Latest / Misfit Podcast / The 2027 CrossFit Season Starts Here | Misfit Athletics Phase 1 - E.413

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The 2027 CrossFit Season Starts Here | Misfit Athletics Phase 1 - E.413 · Misfit Podcast

• @misfitcoach: Good morning, Misfits. You are tuning in to a special edition Misfit podcast Monday, August 31st. It's finally here, page year 16 of Misfit Athletics preparing people for the CrossFit game season, which is a crazy thing to say. phase one gets started. It's @paige_semenza: That is wild. @misfitcoach: an eight-week long phase. We will turn those free trials back on so you guys can get kind of a one-week intro. To the program. and we do say this a lot, so it's kind of funny. Like people make fun of Castro when he says it's gonna be the like most exciting year they've ever done at the games, @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: but he says it 20 years in a row. if you're gonna follow Misfit Athletics program to prep for the twenty twenty-seven CrossFit game season open quarterfinals, semifinals, CrossFit games, now is the time to start. The progression that we are taking that we will explain in this episode, get started and we make our way through the season thinking about preparing you from one stage to the next stage and so on. so again, while we say it a lot for marketing speak and advertising and all that good stuff, phase one really is the beginning of us getting you guys @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: all ready to go. and we do this podcast for two reasons. The first one is our Our the people that follow our program, I think, gravitate towards both the like misfit type personality side. But then what's fun about that is there's a nerdy element to it as well. and we take you through everything that you're gonna be doing. And we've wondered in the past if this is like a boring episode, and then if we've ever not done one, people freak out. So we know that the listeners wanna be able to hear @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: all of this stuff. And then the other thing is there are hundreds of people that listen to this show every week that are not subscribed to the program. And this is a way for us to explain to you guys how we do what we do, the way that we think about it, the way that we program, the way that we coach, all that good stuff. so before we get into the nitty-gritty here, we'll do just this last bit of housekeeping here. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by GorillaMind. You can head to GorillaMind.com forward slash misfit or use the code word misfit at checkout. To save on your order and to support the podcast. We are, I don't know if we're recording in the the past or the future. but right now, technically, I'm actually not, when you're listening to this, I'm not in Colorado. I'm in Maine. And there are two things in my backpack, non-negotiables every time I travel: creatine gummies and the IV rush electrolyte packs. really easy to travel with the gummies versus the powder. If you've ever been you know, pulled over at at TSA for having bags of white powder. it's just honestly it's annoying. it's kind of funny at the same time, but it's just annoying to make your way through. So you have those gummies and there's no issue there. and then the single serve packets again just kind of serve the same thing with the electrolytes. So gorilla mind.com forward slash misfit. You can use the code word misfit at checkout as well. All right, Paige, phase one. How we feelin'? You excited? @paige_semenza: Excited, yeah. I think this is just one where I've like I feel like I've gotten to invest the most time working on it as opposed @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: to like previous phases. So like that makes me more excited to deliver it to the athletes. @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: and like, you know, kind of looking forward to like weeks ahead of like some of the ideas that we have out there of of trying to get some some other media stuff out that gets me really excited. So I I'm I'm excited for like the test retest because like I got to write one of the test pieces and see @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: how the progressions work or don't work and yeah it just @misfitcoach: They'll work. @paige_semenza: they'll work. But I'm just yeah. @misfitcoach: They'll work if the athlete does the work. @paige_semenza: True. So I'm just excited to watch athletes like trust the process with something that I've really kind of invested a lot of time in with you. @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: and you know, I'm learning a lot as I go. So it's pretty exciting. @misfitcoach: Ye this is also my this will be my first time through all of this, where this is the thing that I do fully, right? So like I @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: sold the affiliate in Maine, moved to Colorado six, seven months ago. So being able to be I'm always a hundred percent committed to the things that I do, but you get, you know, sort of pulled in so many different directions. @paige_semenza: Right. @misfitcoach: so to be able to go through this stuff with the level of focus, I totally agree. It's it's fun to do this episode, it's fun to communicate with everyone on Telegram, it's really fun to @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: deliver it and personalize it for remote clients, all that stuff. So it's @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: just exciting to get back into the flow of things. @paige_semenza: Yeah, I feel like I'm you know, it's been a gradual process over the last what two or I say like almost two years now that I kinda got into the programming stuff. @misfitcoach: Mm-hmm. Yeah. @paige_semenza: but just the deeper level of understanding of how to start like moving things around for an individualized athlete. Like I feel like @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: we actually had a meeting this week that really kind of clicked. so like I'm excited @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: to go in over the weekend and get phase one like fully planned out for the individual athletes that I'm working with. @misfitcoach: Yeah, for sure. That is that is one of the most fun parts. is really @paige_semenza: Yeah, like @misfitcoach: tailoring it to someone specific because of course @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: we would love to just click a button and have all of our opinions for our hundreds of athletes just like boom here you go this is what we're thinking but the cool thing is we'll we'll get into it here in a second we always start these with kind of FAQs the variable training system allows us to essentially find a gray area in between templated programming and one-on-one. Coaching. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: so we'll get started here with just kind of some FAQs, things that we get right off the bat. this is what you can expect, kind of the quote unquote battle rhythm of what phase one is. It's eight weeks long, it begins and ends with a test week. there's six weeks of programming in between those. with the potential of a deload week in there and you guys will receive your deload instructions starting, I believe, in week four, @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: about when to do that. There's also a week, week seven leading into test week, that is called we what we call primer week. and primer week essentially brings us back to some of the stuff we've addressed in phase zero of If you really lock in on one thing and give it hell, you can get a serious level of intensity. and you don't always necessarily need to to have that volume there. And essentially what that boils down to then is there are four weeks out of these whole eight, we're we're really gonna be like aggressively getting after it. And we're gonna add the extra lift or the extra conditioning piece, or we're gonna add the accessory work, the skill, the reps, all of that stuff. and that leads me into the variable training system. This is actually the basis for starting Misfit Athletics. at the time a lot of templated programs were out there and just knowing the athletes that we were already working with more on the local level for competing, it was like Well, don't we have we gotta change things for all of these athletes? Like this athlete is super strong and this one's skilled and this one's got the endurance and there's just all of these elements, and it's like, well, especially with the low volume that was taking place at that time in the space, how is this supposed to help everybody? How are you signing up @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: for this? And this is supposed to help you specifically. So it was like, Okay, how could we translate that personalized programming for the masses? And it was okay, there are are pieces that need to be done by just about everybody. So when you go to do, when you get through test week and you're in week two, which is essentially week one of the progressions, you're gonna see instructions that say something like complete Lift one accessory or lift one conditioning three and then add zero to two or one to three of the the stuff that's left over there. And what that allows us to do is say, hey, @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: if you're gonna compete in the CrossFit Games season, you need these things. We all need these things to make our way @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: down through. but What you need beyond that is personalized. And if we put the program together that way, those other pieces fit. They're actually there. So it's not like, okay, you have this baseline thing and now go figure out what to do. All of these other things are in there for you to be able to personalize your program as you go. and That's why I think it's important to talk about the volume relative to test week, retest week, primer week, all of that stuff. Because let's say we fast forward to the end of the phase, you're gonna go primer week, retest week, test week for phase two. Those three are gonna be lined up in a row there. And those three weeks are low volume, high intensity. And then @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: we Phase two, transition back. You got four to five weeks of really challenging work and progressions with a D load in there. And then we just, you know, kind of work our way through the season that way. but your ability with us to be able to hit the things that competitors need to hit and then work on the stuff that you need to work on is I think is very unique in our space. And I think when a lot of people ask, well, what makes you guys different? Why when people follow Misfit Athletics programming and I go in and I check all of your open scores, guys, you guys all get better every year. Why is that the case? Well I think it's because you have the ability to not only do a thoughtful program, but you're also adding in things that you need to actually work on. @paige_semenza: Yeah, I think in I think the reason people like to know like our battle rhythm here is for that exact reason. They can have a clear understanding of how to personalize it for themselves. and you know, when you look at one day on Fitter and then an overview of a week, there is a lot to choose from. So understanding why you might pick and choose one thing over the other, just again gives you that personalization feel without having a specific coach working with you. and you know hopefully can actually take out some of the decision fatigue that you might get by looking at the program as a whole within a week because there is again so much to look at, so many different movements to choose from or you know lifts and accessories and figuring out what might complement each other can be a challenge. @misfitcoach: Yeah, absolutely. another question that we get is related to kind of the whole ecosystem of accessory work, skill work, and what we refer to as reps at Misfit Athletics. The accessory work is intended to be done, but it is the kind of thing that takes a while. And I think it can be challenging for CrossFitters to add 30 plus 30, 40 minutes to their session to execute their accessory work correctly when it's not like super high intensity. Like the intensity there is the focus. And the intensity might be You need to be bored for 60 seconds while you wait to do your next movement, right? So this is like different versions of this. so @paige_semenza: It's impossible. @misfitcoach: in this episode, we're gonna talk about what the accessory work is, what has changed there, all of that good stuff. But I just want to address that yes, it is meant to be done, but it is not meant to be done in place of lift one, the mandatory conditioning, anything like that. So we'll talk about how to fit it in in different instances, but It's just funny how CrossFitters are relative to that stuff. But I know a lot of CrossFitters where that is actually one of the like missing, like hidden things that they @paige_semenza: Yep. @misfitcoach: could be doing that could really move the needle for them. Skill @paige_semenza: Agreed. @misfitcoach: work is Mandatory relative to the progression. So we're going to be biasing toast to bar and muscle ups in this phase, and you are going to have weekly skill sessions that are going to be mandatory for you. the reps are totally different. So coming from a honestly, almost I think every I think every person who's coached and programmed for Misfit Athletics has come from a more traditional sports background. And one of the things that we've talked about that's really unique in the CrossFit space relative to more traditional sports is like you don't really practice things very often. