July 8, 2025

The Wolf: New Misfit Affiliate Phase - E.360

The Wolf: New Misfit Affiliate Phase - E.360

Strength, endurance, and adaptation converge in Misfit Affiliate's The Wolf Phase, inspired by Herb Brooks' famous quote "the legs feed the wolf." This special edition podcast dives deep into the programming philosophy that prioritizes back squats and running as foundational movements for developing well-rounded fitness. The conversation explores how alternating heavy back squat days with metabolic conditioning creates a powerful stimulus across all energy systems. Drawing on decades of coac...

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Strength, endurance, and adaptation converge in Misfit Affiliate's The Wolf Phase, inspired by Herb Brooks' famous quote "the legs feed the wolf." This special edition podcast dives deep into the programming philosophy that prioritizes back squats and running as foundational movements for developing well-rounded fitness.

The conversation explores how alternating heavy back squat days with metabolic conditioning creates a powerful stimulus across all energy systems. Drawing on decades of coaching experience, the hosts break down the thoughtful programming structure that serves athletes across all skill levels - from beginners learning movement patterns to experienced CrossFitters pushing their limits. The beauty lies in how this approach accommodates everyone within the same class framework while delivering appropriate challenges for each individual.

What makes CrossFit truly effective? The hosts offer a compelling explanation of how workouts simultaneously tax all three energy pathways while incorporating bodybuilding-level rep schemes. This creates what they call "the alchemy and magic of CrossFit" that produces results impossible to achieve through segmented training alone.

For coaches and gym owners, the podcast offers valuable insights into programming philosophy, class structure, and the importance of initiative in translating good programming into exceptional results. The hosts emphasize that while the program works with minimal coaching input, it becomes "wildly effective with really proactive, quality, initiative-taking coaching."

Whether you're a coach looking to better understand programming rationale, an athlete curious about the "why" behind your workouts, or a gym owner considering programming solutions, this episode provides a master class in fitness program design from experienced practitioners who've spent years refining their approach.

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Misfits! We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did and you're feeling generous throw us a review and let us know how we're doing, we'd really appreciate it.

If you'd like to join the Misfit family and get fit head to the link in our Instagram bio to get started today.


Misfit Athletics Programming:
https://strivee.app/marketplace/p/misfit
https://misfitathletics.fitr.training/t/misfitathletics/

Misfit Affiliate Programming:
https://teammisfit.com/subscribe/

Misfit Apparel at sharpentheaxeco.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/misfitathletics
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/misfitathletics

Thanks for clicking like and don’t forget to subscribe!

00:00 - Introduction to Misfit Wolf Phase

03:06 - Life Chat: Birds, Golf & Fitness

15:50 - Wolf Phase: Back Squats & Programming Philosophy

32:30 - The Magic of CrossFit Energy Systems

47:52 - Running Bias & Summer Programming

59:04 - Test-Retest Models & Benchmarking

01:06:35 - Competitor Extra & Engine Programming

WEBVTT

00:00:01.366 --> 00:00:06.628
We're all misfits, all right, you big, big bunch of misfits.

00:00:06.628 --> 00:00:15.490
You're a scrappy little misfit, just like me Biggest bunch of misfits I ever said either.

00:00:18.503 --> 00:00:19.407
Good morning misfits.

00:00:19.407 --> 00:00:24.283
You are tuning into a special edition Misfit Podcast, misfit affiliate phase.

00:00:24.283 --> 00:00:25.969
The Wolf is live now.

00:00:25.969 --> 00:00:38.947
We take the time in this podcast to do a deep dive into what you can expect from the phase itself, why we put certain things in there, some coaching tips, some progressions, things that we think about in relation to this stuff in the affiliate setting.

00:00:39.527 --> 00:00:42.722
I think we do this type of podcast for a handful of reasons.

00:00:42.722 --> 00:00:44.606
First and foremost, it's for our affiliates.

00:00:44.606 --> 00:00:54.881
Not just the people in charge of the programming, but also the coaches and even the members like to listen to these ones and sort of build up the narrative of the phase and what we're trying to accomplish.

00:00:54.881 --> 00:00:59.521
I think you get a little bit more buy-in there when people sort of really understand what's going on.

00:00:59.521 --> 00:01:03.192
It can also be an audition for people that are interested in the program.

00:01:03.192 --> 00:01:14.188
I think one of the things that helps us in this type of setting is when someone comes in and sees that we actually know what we're talking about, we're passionate about what we're talking about, that sort of thing.

00:01:14.188 --> 00:01:24.766
And then coaches right, I mean there's I shouldn't say just coaches, coaches and Larry's Coaches this is good information for you the Larry's that are out there Kool-Aid drinkers.

00:01:24.766 --> 00:01:28.250
I'm not making fun of you, hunter and I are a couple of Kool-Aid drinkers ourselves.

00:01:28.831 --> 00:01:29.731
The Kool-Aid guy.

00:01:29.932 --> 00:01:32.936
But so we basically just talk about the talk about the phase.

00:01:32.936 --> 00:01:40.305
You can head to teammisfitcom, click on sign up now and that will get you a two week free trial at SugarWad, pushpress or StreamFit.

00:01:40.305 --> 00:01:58.031
You can also just let me know Misfit Athletics DMs coach at misfitathleticscom email if you'd like to get a sample before signing up for that, because I know some people prefer to see it kind of all at once right in front of their face and I have the wolf sample kind of ready to go that I've been sending out to certain people that wanted to ask about it.

00:01:58.031 --> 00:02:00.445
A couple of housekeeping items and life chat.

00:02:00.445 --> 00:02:07.364
Before we dig into this Housekeeping more than anything, just an official switch to telegram for our affiliates.

00:02:07.364 --> 00:02:09.509
You guys are going to be receiving an email sent out.

00:02:09.509 --> 00:02:15.358
We'll also post it in the discord, funny enough private groups from discord to telegram, yeah.

00:02:15.538 --> 00:02:17.663
Private groups in discord are a giant pain in the ass.

00:02:17.663 --> 00:02:21.080
They're very simple and straightforward it's just a link and you're in.

00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:24.486
When it comes to telegram, um, so we're going to use that.

00:02:24.486 --> 00:02:36.986
Moving forward, it's also significantly easier to share videos, and so for us to share videos with you guys, if you guys are, you know, working through an issue with an athlete and want to, you know, send something over for me to look at for video review, whatever.

00:02:36.986 --> 00:02:38.311
Just a little bit easier to do.

00:02:38.311 --> 00:02:51.866
So we will have the Misfit Athletics telegram, which any of your coaching staff members, whoever, can talk to people about the affiliate program, and then we will send out the link for the new private group where you guys have that sort of direct access to us.

00:02:51.866 --> 00:02:57.502
Other than that, if you're listening to this and you're wondering where our individual programming is, you can just click on the link and buy on Instagram.

00:02:57.502 --> 00:03:04.332
That will take you to either Strivee or Fitter and to get signed up for any of our programs Life, chat, hunter what's up?

00:03:04.513 --> 00:03:05.814
I think I'm a bird guy now.

00:03:05.814 --> 00:03:09.465
Whoa, a bird guy Out of left field.

00:03:09.465 --> 00:03:12.888
Golf's not working out for me, so I think I'm a bird guy now.

00:03:13.320 --> 00:03:16.540
Okay, you're gonna start baking bread next, or did you already start that I?

00:03:16.561 --> 00:03:18.067
think that one came and went.

00:03:18.067 --> 00:03:20.688
No, yeah, not a whole lot of life chat.

00:03:20.688 --> 00:03:21.784
It was off last week.

00:03:21.784 --> 00:03:26.883
The life chat was off last week.

00:03:26.883 --> 00:03:28.649
But I mean, like the bird guy thing is only like a minor joke.

00:03:28.649 --> 00:03:32.181
But and I'm sure some people listening are like it's fucking noob just just downloaded the merlin bird id app.

00:03:32.181 --> 00:03:33.123
Have you ever heard of that?

00:03:33.463 --> 00:03:43.061
it's a cornell, like the plant one yeah, it's similar that you just record, record audio and it it identifies what birds are chirping in your microphone, sort of thing.

00:03:43.061 --> 00:03:49.513
But I'm like sitting out on my balcony or like on the golf course walking around with my phone, just like trying to identify new birds.

00:03:49.513 --> 00:04:09.805
But my rule is, unless it, like the audio, picks it up multiple times, it doesn't count as a new one, because you'll get like the, a fucking like red beaked long leg widow maker, super rare, some random fucking bird name, and I'm like, oh, that's fucking sick, but it like then it doesn't chirp again.

00:04:09.805 --> 00:04:13.384
Um, so I gotta, I gotta wait for, like the confirmation.

00:04:13.485 --> 00:04:17.521
But um yeah, binoculars might be in the future.

00:04:17.521 --> 00:04:18.903
I don't know, maybe.

00:04:18.903 --> 00:04:21.165
Uh, you're really really getting into it.

00:04:21.165 --> 00:04:32.396
And then my second life chat is you'll enjoy this but you might be done, but I did watch Kyle play hole number one of Riverside North Course today.

00:04:32.396 --> 00:04:33.617
Bless his soul.

00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:40.322
I was wondering what it would be like to go out there and play around.

00:04:40.322 --> 00:04:42.867
I mean, I know he's playing nine, but still play around when you don't really know how to do it.

00:04:42.887 --> 00:04:49.896
Yet that's got to be something nerve-wracking for sure and like, yeah, it was funny, I knew what time is his tea time was.

00:04:49.896 --> 00:04:51.482
He was telling he was talking to me about it.

00:04:51.502 --> 00:05:03.504
He was nervous like that sort of thing, understandably shit I think it just poured for a second over under 60 strokes if he was counting all of them like true to the rules, I'd have to guess it's over with.

00:05:03.725 --> 00:05:09.848
With with all due respect, um, but um, I yeah, it was funny as I was actually driving in.

00:05:09.848 --> 00:05:11.110
I come from.

00:05:11.110 --> 00:05:18.822
It's coming down uh, like the Washington Ab side of Riverside, so I'm like I passed the first tee box and I kind of glanced over.

00:05:18.822 --> 00:05:21.430
It was right around eight 40 when I, like, drove past.

00:05:21.509 --> 00:05:26.725
And I was like wow, that actually looks exactly like Kyle, like literally on the tee box.

00:05:26.725 --> 00:05:30.319
I watched him swing, drove in, got to the gym like 10, 12 minutes later.

00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:34.439
I just kind of like I'm looking out my window onto the fairway and I was like I'm pretty sure that was Kyle.

00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:40.266
And then I there he is, blue polo, just making it, making his way from the fairway to the green.

00:05:40.887 --> 00:05:42.129
Just making his way in the world.

00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:47.475
Making his way in the world all by his lonesome, with three other 800-year-old men at Riverside.

00:05:47.514 --> 00:05:47.915
North Course.

00:05:47.935 --> 00:05:52.449
That's perfect, though that's good, it is the ideal first round out there.

00:05:52.449 --> 00:06:01.588
Well, maybe Kyle quit, maybe he's dead, maybe he had a great time and he's at the driving range now fixing some swings.

00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.406
Also so hot.

00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:11.007
Yeah, this is a tough day one yeah, dew point six thousand yeah, he's walking and carrying that bag too.

00:06:11.689 --> 00:06:13.072
So this is gonna turn into bird chat.

00:06:13.072 --> 00:06:15.262
Um, they're gonna share my screen here.

00:06:15.262 --> 00:06:18.468
Oh, select, choose that.

00:06:18.468 --> 00:06:20.612
Huh, guess I'm just gonna share my screen.

