O Lifting and Crossfit

[Richard Vaccari]

Thank you all for your input

[josh everett]

Greg Is right & wrong about me. 1 he is right in that i have chosen fitness over being the best weightlifter I can be. I crossfit & run much more than anyone serious about being a competitive weightlifter should. Also at my hieght I should be lifting in the 94k class, I choose to lift in the 85k class and i ussually only weigh about 82k. I'm unwilling to gain wt to be a better lifter. I do not like the way my body feels when I'm over 85k.
He is wrong in saying crossfitting is bringing my lifts down. a few years ago i hit a then pr of 120k in the sn after several months of crossfitting and almost no o-lifts. I've since hit 122.5k. I have been really struggling with snatches the last 9 months or so but I believe it's a technichal error/mental issue. My C&J has been better than ever during this same time frame, no PR's but I've made 145+ a ton of times in practice and this is a wt I could only hit in meets previously.
I have reached a level in o-lifting where I need to constantly specilaize if I want to make progress. I beleive my potential in o-lifts is about 130/170. I got 9th or 10th at this years national championships(without giving up any fitness)...if I reached my potential I might move up to like 7th(in a country that stinks at weightlifting). Not worth it to me to give up so much of my fitness. Besides crossfit, kettlebells, hills, bleachers, sprints are just so much fun.

[Greg Everett]

My bad. Never claimed to have a stellar memory...

The question then would be what does your training week/month look like? That is, how frequently are you CFing and how frequently are you lifting, and what do each of those things consist of?

[josh everett]

basically I workout mtwth and sat
monday thru thursday consists of about 45-60min of o-lifting(lifts & assistance movements) with rotating in stuff like HSPU, KB's, bent rows, dips, DB incline, glute-hams, ect changing up my exercises on top of o-lifting every 8-10 weeks.
saturdays are heavy sn, C&J, squat
after lifting:mon & wed is generally track workouts(400's, or 300's, or 200's), or hill sprints or bleachers, or a crossfit WOD
After lifting T&TH is generally agility & short sprints
Fridays sometimes I play pick-up basketball or run a few 100's or rest if I'm worn out from the week.
A few weeks out of the year I'll exclusively follow the wod. 1 week out from "big" meets I'll drop running & CF.

[Mike ODonnell]

I got tired just reading Josh's activity post......wow.

[Russell Greene]

It's interesting to me that the core of Josh's routine seems to be more traditional lifting and sprints, with Crossfit WOD's thrown in at the end. I have been also leaning towards this direction in the past year.

[Jonathan Owen]

I have been trying to figure out the balance between o-lifting and cf for a month and a half. Its great to hear the experience of more advanced/experienced athletes. This is going to really help me with establishing my priorities.

[Coach Rutherford]

I'm an old guy lifter too. I had reasonable success incorporating my GPP (CrossFit) with a 3x week weightlifting program. In retrospect, I believe I compromised my weightlifting performance a little bit. I was on the edge of OT for four weeks, but was very good with my lifestyle contributors. I went to bed and consumed quality food. This year my GPP will be much abbreviated and my lifting sessions will be increased.

[Ron Nelson]

I like Rut's approach, especially as a fellow old guy lifter. My problem is I started a lot later in life than he, so I have a load of catch-up work ahead.
I'm starting to find that mixing in my GPP (as either CF or sprints) has helped me build my strength base.

Of course, if I had half of Josh's energy or strength, I'd rule in the Magic Kingdom. I remember watching him knock out a Fran in the time it would take me to do 10 thrusters. Pretty humbling, to say the least.

[Mark Joseph Limbaga]

My 2 cents..

If you're preparing for a meet, keep your CF WODs to a maximum of once a week. In your off-season time, you can do more WODs as you please.