Last Quarter Strength Cycle
The end of September saw us conclude our 12 week strength cycle that tested 8 lifts. For 19% of our members these lifts were tested for the first time which meant that form on any of these movements is imperative. This also meant that we couldn’t include 37 members in the analysis of the recent cycle.
Within our mesocycles we focused on “mid hypertrophy” “Strong Lifts” and “Explosive Power” set ranges that provides our members a higher chance of muscular recruitment and understanding of continued control throughout all movements. With our CrossFit module its always important to continue spinning the “other” plates that cannot be neglected so that you make small steps to progression. This means that usually our strength aspect can only facilitate a maximum of 6 sets. Because we operate within a 60min duration we are unable to increase the volume of our workouts. However what we do focus on is the time frames between sets so that we can remain in the lactic threshold and encourage our body to make further micro tears in the muscle.
We often use an EMOM, E2MOM or a E3MOM when sets reach a higher intensity level. This is so that we can get the most out of training and make sure that customers complete the exercise without running out of time.
In completion of the programme we saw the following statistics;
- 74% of our members achieved new PB’s
- 55% of members who had a pre existing 1 rep max’s and completed all 8 lifts achieved new PBs across all movements.
- 46% of members achieved over 5 new 1RMs
- 32% of members achieved over 10% over the a pre recorded 1RM.
For many, these movements are very alien and not something they have done before which meant understanding the check points of each lift is far more important then pushing the load.
In reflection of these results and others strength cycles we have ran we feel that we will only be testing these numbers 3x a year. Its important that we head into a de load period to allow our central nervous system to recover and prepare for the next training block.