The Best CrossFit Strength Program For Athletes

If you are reading this, I assume you are a CrossFit athlete who knows you need to start building your strength levels.

You may be getting into CrossFit workouts for the first time and want to get on the fastest route possible to build your strength and set new personal records. Or, you are an advanced CrossFit athlete and realize that you need more strength work in your programming to excel in the sport of fitness.

CrossFit is considered a strength and conditioning program, but I routinely see that the metabolic conditioning aspect is prioritized while the strength piece is placed on the back burner.

The CrossFit training methodology is defined as constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity. Intensity can refer to the pace at which you move and the loads you lift.

If your fitness goals align with becoming the best CrossFit or competing at the highest level at the CrossFit Games in your gym, then building your strength levels up as high as possible should be a priority for you in addition to building your engine.

However, building strength as a CrossFit Athlete can be challenging because although metabolic conditioning is great for conditioning, it can detract from your strength development.

This article will dive into the elements of a great CrossFit strength program so that you can make steady progress toward new personal strength records and elevate your performance.

What Is The Best CrossFit Strength Program?

Building strength in CrossFit involves a multifaceted approach, combining progressive overload, compound movements, periodization, and concurrent training principles. By balancing these elements with proper nutrition and recovery, CrossFitters can achieve significant strength gains while maintaining the variation and intensity that the sport demands.

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These are the elements of the ideal CrossFit strength program.

Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is the cornerstone of strength training. This principle involves gradually increasing workouts’ weight, frequency, or intensity to stimulate muscle growth and strength gains. (1)

For CrossFitters, this might mean:

• Increasing Load: Adding weight to lifts such as squats, deadlifts, and presses.
• Volume Adjustments: Increasing the number of sets and reps over time.
• Intensity Modulation: Performing lifts at higher percentages of your one-rep max (1RM).

Compound Movements

Focusing on compound movements is crucial for building overall strength. These exercises engage multiple muscle groups and joints, promoting functional strength that transfers to various CrossFit workouts. 

Key lifts include:

• Squats (back, front, overhead)
• Deadlifts (conventional, sumo)
• Presses (bench, overhead)
• Olympic Lifts (clean and jerk, snatch)

Periodization

Periodization involves organizing training into cycles to optimize performance and recovery. 

This can include:

• Macrocycles: Long-term training plans spanning several months.
• Mesocycles: Intermediate phases of training, typically 4-6 weeks, each with a specific focus (e.g., hypertrophy, strength, power).
• Microcycles: Weekly or daily training plans that detail specific workouts.

Periodization helps manage intensity and volume, preventing overtraining and promoting continuous progress.

Concurrent Training

Concurrent training combines strength and endurance training in a single program (more on this later). For CrossFitters, this means balancing weightlifting with metabolic conditioning. 

Effective strategies include:

• Scheduling: Separating strength and conditioning sessions (e.g., strength in the morning, conditioning in the evening) to maximize performance in each.
• Ordering: Ensure that all metcons that create an anaerobic or “lactic acid effect” at the end of the session to reduce interference with strength or aerobic training. For instance, ordering sessions that follow a strength + lactic, aerobic + lactic, strength + aerobic + lactic, or aerobic + strength + lactic sequence. 
• Recovery: Prioritizing rest and recovery to allow the body to adapt to both types of training.

Accessory Work

Accessory exercises target specific muscles to support main lifts and correct imbalances. 

This can include:

• Isolation Exercises: Bicep curls, tricep extensions, hamstring curls.
• Stability Work: Exercises that enhance core stability and joint health, such as planks, Turkish get-ups, and band work.

Nutrition and Recovery

Strength gains require adequate nutrition and recovery. Although nutrition is not a direct element of a CrossFit strength program, it will undoubtedly be a linchpin in your progress if your nutrition does not align with your goals. 

Key aspects include:

• Protein Intake: Sufficient protein is needed to support muscle repair and growth. Aim for roughly 1.4-3.0 g/kg/bw per day.
• Carbohydrates and Fats: Balanced diet and macronutrients to fuel intense workouts and recovery. Aim for fat intake to be between 20-30% of your total calorie needs and carbohydrates to fill the remainder of calories after protein and fat are accounted for. 
• Sleep: Ensuring 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night for optimal recovery and lower risk of injury.
• Active Recovery: Incorporating active recovery such as stretching, yoga, or low-intensity cardio to promote blood flow and recovery.

The Importance of Strength In Crossfit

So why should you care about building your absolute strength as a CrossFitter? Why can’t you focus on the conditioning aspect of “strength & conditioning” and become a beast at Metcons?

You could only do Metcons and add heavyweights occasionally, building your strength under fatigue. 

But if you want to build true absolute strength, you cannot do it under fatigue.

Developing true absolute strength requires maximal expression of effort in whatever exercise you are performing and the most rest and recovery to recharge the nervous system. 

Metcons are focused on sustained low—to moderate-effort movements over a specific time frame and do not allow for this level of strength expression. 

As a beginner, you may find yourself building strength only by performing metcons. However, these gains in strength will eventually end, and you will need a traditional strength program to continue your progress.

