In early 2010 I wrote an article for The CrossFit Journal, ‘Weakness Bias Training’. In this article, I said:
You are only as strong as the weakest link in your exercise chain. The weight hanging on the end of this chain is your level of general physical preparedness (GPP). The more the chain can support, the higher your GPP. If each link in this metaphorical chain represents a component of fitness (cardiorespiratory endurance, stamina, strength, etc.), the focus of training should be obvious. The first link to snap and drop your GPP is the weakest link. To increase GPP, our weaknesses should not simply be overcome but rather improved to match our strengths. To quote Coach Glassman in What Is Fitness?, “You are as fit as you are competent in each of these 10 skills.” Perhaps this could be narrowed to state, “You are only as fit as you are proficient in your weakest skill.”
Weakness in CrossFit broadly occurs in one of four areas.
- Barbell strength and stamina.
- Bodyweight stamina.
- Cardiorespiratory endurance.
- Skill.
Here, we examine a basic approach to erradication of weaknesses in these four areas. A common thread runs through all four. If you want to improve something, that ‘thing’ must be the limiting factor in your training. For example, if you want to improve strength, it must be the weight of the load you’re lifting that causes you to stop. If you have to stop because you’re breathing hard, you will not reach the limits of your strength. To improve any element, that element must be the limiting factor in your session.
A Method for Improving Barbell Strength:
Complexity of barbell programming is in vogue. We borrow elements from specialists in their fields for the improvement of the individual components of our fitness. The programs they use are the best in the world… for specialists. As generalists who bias towards periodic specialisation in fitness competencies there is a lot to be said for a basic linear progression – progressive overload of strength. Focus on the key power lifts; back squat, deadlift and press (bench of millitary) and elements of Olympic lifting; front squats, power cleans, power snatch, jerks and full squat cleans and snatches (if limited by strength rather than technique). Keep reps low (1-5), sets moderate (3-6), rests long (enough to recover) and weights HEAVY (the heaviest you can manage for the prescribed number of reps). The key element here is progression! You should never do two sessions with the same variables. If you’re doing 5 sets of 5 back squats, and you successfully complete every set, you MUST increase the weight next time around. If in doing so you fail to complete all sets, you remain at that weight until you can, then increase again. This method of overload, though linear is highly effective for the vast majority – right up to the most experienced of lifters.
As your strength increases, and you wish to include more metabolic conditioning, make the conditioning heavy. This will consodiliate (and continue) the gains from the heavy barbell work, while seguing into cardiorespiratory endurance.
A Method For Improving Bodyweight Stamina:
As I’ve mentioned, if you want to improve something, that ‘thing’ must be the limiting factor in your training. If you want to improve bodyweight stamina, you MUST do high reps of bodyweight movement. The limiting factor here must be the very thing you’re training – your ability to string together unbroken sets of upper body gymnastics movements, or high reps of gymnastics movements with little rest. I’ve had considerable success with four methods of achieving this:
- Five minute AMRAPs of a single bodyweight movement (bands should be used where appropraite to ensure high reps).
- Max reps of a bodyweight movement unbroken with a 60 second time cap, followed by 120 seconds rest for multiple sets (bands should be used where appropraite to ensure high reps).
- Intervals of anywhere from 20 to 120 seconds with a 2:1 work to rest ratio for multiple sets (accumulating at least five minutes of work) (bands should be used where appropraite to ensure high reps).
- Strict weighted bodyweight movements (especially pull-ups and bar dips), following the same progressions as you would for barbell strength work (above). These are particularly useful for individuals with lower competency in bodyweight movements (as they are more limited by strength than stamina initially).
A Method for Improving Cardiorespiratory Endurance:
This is usually the last piece of the puzzle once the above elements have been developed. Traditionally. CrossFit uses combinations of weighted, bodyweight and monostructural style exercise to achieve an increase in cardiorespiratory endurance. This stye of training is highly valuable in achieving what it sets out to, as well as maintaining the barbell and bodyweight strength and stamina we have already developed. Just as we did for the other elements however, it is important to segregate this component of fitness. If you’re doing conditioning work and you are not 100% limited by your ability to breath and keep down your last meal, then you’re not targeting CR endurance as much as you could. Intervals are the best method of achieving this.
Choose exercises that cause you to be limited by cardiorespiratory endurance. Kettlebell swings, burpees, wall ball, double unders, running, rowing etc. You can also utilise running, rowing, cycling, swimming, airdyne etc on their own. In short, they should hurt. Effectively, interval training couples a drop in volume with an increase in intensity. “Interval training achieved its effects through improvements of maximum oxygen consumption, anaerobic threshold, and economy.” (Paton and Hopkins 2004).
An interval based cardiovascular session individually targets the three energy pathways; phosphocreatine, glycolytic and oxidative. Length of effort and work to rest ratio are used to target the individual pathways. A session may target one energy system, or a combination of the three.
- Intervals targeting the phosphogen system should have a 1:3 work to rest ratio and should be of a short duration (<30 seconds).
- Intervals targeting the glycolytic system should have a 1:2 work to rest ratio and should be of a moderate duration (30 seconds to four minutes).
- Intervals targeting the oxidative system should have a 1:1 work to rest ratio and should be of a relatively longer duration (two to four minutes).
To work, these sessions should repeatedly send you to the canvas.
A Method For Improving Skill:
As CrossFit becomes more an more complex, we are more and more limited by our ability not just to excell at an exercise, but just to simply complete it. Improving skill simply comes down to practice. Persistent and repeated practice of movement will reduce the attentional requirement and increase automaticity and thus performance (read How to go From Being a ‘Beginner’ to ‘Rx’ Level CrossFit Athlete ASAP).
This repeated practice of complex movement forms the foundation of skill development. Range of Motion’s Free Exercise Improvement Programs are a series of five minute sessions designed to improve complex skills – those that frequently stop CrossFitters in their tracks.
To use these, select the movements that limit you. Ideally twice a week, spend 30 minutes working on the sessions. You can mix and match between the different exercises. For example, if your weaknesses are muscle-ups, pistols and rope climbs, do session one of the muscle-up improvement program, session one of the pistol improvement program, session one of the rope climb improvement program, then complete session two of each. You can bias towards a more major weakness by completing more sessions for this movement.
Frequencies:
Standard CrossFit programming is beautifully general by nature. To maximise individual improvement however, you must simply do MORE of what you’re weak at. How much more? As much as you can without overtraining (though read and consider Why you need to overtrain to be your best.). Train your weak element. As soon as you have recovered from this training train it again. Repeat ad nauseam.
A Word on Periodisation:
In my opinion, periodisation for (competitive) CrossFitters is a necessity. The overall concept is that of ‘accumulation’. You begin by biasing towards one element of fitness (eg: strength), then retain that as you build another on top of it, then retain that as you build another on top of it. The key is in keeping the stimulus high enough in the ‘already biased towards components of fitness’ to retain the improvement you gained in them while you bias towards something else. Whenever you bias away from a focus (ie: less heavy powerlifts), the program that replaces them must be sufficient to maintain the gains made by the biasing. Preservation of previously established physical abilities even after they are no longer biased towards.
