HOW MUCH SHOULD I TRAIN?
We have been asked several times by new starters and also by more experienced members what we recommend for a typical training week. As usual, the answer is, it depends. It depends on where you are currently, what your training experience is and where you want to go. Oh, and the small matter of fitting it into your schedule without adding more stress to a busy life.
There is no typical training week for 150+ people. Everyone’s needs and wants and ability to achieve them are different.
That being said, if we attempt to group members, we can start to advise on typical expectations and broad training patterns. A simple split is as follows: New Starter, Developer, Mature and Competitor.
New starters will benefit most from the two strength sessions and the capacity session, but should not fear the weightlifting either. They will typically make progressions just from looking at a barbell so should try everything that their schedule and body allows. Get involved in any class and try to minimise preconceptions. Have some fun and enjoy the gains…unfortunately, they don’t last.
As you start to settle in with CrossFit, as your schedule settles down and your early gains slow down, you can consider yourself a developer. you can start to take the weightlifting & gymnastics a little more seriously as you will have developed the base movement patterns and work capacity to benefit from it. You will start to develop an understanding of what your strengths and weaknesses are. Do sessions in both for progression and enjoyment. Class programming at 3-4 sessions per week is perfect for this stage.
Further down the line, when you are confident in your CrossFit skills, you can consider yourself a mature CrossFitter. Progress at this stage may be hard to come by, you may even go backward at times. Your passion for training may dip at times. This is all normal and you will start to realise these patterns as your experience increases.
In the mature stage, you may start to look at more specific training to your needs. The classes, by their nature, are for broad and general training. A mix of classes and more individual training could be an option for keeping training fresh and overcoming plateaus. This may be the time to ask the coaches about open gym programming and private training.
For those interested in competing and who are reaching high levels of both performance and dedication, broad general programming alone will mean that your weaknesses remain weaknesses. Get into classes for fun of course, but you will require individual programming and specific skill coaching to bring out your peak fitness. Serious results require serious commitment and training. Congratulations. You are a fully fledged Crossfit addict.
