WOD
Build In Weight
12 Minutes:
1 Power Snatch + 1 Overhead Squat,
12 Minutes:
1 Power Clean + 1 Front Squat.
Tuesday Night Musings with Coach Preston.What are you insane brah?
Are you getting to the gym often? Diet is on point? Sleep and stress are dialed in? But still you feel like you’re not progressing? Maybe it’s time to grab a lighter band, or a heavier kettlebell, or put 5 more pounds on the bar? After all they say doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results, is insane.
Our bodies are designed to adapt to the stress we put on them. In this case the stress I mean is exercise. Everybody can relate to how difficult CrossFit was when you first started and now you can do things you couldn’t before. Well that is because you put new/different stressors on your body that it wasn’t used to. So it had to get stronger and adapt to that stress.
But now maybe you are in a few years and feel like you’re at a plateau. Although this plateau can be due to a number of different reasons, I believe one of the biggest ones is because your body has adapted and become accustomed to the stress you are putting on it. Every time we do the warm-up you grab a green or blue band to do pull-ups. If we have snatches in the workout, you do the exact same weight every time. When it’s time for wall balls, you grab your old friend 10 lb Ted.What is wrong with that you ask? Well nothing really. If you want to sustain your results and stay fit exactly as you are then this is perfectly acceptable. However, if you desire to get bigger, faster and stronger, you need to push the limits a little bit over time. What this doesn’t mean is that when you do Isabel (30 snatches) next time, you throw a 10# on each side and muscle through the workout. This mentality will surely get you injured. You need to progressively overload your system, not overload it all at once.
Let’s just take the snatch for example. In the following sentences I am assuming that your snatch technique is fairly on point. If you have been Crossfitting for less than a year then this won’t apply to you in the same way. Always think quality before quantity/pounds. Now for you veterans, maybe in every workout we do no matter what, if it has snatches you do 45 lbs or 75 lbs. How do you expect to get stronger in this movement if you continually do the same thing over and over again? Well the answer is simple. You don’t get any stronger. You stay the same.
If you desire to break through this plateau whether it be on the snatch or any other movement, you need to start increasing the weight or resistance. Let’s say for example this month anytime we snatch you are going to bump the weight up from your normal 45 lbs to 50 lbs. Then in another few months you increase it up to 55 lbs, then 60 and so forth. Before you know it, you will be able to RX the snatch in most wods.
Now you may be saying “My snatch is strong (don’t laugh guys, this is serious) and I can RX any work out.” Well then for you Progressive overload would be moving faster and perfecting your technique even more.Makes sense folks? I hope so. Feel free to ask us coaches questions about this. We can guide you on where and how to overload. Now keep this thought in your mind and next time you reach for that green band, grab a blue or a blue and a red and get stronger.
Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Coach Preston