PUSH's 9-Week Cycle: Gråkappan

Not Milkshake, but Milchick.

This is what happens when you binge-watch Severance because your wife is out of town and you want to know what the hell is going on. In Severance season 2, episode 5, Milchick tells an interesting story about a figure known as the Gråkappan. According to Milchick, he was a Swedish king who would wear a gray cloak (called a Gråkappan) and leave the castle in disguise. The king would hide among his subjects, spending time among the common folk to learn about their true needs. As a side note, if you want to see a fun interview with actor Tramell Tillman (Mr. Milchick) explaining how he landed on the pronunciation of the word Gråkappan, click here.

So what does this have to do with this upcoming cycle? Well, similar to the idea of disguising yourself as one thing in order to hide in plain sight, there are similar components to the fitness in this cycle. Is this a stretch of an explanation in order to simply title this cycle Gråkappan? Probably. But hey, I think it works if you don't think about it too hard, but also just hard enough.

One of the biggest challenges we all face when it comes to our training or pursuing our next goal is strength. Essentially, many of us are not strong enough. Before anyone feels offended by this statement, let me clarify: this is not an attack. It is simply an objective observation and a straightforward truth.

For example, if you can’t deadlift 500 pounds, that means you're not strong enough for that specific goal. If you can't maintain or even get to a cadence above 100 on the Echo bike, you're not strong enough for that challenge either. Similarly, if you can't perform strict pull-ups, that indicates a lack of strength in that area.

This realization can be difficult for many to accept. However, not being strong doesn’t equate to being weak. I mean, it could mean that sometimes, but it's relative. It simply means that the stronger we become, the easier our challenges will be to overcome. For instance, if someone can deadlift 450 pounds but not 500, that doesn’t make them "weak"; it demonstrates that they are on their way to reaching their potential.

Ultimately, we need to consider "strong enough" in relation to the specific tasks and goals we set for ourselves.

Just a reminder that developing physiological strength takes longer than improving aerobic capacity and skills. Therefore, we shouldn't just address this topic sporadically; we need to focus on it consistently in order to improve. Throughout this cycle, you'll notice that a common theme is the emphasis on strength development, specifically with hypertrophy training. Beach season is coming up, so why not focus a little on aesthetics, right? We are going to start this approach through progressive overload and linear progression. Linear progression is a specific method of implementing progressive overload, where you consistently increase the load (weight, reps, sets) in a structured, linear fashion, while progressive overload is the broader principle of gradually increasing the stress on your muscles over time.

Feeling good feels better than feeling bad.

Throughout the 9-week cycle, you will encounter various examples of progressions. For instance, during week one you may perform back squats in a 4x10 format, while in week two, the pattern might shift to 10-10-8-8. In the case of strict gymnastics, you will be encouraged to add 1-2 reps to your sets compared to the previous week. Later in the cycle, you may do thrusters in a 3x10 format, followed by a decrease in weight while increasing the number of repetitions to 3x15. This approach is designed to develop endurance and build confidence in performing larger sets during metcons.

I know some of you might be thinking, "What about my metcon, the sweat, and that intense feeling I'm looking for?" Just because we're emphasizing strength doesn't mean we won't incorporate all the "enjoyable" elements. One of the core focuses behind Gråkappan is that we'll incorporate those traditional experiences—what some of the original CrossFitters might call "the classics"—into our strength training. However, it's crucial to follow a specific approach to ensure progression and effectiveness.

So don't you worry! A part of this training cycle will involve short, intense anaerobic workouts scheduled approximately every 7 to 10 days. These sessions will leave you completely exhausted—think bike sprints, Fran-esque, or sub-5-minute all-out efforts. Many people believe they are missing these types of workouts in their programs when they see or hear "strength biased". Most people even think of them as "classic CrossFit." From a training perspective and that thing called science, this should not be an everyday approach. We'll discuss this in more detail in an upcoming podcast episode, but it’s important to clarify that many who claim classic CrossFit consists of a strength piece plus a metcon are mistaken.

"Again, Workout of the Day. Singular. Not Workouts of the Day."

Anyone who has attended a Level 1 or 2 certification knows that this concept is not mentioned in any handbook, reference guide, or seminar. If you look back at CrossFit.com, you will find a single workout listed for the day—the WOD (workout of the day), not multiple workouts. The strength plus metcon idea emerged as CrossFit gained popularity, as people looked for the most efficient use of their time in one-hour classes. However, this approach often leads to poor time management, inadequate coaching, and diminished adaptations for athletes.

