Transitioning from CrossFit to Strength Sports

Making the Transition from CrossFit to Strength Sports

Confession:  I started in CrossFit.  Everyone at my gym knows me as the guy that won't run because it'll mess up his squat day, but there was a time that I was head over heels for the sport of fitness.  You've found your way to this post so I'm going to assume that you're a strength enthusiast or are considering making the transition to strength sports.  My advice: do it.  It's awesome.  There's nothing cooler to me than loading a 300 lb atlas stone and snatching 250lbs.  My girlfriend agrees and if we're being honest we all do it for the ladies so there's that to look forward to.  So, you're thinking about changing from CrossFit to full time strength training?  You, my friend, are in for a rough, rough transition.

However with that transition come so many rewards that it's worth every bit of struggle.  Ever tried a 20 rep squat test at 225?  That's your max squat you say?  Imagine if your max was 400.  How much easier would that 20 rep test be?  Ever had to push your broken down car onto the shoulder of the highway?  Same premise.  Being strong just makes life easier.  

Transitioning from CrossFit to Strength Sports is a bit like graduating from high school and moving to college.  You're in the big leagues now, there are ego's on the line and you're out in a great wide world of knowledge with only (if you're lucky) one or two resources to keep you on track.

Never had to study before because your coach programmed for you, corrected your form, and modulated your intensity with all kinds of neat tricks?  Good luck.  You'd better learn to review videos of yourself every day or get in touch with a coach who knows the ropes.

Used to 60 minutes of intensity 2-3 times a week producing results?  Good luck.  Meal prep alone might take two to three hours a week now.  If you want to get strong you're in it for the long haul, and you're looking at 4 sessions a week at around an hour and a half a pop.

Used to getting participation points for showing up to class even if you half ass the WOD?  Adios to those days.  When someone half asses they're strength work with me they get left out on their own.  Don't waste my time.  You're looking to get strong, which means lifting heavy, often, and in large volume.  Welcome to a whole new world of fatigue and soreness.

If you're still reading then I'll take this moment to acknowledge the fact that you probably already experienced everything I just mentioned.  You're a strength athlete and everything above goes without saying.  The deeper you get into the strength world the more comfortable you'll get with your own style of training.  It may be 5/3/1, Westside, 5 by 5's, the Cube, Olympic Lifting, Strongman etc... but every single training style is designed to get you as strong as possible.  Here are a few things to expect from your new training program.

CrossFit has built up a huge base of conditioning for you which will be helpful, but now you need to prioritize your main lifts.  Any conditioning work has to be accounted for in your program.  Don't fall into the trap of trying to push both your conditioning and your strength at the same time, you're setting yourself up for mediocrity.  Your strength will suffer from the conditioning and your conditioning will suffer because you'll be fatigued from your strength work.

"I'd rather be dead than average" - Mad Dog Bell.  Don't settle for mediocrity.

You have to eat more. A lot more.  I know you think you're eating enough, but you're not.  Here's my challenge to you.  Get on My Fitness Pal and spend one week tracking how much you eat.  If you're under 1 gram of protein and 2 grams of carbohydrate per pound of bodyweight you're under eating.  Every ex-crossfitter struggles the most with their new nutrition plan.  You will be fluffy for a while.  We can bring your body fat back down later but in the beginning you will have to put on weight.  Those abs will disappear for a bit and your pants will be a little tighter but when you go from deadlifting 225 to 400 it'll be worth it.  As an added bonus all that extra muscle mass is going to look really good in a speedo, even if there's a little extra fluff on top.  Trust me.

This is not the time to think about cutting weight and trying to drop a weight class.  If you're transitioning from CrossFit you're relatively weak compared to the rest of the playing field (even for the weight class below you) and putting on weight is the best way to make up some lost time.  Bigger humans are better able to produce force, and mass moves mass.  Build your body mass to move more weight.

I'm going to say something that may be unnecessary but nonetheless was a mistake I made as a young lifter so I'll touch on it briefly. Let go of your preconceived notions of strength training.  CrossFit has opened the door for you to begin your strength journey and taught you many things.  Don't let those lessons close your mind to what you could learn from veterans in the strength and conditioning world.  Even if you disagree just hold your comments and take a look around you.  If you're surrounded by people stronger than you then maybe it's time to bring back the student mentality.  It's normal to have questions, but be respectful of those who have been in this game longer than you especially when they've clearly been successful.

That's all I have to say about that.  Welcome to the world of strength my friend and I'm glad you're here.  You're in good company.  This is a journey that will take a lifetime but strength is a gift that keeps on giving.  Keep this in mind as you progress down your new path:

"Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general".  