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: Right. You lift heavy and you are, you know, under relative intensity in basically every single single thing that you do. And when we go through a week, like it's it's funny, we were, we were talking with Colin, who we will meet later on in the show here. We were talking to him about the movement tracker and like it's crazy how little things can pop up over the course of an entire phase because you don't actually have as many opportunities to do the movements as you would think. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: If that's the case and your more traditional movements that show up in the open and quarterfinals over and over and over aren't in the programming for that week and you go certain periods of time without doing them, you could have a if you don't use it, you lose it type of situation, or you could just feel like I need to progress here and it's not even showing up. So what reps is, I'll read you guys an example of reps right now. So we have six rounds for quality. So these are very much not for time, really low intensity, one easy set of burpee box jumpovers, and one easy set of med ball box step overs. and you might think super low barrier to entry, but we watch people move all day, every day, and Some of you guys need to work on your footwork, and some of you guys need to figure out how to step down off the box and rotate. Some of you need to figure out how to get that lead leg further across the box so that it's easier to step @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: down. And of course, there are higher skill things in the reps. That that's just an example there. so those are always non-mandatory and should only be used when you see a weakness in there. Like I would @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: like a little exposure to that. I want to see like what's going on here, make sure my footwork is there, make Sure, I'm moving the needle. and what some people do that are feel like it's like a gray area movement is they they whittle it down to a smaller amount and work it into a warm-up, which is what I'll @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: give like the advice for for some remote one-on-one clients to do. so that's sort of what we get typically with the like, am I supposed to be doing this? Am I supposed to be doing that? if you don't read the instructions at the top of the day. You're in the you're in the you're in the fucking doghouse, first of all. Please. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: Like the way that this program works, it takes a little bit of extra legwork on the part of the athlete, but it's worth it. Like you can really @paige_semenza: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. @misfitcoach: make a serious, significant change to what you're doing. Let's talk about my favorite subject. Maybe everyone's favorite subject. Maybe not. @paige_semenza: Always. @misfitcoach: The strength work. So we will, again, based on the variable training system, list off to you the mandatory lifts. There are five days of mandatory lifts, and then there are five days of non-mandatory lifts. so with the strength work, like we just talked about with the variable training system, you're gonna have your mandatory lifts and your non-mandatory lifts. And the way that I want you guys to think about this is mandatory, everyone's doing them. This is the these are the progressions we're following. And then when you are trying to personalize your program, you are going to the non-mandatory list and you are choosing progressions to follow for the entire phase. We're not kind of sprinkling in, you know, like we would potentially in an affiliate setting a random lift. So just kind of putting that out there a little bit. So mandatory lifts, two days a week, day one and day five for most people, that's Monday and Friday. For some people that's Tuesday and Saturday. we are going to be following something that probably needs to be renamed, but the misfit volume back squat cycle. the funny thing is volume lifting in the Olympic lifting and maybe even powerlifting space was more like, okay, we're going heavy like twice a week or three times a week. Now to CrossFitters and even within our own way that we explain things, volume is usually relative more to how many reps you're doing given a set. This is a traditional peaking phase in the back squat. this is something that works. It always works. @paige_semenza: Always. @misfitcoach: So with this, we are working on your traditional sets of five, sets of four, sets of three, working our way down through, increasing the percentages each time that we do. And this is something that was a labor of love for me back in the day. I worked on this many times in many different iterations. We had a three day a week one, we had a three days in a row one. and it's funny because @paige_semenza: Three there was a three days in a row? @misfitcoach: There was a three days in a row one, and strong people got so much stronger, and people @paige_semenza: my gosh. @misfitcoach: who did not do well in it really did not do well in it. Like they they basically fell apart. Yeah, we had three days a week and we had three days in a row. Yep. @paige_semenza: I remember the three days a week, but my goodness. @misfitcoach: Yep. Well, the funny thing is when you're when you're researching in that community, no one's ever telling you, like, hey, yeah, this is the best squat cycle we've ever written. The guy who was, you know, added a hundred pounds to his squat was on like the most insane amount of steroids ever. So that usually @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: isn't part of the strength literature when you're going through it. but I do remember testing it on different people and it was like there were some people who were like, This is crazy how much stronger I feel. And there are other people like, I'm gonna die. so little little misfit @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: history lesson there. So you're gonna squat two days a week there and you are going to be doing velocity-based or speed-based training with your strict press. This is one thing where every time we talk about it, we kind of say the same thing, but it's so important. If you can lower the bar under control. so you've already done a rep, you lower the bar under control and without any sort of bounce, press the barbell back up. Like we don't need a full pause, but you need to be the one creating the force to go back up. We @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: don't want that elasticity creating that. If you can press the bar from your front rack position to overhead as fast as you possibly can for every rep. If you can really stay locked in again, down under control, make sure that you are applying the force back up. And you're not just bouncing that barbell, you can make serious changes in your pressing strength. I think mixing this with accessory work with maybe some of the non-mandatory lifting is is really something that can help athletes move the needle. But if @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: you don't do it right, like I had a client who just kept writing in the remote coaching notes, this is easy. And it's like, well, @paige_semenza: Show me. @misfitcoach: it's also English is a second language situation, but like it's like hold on. show I gotta see what this looks like. And it was @paige_semenza: Right. @misfitcoach: just the down up that we get a lot when when people are doing the speed based, velocity based work. So make sure it is the @paige_semenza: Yeah. It's kinda like @misfitcoach: concentric portion of the lift that you are focusing on being fast in. @paige_semenza: Yeah, it's kinda like like if you're on a Peloton bike and you put the resistance all the way down and you're literally bouncing off the seat, right? It's like you @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: gotta make it feel hard by adding that tempo and that control @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: and really trying to produce force quickly through the press. @misfitcoach: Yeah, absolutely. All right. our technique-based positional lift that is mandatory is going to be the clean. We are going to essentially alternate our way through a power clean skill complex and a squat clean skill complex. I have heard your feedback, ladies and gentlemen. The the squat clean version is now every two minutes. I have given you a little bit more time. But what I need from you guys, @paige_semenza: Cardio session. @misfitcoach: this is where this is an agreement we're making. Okay. It's not just one-sided. It was imam because you guys try to go too heavy in your technique work. That's why it was an imam. I'll give you the time so that it's not quote unquote cardio. It still needs to be technique-based positional lifting. Get better at the art of moving your body around a barbell. We've got all of these other things that we're working on to get you stronger. When you @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: actually get stronger and actually get better at the skill-based lifts, that's when it comes back together and you PR your clean in your snatch in phase two and phase three. So @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: I'm just putting it out there. I gave you guys a little bit more rest. Don't you be posting ugly @paige_semenza: Don't be assholes. @misfitcoach: ass, real heavy lifts. Please don't. Don't do it. For the love of God. All right, last but not least, definitely not least, everyone's favorite, volume clean and jerks. Okay. So you're gonna @paige_semenza: So fun. @misfitcoach: be doing touch and go clean and jerks and volume singles. Volume singles are intentionally dropping and resetting. with your volume singles, the notes already in there. It's not for time, okay? When we are removing ourselves from that moment of okay, three two one go, you know, it's the whatever the twenty-four point three quarterfinals workout, the you know, that that heavy barbell, it's not the same thing. Okay. We want to be backed up enough where maybe we can even go a little bit heavier, but we take a little bit more time. We are trying