re: The Greyskull Methods- A Primer

You can add a little more weight, but I would just enjoy the high reps while they last. I’m on week 7 and still floating around 10 on pretty much everything. I have no problem stretching it out. I think it will only make me stronger.

Should I be doing warm up reps before getting into my working weight? Am I missing valuable reps by skipping the warm up?

Yes you should start with the bar and add weight doing 3 or so warm up sets depending on your working weight.

Thank you! I’m going to buy the book and start filling in that template to make a plan. I’ll let you know how it goes in about 6 weeks or so.

Ok thank you. I will plan on scaling back then.

well what are we using a metcon for? We are using it for conditioning. a Metcon should not be a long drawn out affair. It is there to supplement your strength work for fatloss and conditioning. Nothing more, nothing less. Metcons that last longer than that are not at a high enough intensity to really provide conditioning work, sure endurance, but not true conditioning.

The main reason i believe this though is because I do not believe met cons longer than that can effectively be trained for on a consistent basis without beating you down in turn effecting strength. Once it starts to cut into strength your are just exercising, not training. I do not believe in exercising only training with a clear goal and using smart progressive training to get to that goal.

I also do not believe anyone should be training for anything greater than 3 miles on a consistent basis unless its for a specific purpose like military, law enforcement etc. Sub 20 3 mile run should be the goal here so we shut it off at 20. For the normal person, it should be 15 min usually.

In general I say this because the general population is not looking for anything, but performance and aesthetics. In most cases anything longer than 15 min does not help either of these.

Now Im not saying you can't do some longer distance rowing or running like i described above, its just that it shouldn't be trained like a metcon nor treated as conditioning exercise. It is more specific energy system training for a specific module.

I am not the only one that believes this, johnny pain the creator of greyskull talks about this, wendler talks about it, rippetoe has talked about it and honestly even rudy from outlaw crossfit and the brute strength guys have talked about it. In the brute body program, the met cons are setup like this. Only when they are planning for the CF games do they program longer metcons. Hell outlaw doesnt really ever program them except in their really elite level guys that they know will be encountering those types of exercises at the regionals and beyond.

Also those that do program in longer WODs, do so in separate sessions for athletes that are running 3 hours plus split across the day plus gymnastics skill work. the normal american or even crossfitter has no desire to train that much. They want an hour to 90 min max 3-4 days a week with some at 5 days a week max. Well how do we get the max results out of that time frame? it isn't going in and doing murph once a week, its by getting stronger through heavy lifting on 1-2 power movements, heavy lifting on Olympic lifts, 1-3 body building movements if muscle is a concern or use movements to work weaknesses instead, 15 min met con plus calisthenic skill work.

and I said it with a 100% certainty when honestly it doesn't apply to those who are regional level athletes and above and also those who are endurance athletes. But other than that it applies 100% with 20 min being the absolute top limit. Anything longer doesn't have a place in the normal persons training imo.

for best results it would look like Johnny described in the book under conditioning. Use metcons on wed and sat for those trying to gain. Layer in fasted walking, burpee challenge, jump rope and more met cons for those trying to loose.

you can but lets talk about this,

Is your goal to be better at crossfit and to look better? if the answer is yes to these then you shouldn't. Let me explain

I am not saying you shouldn't do those skills. I would setup a skill day, prolly saturday and work those movements using very sub maximal sets with quite a bit of volume. Also you can do these skills if they come up during a met con.

On your regular days I believe you should stick to the basic chins and pushups until you can complete the greyskull challenges for those. challenges book


From there you should move to the next logical progression. I say this so that you continue to build a big base to eventually be better at those movements. Getting better at a specific skill that doesn't transfer is not the way to be much better in the long run.

Your daily bodyweight work of chins and pushups should stay. Eventually when you complete the challenge, move to the next progression.

Your gymnastics skill work at the end of your workout should be about getting better at the 7 GST Fundamentals using progressions.

Overcoming gravity charts

GST Training Books

This is the same process Brute Strength uses. Of all the things they do great for their athletes the gymnastic training by dr sorrell is the best thing they do. They have a 20 level system. If you are not going to pay for that system I would spend 15 min working the gymnastic bodies course layout at the end of your workout and spend 5 min doing skill work on a specific skill or two daily.

Born raised and still live here. Genesis is still kicking, great place to workout and we might know each other as I wmused to workout there during summer about that time. I was teanager then though.

Came across this version of GSLP by the guys at Barbell Medicine. Just curious on your thoughts about it, seems like a well thought out template/programming of GSLP

LINK /