Performance Milestones to Work Towards
Starting CrossFit can feel like a big leap—new workouts, new goals, and a whole new way of approaching fitness. But once you’ve got the basics down, you might be wondering, “What should I focus on next?”
In this post, we’ll go over some key milestones for your lifts, workouts, and body composition to set realistic targets:
1. Lifting Milestones:
Progressing in your lifts is one of the most satisfying parts of CrossFit. It’s empowering, increases your confidence, and makes every day life easier to navigate. And for all of these, getting your form dialed in (your mechanics) is paramount. From there, it’s important to develop consistency in those mechanics before striving for the following milestones:
- Deadlift: Shoot for your bodyweight, then a solid 1.5x your bodyweight after 6 – 12 months of training. Once you’ve achieved these milestones, work up to 2, 2.5, and 3x your bodyweight.
- Back Squat: Initially, you’ll want to strive to back squat 1/2 your own bodyweight. Then 75%, then 100%. As your journey progresses and you’ve put in lots of reps, the next great target is to strive for 1.5 to 2 times your bodyweight (if not more after several years).
- Press: Work to press 60-70% of your body weight. Then you’ll want to work up to 75-80% as your experience grows. Once you’ve accomplished this base figure, you can think of adding 30% to this amount via PUSH press, then another 30% via push JERK, and so on.
- Olympic Lifts: Don’t rush these as they are the most complex and difficult lifts to master. A good starting point for the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk could be half your bodyweight (and after several months of training). In time, you’ll want to strive to snatch 75% of your bodyweight and 100% for the clean & jerk (baby steps). The important thing to remember about all of these milestones is that you must be patient. Getting your mechanics down consistently will take time, as will increasing your strength.
2. Benchmark Workouts:
First of all, you have to understand what a Benchmark workout is! In CrossFit, we assign a name to some of our workouts so we can test them, train hard for a few months, and retest that same workout to ensure you’re making progress! Here are a few of the classic benchmark workouts you’ll see, and some milestones to strive for:
- Fran: Likely the most famous and well known workout in CrossFit, “Fran” is a light, fast, and very intense benchmark (Note: a quick search in YouTube will populate thousands of videos of people all tackling this workout if you’d like to see it). A good initial goal is to complete Fran in under 10 minutes, then aim for sub-6 minutes as you advance. To get a good understanding of what’s possible, there are elite athletes who’ve been doing CrossFit for over a decade who can perform this workout in less than 2 minutes! That’s SO FAST!
- Helen: Another famous workout in CrossFit, “Helen” should first be performed in sub 15 minutes, then sub-10 minutes in time. As you progress, your focus may shift from performing this workout with modifications, then to performing it as prescribed.
- Grace: This benchmark consists of only 30 reps of the power clean & jerk. Initially, a good milestone is to perform this one in sub 10 minutes with a moderate load. With time, the goal is to perform “Grace” in sub 10 minutes using the recommended loading, then shift to sub 5 in the same manner.
Benchmark workouts test endurance, strength, and mental grit. Be sure to record your scores to track progress as you perform them. It’s always a great feeling to look back on your old scores and hit a personal record as you surpass them. If you’re not recording your scores, it will be difficult to maintain motivation because you won’t understand just how much progress you’re making! Log your scores – always!
3. Body Composition:
Improving body composition is all about your overall health and happiness. While everyone’s goals differ, knowing your body composition, and checking in on your progress throughout the year, is a fantastic way to maintain motivation, pivot when necessary, and boost overall confidence! Here are some general guidelines.
- Fat Loss: Aim for a 1-2% decrease in body fat every couple of months, depending on your starting point. Most people who are overweight will see a reduction in body fat at a faster rate and those who are already lean, so it’s important to talk to a coach to keep tabs on this.
- Increased Lean Mass (aka Muscle Mass): While there is often a focus on how much weight you’ve lost or put on, it’s important to know if that weight is muscle mass, body fat, or a combination of both. Losing muscle mass is NOT a good strategy. In fact, putting on muscle mass, especially as one ages, is SO important for body composition, health, and overall longevity. Focus on gaining lean muscle mass without excessive fat gain. A goal might be to increase muscle mass by 2-5lbs over several months while reducing body fat gradually.
- Body Fat Percentage: It does not matter how much weight you lose or gain. What matters is your body fat percentage. For example, many who start CrossFit may gain weight when measuring on a standard bathroom scale. This is NOT a good way to track your progress. What many fail to understand is that weight gain in the initial stage of your journey CAN be a GREAT sign you’re making progress. So long as you’re losing body fat and increasing your muscle mass, in most cases, you’re on the right path! You may see an increase in overall weight at first because muscle weighs more than fat. This is why coaches encourage you to monitor your body composition via professional body fat analysis (like our professional InBody machine) vs constant weighing on a traditional scale – the scale does not tell you enough!
Body composition changes done right often occur gradually, and consistent exercise and quality nutrition goes a LONG way. Be patient, stay consistent, and trust the process.
Your CrossFit journey will be a mix of learning to move well and do so consistently at first, but with time, your focus will shift to tracking your performance via lifts, benchmarks, and your body composition. No matter what your goals are, there is always something to work on and strive for, which makes CrossFit that much more fun and enjoyable!
What milestone are you working towards next? Share your progress with us or reach out to take the next step.
Book your free consultation with one of our coaches here: https://kilo.gymleadmachine.com/widget/booking/hFtBF3qPRpwRKbLDS3TN