Before I get to our training block, let me introduce CrossFit’s definition of fitness and then explain how we use that methodology in our programming at Hit & Run.
CrossFit lists 10 general physical skills that define fitness. The 10 general physical skills are,
- Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance
- Stamina
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Power
- Speed
- Coordination
- Agility
- Balance
- Accuracy
The goal of CrossFit is to improve these 10 skills and to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains. This puts the focus on being able to get the job done, no matter if that job is a short sprint, a long grinder, if it involves high skill, or is low skill grunt work. CrossFit makes athletes who are jacks of all trades and masters of none, and who have as few holes in their fitness as possible.
Generally as athletes, we are pretty unbalanced and have specific strengths and weaknesses among these skills. In order to address these imbalances Hit & Run’s training is broad and varied, but it is not random. We emphasize one or several of the 10 general physical skills on different days of the week in order to make sure that our training is balanced.
You can use the breakdown below in order to help you determine which days of the week you should be trying to get into the gym so that you can balance your fitness.
If you’re strong but you dread burpees in the workout, you need to improve your cardio endurance and you should try to come on Tuesday. If you can run and burpee all day long but you avoid workouts with heavy weight, you should come get strong on Mon, Wed, or Thur. Everybody would become more balanced and benefit from Friday’s skill and accessory work, and on Saturdays we want everybody to come hangout and have a good time.
The days are listed followed by which skill that day’s training will emphasize (the emphasis of the day may just be one skill, but every day we train most of the 10 skills).
Monday – Strength
- Mondays will include a heavy lift and a metcon and are going to check a lot of the 10 boxes on the list, but the main emphasis of the day will be placed on increasing strength. This block we are going to back squat.
Tuesday – Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance
- Tuesday’s training will typically have some skill and strength work at the beginning of the workout but the main focus of the day is on improving cardiovascular/respiratory endurance with a longer workout.
Wednesday – Strength
- Mondays and Wednesdays look a lot alike. The focus of this day is strength and this block we will close grip bench press.
Thurs – Power, accuracy, coordination, speed, agility, balance, flexibility, and strength
- On Thursdays we weightlift and this block will focus specifically on the clean. Weightlifting checks a lot of boxes from the 10 physical skills. It improves power, accuracy, coordination, speed, agility, balance, flexibility, and strength.
Fri – Balance, strength, flexibility, coordination, accuracy, and cardiovascular/respiratory endurance
- Friday’s training will address unilateral weakness and improve balance, strength, flexibility, coordination, and accuracy. This type of training is vitally important and will keep us healthy and able to come back into the gym day after day. Don’t skip this training!
Sat – Come sweat and have a good time
- Saturdays’ emphasis varies. These days are hard work and will definitely make you fitter, but the main focus is to come to the gym and have some fun doing long team workouts with your friends.
At the end of the day, if your schedule doesn’t allow you to pick and choose which days of the week you can make it into the gym, then don’t worry too much about this breakdown. Just know that our training is balanced and that if you make time to come into the gym and do the workout that’s on the board with intensity and good movement, then you will absolutely get fitter. Just come in, work hard, and have a good time at the gym!
(And if you want to go more in depth on CrossFit’s definition of fitness, I highly recommend reading this article https://journal.crossfit.com/article/what-is-fitness)