to move the needle on then tracing back. with all of the energy systems work that we do to be able to get you better at that. But this is intended to be strength work. So we don't want to rush it. the same can be said about the touch and go work, but on the weight side. I want to make sure that it's really an appropriate weight that we can get better at touch and go work. We don't want the situation where we're hanging out overhead, we're hanging out in the front rack, we're hanging out at the hip. Sometimes, yeah, things are gonna happen, you're gonna need to regrip or you're gonna need to take a second, but we are working on touch and go for instances where that would actually be appropriate to do. so @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: as we're doing our our volume clean and jerk work, I would say those would be the two biggest things to keep in mind. @paige_semenza: Yeah, I like the especially with the touch and go, it's like you can get a lot of exposure. like if you are not good at touch and go, cycling barbells and mechcons, @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: like this can really help you with that, you know, exposing that weakness and helping you work on it, and challenging you to go a little bit heavier and trying to maintain good positions. @misfitcoach: Yeah, and first and foremost, stimulus bomb, right? Like we're gonna get @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: something out of this. But also, let's say at the end of the phase you're doing, you know, sets of four or six touch and go clean and jerks with 155 pounds the next time you go to do it with ninety-five pounds. you're gonna feel a lot different. that's one of the @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: the benefits that we really like. We have to find ways to put you in a more challenging situation so that when you revert back to okay, the open calls for your traditional 75, 95, 115, 135 type weights that we can actually move the needle there. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: All right, non-mandatory lifts. So we'll tell you what they are and why you would choose them essentially. so why would I add this in for the eight weeks to work my way through the progression? we have the bottoms-up clean deadlift. A bottoms-up deadlift is essentially an Olympic lifting accessory movement where you are in the bottom of a squat. You're as low as you can get, like not even an active squat. Like if you're like me and you can close to touch your butt cheeks to the ground, go ahead and do it. We get our hands into our clean grip and then we stand up into position. So you're probably for a lot of athletes, bigger athletes, more leverage-based athletes that like to get way out over the bar. This is gonna feel awkward. This is really going to teach you how to use leg drive and how to get your knees out of the way and create that active hip with your knees out in the first pull. Okay. So this is a this is a movement where we can really move the needle on those athletes that aren't as strong of a puller that when they go to do a one rep max clean or a really heavy clean, those first few inches off the ground, just tell their nervous system like, no. Like maybe we get this, maybe we don't. We want to put you in that situation without having to have the clean to get used to it, to get stronger with it, all of that good stuff. We'll have a video for you guys on how to execute this, but this would be people who struggle to feel good, to keep that barbell nice and close in their first pull in the clean. @paige_semenza: Yeah, that tension from the very start of your rep can make or break the entire lift. So it's like @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: if you find yourself failing like failing reps with this a lot, like this is such a good positional movement to add in. especially for people who are like, you know, you get in your head over a heavy lift and you're like, I'm just gonna go grip it and rip it off the ground. Well, you have no tension from the start, so you gotta be able to fix that and get comfortable on like with those heavy weights in those positions. It's one of my favorite movements, I think. The bottoms up. @misfitcoach: For sure. We have yeah, if you can, the amount of like technical elements of cleans and snatches that can be fixed by just not having your ass up in the air like a traditional deadlift, like is big. But it reminds me of the correlation that I can think of is when you fix somebody's rowing and day one, they look at the screen and they go, I'm slow. Like, what is this? And @paige_semenza: Yeah. Yep. @misfitcoach: it's like, hey, we're we're doing the whole one step backward to take two forward sort of situation. People feel really uncomfortable if they don't @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: do a good job of using their legs in their first pull in that position. but then you set yourself up to actually make your way through a very technically sound lift, which is gonna be better than just being strong and trying to rip it off @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: the floor. a very adjacent movement where you've got a snatch pull. It's not a complex, but it makes its way down through three variations of snatch pulls that would essentially get heavier as we go. So snatch high pulls a snatch high pull is where we are You know, ignoring the advice essentially that when the elbows bend, the power ends. We're trying to see how aggressive we can be with hitting that triple extension and staying extended and getting the bar as high as we can. extra credit if you can keep those knuckles pointing down and those elbows nice and high, because then that turnover is going to feel a lot more natural in your lift. so we go from snatch high pulls to snatch panda pulls, a panda pull. is when you go through extension and as your elbows are about to bend, you move your feet and pull down into position without turning over. So we're essentially not carrying the momentum up to bring the barbell higher. We are pulling ourselves down and moving our feet. There would be videos for all of these things. And last but not least, your traditional snatch pull. It's going to be the heaviest one. You go through your first pull, your second pull, and you hit extension without letting your elbows bend, basically. So we're nice and heavy. We're going through that. We're not moving our feet. anything there. So here we get to see, are you really actively pulling that bar? nice and high. Do you understand the timing of moving your feet when you need to within the snatch? And then let's overload your snatch pulls you just get more comfortable with doing it. @paige_semenza: Yeah. I mean learning the speed through that extension is a huge part of it. @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: I think especially like getting to overload on this, for athletes that are afraid to pull under a barbell. It gets too heavy, you get in that that mental headspace. yeah. @misfitcoach: You guys are gonna notice a theme here. there is no mandatory snatching in this phase. That's not the power snatch bias. that you're gonna see that we're gonna talk about later in the Metcons. but so far we have snatch pulls. Now we're gonna talk about positional overhead squats. We get the 10 second overhead squat is back. Basically five seconds down, five seconds up, nice slow tempo. we're gonna work our way through there. So we've got I mean, there's the potential for a novice athlete to be like, I don't like pulling or overhead squatting, but normally one of those things is more of a strength than the other. I would personally not @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: need the overhead squats and would really need the pulls. and then someone who can pull to their eyeballs, but then their timing is off or their mobility isn't great. would need the overhead squats. but this positional overhead squat I would say is of course going to improve your actual overhead squat. But I think the the the read between the lines thing here is how is your catch position in the bottom of the snatch. Like when @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: you're down there in that position, are you stabilizing well? Are you in a good position? If you do need to pause to kind of get that stabilization back in your foot to then stand up. Is that something that you can do? so choosing the positional overhead squats, I don't think anyone's gonna be confused about whether they need that or not. That's usually a fairly @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: polarizing thing. but it's it's something that that works really well. That's a tool that I used in one-on-one coaching for a long time and then made its way into the program last year. @paige_semenza: Yeah, I had a lot of success using it last year with one of my athletes. Just the confidence building as well was huge. @misfitcoach: Yep. Okay. Now the theme, the third part of our theme here. We have squat, snatch, speed work. There is a if you are technically sound enough, there is a Goldilocks zone between 70 and 80 percent where the barbell is heavy enough to move the needle to make you stronger, but also we can really think about the way that we move. We can think about being fast. Now Speed work in the snatch can be a little bit confusing because it's like it's a very dynamic, it's a very dynamic movement in and of itself. but what we're asking for here is a very big commitment to that aggressive pull under the barbell, trying to help people learn how to actively pull underneath the barbell. Because what we see more often than not is an athlete who has the ability to To aggressively hit extension. And then they're like, wow, I've got so much time. I'm gonna float my ass under this barbell. And, you know, you don't get punished for it until it's heavy, typically. But then when it gets heavy, you either are nowhere near able to catch it or it comes crashing down on you and it doesn't feel very comfortable. or you're the type of athlete who doesn't hit extension at all and rips themselves under the barbell and tries to sneak under. And again, when it gets heavy enough, that barbell just can't get high enough. For you to be able to do that. So the speed snatch is combining those together. It's a weight where everyone should be able to hit extension and actively aggressively pull under. And then we're just doing a little bit of plyometric work to prime the system to make sure we are ready and understand how to be explosive with some vertical leaps that happen after that. @paige_semenza: Yeah. And don't underestimate the vertical leaps. Those are it sounds silly, but you know that that little bit of plyometric work can can really just it's it's an accessory movement, right? Like @misfitcoach: Yeah. yeah. @paige_semenza: add the intention to it. @misfitcoach: I I used to be the kind of person who argued with people on the internet. just I think probably because I s I started doing this in my early to mid-20s. You know, you know, early a man in his early to mid twenties likes to argue. there are some themes in the CrossFit space right now relative to plyometrics and being explosive and what it takes to be explosive. that we're gonna need to talk about on another podcast. I think it's coaches projecting their own instances as an athlete in a bias. And it's not necessarily correct. So we can get into that topic at another date, but it's it's something that's really effective, especially for people who don't consider themselves to be explosive. I think @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: that's that's one of the best ways to use it as a tool. Okay, last but not least, I know you meatheads out there are going to choose this whether you need it or not. We have non-mandatory heavy bench press at Misfit Athletics. When we are looking at your pressing strength and your pulling strength, we are going to make our way through different variations of pressing, both in the planes that