Monday was a busy day. Had a lot of the high school and college guys beginning their summer training programs and it saw a great deal of sweat, hard work and rewards. Every single person either met very long-ago-established PR's, or got new ones! Most guys worked on establishing their 1RM deadlift, while others worked the deadlift and bench.
I felt pretty strong with this myself, inspired by the efforts of all my athletes, and was able to pull 475# off the ground, and push 295# off the chest. Both numbers that I expect to raise significantly by October. Funny enough, I was actually the only one who did not PR, with a past best (about 9 months ago) at 485# (have not benched seriously in over a year, past best is 325#). But the great thing is that I would now be pushing towards my written out goals much farther along than I thought I would be.
Lots of stability and supplemental work today, then squats and strict press on Friday.
The reason I am establishing these maxes with people is that I want to get all my athletes, as well as myself on one of the most known strength training programs out there. The 5/3/1 program. I've known about this program for a few years now, my good friend Jim Bathurst did it with tons of success (he introduced it to me in fact) and another good friend Blair Morrison is using it now as he trains for the 2010 CrossFit Games, and his success is very noticeable.
(Another 5/3/1 link)
The program goes a little something like this (at it's very base mind you): week one includes 3 sets of 5 at each of the power lifts, week two includes 3 sets of 3. Week three is a set of 5, a set of 3 and a set of 1. And the final week is 3 sets of 5. Where this program differs from most, is that it is based off of percentages of your 1RM. So on week on for example, you are working 3 sets of 5 and the weights are supposed to be 65%, then 75%, then 85% of that Max.
There are more details in this program, including a lot of supported lifts, and we will be following the Josh Courage design for those, as well as short metcons and, as always, Friday Funday! The result of the 5/3/1 program should see very measurable growth not only in the 1RM, but also in lifting for reps. And this is why I like this one so much. For the typical athlete, weekend warrior, and even the elite athlete, being able to rep weight is much, much more functional than being good at moving weight once. The 1RM is solely a simple test of strength, and great for competitive power and Olympic lifting. But it really serves no purpose for a bunch of baseball, basketball, soccer and lacrosse players. It is more important for the CrossFitter, but in generalized fitness, well, it pays to be good at everything!
So, we begin! Next post here will be about the summer goals that myself, and all my athletes have put together.
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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