How Important Is Programming For CrossFit?
Written by Kelly Sekulovski

If you are interested in CrossFit, you will hear a lot about this word “programming”. But what does it mean?

It’s not overly complicated: programming literally means what is programmed for you to do that day in your workout. The programming includes what movements you do, for how many reps, and for how long/how many rounds you do them. Programming is essentially the actual work you will be doing when completing a workout.

How Important Is Programming For CrossFit?

Programming is one of the most important factors to ensure athlete or member success because good programming means well-rounded workouts that are making you healthier and fitter leading to a happier life. Working out with no plan or clear intention can frankly be a waste of time. Most of us have specific goals, so why not have workouts catered to helping you achieve those goals?

A key component of the success of Invictus is the programming. You might just look at a workout and think, “wow looks like a fun workout”, but our expert coaches design those workouts with specific intention behind each and every movement, time domain, and intensity level. They understand the importance behind programming for a wide variety of skill levels while still helping all athletes work towards achieving their goals.

How to Spot Good Programming

There are some key indicators to look for when it comes to good programming. Ask yourself the following questions:

Are my workouts providing a variety of different time domains? (Example: short sprints, long metcons, skill EMOMs, rounds for time)
Do I consistently work on my strength, aerobic capacity, and gymnastics skills without feeling burnt out?
Do I feel challenged by the workouts?
Do I enjoy (for the most part) the workouts?
Do my workouts continue to motivate me to be in the gym?
Have you noticed progress towards your goals?

If the answer to all the above questions is yes then you are following programming that is likely a good fit for you!

How to Spot “Not So Good” Programming

Just like there are some key indicators to look for when it comes to good programming, there are some things to look for when it comes to… not so good programming. Ask yourself the following questions:

Do a lot of the workouts feel the same?
Do you rarely strength train?
Do you rarely do cardio?
Do you rarely have dedicated time to practice gymnastics movements?
Do you constantly wonder what the intention is behind the workout?
Do you feel completely beat up after your workouts?
Do you feel like your workouts are too easy?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, you might want to think about changing up your programming. Why would you want to do workouts that aren’t clearly helping you get to your goals?

There are some key indicators you are doing workouts that aren’t challenging you everyday, aka your programming is a bit too easy, this can start to cause you to plateau in your fitness. Vice versa, doing workouts that are WAY too hard for you will cause you to feel constantly beat up and sore, and increase your chances of injury. We want to help you find that sweet spot of programming so that you not only feel successful in CrossFit but are continuing to advance towards your goals no matter your ability level.

Interested in Invictus Programming?

Programming for Garage Gym-ers

Looking for a program to follow in your garage gym, or on your own at your CrossFit gym? Invictus has a variety of options, including:

Invictus Athlete: you’re looking to be more competitive in your fitness, whether that’s eventually going to the CrossFit Games, or wanting to crush your local gym rivals in a throwdown competition

Invictus Masters: you’re over 35 and want to focus on being competitive, and train with longevity and without injury as you level up within the masters divisions

Invictus Everyday Fitness: your goal is to get your workouts done in 60 or less minutes from warm up to finish, and be an overall fit and healthy individual.

Invictus Weightlifting: you want to get stronger in all of your lifts, including the Olympic Lifts (snatches and clean & jerks) and other traditional strength exercises. This is a supplemental program that will be an add on to your normal training, and can either be done 3 days per week or 5 days per week.
Invictus Gymnastics: all you’ve wanted is to get that first pull-up, or chest-to-bar, or muscle-up but need a bit of help with what drills and exercises to do to get you there. Improve all of your gymnastics skills in this supplemental program and watch your skills increase immensely!

Programming for Gym Owners

Invictus offers affiliate programming for gym owners to share with their entire community. With access to our affiliate programming, you will gain access to 6 different tracks to ensure that the programming is well rounded, shooting for overall fitness versus just strength or aerobic capacity. These tracks are:

Performance: This is your classic CrossFit track – each day, a strength and a metcon, and not always in that order. You’ll find Olympic Weightlifting, strength, and gymnastic progressions, and just enough variety to drive consistent adaptations.
Fitness: This is where most humans should train for health and longevity. The adaptations garnered from this program are very similar to the “Performance” track, with the added benefit of decreased risk through less complex movement selection – think “simple not easy”. Members will see body composition changes, increased lean muscle mass, improved conditioning and movement quality by incorporating unilateral exercises, tempo training, mobility supersets and upper/lower splits.
Muscle: Traditional strength training meets body building meets CrossFit. This class addresses common imbalances and strength deficits without a heavy reliance on highly-technical movement variations or maximal load, making it an excellent stimulus for novice to advanced movers. These classes look easy on paper, but rest assured, they will thoroughly smoke you. CrossFitters who wish to put on slabs of muscle mass will love this track.
Motor: This program develops your engine – without having to know how to cycle a barbell! Members will focus on effort, intensity, and pacing strategies that drive endurance, threshold and VO2 max development. This class is perfect for the CrossFitter that needs to improve their conditioning as well as the general members training for outdoor adventures and weekend races.
Strength: Classic and neo-classical strength training periodization models meet CrossFit and bodybuilding. Similar to the “Muscle” track, but with more longitudinal structure to the main strength progressions, this track is for the more advanced members who desire to prioritize strength adaptations.
Running: Features three sessions per week of training geared towards helping CrossFitters improve their running without overtraining. This track fits seamlessly with all of our other tracks.

Join the Invictus Family and see why thousands of athletes follow Invictus programming!