Wes had a great idea. He asked me to take a couple workouts, one “good” one “bad” and analyze them.

I stole this one from Max at maxfitusa.com. I will point out some good and bad things about it but overall i think it is a quality workout.
CFG WOD

by Max on Apr.21, 2009, under Crossfit Games WODs

Back Squat 15/65% 2×10/70% 2×8/80%

Rest 5-15min

“Broken Helen”
6 rounds AQAP of:
200m Run
12 KB Swing (M=2pood/W=1.5pood)
6 Pull-up

I will start with the strength portion. Max likes to train people using the metabolic pathways. Olympic lifts for explosive power, slow lifts for sustained strength output and metcon for endurance and conditioning. In this workout he skips the explosive power and goes straight into the strength work. It looks like he was pretty heavy in the explosive power component for the couple weeks prior. There was limited sustained strength work so it looks like he is shifting his focus. I will be honest here and call Max out for being a little heavy on his programming. I tend to cut his workouts in half especially ones like this. I felt like cutting this in half was sufficient especially because i was planning on the metcon afterwards. I think it is a perfectly manageable workload if you aren’t trying to do a metcon afterward.

The metcon is comprised of a couple things i like and a couple things i don’t. I feel the workout overall is good and would make me more fit but i’m not saying i would like it. Personally i hate swings…especially heavy ones. The workload per round is pretty low so i think it was ok. I am not a fan of running but i like the shorter runs. I feel they allow you to keep your intensity higher instead of resting on the run. An interesting thing about running and rowing is that regardless how hard you work, provided you don’t stop, you are still making progress. I bet on a 400m run 90% of the time i come back with my heart rate lower then it was when i started. To me that means i could have run faster. Anyway, i like the 200m and think the swings are manageable at least for 3-4 rounds. Then they may need to be broken up which is just fine. The pullups should not be broken up at all and are just enough to provide a little stimulus for the arms on the run.

I don’t like the 6 rounds and let me tell you why. This is a personal preference simply because there is no middle round. It is a mental thing for me. I would rather do 7 rounds than 6. Other than that, because of the adjusted rep scheme and distance on the run i really like this workout for its ability to produce power.

Thoughts??
Next time we explore a “bad” workout…