you're pressing. So we got gotta go overhead. you know, we can do the bench press, we can potentially work in some incline work, which you'll see at some point. and then we change the orientation as well. So basically the way your hand is facing, but that's gonna, that's gonna work down chain to other joints as well. so if you are going to go overhead a bunch and you want to maintain stability and strength within the shoulder, we find that having that bench press in there works really well. If you're new to Misfit Athletics @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: and you are wondering why there are is something like AMRAP reps at 90%. we just find the Bench press to be so highly personalized. It's the kind of thing where in a remote coaching setting it's so much easier to just give the athletes the progression of the weight week to week versus the like once I get an idea of where an athlete's at, I will delete the percentages and just put in the weight. but for the masses, what we're doing there is saying we need you with a movement that's got way lower CNS demand that's going to cause less fatigue to get pretty close to the like. zero to one or two reps in reserve range, like really kind of push yourself. And athletes strength versus stability versus muscle endurance in the bench press is just all over the place. So we put that AMRAP there at the end to make sure that even if the earlier sets were super heavy for you or a little light for you, that you're getting ending up getting the stimulus that we want by that final set. @paige_semenza: I always find that day fun because it's like I did AMRAP at this percentage last week, I hit this many reps. Can I match it in the following week, even though it's heavier? @misfitcoach: And it's that's one of those ones too where you can teach yourself that your your feelings are so irrelevant relative to things like this. Like it happens @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: a lot with Texas method. We say it like if you are positive that you're not gonna hit like a certain weight because of what happened last week, and then sometimes it's like significantly easier. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: This is one of those ones where like you can see things like what caffeine does for you. or what good sleep does for you, what good recovery does for you, because where you place it in your session and how it, you know, sort of intertwines with everything else is going to have a lot to do with it. So you could have max reps at 85% and hit three or four. And then you could hit like an extra two and a half or five percent. You could hit an additional one to three reps in that set. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: And that's when you learn to be like, I'm going to show up and bring the effort and leave the like preconceived notion behind. I think relative to weightlifting, that's one thing that's incredibly important. We tell ourselves stories @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: about how the session's gonna go and then that's not necessarily what happens. @paige_semenza: Yeah, yeah. Having not having that expectation is hard, but I mean it's helpful. @misfitcoach: It is. All right. Let's talk about bitchwork. At Misfit Athletics, we affectionately refer to monostructural conditioning as bitch work. there was a while there where the political correctness of this came into question quite a bit. and I just always have to reiterate I'm the bitch. I used to write bitch work @paige_semenza: Thank you. @misfitcoach: on my wall in two thousand and nine because I couldn't do wall balls or burpees or double unders with, you know, any amount of capacity whatsoever. and that's why it's called that. So hope you love it. all right. Our zone two bias. So if you are going to compete online, if you are going to do the open and quarterfinals and online semifinals, which encompasses ninety-nine percent of our community, you need to be very, very, very good at rowing. It's the only machine that they're going to ask you to do. luckily It is a stimulus monster. It works the entire body. I think it, you know, it has the technical element into it. It is a fantastic machine to raise the level of your GPP. you know, if the only thing that they used was the ski erg, maybe we'd have a different opinion relative to this. But if we are going to really affect energy systems, the best way to do so with most crossfitters. is to start long and slow and work across the season to shorter and faster. so you're gonna have your misfits version of an FTP test, the misfit aerobic threshold test that is 40 minutes on the rower. Row as hard as you can for 40 minutes. notice how I didn't say zone one, zone two, zone three, zone four, zone five. The first time someone messages me and says, Yeah, it was pretty easy. It kind of felt like a zone two session. I have to hold my rage in for long enough to have a a professional response. @paige_semenza: Jail. @misfitcoach: This is not that. You are going as hard as you can, and of course you have to pace really well because it's 40 minutes long. If you're new to this, I love segmenting stuff like this. Okay. You probably know, you know, maybe you already know your 10K, which is fantastic, but you probably know. You're 5K, or you know, at least when I do zone two, I'm here. And when I go a little bit harder, I'm here. We can come up with where we think we're gonna be in this test. And I set the splits both mentally and on the screen as 10 minute sections. And I ask my I I hold my pace, I hold my wattage no matter what for 10 minutes. Then I ask myself, all right, I got three more of these as I'm approaching that second section. I got three more of these. Am I going too slow? Am I going too fast? I feel like I'm kind in that right spot. And I reevaluate every 10 minutes as I'm making my way through. if you did this perfectly, you would literally just hop on and hold 210 watts the entire time and you would make your way from zone three to zone five. And congratulations, you've done it. you're a crossfitter. You're probably not that good at pacing. You're probably not that good at pacing relative to a rower, you're probably not good at pacing relative to 40 minutes. And finally relative to 40 minutes on a rower straight through. but that's the beauty of test retest. We're setting a baseline. We are going to do a zone two rowing session every single week on day one. And then you'll get the opportunity to retest and see where you're at. do not dog. I love the people that dog test week and they're like, 90 watt PR. And it's like, you're in zone zero on the test. We don't want that. so That is going to be our zone two bias. Our aerobic bias is going to be the C2 bike. what does that mean? The return of Tor to misfit riverside time @paige_semenza: So fun. @misfitcoach: trial. It's one of those things where we could do the kilowatt test here. but man, people love the people love that test, the the riverside one. And for those of you that have not done it before, I will let you know exactly what it is right now. We have a 14K @paige_semenza: <unk> You stay so engaged. @misfitcoach: on the C2 bike, and you're switching your damper from a three to a seven to a four to a nine to a one to a ten, all the way through at different distances. and the level of output that this elicits from people is so awesome. The stimulus is so high. Because you are engaged, because you are, you know, you get your little sticky note or whatever there, and you're coming up on that, that time. And listen, it is a you would wonder if you've never done it, like, is it like hard to remember these things? Absolutely not, because it's something to do and think about during a 14K on a concept two bike. but again, the intensity is so high and the output is so impressive from our athletes. that it's one of those things where like, I am throwing you guys a bone by putting it back in there instead of the kilowatt test, but it's also selfish because you guys go harder. You guys really @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: show up for this test and get after it and wanna know test retest data. And you wanna know who's got the fastest time ever and all these different things. So @paige_semenza: I think I think one of my favorite things about it is that like you get into you have the higher dampers, the moderate dampers, but like you get into damper one and damper two and it's like you have to really pick up your cadence or you are going to lose the test. Like you're gonna lose the the @misfitcoach: Mm-hmm. Yep. @paige_semenza: like the score that you could potentially have. So that's what I really love about it. It's just like, you know, for anybody that's new to it, don't dog your or don't use those those lower dampers as a flush. @misfitcoach: I can tell you guys right now, there's a 2K at an 8 and then a 2K at a 5 towards the end that are really s they're they're really special. @paige_semenza: That's my least favorite. The five and six. @misfitcoach: So fast twitch people, it's kind of funny, it's weird. The fast twitch people normally like the like are more comfortable at those super high RPMs in those like lower to mid, and then are really aerobic athletes that can maintain, you know, that disgusting whatever it is, 75 RPMs at like a 10 damper. Like that's where they feel like they're making their money. so @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: it is funny to see the splits going down through and the changes in the RPMs there. during the six weeks. In between, every other week you will do an aerobic C2 bike session. That's gonna be the first gear, second gear, third gear. We will get into the gears at the end a little bit. but you will do those sessions and then have the retest. here's one that I'm pretty excited about. Our anaerobic bias is gonna be running. We don't often bias running. for the quote unquote online athlete. And it's a travesty for multiple reasons. one just being your ability to go out there and pound the pavement, you know, or you know, pull on a on a you know a drive list, whatever they're called, treadmill, is such an excellent expression of fitness and pacing and what we refer to as the heads-up display. Like when you're doing CrossFit, there's no you got no data other than the @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: feedback that you're feeling. In the moment. And of course, you can stare at your watch every five seconds, but that's annoying as hell on your run. And also, you get the thing where it it's not caught up yet. So you look down and you're running a six-minute mile, but it says you're running an eight-minute mile, so try to run faster. And then it turns out you're running a five-minute mile, and that might not be the best call in your interval or your test. so the way that I'm looking at this this year is like, I know I need to work this in, I know I want to work this in, and it's like S non-sports specific stimulus bomb fits perfectly into phase one. Fits perfectly with @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: everything else that's going on. We are trying to get you fitter. We're trying to manipulate your energy systems. One of the ways that we know how to do that is by getting athletes better at running. The athletes that we have taken from just qualifying for the CrossFit games to moving up the leaderboard, it's not just that that y Paige, it's not just that you get better at running. I think you get better at running, which makes you significantly fitter in general. And then I think you understand your body and your athlete IQ in the way that you feel in a much different way when you get good at running and pacing running. @paige_semenza: Yeah. I kinda like that you're s like we're starting off with an anaerobic bias because it's harder efforts for shorter amount of time. But I think it can really expose or like help you learn the value of what it feels like to go out too hot and like un like understand what that actually feels like. and then like