Training block overview - Foundations - WK13-18/2025

The Foundations stream allows you to bias your training in the direction of your choice with Saturday's optional sessions. You can focus on building your engine, getting stronger or even preparing for the 2025 CrossFit Games Semi-finals. For best results, it’s good to choose one focus on the optional sessions and stick with it for a full training block.

Weightlifting bias - Follow optional WL sessions

Strength bias - Follow optional STR sessions

Conditioning bias - You can mix different optional conditioning sessions from week to week OR focus on a single session style

Competition/Sport bias (Semi-finals bias) - Follow optional competition workout sessions

If you qualified to compete in the Semi-finals AND have the time, now is an excellent time of the year to push yourself: You could do two sessions on Saturdays (aim for 3+ hours of rest between sessions in this case) OR do an additional optional session on Wednesdays. Just pay careful attention to your recovery for each session and training quality (you don’t want to sacrifice either for more volume).

- 4 main training sessions (60 to 75 minutes) + an optional session, another optional conditioning (aerobic base) OR active recovery day and a full rest day (on Sundays)

- two (2) main conditioning sessions (sport-specific Interval session and a weekly competition workout)

- Weekly skill work

- Weightlifting and strength work spread across three (3) training sessions.

- Optional session

The central theme for the conditioning sessions in this training block is to develop your recovery ability within workouts by improving your lactate utilisation/clearance. We’ll rotate different intervals from below (1 comp workout + 1 interval session/week) through the block.

- The weekly competition workouts are an opportunity to practice pushing yourself, developing your movement capacity under fatigue and refining your pacing under intensity.

One of these weekly:

- Two (2) to eight (8) minute mixed-modal high-intensity intervals, with active rest periods challenging your body to produce and clear lactate in a sports-specific context.

- AMRAP/EMOM 40s for longer efforts at threshold with short rest intervals to help your body become more efficient at managing lactate at sustained workloads.

Additional optional session:

- Aerobic base session of longer duration, lower to moderate intensity that improve mitochondrial density and capillarization, which indirectly supports lactate clearance.

- Semi-finals style competition workout (with movement options to adjust to your level)

It’s important to note that each of these sessions should be done at prescribed intensities to stimulate the intended adaptations properly.

Learning and practising “Intensity control” (matching intensity/pace to session intent) is a key skill that will elevate the level of your training beyond merely “doing workouts.” It will allow you to make the most out of each session and ensure sufficient recovery from your training to continue to put in high-quality work.

The main focus in lifting is still on strength development (vs maxing out on weightlifting). Most of the percentages (%) are open ended so you can go heavy on the days when you’re feeling good AND work on your form on the days when you’re not.

Here are the progressions (from WK1-WK6) for the lifts:

Snatch:

- “Snakes-n-ladders” (go heavier if you make a lift, drop down if you miss a lift), every other week (aiming for little heavier each time)

- Snatch doubles (2s), every other week with the snakes-n-ladders (little heavier each time)

Clean and jerk:

- Clean + front squat + jerk complex (1+3+1, 1+2+1, 1+1+1) and Clean, 3s/2s/1s (progressing from session to session), alt weeks

Optional session:

- 3-position snatch and power snatch + hang snatch complex (alt weeks)

- Block power cleans, 6-8 x 1-2 (building each time) and Hang power clean, 5 x 5s (building each time), alt weeks

- Front squat, 4 x 3s and Overhead squat, H3 (3/2/1 RIR) + 2-3 x 4-6 + 0-1 x AMAP (alt weeks)

We are not quite maxing out yet in this training block but building to heavy sets of 3-5 repetitions in the main lifts. This means the focus is still on general strength development (vs peaking for 1RMs) to bring your baseline up.

