CROSSFIT FOOTBALL - A Beginners Guide
Contents
1. A BEGINNERS GUIDE Volume 1 Physical training can be hard and difficult So before you embark on any physical fitness program please con sult a doctor If you are unfamiliar with the movements in this book consult a trained professional before starting this program This book may not be reproduced or recorded in any form without permission from the author The information contained in this book is the sole property of Power Athlete LLC READ THIS FIRST REPEAT READ THIS CHAPTER FIRST Similar to a set of instructions from IKEA this guide isn t going to tell you why fifteen different types of screws of which only two are reverse thread and only a foil wrench are used to assemble their sturdy furniture This guide provides a set of instructions on how to build a Power Athlete This guide is an accumulation of informa tion from athletes who have been follow ing the CrossFit Football methodology since the early days It s full of tidbits and knowl edge bombs that will save the reader from the occasional pitfalls encountered by ath lete Usually these are only provided via the comments section on CFFB but we are streamlining the process We want our athletes to ask why we are pro viding these instructions We expect our ath letes to be active thinkers in order to better understand the program The program has a simple goal make you a stronger quicker and faster athlete A POWER ATHLETE CR2. Do you have any equipment availability is sues How much rest do you need between sets on the SWOD to perform the best You should take the time to adequately warm up People who rush the warm up tend to hurt themselves and are sidelined for a week or more and compromise results The SWOD should be completed before the DWOD The only exception is with female ath letes We ve observed better performance in the SWOD when completed after the DWOD Test retest See what works for you WHAT TO DO IF YOUR SHORT ON TIME The SWOD It takes precedence if you re short on time If there are two lifts programmed and one of them is Squat and you only have time for one then it s time to Squat If you can t block out a full 90 minutes to train and need to split the SWOD and the DWOD into two training sessions that works as well Do you SWOD first then hit the DWOD later TRAIN FAST BE FAST AND DON T SKIP THE SPRINTS If CFFB programs a run in a workout you should be running as fast as you can For some reason people attack the runs like it s time to recover Total bull shit Train fast be fast Train slow be slow Every time you run in your training it should be as hard and fast as you can run If the programming tells you to rest as need ed take the time to REST AS NEEDED You should be fully recovered before starting your next attempt BE A PERFORMANCE WHORE We are performance whores and you sho
3. However CFFB is not going to dictate when you add weight to the bar Every time you go for a RM Rep Max you should go as heavy as possible There are no boundaries When it feels light go for it When it feels heavy and slow pull on your work boots and survive the training day But remember each day is a battle When it comes to getting strong or driving any ad aptation don t rush it The more time you spend driving your adaptation the more con crete the gains Quick to ripen quick to rot WHEN AM I READY FOR THE PROFESSIONAL SWOD We equate the when am I ready for the Pro fessional SWOD question to a ZJ If you ve gotta ask then you can t afford it Google Beerfest if you have never heard this refer ence The Collegiate template is multi year tem plate when strictly followed will continue to drive adaptation The reps weights volume tonnage is monitored on our end and it meets the demands of our athletes Sure it s a long road But are you going to quit lifting weights tomorrow Didn t think so Stick it out for 4 6 months and watch the gains consistently take place BRO IT S SATURDAY WHERE S THE 5WOD There is no SWOD on Saturday Don t get suckered into the MORE IS BETTER PLL REST WHEN I DIE mentality Once again everything is laid out so that you get the optimal dosage to increase Strength and Power If you throw in extra strength training you may inhibit optimal