So, when we schedule those high-intensity days, we expect you to push yourself to your limits. On other days that involve conditioning elements, we aim for a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) of 6-8. This is training—an opportunity to push your limits while also allowing for skill development, pacing, proper form, control, and execution. This is how we can feel like we have both elements of strength and conditioning in on certain days, but without blunting our progressions. To quote Josh Godinez, an HWPO coach who works directly with Mat Fraser, "Part of the reason that practice or training for a sport should look different than “gameplay” is that this allows a chance for the intensity to be pulled back, facilitating both a safer environment for the athlete and one that is more conducive to education, practicing new skills, and refining fundamentals. Competition and sports are intense. At full throttle, they will push the body to its limits, raising the risk of injury. This intensity can also force an athlete to move into their natural habits, making it harder to find moments to slow down or try anything new. If competition intensity is the only way an athlete trains, that athlete will likely have difficulty progressing in their sport." I would also add, not just in their sport, but just in their overall day-to-day training. If you'd like to read more of that article by Josh, click here. But if Mat Fraser doesn't do this, why do you think you should?

Within this mesocycle, there are microcycles. For instance, on Thursdays, we will place a strong emphasis on developing strict upper-body gymnastics strength. This focus will gradually transition into incorporating these movements into conditioning-style workouts. However, it's important to establish a solid foundation and build trust in your abilities before adding higher heart rates to the equation.

For instance, let’s consider the ring muscle-up. If someone, let's call him Seth Milchick, can't perform a ring muscle-up, it's likely because he hasn’t yet mastered a ring dip or a strict pull-up, either his innie or his outie. As his coach, how would I help him achieve a ring muscle-up in the future? First, we need to get him strong enough to complete about five strict pull-ups and five strict ring dips. Remember, building strength takes time.

Next, we would break down the muscle-up into its components, focusing on transitions that connect the pull-up to the dip. This involves skill development and dedicated practice. Once Mr. Milchick can perform a muscle-up, we’ll integrate it into a consistent training volume—perhaps one muscle-up every minute for ten minutes. The following week, we might increase that to one to two muscle-ups every minute for ten minutes.

After establishing this foundation, we can introduce another modality, such as biking, into his workouts. For example, a workout might be five rounds of 1000m on the bike (berg) and two muscle-ups. This approach maintains the total volume of muscle-ups we practiced previously while also introducing a fitness component that elevates his heart rate.

We would continue this pattern, gradually increasing the volume of muscle-ups in both sets and overall training. Only then can we tackle classic CrossFit workouts that involve higher intensity and potential interference. For instance, think about the workout "Nate," which is an AMRAP for 20 minutes with 2 ring muscle-ups, 4 handstand push-ups, and 8 kettlebell swings (70/53 lbs). For context to this workout, the best I've achieved is over 18 rounds, which totals 36 ring muscle-ups, 72 handstand push-ups, and 144 heavy kettlebell swings. Do you really think I practiced my muscle-ups in the beginning with a workout like this? Hell no. I worked for some time to develop my skills, strengths, capacity, and general confidence, allowing me to effectively engage in longer workouts that involved intentional pulling and pushing variations.

"You can do it! Press out!"

This type of progression can help some individuals achieve their first strict handstand push-up (get ready for Thursdays) or muscle-up in as little as nine weeks. However, for others, it may still take nine months to reach that goal. This is simply the nature of training and skill development. Some people are already close to achieving their goals, while others are further away. There are also those who might be near success but don't realize it; they may become impatient and quit before developing the necessary strength and skills to perform certain movements, tasks, or lifts.

Another important aspect of this training cycle is the consistency of your clean and snatch lifts. In the initial weeks, we will place a greater emphasis on power positions. We will also introduce pauses at various positions and incorporate segmented elements. The point of this is to provide consistent exposure to these complex lifts, helping you feel more confident in your technique. Additionally, it ensures that we only increase the weight when we have truly earned the right to do so. For many of us, these pauses will challenge us to either refine our proper form or to generate more power through our leg drive. Most of these days will likely fall on Wednesdays and/or Fridays, although there may be exceptions.

In summary, we need to stop considering workouts and training as the same thing. If you truly want to improve a skill that you haven't mastered yet or increase your strength, relying solely on "classic" or extremely challenging workouts won't be enough. It's essential to have a clear path and maintain consistency to achieve your goals. Below is an example of the first week of our cycle. Also, this could be the dopest cycle we've done yet, just saying.

A peak behind the curtain.