Lift more: strength training for CrossFit

Sixteen weeks ago I was doing 5 to 6 WODs a week, and had seen a drastic improvement in my metabolic conditioning. I could swing a kettle bell all day, air squat until the end of time and had acquired all the skills I needed to complete workouts at speed: kipped pull-ups and toes-to-bar, consecutive double-unders, and rebound box-jumps when Kat wasn’t looking. But whenever the workouts went from long and gassy, to short and heavy I would fall behind. I was becoming frustrated that I couldn’t keep up in heavy workouts and it seemed that WODs weren’t making me improve.

This is not to say that CrossFit training won’t improve your strength; it just won’t improve it fast. I guarantee you that the top CrossFit athletes didn't get their strength through WODs alone. The CrossFit philosophy of constantly varied movement means that you will inevitably engage in some strength training, whether it be the strength component or during a heavy WOD. But I’m impatient. I wanted to be stronger now. So I decided to undertake a properly structured strength programme.

I spent a long time agonising about which programme to follow: Wendler 5 3 1, Juggernaut, 5x5. There's a lot to chose from (in retrospect I could have just done any programme for beginners, but my ego wouldn’t allow it). In the end I decided to go with Juggernaut 2.0, mostly because everyone had positive things to say about it, or be doing it themselves.

It involved training your squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press once a week. The weights used are based on your 1 rep max, and increase as you progress through each wave of the programme. I haven’t fully retested all of my 1RMs, but already know that they have all incased significantly; my back squat, for example, is up 20%.

Now that I have finished the programme, it occurred to me that it didn’t really matter which one I chose to follow. What I needed to do was to just do it more. By and large, these programme are made for professional lifters; people who can already lift weights I can only dream of. The real benefit for me wasn’t from the carefully calculated rep scheme, or from the workout schedule. The benefits came from simply doing it more. I was heavy squatting, benching, deadlifting, and pressing every week - far more often and for longer than I had been in regular classes. I was still doing WODs a couple of times a week, but I was now lifting for 5-6 solid hours per week.

Conveniently for me, the back room self-training at Malcolm Place coincided nicely with the start of my strength training. For most, the only way to access self-training is via the S-Course, the next of which is on 8th March at SE11. It’ll teach you how to back squat, box squat, olympic/overhead press, bench press, deadlift, sumo deadlift; everything you need to know safely self train your strength. The back room is a terrific resource at CFL and well worth investing your time in.

My advice to anyone looking to improve their strength is to simply lift more. You will get better at WODs by doing WODs. You will get better at double-unders by practicing double-unders. You will lift heavier things by lifting heavy things. Any of the coaches will be happy to help you pick a programme, or in helping create one yourself. You might spend 15 minutes in a regular class doing a heavy lift. Do it for an hour. Do it every day. Squat. Front-squat. Back squat. Bench. Press. Deadlift.

My CrossFit Anniversary

It was just over a year ago that I moved to London, after getting a new job. I was a chef in my old job, which basically meant I would graze on food all day, then sweat it out during 12 hour shifts in the kitchen (to be clear, I was very careful to not sweat it out into the food). I was now working in an office and sitting on my ass all day.  On top of this there was amazing Pick ‘n’ Mix next door and I continued to eat like I was still working in a kitchen. The result of all these factors lead me to gaining a colossal amount of weight in a very short amount of time.

I was left with the prospect of finding a new gym and there were a lot of options in the local area. I had already come across CrossFit London, but had dismissed it as being confusing and intimidating. However, I was chatting with a friend of mine living in Chicago and the subject of gyms came up. This friend was an avid CrossFitter and couldn't recommend it highly enough to me. It just so happened that 9 Malcolm Place was a 2 minute walk from my flat - how could I not?

So, a year ago today I did my first Level 1 class. It was Level 1.5 (kettlebell swing, snatch and get-up) with the lovely Carolyn. There is one defining memory that I took away from that first class. I don’t remember who else was there, what drills we did, what was said, or even what the WOD was. The only thing I remember was what the WOD did to me. To this day I have never felt more horrific. I was a sporadic gym-goer before I moved to London and considered myself fairly fit - for God’s sake, I’d done a half-marathon in 2011! But right now, I was sweating more than I though possible, I couldn’t catch my breath, my limbs were trembling and, had I had breakfast that morning, everyone in the room would have been able to see what I'd eaten. I was absolutely broken. But along side the nausea came a profound sense of euphoria. The atmosphere in the room was incredible, and the utter feeling of pride and release of endorphins upon completion was exhilarating. It was a harder workout that I’d ever done before, and far more intense than anything I could have replicated on my own. And that feeling lasted all day. Not only the smugness for having done a workout at 7:30am, but the lingering good mood that followed.

As someone with an addictive personality, I've had bizarre series of habits; from alcohol at university, food (and the resulting chef career), martial arts and semi-contact sparring, up until the most recent one; Pick ‘n’ Mix. The CrossFit buzz became an addiction too, although unlike the previous ones, this was a genuinely beneficial one. In the last 365 days, I have been to 215 CrossFit London UK classes, including Gymnastics, Ropes, Skills, Olympic Lifting, Strongman, The 2013 CrossFit Open, and Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 WODs. I have also started competing in CrossFit competitions, done two Tough Mudders, began cycling to work, swimming, running, and training for a Triathlon next year. 

CrossFit has taken over my life in a way that I never expected it to. In the last year I’ve lost 35lbs/16kg (although, in retrospect body-fat percentage would have been more useful), I now eat cleanly, have clearer skin, fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly, and am in an infinitely better mood. It seems all my decisions now revolve around CrossFit: what I eat, when I sleep, if I go out, how I spend my time at work, and in a few months I’ll be taking the CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course. It’s had an unfathomably positive impact and, in just one year, I can't imagine ever giving it up.