4. just for reference if we wanted you to air squat We have found the Squat to be the best method of reinforcing and strengthen what is known as the universal athletic position Plus it gets you really strong and things get fucking serious when the weight gets heavy CHERISH THE SQUAT 50 SHOULD 1 HIGH BAR OR LOW BAR We don t conform to labels and descriptions are dangerous when left up to interpretation How high is high Exactly how low is low We like landmarks Remember the goal is to get you as strong as possible while reinforcing the athletic posi tion With that said we want you to run on sentence alert Squat with two full feet on sound ground at all times under your body no closer than shoulder width apart toes pointed forward 0 15 degrees grip as close to thumbs width from the smooth as possible with your thumb around the bar and bar centered ON not be low the base of the traps below the bone pro trusion on the back of your neck Stand the bar up off the rack with a neutral hip hollow position shoulders retracted and depressed While trying to spread the world apart with your feet sit back bending knees and hips simultaneously lowering yourself in a con trolled manner your hips should NOT flick or break to initiate the movement Depth should be just below parallel then you should stand up as fast as possible through your heels YOUR SECOND BEST FRIEND IS REST Very smart people Dani
5. letes in various sports and of various skill lev els We ve met them and heard their stories Believe it or not the internet is riddled with crazy bullshit the CFFB program and this guide do not fall under this umbrella First they are free Second this is a no frills type of program The principles are based on tried and true philos ophy Built on the hard and the work If you don t follow these pieces of advice then don t come to us and tell us that CFFB didn t do what it was intended to do I STILL HAVE UNANSWERED QUES TIONS WHAT SHOULD I DO If it s a why question then you need to try it before you question it Once you ve tried it if you still haven t figured it out then drop us a line on POWERATHLETE Radio Google it or sign up for a CFFB cert If it s a how question submit it to PowerAthleteHQ com contact us Thanks for reading Good luck with your training The POWERATHLETE Team SPECIAL THANKS AND SHOUT OUTS CFFB Nation POWERATHLETE Nation Harry Heptonstall T Rose Shane P Prof Booty Denny K Ingo B Brewer Chops
6. OSSFIT VS CROSSFIT FOOTBALL Many of you may have discovered Cross Fit Football via CrossFit or perhaps while searching for information on how to get stronger while doing CrossFit Here s the dif ference CrossFit is a training program that prepares the individual for the unknown and unknow able CrossFit Football is a training program that leverages the known When training for a sport the requirements are very clear Our goal is not to improve all physical attributes of fitness equally Our intention is to improve the most vital biomarkers for ultimate suc cess in that sport Posture Stability Power Speed and the ability to move through space We train the specialist We don t merely at tempt to get football players in shape or soccer players in shape As the only way to get in shape for your sport is to play your sport CROSSFIT FOOTBALL VS POWERATHLETE As mentioned in the previous section Cross Fit Football is a training program POWERATHLETE is a training system It em bodies the training methodology and philoso phies of its creator John Welbourn These methods have been forged over a lifetime of experience and research in training for per formance CrossFit Football is a free online training pro gram published on www crossfitfootball com It is merely just one interpretation of the POWERATHLETE training system It is in tended to be general strength amp conditioning progr
7. While you may not finish the workout as fast as if you had kipped we know that strict pull ups will strengthen the upper back We also know that most people break in their upper back on their deadlift and Squat What we see is people who can bang out a lot of very powerful strict pull ups tend to have better Squats and deadlifts Decisions Decisions I M A GIRL AND I WISH MY BRAIN WAS AS BIG AS MY BUTT HELP Not all genders can be as gifted as the human male when it comes to thinking and reason ing But fear not young lady it just so happens that one of you is amongst the highest of our ranks Regarding linear progression if the incre ments on a lift are too much to sustain over a 12 15 week period then cut them in half Regarding the DWOD the magic number is 66 66 of the prescribed weight has prov en to be the approximate equivalent to illicit a similar training stimulus in women For the kettle bell dumbbell or sandbag slam ball movements you should be able to scale above the suggested 66 figure Do not bank on this figure though It is an ap proximation Workouts should be heavy and hard If it s not heavy enough use more weight YOUR TYPICAL CFFB WORKOUT 15 20 minute warm up 45 60 minute SWOD 5 10 minute rest set up whatever 7 15 minute DWOD How long it takes to complete a full CFFB training day depends on a few things Do you have training partners How many