learning how to dial it in and kind of a like, you know, develop the ability to repeat hard efforts. and I think that's partly I think I like that in this phase right now because it's like it kinda takes you out of CrossFit. Like if you take this outdoors, you go to a track. and I don't know, it just it to me it it brings like a different sense of like I'm out here to learn something about myself and maybe your gears sheet is empty for running. so yeah, I don't know. That's that's just i it I'm excited. I'm excited for it. @misfitcoach: Me too. All right. Especially 'cause I don't have to do it. just kidding. All right. I would honestly I would do it. My knees still won't let me and I don't understand what's going on. Somebody's I gotta get something injected, some sort of superpower thing injected into me. I'm open to it. What's that? Trash. Trash. Absolute trash. @paige_semenza: How's your back though? How's your back? Perfect. @misfitcoach: Yep. we'll do a Drew's injury update on another episode. @paige_semenza: Ha ha. @misfitcoach: I well, I gave my whole training split in the last episode, so that's what I'm up to. @paige_semenza: He did. @misfitcoach: Yep. All right. we have a non-mandatory thing that you can bias. in the past, we've made this mandatory earlier in the year and non-mandatory later. But then that also insinuates that we've chosen the right machine for you for when it should be mandatory or non-mandatory. So the power output bias for monostructural conditioning is going to be the echo bike. So here's what I'm saying. If you are either just not good at power output work, follow this progression, do the test, follow the progression. If you are not good at power output on the echo bike specifically, also do that. There are people who have the ability to be powerful that haven't figured it out yet on the Echo Bikes, probably less than some of the other machines. but it does happen. I do have some stronger athletes that maybe are a little bit smaller that really struggle to to gain any sort of leverage or power over the Echo Bike. so those would be the reasons that you would choose that. You will do the test. A beautiful 50 cal four time and then the bias for half of the weeks going down through will be working you through our different speeds and efforts that we do our power output work in. okay, let's talk about gears really quick. there are I think three podcasts and three or four articles that explain the gears. And for some people that have been following Miss It for a while, it is as straightforward as it gets, it makes total sense. There are people that read it and say, I'm more confused than I was before I started reading this. and there are misfits who've been following for a while that are like, I don't know what this means, I don't use it. so I'm gonna tell you the two ways that you should think about this. The first time that you see a workout with gears, so it's a specific gear, a specific machine, consider it the name of the workout, like a benchmark. Fran, Grace, whatever. The workout is named third gear bike. What you do when you're done that is you take your average split, your average data, and you just write down my third gear on the bike is a 145. Okay. So the first time you do it, just do the workout as if it was written in no other way. Don't worry about it. It's the name of the workout. Once you have done all of these workouts and you've written those things down. that's when we can start to use it for what it was intended for, which is just progression, right? It's bringing the weightlifting world into the monostructural world. So if the first time that you did your third gear bike was a 145 and you're feeling good on that day, you can go for a 144. Or what I like to do is tell athletes to start at their old gear and see if they can get a tiny bit faster as they work their way through. you know, put in a round or something like that at your old at your old speed. What it also does is it informs what your speed can be on the adjacent workouts. Most athletes on a C2 machine are between two and three seconds per gear away from one another. So again, if your if your third gear is a 145, your second gear is probably a 147, and your fourth gear is probably a 143, somewhere in that range. So two to three seconds there, the fitter you are, the more aerobic you are, the more they get jammed together. One to two seconds maybe running, we find that the gears are separated typically by about 15 seconds per mile pace. So if your fifth gear run, the first time that you did it was a seven minute mile, then if we go up a gear to six, you'll add 15 seconds to that pace. or subtract 15 seconds and add 15 seconds if we go in the other direction. So they're just informing you of a starting point for how you can execute on the workout. And if we can get athletes to know what they should be doing on machines and monostructural work in terms of pacing, we are skipping so many steps. The amount @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: of programs that will put out these really thoughtful programs relative to like a progression on a machine, and then an athlete just kind of does it and is like, Well, I got 150 in round one, a 157 in round two, and 147 in round three. That isn't really doing a whole lot for us. so that's what the gears are. That's where they come into play. Just do the workout at first, and then you will work your way into understanding what they are. And the community and Telegram can be really helpful there. we have the the gears matrix sheet where you're literally just filling in your paces going down through. @paige_semenza: Gonna I'm gonna assume Colin may have a question for this, but I so I don't know if you want to ask it now. @misfitcoach: Ask it. Yeah, go ahead. @paige_semenza: okay. so just for an example, let's say somebody is new and they come in and they see third gear C2 bike example workout that we have in our Gears matrix is AMRAP six, so six-minute AMRAP for four rounds. And as you said, you take the average of those four rounds, how would @misfitcoach: Yeah. @paige_semenza: you have an athlete approach it from the very beginning? Like what what kind of thought would you have in mind? 'Cause obviously w we don't want them starting out at a two minute pace and all of a sudden round four is at a two ten. @misfitcoach: Yeah. I what I do is let's so you said that was a four rounder. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: Yeah. I tell people round one is at a pace you are one hundred percent positive you can hold. Okay. Like I know for a fact that if I get on this machine and I bike at eleven hundred calories, then I'm gonna be able to basically rest the one or two minutes and repeat that. We start there. And we adjust round to round. And honestly, when you leave a little bit in the tank and then snag an extra second or two off your split in the fourth round, that round probably isn't your gear. It is probably closer to the average. So that's why we that's that's @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: why we do it that way. And listen, there's gonna be instances where you don't know and you do the opposite and you go a little too fast and you slow down through the workout, but that's still going to yield a very similar average, unless you're just @paige_semenza: Right. @misfitcoach: a complete a hole and just you know letting it rip or not trying at all. so that that that's how I typically explain that. I'm like, and then @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: from there I've got my average and I'll tell people to ex extend it further. So the second time you come back around, okay, so my my average pace was two minutes. I'm gonna hold the two minutes for at least two rounds then and then @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: make a decision about where I'm gonna be at kind of going from there. So as you feel more confident in those numbers, you wanna force yourself to hold them for longer and longer before you decide whether you're going a little bit too fast or a little bit too slow. All right. So we are now on to sports specific. So here's the way that this works: we have a Metcon bias where we are typically doing one to two movements that we're going to bias for the phase, and we have an interval bias. and those change, the movements change throughout the year, and the duration of the test changes throughout the year. so our MECCO and skill bias for phase one is. is going to be power snatch totobar. and we have done a bunch of different iterations of this. And the most successful we have been is when you do the test workout that has both. And then once a week there is a workout that has both. It might also have other stuff. you're gonna do that workout and then on another day, kind of in the opposite block. So you've typically in a crosshair program, you got three days rest, two days rest. You'll do the workout in one of those and then the skill work in the other one. The skill progression is real simple. We start with volume through doing a lot of sets and not very many reps. And we trend you down to doing volume inside of the set itself, but less total reps. So you start with say six toes to bar, and then down at the bottom, you're asked to do tw sets of 20 toes to bar, and it progresses @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: all the way down through. So total volume is highest. At the top, lowest at the bottom, rep volume is lowest at the top, highest at the bottom. so that's the way that we're gonna work our way through that. The test that we have grip wrecked on the hatchet program is ooh, you know, it's what I love about a test is when it's ambiguous. You don't quite know what it is. I want it to be so ambiguous that Paige is e isn't even sure. like positively what would happen when she did this workout. Like if I like if I tried to push unbroken total bar, what would happen in this workout? Am I doing @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: any touch and go power snatch? Am I dropping and resetting? Like that sort of thing. So that we're we're in a fact-finding mission when there is an ambiguous thing here. And we want it to be that way. We don't want it to be obvious because we want you to learn a ton from doing it, get fitter, get stronger. Get more skilled and then come out the other side. Okay, I got athlete IQ and I'm better at this. How am I going to improve on it? So if you're wondering when you look at it, like, damn it, what's the right strategy? Good question. