Effective workout programming goes beyond just picking exercises—it’s a structured plan designed to maximize progress while minimizing injury risk. At Invictus Boston, our approach ensures a balance of strength, skill development, and conditioning to help athletes of all levels improve. By combining Strength/Skill sessions with a Workout of the Day (WOD), we create varied, functional, and challenging workouts that keep training engaging and effective. Below is an outline of how we write the workouts that you sweat through at Invictus Boston.
What do you mean by programming?
Workout programming is the structured planning and design of exercise routines to help individuals achieve specific fitness goals. It involves deciding what exercises to include, how often to do them, at what intensity, and in what order to maximize progress while minimizing the risk of injury.
Key elements of workout programming include:
Defined Goals: Tailoring workouts for goals like building strength, improving endurance, learning new skills, or increasing overall fitness.
Exercise Selection: Choosing specific exercises that target different muscle groups or fitness components (e.g., strength, cardio, flexibility).
Volume and Intensity: Determining the number of sets, reps, and weights or effort level for each exercise.
Progression: Gradually increasing difficulty over time to continue making progress.
Recovery and Rest: Incorporating rest days and recovery strategies to prevent overtraining and promote long-term results.
Good programming ensures that workouts are effective, safe, and aligned with the individual's abilities and objectives. At Invictus Boston, our programming encompasses all of the decisions that go into picking the strength/skill cycles and the workout of the day.
What is the goal of our CrossFit programming?
Our CrossFit programming is designed to prepare you for any physical challenge. Whether you're running a charity 5K, moving furniture for a friend, or playing with your kids, our programming helps you feel ready for anything. Our CrossFit programming achieves this by focusing on:
Comprehensive Fitness: Training across various modalities to enhance endurance, strength, flexibility, speed, coordination, and more.
Varied Workouts: Constantly changing exercises, durations, and intensities to improve adaptability.
Functional Movements: Emphasizing natural, everyday movements like squatting, lifting, pushing, and running.
High-Intensity Training: Maximizing results in less time, tailored to individual abilities.
Scalability for All: Workouts are adaptable for beginners to elite athletes.
Our ultimate goal is to build strong, resilient individuals ready for anything life throws their way.
What if I have different fitness goals?
We offer a variety of classes to help you work toward different fitness goals within our class structure. Our Endurance class focuses on developing your cardiovascular system and conditioning. Our Weightlifting class helps you build muscle, increase strength, and improve your barbell technique. Finally, our Gymnastics class focuses on developing bodyweight strength, balance, and coordination.
Even if your primary goal is improving overall fitness, you can still take advantage of these specialty classes to address specific weaknesses. For example, if you come from a strength background and excel at barbell workouts but struggle with longer, cardio-based workouts, you could substitute 1-2 CrossFit workouts for 1–2 Endurance classes per week. This targeted approach will help you improve your weaknesses and become a more well-rounded athlete. If you have any questions about how to pick the right number of classes based on your goals, drop Ben (ben@invictusboston.com) an email if you're a Fenway member or Justin (bartels@invictusboston.com) if you’re a Back Bay member and we will help you come up with a plan.
How is the programming created?
While other gyms utilize template programming, we think it is important to craft our own workouts that deliver on what our members want and need. At our gym, we take a thoughtful and strategic approach to programming by incorporating both Strength/Skill Sessions and a Workout of the Day (WOD). This combination allows us to develop well-rounded fitness, balancing strength, skill development, and conditioning efficiently within the hour. Here is how each piece of the workout gets crafted.
The Strength/Skill Sessions
3-4 times per week, we begin class with a strength or skill session before transitioning into the workout of the day. These strength/skill sessions typically follow an 8-week cycle or “block.” A training block is a specific period dedicated to improving a particular set of movements or skills, progressively increasing their difficulty to drive adaptation and growth.
The creation of these blocks starts with collaboration across our entire coaching staff. We reflect on what we programmed at this time last year, assess what worked well or didn’t work on the floor, consider recent member requests for movements (yes we’re listening!), and determine what is needed to create a balanced training cycle. The cycles are designed by our programming leads, Coach Mia and Coach Justin, and are then reviewed by the entire coaching staff before implementation on the floor.
Additionally, we include detailed descriptions in the Athlete Notes each week for your reference. These notes outline the intent of the cycle, key tests, test dates, and the progression plan for the movement.
The Workout of the Day (WOD)
Multiple coaches contribute to writing the WODs.
When it’s a coach’s turn in the rotation, they write 6-8 workouts for a two-week programming window. These workouts are submitted to the programming leads for review, where adjustments are made and edits are exchanged. The programming leads then write the remaining workouts to ensure well-balanced weeks. This process allows for three sets of eyes on each workout that we program, keeps things creative, and engages the coaches in the process.
In balancing the workouts, we consider several key factors:
Movement Categories
We ensure an equal distribution of movements across three primary categories:
Weightlifting
Gymnastics
Monostructural (cardio)
Movement Patterns
We aim for an appropriate balance of movement patterns, including:
Squatting
Hinging
Pushing
Pulling
Lunging/Single-Leg Movements
Jumping
Core Work
Time Domains
Short Workouts: These high-intensity workouts focus on power output, speed, and anaerobic capacity. They train your ability to perform explosive movements with minimal rest, improving strength, sprint endurance, and metabolic conditioning.
Medium Duration: These workouts balance intensity and endurance, pushing both aerobic and anaerobic systems. They help build muscular stamina, pacing strategies, and overall work capacity, making them a staple for well-rounded fitness.
Long Duration: These workouts develop aerobic endurance, mental toughness, and sustained effort. They improve your ability to maintain output over time and enhance recovery capacity.
Workout Intent
We vary the intent of workouts to develop well-rounded fitness, including:
Sustainability: Workouts designed to build aerobic capacity and cardiovascular endurance.
Power: High-intensity workouts focused on short bursts of maximal effort.
Muscular Endurance: Workouts that challenge the stamina of specific muscle groups.
Technique: Workouts that test skill execution under fatigue.
Strength: Workouts dedicated to developing raw strength.
Each workout is provided with Athlete Notes detailing its timing, intent, approach, and scaling recommendations. Workouts are then entered into SugarWOD with the goal of being published at least one week before they are coached.
How do I personalize the programming for my needs?
The best way to tailor your training to your goals is to work with a coach! Whether you're looking to compete in CrossFit, build strength, improve endurance, or simply add more muscle, our coaches can help design the ideal class schedule for you. With expert guidance, you'll ensure that your workouts are both effective and aligned with your personal fitness journey.
Everyone’s needs are different, which is why we take an individualized approach to programming recommendations. By assessing your current fitness level, strengths, and areas for growth, we can help you balance CrossFit classes, specialty sessions like Weightlifting or Endurance, and recovery to maximize your progress.
If you’re unsure about the best approach or need some extra guidance, we’re here to help! Reach out to Ben (ben@invictusboston.com) an email if you're a Fenway member or Justin (bartels@invictusboston.com) if you're a Back Bay member, and we’ll set up a time to discuss your goals and create a personalized training plan that keeps you moving forward.
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