Stimulus - Friday, July 21, 2017
What a week!
We saw some impressive 5km times, some amazing CFT and solid technique work and now we get to crush a bodyweight and simple weight lifting WOD. if you look at the weeks workouts you will recognize the time domains, change, the load differs, the movements are varied, WE HATE ROUTINE ( Even when for a lot of you ...the act of going to CrossFit is routine)But...I want to take a minute to speak on Stimulus and what that means and why it works in CrossFit training. I throw around the word, stimulus when i am "scaling" or "modifying a WOD for someone and thought maybe I should take a minute to explain why.
( This is the time you move to the see what the workout is if you don't want to read my geek out session).
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Ok if you stayed and are still reading here it goes...
CrossFit works.
All around the world, people are getting Fit, getting stronger, and living better lives because of CrossFit. But how does CrossFit work? What makes it special compared to other fitness regimens?Here’s CrossFit’s definition of fitness, which may sound like nonsense to the layman:
“Increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains.”
To put it another way, a person is becoming fitter when they can perform more work in weightlifting, gymnastics, and monostructural tasks (i.e.: running, swimming, biking, rowing) over varied periods of time. Note the “varied periods of time.” (That’s going to be important later.)Still confused? Try this picture:
In CrossFit, the bottom picture is the ideal–more stimuli leads to more adaptation, and the result of adaptation is fitness. Variety is our friend, and “routine is the enemy.”
Stimulus
So how does this translate to our training at Indestri? Programming! CrossFit programming is designed to maintain a variety of stimuli for increased adaptation. What are the different types of stimuli and how can you, as athletes, ensure that you’re getting the intended stimulus from each workout? ( trust us and your coach)
The Metabolic Pathways
Remember early on when I asked you to remember “varied periods of time?”Our bodies are capable of exerting maximum effort over many different time domains. We can perform a 1RM back squat. We can do “Grace.” We can run a 5km. These tasks use different metabolic pathways to exert effort, by which I mean that they use different sources of energy.
I'm really gonna Geek out here so sorry if i lose you, but just remember there a 3 energy systems we want to train you at
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We’ve all heard of aerobic and anaerobic training: Aerobic training uses oxygen for energy, and Anaerobic training doesn’t use oxygen. Here is a slightly more detailed breakdown:
Anaerobic sources of energy are ATP for the Creatine-Phosphate System, and stored carbohydrates, or muscle glycogen, for Glycolysis. The Creatine-Phosphate System is our top speed–it’s what we use when we are sprinting away from a bear, running for our lives. As we work at max effort, our ATP runs out after about 10-12 seconds. Then our body begins using muscle glycogen for energy, running out after 90 seconds to 2 minutes of work. Glycolysis is another energy system for high speed, but is not as explosive as the Creatine-Phosphate System. After we’ve run out of muscle glycogen, our body can only use the oxygen we are breathing in to continue to fuel our effort. Once we’ve started to use oxygen to fuel our effort, we are moving pretty slowly in comparison to the 2 previous.
CrossFit workouts are designed to train all 3 of the metabolic pathways through a variety of programming.
Oftentimes, programmed rest is critical for allowing an amount of recovery to occur before exerting effort again. During rest, our ATP and muscle glycogen stores are replenished. Continuously working without rest keeps our training in the aerobic system, where resting allows us to start training over again in the Creatine-Phosphate and Glycolytic Systems. Training these systems allows us to kick into another gear at the end of a workout.
Monostructural, Gymnastics, and Weightlifting
The movements we perform are probably the easiest form of variety to spot in programming. Here are some quick examples of each of these “modalities” for your reference:Monostructural (M): running, biking, swimming, rowing, jump roping. Think classic cardio.Gymnastics (G): pull-ups, push ups, dips, handstands, toes-to-bar. Bodyweight movements.Weightlifting (W): deadlifts, oly lifts, back squats, kettlebell swings, Wall Balls. Movements with weight.We may think that the only WODs we need to perform are the ones that combine all three of these modalities (known as MGW to programmers) for the greatest adaptation. That would sort of make sense, right? More variety in every WOD means more adaptation. But, we adapt to MGW WODs, just as we adapt to only performing monostructural work or only weightlifting. An MGW WOD is still only one type of stimulus.As athletes, you gain the most adaptation by varying the WODs we choose to come to. Skipping heavy days or monostructural workouts holds our adaptation back, leading to plateaus in progress....
