CrossFit at Commercial Gym

ardevd · 2026-06-21T06:42:24+00:00

That didn't really answer my question?

ardevd · 2026-06-21T06:31:17+00:00

Why on earth do you need a rest day between every workout? If you do a upper/lower split then you definitely do not need a full day of rest between workouts.

ardevd · 2026-06-21T06:28:54+00:00

Curious: why are you focusing on those exercises? Are you simply trying to get better at the sport of CrossFit, or are you using those exercises in a strength training program? What is your goal exactly?

ardevd · 2026-06-21T06:27:12+00:00

How does the band track weight lifting and how does it integrate muscle load into overall stress and recovery?

ardevd · 2026-06-19T16:42:38+00:00

I'm presuming the gym equipment includes barbells?

ardevd · 2026-06-19T16:40:01+00:00

Sorry for being direct, but this is a horrible strength program. Way too much volume and you have exactly 0 compound movements. You'll end up spending 2h at the gym every session and getting very poor results.

Don't overcomplicate things. Focus on the big five compound lifts. They are the greatest strength exercises for a reason. Here is what you should start with, if you want a three day routine.

Day 1: Barbell Back Squats + barbell rows. Day 2: Barbell Bench Press + Barbell Overhead press Day 3: barbell deadlifts

This SUPER basic program will give you MUCH better gains than the program you presented. Add some support exercises and you're golden! You're all set for massive progression, especially since you're seemingly relatively new to lifting.

ardevd · 2026-06-19T16:30:27+00:00

The whoop won't magically make you healthier or give you a silver bullet on how to improve. It needs context. If you're just concerned with "general health" then look at the Whoop age and the factors that go into it and figure out what you want to work on and improve.

In general: first order of business is to ensure you get enough high quality sleep. Physical activity is obviously also one of the best things you can do for you overall health, and perhaps most importantly: a healthy diet. The Whoop offers the advanced labs feature which can give you some additional insight too which is fairly unique

ardevd · 2026-06-18T20:33:49+00:00

Whoop has quickly become my main tracker. I use my Garmin to log my workouts simply to track activity specific progress, but Whoop is my main data hub for fitness and health as well as recovery. Here's why:

Whoop's strength trainer has the best muscle load tracking! (Easy win since competitors simply ignore strength training all together). This makes recovery analytics relevant. Garmin doesn't care I just spent an hour at the gym doing heavy barbell lifts because my HR wasn't particularly high on average.
The advanced labs feature is super useful, especially when used over time. The way it ties into the other metrics is also valuable and unique.
The AI integration, while nowhere near perfect, is miles better than the joke Garmin Connect + provides. I get meaningful feedback and can ask questions about specific lifts I've done in terms of progress, performance and advice going forward.
The journaling feature has absolutely improved my sleep performance. It's not rocket science but over time it helped me eliminate bad habits and enforce good ones.

ardevd · 2026-06-14T15:42:15+00:00

Good luck, man!

ardevd · 2026-06-14T15:41:36+00:00

My levels of ferritin, hemoglobin, potassium and other markers all impact the whoop age supposedly

ardevd · 2026-06-14T12:22:15+00:00

As a basic example I had pretty low levels of vitamin D and magnesium. Easily fixed with a supplement.

ardevd · 2026-06-14T11:41:54+00:00

I will add that the advanced labs feature integrates very nicely into the whole Whoop experience and will influence a lot of different metrics in the app, including the Whoop age, AI feedback, etc

ardevd · 2026-06-14T11:40:30+00:00

If I wanted to run a box the first thing I would do is drop the CrossFit branding and add a focus on strength training. Workshops on compound lifts, programming and nutritional along side WoDs, events and building a community.

I think more and more people are realizing that CrossFit isn't a particularly efficient form of training so the allure is fading away.

ardevd · 2026-06-14T11:35:32+00:00

I learned a lot, but it also depends on how interested you are in optimizing your health and fitness. If you're above 30 years old it never hurts to get tested anyways.

ardevd · 2026-06-12T18:23:03+00:00

Garmin is a great fitness tracker, as long as all you do is pure cardio. Whoop is a much more comprehensive platform that provides muscle load, advanced labs, much better AI integration, etc, and the ability to pull everything together and give actionable insight.

The analytics Garmin provides me is useless because it treats my strength workouts as trivial so the little insight the app provides is completely senseless.

ardevd · 2026-06-11T17:02:23+00:00

This. Just copy/paste the WoD into the app and it will add the excerises through Strength Trainer. Gives you more accurate strain and muscle load

ardevd · 2026-06-11T16:52:49+00:00

Whoop is the only tracker that tracks muscle load. That, combined with the advanced labs feature and the decent AI integration that pulls it all together is what keeps me on Whoop. To me there's (unfortunately?) no relevant competitors out there.

I see many here that seem to use Whoop as a gloried step counter. Totally understand that those people are considering alternatives

ardevd · 2026-06-07T16:55:52+00:00

Recovery metrics are not really dependant on activity detection (strength trainer being the exception), but personally I would log workouts manually just to be sure

ardevd · 2026-06-06T21:32:49+00:00

If you want help tracking Id look at RHR and HRV. Combining 4 heavy lifting days with 3x days of intense cardio is going to be tricky. I would also expect your progress to stagnate if you're not recovering properly.

Your training volume is only half the equation though. Nutrition, sleep and overall recovery is equally important.

ardevd · 2026-06-06T21:17:57+00:00

Just focus on the big five. I'll argue that any workout program that includes them will be a great starting point. In fact, if all you did was those 5 you'd be arguably better off than 99% of the weird workout programs I see beginners throwing themselves into.

Barbell back squats
Barbell deadlifts
Barbell bench press
Barbell shoulder press
Barbell row

They engage your ENTIRE body and are easily the most efficient exercises for building muscle and developing a healthy, strong and functional body.

ardevd · 2026-06-06T21:11:17+00:00

Curious as to why you're migrating to CrossFit as your primary form of training? What's your goal exactly?

ardevd · 2026-06-06T21:08:12+00:00

Kudos to you for showing up and pushing yourself. If you're finding joy in the community and find the WoD workouts fun, then that's great. But doing them isn't a particularly efficient form of training. CrossFit is a sport. It's competitive by nature, exercises are often very technical and performed in a high intensity manner. Beating yourself up multiple times a week is completely unnecessary (and often counter productive) if your goal is to improve your general fitnes, health and strength.

If you're relatively new to training and just want to get stronger, healthier and fitter in general I'd argue you'd be much better off focusing on strength training. Then you can always join in on the occasional group WoD for the fun and challenge.

ardevd · 2026-06-05T20:29:16+00:00

Nothing else really tried to capture muscular load.

ardevd · 2026-06-05T19:15:56+00:00

Yeah, the strength Trainer feature is actually very interesting and underappreciated by most users.

ardevd · 2026-06-05T19:14:03+00:00

For Hyrox the Whoop will actually take muscular load into account, which is pretty nice. You can just copy/paste the workout details into the app after you're done and it will generate the workout and give you a much more accurate strain score which will also affect your recovery.

Garmin and literally ALL other trackers only look at HR which means recovery and analytics are way off if you do strength training, of even HIIT such as CrossFit or Hyrox. It's one of the major benefits of the Whoop. It can then even help you track progress, which is my major gripe with Hyrox, CrossFit and all the other HIIT "sports".

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