Originally posted by: Pantlegz1
So I'm thinking of upping my workout, and adding some crossfit in at least a few days a week. Any suggestions on how I should start to implement this? Just add one day a week try it for a few weeks, then add another until I'm only off 2 days a week? Should I stay with Stronglifts, or go to another lifting program? Any other ideas/suggestions?
The gym I go to doesn't have a ton of equipment, but I think I could do most of the exercises there or maybe modify them a little for what I have access to.
You need to add it in VERY VERY gradually. Most people are not prepared for the intensity of a typical Crossfit workout and if you just jump into it, you're very likely to get hurt (check out the free article on
Crossfit induced rhabdo). Here are a few suggestions:
* Read the entire
Crossfit FAQ
* Watch the
exercise demos/videos as there are probably a lot of new movements you don't know how to do.
* No matter how easy the workouts look, you should DEFINITELY scale them for at least the first week (and in most cases, for far longer). You can see scaled versions of each day's workout on the
Crossfit BrandX message board.
* Don't pick and choose which Crossfit workouts to do. If it comes up on the site, just do it. Otherwise, you'll remove a lot of the variety that makes CF effective. Worse yet, you're likely to avoid workouts with exercises you don't like or know how to do: the problem is that these are likely where you have weaknesses and need the most work!
Having said all that, I can suggest several options for how to include CF in your routine:
1. Just do purely Crossfit. This will give you the best idea of whether CF is something you want to do. If you're worried about strength, it's worth knowing that not only do the metcon style workouts build strength in newcomers, but also that on average, there is at least one "max effort" strength workout per week, sometimes more. For example,
today's WoD is "Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps", which is a purely there to build strength. Just remember that the main site does a 3 on, 1 off schedule, which is way too much for most beginners. It's a better idea to start with something like a 1 on, 1 off or 2 on, 1 off schedule and work your way up slowly.
2. Find a mix of CF days and strength days. The simplest variety is to just keep doing SL 5x5 and add in one day of Crossfit a week (perhaps on the weekends). Another option is to repeat a 2 on, 1 off schedule:
Day 1: SL 5x5
Day 2: CF
Day 3: rest
3. Use a hybrid Crossfit routine that mixes strength training and Crossfit together. This is usually best for intermediate/advanced trainees. One option is the "Max Effort Black Box" (MEBB) routine: you can read a rough write-up
here and buy the full articles
from performance menu. Another popular (semi-official) version is "Crossfit Strength Bias" (CFSB): you can see a rough write-up
here and read the
full article in the Crossfit Journal (subscription required). I personally do a routine similar to CFSB that includes more o-lifts, which you can read about
on my blog.