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: Great question. You figure that out for yourself. @paige_semenza: I actually have a funny story. So I went to go videotape this and actually do it earlier this week. And come to find out I did the wrong rep scheme. Mind you guys, I wrote this workout and I did the wrong rep scheme. @misfitcoach: Yep. @paige_semenza: but as I was getting started, I'm like, I don't I actually don't know how I should start this workout. Like he's you are spot on with saying that. Like the emotions that I was going through they brought anxiety. @misfitcoach: Mm-hmm. @paige_semenza: So all I'm gonna say, guys. First off, embrace it. You might mess it up right from the very get. so embrace it. But yeah, it w it very much is that type of test. @misfitcoach: Yes, it is. And so is this next one. Our interval test is Dip Van Winkle. If you listen to the last podcast, you'll know that that made me laugh for @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: way too long. Still not really sure why. Just rolls off the tongue for me. Dip Van Winkle is our muscle up bias, interval work. So you will do an interval with muscle ups. Varying volumes and rep sets and all that good stuff, var varying stimulus. and you will do it within the skill work. And what we are testing here is in the opening quarterfinals to let more and more people play and get a good stimulus, they hit you guys with a big old chunk of muscle ups at the end of a workout. Now, for me. As someone who used to rely on what I called the illusion of fitness, this isn't fair, okay? Give me my two or three muscle ups sprinkled throughout so I can do them and make it seem like I'm fit because I have a skill. so, anyways, jokes aside, they ask you guys to do a bunch of work and then do a bunch of muscle ups. We're gonna do three rounds of a workout where you gotta do a bunch of work and then what would be a moderate amount of muscle ups that totals to the kind of volume that they would ask for. And it shouldn't it should be fairly clear why we would put one thing in Metcon and why we would put one thing in Interval. Power Snatch and Totabar are like staples of CrossFit. Like you gotta know @paige_semenza: Stimulus is wild. @misfitcoach: you gotta know what you're doing in them. You gotta know what to do when it's low rep. You gotta know what to do when it's high rep, when the weight changes, all of that good stuff. When it comes to muscle ups and figuring out the pace and the efficiency needed to arrive at that place and then do those, I think is very different and requires a high level of athlete IQ alongside moving the needle. When we want to dig deeper into athlete IQ, interval work is just such a fantastic tool. You @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: get three separate chances in this test to go as fast as you can, to do it the right way. And you can try different strategies. Maybe you nail it on round one and you feel like that was really it and you just kind of stick to it and the muscle up capacity just falls off a little bit. but we put the more complex thing over here, especially within that longer time domain, to be able to train you guys and teach you guys simultaneously. @paige_semenza: Yeah. I was gonna say, like it's it's I like the muscle up being in the interval work this time because it's like we can keep it sports specific, but like you said, like you gotta earn it to get to the end of that that interval and get on the muscle ups, but you know, we're introducing so much fatigue before that. @misfitcoach: All right. we are going to go over accessory work real quick here. there are so many damn accessory movements that I'm about to hit you with like an MM level list here. I'm just going for it. I'm gonna tell you guys what they are because if we did the same thing for each movement that we just did for everything else, we would double the length of this podcast. So I am right now going to read you your accessory movements, potential accessory movements for phase one, and then we'll actually get into how to execute. We have back extensions, back rack lunges, GHD holds, tape presses, seated dumbbell farmers hold, neutral grip dumbbell push-ups, hand over hand sled pulls, inclined dumbbell curls, inverted barbell rows, Bulgarian split squats, back extension holds, backward facing sled drags, neutral grip, dumbbell strict press, hammer curls, and double kettlebell overhead carry. Those are going to going to be your sessions. one thing that I used for a while in remote coaching that has now made its way into the program for everybody else is practicing these things during test week so that you know where to start in week one or week two essentially. So I'll give you an example. Week one, day one says your day one accessories for phase one will be sets of eight to ten back extensions, ten to twelve back rack, lunch steps, and challenging G H D holds. If you plan to work day one accessory into your program for the next seven weeks, practice each movement today so you have an educated guess on what to shoot for next week. We don't want you doing a whole session. We don't want you to interfere with your testing. We want you to make sure that if you're doing three to four sets total of these movements with the rest that we'll describe here in a bit, that you know where to start. You know what to do. so Having that in the practice session, I think, is really important. and then we kind of gotta skip ahead to so you guys get to see the full week in advance. You will see the entire week when you go to make these decisions. And maybe you have the time and it lines up with your goals to do all five days of accessory. I don't think that's gonna be common for everybody. so you need to go in and decide which sessions you are going to do, and then that will give you kind of the ammunition to choose. Okay, I'm gonna go through here and I'm doing day one, day two, and day six or something like that. And those are the things that I need to practice and be ready for when we get into the progression on week one. the total volume of this is probably less than expected. Again, because of things like test week and primer week, you're gonna have four to five weeks of this where we are going to try to progress and we'll talk about the different ways that you can progress in accessory movement. But you're gonna have four to five weeks total. and those four to five to six week progressions within the strength community are something that can really help move the needle, that can help be kind of the background thing that props up your lifting and your positions a little bit more. okay, so there are instructions on here. And I want to talk to you guys about how to choose your volume and your rest periods. So that same session that we talked about before, we have once you actually do the full session, two to three sets of eight back extensions. those can be weighted, rest 30 to 60 seconds, 10 back rack lunge steps, rest 30 to 60 seconds, one challenging GHD hold, rest three minutes. You are going to do that for two to three rounds. And then everyone is gonna do one final round where you figure out whether you want to or need to progress in the movement. So you do eight to ten plus back extensions, 10 to 12 plus back rack lunge steps in a max effort GHD hold. And essentially what we're doing there is we are getting into that reps in reserve territory. We're getting into that really strong stimulus with an accessory movement, and we're earning the right. To progress the movement. Now, the a movement in accessory can be be progressed by adding weight to it. We can also slow down the eccentric. We can also hold the contraction, you know, at the end of the concentric portion of the lift, to really kind of emphasis and make sure emphasize and make sure we're not relying on momentum or anything to that effect. and those are, you know, better positioning, better technique, all of that stuff. So there's different ways to progress it, but that's how we're looking at it. Now how do you choose whether you are going to do three sets total or four sets total? And how do you choose whether you should rest thirty or sixty seconds between movements? Are you strong? do the four sets with the less reps. We want to work muscle endurance. We want to work stability. We want to enforce using lighter implements and slowing down and having better eccentric control and isometric control. because that's typically what the athlete that's really good at the concentric portion of the lift needs. We're shooting for muscle endurance. We're shooting for health within, you know, these, you know, joints and all that good stuff. If you are trying to get stronger specifically, and it can even change day to day, it can be relative to what we're trying to move the needle on with the movement. I would do two sets to start, that two set going through, 60 seconds rest between each movement, then the full three minutes, and then that final round where we're going there. So you do three rounds if you're trying to get stronger, full 60 seconds rep in rest in those windows. And then if you are truly treating it as accessory work, you're already pretty strong, but need to work on eccentric, isometric, you need to, you know, get healthier, that sort of thing. We do the full four sets and we only rest roughly thirty seconds between movements. @paige_semenza: Yeah. I don't have a lot to add to that. All I'd say is the rest period should support the quality of movement that you're doing. I think, you know, that's gotta stay a priority too. @misfitcoach: For sure. Okay, how do we adjust this for time and removing movements? So someone might need the thing, but can't do all of this based on time. You kind of already have, you're kind of dangerous enough with what I just explained. Like you could do the three set total version with just the 30 seconds rest. That's something that you can absolutely do. You can do two sets, you can do one. in the range that we give you guys. And then that second one is a little bit closer to pushing towards failure. so that would be a way that you can do it. The reason I brought this up is because if you are going to change the session and remove movements, oftentimes movement one and movement three are of the same muscle group. And if that's the case, we don't want 30 to 60 seconds of rest in between. There's a reason why there's another movement. in between those two things. it's in there to give you more time in between those particular movements. so in that instance we do need to factor in, okay, I probably need to rest like 90 seconds between these two movements. if you're only doing one movement, do your four sets, rest your three-ish minutes and you're kind of off to the races. I wouldn't recommend fully altering these sessions to to kind of Frankenstein them because we will eventually lose the plot. Tri sets are something that elicit a particular response. And when that gets pushed down to a superset or pushed down to just one movement, I would probably program that in a different way than we have these things. So just kind of a kind of a thing to think about there. All right. So we have reached the portion of the show where Misfit Apprentice Colin is going to pop up from behind the scenes here and represent the athletes. Let's see if I can figure out how to. Okay, there he is. We are not. @paige_semenza: Okay. @misfitcoach: We are not. Colin Boesch: Hi. @misfitcoach: You're you're not backstage anymore, @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: as Riverside calls it. So Colin, Colin Boesch: You guys can hear me now. @misfitcoach: I can hear you. First and foremost, How was sitting through your first phase podcast? Colin Boesch: good. it I I think you guys know this, but I've I've been a misfit in the past. It's been a little while, but I've been a misfit @misfitcoach: Yeah. Colin Boesch: in the past. So this is not my first phase podcast. But @misfitcoach: Yep. Got it. Colin Boesch: but it was good to it was good to be back here. @misfitcoach: So your job is to represent the athlete listening, to listen through to this and be like if I was showing up for the first time or even coming back around for my, you know, I don't know, there are some people, it might be their tenth phase one. We've got some, we've got some OGs for sure. So @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: what questions do you have related to representing the athlete for phase one? Colin Boesch: Yeah, so I've got thirteen written down. I don't know how if we want to go through @misfitcoach: Okay. Colin Boesch: all of them, but but I've got thirteen written down and I've kind of got them like @misfitcoach: Well, I'm not long winded at all, so that should only take six or seven hours for me to answer this. All right. I'll try to I'll @paige_semenza: Right, right. @misfitcoach: try to be succinct. Colin Boesch: All right. so the first thing that I wrote down because we were talking about like phase structure and timing of the phase was coach, I have Mexico City, Guadapalooza qualifier this week and next. How do I incorporate these online qualifier things that if I wanna be this competitive CrossFit athlete, how do I incorporate these online qualifiers that are now all the time into a phase cycle? @misfitcoach: So there's there's you have to the first thing that you have to pass this through is what your priorities are. So if you are going there to get competitive experience, to go on vacation, to do your thing, then you need to follow basically everything in phase