Intensification and Deload on WOD Cycle

Hi guys,

What would the intensification and deload phases be for those following WODs? Would they simply be the tough period at the beginning of the SSC followed by the easier period towards the end?

Do beginners usually not need to have intensification and deload phases as they can still make linear gains?

Cheers,

IRT

Doesn't really apply to the GBWOD.

If you were going to look at WODS that way then yes, sort of.

What you are doing won't be changing but what your body is capable of will continue to advance for quite a while, so you will end up in a state of "underloading" as your body adapts. The harder you are working to start with the longer it will take to get fully adapted to.

Because it is impossible to really put things in concrete terms with gymnastic-style training, the proper loading should be someting like this for your WODs:

Perceived rating of exertion from 1-10:

First week: 7-8, but closer to a 7 than an 8.

When it has felt like a 5 for a full WOD cycle you are ready to make things more difficult again.

This is, of course assuming you are running a SSC for the WODs themselves, which is a very smart thing to do. It requires writing things down, but this also lets you keep track of your progress properly.

Okay so from what I gather it doesn't really apple in this case. At what joined down the line does this sort of programming become important? Approximately what strength levels do people need to have? From Ido's fb page, I know that he thinks this sis important even for beginners.

Thanks for your time and answers.

On that, Ido and I would agree.

One thing that is important to understand is that the basic principles of human performance do not change just because you are a beginner, or intermediate, or have been training for 22 years. Doesn't matter. Your level of performance will be different in all of those cases but the basic rules governing progress don't change.

You have to stay in balance, and what that will mean is that 70-90% of your training will be submaximal amd very similar to an SSC.

This part of your training is to keep your body working in a balanced fashion. After a while, when you have built up a good core of solid strength, you will start doing a small amount of higher intensity strength work but the vast majority of what you do will be submaximal for 2 reasons:

1) Your body just can't handle a high volume of high intensity training. You'd shut down your nervous system. There are limits to what the body can handle, and while they do change with time and training the CNS always becomes the limiting factor in high performance athletes. In the end, we are all moving towards this status whether we realize it or not.

2) It just doesn't take a huge amount of strength training to get the growth response. 2-3 sets 2-3 times per week is PLENTY. More than that is overkill for any particular muscle group. The interesting thin about this is that this means 4-9 sets per week. You can also just train 6 days per week doing 1 strength set, working out twice a day every other day and taking Sunday(for example) off. Same work load, slightly lower stress level, better recover, better long term growth. That is what one can work up to, eventually. At first it may just be 4 strength sets per week, 1 every M,T,Th,F or whatever.

When I say strength set, what I mean is like 90+% of max. Something you can only do 2-5 times. You would only accept perfect form.

It should be very, very obvious that this leaves plenty of room for other training that keeps the body structurally balanced and allows for a very wide variety of skills to be practiced.

Notice that this is per muscle group, not per SKILL.

Example of chest and shoulders:

M: planche PU

HSPU

straight arm(SA) HS pressing

T: Bowers (if you could)

SA HS pressing

W: XR PPP or XR planche push ups

XR HSPU progression

Th:

Heavy DB Bench

Heavy behind the neck press

Multi-angle I and Y lifts (heavy, assuming you have built the capacity to do these relatively heavy with good form)

F:

Bowers

SA HS pressing

Sa:

Heavy barbell bench (perhaps reverse grip)

XR HSPU

One armed HS leans

Su: REST.

This is just a sample week, obviously focusing a bit more on SA HS pressing, HSPU, Bowers and planche push ups the most.

You could have another week where you are hitting the rings 2-3x that week, another week where you hit bench press variations for a week, and so on.

That is what truly idealized strength training looks like, and it seriously takes like 10 minutes a day. Your other 30-60 minutes or however much you spend would be on assistance work and much easier SSC-style work that is actually appropriate for your body, as opposed to what a lot of us here are doing.

To apply that to the WODs, just do 1 set (probably the second set) at that 90% for 2-5 perfect reps regardless of tempo, and go much easier on all the others, focusing on truly perfect movement.

I would not apply this concept to senders or other plyometric/explosive movements like the Killers. Jumping deck squats should be ok, they are a bit different. No compressed amortization phase, it is very long and will have much lower peak forces.

So, in conclusion, I really dont know quite what anyone else does specifically, I am just explaining how the body actually works and what it responds best to, in a very general sense, and explained how to apply it to the WODs here.

Wow really interesting stuff. Any suggestions as to how this type of training could be incorporated into the WODs?

The simplest way I could think of is to emphasize either pushing or pulling for each week, although this would probably work better for the Killroy template, I'll have to experiment with this. I still have one week of a killroy style workout left before I begin the WODs, so I'll have to work out something.

Maybe adding in specific work in one direction for one plane of motion each week? So first week add in horizontal pressing, next add in horizontal pulling work.

Sliz, are you advocating a "full body" workout every work day or 4x a week (if you did 2 sets a day)?

Hey, btw, I know you're busy, but do you think you'd have time to just look over my current weekly routine sometime to make sure I'm covering everything?

Slim I really appreciate you taking the time to type all that up. Great information.

What is now your opinion on the WOD programme for us fitness enthusiasts? I know that you advocate it but do you still stand by that opinion?

Cheers,

IRT

Patrick Smith said:

Sliz, are you advocating a "full body" workout every work day or 4x a week (if you did 2 sets a day)?

Hey, btw, I know you're busy, but do you think you'd have time to just look over my current weekly routine sometime to make sure I'm covering everything?

Oh yes, absolutely. When you start doing full body stuff you have to be careful about how much hard work you do, usually you will have to pick one plane of movement (not in anatomical terms but in GB terms, like horizontal pressing or horizontal pulling, or maybe just upper body pressing in general) to really focus on and just maintain the others with 2-3 heavy sets per week, rotating every 6 weeks or so to a different body part.

You could probably focus on upper or lower, but that would definitely require only 1 heavy set per day per movement plane. More than that would be too much for the CNS, at least for a very long time. The funny thing about this is that the stronger you get the easier it is to do too much for your CNS.

This is essentially what ends up happening in a gymnastics workout, they do touch nearly everything every day but most of the time there is a specific focus on each day.

The more I learn, the more I realize that good training looks the same in every sport.

Edit: Pat, you can PM me your routine. It may take me a week to get back to you.

IRT said:

Slim I really appreciate you taking the time to type all that up. Great information.

What is now your opinion on the WOD programme for us fitness enthusiasts? I know that you advocate it but do you still stand by that opinion?

Cheers,

IRT

Absolutely, of all the populations I think the WODs are best for the fitness enthusiasts. You can really hybridize these however you want, but there is no better or faster way to hit everything your body needs than with the WODs. This assumes you are starting the WODs with a healthy, balanced body.

I'm not quite sure I am putting this perfectly, because performed properly the WODs create a high performance body capable of many, many different things. However, fitness enthusiasts tend to follow a program and not do extra things outside of that program due to time or motivation constraints. Either way, there is no program that pays as much attention to keeping the body balanced as the GB WODs. Balanced in strength, speed, and endurance as well as between pressing and pulling, which is really fantastic in my opinion.

@Sliz, okay PM sent.

When you do get around to looking at it, let me know if you're still interested in something in the scale of redesign of what I had originally mentioned with the same price range.