Strength and Conditioning Coach’s approach to Smarter CrossFit Programming
Why Smarter CrossFit Programming Matters
In CrossFit, athletes are pulled in every direction, strength, endurance, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, mobility. But doing more doesn’t always mean doing better. The best CrossFit programming isn’t just hard, it’s structured with purpose attacking weaknesses and strengthening strengths.
As a strength and conditioning (S&C) coach, my job is to write CrossFit workouts and training structures that deliver results while managing recovery, energy systems, and long-term progress. That means identifying what matters most, eliminating conflicting stress, and programming with the athlete’s real-world capacity in mind. In this article I’ll discuss the issue of programming all elements for CrossFit or functional fitness performance in a week. In the next article I’ll specifically discuss programming strength training for CrossFit athletes. Just to clarify, the following mainly applies to competitive athletes and is less relevant for recreational trainees. The likelihood of them reaching their goals is much more dependend on things like fun, community and engagement, optimizing physiological adaptations is usually less relevant.
Key Principle: Create Focus, Structure, and Separation
The most effective CrossFit programming isn’t built on variety and trying to do everything all the time. It should be structured around specific targets aiming to improve a few specific qualities per training cycle. Each training day should have a primary focus, and each training block should progress toward one or two performance goals. When every session tries to do everything, heavy lifting, gymnastics skill, long metcon, sprint intervals, nothing gets developed to its full potential.
Smart programming isolates key physical qualities:
Strength (e.g. squat, press, deadlift)
Power (e.g. Olympic lifts, jumps)
Aerobic capacity (e.g. Aerobic intervals, Z1/2 efforts)
Anaerobic repeatability (e.g. short-rest intervals)
Skill or gymnastics density (e.g. EMOMs, drills)
Rather than trying to work on all qualities simultaneously and even within the same session. Good programming will focus often focus on a few qualities (number will depend on the amount of time available), aiming to spend significant time improving those, while maintaining performance in the others. This approach:
Improves movement quality and output
Reduces fatigue from overlap
Reduces interference
Makes progress measurable
Allows for clear (mental) focus
Over time, you can rotate the focus, but each training cycle should show a clear logic in what it’s building. To be clear, I’m not arguing for classic block periodization. I prefer to always keep touches on all qualities every week, however I will reduce some to maintenance volume, and then spend the other time really hammering whatever the focus is at that point.
Avoid the Interference Effect
This focused structure also helps to avoid the interference effect. The interference effect is a physiological effect that limits or reduces strength/power gains when strenght and conditioning training are done concurrently or within 6 hours of each other. To optimize the results from training it’s therefor wise to try and seperate strength and conditioning focussed training where possible and maximize adaptations.
To manage this there are a few options:
Have separate strength & conditioning days
Have strength & conditioning on the same day, but at least 6h apart
Pair lower-body strength with upper-body conditioning
Pair upper-body strength with lower-body conditioning
Avoids combining high-volume work in the same muscle groups on the same day
This allows you to develop strength and conditioning in parallel, without burning out or stalling progress. Obviously, CrossFit inherently combines strength & conditioning so some interference is unavoidable.
Read my articles on structuring conditioning for CrossFit for a breakdown of the principles I follow here:
CrossFit Conditioning: Build Endurance with Zone Training, a theoretical guide (part 1)
CrossFit Conditioning: Build Endurance with Zone Training, a practical guide (part 2)
A Week of CrossFit Programming Built by an S&C Coach
Let’s have a look at how this would work in practice. The next example is of a mid-season phase for an athlete training 5-6 days a week. It’s a balanced program aimed at both building strenght & conditioning while keeping touches on crossfit specific skills.
Monday – Lower Strength + Upper Conditioning
Back Squat 5×5 @ 75–80%, tempo down
Split Squats 3×10 per leg
Upper-body aerobic intervals: 4 sets of 500m row, 10 pull-ups, 10 cal SkiErg (RPE 7–8)
Why: Prioritizes leg strength without interfering with recovery by using upper-body-focused aerobic work.
Tuesday – Olympic Lifting + Skill
Snatch complex (hang + full snatch), build to 80%
Overhead squat or snatch balance 4×3
EMOM 12: muscle-ups (odd), deficit HSPU (even)
Handstand walk skill work
Why: Barbell speed and gymnastic density with low overall fatigue. Great technical day.
Wednesday – Upper Strength + Lower Conditioning
Strict Press 4×6 @ 70–75%
Weighted Pull-ups 3×8
MAP Intervals (lower-body): 5 rounds – 20 cal Assault Bike, 50m sled push, 10 box jump overs, rest 2:1
Why: Clear separation of stress — upper-body strength and lower-body aerobic output.