one that doesn't specifically interfere with that timing. and just be thoughtful about the way that you kind of taper down in and come back out and make sure that you're feeling okay. But you want to do as much of it as you can. Some people like their Super Bowl really is Watapalooza, Fittest of the Coast, any of these things. Like that's the thing that they're locking in on in that moment. And that's when you would be super thoughtful about like, okay, I'm gonna do that full week taper. Like we've got articles related to this stuff that we can we can put in the show notes and everything, but you have to be really thoughtful about the way that you taper down in, and then you need to be thoughtful about like coming back out the other side of it and actually taking a little bit of time off, right? Like we got to take a a week off @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: or we got to do one piece a day, that sort of thing. So I would say prior figure out what your priorities are relative to this competition versus the CrossFit game season. and when all else fails, we are available in Telegram all the time to help you with your specific instance. But that's the way that I give that kind of generic answer. Colin Boesch: To build on that, is there any difference that you would give for like a weekend comp? Like I've got my local gym is throwing a competition this weekend. @misfitcoach: No, I don't think so. normally I think workouts are announced. Like part of them being able to sell tickets nowadays, you have to announce your workouts fairly far in advance because it's a local throwdown. It's like, well, I am actually the cardio monster here, but if you put bar muscle ups, I ain't fucking signing up. so if you know in advance, just don't run interference on yourself in the days leading up to it. And the days coming out the backside. Like if they just blasted you with squats and we're doing the volume squat cycle, don't do that on you know, Monday doesn't need to happen. Move Monday to Friday, like that sort of thing. Colin Boesch: So and then okay, so then after that, that kind of leads me into the next portion of is there any specific framework? I think we've kind of like dived or dove through it like as we went through all the different pieces, but is there any specific framework for determining which variable piece I should attempt to hit every week? Like I know that's a very generic question, but what like @misfitcoach: No, it's a good it's a good question. So I think the I think the ones that are clear, the the single modality stuff is easier to parse out. It's easier to be like, when I look at this and I'm trying to create my own template for what I'm gonna do weekly in this program, I know that I need to do those lifts or not do those lifts that are non mandatory. and then when I go over to the conditioning, like Okay, the the non-mandatory bitch work is gonna be power output on day two and it's gonna be aerobic work on day five. It's usually pretty easy for me to go in and say, No matter what the power output is, I need that, or long and slow, I obviously need that. So I'm gonna put that in. But what that does is it is it sort of boxes an athlete in, which I think is a good thing. Once you've added a lift and you've added that second conditioning piece. then the process of elimination for the rest of it is usually pretty simple. And there are just athletes that need more exposure to crossfit. And there's a bunch of non-mandatory intervals. And when it's appropriate for it to fit into the volume and if it's appropriate for you as an athlete, you just add that piece. and I would say you should be adding that piece to a similar day over the course of the phase. So like let's say you're doing the zone two row On day one, there's going to be a mandatory interval or a non-mandatory interval on that day. Choosing that specifically, there's a really good chance that you're just like, yeah, I'm not really the kind of athlete who's at that point yet where back squatting, muscle ups, and zone two rowing is like that truly segmented training is going to do it for me. I need to add that, you know, short interval to go in and execute on that. Colin Boesch: Is there any benefit to being like I really like I need to work on the zone too? that's a mandatory piece, I'm going to work on that. But I like deadlifting and I or I like handstand walking, like the which are in the non mandatory pieces. Like, should I only be focusing on weaknesses with my variable pieces, or am I like should I incorporate something that I like every now and then too? And then what is the determining factor between the two of those? @misfitcoach: Yeah, Paige has has helped Hunter and I over the years with the answer to this question. If @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: you hate your fucking training and it's you're eventually just not gonna @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: do it, you're gonna be miserable and you're not gonna be in the right headspace to execute, then @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: it's probably not right for you. So when we would talk about off season block one and two with Paige, she's like, Well man, coming right off the season, like can we choose some like fun stuff to like make us want to be in the gym? And it's like, huh. Yeah. When you're tight, it's real easy to type that @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: shit into an Excel spreadsheet versus be the one to execute. So it's a really good question. and throwing yourself a bone every once in a while is a @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: really important thing to do. And that would be when you would kind of just go off script of your template. Like, okay, I know on which days which pieces I'm gonna choose. And then it's like, look at that bad boy. I would smoke that work out. It wouldn't like crush me for the rest of the week. Go do that thing. Absolutely. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Colin Boesch: and then my last piece on like this is just the beginning. practicing reps and the skills is great. and like those smooth sets is great, but how do I know that I'm moving correctly or moving the needle in the right direction? @misfitcoach: I think when you slow the movement down and it's wrong, it's kinda obvious. We're hoping that the session is so low intensity that like you filming yourself doing it. And then you feeling it in the moment, like this still just really doesn't feel right. And then, you know, Telegram's there for a very specific reason, right? If you're doing this shit on your own totally and you don't feel like you're moving right, put your video and telegram. and you will get a response from more people than you bargain for in terms of the way that you move. So I would say I would say that would be the biggest way. And then obviously you're in a gym setting, usually. A lot of people are in a gym setting and there's coaches around, there's other aspects. Athletes around. and CrossFit is a very monkey-see, monkey do type of situation. And if someone's smoking you in a movement, it is rare that they're not doing it really well. So, like, okay, I'm watching that person do that movement. Why is that easier for them? I'm fitter than them. And then I watch myself move and I go, they don't ever stand all the way up in a burpee when they don't need to, right? They stay low, they decrease their range of motion, things like that. Colin Boesch: My entire goal with that question was for Drew to like film yourself more often. @misfitcoach: Yeah. That's always the answer. @paige_semenza: Yep. Colin Boesch: we went in depth on the back squat cycle a little bit, but I wanted to ask, was there a determining factor between individuals who like crushed the back squats that you were talking about in the volume and those who didn't? And why was there such a difference between the two? And how did you fix that difference? @misfitcoach: when we are writing a program for I think there's two answers. There's the group programming, most of the people listening to this podcast, and then there's the remote coaching element. So we were trying to find the sweet spot with days per week, amount of sets, amount of reps, progression through you know, going up to two and a half percent each time we, you know, sort of go back to a similar session. And that was how that was the determining factor. the most people getting stronger with it actually fitting into the program with everything else, not messing people up. So that was the biggest determining factor there. the other part is always fascinating because it's so hard to know all of the independent variables of an athlete. What is your stress like? What are your personal relationships like? Do you eat enough? You know, when you go to lift a heavy back squad or you're like, hell yeah, this is the best day of the week. You know, you get some, you know, corn playing in the background or something, or you get under a barbell and you're like, I hate this. I wish I was jogging or whatever, that sort of thing. So the variables of what could make or break something like that are always fascinating and have to be parsed out honestly over kind of a long period of time in a one on one setting relative to that. So and then what's the other volume, right? Like what is all of the other volume outside of this like? Cause we got some people who, especially back in the day, were like head through the brick wall s five days a week every single time. And it was probably a lot harder for them to then go do their third day in a row of back squats at 87.5% versus someone who knew how to pace and wasn't as obsessed with volume. Colin Boesch: you guys talked at length about the power clean and then the clean and jerk work and having like quality movement on each. so the question begs because my athlete brain likes percentages, my coach brain likes RPE. So @misfitcoach: Mm-hmm. Yep. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Colin Boesch: is there a percentage that we should aim for within the clean complex work and what signifies too heavy before I build to it and try it and it looks really ugly? And then do I @misfitcoach: Sure. Colin Boesch: want to end at that wait? @misfitcoach: Yeah. When we don't do percentages, we overprogram the volume and tell people to start. You're on a fact-finding mission because you're going to repeat the power complex three times and the squat complex three times. And with there being eight sets in there and knowing that it's technique based, you should have a rough idea of where you should start. For it to be heavy enough to get stronger and light enough to look good. but you know, you throw hundred and eighty-five pounds on the barbell for the power clean one, you get started, you work your way through, and you're adjusting up and down within that session. you could definitely say that the RPE's probably somewhere between six and eight. I I don't think athletes know what the fuck that means. I really don't. Yeah. I don't think they know it. Colin Boesch: That's that's why I asked this question. Especially CrossFit athletes. @misfitcoach: Exactly. I don't think they know what that means. again, higher athlete IQ. I use it a lot with athletes coming off injury. I I you know, I basically just say if it's sixty to seventy, I want your RP at six to seven. that sort of thing. honestly too though, there are multiple experts That talk about this that explain it in completely different ways. And when we are using the exact same terminology for multiple definitions, I think it gets really confusing for people. but what I won't do is give in and give you guys a percentage to use that is not going to work for you specifically. We want six or so of those eight rounds to be pretty dialed in in that Goldilocks zone again of Yes, I'm getting stronger, I'm lifting weights, but I can really think about the way that I move, timing, all that stuff. @paige_semenza: Yeah, I was gonna to add to that too, like you add you asked