For strength protocols to be optimal, flexibility should be included. This is difficult with normal percentage based training as one rep maxes tend to fluctuate a lot on a weekly basis. This will make the percentages based on the one rep max unrealistic. A rate of perceived exertion (RPE) type approach is a lot more realistic as the rpe number itself is not affected by the weekly fluctuations.

Deliberate practice is the practice of doing mindful repetitions with a specific purpose. Every rep is done with a specific intention to a specific goal. It is the opposite of regular mindless practise, where you would do reps without any intent and hoping that it will eventually pay off.

Pacing is an important aspect of CrossFit, pacing basically is spreading out effort over the course of the workout in order to keep massive crashes in output from happening. Although it is a word we often hear, we think the a lot of people still don´t truly understand the concept.

Flashback to 2013 I just started CrossFit and like most people I youtubed the best athletes around the world. After a couple minutes you will find footage of the CrossFit games and the dominant force of that time Rich Froning. Watching his videos you quickly realize he does multiple metcons everyday. His training partner stated that he didn’t know how much exactly but it was a lot.

During the pique protocol we use the scientific research like:

The muscles in our bodies enable us to complete a movement by pulling on our bones. This movement requires an impulse or task from the brain to the muscles. The amount of muscle fibers used to complete a movement is dictated by the resistance or task. In different terms, we don´t run on 100% of the capacity of our muscles all the time. Actually, we run movements below 100% more often then we do on our maximum capacities

A lot of times people ask us how to learn the pull-up and although there are some neurological adaptations that need to occur, the most crucial factor for most people is organic adaptation meaning that they need to be stronger. We also feel like people don't really know how to progress or that people like to progress...real fast. This progression we showcase here is not the holy grail but it could provide a safe and long term framework to learning pull-ups with the right muscles working. We have seen people jump into pull-ups pretty fast, we like to analyze the steps before to get more data on the individual. If an individual is stuck at a certain point or is experiencing pain, you could be able to see some issues in the previous progressions. All the movements before the kipping progression are in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGU9pdD6Pdc

In absence of a good gym it is important to keep the body getting the right stimulus. Not in order to grow but the keep atrophy away as much as possible. So it is important to understand that proper muscular adaptations are difficult to get due to the fact that there are not a lot of possibilities in terms of exercises or progressive overload. During these times the toolkit of exercises you have significantly decreases and if you are for instance, not good at bodyweight exercises like pull ups or handstand push ups the toolkit decreases even more.

What´s new?

Oke je hebt een competitie voor ogen…tof! Wat nu? Ga je heel het jaar door keihard trainen?Of ga je juist heel het jaar door rustig trainen, welke oefeningen ga je gebruiken? Isoleren of toch meer compound oefeningen doen? Absolute kracht? Kracht-snelheid? Snelheid-kracht? Absolute snelheid? Zo gaat het lijstje verder, Wat de meeste atleten doen (boxers, schaatsers, crossfitters) is periodiseren. Dit doen ze omdat ze weten dat het nadelig is voor hun progressie om elke training van het jaar te pieken. Integendeel van wat veel mensen denken, liggen deze atleten NIET na elke training op de vloer snakkend naar zuurstof. Waarom denken mensen dan dat dit wel de bedoeling is? Korte termijn onderzoeken, Propaganda van de media en bepaalde fitness methodes die dit promoten. Is het nodig om elke training voluit te gaan? Nee. Waarom zouden we het doen dan? Ik wil niet zeggen dat ‘’stuk gaan’’ slecht is, er is een tijd daarvoor. Maar voor jouw progressie en gezondheid is het beter als deze weken/maanden niet de overhand nemen in jouw macrocyclus (jaarplan).