FAQs– Program

Are there two parts to each workout?

Yes.  There is the “Strength Workout”, and the “Workout of the Day”.  The strength workout is meant to be completed before the workout of the day.

All of our scheduled class times are based around the Workout of the Day.  We have found that it is not practical to do the Strength Workout and the Workout of the Day in a class setting for a variety of reasons.  We have clients that range from novice to advanced in terms of their current levels of strength.  It may take a novice 6-10 minutes to work through their workload on the level 1 strength program.  It may take an advanced trainee 6 minutes just to rest between sets on maximal effort day on the level 2 strength program.  In turn, you have an atmosphere where the advanced trainee will feel rushed to not hold up the rest of the class and the novice trainee left bored waiting for the advanced trainee to finish so the class can move on.  In addition to that, the volume of doing the Strength + Workout of the Day may be too much of a workload for some, especially when first starting.

Our solution is for our clients to come in early to participate in the Strength Training.  We open our doors 45 minutes before classes to allow enough time for a proper warm up and completion of the Strength Workout.  This gives you the freedom to work through your training at your optimal pace.  Don’t worry though, you aren’t left completely on your own.  You will still receive coaching on your training.

We typically recommend that new clients ease into the strength program gradually.  Start by adding 1-2 days a week and go from there.  If you are only going to do 1-2 days a week of the strength program, just be sure to balance out “Push” and “Pull”.  Following level 1, Monday and Thursday are Push while Tuesday and Friday are Pull.  You also have the option to JUST do the Strength workout and leave out the workout of the day.  Let your body guide you.  How long it takes you to recover should be how you decide to follow our program. And of course, the trainers at CrossFit Fairbanks are more than willing to help guide you to find the best way to train for your personal fitness goals.

Why are there two parts to the workout?

Because we are trying to get as strong as possible. We are trying to get as fast as possible and we are trying to create work capacity at its highest level. This is done by combining strength training with the fundamentals of CrossFit.

What are the benefits of additional Strength Training, and why do you think it’s so important?

At CrossFit Fairbanks we believe that strength is of the utmost importance.  If you look at the performance numbers of those to attend our facility, the folks who do the strength training in addition to the workout of the day dominate in all aspects of fitness, even endurance based workouts.  Next time you are in, look at the white board.

If you scale the workouts, most often it is due to a lack of strength.  The only way to overcome this strength deficit is to actively participate in strength training!  All athleticism is based off of a foundation of strength!

We put our parents and grandparents in nursing homes when they can no longer manage daily life on their own.  When they are unable to get up and down the stairs, get things off the shelf, or stand up from a chair do you know what their limiting factor is?  STRENGTH!!! Keeping your body strong will allow you to live life to the fullest.

I am a runner(or endurance athlete), won’t strength training have a negative effect on my ability, and why should I train this way?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Quite the opposite is true.  CLICK HERE to read a testimonial by Suzy Goodwin, an experienced marathon runner who spent an entire winter with us doing our strength program with the workout of the day.

Some questions to ask yourself as an endurance athlete:

Are your times CONSISTENTLY getting faster at ALL distances (what was your last 5k time compared to a year ago)?

How high can you jump? (Many marathoners cannot jump onto a 12 inch box.)

How many push-ups/pull-ups/squats/etc. can you do? We can do more.

Have you, or are you, suffering from chronic-use injuries (plantar fasciatis, IT Syndrome, runners knee, etc.)?

How many hours do you train per week? How many hours does your spouse/family wish you trained? (This program only requires 6-8 hours per week to COMPETE at Ultra/Ironman distances.)

Why are there no long runs/rides/swims (aerobic training) in this type of training?  Long runs/rides/swims fall into the category of training we term “long slow distance” (LSD) and is solely aerobic in nature

Let’s look at the benefits and drawbacks of aerobic training:

Now let’s look at the benefits and drawbacks on anaerobic training:

BENEFITS                                                                    DRAWBACKS

• Increased cardiovascular function                               • Intensity can speed up overtraining
• Decreased body fat
• Increased muscle mass
• Increased strength
• Increased power
• Increased speed
• Increased anaerobic capacity

I just want to look good naked.

The most desired physiques are those of elite athletes.  When they go to the gym to train it is to excel at their sport, it’s not for bulging biceps, a six pack, or a nice butt.  Those desirable appearance attributes are simply the side-effects of their efforts.  We adopt the same principals to our training.

We want you to change your goals from aesthetic to performance based.  If your appearance goal as a man is a V Shaped back, then your performance goal should be to accomplish 10-15 STRICT Pull Ups, or possibly a  3/4 bodyweight weighted pull up.  If your appearance goal as a lady is to have a nice rear end, then a bodyweight back squat is a good performance goal to shoot for.  Not only will you have a much better physique, it is so much more rewarding to reach those performance goals you set for yourself.

WEIGHT TRAINING?! I don’t want to be bulky

Exercise recommendations for women are for the most part, absurd. A common misconception is that if women touch weights they will look like the masculine women on the cover of bodybuilding magazines.  This is a myth, and the simple truth is women don’t NATURALLY produce enough testosterone for that to happen.  Most magazines and women’s fitness publications plaster imagines of unhealthy and ultra skinny anorexic models.  I think I can speak for the vast majority of men when I say that striving to look like bones wrapped in a thin layer of skin is far from sexy.

