The way forward

As we have worked through the last 12month of lockdowns, it’s now time to look forward. Previously in our Workouts Of the Day (WOD) we had blocks of strength or conditioning biases to improve on weaknesses we observed. The time has come to kick those biases and have a fitness bias only. We want to focus on improving all areas of you equally as we all need improvement in strength, gymnastics and conditioning aka fitness.

We continue to offer training choice through CHALKFIT. We added more depth to the strength sessions with aim to correct imbalances, improve movement quality, and help you gain comfort and confidence in a variety of positions. The conditioning sessions remain mostly as it is.

TRAIN FOR HEALTH

Simple or not? Not…CrossFit provides the world’s best definition of both fitness and health:

• Fitness defined as increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains.

• Health defined as the ability to maintain high fitness across your lifetime.

Let’s break down those definitions for you

Capacity is the ability to do real work, which is measurable using the basic terms of physics (force, distance and time).

The magic is in the movements. Our workouts are based on functional movements. These are the core movements of life, found everywhere, and built naturally into our DNA. They move the largest loads the longest distances so they are ideal for maximizing the amount of work done in the shortest time (intensity).

By employing a constantly-varied approach to training, these functional movements at maximum intensity (relative to the physical and psychological tolerances of the participant), lead to dramatic gains in fitness. Intensity is essential for results and is measurable as work/time. The more work you do in less time, the more intense the effort.

In our humble experience over the last 7 years is that ALL fitness components need to be worked on to create well rounded fitness.

FITTER BODIES 2020 - What does this mean for you?

Our trainings program at CHALKBOX consists of two components. A summary with updates are below.

1. WORKOUT OF THE DAY (WOD)

2. CHALKFIT

WORKOUT OF THE DAY (WOD)

• Constantly varied workouts every day

  There’s a structure behind it to make it truly varied.  We aim to improve fitness EQUALLY across strength, gymnastics and conditioning. The coaches will have an increased focus on skills and drills leading to the WOD. 

• Do less but do better

  We will stay away from the trap many people have fallen into “more is better”. We don’t subscribe to every session having a heavy lifting session before conditioning - that’s typically what CF Games athletes will do. For the general population, that’s us, it is not an effective way to develop your fitness or stay healthy.

• Bodyweight movements are key

  We continue to train the Big Lifts but not at the expense of gymnastics.

• Fun in the workouts

  You clearly told us working out in teams is fun. We agree it is a great way to keep motivation high so expect more.

• NO CLOCK WORKOUTS

  Some workouts will be for Quality, and we coin them as “no clock workout”. Ease up on the pressure. Comparison is the thief of joy.

• Benchmark days 

  Benchmark and other notable workouts will continue to feature through out the program. In addition we will have Sunday Benchmark WOD for those who do want the extra intensity in their life. An update will follow later.

We want you to pour your soul and heart into every single workout all relative to your abilities. The coaches priority is to continue to help you to scale or progress movements, occassionally prescribe load more often give you guidance only. There will be High, Medium and Low intensity days to protect you from injuries. Remember to execute workouts at a relative intensity to you, not at constantly high intensity. If you had a bad night sleep, take it easy. 

CHALKFIT

• Several focus days a week

  Our belief is that training shouldn't constantly beat you down, but rather build you up and make you feel great. The weekly schedule offers you choice on what you want to work on.

• practise functional movements on Skill & Strength Days

Adding a wider variety of strength exercises, aim is to built muscle with lighter load repetitions activating the muscles using a variety of methods. Anyone can benefit from these sessions.

Examples:

Workout 1) As Many Rounds as Possible in 20minutes

5 Single Arm Ring Rows

15 Band Tricep Extensions

10 DB Goblet Good Mornings (21X1)

2 lengths HEAVY Single Arm Farmer’s Carry

Workout 2) As Many Rounds as Possible in 25 minutes

100 meter SA Front Rack KB Carry

7-9 Bulgarian Split Squat on plate

7-9 SA Bent Over Row (20X1)

14 Straight Leg Sit ups

7-9 Half Kneeling Banded Chops / Side

• Threshold Days

These are the days you can challenge your body and push yourself. As the name suggests, it involves training at (or slightly below) your threshold – we’re not talking about a pain threshold or a patience threshold, but specifically your lactate threshold (LT) or anaerobic threshold (AT). The interval based workouts incorporates rowers, bikes, running, light weights and more in a fast-paced and well-coached environment.

• Tempo Training Days

Using tempo training in both strength and conditioning (interval training).

The purpose of slow reps in strength training is to build and grow the muscles and to focus on movement and posture. A great way to get familiar with the movements to prep you for the high intensity workouts we offer in our WOD sessions

The purpose of a tempo (conditioning) workout is to move at a sustained effort to build “speed endurance”—that is, the ability to hold a challenging pace over a longer period of time.

• Partner Days

We will continue to have every Sunday a partner workout where we work together and combine all we do during the week.

We created CHALKFIT to help you to tailor your fitness program to what you need, be it improving your movements and/or your conditioning. The set up is unique to CHALKBOX. Simple movements that anyone can do, but in a format that will challenge even the fittest.

FAQ

What’s the goal of CHALKFIT?

A: The goal of CHALKFIT is to develop build a strong aerobic base as well as building strength in functional movements. Basically, our ChalkFit Class is ‘simpler’ than our regular WOD classes as it will not contain complex movements or heavy weights/barbell movements. Movements will include bodyweight exercises, lots of core, dumbell and kettlebell work and ofcourse, rowing, bike and running! Expect to develop a ‘firing engine’, learn to pace yourself, develop mental toughness and most of all HAVE FUN!

This is a great session to work on your engine and also very suitable for beginners.

What’s the goal of Workout Of the Day (WOD)?

A: The goal is to improve your general fitness. Workouts combine a variety of functional movements - everything from cardio and gymnastics to power lifting and olympic lifting. The movements can be adapted for people at any age and level of fitness. Every day brings something new, so get ready to get after it!

Will I get stronger?

A: Yes. Strength sessions (barbell, kettlebell, dumbbell and body weight) are regularly featured in the WODs and CHALKFIT. The WOD program will start off with Squat cycle, CHALKFIT will have specific Strength days, clearly labelled in the work out descriptions.

To drive strength adaptation there’s a lot of variance on both WODs and CHALKFIT schedule. Different strength methods will be interwoven in the workouts.

I want to get a Pull Up!

A: It is a goal for many of you and accessory work features continuously in Fitter Bodies 2020. Moreover all gymnastics movements are worked on.

How about conditioning?

A: You will sweat whether you go for the daily WOD or CHALKFIT, don’t you worry. There’s a variety of metcon methods in the program across all time domains. Be ready for 10k row or run.

My mobility is poor. Can you help?

A: Most people have mobility issues. As we will do less but do better there’s an increased focused on improving your Range Of Motion.

I am concerned that there’s something I cannot do in a workout.

A: We focus on functional movements and the coaches will provide several alternatives for you. All our workouts are designed to be challenging as that’s the key stimulus to improve your fitness.