PROGRAMMING FOR COMPETITIVE CROSSFIT

Overview

• What is CrossFit?
• The rise of CrossFit
• CrossFit Games development
• Athlete performance standards 2015
• Regional athletes survey
• Coaches Corner: Principles for successful programming for CrossFit
•Q&A

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 Let me tell you about CrossFit - Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlVrkiCoKkg

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What is CrossFit?

Definition
Constantly varied high intensity functional
movements.

Intensity = Power = Force x distance / time

Aim
To forge a broad, general and inclusive fitness

Fitness definition
Work capacity across broad time and modal
domains

“A fitness regime that will best prepare

trainees for any physical contingency - not only
for the unknown, but for the unknowable”.

Generalists, not specialists

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 CrossFit Programming
“CrossFit embraces short, middle, and long distance metabolic conditioning,
and low, moderate, and heavy load assignment. We encourage creative and continuously
varied compositions that tax physiological functions against every realistically conceivable
combination of stressors.”

“CrossFit is a strength and conditioning system built on constantly varied, if not randomized,
functional movements executed at high intensity.”

Monostructural WOD
Weightlifting
Gymnastics

Time/Reps
Designed for universal scalability
“We use the same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out
from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity, we don’t change programs. The needs of olympic
athletes and our grandparents differ by degree, not kind.”

Source: CrossFit Journal

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CrossFit Programming

< 60 mins per day


3 days on - 1 day off

5 days on - 2 days off

Mechanics —> Consistency —> Intensity

“(….) the intuition of athletes and coaches everywhere has smartly

outperformed all formalized approaches”

- CrossFit Journal, Beginners Guide to CrossFit

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 The Rise of CrossFit

AFFILIATES
11,772
12000

Annual growth 10-20% 10,000

9000 8,000
> 113 000 coaches

6000 5,000

3,000
3000 2,500

1,000 90% of affiliates survive >5 yrs

0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 (YTD)

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THE SPORT OF FITNESS

The Test of Fitness - First 3min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eGgWEr-Vv8

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THE SPORT OF FITNESS

2015
Reebok
CrossFit Games
2013
Reebok
CrossFit Games
2011 Open Qualifier
Reebok 262’000
CrossFit Games
2009 (ESPN) Open Qualifier 80 athletes
Regional Qualifiers 138’000 40 Teenagers
2007 40 teams
Inaugural Open Qualifier 96 athletes $2M prize purse
CrossFit Games 26’000 200 Masters
43 teams
100 athletes 25’000 spectators
150 athletes 43 teams $1M prize purse
100 teams $1M prize purse
4’000 spectators
70 athletes
$500 prize purse

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THE SPORT OF FITNESS

2007 - Events
Day 1
1000m row

5rds:
25 pullups
7 push jerks (62kg)

5km trail run

Day 2

Back squat 1RM

Shoulder press 1RM
Deadlift 1RM

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 THE SPORT OF FITNESS

2015- Events

2007 2013
Reebok
CrossFit Games
Day 1 2011
1000m row
 Reebok
CrossFit Games
5rds: (ESPN)
2009 Open Qualifier
25 pullups Regional Qualifiers 138’000
2007
7 push jerks (62kg)
Inaugural Open Qualifier 96 athletes
CrossFit Games 26’000 200 Masters
5km trail run 43 teams
100 athletes 25’000 spectators
Day 2 150 athletes 43 teams $1M prize purse
100 teams $1M prize purse
4’000 spectators
Back squat 1RM
70 athletes
$500 prize purse
Shoulder press 1RM
Deadlift 1RM

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WOMENS STANDARDS - REGIONALS 2015

Age: 28 Back Squat: 124kg

Height: 168cm Deadlift: 146kg

Weight: 65kg Pullups: 42

Snatch: 73kg

C&J: 92kg

400m: 69sec

Source: www.games.crossfit.com

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MALES STANDARDS - REGIONALS 2015

Age: 26 Back Squat: 195kg

Height: 178cm Deadlift: 226kg

Weight: 86kg Pullups: 57

Snatch: 116kg

C&J: 144kg

400m: 66sec

Source: www.games.crossfit.com

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 2015 REGIONALS ATHLETES - SURVEY

“Current trends among competitive CrossFitters”

660 Athletes

135 responses

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SURVEY RESULTS | SOCIAL

69% Single

84% coach CrossFit

33% work outside of a gym

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SURVEY RESULTS | EXPERIENCE

Years experience
3 yrs or more: 86%
3-5 yrs: 69%

Training background
Avg: 8yrs


Most common sports

Gymnastics
Rugby
American Football
Basketball
Soccer
Track and field

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SURVEY RESULTS | TRAINING VOLUME

Q: What is your average weekly training volume? (hours per week)

