Programs Update, April/May 2018
**New LeanX Update for May Below in the LeanX Section**
Four Barrel Family,
We’re diving into the new programming year, so we wanted to send out an update on our roadmap for 2018 / 2019.
First, I think it’s important to note, we always try to lead with FUN in our programming. We also spend a lot of time ensuring, and working to improve, the efficacy, efficiency, and safety of our programs. In addition, we want to challenge you, and create workouts and classes that you look forward to attending.
And hopefully all of this is what helps drives consistency, because consistency over time is what drives results, health, and longevity.
Movement is a Practice
Good movement and daily movement is what will keep our bodies functioning as WELL as possible, for as LONG as possible.
In order for our bodies to function as well as they can, we must have:
- Strong muscles, bones, and connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, fascia)
- Flexible muscles, joints, and connective tissues
- Strong cardiovascular and respiratory systems
- A healthy level (range) of body fat
And from our experience, the best way to get there is to:
Also, our bodies need the ability to move:
Find the right balance of all these pieces, and throw some rest, nutrition, and volume management in there, and we’ve found the way to optimize our overall health and functionality.
Helping you find that balance is our goal at 4B.
We put all of these elements into our programming on a weekly basis, and while we’re always pushing toward some goal or endpoint, it’s important to understand that the balance and consistency of your training, is what will make you the fittest, and keep you the fittest, over the long haul.
know that the coaches here at 4B are incorporating progression of each and every one of these pieces into our programs – In the most fun, efficient, effective, and safest ways possible… All you need to do is show up!
There is no ultimate endpoint in getting healthy and staying healthy. It has to be a consistent practice. So show up, do what your body can do that day, take joy in movement, and know that you’re a little better and a little healthier every time you complete class.
Even the World’s Best Athletes Reset and Work on The Fundamentals
We’ve worked with Games and Regional level-athletes here at the gym. After their season, we would typically take 2 weeks to a month completely off from training, and then rebuild in a similar manner to our current programming.
World record holder weightlifters have been known to take up to a year off from serious training before resetting and starting to train for the next Olympics.
Former National gymnastics coach Chris Sommer has his athletes start back with the simplest of gymnastics movements – hollow body holds and rocks – when they’re struggling to master super-advanced movements like the iron cross. Why? Because all of us have baseline strength, mobility, or movement deficiencies that start somewhere deep in our body (i.e weaknesses).

Our point… Even the world’s strongest and best athletes go through cycles, starting with, and focusing on the fundamentals. Just because you can do butterfly chest to bar pull-ups, doesn’t mean you won’t see huge benefits from restoring the shoulder, and building general pulling strength through ring rows. If my ring row is stronger, my shoulders are stronger, and my strict pull-ups will be stronger, along with my kipping or butterfly pull-ups.
CrossFit founder Greg Glassman speaks about how chasing load instead of virtuous movement is a “sucker’s move.” Yes, the guy who goes heavier than you on squats, but lets his chest dive and knees cave, may put a higher score on the whiteboard, but his lack of proper positions and his inability to recruit the right muscles will either lead to injury or leave him stuck at those numbers.
The same holds true for movements and progressions. If I only do the sexy/advanced stuff, I leave holes in my game. Sooner or later, those athletes who kept coming back to the fundamentals will be leaving me behind.
We see more long term progress, if we give ourselves time to focus on the fundamentals. So take this time of the year to improve your movement, get your body feeling great, and to build a strong, stable, and flexible base. Then as the year progresses, things will get more technical, more explosive, and more limit-testing.
CrossFit Program Update
March 26th – April 4th: Reset
For the past 2 weeks we’ve been using strength circuits with unilateral movements (one side at a time), coupled with core strength movements. The goal is to keep our muscles under constant tension for a long period of time, focus on moving slow, and to learn/enforce proper positions. Metcons will be longer on average with a focus on non-stop movement to help build an aerobic base. And overall, we’re looking to reset and just have fun over the these two weeks so that we’re feeling fresh for testing week.
April 9th: Testing Week
Week 3 will be a testing week. This will be something we’ll do 1-2 more times over the year, with the goal being to get a good assessment of our baseline, and then retesting those benchmarks as we build through the year.. This should be a fun week, and we’re really excited to try this new format. After testing week, we’ll kick off a 12 week hypertrophy and aerobic base cycle in order to build muscle size and a strong foundation.
April 16th – July 2nd: 12 Week Hypertrophy and Aerobic Base
This will be our first big block of the programming year. Over these twelve weeks our goal will be to build muscle size and focus on big base lifts – back squat, deadlift, bench press, pull-ups, etc.
For our gymnastics, we’ll be building through progressions primarily focused on pistol squats & ring dips. These are two gymnastic movements that give you the biggest bang for your buck in terms of functionality, and two areas where we could all use some improvement. During this time, we’ll be introducing new correctives, and doing a ton of core work as well (Heavy carries anyone?).
Metcons will remain longer to keep building our aerobic base, but we’ll still have the opportunity to sprint occasionally. We’ll be introducing new skill work for the Olympic lifts as well, and will be using these lifts about once a week in metcons.
On top of all of this, we’ll continue to keep things new and fun through creative and challenging WOD formats, along with the dozens of other barbell, kettlebell, dumbbell, gymnastics, and conditioning movements.
Just to give you a more visual idea of how we’ll build through a the strength work during this cycle, we built this chart below:
LeanX Program Update
April
LeanX is entering into a new phase of strength work with the hopes of continuing to build in cardio endurance while getting stronger and even more toned for the spring and summer months. We will be starting with higher reps at lower weight and slowly lowering the reps while increasing weight just a bit as we progress. Building in weight while we lower reps is great for the body because it builds muscle in a steady and safe way while earning those buns and guns 😉 Our metcons will still continue to vary between chippers, EMOMs, AMRAPs, and everything in between. Come prepared to sweat and stay moving for the duration of the hour for each class!
May
Our LeanX programming has just finished up with it’s muscular endurance strength phase and is entering a hypertrophy phase. This means the reps will be a bit lower so you can go heavier with your weight, while in return continuing to tone up your muscles. With Spring in full swing, look for more outdoor WODs with some fun new kettlebell, dumbbell, and plate movements. LeanX will also be introducing a new benchmark in the month of May that you won’t want to miss. Our endurance in metcons has been getting strong, but we will be adding in a few more “sprint” workouts to increase our anaerobic capacity. Building up this capacity helps us to burn extra calories and work different energy systems. Finding the right balance between long workouts at a lower intensity and shorter workouts at a higher intensity is our goal.
Weightlifting Program Update
After this week we’ll be getting into more complexes and bringing jerks back into the programming. Complexes help us build work capacity that applies directly to the Olympic lifts. Examples of complexes would be something like a:
Clean + Front Squat + Jerk
-or-
Snatch Pull + Snatch + 2 OHS
They also increase consistency with technique because we’re having to hold onto the bar longer for more reps. Once we get back to doing just singles again, we’ll be much more confident in our technique since we’ll have been completing sets of 3-5 reps in a complex.
Jerks will also be making a comeback to WL class! We’ve spent the last 4 weeks really focusing on “cleaning up” our clean technique and now it’s time to add the jerk back in. Jerks will make an appearance first as a stand alone exercise and then in complexes with cleans.
If you haven’t been to a Weightlifting Class in a while or have never been before, now is the perfect time to start! Classes are every Wednesday at 7pm and Saturday at 8am.
P.S. Starting next Wednesday April 18th we will be switching to a snatch-focus on Wednesdays and clean/jerk-focus on Saturdays for the next 4 weeks. Hope to see you all there!