How Strength Is Built For CrossFit

Strength is built in a layered approach from the first day you enter a CrossFit gym and begin your fitness journey.

As a beginner, gains in strength will be primarily based on improvements in your central nervous system’s (CNS) ability to recruit the musculoskeletal system. (2)

If you have ever experienced or witnessed someone else experiencing “newbie” gains, where every day they walk into the gym and add 10 pounds to their bench press, this mechanism is why.

The brain is building more connections to the muscles to improve its ability to coordinate movement, so no matter what their training days look like, they walk into the gym the following week, and their strength has reached the next level. (2)

Similar to only “strength training” in your metcons, these rapid gains in strength won’t last forever. At some point, the adaptations to the nervous system will slow, and to continue to build strength, you will need to vary the training methods and the amount of resistance that you use. 

You will also need to begin to emphasize muscle development to grow the muscles involved through hypertrophy training.

This can be done by manipulating the repetitions in compound exercises like back squats or using high-repetition isolation exercises as accessory work. (1)

As the muscles grow larger, they are able to produce more force, and with proper nervous system development in conjunction with this growth, a powerful strength-building effect is created. 

A block programming style can be useful here, where a portion of the year is spent on hypertrophy to build muscle mass and improve movement patterns and skills. This is followed by an intensification phase where you use heavier weights to improve the CNS recruitment of the new muscle mass and optimize your strength levels for the next cycle.

Throughout this yearly plan, you will also incorporate different aspects of the strength continuum to improve the various strength qualities of the muscles and movements involved in CrossFit.

The Phases of A CrossFit Strength Program

Every human who walks into the gym for the first time must move through the same three stages of strength development. As mentioned above, the initial improvements in strength come from adaptations to the nervous system. 

Then, to continue to gain strength, you’ll need to add increased intensity and challenge until you can express a true maximum maximally. Without ample time spent in each development phase, you miss out on setting a great foundation for the next phase. 

You may have seen this in CrossFit athletes who make gains really quickly and then don’t set a new strength PR for months or years. They moved too quickly through the initial phases or skipped them altogether to try and lift maximally when their nervous system was unprepared to do so. 

These three phases apply to any movement pattern you do in the gym, whether you’re squatting, hinging, pressing, or pulling. Ensure you develop each quality before moving to the next to avoid plateaus and build your strength peak as high as possible. 

Motor Control

In this phase, the goal is to learn the movement pattern and consistently show proficiency in technique. During this phase, the nervous system adapts quickly but cannot express much force. 

So, in this phase, frequency is the most important factor in your training so that the brain can practice the movement more and solidify the technique, but also because there is little to recover from session to session. 

Since the force produced is relatively low compared to the later phases, you can perform a movement pattern such as squatting several times per week without overtraining. For instance, full-body workouts should be done 3-4 times weekly. 

Longer periods under tension are also valuable in this phase, as they increase nervous system demand and improve muscle endurance.

Example movement: Air Squat 3 x 15 reps @ 4111 tempo

Strength Endurance

The next phase, strength endurance, is what you typically think of when you think of strength training. The emphasis in this phase of strength development is to vary the tension applied to the system through a mix of heavier weights, speeds, tempos, and pieces of equipment. 

As you get into the strength endurance phase you will need to shift away from full body resistance sessions into body part splits because of the increased demand on the CNS. 

Since the loads are heavier and the CNS is recruited more drastically, it will take longer to recover and repeat the same effort. So, using upper body and lower body splits works well here to give the respective body region enough time to rest and recover.

Example movement: Front Squat @ 75% 3 x 8 @ 30X1 tempo

Maximal Contractions

Maximal contractions are the final phase of strength development, where the nervous system has been sufficiently developed to the point where you can actually express strength in a certain movement pattern. 

It is common for CrossFit athletes to want to max out the right way by jumping to this phase, but I have seen plateaus in strength happen over and over again as a result. After mastering strength endurance and getting to maximal contractions, the goal is to set new bests for movement pattern one rep maxes. For example, a one-rep max is needed in the back squat or bench press. 

Once you have reached the point where you have the ability to produce high amounts of force in a pattern, you can then focus on the strength continuum in your strength training.

Example movement: Back Squat – establish a one rep max @ 20X1 tempo

The Strength Continuum Explained

The strength continuum provides a framework for understanding the spectrum from absolute strength to absolute speed. By integrating different types of strength and speed training, athletes can enhance their overall performance, improving both power and velocity. 

This comprehensive approach ensures a well-rounded development, crucial for success in various sports and physical activities.

Absolute Strength

Absolute strength is the maximum amount of force a muscle or group of muscles can generate, irrespective of the time it takes to produce that force. It is often measured by the heaviest weight one can lift in a single effort (one-rep max or 1RM). 

• Focus: Maximum force production.
• Examples: Powerlifting movements like the squat, deadlift, and bench press.
• Training Methods: Heavy lifting with low reps (1-5 reps), long rest periods between sets (3-5 minutes).

Strength-Speed

Strength-speed is the ability to move relatively heavy loads quickly. It represents a blend of strength and speed, where the focus is on generating force rapidly. This type of training is essential for activities requiring powerful movements. 

