Comments on: Catalyst Athletics

By: Dutch

Dutch — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:51:55 +0000

ryan,
that is the magic bullet! Good luck and enjoy.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:40:06 +0000

Dutch,

Really enjoying reading your stuff, very informative and well put together. I have a question for you. I am a Firefighter so I have a need for both strength and endurance. What do you think of doing one lift (squat, dl, powerclean, press) a day of sets across and then a Metcon combining sprints (200, 400 or 800M) with some heavy lifts (c&j, powerclean, snatch, DLs)? Thanks!

By: freddy c._one world

freddy c._one world — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:41:17 +0000

great post dutch. you are the man. been trying to get over to train with greg and aimee every tuesday. its their training time to, but whenever they catch a glance at me doing something, they always have a great little fix that makes me better. you are totally right, they definitely “get it.”

By: Dutch

Dutch — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:27:16 +0000

Robert,
Sorry for the delay. I had a long weekend out of town.

I would say that SS is ok to work with as a beginner. The bottom line for you is really just to do something strength related. Ideally i would have you doing the olympic lifts as soon as possible. The sooner you are exposed to them the better you will get.
As you progress there will be more of an effort to have a better plan regarding your strength training. Until then, just go pick up heavy shit!

By: Dutch

Dutch — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:23:05 +0000

Duey,
I am doing 4 lifts a day. At least one is either the snatch, clean or Jerk. The rest are accessory lifts like squat, clean pull, push press, snatch balance etc…
I do 4 on 1 off 1 on 1 off. The volume is good. Usually between 60 and 100 reps/ day.

By: Duey

Duey — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:33:23 +0000

Hey Dutch,

I’m not trying to copy your routine or anything I’m just curious; Now that your focusing on mainly oly lifts (which i read about in the PMenu) what’s your programming look like?

thanks

By: dutch

dutch — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:38:04 +0000

dan.
you already do that. Sometimes its 5 reps, sometimes it 1.
you just have a special time when you don’t get to sit down…

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:33:07 +0000

Hey Dutch, why don’t I get to do 3 reps and sit the fuck down?

By: Q

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:00:54 +0000

Definitely agree with you, Dutch. I’ve been on the CA WOD for about a month and have made significant strength improvements, especially in the Olympic lifts (even though I still suck at them). Greg and Aimee are both awesome trainers who definitely “get it” when it comes to programming. Greg’s book is a must-read as well. I highly endorse the CA WOD for all CrossFitters who need to improve their Olympic lifts. And let’s face it, most all CrossFitters need to improve their Olympic lifts.

By: AlexMac

AlexMac — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:13:12 +0000

Dutch,

Awesome article, i have always wanted to know the behind the scenes of CA workouts and am going to be switching to the CA WODs in the near future.

Chris,

Just thought id chime in here,
im not an expert but i would say it depends on your goals:

if you want strength in powerlifts i.e. press, bench, dead, squat go with Wendlers 5-3-1

if you want strength in olifts, some in the CFT lifts and some conditioning
(basically more CF based strength) then go with Catalyst Athletics.

both are very good programs,
but if you are a beginner in the strength world and want to focus on the powerlifts then Starting Strength is a lot better than 5-3-1

cheers,
alex mac