AGT Program

Brandon Oto · 08-12-2008, 01:45 PM

(Crossposted from the CF forums)

Here's the program I was working on. http://agt.degreesofclarity.com/ wfs

(It's currently sitting on my personal site; it may or may not get relocated in the future.)

This is a very modifiable and user-created program, so if anyone tries it out I heartily encourage posting here with workouts you tried or tweaks you used that worked well -- or ones that didn't. Also, for everyone who was testing out some version of this over the past couple weeks, I'd appreciate if you could post here with your experiences. There is nothing writ on stone tablets here; not only will it continue to be improved and developed based on feedback, but it emphasizes user customization anyway, so if something's not working for you it should be pretty easy to try something else. That's why more ideas to play with is Good.

This is based in many ways on Gant Grimes's Hybrid programming, so if you like that, this may also work well for you. For people currently doing the CF WoD, the takeaway difference here is that you'll be doing less metcon and more other stuff.

Any questions or other remarks can be posted here and I'll do my best to answer them. Understand, of course, that this is fresh from the oven, so neither I nor anyone else has much more experience with the program than you do.

Patrick Donnelly · 08-17-2008, 09:44 AM

This looks too complicated.

Allen Yeh · 08-18-2008, 08:35 AM

Do you have a couple of people already doing this? If so do you have links to workout logs?

Steven Low · 08-18-2008, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Donnelly

This looks too complicated.

It's fairly simple actually. It's a lot of text to wade through, but the programming is fairly simple. If you wanted some randomized programming instead of picking and matching that's where you're gonna have to make up your own randomized system (so far).

Like Allen I'd be interested to see who is doing what and what results.

Brandon Oto · 08-18-2008, 10:34 AM

Tirzah's got a log at CF where she spent some time with it as one of the testers (not sure if she still is) -- not very strictly, but that's no crime. http://board.crossfit.com/showthread...2470&page=5#43

I have emailed feedback from other testers, but I'm not sure if they'd want it distributed publicly. Maybe I'll ask. Mostly the downsides involved people still figuring out the scheduling with the occasional result of their workouts taking too long (a lot of people did too much skill work, and some folks just take a really long time to lift). The upsides were, well, it worked, and people were able to fairly easily do a whole lot of manhandling to manipulate it for their sports or limitations. One guy was using a fencer's version, one guy had a bum knee, one guy was practicing his breakdancing, and so on.

Neill Smith · 08-18-2008, 01:16 PM

Why do sprints before strength?

Brandon Oto · 08-18-2008, 01:21 PM

Seemed to make the most sense with the schedule. What's your idea?

A few people had the idea of putting them after the lifting, which I'm open to if it works for you, but I think the majority will do better with the speed first.

Neill Smith · 08-18-2008, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon Oto

Seemed to make the most sense with the schedule. What's your idea?

A few people had the idea of putting them after the lifting, which I'm open to if it works for you, but I think the majority will do better with the speed first.

It's not well thought out enough to be an idea, more of a habit. At some point I got it into my head that strength always comes first (following warming up).

How does sprinting compare to strength work in terms of energy pathways and resource utilization? Would that be the right way to decide on which comes first?

Brandon Oto · 08-18-2008, 01:38 PM

Sprinting and other speed work (like Oly) is traditionally done before strength, because it relies heavily on actual power output. If you're fatigued, and hence moving slowly, then you're not training speed anymore, you're training slowness; developing the fast-twitch fibers and neurological activation pathways doesn't work well if you're already beat. (This also applies to anything with a skill requirement, such as Oly again.)

Of course, your squats are also better if you're not fatigued already, but they're more forgiving, and your sprints should be low enough in volume that they're not significantly taxing you, at least once you've adapted a bit.

Steven Low · 08-18-2008, 05:56 PM

I tend to do program like this (if anyone was wondering my justification):

1. warmup
2. skill work
3. explosive/eccentrics/isometrics (that order)
4. strength
5. endurance/conditioning (includes tabata/HIIT/metcon)
6. flexibility

Sprints can fall under explosive work OR conditioning work. It depends how you're programming them. GENERALLY, I like them at the end because max effort sprints is extremely taxing on the CNS where you probably can't get good strength work (or you won't want to do strength work) after you have done them. That's just me though.. shrug.