Adapt strength after SS/TM cycle

[No insect]

I've done SS and TM for 33 weeks straight. In about three months from now I will do this CrossFit competition. So now I need to adapt my strength gains to strength endurance and cardiovascular endurance, while keeping as much of my top strength as possible for any heavy lifting (and because I like to be strong). How much of the heavy training should I keep for strength maintenance during these three months of competition preparation? Heavy sets of five once per week? Twice? I'm looking at around 3 CrossFit/conditioning sessions per week in addition to the strength maintenance. After the competition it is back to SS/TM style training.

Male, 48 yo
5'7", 175 lb
Squat 346 lb, Bench 237 lb, Deadlift 412 lb, Press 130 lb, C&J 200 lb, Snatch 160 lb

[Mark Rippetoe]

What do your CrossFit coaches recommend?

[No insect]

What do your CrossFit coaches recommend?

I don't have a CrossFit coach. I decide for myself how I want to train.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Strength and Conditioning - Conditioning and Strength | Mark Rippetoe

Strength Training, CrossFit, and “Functional Training” | Mark Rippetoe

[Hayden-William Courtland]

As Rip noted, strength should be your focus because it makes you better at everything else. It also will be tested in CF competitions, so you can't let it fade. And if you plan to return to serious strength after the competition, you *definitely* want to keep it high. Therefore, I would never stop doing strength.

How I would structure your months would depend on what you were doing the prior 9 months, but generally speaking I would do the following:

Month 1: Strength + Relatively even split of Weightlifting and Conditioning.
Month 2: Strength + More Conditioning + Some Weightlifting.
Month 3: Strength + Work on Weaknesses + Even more Conditioning and drop the focused Weightlifting.

For month 1, I would do a full strength program will all lifts represented (NLP, HLM, TM, etc.). Then evenly split the rest of your time 1) practicing your Weightlifting as a skill so you improve you efficiency/cycling and 2) doing conditioning pieces. Try and choose pieces that will maximize your strength recovery (i.e., no heavy barbell complexes or absurdly high volume pieces).

For month 2, you can back off strength to 2 lifts per day on the strength days and increase the conditioning volume. You can also add more fatiguing movements to the conditioning (i.e., thrusters, muscle-ups, etc.).

For month 3, you can back off the strength to 1 lift per day, but keep intensity high. Focus this month on any movement weaknesses you have and up your conditioning volume - how much you do this will depend somewhat on the structure of the competition. If it is a long day you will need to mimic that same-day volume exposure in your sessions.

[No insect]

Thanks for your input guys. I will incorporate your advice into my programming for the next 3 months.