Crossfit + Back Squats

[tescott]

Hi Rip,

along the lines of the recent ?1,1,1,1,1 WODs in Crossfit: your thoughts?? thread, I want to add a weekly squat workout into my regular crossfit routine. Though, I have couple of questions.

First, volume. I would consider my squatting ability to be 'novice' (i.e. A simple linear progression, 3 times a week squatting would work for me). Your normal recommendation for a novice (who is squatting 3 times a week) is 3x5. In PPST, you say that 3 sets is good for a novice in general, but that 1 to 5 could be used, depending on the circumstances. I?m not clear on how certain circumstances affect this, so would the recommendation of 3 sets still hold when I'm only squatting once a week? I?d really appreciate if you could explain how workout frequency affects number of sets which should be used, or at least give me some PPST page numbers.

Second, sets across vs progressive sets. The 'done thing' on crossfit strength days is progressive sets. Michael Rutherford?s M.E.B.B crossfit variation includes progressive sets too. In PP, you say these are good where there is uncertainty of capability, but sets across are good for accumulating volume of high quality reps. If I'm adding back squats once a week, is that regular enough that I would benefit most from sets across, or do the crossfit workouts add unknown stress and adaptation such that I?d be better off doing progressive sets?

Thanks for your time ☺

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you're a novice, adding in squats once a week is better than nothing, but it is so sub-optimal that it really doesn't matter how you arrange the sets. This infrequent a schedule will not produce the effect that the regular novice program is designed to produce, so just do it the way you want to.

[JLascek]

I think saying that a met-con "add(s) unknown stress and adaptation" is a cop out. Refusing to try and understand what metabolic or structural stress is occurring won't be useful for the training program. However, since this discussion is on strength, any stress occurring in a met-con that may increase strength is insignificant when strength training is actually performed. If it was significant, then it wouldn't be an actual met-con.

I had people squat 3x5 once a week in the beginning of the year. They got stronger, but I figured out pretty quickly that they could get much stronger doing it more frequently. (Look here: http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6227)

If a person was not going to listen and wanted to squat only once a week, then I don't know if 3x5 or 5x5 would work better. In my opinion, it doesn't matter because I have a way of doing 3x5 twice a week to get faster gains.

I mean, even if one didn't understand the import of strength yet one still wanted to increase it, why do it slower than you could?