Loads, Holds, Carries
In weightlifting and gymnastics, there are 3 more modalities to consider in training: loads, holds, and carries.Load: a moving weight, whether it’s bodyweight, a barbell, or a kettlebell. Most CrossFit training incorporates loads through prescribed weights and bodyweight movements.Hold: a static, or unmoving, position under tension. Examples include a handstand hold, the pause in a pause squat, and hangs from a pull-up bar. There are many articles on the benefits of training holds, but this is my favorite, because it explains the recruitment of different muscle fibers as a hold is performed.Carry: you can guess this one. A weight that is carried; sandbag carries, plate runs, and farmer’s carry are some examples.Holds and carries are not trained nearly as frequently as loads in CrossFit, so they are beneficial as accessory training–adding more types of stimuli for greater adaptation. ( come to Sunday, we do this a lot)
Your Coach
I know that that your CrossFit coach talks about how the workout is supposed to be performed, because Indestri coaches are top level. All out sprint? Paced to speed up at the end? Heavy? these are things you hear daily.Knowing the intended stimulus of a workout allows your coach to help you choose appropriate loads and scaling modifications.
Hence the Levels :)
If toes to bar are programmed and you can only perform singles, should you go Rx, or should you modify to a movement that you can string together quickly? It depends on the intended stimulus of the workout.One of the coach’s job is to help us translate the workout into an event that allows us to gain the greatest adaptation. Sometimes athletes will benefit more from going faster with a lower skill over performing a high skill movement, and sometimes will benefit more from practicing movement over fewer reps than what is prescribed. An Indestri coach will know how to vary skills and modifications to benefit all individual athletes.
Conclusion
If you made it this far... Sorry I tend to ramble when i get excited to share knowledge and I spend a shit load of time learning and my wife and kids get tired of me talking so every once and a while i have to dump it on to you guys lol..But to wrap this up, CrossFit is designed to make you work in all domains, all stimulus and all environments. At Indestri we program for you to experience it all, and give you the best chance to take on any of life's physical and mental challenges. Being "good" at everything rather then great at a few breeds confidence, and in my opinion your best chance to be healthy and fit.You Trust us, we will keep you safe. We never tell you to do something because we doubt your ability, we tell you something because we know where you need to progress to be able to do this forever.Thanks to those who stuck this out... I feel better hopefully i didn't bore you :)Stouty.
Friday July 21, 2017
Focus: Chose a level of Movements
2 x Tabata mix 8:00 minsPVC OH Squats/ Goblet Squats/ PistolsPush ups/ HR Push ups/ HSPUSit ups/ Cruncher/ V-UPKip Swings/ pull ups/ MU.
Workout Of the Day:
2 min Amrap7 OHS with plate 45/357 Kb Swings 24/16.Rest 2 min.2 min Amrap7 Kb Swings 24/167 Box Jumps 24/20.Rest 2 min.2 min Amrap7 Box Jumps 24/207 OHS with plate 45/35.
Lvl 2 Fitness
2 min Amrap7 OHS with plate 25/157 Kb Swings 20/12.Rest 2 min.2 min Amrap7 Kb Swings 20/127 Box Jumps 20/16.Rest 2 min..2 min Amrap7 Box Jumps 20/167 OHS with plate 25/15..
Lvl 1 Technique
Chose a weight and height you can move unbrokenPVC OHS.
Lvl 4 Competitor ( heavy & high)
2 min Amrap7 Wall Ball 30/207 Kb Swings 32/24.Rest 2 min.2 min Amrap7 Kb Swings 32/247 Box Jumps 30/24.Rest 2 min.2 min Amrap7 Box Jumps 30/247 Wall Balls 30/20..
Cash Out:
3 x ME Strict Pull ups.Check back each night at 8pm for the next days WOD.
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