How would you train an athlete to win the CF games?

[josh everett]

Originally Posted by Alex Bond

I would argue that it is pretty much impossible to compete at a high level in the CF games at 137 lbs unless you are a total freak like Speal. The lifts are just at too high of a percentage of body weight. So the question to me is, is it possible for a 137 lb 16 year old to gain 30+ lbs of muscle in a year?

And like others have said, compared to strength, metcon is easy-come, easy-go. The lifts are pretty good considering body weight, so pretty much, in my opinion, every thing needs to be bigger.

At that age i gained 25lbs in 3-4 months. 5 meals a day... mostly crap but tons of calories and all machine based training except for back squats. i did not have the training knowledge or nutritional knowledge at the time to do things better but i had a ton of desire and work ethic.

[Gant Grimes]

Originally Posted by Isaia Souza

Alright hypothetical question: How would you train a young, highly motived athlete who has nothing but free time in which to eat, train and sleep to win next years Crossfit Games?

I'll throw out some basic (kind of random) stats for him:

M/16/5'8/137
Deadlift 265
Squat 225
Snatch 135
C&J 155
40+ Kipping pullups
5k 18ish minutes

Teach him to lift and how to eat. Put a ball in his hands and tell him do something with it. Get him moving across water and land, two feet or two wheels, it doesn't matter. Punch, kick, jump, wrestle, tumble. Anything.

IMO, you should train for a sport at some point. Even if it's not your thing, if you want to be an athlete, you need to do as an athlete does, and that's train for a sport.

[Isaia Souza]

Thanks for all the replies.

OK I think I'm pretty much going to be doing MEBB with a lot of Oly lifting with light to no metcon and eating a ton of food to get those 25-30 pounds on me. My parents are considering buying me 3-4 months worth of milk for Christmas so I will most likely be drink a GOMAD as well.

Correct me if I'm wrong but SS with the GOMAD would probably add the weight faster then my Oly-lifting based BB program right? Would anyone second Blair's suggestion of SS then Crossfit/Oly lifting? I am still a novice lifter so maybe the BB is overkill at this point.

Originally Posted by Gant Grimes

Teach him to lift and how to eat. Put a ball in his hands and tell him do something with it. Get him moving across water and land, two feet or two wheels, it doesn't matter. Punch, kick, jump, wrestle, tumble. Anything.

IMO, you should train for a sport at some point. Even if it's not your thing, if you want to be an athlete, you need to do as an athlete does, and that's train for a sport.

Well MMA has been my primary sport thus far and I've had a couple of amateur fights but I've found myself leaning more towards doing Crossfit and fitness in general as my sport. I think its probably because I'm too pretty to get punched in the face on a regular basis =]

Isaia

p.s. if my post is kind of rambly I apologize. I just woke up and am still a little sleepy >.>

[Derek Weaver]

CF as Sport is fine. You'll get a lot of other replies to the contrary, but I think that's CF's main strength. They give all of us washed up meat heads and former athletes something to compete in.

Yes, you should do something more along the lines of SS before a MEBB cycle if you ask me. Put on 20 lbs, Squat 300, Deadlift 400, Press BW and change and you'll be set to attack whatever you need.

Lay the strength base first, then move along to other higher skill stuff.

Just my opinion. And have fun. I'm learning right now, that if you're not having fun, none of it matters.

[Timothy Holmes]

Originally Posted by Isaia Souza

Well MMA has been my primary sport thus far and I've had a couple of amateur fights but I've found myself leaning more towards doing Crossfit and fitness in general as my sport. I think its probably because I'm too pretty to get punched in the face on a regular basis =]

Taking up a sport that develops athletic ability (body awareness, skill wise) would be beneficial, I think. Maybe gymnastics? In the early stages of becoming an athlete you need to learn how to run, jump, swim, throw, climb then you can specialize (into sport crossfit). Yeah, what Derek said, you need a base. Does your time in MMA fit the profile?

Crossfit as your sport just seems like the "easy" option.

[Peter Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by Isaia Souza

Well MMA has been my primary sport thus far and I've had a couple of amateur fights but I've found myself leaning more towards doing Crossfit and fitness in general as my sport. I think its probably because I'm too pretty to get punched in the face on a regular basis =]

One of my MMA buddies gave up MMA because his job wasn't too accepting of black eyes, broken noses, etc. He needed to put on a professional appearance at all times. So he started to compete exclusively in submission wrestling and then added BJJ matches, too. Seemed like a good compromise, and you're not any more likely to get a busted face than you would playing basketball or some other sport.

I'm just saying. You can pick CF as your sport, of course, but it's not like "I'm tired of getting punched" means you need to drop martial arts entirely. Grappling practice makes for good metcon substitute in a strength-heavy/power-centric lifting regime. Plus if you are aiming for the CF games, you'll get to continue getting experience in the peaking-for-an-event area so critical to competition without the worry of traumatic facial contact.

[Steven Low]

Regardless if you do some pure SS work or something along those lines... you NEED the oly even if it's just mostly skill work. Need to reiterate that.

I would also strongly suggest TONS of prehab work as you'll be going full bore for more or less the 9 or so months before the next one. In all likelyhood you won't be competitive (top 25) until maybe 2-3 years from now though, heh.

[Ben Moskowitz]

The alternative viewpoint to those offered above is of course that of Jeff Martin, whereby one gets better at CrossFit by doing CrossFit. Nonetheless, Connor has been training fairly strength-heavy I believe, as that was a weak point. Mostly I'd just like to point out that he's probably a great resource for the situation the hypothetical athlete faces.

[Isaia Souza]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

Regardless if you do some pure SS work or something along those lines... you NEED the oly even if it's just mostly skill work. Need to reiterate that.

I would also strongly suggest TONS of prehab work as you'll be going full bore for more or less the 9 or so months before the next one. In all likelyhood you won't be competitive (top 25) until maybe 2-3 years from now though, heh.

OK got it. Keep the oly in if I do SS.

Excuse me if this is an obvious question but, what is prehab? Resting/stretching sore/injured body parts?

I'd actually be pretty stoaked with being in the top 25 in 2-3 years =]

[Blair Lowe]

Prehab is more preventative conditioning. Building up necessary ROM and flexibility in certain areas.

For instance, developing shoulder flexibility for olympic lifting and snatching. Developing wrist strength and flexibility for handstands and cleans. Developing base knee, hip, and ankle flexibility for good squatting ( pistols ). Targeting any tight areas or joints out of alignment.