8. adaptation SWOD DWOD WHAT S THE DIFFER ENCE CFFB s conditioning work takes form in a portion of the training called the DWOD If you must know it stands for Daily Workout Of the Day if you must know Redundancy Get it Redundancy This is our volume work Aka accessory work aka conditioning Aka metcon Aka cardio This really can be whatever you like This portion of training depends on the end goals how you feel and how you choose to approach the DWOD If you walk away with one thing out of this manual handbook it s this There is no 80 20 on movement when it comes to training You must strive to main tain posture and position Perfect movement regardless of how fast you want to finish your training is the ultimate goal The DWOD is NOT a test It is a tool to improve condition ing to keep you in good enough shape to reg ularly attack the SWOD like a fat kid would a cupcake Do not confuse your priorities FULL BODY ALL DAY EVERY DAY You don t get to opt out of using your legs in practice or arms in a game There are train ing systems that use upper lower splits And there are others that have arms days or back and b1 s Good for them If that s what you like then go find those programs We take these things into account but we don t train body parts We train energy sys tems and movement We will program full body all day every day Deal with it If you can t recover f
9. am for the 20 000 different athletes of varying and unknown training backgrounds skill levels physical and psychological char acteristics genetics and mind sets that follow it These are just a few things we considered when creating this training program THINGS IM HOPING YOU ALREADY MNOW BUT 1 HAVE TO MENTION What does lifting weights and ordering coffee at a drive thru have in common If you are not paying attention you can mess yourself up Nobody should have to tell you to NOT put a cup of scolding hot coffee between our legs while driving We strongly urge you to seek out an experi enced and credible strength coach to ensure that your movement is safe and sound And always consult a doctor before starting any training program This handout is not a set of rules or com mandments And just to piggyback off the first section you are free to put your styl ish Swedish furniture together however you please But if you want it to function properly it s advisable to follow the instructions And just in case you didn t see it before be sure to consult a physician before starting any nutritional protocols or training program to ensure that you are not at risk for injury DISCLAIMER ON SHAMELESS AT TEMPTS OF HUMOR The context provided here is meant to be clear concise and entertaining Please do not take offense to anything written here as 1t 1s not intended to insult but rather to en tertain Howev
10. b professional athlete with a 600lbs squat 700lb deadlift 500lb bench and 4001b power clean It just so happens if you can handle the loads it makes for a great training stimulus to con struct an extremely strong and powerful ath lete A POWERATHLETE BUT I DON T HAVE THIS OR THAT WHAT SHOULD I DO Option 1 go get it If you don t have it go to the Google and order it Suggested search terms Where can I buy a lt insert equipment name here gt Option 2 go make it If you re the frugal type and are willing and able then you too can fire up the Google or the YouTube and find a DIY solution Suggested search terms DIY lt in sert equipment name here gt Option 3 Substitute another movement This may take a little know how If you opt into this scenario then you need to have an understanding of what training stimulus the original movement was trying to illicit Or just take a weekend off of Fireball shots and Jaeger Bombs and save some cash to buy a slam ball SHOULD I KIP OR ARE THESE STRICT This is a good one Pull ups in the SWOD should always be strict When it comes to the DWOD pull ups are assumed to be kipping unless qualified as STRICT Kipping pull ups are popular because you can do more pull ups in a shorter amount of time That s fine if this is in line with your training goals However you shouldn t be afraid to do strict pull ups even if not qualified in the DWOD
11. centric and eccentric mean Google it BUT WE TRAINED LEGS YESTERDAY We don t train body parts so get out of that mentality It may be hard but you need to do it Your lower extremities are extremely capable of all sorts of feats of strength We deadlift the day after we Squat We clean the day after we Squat It works If it didn t work we wouldn t do it JRM VS 3 9 9 9 9 VS 9 3 3 AND OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT REPS Youre going to see reps written a few differ ent ways on CFFB com Let s take 5 s for ex ample When it says 5 s we re talking about sets of 5 reps It s always assumed you will be completing warm up sets before your work ing sets Warm up sets can be in any set amp rep scheme at submaximal weight leading up to your working set s 5RM is a 5 rep max It means you are trying to support the maximal weight you can for 5 reps This is 1 working set If you can get a 6th rep then it s not a 5RM that s a 6 rep max 5RM 3x5 90 is a 5 rep max followed by 3 drop sets of 5 reps at 90 of the 5RM you just hit Four working sets of 5 reps here 5 5 5 5 518 5 working sets of 5 reps pyra miding up in weight The final 5 reps should be the heaviest you can handle on that day Your first working set doesn t start with the bar or 135 It starts when it gets heavy 5 5 5 5 5 is 5 working sets of 5 reps at the same welght IN SEASON VS OFF SEASON You will see In Season programmi
