Some notes on the program and what to expect…..

Well July (& with it most of Winter) is almost over. we have persevered over the past couple months in less than optimal weather conditions, BUT you got through it regardless! Pat on the back there!! We also saw you through a long back squat progression where we worked your 5 rep numbers in a linear fashion, built up your volume tolerance as well as build some strong hips and it resulted in umpteen new “PR’s” so that was also a job well done from all of you guys. Cracking stuff, it makes all of us Coaches really proud to see you hit these heights!!

Now let us tell you about some bits coming up in the program over the coming weeks/months. We will focus on our “Hero Month” & also our new Olympic Lifting Progression coming up too.

Hero Month! Moving forward we are going to see out winter in our customary fashion of holding a “Hero WoD” month throughout August. We did this last year, it proved very popular and we came through the other side fitter & stronger (both mentally & physically) for the task. For those that are relatively new to the Rooftop Of Dreams let us take a moment to explain what a “Hero WoD” is and why we will be doing it over 4 smashing weeks. 

First up CrossFit HQ has a series of “Benchmark” workouts that are used as tests & gauges on your Fitness level. They are classic, timeless and can be revisited time & time again to see how your progress is going. These Benchmarks are all named after Girls' names (The reason for this, as stated by CF CEO/Founder Greg Glassman, is that he thought “Anything that can leave you flat on your back wondering what the heck just happened deserves to be named after a women!”). CrossFit has always has a close connection with the public services industry as many who took up the program back then were either in the army, police, fire service, etc. Early on in the days of CrossFit, where there weren’t as many Affiliates as there are today, most people followed CrossFit.com’s “Mainsite” program and used the comment field to post results, chat about training & communicate (this was the origin of the CrossFit Community we know today). When people who unfortunately lost their lives in the line of duty passed away their friends/family would write to HQ and suggest a WoD in honour of that person. Thus become the advent of the “Hero WoD”. CFHQ would write & officialise the workout & post it to Mainsite. This became a popular thing among the Community at large and ever since has grown into a list more than a 100 long!

We already from time to time program in Hero workouts into our programming as they offer the dose of Fitness we are after. You may already be familiar with them, ones such as “McGhee”, “Nate” & of course “Murph”. They all vary in their simplicity or complexity but one common theme that rings through is how hard they all are. They were designed with the mindset of anything we go through now in a training session will never be as tough as what the Hero is question did. They build up your mental Fitness just as much as your Physical Fitness. Some are ridiculously long time domains & some are short but on the whole they all make you work real dang hard for the end result. Originally an American thing (in that those honoured were all from the USA), it has since grown worldwide. We even have an Aussie Hero WoD too. And they are still releasing new Hero WoDs each year.

During August you will be getting exposed to a vast number of them. We have taken great care with the programming so's not beast you & beat you up! You will at most see 4 Hero WoDs over the week & sometime just the 2 or 3, this will be all dependant on how you as a majority are faring throughout the month of August. On the whole you will be seeing the WoDs on a Mon/Tues & Fri/Sat. This may change as to not let you get too comfy with this but we will see. Rest assured you are in good hands & its a great opportunity to do so many “Named” WoDs in such a short space of time. Just be sure to keep supple (getting in extra Mobility work or even getting on the ROMWOD bandwagon will help) & take your rest days as needed! Don’t get sucked in to the lure of a name. Lastly a lot of these WoDs carry heavy loading and high level gymnastics. These WoDs may well require a level of scaling so that you get the right dose & don’t end up with a bad WoD experience. Because of the aforementioned heavy loading this leads us nicely into filling you in on our upcoming Olympic Lifting Progressions. As we will detail below the start of this carries the weight very low (percentage wise). This will tie in nicely with the overall program & give you a great chance to hone those OLY skills like a ninja!

OLY Progressions To fill you in on the upcoming Olympic Lifting progressions we will be working over the next few weeks/months in a bid to make these (often complex & technical) movements more familiar with you and enhance your technique in these lifts. As we will mention again below the OLY lifts are as much (if not mote so) about your technique that your strength levels We don’t care if you can squat 100+ kilos or deadlift 150+. None of this matter if you aren’t using the correct technique on the Snatch and Clean & Jerk. You should be able to lift an empty barbell or even broomstick with the same application as your 1 rep max and have them look the same. Anyone who tells us you need “a bit of weight” on the bar in order to get it are using way way too much arm pulling!

We are going to kick off week 1 with the power variations of the lifts. We won’t Jerk the bar for a few weeks yet as we want your clean to be a focus first up. Calculate your percentage as per your results from last weeks OLY strength days. We tested the Snatch last Monday 18th July & the Power Clean on Wednesday 20th July. If you weren’t in on one or both of those days you are going to have to think back to whatever was your best number that you hit THIS year, 2016. No numbers from earlier than that will be accepted. If you do not have a number then your Coach will decide on one for you and depending on how the first week goes we will work from there.

The Power Cleans and Snatches that you will see listed are part of a progression. Follow the designated percentages and time constraints exactly. Get as close as possible using the fractional plates to your percentage as we don’t want silly rounding up. The OLY lifts are a cunning manoeuvre and even 1 kilo too much can harm your progress. Stick. To. The. Pan. These are NOT heavy lifts – they are FAST! Olympic lifting is equal parts (1) Strength, (2) Technique, and (3) Speed. Use today to build the SPEED. Much like max-effort 10m sprints produce incredible speed even though they aren’t too taxing on your muscles or lungs, these lifts will do the same. Give them everything you have.

We will work on an “EMOM” based system to keep us moving and both moves will be getting worked in the same session so be sure to be early (aren’t you always??) so we can get right into our barbell drills before adding the load. We will be going for at least 8 weeks with the real possibility of another 4 weeks (again we work in real time with you guys and if we feel the timeline needs a change to benefit you all then we act upon it. The progressions are also being tested a few weeks ahead of time too so we know full well how you will be feeling during the course. The loads, reps & time domains will over time change and keep you working hard toward the common goal of PR-ing your “O-Lifts” like this...

Or this.....

We are pumped to be getting into these lifts more and can’t wait to see you flourish. Remember its all a journey this Fitness stuff so enjoy each week as it comes and don’t get hung up on one bad lift. Keep your chin up and enjoy the ride!!

Any questions about any of the above (or indeed anything at all training wise) email karl@crossfitcbd.com. Now go book yourself in pronto!! - link

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