New Maxes = New Training Weights

Congratulations to everyone who lifted Saturday in the Flatirons Crossfit Developmental meet. Wish I could have been there but I was in Atlanta representing Werk-San Barbells at a coaching clinic.

I hear from David that many of you accomplished new PRs. Congrats on that. But guess what? Now you have to increase your training weights. If you don't, you will back slide. But you don't want to over do it. There is an old saying, "Train hard but train smart." Another old saying is, "Failing to plan is planning to fail."

A training log and a program, even a simple program, will satisfy the intent of both these sayings. Even if you don't have designs on being a competitive weightlifter, having a plan and keeping track of what you do will allow you to work hard and also ward off the epic fail: injury.

Your training log is like a personal journal. Record what you want. It can be on your computer or in a essay book. The simplest log is just a written record of the exercises you've done, the sets and reps and weights. Some athletes find it useful to record how they feel, body weight, resting heart rate, sleep quality, etc. Whatever information you find useful, feel free to include it in your training log. If you are doing Crossfit WODs, make sure to record these too. Everything counts. If you have a heavy Crossfit week, adjust your weightlifting program accordingly. Remember: health first, then sport.

As far as organizing yourself, a very basic template is to push your lifts for three weeks, back off on the fourth week and test your maxes on the fifth. For example, since you just maxed at the meet, take an easy week this week and go no heavier than 65% of your PR (or your 1RM). Next week start your five week cycle. Go 70% for triples. The second week go to 80% for doubles. On the third week go 90% for doubles and singles. The fourth week back off to 75% and focus on technique and speed and on the fifth week max out and see if you can set new PRs.

We have other programs available too. Just ask. We are here Monday through Friday from 6:30PM to 8:00 PM so come in and take advantage of our coaching.