12. e the dirt then worry about everything else once it keeps you from achieving your goals Roots tubers and bulbs are the primary fuel source for the DWOD Do your best to get the majority of your carbs immediately following your training Avoid eating a shit ton of carbs at night unless you train at night then crush it If you don t attack the DWOD on a given day or it s a rest day then don t eat as many carbs You don t need them Remember you are a performance whore and food is fuel Earn your carbs HERE IS A SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE VIEW ON SUPPLEMENTS Avoid XPLODEs ANNHILATORs FORMU LA XP 180 BLASTS and all the other mar keting gimmicks If you want to supplement just keep it simple and do your research Here s what we see as the best bang for your buck 30 min Pre Workout A 2 4 shot 200z americano from Pete s 20 408 grass fed whey from Well Food Co 58 Leucine 58 Taurine 58 Glutamine 400mg phosphatidylserine 2g acetyl carnatine ALC 1000mg alpha gpc Post Workout Same as above but add 30g CHO dextrose maltodextrin or sucrose Sleep Aid before bed 58 Bullet Proof blend from Muscle Pharm This is our recommendation Giveit a try and see if it works for you I DON T PLAY FOOTBALL I PLAY INSERT SPORT HERE The program got its name because John Welbourn played a lifetime of football and a decade in arguably the largest arena in pro fessional sports the NFL The bi
13. educe reps and weight increases Find your flavor and take control of your training destiny RESETTING ON THE AMATEUR PROGRESSION You need to pay your dues on the Amateur program and wring every gain out of it Week after week session after session you ll be adding weight to your lifts but a tree can t grow to the sky If you walk in and fail a set on a lift don t get all the reps then don t add weight the next time the lift comes up If you don t move up and fail again then it s time for a reset the next time you come in to hit the lift you failed on reset the weight to what you hit 3 weeks prior to your last successful lift and continue the progression Like magic you will break through the plateau ONLY RESET THE LIFT YOU FAILED NOT ALL LIFTS This approach is only optimal during a very small window No longer than about 20 weeks After that we ve driven all the adapta tion from an untrained athlete and it s time for the Collegiate template MOVING ON TO THE COLLEGIATE SWOD If your world has come crashing down and all you are doing is resetting all your lifts or 1t s been 20 weeks then moving onto the Colle glate template is the next step Follow the K I S S principal After 20 weeks your window has closed and Amateur is no longer optimal We know this is a hard pill to swallow We can wait until you wipe the tears from your eyes Have no fear you will still see gains on the Collegiate template
14. el Coyle Google him tell us that an athlete s ability to rest is what can differentiate the great from the champi on On a smaller scale the SWOD is not for time unless posted as such Regardless of what level you are on you need to rest adequately between sets Give yourself a chance to successfully complete your lifts Somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes How ever if you need more time then take it On a slightly larger scale a rest day is a rest day Don t get challenged into a workout be cause you sister s brother s best friend s cat met this guy who is doing a WOD in his ga rage and you don t want him to suffer alone WARM UP SETS If the SWOD calls for 3 x 5 read as 3 sets of 5 reps it is given you will be completing some sort of warm up sets prior to the working sets which would be the aforementioned 3 sets of 5 reps So how many warm up sets You need to warm up your CNS and get you tissue moving but not so much as you shoot your load How much volume is this We can t answer that for you It s going to depend on a few factors how strong you are the lift number of reps and sets and to be honest personal preference If you don t have enough chest hair to make your own decisions yet you should be getting at least 5 warm up sets with an incrementally loaded bar that should be approaching your working weight Some people are consistent with reps some have high reps with lightweight and r
