Just Do the Xfit Wods and You'll Get Stronger.

[Xuan Mai Ho]

First time poster, long time lurker... (I love you guys!)

I started Crossfit here in NYC in July 07 twice a week with private sessions with one of the coaches and then eventually graduated to the WODs in the fall. Since the fall, I've been attending 4-5 of the WODs every week.

Sometime in the mid-to-late fall, I got my first pullup. (And, strict pushups as well.) Now, on a day when I'm feeling light, I can do 5 pullups. When I'm a little heavy, I can do three. WODs that should be met-cons involving pullups or pushups end up being strength affairs.

As far as the slow lifts go, my numbers really haven't improved in the past 3 months. My 1rm for back squat is 135#, 57# for the press and 145# for the deadlift. This was all back in December.

People have suggested different approaches to increasing my strength as far as the lifts go and as far as the volume of pullups/pushups go and I'd really appreciate hearing what you guys think of them.

1) Just do the WODs as closely as rxd as you can and you will get stronger.
2) Follow SS for a few weeks then return to the wods
3) Come to the wods and work in the lifts in either my warmup or after the wod.

What do you guys think? Thanks!

P.S. My stats are: 5'2", 128 lb female. I tend to eat about 95% Paleo and I intermittently IF. I like steak.

[Kevin Perry]

What ae your goals? Do you want to get stronger in the lifts? if so then you can just focus on SS for a couple months then go back to CF. Or you can jut add in ME Black Box template into your current CF schedule.

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Xuan Mai Ho

P.S. My stats are: 5'2", 128 lb female. I tend to eat about 95% Paleo and I intermittently IF. I like steak.

Hey....how you doing? Oh wait...sorry....

Like Kevin asked...what are your goals?
- If you want max strength do the SS program for a while
- If you want max conditioning do the metcon based workouts
- If you are just wanting a general piece of both then you can follow the daily WOD (note that people with a strength background do much better than those with little or no experience)

I say start with your weakest point and work your way up....but again just all depends on your goals.

[John Alston]

And if you want to be strong and truly awesomely explosive, come to Lost Battalion Hall in Queens for the only dedicated Olympic lifting program in NYC!

[Xuan Mai Ho]

Thank you for your responses.

In general, I'd like to improve strength. The Crossfit affiliate that I go to follows the daily WODs on the Crossfit site. So I find that most of the time, my lack of strength quickly becomes a limiting factor.

[Xuan Mai Ho]

Yes, I've been meaning to get out there! I live way out in Brooklyn which means it would take me about 2 hours via public transportation to get out there.

But, hopefully, on some Saturday I'll make it there!

Originally Posted by John Alston

And if you want to be strong and truly awesomely explosive, come to Lost Battalion Hall in Queens for the only dedicated Olympic lifting program in NYC!

[sarena kopciel]

Xuan Mai as you know I was all over the place too when I did exclusive CF! Although strength was my strong point. Also I have a few years on ya and found that a lot of the repetitive stuff was just draining me and bothering my old injuries. Hence my switch to Oly practice which I predominantly LOVE!

Your nutrition is top notch and you are dedicated at what you do. AS others, including MOD said--you need to define your goals. But to me it sounds as if you want to gain strength. That may mean backing down from the WODS for a bit since your nervous system uses a different recruitment pattern for that and going back and forth will not help matters if thats where you want to focus for a bit!

I assume you are still practicing your martial arts as well!

[Eva Claire Synkowski]

well, here's a vote for the CA WOD - its great programming and mixes strength/oly/metcon. similar to you, i needed to up my strength base ... but i found SS too tough to follow, in the sense of i needed more variety... and like oly. ive been following CA wod pretty much since it started.... although def more focused the last two cycles. pr's across all lifts that come to mind.

if that's not what youre interested in.... a couple of my observations: 1) you don't need xf 5-6x/week to maintain decent gpp; and 2) my increased strength has definitely made the wods easier. i probably do 3 metcon's a week... and haven't felt my overall performance at cf has dropped when i've tested a benchmark (caveat: i never test the 20+ minute affairs). so, say you go with SS ... and if you must do a metcon, drop in 5-15 minute chippers - being a little selective of the exercises given the lifts you've just completed and those you have to do the next wo. for example, tabata squats before a squat day is probably not the best idea if strength is really your goal.

as far as pushup/pullups volume... that just needs to be added in with greater frequency. obviously, a warm-up is a good place, but don't go to fatigue and ruin your strength for lifts. id just do 2-3 sets to a number in which you are working, but not fatigued. this should go up if you are doing them a few times per week. ive also added in a few sets of pushups during the workday just to get some volume in... and obviously there is plenty of rest pre-wo.