00:06:20.632 --> 00:06:25.732
Then that's not gonna be good well, continue my life chat and just say don't sign up for the wolf phase.

00:06:25.732 --> 00:06:27.305
I'm just not fucking dead.

00:06:27.305 --> 00:06:29.899
Day one, day two, I'm tired, ruined.

00:06:29.899 --> 00:06:31.726
Canceling my subscription can.

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I share this.

00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:33.404
This is good stuff.

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Guys, trust me.

00:06:34.442 --> 00:06:38.891
I guess, I'm gonna have to share my entire screen look at this guy.

00:06:39.963 --> 00:06:40.786
Is that an owl?

00:06:40.786 --> 00:06:43.802
Yeah dude and he let me walk holy fuck, yeah, dude.

00:06:43.822 --> 00:06:44.163
Look at that guy.

00:06:44.163 --> 00:06:44.745
Let me walk right, dude.

00:06:44.745 --> 00:06:45.367
And he let me walk.

00:06:45.367 --> 00:06:45.788
Holy fuck, yeah, dude.

00:06:45.788 --> 00:06:48.197
Look at that guy, let me walk right up.

00:06:48.197 --> 00:06:49.019
He's in our driveway.

00:06:49.019 --> 00:06:51.908
I call him Owly Classic.

00:06:53.461 --> 00:06:56.642
Yeah, whoa, that is both cute and terrifying.

00:06:56.642 --> 00:06:59.165
Oh yeah, very much at the same time.

00:06:59.386 --> 00:07:00.887
Yep, yeah.

00:07:00.887 --> 00:07:10.593
So Carter has a few owl books and is super into it and we were actually outside and I saw him fly across the driveway.

00:07:10.593 --> 00:07:15.120
It's like so distinct, like they're gigantic when they're flying, really.

00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:18.129
So we went and found him in the woods and kind of scared him off.

00:07:18.129 --> 00:07:22.692
And then after I put Carter to bed, I was like shit, he's back.

00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:53.947
And I went out with my like 100 millimeter lens, yeah, and he basically like at a certain point, just kind of like had had enough of me staring at him, but he basically just let me like don't leave, I'll do that just photograph in the podcast yeah he just let me walk up to him and take pictures and anytime, like a car drove by or a stick snapped, he would do the like over 180 degree head turn, which is so creepy oh, he's still like chest facing me facing he's looking in the exact opposite direction but yeah he's?

00:07:53.947 --> 00:07:55.593
Has he hooted yet?

00:07:55.593 --> 00:07:57.478
Or oh yeah, chirped?

00:07:57.620 --> 00:08:03.942
yeah, you see him do that what was crazy, though, is is carter and I scared him back into the woods and the animals.

00:08:03.942 --> 00:08:13.552
There's like a strip of woods between my house and my neighbors, and the animals were not happy Like the amount of chatter from small birds and rodents was through the roof.

00:08:13.552 --> 00:08:16.949
It was like yo, there's a fucking owl here.

00:08:17.531 --> 00:08:17.790
Yeah.

00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:21.427
And then I was driving home the other day I saw a hawk swoop down and kill something.

00:08:21.427 --> 00:08:23.966
And he was just like.

00:08:23.966 --> 00:08:26.223
I wanted to see him fly away with it, but he was killing it.

00:08:26.223 --> 00:08:33.207
He was like stuffing it into the ground and I was just like god, garbage so crazy we were.

00:08:33.568 --> 00:08:52.647
We were walking andrea and I went to willard beach the other night, actually saw evan and rachel and they were like looking at a I don't know if it was a bluebird or a blue jay, it was a blue bird, um and he was kind of like evan was like staring at him and you know, evan evan's in his like tank top and tivas and he looks like he's a bird guy.

00:08:52.647 --> 00:08:53.671
Oh yeah, yeah.

00:08:53.671 --> 00:08:57.500
And he's like looking at the bird and it's like oddly close and I was like what are you looking at, guy?

00:08:58.042 --> 00:08:59.222
uh and he didn't notice that I was.

00:08:59.222 --> 00:09:09.214
I like saw him, but he was like, yeah, like a hawk, just fucking annihilated this bird and the poor, like bluebird is like limping away after the hawk, just fucking.

00:09:10.095 --> 00:09:10.895
Birds are wild man.

00:09:10.936 --> 00:09:13.052
Snagged them, dude, they're fucking crazy.

00:09:13.417 --> 00:09:13.658
I used to.

00:09:14.241 --> 00:09:15.346
You should download that app.

00:09:15.346 --> 00:09:18.788
I bet you get all kinds of cool shit back in your house out there.

00:09:18.788 --> 00:09:21.686
It's called Merlin.

00:09:21.686 --> 00:09:24.207
Let me see exactly what it's called.

00:09:24.846 --> 00:09:28.625
I used to get distracted by the bird id and it's by cornell.

00:09:29.147 --> 00:09:36.030
Okay, you just like sound record and it'll tell you what's chirping out there I used to play men's league baseball.

00:09:36.392 --> 00:09:51.802
There would always be hawks flying over the field and the crows were trying to kill the hawk and it was so crazy to watch really yeah, like three or four of them ganging up on it and the crow getting pissed, and it's like you got to be careful because baseball you can get, you can.

00:09:51.822 --> 00:10:09.815
Your mind can wander a little standing in the outfield, yeah, oh yeah, and cracks a fly ball over your head and you're talking about where that shit's going yeah I was on yeah, I was on none such one day and I was like getting ready to putt and all of a sudden, like a shadow, just like really quickly completely covered me.

00:10:09.815 --> 00:10:12.229
It was like super fast and I was like what the fuck is that?

00:10:12.229 --> 00:10:18.817
And I looked up and it's just a hawk with a fucking massive wingspan just blotted out the sun for a second.

00:10:19.057 --> 00:10:19.860
Yeah, wild.

00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:22.048
I got two minor updates.

00:10:22.048 --> 00:10:24.600
Project Lollipops is still a go.

00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:25.121
I got two minor updates.

00:10:25.121 --> 00:10:25.922
Project Lollipops is still a go.

00:10:25.922 --> 00:10:31.684
I got two sessions of pressing in, but the bench press accessory is not a go.

00:10:31.684 --> 00:10:37.269
Luckily I'm able to do push-ups, so I've swapped those in and then all of my pressing accessory has been fine.

00:10:37.269 --> 00:10:53.538
And the funny thing is Ryan McKay hit a 260-pound two-rep max bench in class to take what I would consider to be the normal person first place of the day.

00:10:53.557 --> 00:10:56.245
Yeah, okay, so I benched 261.

00:10:56.245 --> 00:11:02.609
Right To be an asshole and I think I hurt my shoulder.

00:11:02.609 --> 00:11:05.188
I think I found out how I hurt my shoulder.

00:11:05.188 --> 00:11:08.159
I think I found out how I hurt my shoulder.

00:11:08.660 --> 00:11:10.769
So I kind of deserve that one, I guess.

00:11:10.769 --> 00:11:16.547
But yeah, I'm able to Try to take the lead back from him today and do a three and a half minute one 3K on an Echo bike.

00:11:16.900 --> 00:11:19.726
Yeah, no, that's Honestly Ryan could-.

00:11:19.726 --> 00:11:24.523
Ryan had one of the highest cube test scores on the Ski Erics sitting when he fucked his knee up.

00:11:24.763 --> 00:11:33.653
And like we'll basically just be like I had the worst day ever and have paces on a machine that I could train my whole life and not be able to do so.

00:11:33.653 --> 00:11:37.057
Anyways, I'm pressing again, which is good it doesn't.

00:11:37.057 --> 00:11:48.567
I don't feel as strong, though, which is I don't know if it's related to taking the time off or if it's related to my shoulder something's going on there but I'll try to get a little bit of momentum and get back to it.

00:11:48.567 --> 00:12:01.225
Um and then I uh have a funny anecdote that I told you yesterday I had a big PR on the bike route that I'm sort of repeating a bunch this summer.

00:12:01.225 --> 00:12:04.070
It's like 21, 22 miles.

00:12:04.070 --> 00:12:11.952
I'm fairly hilly, and I don't know if that's like blasphemy to a cyclist, I'm just a random person that notices that there are a lot of hills.

00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:14.326
So you're not a cyclist, you're someone who rides a bike.

00:12:14.326 --> 00:12:14.828
Sometimes.

00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:18.490
Yeah, exactly, I don't like, I'm not like riding, I know I'm not riding up a fucking mountain.

00:12:18.490 --> 00:12:28.014
But one cool thing, though, is my I finally got like an actual but like one of the GPS things that you attach to the front and it tells you the climb and it tells you the grade.

00:12:28.014 --> 00:12:38.073
So it tells you like you're going to start climbing in 250 meters, and then it'll say, like climb, and then it'll tell you like this is the easiest part, this is the hardest part.

00:12:38.073 --> 00:12:41.804
So it goes from like green to yellow to red, which is just nice.

00:12:42.846 --> 00:12:48.744
And then it tells you when you're done how long it took you and like being a numbers guy.

00:12:48.744 --> 00:12:52.511
There's one hill on the way back from cousins island on 88.

00:12:52.511 --> 00:12:54.702
That's bad, it's fucking gnarly.

00:12:54.702 --> 00:13:02.985
It's right by the like 295 exit in falmouth and going up that hill like you can take so it'd be.

00:13:02.985 --> 00:13:05.841
I don't know if you know tuttle road that goes all the way across.

00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:10.390
I'm trying to picture do you come down veranda, or I mean, do you come?

00:13:10.390 --> 00:13:12.422
Do you go down washington?

00:13:12.422 --> 00:13:14.826
Do you turn on to washington and go all the way down?

00:13:14.826 --> 00:13:19.163
No, so I start um I start at martin's point.

00:13:19.445 --> 00:13:28.870
Oh, other side of the bridge, of where you would go to like mackworth island, okay, yeah and I ride down there and then right on to 88, and then 88 takes me to cousins island and I come back.

00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:31.365
Yeah, but that hill is pretty gnarly.

00:13:31.365 --> 00:13:35.077
But it's just cool to be like, like I'm trying to figure.

00:13:35.077 --> 00:13:37.287
I'm still trying to figure out, like what gear I should be in.

00:13:37.287 --> 00:13:39.775
Should I stand like different?

00:13:39.796 --> 00:13:49.746
things like that physical gear on your bicycle exactly yeah, so like yeah like going from like a 240 up that hill to a 211 like, even though it still hurts a lot.

00:13:49.746 --> 00:13:52.332
It's like hell yeah, let's go yeah so.

00:13:52.592 --> 00:13:53.140
So that can be.

00:13:53.140 --> 00:13:54.125
That can be kind of cool.

00:13:54.125 --> 00:14:02.729
But the funny anecdote is the like role reversal of telling mark how I'm doing and like sending him my like gps data, all that.

00:14:02.729 --> 00:14:13.230
And his line was, um, that I have a five minute Fran, but I'm acting like I have a two minute Fran, and that I have no athlete IQ.

00:14:13.230 --> 00:14:17.469
And he said I have the heart rate of a cracked out mouse, which I mean that's.

00:14:17.589 --> 00:14:22.927
That's going to remain true, whether I'm going 15 miles an hour or 18 miles an hour, that's not going to fucking change.

00:14:22.927 --> 00:14:24.470
The funny thing is my.

00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:32.851
So the first time that I did it, my heart rate I averaged a 165 and he said 165 for an hour and 20 minutes.

00:14:32.851 --> 00:14:38.030
Now that's living and the funny thing is that was actually skewed because I bonked.

00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:42.669
Implying that that's like should be higher, or is like that's really high.

00:14:42.669 --> 00:14:44.288
No, you're not supposed to okay.

