then a week out from our first class. Over the next few days I will be making some posts to cover how classes will run and some principles behind the program.

The first topic is probably the most important, our strength portion. Everyone will be starting out on what we call the Amateur Program (ASWOD). This is where we build our foundational strength by using a linear progression.  We will start at a fairly conservative weight in each of our core lifts. I will be watching the bar speed until we find a weight were the bar speed starts to slow down a bit and that will be our starting place. I can’t give you a magical percentage because as amateurs percentages don’t work well since you have an inefficient CNS (Central Nervous System). The reason behind this conservative start is we want to give ourselves ample time to ramp up to the bigger weights.

Think of our linear progression as this big ramp from the X-Games. I don’t know about you but if I wanted to give myself the best shot at getting over the gap, I would make sure to get as big of a running start as possible (starting at a conservative weight). I would not try by standing close to edge (starting near your current potential), giving a few arm swings and just hoping I make it. I’ll give you a hint: you won’t.

We will be progressively adding weight to our lifts each time we come into the gym. Deadlifts will increase by 10lbs, Squats by 5lbs, Shoulder Press, Bench Press and Power Clean by 2.5lbs. The weights will get heavy quick enough. The key here is patience, to check the ego, and see the big picture.

Everyone will most likely be on this program from 6-9 months, some maybe less and some maybe more. The key is to make sure that we don’t get anxious to get off of Amateur and make the jump to Collegiate.  I understand because I’ve put it in the time at Amateur that it can get boring and monotonous, and the Collegiate programs looks like more fun then what you are currently doing. However, we want to wring out as much of the Amateur Program as possible much like when you are trying to wring out all the water from a towel. We want to make sure we get every last drop out that we can. In other words we are going to ride it until the wheels fall off.