• Focus: Moving heavy loads as quickly as possible.
• Examples: Olympic weightlifting movements like the clean and jerk, and snatch.
• Training Methods: Moderate to heavy loads lifted with explosive intent (1-5 reps), moderate rest periods (2-3 minutes).

Speed-Strength

Speed-strength is the ability to produce a significant amount of force in the shortest time possible with lighter loads. This type of training is crucial for activities requiring quick, explosive movements. 

• Focus: Explosiveness and rapid force production.
• Examples: Plyometric exercises, sprint starts, and explosive bodyweight movements.
• Training Methods: Light to moderate loads with high velocity (3-6 reps), shorter rest periods (1-2 minutes).

Absolute Speed

Absolute speed is the ability to move at maximum velocity, emphasizing the quickest movements possible with minimal resistance. This type of training is vital for sports and activities where pure speed is critical. 

• Focus: Maximum velocity and acceleration.
• Examples: Sprinting, agility drills, and fast-paced sport-specific movements.
• Training Methods: Short, intense sprints or agility drills with full recovery between efforts to ensure maximal speed (5-10 seconds of work, 2-5 minutes rest).

The Three Energy Systems

The following energy systems are available to the human body during exercise. To build strength, you will emphasize the CP-ATP and the Glycolytic system to a lesser degree. 

CP-ATP System

This energy system is primarily used for high-intensity activities lasting 8-10 seconds, but if you train it consistently, you can extend it to 30 seconds. (3)

Glycolytic System

This system is used for higher-intensity activities that are extended beyond the time domain of the CP-ATP system, ranging from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. The pace is slower but still above your threshold. (3)

Oxidative System

The third system is designed for cardiovascular work beyond 3 minutes for several hours. The pace varies depending on the length of the work interval. For example, a workout lasting 30 minutes will have a slower pace than a five-minute workout. (3)

Concurrent Training Principles

Include your longer and slower conditioning work in muscle mass-building hypertrophy phases or times of the year when the focus is on accumulating high volume so the total amounts of work done don’t interfere with your ability to lift at higher percentages.

Your faster conditioning work can be paired with times of the year when you are intensifying your strength training, as the fast pieces will typically be lower volume and work better with a true strength cycle.

Pay attention to which patterns you are using in your strength training and conditioning work because even if your strength prescriptions and conditioning paces are perfect, if you finish a squat session and then follow it up with squatting in your conditioning, there will be fatigue in that pattern, and one of the pieces will suffer.

Organize your strength training by the strength continuum and move from high to low nervous system demand activities.

This would look like doing faster and lighter exercises before slower and heavier exercises.

For example, do Power Cleans before Front Squats. Heavy Front Squats will fatigue you more than Power Cleans, which require more drive from the nervous system.

Additionally, if your goal is to build as much strength as possible, you will want to have your strength training before your conditioning.

In the same vein as doing Power Cleans before Front Squats, having your conditioning before your strength training will fatigue your nervous system and deplete the substrates needed to lift as well as possible.

Lastly, if your goal is to build as much strength as possible while also building your conditioning levels as a CrossFit Athlete, you should become familiar with the concept of minimum effective dose.

A minimal effective dose is the lowest amount of work and intensity to illicit a change or an adaptation to your strength training.

CrossFitters want to flirt with the minimal effective dose for their strength training because they are developing several other things at the same time as building strength.

Thus, careful consideration must be given to not over-training the system, doing just enough work without “spilling over,” and performing a total amount of work that cannot be recovered from and adapted to.

Final Thoughts On The Best CrossFit Strength Program

Developing your strength is vital to becoming the best CrossFit athlete, whether you want to compete at the highest level in the sport or utilize the methodology to its fullest capacity to live your best life outside of the gym.

Getting strong as a CrossFitter comes with challenges, but after reading this blog post, I hope you now feel equipped to design the best strength training program that moves you closer to your goals.

If you want to see how these principles come together in a yearly training program, you can get my FREE Bulletproof Training Program in your inbox every Monday (HERE)

References: 

1. Chaves, T. S., Scarpelli, M. C., Bergamasco, J. G. A., Silva, D. G. D., Medalha Junior, R. A., Dias, N. F., Bittencourt, D., Carello Filho, P. C., Angleri, V., Nóbrega, S. R., Roberts, M. D., Ugrinowitsch, C., & Libardi, C. A. (2024). Effects of Resistance Training Overload Progression Protocols on Strength and Muscle Mass. International journal of sports medicine, 10.1055/a-2256-5857. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2256-5857 

2. Bontemps, B., Gruet, M., Louis, J., Owens, D. J., Miríc, S., Erskine, R. M., & Vercruyssen, F. (2022). The time course of different neuromuscular adaptations to short-term downhill running training and their specific relationships with strength gains. European journal of applied physiology, 122(4), 1071–1084. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-04898-3 

3. Baker, J. S., McCormick, M. C., & Robergs, R. A. (2010). Interaction among Skeletal Muscle Metabolic Energy Systems during Intense Exercise. Journal of nutrition and metabolism, 2010, 905612. https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/905612