An Overview of The CrossFit Watch City Program

Sometimes people ask about the “method to the madness” behind what we do. It’s true that by nature, CrossFit is supposed to be a controlled chaos of sorts, constantly varying the input stimulus so that the mind and body never get a chance to overly adapt and thus stop improving. But, there’s definitely a plan above that level of chaos that is orchestrated with 2 major goals in mind: safety and improvement.

At the highest level, we do 1 month on a strength or skill program and 1 month on general physical preparedness (GPP).

During a strength or skill program, like the deadlift, squat, or jerk, our goal is to focus in on a few key areas that provide great benefit to other areas of our athleticism. For example, working on the low bar back squat will improve strength and stability throughout the body and will carry over to wallball, rowing, and more. We spend a scheduled month on these movements to help organize our efforts and better track performance and goals.

During this program, the WOD (metcon) at the end of class is generally shorter, usually between 7-9 minutes. This serves 3 purposes. First, it simply gives the athlete more time to work and improve upon the skill for that day. Next, it allows the athlete to really push themselves on the skill work and still safely get a metcon in. Knowing you have a 20 minute workout coming up will either make you hold back on the skill portion or slow you down on the metcon. And finally, it leaves the athlete in a state where they can come back for the rest of the week to push hard on the other days of the program. If you’re too sore to come in for the program, then the program will not work. By keeping the WODs shorter we leave enough time and energy to safely push hard each day. These 7-9 minutes will still be HARD, but they won’t be devastating.

After a program, we will begin the GPP program where the focus shifts more to cardio/metabolic conditioning and new skills. WODs will get longer and new movements will make appearances as we broaden not only our physical capacity but our movement repertoire as well. The first week of GPP will often be a deloading week with little heavy weight, so that the following week we can test the skills and strength we worked for the previous month on, and track our progress. By alternating months we continue to improve not only our overall fitness but our skillset as well.

The movements in the WOD are chosen to allow maximum effort as safely as is reasonably possible.

At the most basic level, we won’t do the same movement 2 days in a row. This can apply to general movements as well. For example, if we did Wallball on Monday, Thrusters on Tuesday would be a bad idea. In a very general sense, the movements will alternate between push/pull (pushup/pullup), knee/hip (squat/deadlift), and slow/fast (squat/boxjump).

The WODs are also usually set up with at least one “rest” movement. This could be situps, running, or a slower movement like squats that allow the athlete to briefly catch their breath and then push hard again afterwards. In this fashion, we can keep the conditioning more aligned with anaerobic interval training and less with long slow aerobic work, the former giving us much better improvement in overall fitness.

There are some movements that are, in my opinion, just not safe enough to reliably have a group of people performing them with intensity, and these include the full versions of the snatch and the clean. Due to their complexity, movement quality and thus safety quickly decline. However, through cautious observation, it would seem that by removing some of that complexity, these lifts can be performed with reasonable quality. The hang power versions of the clean and snatch in metcons will continue to broaden metabolic input and safely improve our fitness. The full versions with a squat and from the floor are still best left as skill work before the metcon.

Each class is designed as a complete module to your fitness. Piecing together these modules increases improvement, but each class should also stand on it’s own.

We start on time with instructor led foam rolling and mobilization. This is crucial towards preserving the quality of our tissue and range of motion before moving with intensity. After this, we move to a dynamic warmup designed not to exhaust, but to prime the body for more demanding work. This is a time to take your time but start to get warm, doing things like squats or specific low level alternatives to the skill work for the day, like PVC overhead squats before the bar.

Next, the coach explains and demonstrates the strength or skillwork for the day. They illustrate what to do, what not to do, and some tips for performance. Then they explain the program, how it should feel, and the total time and rest intervals prescribed.

Finally the coach gathers everyone up and explains the metcon, demonstrates the movement and the most common faults to avoid, gives some guidance on scaling opportunities, and gets everyone started together. From rolling and stretching to moving, skills, and then conditioning, each class should feel like a complete and fulfilling loop.

This is  just the tip of the iceberg or course, but it gives a good overview on how and why we do what we do. As always, CFWC looks to improve wherever possible, so this journey towards the perfect program will always be changing based on research, observation, and time. Any and all feedback from athletes and coaches is very much also encouraged.

Coach Rob