De-load week

1. 2 pulls + 1 clean: 65% x 3 x 2, or 80% of last week's best
2. Clean pull: 80% x 5 x 2
3. Front squat: 65% x 5 x 2

Watch out for this girl; now that she's a regular in oly she'll be a FORCE!

Yup, it's that time again: de-load week. The time to back off and let our bodies recover from the accumulated fatigue and rebuild stronger than ever. To some of you, this may seem like a waste, spending valuable training time playing with weights around 65%. I'll admit, I used to be skeptical myself. I thought, hey, I'm fit, I can keep pushing! Let me tell you though, de-load week is one of the most important  elements of our training program, and its value is not to be underestimated. I've experienced the negative effects of not appreciating the value of backing off first hand. The results are actually DECREASED performance, and failing to hit PRs when it counts the most. Nobody wants that.

This week will be much lighter on both intensity (loading) and volume (sets/reps). I will caution though that just because it is lighter certainly does not mean that it will be easy! If you've been training HARD and have been consistent for the past two weeks, you're likely in a state of fatigue that will make 65% actually feel quite heavy! That's okay, the lighter week this week will let us come back next week and ramp up the intensity to beyond what we did last week. Next week is our "performance week", and we want to be ready for it!

The lighter weights this week are a perfect opportunity to really hone in on the technique, too. There are much less reps this week, but it's crucial that we make every one of them count! We should be striving for perfection! Erin Okonek (bad-ass weightlifter) said at my CrossFit weightlifting course that you've mastered the sport of weightlifting when your reps with a stick look identical to your PR attempts. Let's try to get a little closer to that level of virtuosity this week.

In terms of your "other" training (CrossFit, etc.), this would be a great week to take things just a little "easier". Maybe scale the weight back, maybe less reps, maybe one or two less workouts, etc. I'm certainly not saying stop everything for this week, but maybe just take it a little easier this week and give yourself a chance to recover and come back even stronger next week. Just because we are taking it easier in weightlifting this week does not mean you should use that extra energy to go even harder in CrossFit this week. Also, if you have been following our weightlifting programming religiously, I again highly recommend you take it easy with the squat loading in CrossFit class, especially this week. I'd suggest backing the squats off to 65% in CrossFit, and NOT doing a max rep set. You can still squat, just make it light and use your extra energy for recovery this week. You'll come back stronger and ready to attack both your lifts and your CrossFit harder than ever next week!