Hey Everyone!

In the last article we talked about the “7 Day Forecast” for what type of training day is going to come up (Strength + Metcon or Metcon Only).

If you prefer videos here is one:

In this article, we are going to talk about the most common weekly schedules we see and what sort of experience you can expect from each schedule.

You can see by the chart above that Thrivestry has a mix of “Strength + Metcon” and “Metcon Only” with Strength + Metcon about 64% - 35% of the time.

One of the unique features of Thrivestry is that we do not adhere to what people call a ‘metcon bias’ (doing metcons most of the time and strength occasionally) or a ‘strength bias’ (doing strength work every day). We use a balance of both styles to get the most out of each and every class.

Avoiding strength work is the path to stagnation and increased risk of overuse injuries.

Doing too much strength work neglects the benefits of longer metcons, can be boring, and can lead to overtraining (frequent lifting needs to be meticulously programmed based upon the individual).

By achieving the proper balance between strength days and metcon days, we can get the benefits of both while avoiding the disadvantages. (Like Blade – the day walker).

By ensuring that you are lifting 1-3 times per week, you will benefit from:

• Continual strength development for decades
• Enable you to use larger loads in metcons (making them more effective)
• Make lifting lighter loads in other workouts more safe
• Enable you to do more things outside of the gym that require strength (like moving the couch or water skiing)
• More muscle that looks good and that burns more calories (even at rest)

By ensuring that you are doing metcons every day, with longer metcons 1 – 2 times per week you will benefit from:

• The fat loss benefits from high intensity workouts
• Avoiding boredom of doing strictly regimented strength training
• More opportunities to do fun ‘old school’ CrossFit workouts with your friends and to compare to your old scores
• The ‘feel good’ endorphins that get released from a good sweat session
• A wider range of workout durations that will allow you to maintain your cardio-respiratory adaptations for use outside of the gym (like hiking to a waterfall or snowboarding all day)

How To Use This Information:

If your schedule is pretty ‘set’ and you are just trying to make it to the gym 3-4 times per week… don’t change anything!

We have got you covered. There is going to be enough stimulus of each type to get you the benefits for decades.

If you have some more flexibility with your schedule, and you have specific goals in mind, you may want to be more deliberate with the days you choose to come in.

Some Examples:

More Strength: If you are looking to get stronger, you will want to prioritise coming in on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Saturdays you will want to avoid or do Open Gym if that is an option.

More Metcon: If you are already strong enough and you want more metcon (to train for a special event for example), you will want to come primarily on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday (with some Tuesday and Wednesdays thrown in). Avoid Mondays and Fridays or do Open gym (or do a run outside of the gym). Side Note: this option is for people who already have a significant strength base, not for people just ‘love metcons’. This option will not help you lose fat faster (talk to a coach if this is a primary goal)!

3 Days/week, bit more metcon: If you can only make it to the gym 3 days per week, and you want a bit more metcon than the default, try to make it Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

4 Days/week, balanced: If you can only come to the gym 4 days per week and you want a perfect balance, come on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday (the “Regular Hours” option because it is probably the most common).

Etc. (You get the picture)

“But I can’t come on the days with right ratios! What do I do?”

If you are absolutely sure that you need to ‘swing’ your training one way or the other and you don’t have any flexibility with your schedule, you have a couple options.

First, you can work with the coaches to tailor the class programming each day for your goals:

• Do a bit less lifting, and then do some extra warm up rounds of the metcon before the class starts it.
• For more strength, spend more time on the skill work on a Metcon Only day to make it more of a strength session while the class gets set up for the metcon.
• Do the Cash Outs or the Hypertrophy when they are prescribed.
• Opt out of the metcon for additional strength and accessory work 1-2 days per week.

Second, you can ask about getting customised programming from one of the coaches. We do recommend that you talk to the coaches before going online to find a program. Your coaches are going to know you better, and if they have the time, be able to give you better advice about how to modify your training.

If they don’t have the time to customise your programming, they will probably have a good idea of which external program might be right for you.

Summary

If there is one thing every experienced CrossFit/GPP coach can agree on, it is that the vast majority of humans should be lifting something heavy at least 1-2 times per week and doing some ‘long-ish’ conditioning (metcon) at least 1-2 times per week.

If you find that you aren’t hitting either of these two standards week to week, use this chart to rearrange your schedule to fix it, or talk to a coach about customising your program.

How does this compare to other programs?

In the next article, we’ll talk about how Thrivestry compares to ‘Old School’ CrossFit and programs that do strength on set days (like Monday, Wednesday, Friday).

Thrive on.

-jj