Accessory Work for CrossFit
When you walk into a CrossFit gym, you look at the board and see what the workout is for the day. The benefit of someone knowledgeable programming for you is knowing you will get a good workout every time, build strength, build confidence and usually have some fun at the same time.
The primary tenet of CrossFit is to perform “constantly varied, functional movement, at high intensity.” I would say CrossFit does a really good job of this, and if you know or are taught how to scale movements appropriately then the stimulus of each workout will be the same for you as for other athletes. If you look closely though, a lot of CrossFit movements can mimic others and a lot (not all) are focused on the sagittal plane – think pushing, pressing, pulling type movements. And that is why I think accessory work is hugely important as a CrossFit participant, whether you go a few times a week for a workout or you are competing throughout the year and trying to make the Games.
There are 3 main areas where I think CrossFitters could benefit from accessory work. The needs and amounts of accessory work will vary based on your gym and how they program, your fitness level, your goals for fitness and health, and your personal medical history (with focus on musculoskeletal history). Taking these into account, you can then figure out or get help from your coaches or a physical therapist to work on:
1. Rotational (Transverse plane) strength, control, mobility
2. Lateral (Frontal plane) strength and control
3. YOUR WEAKNESSES
We will touch on each of these areas briefly below.
Rotational strength/control – I personally think this is an area we generally miss in training, regardless of the type of exercise we do. CrossFit isn’t an exception. We can think of things like reaching behind us in the car for something and throwing a ball or swinging a golf club. But running actually has a rotational component to it, and a lot of other activities require good hip rotation mobility or anti-rotation control of the trunk to be successful. Rotation helps us create power as well. Spending even just 5 minutes before or after your workout to do pallof press, chops, or rotational med ball throws can really help.
Lateral strength/control – This tends to get hit a little more in the CrossFit space, although we could still bump it up a bit more. A lot of gyms program farmer’s carries or sandbag cleans which will hit the lateral line, and I’m sure we have all done some side planks in our day. If you think about catching or pressing something overhead though, you need to be equally strong on both sides to prevent dipping to one side. My favorite exercises here are unilateral or offset marching and carries.
Your Weaknesses – This may seem obvious, but to me it is the most important of all. You may be good at some workouts that are programmed and not others, but either way not many workouts are tailored directly to an individual. That’s absolutely fine! You just need to know when and how to scale while you work on strengthening some movements or muscles that aren’t quite where they need to be. This will obviously be different for everyone, but make sure you get an assessment from a coach or PT to see if there are some places you can improve.
With those three areas in mind, I’m plenty of people would say “You want me to spend MORE time in the gym when I already have x, y, and z going on?!” The answer is yes and no. Accessory work can be quick. Five to ten minutes before or after the class workout. If you don’t go to the gym most days of the week, do a quick 20-minute accessory EMOM on those in between days. If you have to watch that TV show or are obsessed with Red October right now, do a set during every commercial break. There are plenty of ways to get accessories in and make sure you are becoming the strongest, most resilient human you can be!
Check out my Instagram soon for examples of how to work on these areas!
