July Programming Focus: Posterior Chain & Form
by Erik Castiglione

Greetings Relentless Family!

I have a few things to cover in today’s blog post article. First, this week’s training article will be published tomorrow since it requires some video that I still need to film. Stay tuned for it!

Second, I wanted to give everyone a quick programming update regarding what we’ve been doing recently. We have been going light on the weights for the last 12 days in an extended deload period. Going forward, our deload periods will only be a week long. We went longer this time since we spent a good amount of time testing our lifts, and because it’s been a good 8 months since CFR has had a strength bias. For those requesting an article on my programming philosophy, I promise it’s coming soon. Well, they’re coming soon, it’s actually a series of articles.

Finally, I want to tell everyone what they can expect in July. Our strength bias in July is going to focus on building everyone’s posterior chain. Most of the movements in CrossFit are anterior chain dominate. That is to say, they use the quads, hips, abs, pecs, lats, and anterior deltoids (front of the shoulders). Furthermore, most people spend their time sitting, and if they have an exercise history, it involves running, which is a very anteriorly dominated activity. This can lead to muscle imbalances, resulting in back pain and shoulder pain. We’re going to spend July building the hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, and core to try to even things out a bit. Additionally, we’re going to focus a lot more on form in the deadlift and low bar squat, so that you can feel what it means to engage the posterior chain in your lifts.

Expect to see some new movements that you’ve never done before, and PLEASE give feedback through Wodify to let me know what you think!

Stay Relentless,
Erik