Yours in strength,

Nate Schwartz

A nerd, aggressive music, and weights: mix well and watch the show

In the beginning there was a nerd.  This young man was 13 and split his time between two houses which he never took notice of and never settled into.  He's too tall for his frame and too uncoordinated for coffee tables and kitchen counters.  His favorite clothing store is JC Penny because he can get South Pole, Ecko, G-Unit and Levi’s all in the same place.  His interests include Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, Baulder’s Gate, Need for Speed and Madden ‘04.  Swipe left or right?  

He's a wrestler and a football player at school but at home he sleeps until dinner and goes to bed after breakfast.  The knees his bean poles connect to are painful; the Doctor says he outgrew his cartilage so he sits on the stairs and presses himself up one at a time.  He travels between his mother and father’s houses every year and has yet to spend more than 12 consecutive months in any one place.  He gets lonely a lot and hates finishing books because he feels like the characters are his friends and has a collection of “nearly” finished novels.  Eminem plays pretty consistently along with Avenged Sevenfold, System of a Down, and Dr. Dre.

Doctor visits for his knees have been largely unhelpful, until his pediatrician suggests weight training to support the joint with muscle. His first exercise?  Bench pressing, obviously.

Then he gets a little stronger. His starts noticing shadows in the mirror where before it was soft pudgy stuff that moved like pudding.  More bench pressing and shoulder raises are clearly in order. Maybe some curls too.  Turn up the Linkin Park.

His pain goes away, he gets the game ball in the last football game of his freshman season, he’s lost weight and people say he has, “broad shoulders”.  He’s starting to feel pretty good about himself.  Maybe football can be a long term thing.  Only 2 catches on the season but he’s a blocking tight end so that’s not a big deal.  2 ½ sacks and a turnover or two as a defensive end aren’t too shabby if you ask him.

Then wrestling starts.  Jesus he’s out of shape, he can’t hang through the drills and the conditioning at the end is a slow crawl of misery.  He used to fly through this stuff, what the hell?  Forget it, football’s the way to go and he’s not built for wrestling.  His friends outside of the team like to hang out at the bike trail and smoke.  He doesn’t smoke but it’s better than dying on a foam mat for 120 minutes.

He smokes now.  School only happens on days when there's nothing better to do.  He’s pretty much useless unless it’s for his own gain.  Definitely don’t trust him with your valuables.  Don’t trust him with your non-valuables either.  Just don’t associate with him he’s a shady character.  His guidance counselor puts him on the GED track just to get him off her “problem plate”.  This is fine with him he’s not cut out for school.  Honestly he doesn’t come anyway.  Or it was fine, until he found himself in a county facility and his best friend was already there for the exact. Same. Thing.  

Shit.

He cleans up a little.  For two years he takes summer school and finishes every homework assignment plus the extra credit.  He’s way behind but if he can get his completion points he can at least make it through graduation.  As it turns out he makes it to graduation and gets accepted to college.  Once there his first two stops are the gym and the club wrestling team.  Back to bicep curls and leg presses boys and girls, with a vengeance.  Bump that Drake, it gets his blood pumping.  Keep the Iron Monkey, Meshuggah, Gojira, and Amon Amarth on repeat.  He has 3 years of gains to catch up on.  Somewhere on YouTube there’s a video of him being used to wipe the mat by VMI.  Then comes CrossFit and oh man he drinks the Kool-Aid and mainlines the leftover powder mix.

Let’s be honest, the best part of CrossFit is the barbell work.  He foregoes the metconning and starts olympic lifting full time at a gym called The Weight Room in Richmond, Virginia.  He’s working full time in a medical research lab now, but he really lives for the 2-4 hours a day he gets to train with his friends.  He’s not cut out for a lab.  He gets ancy, he can’t sit that long, the walking god complexes with initials after their names who pursued medicine for the money drive him further and further away from the hospital.  New plan; physical therapy.  He moves home and goes back to school and starts coaching full time.  He makes USAW University Nationals.  He starts eyeing strongman nationals.  He’s nowhere near those weight; yet.  He has a purpose.  He has a passion that borders on obsession.  People tell him to chill out and he thinks that’s funny.  Ain’t nobody got time to miss out on opportunities.  

It’s nice to meet you.  My name is Nathan.  I’ve been competing in olympic weightlifting for two years and full time weightlifting for 3.  I’m a coach at LoCo CrossFit in Leesburg, Virginia and I would love to see you come check us out.  You all have an open invitation just slide into my DM’s and let me know when you’d like to come in.

P.S. I still read Tolkien and do bicep curls sometimes.

Yours in Strength,

Nate Schwartz