00:14:44.307 --> 00:14:57.596
Yeah, okay I spent most of that ride, the first ride in zone five, zone eight, yeah, but the funny thing is is the the heart rate was dragged down because I bonked like the last six miles.

00:14:57.596 --> 00:15:01.785
My heart rate wasn't high and I wasn't going fast my body was like to stop.

00:15:02.105 --> 00:15:02.447
What are you?

00:15:02.527 --> 00:15:04.812
doing right now, right, like, just stop it.

00:15:04.812 --> 00:15:15.123
So the second time when I did it I went from probably like an rp9 to like an rp6 and I had a 164 heart rate and he was like what the fuck happened?

00:15:15.123 --> 00:15:19.091
But like I felt very comfortable dude, 160s for me, stop it.

00:15:19.312 --> 00:15:25.202
That's so weird like yeah, that I feel like for me, me also, me as well.

00:15:25.263 --> 00:15:27.804
I'm just going to keep going faster 160 to 170,.

00:15:27.804 --> 00:15:28.585
I can hang out.

00:15:28.846 --> 00:15:32.148
Like if you were registering my heart rate on this workout we just did.

00:15:32.148 --> 00:15:36.590
It was like I rolled off the bike at 185.

00:15:36.590 --> 00:15:38.331
I didn't sprint to the finish.

00:15:38.331 --> 00:15:39.631
We'll say that.

00:15:39.631 --> 00:15:45.176
So I was hanging out up there for a hot minute, but yeah, that's weird.

00:15:45.416 --> 00:15:48.998
All right, we have arrived at the actual point of the podcast.

00:15:48.998 --> 00:15:52.822
The name of this phase is the Wolf.

00:15:52.822 --> 00:16:02.673
It's the famous Herb Brooks quote the legs feed the wolf, and there's something about the way that he described what this meant to the hockey team.

00:16:02.673 --> 00:16:11.107
This is the coach of the Miracle on Ice USA hockey team, and just the way that he what's the line here?

00:16:11.107 --> 00:16:18.111
So it's I can't promise you you'll be the best team at Lake Placid in February, but we will be the best condition that I can promise you.

00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:45.332
And just the idea inside of the gym, in competition whether you're a straight up affiliate athlete three or four times a week, you're a weekend warrior, you're a competitor at a higher level the truth of being able to outwork someone to put yourself where you want to be, versus just this idea of talent and potential and all this other shit, is such a great message that, like this, made so much sense to me.

00:16:45.332 --> 00:16:57.644
So so the legs feed the wolf is the quote that he has, and we're doing heavy back squats in a decent amount of running intervals and it's like if you want your legs to be strong and you want to be harder to kill, or whatever.

00:16:57.644 --> 00:16:59.561
Like if you're doing your back squats and you're doing your running.

00:16:59.561 --> 00:17:01.785
You're going to be doing pretty damn well.

00:17:02.668 --> 00:17:02.928
Yeah.

00:17:04.030 --> 00:17:07.040
And the thing that I wanted to ask you I actually asked you before.

00:17:07.040 --> 00:17:31.528
We don't have a ton of context for this and maybe there's a listener that does, but his drill was red line and back blue line and back far line, back far red line, back in 45 seconds, and I remember them making a very big deal of it in the movie not the footage of them actually skating, but the cinematic movie and I just love that idea of that being your base.

00:17:31.528 --> 00:17:40.461
My base is that I am going to be able to go out there and put my best effort forward because there isn't something else holding me back when it comes to that.

00:17:40.461 --> 00:17:48.473
So it really just felt like an easy kind, like kind of a layup when I saw what the phase was in terms of naming it and I just like a little.

00:17:48.473 --> 00:17:55.182
It's fun to have a little narrative attached to these things, because they're kind of painful, to be honest as you might know from the last couple of days.

00:17:55.583 --> 00:18:01.455
I mean day one, day two, I need another week, I need another rest week, yeah, yeah.

00:18:01.476 --> 00:18:13.249
And I think, like, if you're a, if you're a coach or an owner or whatever you're, you're the middleman of the message between us naming the phase and your affiliate athletes, kind of emphasizing the importance of both.

00:18:13.249 --> 00:19:09.961
Like can, like just general conditioning, conditioning to you know, make somebody as fit and healthy as they can, and like I've always said this I don't know like this is completely empirical, but like anytime my legs feel strong, feel well conditioned, like I am strong and well conditioned, like everything else falls into place and I think from a relink, kind of connecting the dots for your everyday gym go or not, somebody who's done crossfit for a decade, decade and a half, whatever, just emphasizing the importance that, because everything we do is one, either predominantly conditioning or two hip-driven, core to extremity type movement that relies so heavily on leg strength, leg power, leg stamina, just overall fitness of your core and those tree trunks, there's just no way to get in better shape.

00:19:09.961 --> 00:19:13.698
You can't get in the same shape ski-erging and bench-pressing right.

00:19:13.698 --> 00:19:19.856
You can get in phenomenal shape running and back-squatting yeah.

00:19:20.057 --> 00:19:27.855
I think I have a bit of a unique position on this because I've had bouts of You're kind of in that I have a bit of a unique position on this because I've had bouts of like, yeah, yeah, like, like.

00:19:27.875 --> 00:19:28.978
I can tell you right now.

00:19:28.978 --> 00:19:33.853
I used to do Texas method, like once or twice a year I would.

00:19:33.853 --> 00:19:47.878
I was always the one testing our like strength phases and stuff like that early on in the beginning, whether it be Olympic lifting or things like the back squat, and I went from and like on an in an athletic standpoint taking my back squat from.

00:19:47.878 --> 00:19:51.387
You know the the sort of the first jump was 300 pounds to 400 pounds.

00:19:51.387 --> 00:20:15.463
I went from someone who was always of average speed and power as an athlete Like I did well in sports, almost solely because I have a genetic like marker in my shoulder, the way that I can externally rotate like they're, they've like studied people who can whatever throw a football at 50 yards or throw a fastball 80 miles an hour and it's like a mechanical thing in

00:20:15.503 --> 00:20:28.077
their arm and like that was the narrative for why I was decent at sports and like almost no time at all into CrossFit was like I'm actually like a power athlete, Like I never knew that.

00:20:28.077 --> 00:20:54.839
So like like people who who came up with me in in the gym or when I participated in the sport that thought of me as someone who, like could like sprint or lift heavy weights or something like that and didn't necessarily have the endurance, Like I was not aware that that was who I was genetically, as an athlete, whatever, and then hurting my back to the point where now I can't back squat and not like have like pretty bad repercussions from it.

00:20:55.201 --> 00:20:55.422
And I've.

00:20:55.582 --> 00:21:06.194
I've actually read a decent amount about this and there are just some people their spine structure and having that bar loaded in that position, especially if you've got a butt wink, is just a recipe for disaster, basically.

00:21:06.194 --> 00:21:28.161
But I can tell you right now that I've gotten into all of these endurance pursuits and especially on something like a rower, not having that same level of leg drive that I used to I just can't make up for it and I'm sure that there is Part of me has always wanted to like get a planet fitness membership to like leg press once a week.

00:21:28.161 --> 00:21:30.386
You know what I mean to try and get that back.

00:21:30.567 --> 00:21:33.923
You know, hack, squat, leg press, whatever and I'm sure I'll do that at some point.

00:21:33.923 --> 00:21:45.103
I even like, once a month, look at leg press machines on craigslist, nice, but I can tell you right now that the absence of it makes it so much more of a big deal in my head.

00:21:45.103 --> 00:21:53.407
I want everyone to know how powerful of a movement this is and what it can do for you basically in every other place.

00:21:53.555 --> 00:22:02.357
So not to bury the lead here, our heavy days during this eight-week phase on odd weeks are going to be the back squat, and I do want you to pull up, Hunter.

00:22:02.357 --> 00:22:12.506
Just read to the listener one of the sessions, Because I think in a single back squat session we are checking three extremely important boxes.

00:22:12.766 --> 00:22:15.887
Box number one being are you getting enough reps in?

00:22:15.887 --> 00:22:30.988
Yeah, like if I was going to teach an affiliate class back squat session, I would, every once in a while, make people do 50 to 100 air squats as part of a longer warmup, just to be like, don't be afraid of this.

00:22:30.988 --> 00:22:37.636
Letting your body know what you're going to do and getting real greased up and getting that blood flow is going to allow you to lift heavier weights.

00:22:37.636 --> 00:22:39.323
So we check that box.

00:22:39.323 --> 00:22:40.527
This all makes sense here in a second.

00:22:40.527 --> 00:22:47.404
We have a population where we're not going to be able to like hey, are you slow, twitch dominant, fast twitch dominant, somewhere right down the middle?

00:22:47.404 --> 00:22:48.166
How do we check?

00:22:48.166 --> 00:22:51.059
You know one, two or three of those boxes as well.

00:22:51.059 --> 00:22:53.487
So what do we got for for an example for them?

00:22:53.934 --> 00:22:59.488
Um, so, just for yesterday or this was Monday, july 7th week, one day one, the heavy day.

00:22:59.488 --> 00:23:03.044
So we'll talk a little bit about the structure of when you squat.

00:23:03.044 --> 00:23:04.667
Sometimes it'll be in a Metcon.

00:23:04.667 --> 00:23:06.077
Talk a little bit about the structure of when you squat.

00:23:06.077 --> 00:23:07.340
Sometimes it'll be in a Metcon, but the lifting days are.

00:23:07.361 --> 00:23:16.042
So we had nine reps at roughly 50% of your one rep max and then a slow 1K bike as rest in between your sets.

00:23:16.042 --> 00:23:20.496
Seven reps at 60%, so two fewer reps, 10 more percentage points.

00:23:20.496 --> 00:23:30.277
Another slow bike, five reps at 70%, three reps at 80% and then one max rep set, also at 80%, the same weight.

00:23:30.277 --> 00:23:53.386
There's a slow 1K bike in between each set and then there's also like because percentages don't always work out super neatly for your everyday affiliate athlete, the real and the coach's notes kind of indicate this but like, the max rep set is really where you kind of make it, where an athlete makes their money in this phase, but the max rep set, the goal at 80%, is like an eight to 12 rep set.

00:23:53.386 --> 00:23:55.252
Some folks were a little under that.

00:23:55.453 --> 00:24:09.259
I suspect maybe they were using a back squat number that they haven't hit in a while or maybe just because we haven't back squatted consistently or any more consistently than any other lift in the last month or two, like you know, maybe they're a little bit low.

00:24:09.259 --> 00:24:19.967
And then you've got athletes on the other end who maybe don't really have any context for their one rep max and, you know, easily hit 12, maybe 15 on the occasional real odd person out.

00:24:19.967 --> 00:24:28.748
But either way, I mean, like fuck, a set of 20 back squats, a set of eight back squats at a pretty heavy percentage, will, uh will, do the trick for you, but yeah for sure.

00:24:28.768 --> 00:24:32.742
Yeah, and I mean, like you said, I think that it, like it does check the boxes.

00:24:32.742 --> 00:24:50.442
I think the like the there's a there is, it's absolutely necessary to have the occasional, you know, like five by one, seven by one at 90 plus day, right where it's just like there's seven total working reps in this workout and for your more experienced athlete, that makes sense.

00:24:50.442 --> 00:24:52.067
There's a lot to be gained there.

00:24:52.067 --> 00:24:58.858
But for someone who I've got a beginner in the 6.30 PM class yesterday who, like motherfucker, I love him to death.

00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:07.596
He is 8,000 feet tall, his limbs are everywhere and nowhere at once and it's like just back squatting the empty barbell.