It seems that most females use long slow distance training(running) or aerobics for exercise to get the body they want.  Let’s use the powers of google to look at where lots of long slow distance training will take your physique, and where lots of heavy lifting coupled with anaerobic training will take your physique.

CLICK HERE for the results of a search titled: “elite female marathon runner paula radcliffe”

CLICK HERE for the results of a search titled: “olympic female javelin thrower Leryn Franco”

So if you are interested in looking like you survived a genocide or a prisoner of war camp, keep increasing that long slow distance aerobic training.  If you are more interested in increasing your athletic ability and getting a physique that will turn heads, give us a call.

What does L1 and L2 mean in the Strength Program?

L1 and L2 stand for Level 1 and Level 2.  You will start with the Level 1 program.  This program uses a linear progression that will take you from novice to intermediate levels of strength.  Most can make significant progress using this progression for 3-9 months depending on where you are starting from.

Level 2 is a Conjugate program that is based off of the WestSide Methods.  Once you have maxed your potential with the linear progression, you will switch to the level 2 program and still see significant progress in strength.  It is meant for intermediate and beyond.

What is the schedule for the Strength Program?

Our Strength program for both levels are on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Monday– Level 1- Push/ Level 2- Dynamic Effort Upper Body

Tuesday– Level 1- Pull /  Level 2 – Max Effort Lower Body

Thursday– Level 1 Push / Level 2- Max Effort Upper Body

Friday– Level 1 – Pull / Level 2 – Dynamic Effort Lower Body

If you are not training 4 days a week, and would still like to do Strength you may do so.  For those following level 1, just make sure to balance out Push and Pull.  If you are following level 2, make sure to make it in for the Max Effort Days.

When it says 1RM what does that mean?  Maximal Effrort

On Tuesday and Thursday the level 2 program will give maximal effort on a given exercise.  RM stand for “Rep Max”.  So 1RM would mean what is the heaviest resistance you can lift for 1 repetition. To follow our level 2 program correctly, there are a certain number of reps or sets that must be completed.

For the Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press 3-5 working sets must to be completed over 90%

For the Overhead Press, Front Squat, Overhead Squat, 5-7 working sets must be completed over 90%

For the Clean, Snatch, or Jerk, 7 working sets must be completed over 90%

If the Strength Workout of the Day is CLEAN 1 RM, that means that you need to accomplish 7 sets of 1 repetition that are over 90% of your 1 RM.  Any time you see RM you should strive to have at least 1 set that is 100% or ideally 100%+.  You should be pushing to set new personal records every week.

What is Dynamic Effort Day?

This method requires that the lifter use sub-maximal weights and move them as fast as possible.  You must apply as much force as possible to the barbell.  Many times being fast and strong are more closely related than you think.  There is also a great deal of volume moved on Dynamic Effort Day.

A 400lb squatter doing 12 sets of 2 repetitions at 60%(240) will move 5,760lbs in well under 10 minutes.  We keep our rest periods short between sets.  This also helps raise our GPP(general physical preparedness) and work capacity. When was the last time you moved 5,760lbs in 6-8 minutes at maximal speed?

When the program calls for “5×5” what does this mean?

When you see “5×5″ this means to do 5 sets of 5 repetitions at the same weight for all 5 sets. This is after a proper warm up building up to this weight.

What does it mean when the program calls for “5, 5, 5, 5, 5″?

That means you do 5 repetitions of each movement, adding weight to every set till you get to a maximal set of 5 repetitions. Yes, you add weight to every set in the hopes of reaching maximal effort.

When it says 10 x 2 is that 2 sets of 10 reps or 10 sets of 2 reps?

Anytime you see # x # is means sets by reps.  So in this instance it would be 10 sets of 2 repetitions.

On the Level 1 Program is says “add 5lbs”.   How do I go about that?

Our level 1 program is a 1 week cycle.  Most commonly you will Squat and Press on Monday, Deadlift on Tuesday, Squat and Bench Press on Thursday, and Power Clean on Friday.  With this progression you will go up by the session or day, not by the set.  Let’s use an example to go over this.

Monday the workout is Squat 3 Sets x 5 Reps(add 5lbs).  That means you are to perform 3 sets of 5 reps at the SAME weight.  You are not to go up or down in weight once you start your working sets.  The “add 5lbs” referring to the last squat workout you did.  So if you use 100lbs on Monday and the workout on Thursday is “Squat 3 x 5 (add 5lbs)” that means you will use 105lbs for all of your working sets

With our level 1 program you should be able to add approximately 40lbs to your sets on the squat and deadlift EVERY MONTH.  You should be able to add approximately 20lbs to your working sets bench press and overhead press EVERY MONTH.  You should be able to add approximately 10lbs to your working sets of power cleans EVERY MONTH.  Yes, you did read that correctly, we will make you very strong– very fast.  I want you to really think about that.  If you don’t currently train with us, and you regularly participate in strength training, is your current program yielding these returns?