Does getting stronger = fitter?

Pure Pharma

With us moving into a 6 week strength cycle starting Monday, I think it’s important to tell you what consistency and strength training will do.

Coach Stephen’s 2014.

In January 2014 I competed in a competition, World Wide WoD. It consisted of 3 events. The goal of this event is for you to do the competition every year, completing the same workouts every year, testing if you truly have become more fit. Today was the day to compete again and compare 2015 Stephen to 2014 Stephen.

For the first 3 months of 2014 the primary focus was on increasing my lung capacity (cardio) in order to do well in the Open. My training partners and I followed Coach Ben Bergeon of CrossFit New England’s Competitors training (www.competitorstraining.com). It was highly effective and allowed me to increase my aerobic base, move light(er) loads faster while being able to breathe, and accumulate as many reps every week as I could.

I was happy with the results of the Open, but I knew I had to get stronger! Starting in April our training group began following John Welbourn of CrossFit Football’s (www.crossfitfootball.com) “Field Strong” program in order to become bigger, faster, and stronger. It was highly effective in creating core to extremity strength. I felt much stronger after we finished up in July.

After competing in July in a some what bigger event in Austin, it was again clear to me that I needed to get STRONGER! I began another strength program through December to try to gain as much muscle and strength as possible!

Team Guns

Here are some of the increases in 2014:
Squat +25#
Deadlift +10#
Press +15#
Clean +30#
Snatch +10#
Front Squat +20#
Push Press +25#
Unbroken Muscle-ups +3 reps

But how does this increased strength with less emphasis on conditioning translate to overall fitness??

Today’s event were heavily conditioning based workouts. How did primarily becoming stronger effect my fitness in conditioning based performances?

Event 1:
2014 – TIME CAPPED with 23 reps left (DNF)
2015 – 11:43 (:17 under time cap)

Event 2:
2014 – Total score 1,540
2015 – Total score 1,890

Event 3:
2014 – 2:34
2015 – 2:22

Overall, much more improved! Now I can freely admit my lungs are not where they have been or where they should be (probably 85-90%). But stronger is always better!

Do not be afraid of this strength program we’ll be traveling through. Stronger is better and you’ll be better in the end. We’ll be hitting short and hard conditioning pieces too so you shouldn’t lose lung capacity. This is a win, win, win for you guys!

Show up, put in the work, and get better!

Pure Pharma