Review of Plandomization

Dave Van Skike · 05-05-2009, 11:33 AM

Nice.

A quick observation along the lines of great minds etc... I was reminded of a great quotes from Wendler,

"Have a goal and a have a plan. That's it."

"All training boils down a balance of strength, conditioning and mobilty"

"Fuck Programs. Be true to your strength"

Garrett Smith · 05-05-2009, 11:37 AM

I thought it was great.

Goals + plans = getting somewhere concrete.

The whole "increasing work capacity..." thing is almost starting to eerily sound analagous to "getting in better shape". There is no concrete goal in either.

Kevin Perry · 05-05-2009, 12:29 PM

Have to agree, it was a great article and consistent with what a person should be doing: laying down a concrete goal and attacking it. i.e. specializing

Garrett Smith · 05-05-2009, 01:06 PM

Kevin,
I'd like to add something to your thought, based on what I'm doing in my own training.

Multiple goals are something many of us here have. Multiple goals are fine, IMO, as long as there is a unified approach in achieving them.

Being that I do gymnastics strength training, OL, and now am dabbling in PL, I wouldn't say I was ever "specializing". I do have a unified approach that combines them and increases or reduces them in overall training as necessary to achieve short-term goals (ie. adding bench before a PL meet for example, while reducing something else). Of course, there are long-term goals in all of them as well.

Rafe Kelley · 05-05-2009, 01:59 PM

Loved the quote about the strongest and weakest part of crossfit. Thats exactly how I have felt working with crossfits.

I still think a templated strength program is still the most important tool for an athlete.

Kevin Perry · 05-05-2009, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garrett Smith

Kevin,
I'd like to add something to your thought, based on what I'm doing in my own training.

Multiple goals are something many of us here have. Multiple goals are fine, IMO, as long as there is a unified approach in achieving them.

Being that I do gymnastics strength training, OL, and now am dabbling in PL, I wouldn't say I was ever "specializing". I do have a unified approach that combines them and increases or reduces them in overall training as necessary to achieve short-term goals (ie. adding bench before a PL meet for example, while reducing something else). Of course, there are long-term goals in all of them as well.

You are creating goals that are achievable though, and in some way complement each other. I don't think the average crossfitter understands that exactly. At least the cert I went to made that pretty clear...

George Mounce · 05-06-2009, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Perry

At least the cert I went to made that pretty clear...

That you could have bought a bunch of gym equipment for your goals instead?

Craig Loizides · 05-06-2009, 08:44 AM

I loved this quote:
"Being prepared for any random task is not the same thing as preparing randomly for any task."

Garrett,
I don't think there's anything wrong with having a goal of increased work capacity. But even if the goal is across broad time and modal domains there can be a better approach than constantly varied workouts.

Oliver Gould · 05-06-2009, 09:24 AM

But the mainsite WOD IS following a carefully designed plan, know and recognizable only to coach Glassman and Lauren! This was a great article, and a well thought-out, reasonably gentle critique of CF as it is generally practiced and trained. The main WOD is really just an intermediate's version of the novice "everything works" approach, it works by piling on so much volume and intensity that you can't help but adapt if you don't get crushed first.

Quote:

I still think a templated strength program is still the most important tool for an athlete.

In my limited experience, this is pure gold.

Robert McBee · 05-06-2009, 12:30 PM

I agree that any Crossfit Coach/Trainer that just pulls things out of the hopper 100% of the time and calls it programming is short-changing their clients. The same applies if they aren't constantly trying to better themselves by every available avenue - practical experience, continuing ed., multidisciplinary interaction with other coaches and materials etc. etc. etc...

Having conceded that though, I observe there is some broad ass generalizing here relating to what Crossfit programming is actually going on in the 1000+ affiliates. Its easy to cherry-pick either way to make ones point. Do some suck? I'm sure they do as more and more folks jump on the bandwagon and aren't really dedicated to the craft. Some may also suck because they just lack experience. Don't judge 'em too harshly by the present snapshot of where they are on the developmental curve. Hell, I'm in this relatively early stage myself but work hard daily to improve.

Conversely, is there some good programming going on? The fitness exhibited at the recent CF Games qualifiers provides some compelling evidence. Can that programming get better? Of course. I don't know anyone who would dispute that. Maybe you guys do but I've been fortunate enough not to run in to those intractable a-holes. Everyone I have met seems genuinely dedicated to learning more and getting better. Crossfit as an organization just doesn't strike me as resting on its laurels in any area.

If we want to generalize then I'll say that the worst about Crossfit is still infinitely better than the programming at the chain gyms.