Why You Should Focus on Strength This CrossFit Off-Season 

I'm a smaller dude (5'11 170lbs) who did Soccer, Cross Country, and Golf growing up. Have always been decently athletic, had an engine that could go forever, but have never been strong. Did some bodybuilding in College, but was on the weaker side: 205 Bench, 365 Squat, 365 Deadlift after 1.5-2 years of lifting 4-5 times a week. Starting Crossfit after four years of nearly zero exercise after college, I quickly worked up my strength to near those other numbers after 1 year of Crossfit, and have a solid engine for cardio based burners. But the strength gets me. There are dudes who are way stronger than me, but I smoke them in some burners bc of my cardio background. But the burners that have kinda heavy lifting, I fall down to average in a class. Any advice for how to work on strength while also going to small group classes? Should I just go to minimal classes each week and then do my own Power/Body Building work and eat lots?

For sure, that is certainly the case. BUT, those who work on strength even with a small “engine” are likely to do better in the sport than those who are enduring but have no strength base (unless the testing body changes) So, for me, I’d always bias the strength and skills first, then build a larger aerobic base along the way.

@@brannendorman6772 So I'm guessing the secret formula to get good at Crossfit is to become as big and strong as possible, work a bit on the skills, and a little on the cardio/endurance. 70/15/15 split. Cuz at my gym it seems like a 30/20/50 split. Strength/Skill/Endurance(Burner)

In don’t think you can put a percentage split on it because athletes adapt at different rates. For example, I have always had a really good engine but need to spend more time on my strength. Whereas Coach Mike is crazy strong and doesn’t need to work on that but does need more time working on his endurance. The big picture for me is: from our vantage point, most people who want to be high level are bottlenecked more by strength and skill limitations (or local muscle endurance) and less by pure engine limitations. At the highest level, though, everyone is good at everything.

@@brannendorman6772 Makes sense. I'll start focusing more on strength. This has been a long thought process in my head for the past few months, and this is kind of the last straw of info to make me know that I need to focus more on strength and start doing something slightly different

Yes, you will still have access! You can also jump into phase 2 which will start may 8th

@@brannendorman6772 will this be a separate program or included in the intermediate/RX path programming?

Spotify

This is likely dependent on the athlete. But I’d suggest no more than 1-2 hard CrossFit type sessions per week during a focused strength phase. Most of your endurance work can come from easier “zone 2” type work.

Yes!

We have always said having strength progressions all year around is a major priority in the sport. In fact, last year at this time we were touting our introduction of a heavy squat cycle similar to the “hatch” cycle. So I’m not sure where you’re coming up with this? And I have ALWAYS, including last year, said my opinion is the athlete should first focus on strength and skill development while doing easy aerobic work BEFORE worrying about hard CrossFit. You can go back and look at any of the content we have released and we make this clear. Does endurance matter? of course. Should those aspiring to do CrossFit train using hard CrossFit conditions? YES! But, if you don’t have the ability to lift heavy and perform gymnastics well you will always be at a disadvantage even if you have a world class “engine”.

@Brannen Dorman this is an excellent reply and exactly what I was hoping for. Much appreciated, Brannen.