Hey guys,

I’d like to update everyone on where we are at on our current cycle of programming. From August until September, we are focusing on the CrossFit Total. Since then the squats have mostly been in the 70-80% range, and the focus has been on building up the Deadlift. Next week, we will test out our 5rm Deadlift and at the end of the month after we will max out on Front squats. All of the tempo work along with Bulgarian split squats and lunges help strengthen the core and posterior chain which should have great carry over to your other lifts.
For oly class, all of the wods are meant to jive with the class. Each day, there is a main lift, an accessory movement, and then more squatting. When comes to lifts, the squat is king. No matter how the week falls, there are 3 days where you have an opportunity to squat heavy. As far as the selection of percentages go, currently the gym has been squatting 1x week. Oly class 2-3 days a week. The gym squats will involve a bit more volume and thus stay in the 70-80%. The oly class follows the opposite approach with the exception of some Saturdays. 5-8 reps helps build strength, as well as muscular endurance. In other words, work capacity. Going heavy at 85% and up, for 1-3 reps builds power by training the CNS to be more efficient. It does this by requiring maximum force to be produce. Adding weight to this only makes the bar move slower. The nervous system adapts by 3 mechanisms, size principle-recruits bigger motor units, rate coding-(increases unit firing rate), and by recruiting a larger percentage of available motor units. In VERY simple terms, the classes tend to focus more on training the muscles, the oly class more the CNS. Combining these 2 will yield the greatest gains.
The next half of the cycle will focus on maintaining the deadlift and building the squats. We will do the CrossFit total during the 2nd week of December. I am looking forward to watching all of you crush it!