00:25:07.596 --> 00:25:17.935
There's so much weird movement going on that it's like I can't I can't, like in good faith, put more weight on the bar because, like, I don't know which direction your limbs are going to go.

00:25:17.935 --> 00:25:29.295
As we approach, like parallel, we try to tow the line between like hey, let's, I want you to squat low, but your back's rounding, so like, let's squat as low as you can without that happening, but then, like limbs are doing some weird shit.

00:25:29.295 --> 00:25:39.880
The point being is, like, for athletes like that, or your newer athletes, or, you know, athletes who don't have who's who's one rep max and their five rep max are effectively the same thing.

00:25:40.275 --> 00:25:48.180
Having like a volume element to the back squat day, I think is really helpful to just get those athletes comfortable with the movement.

00:25:48.180 --> 00:26:00.740
And then for the athletes who are like you know, who've done CrossFit for three, five, 10 years, like nine reps at 50% isn't enough, it's not super difficult, but it's like there's some volume there.

00:26:00.740 --> 00:26:14.606
And then, like you, that adds up for sure and like if you again, if you're that person you kind of know how to grind through a max rep set, like people listening to this know, like if you do a max like almost to failure, we tell athletes to go.

00:26:14.606 --> 00:26:22.715
Like, hey, we're not going to like failure where you just get folded in half by a barbell but it's like well, when the last rep is a little squirrely like we're done.

00:26:22.736 --> 00:26:23.617
do another one of these.

00:26:23.617 --> 00:26:25.260
Yeah, let's not do another one of those.

00:26:25.260 --> 00:26:29.949
But like I was talking to one of those members yesterday and he was like hey, man, what should I do for weight?

00:26:29.949 --> 00:26:32.182
Because I can keep this bar on my back.

00:26:32.182 --> 00:26:41.063
Like I'll stand here for three minutes and keep squatting, but my arms are going to fall asleep, my low back's going to pump out, my heart rate's squatting.

00:26:41.063 --> 00:26:45.185
So we had a conversation about like yeah, let's, let's not get in that situation.

00:26:45.185 --> 00:26:55.613
But the volume kind of really I think this structure works well for a really really wide range of athletes, whereas like the heavy singles that's like that caters to a smaller group.

00:26:55.613 --> 00:26:57.218
Super high volume there's.

00:26:57.218 --> 00:27:00.507
That's not always like great, but I don't know.

00:27:00.527 --> 00:27:29.087
I think this, I think this session will be, these sessions will benefit athletes, especially at this time of year the case in an affiliate setting where we're, you know, really relying on variants and just getting people a great workout and a good one hour class.

00:27:29.087 --> 00:27:34.462
Having just a few of those things to hold on to makes you feel like you're on kind of a specific track.

00:27:34.462 --> 00:27:37.959
So I think I think we'll, we'll be seeing what we saw.

00:27:37.959 --> 00:27:49.501
You know, one thing we should, we should do either at the end of the podcast or on another one, is talk about all of the deadlift PRs, like a gym posting that they got a 65% PR rate after a phase.

00:27:49.882 --> 00:27:50.123
Was that?

00:27:50.163 --> 00:27:50.743
Nicole's gym?

00:27:50.743 --> 00:27:52.748
No, I think that was.

00:27:52.748 --> 00:27:55.461
I'd have to go back and look at the actual percentage number.

00:27:55.461 --> 00:27:56.604
I don't want it to be blasphemy.

00:27:56.604 --> 00:27:59.819
It was very high, but it was Jesse's gym, so switch back cross.

00:27:59.901 --> 00:28:02.386
It was crazy what the number was.

00:28:02.386 --> 00:28:19.784
And again, that's probably something like that and something like this back squat phase is this perfect example of us weaving not just a narrative of something like the wolf but at the idea of the back squat into like it's almost like the CrossFit program is in disguise, you know what I mean?

00:28:19.784 --> 00:28:24.851
Like it's in there and like you're doing couplets and triplets and you're you know the movements rotate and all that.

00:28:24.851 --> 00:28:31.095
And it's in there and like you're doing couplets and triplets and you're you know the movements rotate and all that, and it's truly a GP program but, a lot of people will latch onto that narrative.

00:28:31.395 --> 00:28:34.583
And, oops, I also got extremely fit at the same time.

00:28:34.923 --> 00:28:36.428
And I just think that helps a community.

00:28:36.428 --> 00:28:40.789
And I was just pulling up Nicole Christensen, her gym CrossFit roots.

00:28:40.789 --> 00:28:48.922
They do misfit affiliate programming and I got just like a picture of their whiteboard which, god bless them, there's close to 50 names on there.

00:28:48.922 --> 00:29:00.388
At the time that she sent it and she was like the attachment was 31 prs and it's not even 9, 30 am and so that I got like a follow-up from her.

00:29:00.809 --> 00:29:21.959
It was it's just cool to see and like they've been doing crossfit for a long time, they got a lot of full-time staff and like elite level coaches and it's just cool to see like athletes who have, who are under like the supervision of really high quality coaches, and you pair that with what we think is the best program out there, it's like well and that's what I was going to say is when we think about jesse and his crew and nicole and her crew.

00:29:21.979 --> 00:29:32.826
When you combine about Jesse and his crew and Nicole and her crew, when you combine that staff and that culture with our programming, I think you're really off to the races.

00:29:33.086 --> 00:29:33.268
Yeah.

00:29:33.555 --> 00:29:41.017
And I think some coaches believe that they're taking a step back from their gym by not programming for it.

00:29:41.017 --> 00:29:47.961
But I can tell you right now that there's a reason why I posted the video to Misfit Athletics of all the roots athletes deadlifting.

00:29:47.961 --> 00:29:53.019
I mean it was such a diverse group of people deadlifting.

00:29:53.019 --> 00:29:55.002
You know what was the same.

00:29:55.002 --> 00:29:58.337
There's a lot of weight on every single bar and they looked really fucking good.

00:29:58.337 --> 00:30:15.902
So doubling down on culture and coaching and having somebody else take care of your programming, I think, is a recipe for something really special happening at your gym versus every single piece of the gym and each one of them sort of gets pulled down a little bit.

00:30:15.902 --> 00:30:17.464
Yeah, we have some good examples.

00:30:17.605 --> 00:30:21.625
Yeah, yeah, I mean I won't go too far down that, because I've got thoughts on that.

00:30:21.625 --> 00:30:25.567
I think that, like the way that they do it is correct, right, because I've got thoughts on that.

00:30:25.567 --> 00:30:27.694
I think that, like the way that they do it is correct, right.

00:30:27.694 --> 00:30:34.508
My opinion is, like, if you're not programming for your own like, there should be a really good reason that you're not programming for your own gym.

00:30:34.508 --> 00:31:07.116
And if you are not, there has to be a level of like, ownership and proactivity to take the program that you're purchasing and make sure that, like your coaches are like on point, cause we get a lot of requests for people with like well, like I want a timeline, I want specific skills and drills, I want exact scaling, like I want level one, level two, level three scaling and like there's, on the one hand, there is a level of like yep, that's like, that makes it easier for the members, like I can understand why that's there.

00:31:07.557 --> 00:31:08.961
I I can also.

00:31:08.961 --> 00:31:11.006
I also perceive that personally.

00:31:11.006 --> 00:31:20.319
I perceive that, as a late, it's just straight up laziness not to like not to beat around the bush, and that's might not be the case for everybody, but it's like you're going to buy an affiliate.

00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:22.503
Like how much of this do you want us to do?

00:31:22.503 --> 00:31:24.026
Like, because in a lot of like.

00:31:24.105 --> 00:31:30.005
We get a lot of affiliates where it's like OK, we're like do you want us to come coach this for your classes as well?

00:31:30.005 --> 00:31:35.538
Like, respectfully, where it's like is the coach the whistleblower, like the just the time manager of?

00:31:35.538 --> 00:31:37.644
Just like, yep, here's the flow, here's the timeline.

00:31:37.644 --> 00:31:42.544
All right, athletes, look at it, we're in stage two of the of the class.

00:31:42.544 --> 00:31:43.665
You know that sort of thing.

00:31:43.665 --> 00:31:48.867
That ain't it, um and that's, and there's other reasons that we don't have things like timelines in there.

00:31:48.867 --> 00:31:54.885
But again, talking to nicole, she's like I can't wait for, like we've got benchmark week next week at her gym.

00:31:54.885 --> 00:31:56.596
We, we didn't program that.

00:31:56.596 --> 00:31:57.499
So what, what?

00:31:57.499 --> 00:31:59.785
What I'm hearing is like, and we talked about this.

00:31:59.785 --> 00:32:15.594
So I know that they they do like a semi-annual, like benchmark testing, where they and they actually take the data points of their athletes to make sure that they're like that either, whatever program they were following or are currently following, is like is this objectively working?

00:32:15.634 --> 00:32:24.529
which is what we want and that's the reason we have like the test retest and we put in like classic CrossFit benchmarks here and there is because we want to see those data points.

00:32:24.529 --> 00:32:25.696
But that's the.

00:32:25.696 --> 00:32:27.161
That's like the proactive.

00:32:27.161 --> 00:32:34.144
It's like, ok, yep, we do want somebody else to take to write the program, because I understand that a lot of people don't like it.

00:32:34.144 --> 00:32:39.125
But when you see that once you get receive the programming, it's like, ok, yep, got the gist of it.

00:32:39.125 --> 00:32:44.343
Like we are going to take this and now we're going to like we're going to run with this at our affiliate.

00:32:44.343 --> 00:32:46.867
Not like, where's the timeline?

00:32:46.867 --> 00:32:47.669
Where are the drills?

00:32:47.669 --> 00:32:48.878
Like where, where?

00:32:48.878 --> 00:32:54.500
Like tell me exactly what to do, hold my hand the entire way, otherwise, like I don't want to pay for it.

00:32:54.500 --> 00:32:55.865
It's like that's fine, don't pay for it.

00:32:55.865 --> 00:32:59.243
But in everyone, we need that initiative.

00:33:00.086 --> 00:33:03.788
Yes, the initiative to me is the point that matters the most to me.

00:33:03.788 --> 00:33:12.896
I think everyone is at a different spot in their career and in their journey and if you need help to improve, that's what the private group is for.

00:33:12.896 --> 00:33:19.760
That's what we have articles and videos relating to things like the timeline, and we always talk about scaling.

00:33:19.760 --> 00:33:20.844
We put content out there.

00:33:20.844 --> 00:33:21.486
That's like that.

00:33:21.486 --> 00:33:28.381
So if you're early in your career and you do have a bunch of initiative, that's where I would be like I get it.

00:33:28.381 --> 00:33:31.817
I understand you want help and you should ask for it for sure.

00:33:31.817 --> 00:33:37.259
And that's one thing that separates both our competitive programming and our affiliate programming.

00:33:37.259 --> 00:33:39.750
I will talk with any of you anytime you want to.

00:33:39.750 --> 00:33:42.238
We can go over stuff, we can talk about it.

00:33:42.258 --> 00:33:46.978
This is is a this is a true kind of dream job passion thing for me.

00:33:46.978 --> 00:34:04.862
But if you are on the low skill, low initiative side, there isn't a ton that we can do for you and, honestly, like that's typically where we get the gyms that are program hoppers that you know go from program to program because one member doesn't like that there is an eight strength pieces per week and then the other one doesn't like that.

00:34:04.862 --> 00:34:08.217
There aren't way more conditioning pieces and blah, blah, blah, that sort of thing.

00:34:08.217 --> 00:34:09.338
Okay, back to the wolf.

00:34:09.338 --> 00:34:19.505
So back squat is on the odd weeks in the heavy day in a manner that Hunter described there, and then is in WOD on even weeks.

