Programming Corner: Fall & Winter 2023 Fitness Phase

FITNESS PHASE

Post courtesy of DekaComp

Duration: 9 Weeks

Includes Prep for the CrossFit Games Open & Quarter Finals

Welcome to the Deka Comp Fitness Training Phase, a phase where we will build off of the training phases that we’ve done all year with a focus on blending together the components of fitness with progressively natured, functional movement, executed at varied intensities.

This cycle is where you will notice the least amount of distinction between sections. 

At the core of this phase is the CrossFit method. We will specialize in being as broad and competent as possible across the 10 physical skills and the components that represent them. Since we spent a long time building a strong and capable foundation by separating the components of fitness, we can now transition nicely into the broader focused fitness phase. We will work towards increasing our ability to maintain efforts over broad time and modal domains. Essentially we are improving the sustaining of rep cycle speed and duration.

Perform Athlete notes:

This is an intensity progression from a load and metabolic standpoint. So overall you will notice a little bit of progression in the weightlifting reps and percentages week to week but you will also notice that we will ask you to increase your metabolic intensity week to week systematically. To do this we will use 80% of the weekly training session as high volume / 20 % of the sessions as low intensity sessions. You will do this for 3 weeks at a time then enter a 1 week 50/50 volume/intensity focus in order to allow for the maximum supercompensation of the year to occur for you. It’s important to note that all athletes are different and respond to different tapering methods differently. Please reach out if you need a more personalized approach to your training.

Class Progression

We will be adapting the volume and intensity formatting that perform athletes are doing in order to keep classes reasonable. On high volume days, the cues will be to hold back on super high intensity in order to sustain rep quality. On some days we will include a strength or skill piece and on other days we will have a metcon only that will be long and slow.

Overall however, you will not see as clear of a contrast from day to day as the perform athletes but rather more variety than in previous cycles.

Perform Testing

Our testing will be unlike the rest of the year, due to the nature of this phase. We will use actual CrossFit.com+ workouts and competition tests, rather than testing for specific physical skills and they will appear in a different format than we normally use. We generally book end the phase with a week of testing, the fitness phase includes multiple cycles within the phase and we will simply conclude each cycle with one test based on the cycle focus. (see ‘cycle focus’ below)

Class Testing

In this phase we will not be testing but we will use benchmarks and some Open workouts to touch base on fitness levels. RPE is your freidn in this phase. If athletes have been with you for a while, the question they should ask themselves constantly as they progress in this phase is what was my perceived effort for today and how would that have differed from 2-4-6 weeks ago or last year.

Specific Goals and Focus Breakdown

*Keep in mind these are biases and focuses not periodization.

Weightlifting: Increase max output work capacity

Snatch + Clean & Jerk: High percentage lifts under fatigue paired with low percentage cycling

Strength:

Squats: We will include 1 squat session per week at least.

Pressing: We will vary the bench press by using DBs or barbells and some weeks include different versions of pressing

Pulling off the ground: Weightlifting will be very demanding so we will reduce the frequency of heavy loads here but will maintain this integrity via metcons and accessories.

Accessory: Post Chain + Core focus on strength and stability

Gymnastics: This will be more included in the metcons

High skill movements under fatigue paired with low skill, high rep cycling

GOAT days: We will return to our GOAT EMOM in which we will offer movements to chose from so that members may practice or “Pick their Poison”.

All in all, the Fitness phase is the most varied and close to the true CrossFit values of constantly varied, functional movement, perofrmed at high intensity. Some metcons will be about VOLUME which means intensity MUST be lower This will allow athletes to gains endurance in movement cycling and increase their overall work capacity. Higher intensity workouts should be just that, and these session focus on speed of execution. This format of training has been extremely successful for our athletes including Patrick Vellner and we are very excited to have this in action with you and your members!