From Couch to Crossfit

[bango skank]

Coach,

I've heard you say, and I agree, that starting from a strength background with a knowledge of the basic lifts will better prepare someone for starting crossfit than coming from a met-con background b/c one can generally condition met-con more quickly than one can facilitate strength when doing both consecutively, as in cf.

Actually, I'll just quote you so you don't have to re-type your thoughts again:

It has been my experience that the people who make the best progress on CF come from a strength training background. It will be very hard to get your deadlift up to 500 on a straight CrossFit program. It will be quite doable to get a 16 round "Cindy" if you already have a 500 lb. deadlift. Strength is a good base for everything else. GPP is important, if the lack of it is a problem. My point is that if you're a 25-year-old male with a max squat of 150 lbs., max deadlift of 200, and max press of 100 at a bodyweight of 150, then GPP should not be your first concern. Your CF workouts should be designed around, and should defer to, your strength program until such time as your strength and lean body mass are up high enough to make you a more efficient athlete. In my opinion.

Shifting focus for a moment, there are four common ways of beginning Crossfit:

1. Simplefit.org (http://www.simplefit.org/workouts.html); An 8 week, 3day/week circuit program of BW pull-ups, push-ups, and squats. Day 1 is time driven, Days 2 & 3 are task driven.
2. Brand X WOD , puppy dawg scaling (http://forum.brandxmartialarts.com/viewforum.php?f=16); The CF WOD scaled to "beginner" level.
3. The CFJ 12 Week Beginner Routine (http://www.crossfit.com/journal/libr...ersMay03.pdf); A 12 week, 5day/week program of deadlift, push-press, squat, and 400 meter runs. All days are task driven. In weeks 1-3 you DL on Mon, PP on Weds, Squat on Fri and Run 400m on Tues/Thurs. Weeks 4-12 maintain their 1 lift per day focus but progress to a circuit of lift/run 400m/lift, and then @ Week 6 lift/run/lift/run/lift. Tues/Thurs progress to multiple 400m runs, up to 6 intervals.
4. Starting Strength; I think you've heard of it.

As a preparation for crossfit each program has pros and cons.
#1 Pros: Improves bodyweight exercises, facilitates met-con.
Cons: Doesn't teach the lifts, repetitive, facilitates less strength
#2 Pros: Follows Crossfit protocol at a reasonable level/pace, facilitates met-con
Cons: Doesn't focus on learning specific lifts, facilitates less strength
#3 Pros: Teaches 3 important lifts, facilitates met-con and lower body strength and some power
Cons: Doesn't teach Press, Bench Press, or Power Clean. No bodyweight exercises (gymnastics), doesn't faciliate upper body strength.
#4 Pros: Teaches the major lifts, greatly facilitates strength and power
Cons: Doesn't faciliate met-con, no bodyweight exercises (gymnastics), long time-table

Personally, I would recommend #4 and then progressing to #2 (at more advanced scaling). This is what I have done to great success. Of course for someone who wants to do crossfit now, that would be a minimum 4 month to 8 month commitment to SS before starting CF, bw exercises, and met-con. I would be more willing to recommend that approach to someone with more definate strength/mass goals.

If I were to design a 12-24 week crossfit introductory program intended to focus primarily on strength and secondarily on met-con, what guidelines would you recommend? Could it be as simple as SS on M-W-F with HIIT on T-Th, with bodyweight exercises added into weeks 4 and up? What about Push Press, Power Jerks, Front Squats, Squat Cleans and Snatches? Any ideas?

Thank you.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Man, that's a lot of typing. I don't type well. But believe it or not, this actually comes up rather often. Our response is that CrossFit can serve as either a stand-alone program for slower strength improvement/rapid metabolic conditioning, or as a very effective intermediate program following a standard SS novice linear progression model (your idea exactly). It just depends on what a guy wants to to do with his time.

If I were going to design a way to integrate CF into a linear strength progression, I would add one met/con workout per week after week 2, and add another after about week 6. I would not address the Olympic lifts or any assistance exercises not present in the met/com workouts until the linear progression slowed and intermediate status was thus looming on the horizon.