2 years of programming right there. That’s probably around 700+ workouts. All old school pen and paper (I think that’s the most efficient way to do it). An infinite amount of work hours, seriously can’t put a number to it. No wonder why most boxes out there outsource their programming, it take an absolute passion for it and to be honest, it’s really really challenging some times, but that’s what I like to do. I don’t think we’ll ever outsource, as the head coach and owner, watching you doing the workouts everyday gives me an insider view of all our weaknesses, what you like, what you don’t like, what we’re too good at, also combine with the results on the board daily, this is something that outsourcing will never get. They just can’t. Also, as the head coach, I’m doing everything that you’re doing, sometimes after a few days, I have to adapt the programming to ease off on some muscle groups or joints, change the loads or tweak a movement or 2 for example. I consider myself somewhat of a competitive athlete, this programming almost got me to regionals, at 35yrs old, 3 kids and being a firefighter at the busiest fire station in Calgary. Add major lack of sleep in there. Im not better than anyone, Im just consistant and that’s what I like to do. To me, if a head coach or a box owner doesn’t do what he/her programs for the classes, it’s a major red flag. We all have different goals but programming done right should tackle everything any athletes need.
With our programming, imagine what younger athletes with no kids, all the time in world and lots of rest could achieve? They recover faster, get stronger faster, the body adapts faster. What does it means for non competitive athletes? Well, it means that you get the best well rounded fitness programming out there. I truly believe that. The needs of olympic or competitive athletes to grand parents differs by degree not kind. Meaning that we all need to do squats, deadlifts, do pull ups, sit ups, develop our core, increase our cardio pulmonary capacity and everything in between. Not all programming are created equals. You can clearly see it when going to competitions. A lot of athletes have been subject to programming biases. Too much strength, where the overall shear strength is way too much in relation to everything else. It could be a bias towards any other fitness components as well. We all have strength and weaknesses but when a high level athlete trains full time, these biases really come out.
Towards the end of 2017, the programming got crammed with a lot of things, almost too much. For 2018, we’ll go back to a more simpler programming. Putting strength and metcons together all the time is not the best way to do things. We need more time to work on skills, skills that we cannot effectively work on during a time restriction. We also need to isolate good metcons on their own and not getting tired prior with a strength component. Same applies for strength, we need to put it on its own more often. This will improve intensity on all front and get us more results. This does not mean that it will be easier, it’s actually the opposite. It will be more effective.
We have so many things coming for 2018. At Pyro alone, the Open in February, the festivus games in April, Pyromania III in July, Pyro Olympic Lifting meet in August, the team series in September, the 2018 battle royale in October, the rogue liftoff in December. This is packed with awesome events all year, where you get to test your limits, where you get to have fun with our community. The beauty is that all our programming is built around all this. Exciting times!!!
Starting a new year, we have lots of new members, I felt it was appropriate to post something on the programming and some of the philosophy behind it. Hope you read that far.
“The magic is in the movement, the art is in the programming, the science is in the explanation, and the fun is in the community.”
Greg Glassman
