My Week of Programming

From time to time, I have heard people at the gym say “we just ran a yesterday” or “this week is nothing but pull-ups”.  It got me thinking. How hard is to program a week at CrossFit?  So I took a stab at it and just as I thought it would be, it really is difficult.  It was hard not programming toward my strengths.  Looking at the entire week was a challenge as well.  I did not want to tax a certain movement too much two days in a row. 

Once I was done, I emailed it to our trainers.  I merely wanted to say thanks because I don’t know if I could program WODs day in and day out like they do.  I got an email back that they actually liked what I came up with and planned to use the entire week.  Total shock to me.  Fast forward a few weeks and our box actually ran with my programming.  This Saturday finished it up.  I think what made me happy the most, was when I overheard two of our members talking about what WOD they wanted to do during the open gym on Saturday.  They were going through the week and picked out a few days.  They were talking about a few of the workouts and how they thought they were good. 

To save your dash, I put the entire week of programming behind the jump.  If you try any of these, I would love to know your time or thoughts.

MONDAY

For Time:

  • 20 Push Press (95/65)
  • Run 800m (Row 900m)
  • 15 Push Press
  • Run 400m (Row 500m)
  • 10 Push Press
  • Run 200m (Row 300m)
  • 5 Push Press
  • Run 100m (Row 200m)
  • 200 Double-Unders (500 singles)


TUESDAY

3 Rounds for Time:

  • 10 Deadlifts (135)
  • 10 KB Swings (53/35)
  • 10 GHD situps
  • 10 Power Cleans (135)

Post-WOD:

  • 500m row (Speed; Shoot for a PR)

(On a side note, this WOD was changed before I submitted it.  Ideally this would be done with a heavier weight on the deads, thus requiring 2 barbells.  Since some of our classes are full, I changed the weight to be the same for deads and power cleans in order to use less barbells and accommodate more members doing the WOD at the same time.  To increase the suck factor, add a round.)


WEDNESDAY

Strength: Split Jerk (from the rack)
5-5-3-3-1

WOD: 15 minute AMRAP

  • 6 Pull-ups
  • 9 Jumping Squats
  • 12 Hand-Release Push-Ups


THURSDAY

Strength: Front Squat
5-5-5-3-2-1

WOD: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Squat Clean (95/75)
Burpee

(Got to admit that I stole this WOD from Jessy but it looks awesome, right?)

FRIDAY

“Big Homie” - Five Rounds for Time:

  • 10 deadlifts (275/155)
  • 30 wall balls (20/14)
  • 250 row (200m run)

(The weight on the deadlifts should be challenging.  RX is 275, however if if that is too much, it should be at least 60-65% of your 1RM)

They changed this the morning of due to the movements the day before.  Probably something I should have thought about.  The squat clean and burpee combination one day and then 150 wall balls the next would be a lot.  If any of you try do this WOD, I would love to know your weights and times on it.  This one is “close to the heart” if you will.


SATURDAY
Deck of Cards (Done as a team):

  • Kings: Body weight squats
  • Spades: Hand-release push-ups
  • Hearts: Abmat situps
  • Diamonds: Pull-ups
  • Joker: 200m run

(Aces = 1, Face cards = 10)

Deck of Cards (Beast):

  • Kings: SDLHP (70lb KB)
  • Spades: Parallette push-ups
  • Hearts: GHD situps
  • Diamonds: Chest to Bar pull-ups
  • Joker: 500m row

(Aces = 11, Face cards = 10)

This too was changed on the day of the WOD to something that I think was actually a lot harder to do.  Certainly not complaining.  If you are curious, here is the alternate WOD.

SUMMARY

I think the most amazing part of all of this, was seeing my workouts on the whiteboard.  Seeing athletes names and scores/times on the whiteboard was the icing on the cake.

I have a deeper appreciation for those that sit down and grind out what workouts the gym has to do.  It is not an easy task.  That said, I did have fun doing it.  Despite my personal bias toward Friday’s WOD, I did my best to add in a variety of movements.  I also wanted to put movements in there that would challenge me (i.e. the pull-ups and jumping squats on Wednesday as well as all of the body weight movements on Saturday).  Constantly varied, right?  I have already started on programming an entire month.

17 Notes/ Hide

  1. southcarolinagirl said: Very cool! I’m saving these so I can try some later.
  2. jbizzle329 said: You rock!
  3. chrystidoeslife said: The one you stole from Jessy is just mean. I don’t cherry pick WODs, but that one might make me. The two things I hate the most currently. UGH. I don’t think I could program a week, tho, so good job!
  4. newidentity-athlete said: Tuesday looks brutal/awesome and I happen to KNOW that your Thursday SUCKED. Awesome job man! I have no doubt this was tough to figure out- very cool your coaches used it!
  5. ourtimetochange posted this

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