The Engine Room
As we transition out of off-season and into pre-season training, Power and Grace Endurance is getting an upgrade. Welcome to the Engine Room. Enzo Ferrari explains it best, saying “aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines.”
Of course Ferarri doesn’t disregard aerodynamics, the statement was made to highlight the importance of an engine. This applies to the CrossFit context perfectly. Yes, knee sleeves, lifters, and wraps will help you inch toward your goal. But building a larger engine is the way to moving faster and more consistent.
The purpose of Engine Room training is to develop an athlete’s engines of movement for domains ranging from 10 seconds to 3 hours. There will be cycles lasting 10 – 12 weeks of testing and retesting at the beginning and end of each week. Each week will have 3 workouts prescribed. This will make you faster by building your capacity for power output- the largest element of speed.
During preseason, the Engine Room will focus on developing your capacity to move for time domains of up to 3 minutes. We will also add modest growth to your distance capacity. This will involve significant amounts of sprinting in the form of running, rowing, biking (AAB or airdyne); the program will also involve the use of a weight vest.
Pre-Season CrossFit training focuses on growing the athlete’s strength and speed over shorter time intervals than off-season, but still working generally applicable strength and endurance. Once the pre-season cycle is over, we will begin open- then the pain- err FUN- really begins.
A great tool for engine room cycles is a lap timer. It’s easy to record your total time, but it’s best to know how long each segment took. This way you can pinpoint your weakness in workouts that use different modalities. For example, if your Murph time is 42:00, that’s great, but if your last mile takes 10 minutes, there is some obvious work to be done in your overall pacing. #trainsmarter
The Engine Room is designed to supplement your current training. This is designed to mesh well with Power and Grace Performance programming, but can also be used to supplement your non-P&G programming if you’re looking to build your engine.