What are the Advanced WODs?

The Advanced WODs are an extension of the main CrossFit Genesis programming. They were created for our very best athletes, primarily for those who participate in CrossFit competitions outside of CrossFit Genesis, i.e. the CrossFit Games and related qualifiers. It may also be beneficial for athletes who wish to have an extra emphasis on strength in their training program.

Please consider carefully before opting to follow this program and READ THIS ENTIRE POST.

Should You Do the Advanced WODs?

These workouts are designed for experienced athletes who have already followed our main program (or something similar) for at least a year (usually more). If you can’t complete 90% of our main programming as prescribed, focus instead on that program.

More is not better. Workouts make you less fit. Recovery is where you get better.

That means you must make the right decisions about how much to workout.  If you do too much in your workouts, you will not recover enough. If you don’t recover enough, you won’t improve as quickly as you could. In fact, you may get worse.

Our main workouts are already demanding of our athletes, even by CrossFit standards. Some people will make more progress with less, depending on their experience with this kind of training.  The Advanced WODs are another step up from this — it may take years before an athlete is experienced enough to benefit from them.

Following any CrossFit program requires dedication to not only the workouts themselves, but to the recovery that must happen between them.  This means everything you do outside of the gym: nutrition, mobility, sleep, stress, etc. If you have not yet dedicated yourself to these things on a long-term basis, this should be your top priority.  You will find better results by taking care of these things and following our main programming before trying the Advanced WODs.

Consider the above when deciding whether the Advanced WODs are right for you. If you’re still unsure, ask a coach.

How to do the Advanced WODs

While the Advanced WODs are extensions of our regular daily WODs, there will often be extra work that you won’t be able to complete during class. The WODs will be somewhat compatible. On most days, you’ll be able to do the extra work before class and perform the majority of the WOD during regular classes. However, the Advanced WOD may occasionally be something that is completely different. Bottom line, you’ll need a way to do some work outside of class — either an unlimited CrossFit Genesis membership (which also gives you unlimited gym access) or access to olympic lifting equipment elsewhere.

If there’s absolutely, positively no way you’ll have time for the entire Advanced WOD one day, do the parts posted on the main blog. Those parts are always the priority.

The Advanced WOD program will be scheduled around five workout days per week: Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri and Sat.

If you follow this program, follow it as closely as you can. DON’T try to outsmart the program. If the schedule says rest, then rest. If the WOD calls for a specific weight, don’t go heavier. If it says to do a particular WOD, don’t do something else. There are only two exceptions to this rule:

• If you need to workout on a Thursday or Sunday to get your five days in, simply use that day to make-up the workout you missed earlier in the week. For now, we don’t want you to shift the schedule to keep things in order.
• If you start to feel really run down, tired or weak, consider taking an extra rest day. At certain points in this program, we WILL beat you up (we’ll also ease off at certain points.) HOWEVER, this is a very high volume program that can lead to overtraining. Listen to your body.

Record your workout results in comments. This makes it a group experience, which helps everyone push themselves harder and makes it a lot more fun. Almost as importantly, it gives us a way to monitor your progress and measure the effectiveness of the program.

If you can’t do the entire Advanced WOD on a particular day, prioritize the portions that are in the main WOD.  For example, if the Advanced WOD has back squats and front squats, while the main WOD has only back squats, perform the back squats.

Nomenclature

If you see numbers and letters next to movements (i.e. 2a, 2b) that means the movements should be alternated.  For example:

2a. Front Squat: 1X5 @ 60%, 3X5 @ 70%, rest 60 seconds

2b. Handstand pushup: 4×8, rest 45 seconds

This means perform 1 set of 5 fronts squats at 60% of your 1-rep max front squat, rest 60 seconds, then perform 8 handstand pushups, rest 45 seconds, then perform a set of 5 front squats at 70%, rest, perform handstand pushups, etc.