0.22 21.5%
18.5%

0.165
14.5%
12.5%
11.5%
0.11
8.5% 8.5%

0.055 4.5%

0
<8hrs 8-10 10-12 12-14 14-16 16-18 18-20 >20
Average: 15hrs/week

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SURVEY RESULTS | TRAINING VOLUME

Q: What is your average weekly training volume? (# of sessions)

0.4
35.5%

0.3

21.5%
19.5%
0.2

10%
0.1 7%
2% 3%
1.5%
0
<5 6-8 9-10 11-12 13-14 15-16 17-18 >19
Average: 9 sessions/wk

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SURVEY RESULTS | REST & RECOVERY

Q: Rest days/month
0.4

0.3 34%

0.2 22% 23%

17%
0.1

2% 2%
0
0 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 >10

AVG: 5 days per month

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SURVEY RESULTS | REST & RECOVERY

Q: Benefit from higher

training volume?

YES
29%

NO
71%

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SURVEY RESULTS | REST & RECOVERY

Comparison of performance standards and training volume

Female/Male C&J Snatch Back Squat Deadlift

<9 sessions (33/24) 94kg / 150kg 76kg / 122kg 123kg / 198kg 147kg / 236kg
>12 sessions (5/12) 102kg / 153kg 79kg / 125kg 128kg / 204kg 155kg / 240kg

Difference +8kg / +3kg +3kg / +3kg +5kg / +6kg +8kg / +4kg

Comparison of performance standards and training age

Female/Male C&J Snatch Back Squat Deadlift

1-3yrs (27/30) 94kg / 148kg 75kg / 118kg 125kg / 197kg 144kg / 233kg

>5 yrs (18/31) 98kg / 150kg 77kg / 122kg 126kg / 197kg 152kg / 230kg

Difference +4kg / +2kg +2kg / +4kg +1kg / 0kg +8kg / -3kg

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SURVEY RESULTS | REST & RECOVERY

Hours of sleep Nap during the day

Yes
28%
7 or less
8 or more 45%
55%
No
72%

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SURVEY RESULTS | REST & RECOVERY
Q: How many days per week do
you feel rested upon wakening?

3% 6%
28% feel rested more than 5 days per week

25%
42% feel rested 0-2 days per week
36%

30%

None 1-2 days 3-4 days

5-6 days Every day
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 SURVEY RESULTS | PROGRAMMING

Q: Who is responsible for your programming?

Me 22

I control the workouts, 


8
but I get help

1 coach only 29

1 main coach with 


19
specialists input

Generic programming 22

0 7.5 15 22.5 30

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 SURVEY RESULTS | PROGRAMMING

Q: Who is responsible for your programming?

Me 22

I control
30%the workouts,
take 

responsibility of their own
8 programming
but I get help

1 coach
48% have only
a designated coach 29

1 main coach with 


19
specialists
22% followinput
a generic programming
Generic programming 22

0 7.5 15 22.5 30

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SURVEY RESULTS | PROGRAMMING
Q: Are your programs
Q: Does your program follow an
individualized or based on a
annual plan?
group programming?

21%

35%

65%
79%

Group Individualized YES NO

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SURVEY RESULTS | PROGRAMMING

How often do you train alone?

10% 9%

25% 26%

30%

Never 25% 50% 75% Every session

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SURVEY RESULTS | PROGRAMMING
Does your training environment
influence performance?

31% 29%

20% 20%

No Mainly social Important Essential

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SURVEY RESULTS | PROGRAMMING

Q: What are the 3 most important factors for

successful programming for competitive CrossFit?

Top 8
1. Variety
2. Individualized programming
3. Work on weaknesses
4. Recovery/listen to body
5. Periodization
6. Aerobic capacity
7. Large strength base
8. High intensity

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SURVEY RESULTS | INJURIES

Q: How bothered have you been by injuries while competing in CrossFit?

Never 10%

Rarely, mostly feel great 57%

Frequent, but overall 


21%
performance not suffering

A great deal 12%

0 0.15 0.3 0.45 0.6

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SURVEY RESULTS | INJURIES

Q: Number of training days missed due to injury, annually?

1-5 days 57%

6-15 days 27%

16-30 days 10%

>30 days 6%

0 0.15 0.3 0.45 0.6

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SURVEY RESULTS | NUTRITION

Q: Currently or in the
past received Q: Do you track your
professional help for nutritional intake on a
your diet? regular basis?

29%
42%
58%
71%

No Yes No Yes

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SURVEY RESULTS | SUPPLEMENTATION

Q: Most regular supplements

Creatine
Whey
Fish oil
Magnesium
BCAA
Vit.D
Multi vit.

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SURVEY RESULTS | ATTRIBUTES

Q: Which attribute PHYSICAL, MENTAL or ENVIRONMENTAL would most

help you win the CF Games?

12%

31% 57%

Mental Physical Environmental

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 SURVEY RESULTS | PED

Q: How widespread are PEDs?