00:34:19.505 --> 00:34:25.047
I like this when I go in and look at what the workouts are, because it's a unique stimulus.

00:34:25.047 --> 00:34:32.527
You can do more work and have a higher level of adaptation with that barbell on your back.

00:34:32.527 --> 00:34:37.286
In a Metcon there's an insinuation of like do I want to fucking rack this thing again?

00:34:38.096 --> 00:34:48.929
Sure and then unrack it, and then also again just from a structural standpoint, with it being in line with your body, with your structure, your spine, your midline, all of that stuff.

00:34:48.929 --> 00:34:51.155
We can push adaptation.

00:34:51.155 --> 00:34:55.635
When it comes to that, I think you can kind of find something out about yourself within the back squats.

00:34:55.635 --> 00:35:05.266
You might go back to one of those AMRAP sets and be like I think I can push myself a little bit further this week, so it's not the most convenient thing to do year round.

00:35:05.266 --> 00:35:18.740
It's a lot easier to have somebody you know doing a power clean or doing a front squat, because then you can spread way out all over the floor, but for just a few weeks this summer having these workouts in WOD like you guys are going to notice the difference.

00:35:19.101 --> 00:35:31.943
Like you're going to feel your legs are going to hurt more, your midline is going to be taxed, like it's going to be cool to see how those things end up meshing together and creating the type of athlete that we're trying to do with the program.

00:35:32.023 --> 00:35:32.744
Yeah, for sure.

00:35:32.744 --> 00:35:33.326
Yeah.

00:35:33.326 --> 00:35:39.677
And we like just kind of a logistical note, like it is like Drew alluded to, like these, the back squat day.

00:35:39.677 --> 00:36:03.429
Like we don't ask very often for someone to power clean jerk put the barbell on their back for a set of back squats, unless it's like a very reasonable weight, that we're not concerned at all really about safety, so much so we do ask athletes to take a bar out of the rack on a back squat day, but we also are pretty mindful of the logistical requirement of barbell in a back squat rack.

00:36:03.429 --> 00:36:09.764
It's like, well, my squat rack is the same as my pull up bar, so if you do back squats, like I can't do pull-ups and like we get that.

00:36:09.844 --> 00:36:21.856
So we kind of take that shit into consideration and there's partner versions partner versions yeah, there's easy ways to like make that accessible at your gym and then we put in the coach's notes, like if there's a question.

00:36:21.856 --> 00:36:26.858
We're lucky enough to have a pretty good size, space and equipment but we still have to share shit.

00:36:26.858 --> 00:36:46.338
And I'm always like asking kyle or you or me, the programmers, like hey, if, if we might, might even struggle a tiny bit to run this in our gym, like we can't program it, we're not gonna like ask other affiliates to do a fucking timeline and gantt chart to figure out what when people are supposed to start exercising.

00:36:46.418 --> 00:36:49.628
So there's a back squat row workout mid August.

00:36:49.628 --> 00:36:52.619
I think you guys are really going to like it's real special.

00:36:52.739 --> 00:36:53.784
The back squat row.

00:36:53.784 --> 00:36:55.449
Get over workout in mid July.

00:36:55.469 --> 00:37:02.324
Throw that back squat row where which one, august 15th, it's, it's, it's a trick as far as I'm concerned.

00:37:04.489 --> 00:37:07.536
Oh yeah, oh, we haven't even gone over that.

00:37:07.536 --> 00:37:08.398
I'm going to, can't, kyle, I'm canceling that.

00:37:08.398 --> 00:37:09.722
We're going to make it heavier, all right.

00:37:10.344 --> 00:37:10.925
Heavy days.

00:37:10.925 --> 00:37:12.759
We're just going to rotate on the even weeks.

00:37:12.759 --> 00:37:15.023
So we have our list of movements that we know.

00:37:15.023 --> 00:37:22.585
You take this barbell and you make it heavy and your deadlift or your clean or whatever it is, it's going to make you stronger.

00:37:22.585 --> 00:37:28.922
Gpp lifting we have pressing on the even weeks and that's all forms of pressing correct hunters.

00:37:28.922 --> 00:37:39.358
That's your strict press, push, press, push, jerk, kind of the shoulder to overhead myriad, including some strict pressing and then odd weeks.

00:37:39.358 --> 00:37:41.585
That's going to be in the workout itself.

00:37:41.585 --> 00:37:43.027
So same kind of concept here.

00:37:43.027 --> 00:38:03.438
We're rotating through making sure that the progressions that we have throughout the year take us from practicing maybe gymnastics pressing to barbell pressing, different variations where it's quarter extremity or it's just your strict movement, and then making sure that it's actually in workout so we can express those things.

00:38:03.438 --> 00:38:16.527
And I don't know that athlete IQ is the maybe there's a softer term for the affiliate setting, um, but it's definitely one of those movements that's can be really challenging to audit for an affiliate member.

00:38:16.715 --> 00:38:22.135
So having that sorry any and honestly any shoulder to overhead stuff when it becomes in workout.

00:38:22.135 --> 00:38:30.817
Right, it's a very unique stimulus because sometimes it's like a light push press and you just think you're having the best time and then you realize it's sort of like a chest to bar.

00:38:30.817 --> 00:38:35.146
You put it down and your heart rate goes from 130 to 190 somehow.

00:38:35.146 --> 00:38:43.318
When you snap your fingers or you know you've got a workout, um, that's got three rounds of 12 shoulder overhead at one 55.

00:38:43.318 --> 00:38:45.684
I'm skipping that day.

00:38:46.264 --> 00:38:55.623
And you know everything's there, you're ready to go in round one, and then what happens in rounds two and three, like should you have done more than one set, like that kind of thing.

00:38:55.623 --> 00:39:07.050
Yeah, so there's definitely a piece of understanding, like it's unique not in just you having the athlete IQ, but the coach also knowing how and when to scale the movement for you.

00:39:07.050 --> 00:39:17.034
So it's it's honestly one of the reasons why I think it doesn't get programmed in competition that much, because there's a big spread, like scores.

00:39:17.054 --> 00:39:24.097
Yeah, there's also like a standard judging element that goes along with that Like even even this week we've got that.

00:39:24.237 --> 00:39:31.362
I think it got posted on socials Instagram, whatever the that 12, you know, three rounds of deadlift, toe to bar push press.

00:39:31.362 --> 00:39:38.101
And it's like it's one of those movements where, like, like it's such a valuable movement that you don't want it to not get programmed.

00:39:38.101 --> 00:39:45.922
But having also coached at an affiliate for a decade, like I know, like 48 of those push presses are actually going to be push jerks.

00:39:45.922 --> 00:40:04.436
And I'm like you, you really want to like it's like where it's like it's worth taking the time to teach athletes to do those movements correctly and it it also is like I think the push press is probably the best example because of like the combination of core stability, core to extremity movement and then also just like shoulder strength that it requires.

00:40:04.436 --> 00:40:14.394
But like being able to teach athletes how to control their midline, how to like you know what, what full shoulder range of motion actually looks like, and and like what they should be shooting for.

00:40:15.153 --> 00:40:22.570
Uh, I think just like getting people doing more pressing and assuming that you know the coaching is actually like hey, no, no, that's a.

00:40:22.570 --> 00:40:23.693
That's a push jerk.

00:40:23.693 --> 00:40:25.315
Like or hey, no, no, no.

00:40:25.315 --> 00:40:30.795
Like the finished position of the barbell overhead is not seven inches in front of your.

00:40:30.795 --> 00:40:32.438
You know the frontal plane right.

00:40:32.438 --> 00:40:42.594
It's like with your, with your back bent at 45 degrees, like there's a sneaky midline demand, with some of these overhead and pressing kind of movements that we have programmed this phase.

00:40:42.835 --> 00:40:55.826
Moving on to gymnastics, same kind of concept here strict slash, traditional kipping pull-ups in the odd weeks and then in workout in the even weeks, and again I'll throw this out there there are.

00:40:55.826 --> 00:41:01.751
This actually reminds me of something that we've talked about before to the listeners in terms of, like, segmented training.

00:41:01.751 --> 00:41:21.393
So you always get this like grand idea as an athlete or as a coach, that if I lock in on my like monostructural conditioning and my weightlifting and my gymnastics EMOMs we'll call it then I'm going to be amazing at CrossFit, right, because I'm pushing the intensity higher in these things.

00:41:21.393 --> 00:41:30.782
And lo and behold, there is an alchemy and a magic to CrossFit, to couplets and triplets short, medium and long, and we don't even need to know why.

00:41:30.782 --> 00:41:37.831
But it is a fact of fucking life and as a programmer you can get too cute with the way that you do things.

00:41:38.172 --> 00:41:54.641
And something that we've noticed is when we branch out into odd weeks gymnastic strength even weeks in WOD that we end up producing on a long enough time horizon, better athletes at pull-ups, better athletes at pressing, better athletes at back squatting.

00:41:54.641 --> 00:41:56.190
It does work, right.

00:41:56.190 --> 00:41:59.559
You want it to work where even and odd weeks?

00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:18.956
We're doing this back squat progression and we're telling you that we've been programming for affiliates for 16 fucking years and there are certain things that, again, like you're just reminded like I talk about the midwit meme all the time, but it's like like we should probably do this on its own and in a workout is the neanderthal.

00:42:18.956 --> 00:42:26.681
And then the crying guy in the glasses is like no, you need to back squat this much and you better have nine minutes and 12 seconds of rest in between.

00:42:26.681 --> 00:42:32.458
And then the hooded you know sensei on the other side is like we should probably do this outside of metcons.

00:42:32.458 --> 00:42:34.161
And yeah, we should do both.

00:42:34.161 --> 00:42:35.181
It works that's.

00:42:35.483 --> 00:42:35.983
That's funny.

00:42:35.983 --> 00:42:47.293
I actually had a realization, um, as to why what you said works, which was act, which is actually just the answer to like why does crossfit work?

00:42:47.293 --> 00:42:53.773
So listeners like, here's the, here it is the greg glassman reincarnate.

00:42:53.773 --> 00:43:03.260
Uh, no, I did um, I did a high, I did like a this last engine phase there's been one day a week of like high rocks, like a high rock stay in engine.

00:43:03.260 --> 00:43:20.519
I did the workout with three of our members which was a like almost half high rocks, basically like 50 of the distances on most things did the sleds, did the carries, did all that stuff and I was like at the end of it I was like okay, like I understand why it was.

00:43:20.721 --> 00:43:23.313
It was what I thought it wasn't and why people like it.

00:43:23.313 --> 00:43:25.338
It's like it's a long, sweaty workout.

00:43:25.338 --> 00:43:28.134
It's low skill, I can do it like god.

00:43:28.134 --> 00:43:34.514
It's the same reason people like orange theory and f45 and like think crossfit's stupid, like got that, but what?

00:43:34.514 --> 00:43:34.695
I?

00:43:34.695 --> 00:43:37.161
The realization that I had as to why.

00:43:37.161 --> 00:43:39.275
But it sucked and it was like it was.

00:43:39.275 --> 00:43:41.791
It was still shitty and it was still like man.

00:43:41.791 --> 00:43:49.273
I just like I'm a pretty good like endurance, like athlete in CrossFit, like I do well in the 20 minute AMRAPs, right.

00:43:49.273 --> 00:43:56.001
But I in a workout like that, I was like man, I was really gassed and I thought and I figured.

00:43:56.001 --> 00:44:05.632
My assessment is that, like, it also has to do with the fact that there are like 86 movements in the in the thing, right, like one of them has bound to fuck you up one way or another, but the like.

00:44:05.632 --> 00:44:12.929
But what I think actually occurs is that it's such a good, it's a good blend of all three energy systems.

