It’s that time of year, Fall Challenge time! The Fall Challenge is an opportunity to establish accountability, work towards a specific goal, and be part of something the whole community is doing.
This year the Fall Challenge is:
1 RM Front Squat
1 RM Push Press
1 RM Power Clean
The Hendrickson Beep Test
That’s right, this challenge is a FOUR-PART extravaganza of strength and endurance. Next week, sep 18th – 25th, we will be testing these 4 elements, training them for 7 weeks, and then re-testing them during the week of Nov 13th – 19th. All of the CrossFit and Endurance classes will be focused on the challenge, so you might as well participate!
You can win in three categories this year:
Most Improved Lifts
Mose Improved Beep Test
Most Well-Rounded Athlete
The most well-rounded athlete will go to the person who both scores in the high rankings of the beep test, as well as in high rankings for their lifts. Lift scores will be based on a bodyweight Wilks score, so it’s all about in comparison to your own body and what you can achieve.
So what the heck is the Hendrickson Beep Test?
Every minute on the minute perform:
5 dumbbell thrusters
5 pull ups
5 burpees
Continue until you can no longer complete the work within the minute.
This is a pure stamina workout. The weights are light and the movements are lower on the skill spectrum. However, I think you will find that your mind wants to give up far before your body does.
During the fall cycle we will train the skill of recovering on the fly. You’ll see lots of workouts with quick bouts followed by a period of recovery. This could be in the shape of EMOMs, workouts with ever-increasing amounts of work in a given time frame, and TABATA style intervals.
We will train this in different ways in Endurance class all week, and once a week you’ll see Endurance take over the regular Crossfit programming. If you want to up your Beep Test score, you’re going to want to hit up an additional Endurance at LEAST once a week.
In terms of the three big lifts, those will happen throughout the week on a rotating schedule. Usually I have programmed so that each day corresponds with a specific lift, but often that means folks will miss a lift entirely. The goal with the shifting days is that you will have access to all of the programming each week, and will definitely squat, press and clean at least once per week no matter what your schedule is. You can expect to be squatting 3x per week, cleaning 2x per week and push pressing 1x per week with additional press variations and overhead work throughout the week.
Next week you will have the chance to test your lifts, and PLEASE keep track of your numbers, because once registration for the challenge is open, you will have to enter your own data. Thank you! I am so excited for this challenge and I can’t wait to see you all do great things. Registration opens next week so keep your eyes peeled.
Also, as usual there will be Solcana SWAG available for the challenge, those details coming next week as well.
The testing schedule for next week is as follows:
Monday: 1 RM Push Press + 1 RM Front Squat
Tuesday: 1 RM Power Clean + 1 RM Front Squat, Push Press or Body Building
Wednesday: Test any remaining lifts or Body Building
Thursday: Hendrickson Beep Test