From the Pulpit: Floors, Ceilings, MED & Volume
Okay, so the whole “CrossFit is a cult” thing has been overplayed and I have little desire to add fuel to it but, my role as a CrossFit coach often involves interpreting and passing along the teachings of CrossFit founder Greg Glassman much as a church leader might interpret the scriptures for his flock. Not that I’m a church leader and the teachings of Coach Glassman are not the word of God. They are, nevertheless, often misinterpreted. Sometimes to the detriment of the athletes trying to adhere to the letter while missing out on the spirit in which they were intended.
Ceilings versus Floors
Let me begin with the Rx. Traditionally, CrossFit prescribed a defined weight for most workouts. This became known as the coveted “Rx”. If you could complete the workout as prescribed, you could make a claim for beast status. The misinterpretation this created – and in the early days, I fell into this trap myself because I failed to read the fine print regarding this on CrossFit.com – is believing that the Rx represented the floor, or the minimum load to be used in the workout. This misapprehension has been so far twisted that I often hear athletes muttering, “If I didn’t do it Rx’d, it doesn’t really count.”
This is precisely wrong and was explicitly explained on the original CrossFit website for anyone who bothered to read it. The Rx’d weights represent not a floor, but a ceiling. For example, benchmark workout Grace, 30 clean and jerks at 135lbs for time was written this way: “Use 95 lb., 65 lb. or a broomstick as needed.” The prescribed workout weight was intended not as a minimum, but as a maximum. The way the Rx was intended to be interpreted was: Do the workout at a weight appropriate to your fitness level up to but not exceeding the prescribed load. 30 clean and jerks with a broomstick counts every bit as much as Grace completed at 135bs. It is the intended stimulus, not the load, that matters. I advise athletes to select a weight for Grace that will allow them to complete the workout in under 5 minutes. If they succeed, next time they can increase by 5lbs up to 135lbs. When they can complete 30 clean and jerks at 135lbs in under 5 minutes, we don’t want them to add weight but increase speed. I have had several athletes complete Grace at the Rx’d weight in under 2.5 minutes.
Some of you might be wondering why I did not list a women’s Rx’d weight for Grace. Because until the CrossFit Games, there never was one. And why should there be? 135lbs was the ceiling weight for everyone. To give women a different ceiling weight is to suggest that women aren’t strong enough to Rx Grace at 135lbs in under 5 minutes and I can tell you that is nonsense, I’ve known several who could, so why should their fitness be constrained by a lower ceiling limit? Before CrossFit became a sport, when it was purely a fitness training methodology, there were no men’s or women’s weights. It was each to their own up to but not exceeding the prescribed load.
MED
In fitness, more is not better. It is hard to beat this into the thick skulls of driven, type A personalities who always want to be crushed by the workout. It is probably the most pervasive problem I see as a CrossFit coach. For the best, sustainable fitness outcomes we just want enough stimulus to provoke a physiological adaptation. That’s it, nothing more. You do not need to be crushed, smashed or destroyed to experience the benefits of exercise, in fact, I would contend that these outcomes will actually prove counterproductive over time. In fitness we are searching instead for the Minimum Effective Dose, a stimulus that triggers adaptations while maximizing your recovery potential.
How do you know if you have hit the sweet spot? After the workout you will feel mild fatigue but also an elevated mood and though there may be some residual soreness the next day, you should be recovered enough to play again. If the workout leaves you destroyed for days, you have gone too hard and done too much. A little tip: professional athletes do not train like this!
Yes, we all err from time to time. If you miscalculate and overdo it now and then, it is not the end of the world, just ease off in the next couple training sessions and let your body recover. But if you are smashing yourself weekly, you are not only putting yourself at risk of injury, you are also blunting the benefits from your other workouts as it is hard to get a quality training session in when you are wrecked from the day before.
Volume
A big part of this comes down to volume. Volume is a function of load moved, and reps performed, and it will vary from individual to individual based not only on your fitness level but also, to some extent, on your genetics. Some athletes are built for volume, others of us, less so. There are various ways to modulate volume. Many athletes make the mistake of using lighter loads but high reps at low weight actually produces more muscle damage than low reps at higher weights therefore resulting in more soreness. Here is where a coach can be a valuable resource. Strategies like time caps, AMRAPs and EMOMs are great ways to moderate volume in a structured and sustainable way.
Intensity
No, it wasn’t in the title and yes, I’ve harped on this before, but I think it is often overlooked. The CrossFit training methodology calls for Constantly Varied, Functional Movements, performed at High Intensity. It’s brilliant and it works but the one word in that prescription that inevitably trips athletes and coaches up is the word “high”. What does “high” intensity even mean? My early CrossFit coaches interpreted it to mean max intensity and shouted slogans like “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying!” I’ve walked into a local CrossFit gym and seen the coach shouting at the athlete curled up on the floor in the fetal position mid-workout to get back up and get to work. As if she was just being a slacker.
Not too long ago, CrossFit founder Greg Glassman was asked to define what he meant by high intensity. Can you guess what number he gave? 70%. 70% does not see athletes failing reps or collapsing to the floor mid workout. Glassman said in the interview that 70% effort seems to be sufficient intensity to trigger physiological adaptations without destroying the athlete so that they can return to train the next day. Amen!
Takeaways
Use the loading appropriate to your fitness level anywhere from PVC pipe up to the prescribed weight. It still counts. It always has. Work hard enough to stimulate adaptation but not so hard as to destroy yourself. Ask your coach how to modify training volume to suit your fitness level. Try to maintain a perceived training effort of about 70% of your max. Training at 70% is uncomfortable but not soul-crushing. And when in doubt, always remember, your coach is here to help guide you on your fitness journey.
Monday
This is supposed to be a fast-paced workout and no single element should slow you down too much. Pick a dumbbell weight that allows you to finish your dumbbell squat cleans in a single set. If you cannot complete 24 T2B in 2 sets or less, consider mixing in T2R or lying leg and hip raises every round.
Warm Up
10 each:
Prisoner Squat
Jumping Jack
Seal Jack
Cross Jack
10 Medball Cleans
30 sec Bar Hang
10 each:
Feet in & out
Iso squat Hold
10 Medball Cleans
5 Bar Levers
10 each:
Squat to Sumo Squat
Iso squat hold
10 Medball Cleans
10 Beat Swing
50 Pogo Jumps
10 Medball Cleans
10 Hanging Knee Raises
10 Parachute Jumps
10 Medball Cleans
10 T2B
Tech
DB Squat Cleans
T2B
WOD
3 rounds for time of:
24 toes-to-bars
400-meter run
