[ 🏃🏼♀️ ] Balancing CrossFit with Strength Training
Can you get strong just doing metcons?
On (most) Mondays, we revisit one of the listener questions we’ve answered in a previous episode. It’s been edited for clarity & brevity here.Question
from Jen:
I have been doing Strength & Conditioning for the past six years and want to try CrossFit.
I am 52, and I hear that strength training is crucial for my age from various podcasts and media. Will CrossFit cover this, or should I include additional strength training?
I also try to do a 5K run on weekends or shorter runs during lunch.
Answer
BEN: It’s a great question that I can't fully answer because when Jen says she wants to try CrossFit, I don't know what she means. Generally, of course, I do, but I don’t know the specifics of what’s being programmed, whether she’s being coached, and how often she’s training.
That said, I think she’s on the right track.
If the CrossFit she’s doing does not include strength training regularly, I think she should add some. What is some? Two to three days a week of the primary slow lifts: Squat, Deadlift, and Press. Squat, both front and back. Deadlift, both sumo and traditional. Press, both bench and strict.
If she did that, lifting at loads above 80% of her max, she’d get all the benefits she’s looking for.
PATRICK: For conversation’s sake, what if she was doing CrossFit at a gym that didn’t have strength built into its program, and for whatever reason, Jen can’t add these lifts to what she’s doing? Will the version of CrossFit she’s doing still cover the strength needs of someone who is 52?
BEN: Yes, it will. Way, way, way more so than if she was going to a spin class or an Orange Theory or Barry's Bootcamp. And those are the ones doing what they do well, right? Her CrossFit will be way more valuable than Pilates, yoga, or 5k runs.
CrossFit is probably the best fitness methodology for improving strength, even if she’s not including true strength training. She’s going to regularly lift with loads that are above 30% of her one-rep maxes, which nothing else is going to get her to do. Everyone else is going to be like, “Okay, grab the 20-pound dumbbells.” We're playing with 95-pound barbells for 52-year-old women.
So, yes, you will get a lot out of it.
Will you get all of it? No.
To get all of it, you need to do 2-3 days a week of actual strength training with those primary slow lifts, on top of what people think about when they hear the word “CrossFit.”
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