When Building a Bigger Engine is NOT the Answer to Improving your MetCons

Improving Performance

That’s the goal. For athletes who compete in the Sport of Fitness (and events like the CrossFit® Open), it’s about expressing your potential on “game day.”  In other words, getting the best possible score or time.

Everything you do in training has the goal of improving that metric, even if it is indirectly.  

Are you working to improve your PR 2k Row time? For that personal best to carry over to improvements in novel MetCons, you are assuming that training to improve your 2k will result in improved aerobic power, which leads to faster row splits, which leads to better MetCon times with workouts with rowing and other workouts that require similar physical qualities.

Energy Systems Training is not always the answer.

Too often athletes and coaches assume that improving certain physiological capacities (like your 2k Row) will yield better results (times & scores) in mixed work in the Sport of Fitness.

This can happen, but too often improving a single metric does yield better results in a diverse battery of tests.

This is especially the case for most beginner and intermediate athletes.

The reality is that improving your 2k Row Time Trial might not improve your ability to do a workout like 14.5 (For Time // 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 of Thrusters 95/65lbs and Bar-Facing Burpees) even though the both are events with rowing that require aerobic power. 

It would be super discouraging if you just completed a whole training cycle of Energy Systems Training (EST) designing around improving your 2k Row, only to find this didn’t carry over to your ability to perform novel mixed work (Sports Performance).

Don’t get me wrong, EST is certainly something that athletes of all levels should be doing and can yield some serious performance benefits, but it’s important to remember boosting a single metric doesn’t necessarily result in a net positive result.

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Curious about how I recommend improving overall aerobic function to accelerate your recovery between movements, sets and sessions?

Learn more about how I prescribe Basic Aerobic Function work for the athletes I coach.

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Limitations in MetCons vs. Time Trials

It’s important for athletes and coaches to realize the differences between limitations for the Sport versus limitations in power production via the energy systems in single modality cyclical work (e.g. rowing time trial).

In other words, CrossFit® is more complicated than developing an engine.

Only elite athletes in the Sport of Fitness express limitations in energy systems in almost all variations of mixed work.  Intermediate and beginner athletes do not have the pattern proficiency, movement density and volume tolerance needed to express their energy systems capacity in MetCons.

If you can’t express your capacity on a specific sub-set of workouts, then working to improve those systems with the intent of improving your results in those workouts won’t lend to a better performance in the Sport.

Ceiling of Capacity

Think of energy systems limitations as an athlete’s ceiling.  

To grossly simplify the physiology involved, it’s the ability of the athlete to take on oxygen and offload carbon dioxide (respiration), pump that oxygenated blood to the working muscles and carry away waste (delivery), and for those muscles to consume that oxygen create energy (utilization). Think lungs, heart, muscles.

If an athlete can’t breathe effectively in Weightlifting and Gymnastics movements, or move with longevity and economy in every movement tested in the Sport of Fitness, then working on Energy Systems is raising that athlete’s ceiling without improving their current performance.

Simply put: Your movement isn’t good enough for you to express your capacity.

Closing the Gap

Since Energy System Development isn’t going to improve your performance in the Sport of Fitness on these movement-limited workouts, what should you be focusing your training energies on?

Movement efficiency.

Focusing on developing this quality begins closing the gap between your current movement-specific limitations and your energy systems ceiling.

Movement efficiency means learning the nuances of position, refining motor patterns, claiming new freedom in joints, learning sprint vs. sustain variations, developing intuition and unconscious competence in breath ratios and overall building movement economy and efficiency.

This process is long and requires discipline, solid programming and the guide of an experienced coach who is competent in each movement within the testing battery of the Sport.

A 6-Step Guide for Developing Movement Efficiency

I want to provide some actionable items for athletes to take to start improving their movement.  Here are some principles -laid out in six steps- to abide by as you move forward with your training.

Step #1: Slow Down [Slow is Smooth. Smooth is Fast.]

Step #2: Be Mindful of your Breath [Learn Breath Ratios]

Step #3: Practice Different Variants [Sprint vs. Sustain]

Step #4: Build Volume Tolerance [to a functional level]

Step #5: Build Movement Density [The King]

Step #6: Build the Movement in Novel Mixed Work [aka. CrossFit®]

Now, let’s take this 6-step process and apply it to a skill: Bar-Facing Burpees

Every athlete can do Bar-Facing Burpees, but few can do them in mixed work fast enough to register elite scores. And (uncoincidentally) nearly every single athlete I’ve seen do a Bar-Facing Burpee is wasting loads of energy (bleeding efficiency) in the movement.

Let’s break down the Bar-Facing Burpee with our 6-step system.

Step #1: Slow Down [Slow is Smooth. Smooth is Fast.]

Stop at different High-Support Positions throughout the movement and see how systemic tension and respiratory mechanics are affected: prone, kneeling plank, the lunge step, the hinge jump.  Make tweaks in the position to see how sustainability is affected.

Example:
A1. Prone Lying (3 x 5 breaths) No Rest
*hands under shoulders, shoulder extension, elbow flexion
A2. Kneeling Plank (3 x 5 breaths) No Rest
*straight line from shoulders to grounded knees, toes curled under, stiff trunk
A3. Lunge Step (3 x 5 breaths) No Rest
*deep hip flexion and hip disassociation

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Want to learn more about how to use positional breathing to improve performance? Buy my eBook: Breath Work for the Sport of Fitness

Step #2: Be Mindful of your Breath [Learn Breath Ratios]

Figuring out how your breathing best syncs with each movement is known as Breath Ratios. To simplify the concept, think about when it is most effective and efficient to initiate an inhale or exhale.

