074 Strength in CrossFit - 3 Key Principles

Vital with Paul Weber

1. The Strength-Muscle Endurance Relationship

The higher the % of 1RM, the less you can repeat it.

Maximal strength appears to have significant predictive power over muscle endurance above 40% of 1RM.

The researchers concluded that the goal of a muscle endurance training program should be first to increase maximum strength until the specific load you are trying to endure is less than 40% of the individual’s 1RM.

Only then should training shift to improving muscular endurance in the specific task.

2. Lean Body Mass Is Highly Correlated with Barbell Strength

Strength is the sum of neural and morphological effects.

Morphological effects are primarily driven by total muscle mass and neural effects mostly refer to coordination of that muscle mass.

Neural effects occur quickly with big, quick effects on your strength.

Muscle growth is a slower process with roughly linear effects on strength.

That means short-term strength gains are largely neural in nature, whereas long-term strength gains become highly correlated with muscle growth.

Three studies since 2020 have found significant correlations between lean body mass and performance in trained weightlifters and powerlifters.

In light of these findings, here are a few suggestions for long term strength development:

• 5s as an ideal set size for long term strength gains.
  • 5+ reps will reliably cause more hypertrophy than 1-4 rep sets
• More top sets with reduced intensity.
  • Top Set = 7.5-9.5 RPE
  • Squat – 2x/week, 2-10 top sets per week
  • Bench – 3x/week, 3-15 top sets per week
• Higher volume and proper execution of accessories.
  • 6+ sets per muscle group per week
  • 5-30 reps per set
  • 2-8 seconds per rep
  • 0-2 Reps in Reserve
• Reduce variety of strength exercises.
  • Front squat, back squat, single leg squat, snatch, clean and jerk
• Train the Olympic lifts with less intensity and higher volumes.
  • 30-60% 1RM
  • 30-60 reps per session
  • Adequate rest periods and short enough complexes to keep fatigue low
  • 1 session per week snatch, 1 session per week clean and jerk

If you want long term strength gains, you must train with enough volume-load to induce hypertrophy.

But it’s not enough to just train strength, which leads to principle #3.

3. The Concurrent Training Effect

As you do more conditioning, your energy expenditure increases and you are more likely to activate molecular pathways that inhibit mTOR.

This is why CrossFitters with chronically high conditioning volumes often find it difficult to make appreciable gains in their strength.

Above your maximum compatible volume of conditioning, you will attenuate your strength gains.

Reduce your conditioning volume to the maximum compatible volume (MCV) that allows you to make meaningful gains in your strength.

Here are some benchmarks for conditioning volume in the offseason:

High Intensity Conditioning – 1-2 high intensity sessions per week, everything else becomes low intensity

Low Intensity Conditioning
45 minutes or less
3-6 times per week

The more advanced you get, the more you need to get accurate with dosages.

Conclusion

Here are the standards for elite CrossFit:

1. 185/125lbs of Lean Body Mass

2. 2-2.5x Bodyweight Back Squat

3. Snatch 65% of Back Squat