00:44:12.929 --> 00:44:15.313
So it's obviously an endurance event, right.

00:44:15.313 --> 00:44:17.798
So at baseline it is an aerobic event.

00:44:18.119 --> 00:44:21.385
But individual Not when you're pushing that fucking sled Exactly.

00:44:21.449 --> 00:44:22.576
Well, that's what it is right.

00:44:22.576 --> 00:44:42.340
It's like you get when, a lot of times, like when you segment things like that, it's like we're only doing strength, we're only doing cardio, we're only doing gymnastics or whatever, like that's fair, like there is a place for that, for skill development and teaching your brain how to do movements correctly and whatnot.

00:44:42.340 --> 00:44:54.922
And like, even if you were to, you know if, if, if the goal were exclusively improve my one rep max back squat, yeah, there would probably be a lot of back squatting and maybe not as much of it in a workout, but from a full fitness perspective, like an event, like a long duration event, like that.

00:44:54.922 --> 00:45:14.704
It's like, okay, it's predominantly aerobic, but like there are a handful of places that demand a very much like phosphocreatine, atp energy pathway kind of demand, right, it's like I can't push this sled continuously for the 100 meters, like I'm pushing it like 10, 15 seconds at a time before I have to stop.

00:45:14.704 --> 00:45:19.780
And it's like, so you've got the underlying aerobic necessity for, like the entire event.

00:45:19.860 --> 00:45:50.594
But like, okay, now there's a three to four minute ski row, okay, which is like that's pretty anaerobic and in that like middle glycolytic pathway sort of thing, you've got the sled pull, you've got the sled push, even the wall ball for a lot of athletes, which is like a repeated explosive movement, just like those little spikes in kind of the energy system demand that occurs, I think, is what makes a workout like that and you just compare it to any like super long, fucking crossfit workout, long grinder.

00:45:50.594 --> 00:46:00.329
If there's a hero workout or there's like a you know a random heavy barbell where you have to do it only a couple times, but it's like holy fuck, why does that crush me for the rest of my workout.

00:46:00.329 --> 00:46:04.119
That that was my, my realization that that's why a crossfit works.

00:46:04.320 --> 00:46:19.918
It's like I'm gonna train all three of your energy systems at the same time and in random spurts and intervals, and fuck you yeah, and that's your energy system side and the other side, from a muscular standpoint, like it gets overlooked, it almost gets made fun of.

00:46:19.918 --> 00:46:25.878
But there's like bodybuilding level rep schemes that are going on yeah, so you are doing.

00:46:25.878 --> 00:46:37.376
What you're talking about is this like a full-on assault on every energy system, aside from maybe super long and slow and oh, by the way, let's just mix in some bodybuilding.

00:46:37.978 --> 00:46:41.731
Yeah, right, and it's like that's why people look the way that they do Super.

00:46:41.731 --> 00:46:43.476
Yeah, for sure, I think exactly.

00:46:43.998 --> 00:46:44.260
All right.

00:46:44.260 --> 00:46:46.557
So it's summer here.

00:46:46.557 --> 00:46:48.576
It is really fucking summer here.

00:46:48.576 --> 00:46:50.806
I don't know if you part of your life chat.

00:46:50.806 --> 00:46:53.554
Hunter is just what happened to you out in the gym.

00:46:53.554 --> 00:47:00.208
People might have been able to tell towards the beginning of the podcast you're less red now yeah, no, I'm a little, I was moist.

00:47:00.208 --> 00:47:06.119
Like just walking from my car on the pavement 500 feet into the gym door.

00:47:06.358 --> 00:47:27.085
Like something about the like uv index, something about sweat dripping off weird corners of the body fucking gnarly and when it gets, when it gets humid here like we, when we used to have the, the group of games athletes from houston more than once, they came up in the summer and was like how is this worse than texas?

00:47:27.085 --> 00:47:35.134
And I'm like it's just real bad for a real short period of time yeah it's fucking gnarly and people I'm sure people are like how is that possible?

00:47:35.213 --> 00:47:39.226
but the humidity and the dew point is just absolutely nuts like.

00:47:39.226 --> 00:47:43.074
If you wanted to crush that workout, you need to do it at like 5 am.

00:47:43.074 --> 00:47:46.260
Yeah, no maybe even that, to be perfectly honest.

00:47:46.260 --> 00:47:51.565
Yeah, so all that to say that the running bias is still here we're we're out there, we're.

00:47:51.666 --> 00:47:54.400
You know we talked about it and why we named the phase the wolf.

00:47:54.400 --> 00:48:02.222
We would have generally have a running bias compared to everything else, I think year round, and maybe even we do.

00:48:02.222 --> 00:48:06.257
I'm not sure if we would go back and look at what we bias the most.

00:48:06.257 --> 00:48:14.039
I know for a lot of gyms one of the things that we did change is when we have running on Misfit Affiliate.

00:48:14.039 --> 00:48:22.954
Oftentimes it's different here because of the weather, so it'll say like run this much, and then in our gym it's either shuttle runs or echo bike or whatever.

00:48:23.034 --> 00:48:25.981
Yeah, just when it's too cold to reasonably ask people to run.

00:48:26.670 --> 00:48:36.003
It works too well and the barrier to entry is so low that continuing to bias it when we can here makes a lot of sense.

00:48:36.003 --> 00:48:46.032
And I do think that if I was writing a program for you know, bought a gym in Southern California and it's 72 degrees and sunny every single day.

00:48:46.072 --> 00:48:48.778
Y'all motherfuckers better buy running shoes, exactly.

00:48:48.838 --> 00:48:50.811
Yeah, Because it just, it just works.

00:48:50.811 --> 00:49:02.780
So it's not common for us to have we typically are trying to face to face tell a story about the way that we're progressing and there is still a narrative here and it's run faster.

00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:06.282
We definitely buy it.

00:49:06.282 --> 00:49:19.434
You just naturally see it more during, like, the Northern Hemisphere summer months.

00:49:19.434 --> 00:49:35.731
So, like for the handful of affiliates who are not in that part of the world or you know, or maybe you have access to being outside year round, like if, if I had a gym yeah, like you said, southern Cal anywhere where it could run year round, like those motherfuckers would be pounding the pavement at least weekly in some capacity.

00:49:35.731 --> 00:49:36.855
And there's a reason.

00:49:36.855 --> 00:49:50.900
Like everybody, anybody who's an affiliate member here, who's listening to this podcast, knows my, like, my burning disdain for the athlete who like happily, like struts over to the C2 bike for the warmup jog.

00:49:50.900 --> 00:49:56.099
And I'm like, motherfucker, get on your own two feet and move your body.

00:49:56.099 --> 00:50:00.420
That way there's just no replacement for moving your body through space.

00:50:00.420 --> 00:50:04.835
Like you can make the argument that the assault bike is shittier than running or rowing.

00:50:04.835 --> 00:50:14.170
Like I'll say I think rowing shittier than running, but that's just a personal bias, but there is just there's just yeah, no, no doubt, Uh, we can, we can all agree on that.

00:50:14.411 --> 00:50:35.407
But like there's just no replacement for moving your body through space, and like injury, you know, injuries aside, like well, one, if you, if you were like constantly getting injured from running, like that's a larger underlying issue, barring, like some some weird, like legitimate genetic anomaly or just like a high propensity for injury when running.

00:50:35.487 --> 00:50:45.815
But like you're, you're, you're a bipedal human being whose most functional utility is to propel themselves forward, whether it's walking or sprinting.

00:50:45.815 --> 00:51:00.958
Like you just have to be able to do it and it is by far the best way to condition your body and your legs and I would say that that's superior to to cycling, just because it just doesn't do the same thing to your entire body as getting out and running is.

00:51:00.958 --> 00:51:24.679
But we did, we did make adjustments from last year, where I think this phase last year was when we started mixing running more into workouts, whereas the previous phase was like it was a lot of monostructural running, you know, like interval repeats and stuff like that, and from a like in, like I don't know it works, so like I don't care you don't like it, good Don't care.

00:51:24.909 --> 00:51:25.050
But.

00:51:25.050 --> 00:51:47.998
But there is like a salesmanship slash like, hey, we want people to actually be excited to come to the gym and, like you know, if it's five by 400 meter run on its own, or it's five rounds of a 400 meter run, a couple of back squats and then rest and that jumps up attendance 25%, because it's not just a monostructural running day Like I'll meet you in the middle with that.

00:51:47.998 --> 00:51:49.114
So there's much more.

00:51:49.114 --> 00:51:59.237
There's still plenty of like just straight up traditional running intervals, but for the most part, like the running gets mixed in quite a bit into the, into the workouts, and people seem to enjoy that.

00:51:59.237 --> 00:52:06.954
That's a little bit more palatable palatable for people who don't like running versus the like, sorry, five by 800 meters, enjoy.

00:52:06.954 --> 00:52:10.376
Sure, I'll still fucking program it, I don't care.

00:52:11.050 --> 00:52:17.594
Before we talk about some of the extra stuff here, is there anything else about this phase that you kind of want to get across?

00:52:17.614 --> 00:52:18.735
that was the case last week.

00:52:18.735 --> 00:52:22.557
For the rationale for that, for the lifting, is pretty straightforward.

00:52:22.557 --> 00:52:42.704
That's because, like, because I think we do a good job of rotating the traditional like heavy lifts.

00:52:42.704 --> 00:52:59.199
So we have like a list of like heavy lifts where we're going to say, like, if we're going to program this in a like lift only class, like there, there are a couple of lifts where it's just like, I think we could do more with this lift, like at a small metcon, we could do something a little bit different.

00:52:59.239 --> 00:53:06.911
But for like, let's say, a heavy back squat day, a deadlift, a clean and jerk, something like that, we want to just focus on that in the heavy day.

00:53:06.911 --> 00:53:21.132
And because we rotate basically all of those true heavy lifts frequently enough and we make sure that there's like, hey, you're, you're going to do a heavy, you know, build to a heavy triple, or you could, in theory, find a three rep max or a build to a heavy single, whatever.

00:53:21.132 --> 00:53:32.831
Essentially, we'd work those lifts in often enough that I don't need to waste quote, unquote week, one day, one of a new training phase to say find a one rep max back squat.

00:53:32.831 --> 00:53:35.255
I'm going to say like, hey, we're going to jump right into it.

00:53:35.255 --> 00:53:39.346
You're going to use a percentage that hopefully like makes sense to you.

00:53:39.346 --> 00:53:45.110
In week eight you will get the chance to do your one rep max back squat to see if all of that stuff paid off.

00:53:46.813 --> 00:53:47.594
And ham rep is a test.

00:53:47.594 --> 00:53:49.297
It's not like, hey, do two at 80.

00:53:49.838 --> 00:53:50.940
When you could do more.

00:53:50.940 --> 00:53:52.081
You know what I mean, or it's?

00:53:52.342 --> 00:53:53.905
too much and you can't do it.

00:53:54.106 --> 00:53:58.677
Those lifts that are sprinkled in throughout do have a testing type of element to them.

00:53:58.777 --> 00:54:07.175
For sure, but we make sure that there are enough opportunities throughout the entire year where it's like you do have the ability to build to a heavy single.

00:54:07.349 --> 00:54:15.295
And if it's feeling great on this day, like find a PR, like excellent, as opposed to dedicating one very specific day, that's like well, you didn't.

00:54:15.295 --> 00:54:19.561
If you missed the boat this day, like there's always next year, like that's not great.

00:54:19.561 --> 00:54:24.876
So that's easy to like say, hey, we're not going to do a one rep max test at the beginning, we'll just do it at the end.