Thursday – Active Recovery or Rest
Zone 1 bike or swim (30–45 mins)
Mobility and breathwork flow
Why: Recovery is scheduled proactively to preserve intensity and progress elsewhere.
Friday – Lower-Body Power + Upper Conditioning
Trap Bar Deadlift 4×3 @ 85%
Box Jumps or Weighted Jumps 3×5
Upper-body threshold EMOM: wall walks, push-ups, GHD sit-ups, SkiErg
Why: Trains power with minimal volume and isolates aerobic effort to upper systems.
Saturday – Full CrossFit Workout (Sport Simulation)
For Time:
5 rounds:
400m run
12 power cleans (70/47.5kg)
9 bar-facing burpees
6 bar muscle-ups
Finisher: farmer carry + L-sit hold
Why: This is your competition prep and mental edge day. Push pace, learn transitions, and test your readiness.
Sunday – Full Rest
How CrossFit Programming Changes During the Season
Example of a season for an athlete that is limited by their strength.
Off-Season
Focus: Hypertrophy and maximal strength
Conditioning: Reduced or paused to allow strength to grow without interference
Volume: High, intensity moderate
CrossFit: Minimal; some touches on foundational skills, but low volume to minimize fatigue
If strength is your limiting factor, conditioning is minimized. You’ll build tissue tolerance and raw output.
Pre-Season
Focus: Transfer strength to power and reintroduce aerobic work
Conditioning: MAP intervals, moderate metcons
Goal: Rebuild competition-specific work capacity without compromising recovery
CrossFit: Slightly more: still keeping volume and fatigue to a minimum but starting to re-introduce some intensity
In-Season
Focus: Strength maintenance, skill refinement, competition peaking
Conditioning: High-intensity, short duration, sport-specific
Strength: Lower volume, shift toward power and barbell cycling
CrossFit: Major element, doing a number of “real” CrossFit workouts a week
The in-season goal is staying sharp, healthy, and competition-ready.
Strength vs. Conditioning Priority: What to Emphasize?
When Strength Is the Weak Link:
Drop or heavily reduce conditioning, which includes wods (especially leg-dominant work)
Train strength 3–5 times per week following classic strength training recommendations
Keep recovery tight: sleep, food, rest days
When Conditioning Is the Limiter:
Keep strength to 2 sessions per week for maintenance
Prioritize MAP and threshold sessions (aerobic repeatability under fatigue)
Make CrossFit workouts more specific to the energy systems you want to train, use intervals & remove bottlenecks
Smart CrossFit programming knows when to shift gears.
Conclusion: Smarter CrossFit Workouts Win Long-Term
Funnily enough it seems like we’re almost coming full circle. CrossFit started as a critique to seperate training of qualities and an alternative to classic S&C training. However, now that doing WODs became a professional sport, I believe principles of S&C are the key to optimizing performance. Good training is dictated by clear structure, clear focus, seasonality, and recovery awareness. A strength and conditioning coach builds your week with intent, not randomness, using tested principles to push progress while keeping interference low and adaptation high.
If you’re constantly sore, plateauing, or just unsure what to prioritize next, it’s not effort you’re lacking. It’s clarity.
Want to train smarter?
Book a free intake consultation to see what structured coaching can do.
FAQ: Strength and Conditioning for CrossFit Athletes
What is good CrossFit programming?
It’s a structured approach to designing CrossFit workouts that balance strength, conditioning, skill, and recovery, aligned with your goals and season. Focussed on building a few qualities at a time, not everything all at once.
What’s the interference effect?
The interference effect describes how training strength & endurance concurrently can limit the effectiveness of strength training and reduce the adaptations. It’s both the result of physiological processes in which certain signalling molecules cancel each other out, as the result of simply a reduction in avaible energy resources for training and recovery.
Can I train strength and conditioning on the same day?
Yes, but ideally you pair lower-body strength with upper-body conditioning, or space sessions at least 6 hours apart. This will reduce the interference effect.
How should programming change during the year?
Off-season should be focussed on building base qualities or working on weaknesses. Pre-season reintroduces sport-specific qualities and starts to increase intensity. In-season focuses on intensity and performance in the sport-specific events with reduced volume.
Should I cut conditioning to get stronger?
Sometimes. If you’ve stalled on lifts and are constantly fatigued, reducing conditioning may be necessary to support recovery and strength gains, and simply have enough energy to do significant work.
Does this approach work for non-competitors too?
Absolutely. Structured programming prevents burnout, supports consistency, and helps anyone who wants to train with purpose, not just intensity.