Here are the progressions (from WK1-WK6) for main lifts in different movement patterns:

Squats:

- Back squat, H3 (3/2/1 RIR) + 2 x 4-6 + AMAP -2/-1/0 and 5 x 5 (alt weeks)

Hinges:

- Deadlift H5/H4/H3 (2 RIR) + back-off sets, every other week

Push:

- Strict press, H3 (3/2/1 RIR) + 2 x 4-6 + AMAP, every other week

- DB Bench press (1st 3 weeks) and Incline DB Bench press (2nd 3 weeks), 2-3 x 8-12 + AMAP

Pull:

- Strict chin ups, 3 x AMAP and Pendlay row, 3 x 6-8, alt weeks

- Incline DB row, 2 x 8-12 + AMAP, every other week

Optional session:

- Romanian deadlift, 3-4 x 8-10 and Overhead squat, H3 (3/2/1 RIR) + 2-3 x 4-6 + 0-1 x AMAP (alt weeks)

- Paused bench press, 4x6/5x5/6x4 (1st 3 weeks) and Bench press, H5/H4/H3 (2 RIR) + back-off sets (2nd 3 weeks)

- Strict ring pull ups, 4 x 6-8 and Strict chin ups, H3 (3/2/1 RIR) + 2 x 4-6 + AMAP -2/-1/0 (alt weeks)

- Weekly assistance work circuit

The skill sessions in this block are focused on the more challenging gymnastics movements such as muscle ups, rope climbs, handstand walks, single-leg squats, etc. We’ll work on technique, efficiency, speed and capacity across the sessions.

We’ll also keep working on the barbell, DB and KB skills, but they’ll have less emphasis in this block.

With 60 to 75-minutes to train each day on Foundations, you’ll want to practise how to make the most out of every session. Developing efficient, repeatable routines at (and outside) the gym will help you establish good training habits that will carry you for a long time to come.

Make sure you review the session before you head to the gym (so you bring all the right gear with you). Follow the warm-ups on the programming or make up your own. Take at least 10-minutes to prep your body for the training. Do your best to be present in every part of training by approaching each session with the specific intent of becoming better in at least one movement/effort. (e.g. “Today I will focus on keeping the bar close on the snatch” or “Today I will push myself to keep the pace when the intervals get hard”).

Do a short cool-down at the end of each session, and note your results, what went well, and what you will improve on next time (and how you will specifically do this?).

For each conditioning piece, it’s important that you hit the intended intensity. If you go too hard on the 1st interval in a session, your intensity will drop too much later in the session. If you go too easy, your output and heart rate won’t get high enough to stimulate the intended adaptations.

For strength and skill work, we are looking to simply put in quality work from one session to the next. Aim to build each week from the last one, whether by increasing the reps or weights (depending on the progression). Focus on accumulating excellent repetitions to lay a solid technical foundation for future training.

Focus on establishing good daily habits that are sustainable for you. Make sure you’re getting in 3 good real food meals daily, then build any snacks and pre/peri/post-training nutrition choices around them.

To train hard, recover and make progress, you must ensure you’re eating enough. A good sign that you could eat more to fuel your training is that you often feel hungry. If you’re not sure where to start, a few rough reference points for daily intake (if you’re into macros) could be:

Protein - 2.2g per kg (1 gram per lb) BW

Fat - 25-30% of daily calories or 1g per kg (1g per lb) BW

Carbs - Remaining calories or 4+g per kg (1.8+g per lb) BW

Calories - 22 x BW (body weight) in kg (or 10 x BW in lbs) x (1.3 to 1.8 as “activity multiplier”)

Remember that if you don’t eat enough, you won’t recover and get the results you want.

The most important thing for your recovery will be to get enough (7.5-9 hours) sleep regularly. Your training (and results) will be better if you can sleep more. Aim to be in bed before 11pm latest, and sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room. If you can, get out for a short (10-minute) walk soon after sunrise (before 10am is fine) and again around sunset. This will help set your circadian rhythm so it’ll be easier to go to bed early.

All other recovery modalities will come second to this. Implementing a 10 to 30-minute daily mobility routine, split between morning, training and evening will also very likely pay off, both short and long-term.