00:54:24.876 --> 00:55:06.311
But as far as like testing and retesting a very specific, like custom programmed Metcon, like I could make both sides of the argument for it, as I'm sure you could it's just like for the average affiliate goer, the question then becomes like okay, if we're going to test pushing and pulling day per week in order to get better at this very specific gymnastics element, is it worth one?

00:55:06.311 --> 00:55:08.153
How many of those days is every single affiliate athlete actually going to do right?

00:55:08.153 --> 00:55:14.105
So, if it's six of them and you only attend four of them, did you really get the bias or did you just happen to show up on the right day?

00:55:14.105 --> 00:55:17.733
Bias, or did you just happen to show up on the right day?

00:55:17.733 --> 00:55:19.701
And the second one is like, when we program like a custom workout in week one.

00:55:19.701 --> 00:55:23.514
There's always the element of like I just did the workout incorrectly.

00:55:23.514 --> 00:55:26.043
In week eight, I know how to do this workout better.

00:55:26.043 --> 00:55:28.753
It's like retesting an open workout a day and a half later.

00:55:28.753 --> 00:55:30.778
It's like you didn't get fitter in the day and a half.

00:55:30.778 --> 00:55:32.634
You just know how to do the workout better.

00:55:32.994 --> 00:55:46.822
So instead, what we're kind of experimenting with is like we're going to just sprinkle the traditional, a lot of the traditional benchmarks into the programming in such a way that's like so toward the end of the phase, like surprise, run 5k for time.

00:55:46.822 --> 00:55:50.838
Like we've been doing a shitload of running, we want you to get outside, pound the pavement.

00:55:50.838 --> 00:55:52.891
We've tested that before last year.

00:55:52.891 --> 00:55:58.617
Like let's see if you've improved over an entire year's worth of GPP programming.

00:55:58.617 --> 00:56:01.740
Fran is making its appearance at the end of the phase.

00:56:01.740 --> 00:56:05.585
We've done a shitload of pushing, a shitload of pulling, a shitload of squatting.

00:56:05.585 --> 00:56:06.547
Like amazing.

00:56:06.547 --> 00:56:15.905
Fran seems to be a perfect benchmark to kind of test fitness as it relates to like the specific biases that we've kind of focused on this phase.

00:56:15.905 --> 00:56:29.871
So that's not to say that that's like a permanent change, but I think just from a like long-term perspective, it has the I think it could be more beneficial to test and retest in that regard than like week one week eight and we can.

00:56:30.211 --> 00:56:38.760
maybe we could argue about that over a different podcast sometime, but that's kind of what we're experimenting with a little bit, so don't be surprised that there wasn't like a test week.

00:56:38.760 --> 00:56:39.951
Toward the end of the phase.

00:56:39.951 --> 00:56:44.762
There will be tests that relate directly to the things that we've been working on.

00:56:45.311 --> 00:56:46.192
In an affiliate setting.

00:56:46.192 --> 00:57:06.556
Finding a way to test without putting the exact same workout in close proximity to one another is where you get the like emails from the affiliate that are like, oh my God, like they lifted this much weight on this heavy deadlift day, or you know, we had so many people run.

00:57:06.556 --> 00:57:10.471
You know a 5k, you know a minute or two faster per mile, that sort of thing.

00:57:10.851 --> 00:57:12.755
One of the things that happens that we find.

00:57:12.755 --> 00:57:21.402
And again, this is where having ideas as a programmer, but not like having the humility to like shift, is so important.

00:57:21.402 --> 00:57:31.023
We have these workouts that are, you know, 15 to 30 minute beat downs, and when they show back up in the programming too soon, it's like what the fuck are we doing this again?

00:57:31.289 --> 00:57:32.195
I don't want to do this.

00:57:32.195 --> 00:57:34.396
If you're going to have buy-in from your crew.

00:57:34.858 --> 00:57:36.652
It's not going to be the same.

00:57:36.652 --> 00:57:48.092
So we're basically still testing and retesting through different means and we will have things like something that we always used to do at we'll continue to do in phase one, two and three.

00:57:48.092 --> 00:57:58.052
On the competitive program, is that whole week one and week nine thing where the non-tests are just different variations of the same thing.

00:57:58.052 --> 00:58:04.795
Like in settings like this, we can go in and program a similar workout and, as coaches, can be like hey, do you remember?

00:58:04.974 --> 00:58:10.298
blah, blah, blah, and then the athletes are like man I'm running my fids now at like a minute 40, and they used to be 210.

00:58:10.298 --> 00:58:20.505
Like that's the kind of shit that we're looking for in the affiliate setting and I think the timeline of a phase working we've kind of nailed into that seven to nine week range.

00:58:20.505 --> 00:58:26.414
But that test, retest model, especially if it's just really nasty, yeah, it's not really.

00:58:26.414 --> 00:58:30.126
It's not just not something that you should do eight to 10 times a year in an affiliate.

00:58:30.349 --> 00:58:33.860
Yeah, we and we had I'm trying to think we had a couple phases ago.

00:58:33.860 --> 00:58:36.297
It might have been like the end of last year.

00:58:36.297 --> 00:58:55.134
It was that horrendous wall ball burpee box jump over shuttle run workout and I like I distinctly remember like attendance was pretty low on the retest day and it was like even for myself like I went slower, but I was like I really don't want to fucking do this thing again and like you don't read a Tolstoy book twice.

00:58:55.735 --> 00:58:57.137
Yeah, for sure.

00:58:57.137 --> 00:59:06.329
Hopefully it impacts you sufficiently the first time that it just it's ingrained in your in your head.

00:59:06.329 --> 00:59:09.034
But it's like, is the balance between you, know, and the devil on the shoulder says like well, like we're not, we're here for fitness.

00:59:09.034 --> 00:59:10.577
Like we want to show that you got better?

00:59:10.577 --> 00:59:13.300
Like if you don't want to do the workout, that your problem.

00:59:13.300 --> 00:59:16.224
But it's like we could, we could probably meet in the middle somewhere.

00:59:16.224 --> 00:59:20.733
Do this a little bit better, encourage people to get into the gym, like more frequently.

00:59:20.733 --> 00:59:25.711
Versus like ah, fuck, like I have to retest this, there's pressure for me to do better.

00:59:25.711 --> 00:59:27.255
Like I don't feel great.

00:59:27.255 --> 00:59:42.954
It's like let's, let's keep keep fitness the right combination of highly effective, but also like fun and desirable, and I'll say something to the listeners that'll put Hunter on the spot a little bit.

00:59:42.974 --> 01:00:01.653
I've been pushing for a little while to have a few Misfit affiliate benchmarks where we feel like the way that we put a season together this one here, six months apart, something like that, After working on all of these separate things, that's the kind of thing to me where you can have the best of both worlds.

01:00:02.034 --> 01:00:11.552
Similar to 5k runs, Fran, we did do that, yeah, and I think we we definitely can cause we've programmed so many like we have a whole bunch of test workouts.

01:00:11.572 --> 01:00:12.954
We just don't need to do them.

01:00:12.954 --> 01:00:25.259
You know, week one, week eight, but like I think last week we finished up the phase that we did and we retested a strict pull-up, strict handstand push-up thing which was like the benchmark test from last year.

01:00:25.259 --> 01:00:38.856
So, I think, just like for sure, adding, like you know, putting misfit benchmarks kind of alongside your traditional girl workouts, your monostructural tests, your gymnastics tests, like for sure we can sprinkle those in.

01:00:38.856 --> 01:00:40.876
Got a couple of gems to bring back.

01:00:41.110 --> 01:00:50.371
I've got a question for the listeners and maybe we'll hear back on social or again you can email me in the Telegram group we have.

01:00:50.371 --> 01:01:03.130
This makes me happy because I'm the one that's writing it, but we have a pretty consistent group of people at our gym doing the competitor extra and I think my opinion on it's changed a little bit.

01:01:03.130 --> 01:01:11.918
Again, we talked about one of the reasons why I write the competitor extra to sort of be like how could someone take class and then go win the local throwdown?

01:01:11.918 --> 01:01:16.117
That's kind of the idea or do better in the open, sort of jump up a little bit.

01:01:16.117 --> 01:01:18.630
That's how I'm writing it, that's the way that I'm thinking about it.

01:01:18.971 --> 01:01:23.242
And again, that can be a retention tool for the gyms that have the open gym culture.

01:01:23.422 --> 01:01:31.213
You know that have there's 12 people in there and they follow 12 different online programs and they're not really part of the community and then they leave because that's not that fun.

01:01:31.213 --> 01:01:34.516
Yeah, so trying to move away from that.

01:01:34.516 --> 01:01:41.362
And it's working in a way here because there's like these little pods and groups of people that are doing these things together.

01:01:41.362 --> 01:01:47.867
They're still here like you know, that person that likes to crush the open that's kind of doing it on their own when they can.

01:01:47.867 --> 01:02:06.523
But we've got a decent amount of people doing it here and that informs the way that I write some of the things, and I think I'm cool with as many people that are doing it here, compared to how I would have felt about it had you told me that was going to end up being the case, and I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are on it.

01:02:06.523 --> 01:02:07.956
And then, obviously, the listeners.

01:02:07.956 --> 01:02:15.757
If you guys have any groups doing the competitor extra, it seems to be helpful and it seems to be not too much work.

01:02:15.958 --> 01:02:26.797
Yeah, I would say I think the number, I think we I will definitely say that there are more people doing the competitor extra now than there were before, and I have pretty good ideas why.

01:02:26.797 --> 01:02:32.148
I think a lot of it had to do with the programming, because of how we like class hatch.

01:02:32.148 --> 01:02:33.842
It was literally just hatchet class.

01:02:33.842 --> 01:02:38.958
We previously had an hour and a half class where we ran the competitor extra in it.

01:02:38.958 --> 01:02:52.235
So, as a programmer like I have to, we have to consider, like the logistics of a 90 minute class, of the people who were taking that class and often, so often, like those people were just like this is just a convenient time of day, I don't need to do the extra work.

01:02:52.235 --> 01:03:01.085
Like right, the order of the pieces was based on what the coach wanted to do that day, which is, I think, correct, but it just didn't work super well.

01:03:01.085 --> 01:03:06.483
And now there's a lot more people doing the competitor extra, which is great and which is fine.

01:03:06.804 --> 01:03:10.556
I don't think I have anything negative or constructive to say.

01:03:10.556 --> 01:03:14.630
I would say that the constructive element goes to the athletes doing it.

01:03:14.630 --> 01:03:22.916
In the document that you receive when you sign up for the programming, like, there is a front page that says like who's the competitor extra for?

01:03:22.916 --> 01:03:29.356
And then there's like a note on what it means to do the competitor extra and like as a coach.

01:03:29.356 --> 01:03:31.945
That's where you're having the conversation with an athlete.

01:03:31.945 --> 01:03:34.737
It's like do you like, why are you doing this?

01:03:34.737 --> 01:03:42.983
And like, and if the athlete can actually like, articulate why they're doing power cleans when, like, they can't put their arms straight over their head?

01:03:42.983 --> 01:03:51.789
And it's like, why aren't you working on mobility or something like that, like I can get behind an athlete who has a justifiable like reason or like wants.

01:03:51.789 --> 01:03:57.835
You know, even if it is just like I just want to get, I want to get stronger, those are justifiable reasons.

01:03:57.835 --> 01:04:01.885
It's just it should provide the coach with an avenue to talk to that athlete about.

01:04:01.885 --> 01:04:04.039
Like where are your eggs going?

01:04:04.039 --> 01:04:11.255
As far as like your time and effort and energy in order to meet the end that you're claiming right Cause it's like.

01:04:11.376 --> 01:04:14.362
If it's just like, well, I just want to get, I want to get stronger and like.