should I end at that? typically a lot of times with something like this, I'll do my last set ten to fifteen ten to twenty pounds less than what I hit the seventh set. So just for example, you guys will have eight sets on that. in week two for every ninety seconds. I'll typically end my last set. I'll drop down and wait and make sure I'm moving really, really well. Like nice and snappy in the extension, fast with the elbows. so that's to to give you an idea. @misfitcoach: I do that a lot in one-on-one coaching and I call it baseball @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: sets. It's you're in the cage and you don't get to leave the cage until the last one, like you smoke the ball. Like that's usually the thing. So you go in, you get ten pitches, but then you foul off a few for your tenth. And it's like, no, we're ending where we want to end. Technically sound, you know, lock it into the brain. This is, you know, we're ending on the note that we want to. so I'll put that in quite a bit with okay, like Even it'll even say every 90 seconds times seven, and then one set at like go back down and make it look really good, make it fast. Colin Boesch: that term baseball sets. Is there a purpose to the one K bikes in between sets or do can I just be lazy and sit down in between? Do I have to move the bike out for it? @misfitcoach: You sure do. there is really good research on what happens to your brain and your body and your weightlifting when you stare at that stupid phone the whole time. Or you @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: don't pay attention to it's 30 seconds of rest, then it's six minutes of rest, then it's this. and especially with the upper body, there is a pace at which you can echo bike or ski or row. That will allow you to create more force when you go back to the movement because you flushed waist. so that's why I would say the the thing about it that isn't strict is the distance or the machine. If you want to change the machine, if you want to go slower and a little bit of a shorter distance, you want to go a touch faster, a little bit of a longer distance, that part of it is not so set in stone, but you getting onto a machine and doing that, and then I could ramble for a while about, you know, like over the course of a week, how much zone one work can you accumulate in that in that moment? And, you know, let's say somebody's trying to get into a calorie deficit, what could that do for them? There's a lot of different kind of side things there, but yes, you have to do it. Colin Boesch: w we sorry, I'm like going quick, but we've talked we've talked at length about like the forty minute pace and crossfitters not being super great at it, so that MATT tests on the row specifically. How does or why does the zone two rows on day one then increase my ability to go fast for forty minutes? @misfitcoach: Question. What a question. This might be my favorite question. I mean if we want to make it relative to a CrossFitter, you guys do in zone two work when that is like as far from your bread and butter and your wheelhouse and your energy systems, when we work below threshold all of the time, we are raising our ceiling for what our pace can be below threshold. And to give you guys an example, regardless of I my energy systems are so fucked from a genetic standpoint that regardless of if it's 50 cals per time, the cube test, or Riverside time trial on the C2 bike, I PR my time on those three things or my score on those three things relative to my zone two volume. That is the longest lever that I can pull. If I do only aerobic sessions, only anaerobic sessions, only power output sessions, and then go to retest. It is nowhere near the same. And again, part of it's that beginner gains kind of vibe of like, I can usually add like five watts to a session, like week to week, or even session to session. Like I can I can really move the needle in what my output can be on the C two bike in my zone two sessions. So that is part of it. but when we are I would definitely suggest people go listen to the energy systems podcast. I think we kind of finally found the analogy with the house and the stairs and the square footage and how, you know, the roof and all that stuff. so I think I would go there, but the abil i if your aerobic capacity is lacking, there is nothing, there's nothing that's going to move the needle like thoughtful zone two work. Colin Boesch: That makes sense. And just for the record page, I had three questions written down about gears and I think you answered all of them. So that's perfect. @misfitcoach: Okay. @paige_semenza: Perfect. Colin Boesch: so skipping ahead to like sports specific and the accessory a little bit. we talked about our two sports specific Grip Recht and Dip Van Winkle. once again, this is like a s my athlete brain, probably not being like the healthiest of like competitor brain. Is there anything that you guys have to suggest for like a quarter finalist should be getting these scores or a goal for a quarter finalist to have? Or then in the same vein, you know, a semifinalist, is there scores, goals for those tests at all that like people can have in the back of their head for any reason to be like, This is what I would like to see if this is your goal for the upcoming season? @misfitcoach: Pai, you want to try answer that? Colin Boesch: No @paige_semenza: No. @misfitcoach: it's not having it there is very intentional. Like we used to put the stimulus duration, all of those notes in the test, and I told the coaches to get rid of it. the fact-finding mission, the athlete IQ of it all, I don't want to give you guys the and the answers to the test until retest week, right? So we're gonna put you through every variation that you can think of of stimulus relative to the things that we're testing. We will get you prepared to retest, but the athlete that has arrived on September 1st to do Grip Rect is the one that would arrive to do the open workout, to do the quarterfinals workout, et cetera. Like we will tell you, it's supposed to be short, right? So it takes you nine, 10, 11, 12 minutes. Either athlete IQ is incredibly low or you didn't scale the way you were supposed to. Like the scaled version is 95 pounds instead of 115, and it's 10 toast to bar instead of 15. Like there is a scaled version kind of explicitly written in there. so that's why we don't do it. It is very intentional, but you get to, you know, depending on where you live and when you do this workout, you're gonna get to see the scores rolling in to the fitter leaderboard @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: and to Telegram and that sort of stuff. but it is very intentionally, all right, we're testing, we're not training. And the amount of people that think testing is just relative to capacity versus you knowing what to do in that moment is like again, another one of the reasons I think we separate ourselves, because we force athletes to do a lot of athlete IQ work. That's my rude way of saying no. Colin Boesch: I think the ex It makes sense, a hundred percent. like you said, I like the we're when we show up for twenty seven point one it's it's not gonna be after eight weeks of testing, so or eight weeks of training. @misfitcoach: Yep. And watching Colton do it live usually doesn't help that many people. Right? He's so relatable. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Colin Boesch: Super true. I think the last one that I have is basically like, Coach, why do I want to do accessory? I'm used to classes where either I've done one Metcon or one lift or a combination, depending on what gym you go to, of a lift and a Metcon every day, and what is like the stimulus that I'm shooting for, the goals that I'm shooting for within My accessory work and why is that going to help me improve? @misfitcoach: So easy answer, a CrossFitter's guide to accessory work. We did like over an hour on this topic specifically. But I think separating yourself into the categories of I want like we use the back squat as an example. I want my back squat to the the number at the end when we retest to go up. That is my number one goal with it specifically. If you are to do the back rack lunges, the midline work associated with it, the Bulgarian split squats, the back extensions, the backward facing sled drag, if you are to create a version of yourself that moves the weight and uses all of the musculature in the actual squats, and then we go and we tinker underneath the hood with the specific elements that would make you stronger in that, you're just gonna lift heavier, right? Like if I go full for me, if I go full meathead program, I'm gonna lift heavy and then I'm gonna go just blast the muscle group to be able to to make more localized changes. I also think it gives you a lot of information, quote unquote data on what the weak points are. Cause you might not know in the back squat. You might not really understand, and then you go look and you're like, Wow, every single person in Telegram is doing heavier lunges than me. Or the split squats, you know what I mean? So then I know like I'm either more quad dominant or my posterior chain's not really along for the ride. Or like I can catch a bounce, but like a swift wind would like knock my lumbar spine in a different direction. Like I need to learn to brace and get stronger and get into those positions. The other side of this would be the strong athlete that can't transfer their strength to CrossFit. There's a lot of people like that. I can clang and bang, I can move weight, you make me do it a bunch of times at a low to moderate weight, and I have problems. And we find with those athletes that the athletes that are nowhere near as strong as them can handle eccentric loading and isometric loading at I mean the the discrepancy is wild. It is crazy. It's just the athletes that have the fast twitch fibers that have always been able to rely on those things. And haven't found a way to necessarily specifically train that. When we go in and we do, so you got four times three, you got 12 sets of accessory with the amount of reps that we are asking for. Your muscle endurance, if you actually like can put the ego aside and slow down, you're gonna have to use weights that you didn't think you'd ever have to use. That part of it's you know not the most fun for the ego, but you will make a massive difference in your ability to stay healthy. In the lifting sessions to continue to move the needle on your strength, but then more importantly, go do something with your strength in the actual MEC cons and intervals. Colin Boesch: Paige, you got anything to add to that? @paige_semenza: No. @misfitcoach: Do you agree? @paige_semenza: I mean, I mean, okay, lies. I also have like my athlete brain of like having been doing this for ten years now, like the accessory is there for preventative maintenance as well. Like, or you @misfitcoach: yeah. @paige_semenza: know, still trying to help increase range of motion and in positions and things like that. So grip strength, like there are Definitely a multitude of reasons. You know, Drew's really hitting on like, I want to get stronger at this specific thing. But again, we do have athletes following our program that have been doing it for a long time that need more of that preventative side of it as well. Colin Boesch: Health. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: Yep, very true. All right. I think at an hour and thirty-nine minutes and seven seconds we're probably gonna call this episode. anything to add, Colin or Paige? @paige_semenza: No, just excited. Colin Boesch: For good. @paige_semenza: Again, a lot of investment into this one. So @misfitcoach: Yeah, absolutely. All right. free trial, Strivey, Fitter, August thirty-first, phase one gets started. It is eight weeks long. thank you again again to our show sponsor, GorillaMind. You can head to GorillaMind.com forward slash misfit or use the code word misfit at checkout. You save on the best supplements in the game and you support the show at the same time. See you guys next week.