Hey Strength Tribe! We have a large group of athletes that have been with us from the start of our strength and conditioning program ( over 3 years), some who just joined us, and some that have been following our programming a few years. It’s always great to see the big picture and the “why” behind our programming.
Here is some words from our head coach, Nigel:
We spent much of 2014 and 2015 addressing issues of movement quality, joint prep and getting more folks comfortable with pull ups and dips.
We’ve upgraded a lot of the wellness with full-on Gymnasticbodies training to increase kinesthetic awareness, reduce injury, and add further resilience.
In 2017, we successfully completed a ramp-up to the highest training volume the gym has done, with the lowest incidence of injuries that I am aware of.
We’ve also had success at relatively high level competition in both the Rx and scaled division, and it has shifted the culture of the gym a bit. We’ll see how it impacts the Lurong performances this year.
Looks like we are ready to start testing the combination of high skill and high work capacity. You’ll notice some of the upcoming WODs will require this. In prep, I’ve been increasing using WODs where it is easy to compare overall performance between populations.
I’m trying to catch us up to trends on the Crossfit main site, and will be including most of the individual regional WODs (where appropriate) for the first time at PDXstrength.
I’ve also been ramping up our running for endurance this summer to the highest level the gym will have seen so far. For the competitive folks, combining this with Gymnastic bodies days is one of the better ways to build a competitive VO2, structural and movement base for athletes that can’t afford to spend multiple hours training on a regular basis. The goal is to make the active recovery days (GB days) for our more competitive folks both restorative and higher work capacity than it is for the average athlete who might more frequently choose a day off, or another activity.
Of course, we won’t get there right away, but move the shape of the gym’s performance distribution curves while taking care of everyone participating.
The trade-off is some reduction the time allotted for high-level Oly technique. My opinion is that better fitness, range of motion and volume on the basic lifts will make technical oly progressions easier later, while speeding up our overall mobility+stability acquisition. i.e., make training more efficient at our current overall state. I’m thinking that athletes willing and able to focus more specifically on oly lifting can avail themselves of Jen’s excellent coaching ( Wednesday evening weightlifting workshops and personal programming/training). However, those who can’t fit the oly class in their schedule will be well prepared when they do get a chance to work on it.
Please feel free to send comments, questions, criticisms or reactions. Cheers,
Nigel
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