Going to a regular weightlifting gym ?

[nikkimarie]

Hello all
I have been doing CrossFit for about two years and I love it. This year I went from 3x a week to 4x a week, however my new box only does weightlifting once a week (first part complex with increasing weights then regular metcon) and alternates each week between C&J and snatches. We have another day of squatting fairly heavy then metcon.
I find myself having a hard time making any progress anymore in weightlifting, and I already reserve some time after class for gymnastics practice as it’s the thing I suck most at.
However I really enjoy weightlifting and would like to do more.
Would it be a good idea for me to attend a weightlifting gym once or twice in the week on top of my regular CrossFit classes? (Not on the same day oc). My main worry is not being able to recover physically (late 20s F). Mostly I would like to hear your thoughts and experience if you have done something similar.

Cheers!

 

[anniereborn]

@nikkimarie We have quite a few people on our team that do both CrossFit and weightlifting.

 

[nebula1]

@nikkimarie Can you just do drills at home with a pvc pipe or maybe buy a 15kg barbell and work on making your technique completely solid. Video yourself and make any corrections as needed

 

[tammy1ed2]

@nikkimarie Realistically you won’t get very far adding one day a week in. If you want to improve your weightlifting, I suggest taking an 8-12 week block and focus on weightlifting 3-5 days a week.

 

[nikkimarie]

@tammy1ed2 They don’t do specific classes at my box sadly (very small box in a rural area), so I guess what you’re saying is go more to the weightlifting gym and less to the CrossFit gym for a while?

 

[yarrariverchristian]

@nikkimarie I've got some personal experience with the Oly/CF tradeoff, and my $0.02 is that you are correct - if you want to improve, prioritize an Oly gym over your CF gym, at least for a while.

For the vast majority of people, making meaningful progress in the Olympic lifts is next to impossible without training them multiple times a week - and with an emphasis on high quality reps and attention to form. CF is an incredible training system, but the pace, volume, variety, and scoring (for time, max reps, etc) make that emphasis impossible even for the most detail-oriented coaches.

The average CF coach is also unlikely to have deep knowledge of the lifts outside of the context of CF where, candidly, you just have to be good enough at them to survive a WOD (this is changing with pro CF athletes now that the Games have max snatch and clean & jerk events but, tellingly, most pros work with dedicated Oly coaches to prepare for those).

The good news is that Oly training won't tax your engine the way CF will. You could train Oly 3x a week and still realistically get 1-2 WODs in, on your off days. Just use lighter weights and focus on cardio (which you won't get much of at the Oly gym).

My hunch is that if you did that even for something like 8 weeks, your technique would improve dramatically. You could then decide if you wanted to scale back Oly a bit and refocus on CF.

 

[nikkimarie]

@yarrariverchristian That sounds good! I have the opportunity to go to a proper oly lifting gym for free, so I think I’m going to take it, even though the poor person in me doesn’t like the idea of not getting my money worth in CrossFit . I think I’m going to enjoy it and maybe finally go somewhere decent with my snatches. Also like the idea of getting a slower, less intense cardio wise workout. We do metcons every day at the box, and while I love getting some intensity sometimes it can be a lot if I’m not feeling good that particular week.

 

[anon103]

@nikkimarie

I have the opportunity to go to a proper oly lifting gym for free

That's amazing. Use the opportunity!

 

[yarrariverchristian]

@nikkimarie Free?? Get over there! Even scaling down to once a week with CF you'll be getting out ahead.

Oly training is a world of difference from CF but no less fun and exciting, especially if you're at a dedicated Oly gym with a good community. CF is also excellent preparation imo, since your all-around fitness level will be pretty high going in.

Have fun and enjoy the change in your routine!

 

[goodolchristiangal]

@nikkimarie Talk to a coach or the owner about doing an oly program in the gym on the side as fl4nnel suggested. Often there is enough space for a member to be lifting on off hours or during classes. Just don't drop the bar while the coach is talking.

I think 3 days a week is good, aiming to do 2 days a week of CrossFit a week (I believe this works best). Perhaps they could offer you some programming or something like HWPO Lift/catalyst/etc would work.

 

[tammy1ed2]

@goodolchristiangal Bingo!

Highly recommend Catalyst's beginners programs for WL. I believe they have a 3 day a week track.

 

[yochanagrace]

@nikkimarie

My main worry is not being able to recover physically (late 20s F).

You will be fine. The whole objective of CF is to increase your work capacity; this means that you can do more stuff and recover from it. Frankly, your recovery capacity would be greater than that of a pure weightlifter of similar experience to yourself.

 

[praveendass]

@nikkimarie I'm in the same boat as you are and do both. I WOD 6 days a week and Globogym 7 days a week. Probably not the best for the body and learned how to work through soreness. I have made great progress in both realms thus far. I usually look at the WODs the night before to see how hard I can hammer a specific muscle group and have a routine of shoulders, legs, back/bi, chest/tri. Sometimes, I hit the same muscle group because the workouts will overlap but that's okay for me. I enjoy the punishment.

 

[acceptedfromabove]

@nikkimarie I keep track of exercises and if I miss squats, shoulder presses, bench presses, etc; I always have
extra weight sessions to fill in the gaps.

 

[lgmtn]

@nikkimarie At our gym, we had members who would come in and powerlift and stuff on the side. They came to classes and did regular programming but would come back for their dose of heavy iron at other times.

They talked to the coaches who were fine with it as long as they were polite about classes going on and used the end racks away from the main floor.

Ask your coach, affiliate membership is already expensive and it would suck to pay for second gym access.

 

[nikkimarie]

@lgmtn At my gym, you can only do that after your wod or if you paid for an unlimited membership :/
The weightlifting gym would be around 120 bucks a year, and my company gives that amount yearly to spend on sports and entertainment. Basically it would cost me more or as much to get an unlimited membership at my box, and on top of that I wouldn’t have anyone to coach me. I don’t know if that makes sense?

 

[lgmtn]

@nikkimarie Our box didn't have tiers for the membership and a small crew, so it made sense.

It sounds like for you it makes sense to have a second gym membership.

As a reason to go lift somewhere else, it might be nice to have a change of scene and mentality. I go in to my box ready to sweat and suffer and jokingly call it the pain dojo. Going to a regular gym to lift like a bro, with long rests in the sets, is a much more meditative and peaceful experience to me. You might find something similar.

 

[dawn16]

@nikkimarie If you have a Crunch Fitness in your area check it out. $10/mo and they have 9 lifting platforms at the one I go to. My gym has the opposite problem of yours - we do tons of Olympic lifting and very little real strength work so I go to Crunch a couple days a week for extra deadlifting/pressing/etc.