Note how your breathing is forced to change based on fatigue in different scenarios. At what point is it best to initiate your exhale?  Are you forced to occlude (stop) your breathing at any point in the movement?  Is there anything you can do to minimize or eradicate this?

Example: 
A. Intervals, for Quality
2 Sets:
-1:00 Assault Bike @70% of 10:00 Test Avg. Wattage 
(Rest / Transition 10s)
-12 Bar-Facing Burpees @sustainable pace using the Lunge-Step technique
[Rest 2:00]
-1:00 Assault Bike @70% of 10:00 Test Avg. Wattage 
(Rest / Transition 10s)
-12 Bar-Facing Burpees @sprint pace using lateral jump & 180 spin technique
[Rest 2:00]
-1:00 Assault Bike @110% of 10:00 Test Wattage 
(Rest / Transition 10s)
-12 Bar-Facing Burpees @sustainable pace using the Lunge-Step technique
[Rest 2:00]
-1:00 Assault Bike @110% of 10:00 Test Wattage
(Rest / Transition 10s)
-12 Bar-Facing Burpees @sprint pace using lateral jump & 180 spin technique
[Rest 2:00]

Step #3: Practice Different Variants [Sprint vs. Sustain]

Different workouts require different cycle speeds for movements.  It’s important to know at least two ways to do most movements, so you can pick the variation that is best suited for the workout.  Practice these variations in isolation so they are more refined when called upon within a workout.

Example:
A. Bar-Facing Burpee, Sustainable Variation #1 (2 x 12) Rest 60s
B. Bar-Facing Burpee, Sustainable Variation #2 (2 x 12) Rest 60s
C. Bar-Facing Burpee, Sprint Variation #1 (2 x 12) Rest 60s
D. Bar-Facing Burpee, Sprint Variation #2 (2 x 12) Rest 60s

Step #4: Build Volume Tolerance [to a functional level]

Developing volume tolerance is especially relevant to the specific tissues (muscles, joint, connective tissue) involved in each movement.  In the beginning weeks of a competition preparation phase, it is important that an athlete accumulates the movement-specific volume as dictated by the demands of the sport (functional volume).  For example, functional volume for CrossFit® Open workouts is upwards of 150 reps of Toes-to-Bar, 200 Reps of Wall Balls and 100+ reps of Bar-Facing Burpees.  

Example: 
Week 1 | EMOM 7: 10 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 70)
Week 2 | EMOM 9: 10 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 90)
Week 3 | EMOM 11: 10 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 110)
Week 4 | EMOM 13: 10 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 130)

Step #5: Build Movement Density [The King]

However, becoming tolerant of the functional volumes needed for each movement isn’t enough for sports performance.  You must be able to do it in as short a time frame as possible.  Think of it as the number of reps per minute you are able to sustain until you’ve reached that functional volume.  This is known as movement density.

Example: 
Week 5 | EMOM 10: 13 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 130)
Week 6 | EMOM 9: 14 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 126)
Week 7 | EMOM 8: 15 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 120)
Week 8 | EMOM 7: 16 Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 112)

Remember, all movement is Energy Systems Training. In fact, this progression could elicit the same general adaptations (e.g. Cardiac Output, Pulmonary Function, etc.) as a workout like Open 20.1 featuring Burpees and Snatches. After all, the whole idea is that improving your movement allows you to express your capacity.

Listen to The King: Movement Density [The Fitness Movement Podcast #001]

Step #6: Build the Movement in Novel MetCons (aka. CrossFit®)

Once you have gone through the necessary steps of refining the movement, discovering how to breathe effectively in it, learning different variants of the movement, becoming tolerant of the volume necessary and building movement density…then and only then…are you ready to express your true capacity in novel mixed work. 

Example: 
CrossFit® Open Workout 14.5
For Time // 21-18-15-12-9-6-3
-Thrusters 95/65lbs (Volume = 84)
-Bar-Facing Burpees (Volume = 84)

Putting It All Together

In order to successfully train for the Sport of Fitness, you must essentially be training all qualities all the time. That being said, some will be in ‘maintenance mode’ as you focus your ‘adaptation currency’ elsewhere.

The goal is for your movement efficiency and density capability in specific movements to stop limiting your performance. You will eventually get to the place where you will be limited by your energy systems (read “engine”) and at that point you will be thankful to have continued to train those qualities as well.

My main point in this article has been to encourage intermediate level athletes to stay focus on their movement and the process of improving it, as they continue to train hard in other avenues as well.

Next Steps

I realize that the training process can easily become overwhelming.  There are dozens of movements to learn, each one with several unique variations.  That’s one of the reasons why I created the Movement Library.  But even once you’ve mastered the individual movements, the number of ways these can be paired in Met-Cons is virtually endless.  

There’s no way around it: Training for CrossFit® is super complicated.

To properly prepare an athlete takes a professional coach.

Now, I may be biased, but I think I fit the bill.  This is what I do: I help show athletes the way.  I help you achieve your potential.  

Interested?  Learn more about my 1-on-1 Remote Coaching Service.