01:04:14.362 --> 01:04:15.123
So you're doing these.

01:04:15.123 --> 01:04:16.144
So you're doing squat.

01:04:16.144 --> 01:04:17.688
You know you're doing the front squat.

01:04:17.688 --> 01:04:19.478
Competitor extra, you want to get stronger.

01:04:19.478 --> 01:04:22.264
It's like your front rack mobility is horrendous.

01:04:22.264 --> 01:04:24.217
Like you don't squat below parallel.

01:04:24.217 --> 01:04:25.320
Like are we just?

01:04:25.320 --> 01:04:40.509
We're now just putting volume into your body, which now requires more recovery, more nutrition, more sleep, all that sort of stuff, and like, over a long enough period of time, of doing additional volume like moderately well to to like poorly.

01:04:40.509 --> 01:04:42.610
It's like it's just a really short term.

01:04:42.610 --> 01:04:46.224
It's like I find a lot of people are just like addicted to exercise.

01:04:46.224 --> 01:04:49.597
They just want to be doing something and like I get it Like I have.

01:04:49.938 --> 01:04:52.260
like that's, that's golf for me currently.

01:04:52.260 --> 01:04:55.925
You know I like that's, I want to get better at it it, so I'm willing to do the things.

01:04:55.965 --> 01:04:57.047
I'm a big bird guy now.

01:04:57.047 --> 01:05:03.226
So like you don't want to discourage athletes from training and doing more and say like no, like get the fuck out of the gym.

01:05:03.226 --> 01:05:06.498
Like I don't want you here, like you don't need to be here, like just do the one hour class.

01:05:06.498 --> 01:05:07.422
Like I get it.

01:05:07.422 --> 01:05:16.789
You just need, as an athlete, like make sure you're actually thinking about what the things are that you want to improve upon and like are are actually dedicated.

01:05:16.789 --> 01:05:25.603
You know, if you are doing extra work, with the extra work comes extra mobility, extra nutrition, extra soft tissue work, extra recovery, all that stuff.

01:05:25.603 --> 01:05:39.840
And for the everyday person, like and as somebody who's done CrossFit for about 15 years, like I get at if I get after the class workout like really hard, like I do not have it in me to like 15 minutes after the conclusion of class.

01:05:39.981 --> 01:05:40.702
Have a class.

01:05:40.702 --> 01:05:47.242
It's like yeah, like I'm just, like I can't jerk so 75 pounds, like, yeah, I can't I can't do this.

01:05:47.463 --> 01:05:56.668
And so I'm like in my head I'm like, if I can't do this, like well, like how the fuck are you like feeling good enough to be power cleaning 80 percent right now?

01:05:56.668 --> 01:06:02.394
And so it's like just make sure that we're dedicating the appropriate intensity toward the class workout.

01:06:02.394 --> 01:06:12.885
That is like the primary kind of program, and there are plenty of days where it's like yep, like I've got the juice, I'm feeling good, I want to get after this extra, like awesome, I want you to do that.

01:06:12.885 --> 01:06:19.597
Just don't confuse doing extra work with automatic improvements in fitness.

01:06:19.597 --> 01:06:25.818
There has to be a reason for it, there has to be a focal point and you have to have the commensurate recovery.

01:06:25.818 --> 01:06:27.523
So I think it's been going great.

01:06:27.523 --> 01:06:34.115
A lot of athletes at the gym, like you said, are doing it way more than there were before and people seem to really be liking it.

01:06:34.115 --> 01:06:37.746
People doing it between classes, open gym, all that sort of stuff.

01:06:40.715 --> 01:06:48.266
The two variations of it that make me happy are one someone who has the class with a snatch or a handstand pushup or something like that, and they're like damn it.

01:06:48.394 --> 01:06:49.961
Like I really want to get better at this.

01:06:49.961 --> 01:06:58.425
And then you see them out there cherry picking, like this is probably appropriate for me to practice some variation of it.

01:06:58.425 --> 01:07:04.739
So that's one that I really like to see, because that's just an extra level of buy-in from an athlete and from like a mental standpoint.

01:07:04.739 --> 01:07:06.242
You love to see that as a coach.

01:07:06.242 --> 01:07:15.577
The other is some of our fitter athletes on a lift only day just doing some dirty conditioning afterwards and that's always going to make me smart.

01:07:15.597 --> 01:07:25.045
I can get real behind people pulling machines out in the sun and getting after some conditioning 2K ski with rope, climbs on the EMOM and shit like that.

01:07:25.114 --> 01:07:28.115
Like when I get a DM or whatever, someone stops me and they're like.

01:07:28.115 --> 01:07:29.260
I did this one the other day.

01:07:29.260 --> 01:07:40.097
I'm like I love that that's not like cherry picking, like GHD sit-up workouts and then going at negative eight watts on the C2 bike, like that kind of thing.

01:07:40.097 --> 01:07:43.635
So yeah, we've got a competitor extra daily within the programming.

01:07:43.635 --> 01:07:48.190
And then the least talked about the ratio of effectiveness.

01:07:48.190 --> 01:07:51.440
To least talked about benefit is the engine program.

01:07:51.722 --> 01:08:16.716
The athletes at our gym that have been part of the engine crew for a while, that take Chris's Sunday engine class, that sprinkle in some of those extra days that we provide for everybody in the programming are really annoying to take class with, because when everyone crushes the toes to bar and the lunges and then you go out to run or row or bike and they fly past you and they look happier than you you're like fuck off engine people, or at least that's what I think.

01:08:17.337 --> 01:08:20.704
Yeah, no, this phase, last phase, was great.

01:08:20.704 --> 01:08:23.739
We got good feedback on the like the high rocks day.

01:08:23.739 --> 01:08:32.948
There was a high rocks day each week, but each day there's a three day, basically three days a week, and then chris kind of has a focal point on predominantly day one and day two.

01:08:32.948 --> 01:08:42.243
The third day of the week is kind of your what the crossfit light maybe is the way to put it like exactly what you think of when you think engine.

01:08:42.243 --> 01:08:45.698
So like there's still weights, dumbbells, kettlebells, that sort of thing.

01:08:45.698 --> 01:08:58.600
Um, not typically many barbells, not really any gymnastics movement, maybe a burpee pull-up, that sort of thing, but it's the uh kind of usual mix of longer duration low skill movement workouts.

01:08:58.600 --> 01:09:02.173
But like fuck that, there was one last fate I I gotta read.

01:09:02.173 --> 01:09:03.841
I don't even know if you saw this one.

01:09:04.101 --> 01:09:13.685
At any point, I'm gonna find you this one because this was I laughed out loud when I saw when I was like auditing this workout, this was justifiably very excited.

01:09:13.685 --> 01:09:22.057
Four time 100 wall balls, 30 slash 20 pounds, a 400 meter run, 100 burpees, 400 meter run and I just laughed.

01:09:22.057 --> 01:09:29.243
I was just LOL'd at like a 400 meter run between those two fucking movements.

01:09:29.243 --> 01:09:32.685
But it's an excellent program.

01:09:32.685 --> 01:09:33.923
The summer the day.

01:09:33.923 --> 01:09:39.037
One kind of focus is on unilateral strength, so single leg strength and endurance.

01:09:39.037 --> 01:09:54.143
He's got a bunch of split squats with machine stuff like rdl single leg, a whole shitload of single leg work which I think is like an outstanding complement to the squatting work yeah if kind of like for sure separated enough in the weekly program.

01:09:54.162 --> 01:10:04.997
The day two is like very much long, slow, monostructural work and like on you know when it's it can be difficult to program that in your like full affiliate program.

01:10:04.997 --> 01:10:07.844
As valuable as a K run or row is like.

01:10:07.844 --> 01:10:11.819
Doing that in a one hour class can be tricky, so having kind of a dedicated-.

01:10:11.921 --> 01:10:14.336
You're asking me to pay 200 bucks a month to leave the gym.

01:10:15.179 --> 01:10:16.984
Yeah, yes, that's fantastic.

01:10:16.984 --> 01:10:26.795
And then, like I said, the day three stuff is the kind of like lower skill, just like grunt work CrossFit workouts, a la wall, ball run, burpee.

01:10:27.095 --> 01:10:35.262
And I think I don't know how many gyms out there program that day as a class on Sunday, but it's definitely a favorite of our members here.

01:10:35.262 --> 01:10:38.199
We yeah, we get a favorite of our members here, so that'd be definitely a suggestion.

01:10:38.260 --> 01:10:41.867
We've talked about that gyms who want seven days a week programming.

01:10:42.148 --> 01:10:50.056
You get the engine program for free with the affiliate program, whether it's in a PDF format or in a programming partner.

01:10:50.056 --> 01:10:56.436
It's there and, like you just alluded to, our Sunday engine class is always just bumping.

01:10:56.436 --> 01:11:00.302
Chris does an awesome job with it, but like people fucking love that shit.

01:11:00.302 --> 01:11:04.274
So that could be an excellent like Sunday class for your gym.

01:11:04.274 --> 01:11:12.524
Or maybe you cherry pick an engine workout or something like that and plug that into the day that your gym, you know, doesn't have programming for, so for sure.

01:11:13.015 --> 01:11:15.363
Anything to end the podcast.

01:11:15.363 --> 01:11:23.162
I mean I'm looking through this and I just see squats and running and pressing and pulling and that sounds like CrossFit to me.

01:11:23.162 --> 01:11:43.898
And I know through watching our athletes here at the Affiliate and hearing from the gyms that we know that do a really good job of coaching it out there, that our programming continues to get better over time and one of the reasons is because we program, I believe, as a group.

01:11:43.898 --> 01:11:54.854
So if you do want to go off the reservation and not provide a test workout in week one got to talk through why that's the case and how we're going to kind of keep an eye on it.

01:11:55.136 --> 01:12:09.498
And if you're going to trust someone with your affiliate programming specifically, we've got to combine some ungodly number of 40 plus years of sort of programming and coaching in the affiliate setting and owning affiliates and all that stuff.

01:12:09.498 --> 01:12:20.684
So I think we're definitely up for the job and if you can execute out on the floor, your member is going to be really happy over a long timeline of how fit and strong they get.

01:12:21.034 --> 01:12:24.774
The program is pretty effective with terrible coaching.

01:12:24.774 --> 01:12:31.889
The program is wildly effective with really proactive, quality, initiative taking type coaching.

01:12:46.884 --> 01:12:53.127
So and that's where kind of our responsibility ends and yours begins in my mind Instagram, wherever you want.

01:12:53.127 --> 01:12:56.711
But there's also just like hey, guys, it'd be really cool to see how do you teach this?

01:12:56.711 --> 01:12:59.112
That sort of thing, because that's easy for us to do.

01:12:59.112 --> 01:13:09.364
We're not always like we've made so many damn videos over the years that we're not totally in tune with, like hey, have you guys gone back and looked at this or have you seen this prop, etc.

01:13:09.364 --> 01:13:12.820
Suggestions like that are super helpful for us and easy for us to make.

01:13:12.820 --> 01:13:15.284
For sure we do it.

01:13:15.284 --> 01:13:18.216
Thank you for tuning into another episode of the Misfit Podcast.

01:13:18.216 --> 01:13:20.421
The Wolf is live now.

01:13:20.421 --> 01:13:21.623
Teammisfitcom.

01:13:21.623 --> 01:13:27.505
Click on sign up now and you can get a two-week free trial at StreamFit, pushpress or SugarWad.

01:13:27.505 --> 01:13:47.509
If you would like a free sample, shoot me an email coach at MisfitAthleticscom, our individual program and click the link in bio to head to Strivee or Fitter to get signed up.

01:13:47.509 --> 01:13:49.291
We'll see you next week Later.