Barbell Training + Met-con

[JLascek]

There have been inquiries about how to program barbell training with metabolic conditioning. I wrote a little article to outline the successful program I use at CrossFit Wichita Falls.

If it makes you feel better about trying it out, I had a 195 pound guy deadlift 420x5 not too long ago. If he listens, he'll be doing much more than that after eating more food.

Correction, he did 425x5 last Friday.

You can find the sticky post on
http://crossfitwichitafalls.com

Or go straight to the .pdf:
http://crossfitwichitafalls.com/Cont...WF_Program.pdf

Thoughts, comments, and observations are welcome.

[Peter Andersen]

Hi Justin,

I've been waiting for the details on this ever since you stopped posting updates to the CFWF site.

Looks good.

I was wondering, what was it about MEBB/CFSB/Gant's programs that you felt needed improving upon with this program? Was it the way that those programs structured recovery, or something else?

Cheers

[italiangumbi]

Would it be safe to assume that Saturday and Sunday are off days/skill days like Wednesday?

[mlentzner]

Justin,

Do you expect to be able to send athletes to the Crossfit games and have them be competitive? Of course you may not consider that competition to be a good measure of GPP. If not, then how would you measure it?

Regards,

Matt

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

Justin,

Once the novice stage has ended (you cannot add more weight each time you lift and have done more than 2 resets), would a viable intermediate approach be to keep the same occurrences of the lifts and alternate between 5x5 and determine a max with 5 reps or less?

Well, 5x5 and 1-5 RM for the presses and squats, maybe pullups too. for cleans 8x3 and 1-3 rm and 3x5 and 1-5 rm for the deadlift.

[jacob cloud]

Excellent article. I really like this program. Simple and logical. Will there be a version (possibly with an appropriate diet) on your "other" site for those of us looking to grow out our staches, sideburns, and willing to sport tall socks?
On a more serious note, how would you program for a more intermediate athlete that has milked their linear progression on, say, squats? How about some sample WODs for the metcons? Great stuff, thanks for posting it.

[Rain]

What about the Saturday and Sunday, nothing is stated in the proposed program? Rest?

[midohu]

The program looks strangely similar to the 4-day split routine on page 190 of PP only put within Monday to Friday instead of Monday to Saturday.

CFWF: MON Squats Presses, TUE Pulls Metcon, THU Squats Presses, FRI Pulls Metcon.

PP 4-day split: MON Squats Presses, WED Pulls, FRI Squats Presses, SAT Pulls.

It's a nice program: as simple as it can be made, which is difficult to do.

[JLascek]

Hi Justin,

I've been waiting for the details on this ever since you stopped posting updates to the CFWF site.

Looks good.

I was wondering, what was it about MEBB/CFSB/Gant's programs that you felt needed improving upon with this program? Was it the way that those programs structured recovery, or something else?

Cheers

The programs you listed are good in that they make the observation that additional strength is necessary for met-con or performance in general. However, those three programs are all different; I don't think you can equate them.

Nevertheless, I think the biggest problem with those programs is analogous to what Rip says about strength training: there are many ways that are right, but some ways are more right than others.

My chief issue is that there isn't enough stress to induce the recovery and subsequent adaptation in the programs you listed. The frequency of strength training in general is lower than where it could be, and the amount of stress is low to produce the adaptation.

If a person can perform both A and B workouts in a week instead of just one, and they still adapt (i.e. get stronger), wouldn't this be more beneficial? If you understand how important strength is, then this isn't really debatable.

So I guess I just wanted to make people stronger faster than not. And if it helps, I did a slower way at first (squatting, pressing, and deadlifting only once a week). The current way is better.

Would it be safe to assume that Saturday and Sunday are off days/skill days like Wednesday?

It would be safe to assume that these are rest days. Maybe some skill on Saturday, but nothing more than a few minutes of POSE running drills.

The recovery of strength is of the utmost importance since it will make all the other shit better anyway.

[JLascek]

Justin,

Do you expect to be able to send athletes to the Crossfit games and have them be competitive? Of course you may not consider that competition to be a good measure of GPP. If not, then how would you measure it?

Regards,

Matt

To be honest Matt, I don't care about sending anybody to the CrossFit games. But if that became a trainee's goal, I wouldn't change anything in their training unless I deemed it necessary as the competition neared.

This year's games seemed to eliminate anyone who had good strength at a relatively higher bodyweight with the 7k trail run. Whether this was the goal or not, I don't know.

If I had to pick a traditional sport that was a good measure of GPP, I'd probably say the decathlon since it covers an array of athletic parameters. Other than that, I don't know any sports that would be a good test for GPP since a sport is typically a specific endeavor. As for competitions, I'd have to think for a bit. Start a new thread if Rip deems it relevant, because it sorta leaves the scope of this one.