CrossFit Jozi and now CFJ Lifestyle Fitness’ goal for its members is to produce better humans. The focus of our programming has been around improving your General Physical Preparedness (GPP). An increase in GPP better prepares you to take on the challenges of everyday life, no matter your age, gender or interests. A greater GPP leads to a “ready state” allowing you to better perform in everyday life.
No matter when you started your journey, we all began CrossFit to improve our general health. The promise we made when you walked through the doors nine years ago or today remains the same. The benefit of believing in us and staying committed has been moving you through the “sickness” to “wellness” to “fitness” continuum.
Earlier in the year, we decided to change our programming to ensure that we were still delivering this promise in the best possible way. We moved away from “strength-biased training” and changed our focus to “conditioning-biased programming”.
Four Main Reasons for the change to Conditioning-bias
#1: Conditioning has the most carry-over to good biomarkers. Follow this link and view the Theoretical Development of an Athlete. There’s a reason conditioning is at the bottom—it has the strongest correlation to the biomarkers that move people from ‘sickness’ to ‘wellness’ to “fitness”. As such, it is the best possible shield against chronic disease. Whether you want to lose body fat, gain lean body mass, lower your blood pressure, improve your cholesterol, or decrease inflammation, conditioning-biased programming will get you there faster.
#2: Regular members and competitors have different goals and different needs. To succeed in the sport of CrossFit, competitors need to develop what we call the Three Headed Monster—strength, skills and engine. Of the three, strength takes the longest to develop. As a regular member who is not trying to compete your goals don’t involve the Open or anything that comes after it. You train to live long, healthy, productive lives (and maybe look good naked along the way). When the barbell does come up in class, nailing the prescribed stimulus is far more important than using the prescribed weights. You will get stronger, but it will happen gradually and with significantly less risk.
#3: We’re still going to have strength days! While the majority of our new programming is conditioning-biased, at least two strength-bias days per week are programmed. These days resemble the familiar strength-followed-by-metcon class format, and the lesson plans are written to emphasize the weightlifting. We will Crank up the DMX and enjoy!
#4: Conditioning-biased programming is CrossFit. The stated goal of CrossFit by CrossFit is increased work capacity, which is just another way of saying conditioning. CrossFit’s founder, Greg Glassman, says, “We would not trade improvements in any other fitness metric for a decrease in work capacity.” Conditioning is the foundation upon which everything else (including strength) is built, and prioritizing it is the most authentic expression of CrossFit.
Trust the process and as mentioned earlier in the year, build your foundations (nutrition & metabolic conditioning) strong.
AFTERPARTY
Has been added to the program for members who are interested in competing in the sport of CrossFit. These pieces are a typically higher skill and are intended to be completed before or after class. The workouts are pulled straight from CompTrain Open Prep programming, so they will always be supplementary with the class programming.
Who should be doing Afterparty?
With the open starting next week Friday, we would suggest that any member planning on partaking in the Open be doing the Afterparty work. We are confident that you will see an improvement in your performance this Open, but the additional work will give you the extra edge to reach your Open 2020 goals. Once the Open has been completed, Afterparty will still remain and should be used by members looking to partake in competitive CrossFit. Recording your scores on these workouts are important, so please follow the link to view how to record workouts outside of class How to use my Logbook
Where & when to do the Afterparty?
The additional work will always be posted to your SugarWod account. It can be viewed under the “workout prep notes available” tab. On the days there are gymnastic skill progressions, these will be added so you can continue to practise at home. These workouts can be completed in the overflow studio 15 minutes before/after class. Alternatively, you can come in during open gym or anytime the gym is open if you are on an unlimited package.
Competing in the sport of CrossFit requires hard work and like any other sport, multiple training sessions are required to get game ready. CFJ is here to help you with whatever your goals may be, so if you are serious about competing please mail or see Sean.
