Program Methodology

Over the years, CrossFit MF and Misfit Gym Portland have tested literally hundreds of our own programs in search of the best blend of class experience and fitness. From rigid, periodized strength and conditioning programs to old school CrossFit GPP programming, we’ve run it all. How do you create the best fitness program while also making it easy to coach and a great experience for members? After having experimented with a blend of everything mentioned above, we legitimately believe that the Misfit Affiliate program is our best affiliate program we’ve run in our 15+ years as affiliate coaches and owners. Athletes are attending classes more frequently because the volume and intensity of training is both challenging but sustainable. Because of improved consistency, we’ve seen a higher number of PRs in lifts and conditioning benchmarks with fewer bumps and bruises (injuries). Coaches are also appreciating the programming, as it allows for more time in class to take athletes through thorough warm ups and skill progressions. Read on to learn exactly what you can expect from Misfit Affiliate. 

 

Overview

Phase Structure

The Misfit Affiliate program follows a Phase structure with a new training phase beginning every 7-9 weeks or so. Each phase, we bias a lift and 1-2 gymnastics movements that you’ll see pop up weekly in in a skill session, lifting session, or built into a metcon. During the first week of the phase, we will write a “test” workout that will get re-tested again at the end of the phase, or we may test a classic CrossFit benchmark that aligns with one of the biases we build into the phase. The test/retest model allows athletes to see their progress over shorter timeframes, with occasional CrossFit benchmark workouts sprinkled in throughout the year so athletes can gauge fitness over a longer timeframe. Note that while we focus a little more on a couple of movements in each phase, the core of the program is still classic CrossFit – a true GPP program for everyone.

Workout Descriptions

One unique element of any Misfit program is our workout descriptions. For affiliates, you can expect to see things like Feel (stimulus), Pacing, Target Scores, and Scaling options to help you understand the stimulus of the workout and therefore, how to modify it for all of your athletes. To learn everything you need to know about our terms, descriptions, and coach’s notes, check out this article: https://teammisfit.com/new-programming-description-format/.

Training Pieces

HEAVY DAYS

Each Phase we will focus on a main barbell lift and a gymnastics element. Because we frequently provide opportunities to find heavy singles, triples, or 5s throughout the year, we don’t always test a 1RM at the beginning of the phase. Instead, we will usually program the 1RM the end of the phase so athletes can see their improvement after having spend a handful of weeks biasing the lift.

You can expect one of your M-F classes to be a true heavy day. This “lift only day” is in place to allow coaches plenty of time to really warm athletes up, get them mobilized, spend time on a coach-led barbell warm up, and then allow athletes to put some serious focus into one thing for 60 minutes with adequate rest between sets.

GYMNASTICS/SKILL WORK

Each phase also includes a gymnastics or skill-based movement focus. For our gymnastics bias, we use a similar approach: either test a unique workout in week 1 and again in week 7 that biases our gymnastics focus, or we get right to work week 1 and then test a benchmark workout at the end of the phase that includes the movements we biases (e.g. a handstand push up phase may have “Diane” tested at the end of the phase). You will see one day per week that has either a stand-alone skill session dedicated to focusing on the gymnastics movement outside of a metcon, or you’ll see a workout with the movement clearly biased in a conditioning piece.

Cardio Days

You can expect one day per week to be biased towards machine or running focused cardio of varying intensities. Some weeks it’s long and slow with multiple modalities, and other days we ask athletes to light themselves on fire for very short durations of maximal intensity. As in the 100 words of fitness, “…bike, run, swim, row, etc., hard and fast.” We will occasionally sprinkle in other movements into these days, but our intent on “cardio day” is to train a specific energy system, and machines/running is our best way to do that.

Metcons and Intervals

The bread and butter of a great CrossFit program. Of all the training pieces we write, we take the most pride in our conditioning pieces which are insanely effective for both your Firebreathers and average Joes when scaled appropriately. Sometimes you’ll see a short burner of a metcon that has a lifting session or skill element as part of the class, while other days you’ll just see a single old fashioned metcon or interval where we can get maximum intensity out of athletes. We want coaches leading athletes through a thorough warm up, teaching progressions on the movements in the class, and then ensure everyone has the right version of the workout to maximize intensity.

Rotating Schedule

One unique aspect to the program is that the days listed above rotate each week (i.e. Heavy Days aren’t always on Monday, Cardio Days aren’t always Tuesday, etc.). After experimenting with this for a while, we really like this style of programming for two main reasons: it ensures athletes who cannot get to the gym on certain days to still get the variance they need in their training, and second: it allows coaches who only coach on certain days of the week to lead different types of classes. Variance is part of a well-rounded GPP program, so rotating the weekly schedule just makes sense.

Competitor Extra

These training pieces are for athletes who want a little bit extra training outside of class. These pieces are not meant to be part of the 60 minute class, and should be secondary to the standard class programming. The extra piece will complement the 60 minute class work by hitting something that was missed over the course of the week. For example, on days where the Class program has a gymnastics strength/skill piece and a conditioning piece, the Competitor Extra may be a barbell movement or strength work. On heavy days, the Competitor Extra will probably be a medium-long duration conditioning piece. On Thursday of each week, the Competitor Extra will be either a make up day or Zone 2 work. As coaches, it is important to keep an eye on who is doing extra work outside of class and why. Most athletes are far happier to do an extra workout than they are to count their macros or ensure they’re getting 8 hours of sleep, but the former is small potatoes compared to the latter. Realistically, unless an athlete is hammering the class workouts with maximal intensity and is doing the right things outside of the gym, they would be far better off dialing in their nutrition, mobilizing, and working on movement mechanics than doing additional work.

A Note on Volume for Affiliate Athletes

As mentioned at the outset, we’ve experimented with various programming styles, volume, intensities, etc.. For the average person, the 1 or 2 intelligently programmed training pieces provided in the 60 minute class is more than enough to improve one’s fitness. More is not better, better is better. If coached properly and executed with intensity, your athletes will get a great dose of fitness every day in an hour long class, and they’ll be able to do that 4-6 days per week for years. For athletes who want to do more, it’s y(our) job as a coach to determine whether additional training pieces are appropriate for them based on their current fitness/capacity, their goals, and resources (time, ability to recover, sleep, nutrition, etc). More often than not, athletes think they need to do more to improve, when instead they should be focusing on hitting workouts with unmatched intensity. 

Saturday

Saturdays are the only day of the week that won’t follow the rotating schedule or have a programmed strength/skill piece, and are usually partner or team workouts. That said, these workouts are certainly not “throw aways”, as these workouts are programmed and treated with the same regard as any other day of the week. There will be a Competitor Extra session provided on these days, but again is not meant to fit into the 60 minute class with the main workout. 

If you like what you see, we’d love to have you as part of the Misfit tribe. Get your affiliate on board now!