Why the new format?

Why the new programming format?

I’ve received a lot of great feedback about the new programming, and I’ve heard some complaints about it as well, which is definitely to be expected when any change occurs.  Let me say my piece on why we are moving in this particular direction at CFD.

Most of the complaints come from the fact that I’m not writing prescribed weights for your barbells and heights for your box movements.  There is a very good reason I’m purposely not doing it, and it has nothing to do with me not wanting to help you or us not having your best interest in mind.  Instead, I want you all to start learning your own boundaries and finding out what you’re capable of.  For those of you who aren’t happy with the missing information, how regularly did you do the workouts Rx’d before?  Probably not very often.  So what difference does it make?  We’re still scaling to YOUR fitness level, and the workout is written to bring out a particular response in our athletes.  If I want the workout to be heavy and difficult, then pick a weight that YOU think would be heavy and difficult.  If you get through it faster than you thought you would, that is not a failure of a training day!  Instead, it’s part of a journey and a learning experience for you to know your true limits.

Chances are, we all don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do.  It’s happened to me before; I look at a workout and think to myself, ‘I think I can do that in X amount of time,’ and halfway through the workout I realize that I’m going to miss my mark by more than I wanted to!  Guess what happened on those days?  I LEARNED something about myself.  I don’t need a number in my notebook or a prescribed benchmark weight written in marker on a board to tell me how fit I am.  If I want you to push yourself, I want YOUR best interpretation of what ‘pushing yourself’ means!  If it was too easy, learn from it.  If it was too hard, LEARN FROM IT!  It’s only through these experiences that we will all truly progress.  No day is wasted as long as a lesson is taken from it.

This particular programming system is being implemented by some of the most successful CrossFit (and non-CrossFit) facilities in the WORLD.  They’re clearly doing something right, and I want to be a part of that community.  Next time you look at a workout and think ‘shit, I don’t even know where to begin!’ grab a bar, start small, and see what it feels like.  Mulling around for the ten minutes prior to the start time of a workout is not giving you any better an idea of what you’re physically and mentally capable of doing.  Get some reps in, feel how heavy 3 reps feels compared to 10, and put it all in the context of the day.  You’re regularly going to be surprised and often miss your mark, but that’s part of the process.

Let’s all embrace these changes and use this opportunity to see what we’re all made of.  CFD has made me proud since we opened, and we continue to get better both as athletes and as a community.  Nothing but good will come of these changes as long as we’re all on board and you can trust the vision I have for us all.  Know that we have your best interest in mind!

Let’s continue to lead Dubuque from the front!  RLTW <1>

–Coach Phil