Non-existent 4%

Very rare (<1%) 9%

Rare (<10%) 41%

Common (11-50%) 32%

Very common (50-70%) 14%

0 0.125 0.25 0.375 0.5

Approx.: 50/50 believe PEDs are rare/common

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SURVEY RESULTS | SUMMARY

• 69% are single

• 84% coach CrossFit

• 33% have jobs outside of the gym environment

• 69% have 3-5yrs experience doing CF

• Average of 8 years playing sports prior to CrossFit

• Dedicate an average of 15hrs to training each week

• Spread over an average of 9 sessions/week

• Average of 5 rest days per month (not including active rest)

• Train twice per day at least 3 of 6 days/week.

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SURVEY RESULTS | SUMMARY

• Sleep approx. 7-8 hrs

• Feel rested <50% of the week

• 50% have a coach

• 30% do their own programming

• 65% individualized programming

• 35% follow group programming

• 80% use an annual plan

• Importance of training environment and training partner has evenly split

opinions

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SURVEY RESULTS | SUMMARY

• Most important factors for successful programming

1. Variety
2. Individualization
3. Minimize weaknesses
4. Recovery/Listen to body
5. Periodization

• Over 2/3 of the population mainly feel great and very little injuries.

• 58% have received professional help with diet

• 57% believe improving mental attributes will be their biggest help towards
winning CF Games

• 50% believe the use of PED’s is common.

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Traditional Programming

Current research on multi-element/concurrent training does not cover a

wide enough range of modalities (or volume) to be specific to CrossFit.

“While the CrossFit template is quite useful, it does have a weakness. Its random
assignment of exercises to workouts is not satisfactory for all applications. In fact,
random selection of exercises only produces desired or maximal fitness gains by chance,
for in a random chance scenario we can as easily select wrong as easily as we can select
right”.
- Lon Kilgore, “Fit”.

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Coaches Corner

PRINCIPLES FOR COMPETITIVE CROSSFIT

COACHES PERSPECTIVE

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Principles for Competitive Programming

ASSESS THOROUGHLY AND PROGRAM INDIVIDUALY

Know thy athlete!

Personality

Goals
Logistics
Training age
Resiliency to physical, mental and environmental challenges
Weaknesses
etc, etc, etc

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Principles for Competitive Programming

NOTHING IS RANDOM ANYMORE!

Variation driven by intelligent programming.

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Principles for Competitive Programming

PERIODIZATION INEVITABLE

Blocks/phases/focus’

Weaknesses
Goals
Training age
Seasonal 


Undulating or linear.
Upper body volume tolerance

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Principles for Competitive Programming

DAILY FEEDBACK DRIVES AUTO-REGULATION STRATEGIES

Intensity

Volume
Exercise alteration

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Principles for Competitive Programming

MAXIMIZING RECOVERY IS ESSENTIAL

Know thy athlete!

You need to care about and know the athletes recovery ability

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Principles for Competitive Programming

THE REEBOK CROSSFIT GAMES STANDARDS DETERMINE

REQUIRED TRAINING STANDARDS

Endurance, strength, power, skills, modalities, duration, environment

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Principles for Competitive Programming

FOUNDATION: MOVEMENT QUALITY & AEROBIC CAPACITY

Movement efficiency & consistency

Recovery (inter- and intra workout)

Build strength, power endurance and intensity on top

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Principles for Competitive Programming

MAXIMAL INTENSITY IS NOT ACHIEVABLE OR DESIRABLE

WITH THE REQUIRED TRAINING FREQUENCY

CrossFit has the potential to exhaust all physical capacities in a 


relatively short time period.

…demands intensity adaptation and/or periodization

Often “practice” instead of “train”

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Principles for Competitive Programming

WOMEN: HIGHER FREQUENCY, VOLUME AND INTENSITY



Less neurologically efficient - less CNS demanding =
Better tolerance of sub-maximal intensity and increased recovery capacity

Women are further from reaching their potential in CrossFit then men.

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Principles for Competitive Programming

SICKNESS, WELLNESS, FITNESS CONTINUUM…

“Wellness”

“Sickness” “Fitness”

“Your fitness is a snapshot of your health,” Glassman

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Take home message

Non-competitive athletes
- Understand the importance of self-scaling and progressive overload
- Do not be in a rush, spend time on refining the basics and building your
foundation
- Maximum intensity is NOT required at all times
- Listen to your body
- Understand your limitations and work on your weaknesses smartly
- “Mechanics - Consistency - Intensity”
- Get help from a well educated and experienced coach

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Thank you!

Coaches
Erik Kelner - www.weightlifting101.net
Lon Kilgore - www.lonkilgore.com
Martin Altemark - www.crossfituppsala.se
Jami Tikkanen - www.thetrainingplan.co
Marcus Herou - www.gorillafitness.se
James Fitzgerald - www.opexfit.com

Survey respondents

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Thank you!

Q&A
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