15. er if we ve already been insulted by our hot coffee reference or have a sincere love of mid century modern Swedish furniture please accept this apology And we advise you to dispose of this free manual ASAP For those brave souls who are still on board we hope that you enjoy and find this manual informative WHY IS THE SWOD THE MOST IMPOR TANT PART OF THE DAY We are not sure how to get you stronger with without lifting heavy weights CFFB s daily strength work is the Strength Workout Of the Day The SWOD If you were paying attention in the previous sections you know the primary training af fect of following this program is strength If you are reading this with the singular se cret desire of shaving a few seconds of your marathon time then this might not ideally be the best read for you For those seasoned coaches one could make an argument that a stronger marathon runner will ultimately perform better But just as there are golfers and people that play golf any program can work And while any program can work you should always ask yourself does it illicit the best response possible To quote Chuck Palanik Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken If you are here to get strong quick fast and powerful you have come to the right place In Tyler we trust Respect the SWOD I DON T CARE WHO YOU USED TO BE NOW YOU RE AN AMATEUR AND HERE S HOW YOU START This program is based a
16. multi year approach This is why there are three levels on training based on your level of adaptation We have to assume your exposure to this style of training is limited So as far as we are concerned your training age is zero and thus you are an ama teur Don t be offended be excited Ditch your ego follow the rules and start on the amateur template The program is simple amp repeats each week Mon Squat 3x5 amp Press 3x5 Tue Deadlift 1x5 aka 5RM Wed REST Thur Squat 3x5 amp Bench Press 3x5 Fri Power Clean 5x3 With regards to selecting the appropriate weight to start with error on the side of too light A weight where every rep looks perfect and you are chomping for the next workout It s not about where you start but where you finish You re going to add weight to the bar week after week Specifically 2 5lbs to your bench and press 5lbs each time you Squat and 10lbs to your deadlift YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND IS THE SQUAT The Squat is the foundation of this program Google the king of all lifts and 17 5 million results will come back in 24 seconds Those 17 5 million results will reference the Squat We even capitalize it just because we like it so much So we are going to slow down take our time and go through how we want it ex ecuted Just to clarify when we say Squat we mean back squat If we wanted you to perform the overhead squat or front squat we would clarify it as such And
17. ng offered on CFFB com starting the 3rd week of July or when most teams go to football training camp and will finish the last week of November This will coincide with the football season You should only follow In Season program ming if you are regularly participating in a sport throughout the week outside of your training If you are not participating in sport outside of your training then complete off season train ing NOT EVERY WORKOUT IS FOR TIME Your training isn t always the test Competition is the test Your training is a way for you to improve upon your limiting factors and improve bio markers of athleticism Not every workout has to be for time Racing the clock is great way to maximize work out put and build work capacity But work capac ity is just one component of athleticism Max imal rep frequency and racing for time isn t always necessary in your training however quality of movement is HERE IS WHAT YOU SHOULD EAT Eat with abandon meat fowl fish seafood eggs vegetables roots tubers bulbs herbs and spices as well as animal fats olives amp olive oil avocados and coconut meat oil flour and dairy Dairy is a powerful tool in the strength and weight gain category Any dairy from grass fed animals is permissible Dairy from grain fed animals will not have an ideal omega 3 profile Heavy cream butter and ghee should not be problematic Occasional consumption of fermented dairy
18. omarkers of performance that are improved by follow ing CFFB are transferable to virtually all field sports We have been told by many that the adapta tion that is driven from the program is very conducive to the demands of operators tacti cal athletes Strengthening posture and position and building an individual s ability to display their strength efficiently and dynamically is universal to almost EVERY sport The most successful athletes in their respec tive arena of battle are those who are power ful and efficient That is the essence of a POWERATHLETE I WANT TO WIN THE CROSSFIT GAMES It sounds glorious to become a CrossFit Games Champion There are a number of training systems out there that are geared towards developing CrossFit Games ath letes They are packed full of skill work in the Olympic Lifts gymnastic movements like muscle ups and ring dips and tons of volume The CFFB program is not geared towards CrossFit Games athletes who are deficient in those types of areas CFFB will not program full lifts or muscle ups These are not prudent components to the program s overall goal If Strength Power Size or Speed limit you from becoming a high level CrossFit Games competitor then a few months on CFFB after your competitive season may be of benefit of you I WAS ALWAYS TOLD THIS AND YOU RE TELLING ME THAT Then don t listen We aren t lying to you We know CFFB has worked or thousands of ath
19. rom our training give it time and keep at it If after time and keeping at it you still can t recover effectively to regularly complete the training as programmed you have bigger problems go see a doctor WHAT S THE DEAL WITH ACCESSORY WORK There is merit in adding some accessory work to your training CFFB doesn t program it for you because they don t know you People tend to geek out on this stuff and dis miss the whole totally credible training sys tem because there s no fucking accessory work Fine I challenge that person to program for 20 000 athletes and find the one size fits all accessory protocol to add to this program It s not out there You need to be a responsible human and use the law of common sense If you have a weak trunk and need to strengthen it do some extra trunk work iso metric holds back extension abs etc If your triceps are weak do some tricep work Throw this in after the SWOD and DWOD But don t make this the focal point of your train ing THIS DWOD LOOKS WAY TO HEAVY If it s too heavy scale accordingly How do you know if it s too heavy Remember that thing we spoke about earlier Posture and po sition They are priority 1 as we don t know how to make you stronger without challeng ing posture and position by loading and in some cases overloading the structure that is your body CFFB DWODs are lightweight condition ing programmed for a 270l
20. such as cheese and yogurt is acceptable Experiment with milk but elim inate it if it is found to be problematic Limit nuts seeds and fruit to sporadic small servings Need a number No more than once a week Avoid all varieties of cereal grains wheat spelt einkorn emmer durum barley rye oats triticale corn maize sorghum millet fonio and teff soy legumes and vegetable seed oils HERE I5 HOW MUCH YOU SHOULD EAT How much you eat controls energy levels re covery and body weight With this in mind we know there are really only three scenarios regarding body weight Gain Maintain and Lose To Gain eat 20 cals lb of Body Weight To Maintain eat approx 17 cals lb of BW To Lose eat less than 15 cals lb of BW Consider these starting points and guidelines not gospel If you eat 17 cals lb and gain weight then eat less You should only have to measure for a few days to get a hold on how much to eat Rule 1 You should be eating 1g per lb of BW of protein and consuming 10z per 2lbs of BW of h50 every day Rule 2 You should be eating 1g per lb of BW of protein and consuming 10z per 2lbs of BW of h 0 every day In Tyler we trust HERE IS WHEN YOU SHOULD EAT Eat when you are hungry and eat until you are full Don t get overwhelmed with optimal meal placement time of day and every other detail you can think of The complexity typi cally leads to more trouble than it s worth Mov
21. uld be too If you could prove to us that a cobra blood smoothie in the morning would yield a better athlete we d probably start breeding cobras It s not always about how much you can squat or bench your Fran time or even how high of a box you can jump on It s about how well you can perform in your sport of competition Obviously if your sport is the Sport of Fitness or even competitive lifting then YES it is about that But our comments are in regards to sports with balls field sports Do not strive for better numbers at the ex pense of compromising posture position and quality of movement And remember your training isn t the test It s training The test comes on the field the ring the pitch or ice THESE CROSSFIT FOOTBALL GUYS PROGRAMMED TOD LIGHT If a lift is programmed lighter than usual then it s meant to be light We understand that weight will dictate speed of movement But remember train fast be fast If you see a Squat day programmed with rela tively light weight this should not be seen as a light day or easy day you should try the move the bar as fast as you possibly can on the concentric portion of the movement standing up The same goes with horizontal and vertical pressing You should ALWAYS be moving the load as fast as physically possible during the concen tric phase of the movement Eccentric loading should always be con trolled Don t know what con
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