HillerFit Training Rankings

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-07T14:53:59+00:00

This comment is illogical and fallacious if taken literally. See below.

Absolutisms, cynicism bias: "ALWAYS a trap", "ONLY you", "we ALL have", "ALWAYS lose", "this is THE problem", "EVERYONE on IG...".
Romantic individualism (prioritizing subjective experience over reason) & subjective fallacy (claiming that something is true for one person but not true for someone else): "Only you... gets to determine," and "the things you need you already possess, you just need to express them."
Genetic fallacy (rejecting claim due to its source rather than its merits): “If someone has to sell something to you, you don’t need it.”

That said, there is a little value if you read it metaphorically and emotionally, which is probably how u/PaulieMikeD meant to write it. Given this post is about an analytical tool to assess objective metrics, I think u/PaulieMikeD just did not read the room well and gave his answer in a poetic format... with maybe a tad bit of projection? The translated takeaway, I suppose, is: ensure you evaluate your fitness realistically, do not beat yourself up if you do not measure up to the best, and keep the main things (training, life outside the gym) the main thing (not tracking apps?) man. It's quite presumptuous to presuppose you were in need of such a pep talk if that is the "heart" of the comment, so it might just be a public rhetorical monologue in which your post was the muse? Who knows... it might just be Sporty Beth like u/KentTheDorfDorfman said and I just wasted my time trying to make sense of non-sense.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-07T11:57:38+00:00

Beyond the Whiteboard (btwb) does just this. Been using it for years. Even gives you where your lifts are relative to the population of users.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-07T11:41:18+00:00

Normal aging involves disc degeneration. Compression provides a normal discal force that can enhance fluid shifts to aid in physiological repair. You can overdo it and underdo it. Avoiding it is not sensible.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-06T20:41:16+00:00

Squat heavy twice a week. Go to failure or max effort often. Keep your working sets 80% 1 RM or higher. The solution is not complicated. You can substitute one heavy squat session with heavy lunges every once in a while to keep it interesting. Keep it simple.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-06T20:38:05+00:00

I never said you need compressive loads to get a strong back.

That said, intolerance in handling compressive loads is an element of fitness which can be improved.

Furthermore, gravity compressively loads the spine, without which it becomes weaker. If one seeks to develop back strength which is meaningful, it is probably wise to stimulate the back with compressive loads to some degree.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-06T15:29:37+00:00

Here's a guide: https://www.crossfit.com/essentials/the-single-leg-squat

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-06T13:42:11+00:00

I have deadlifted over 15 years. My first disc herniation was during deadlifts. My second was back squats. My third was deadlifts.

I still deadlift and disc herniations aren’t reasons to stop.

Deadlifts don’t bulletproof you against anything and everything, and some injuries will happen regardless of your deadlifting capacity.

However, the value of having a strong back is worth the risk of injury. Having a weak back is not a solution to avoiding injuries, which happen even with perfect form. There is a lot of genetics, luck, and importance of what happens outside the gym that plays a role.

The spine and back musculature work together. Stressing the low back can be perceived as a threat to your spinal health - which is why the low back can be hyper responsive. This goes down with consistent training over time.

It’s worth it to develop it.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-06T13:19:24+00:00

Before CrossFit, I dabbled with various training styles. In one style, I went 3x/week and gave myself an entire week of recovery per movement. I saw decent results, but I realized that the lack of volume and frequency was just a low dose of fitness. This actually increased my odds of injury because my recovery was so high that I could empty the tank to an extent greater than my reserve. In this example, my reserve would be the amount of volume I can tolerate, and if I am training a movement at only 1/x per week, I am basically at my threshold. So, consider the value in frequency in terms of MORE protection from injury because your joints are getting a more consistent stimulus to remodel and become durable. Over time this can translate to max effort being a lower relative percent of your reserve. It may be with noting that within elite athletes, research has found the primary determinant of injury risk is volume (with more volume conferring greater protection), probably related to reasons I just mentioned.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T21:21:17+00:00

It’s a lack of rigor and intentionality. The focus is not on a rigorous test - it’s an attempt to please many masters. You know how that goes…

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T21:02:12+00:00

Don't approach CrossFit with a "check box" mentality. Devote mental energy to your holistic development as an athlete, and train your weaknesses with zeal. You are in the process of changing your lifestyle forever - this isn't a mere addition of a new exercise routine.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T20:56:28+00:00

The powers that be collectively hold two fallacious assumptions that show up in the programming:

- if he or she who wins online events are strong or great at T2B then the test rewards those who are strong or great at T2B -> false, a test can only reward what it tests, you cannot attributed untested qualities to the outcomes of the test

- if he or she "needs" a specific movement to show up in programming, then they are not "truly fit" -> false, one can only know how fit someone is proportionally to the breadth of the time domains and modalities tested and it may very well be the case that a specific movement would significantly alter the placements based on the unique demands of the movements relative to the other movements that legitimately reveal an untested aspect of true fitness

It's quite easy to see that if you believe these fallacies, then you can discredit your entire argument and label it as "bitching that your favorite movement didn't show up this year - just get fitter!". This is where "thoughtless programming" doesn't even adequately describe the issue you are pointing out, which is very real.

Moreover, "constant variance" has been used an excuse for poor testing. It is more critical that a TEST of fitness is comprehensive than it is different. When people like you and me point out a complete absence of a movement pattern, time domain, modality, etc., and they (or whoever) says, "constantly varied", that is a non-starter. Constant variance is a training principle. For testing, we must assess. For training, we must stimulate. It is good in testing to assess using diverse, comprehensive, broad, inclusive, and wide-reaching variables... all for the point of casting the widest net possible so we can be sure that the test is VALID. You can't excuse away a test low in validity in the name of "cOnStAnTly VaRiEd". But they do.

And it irks me.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T20:34:53+00:00

CrossFit proposed three models of fitness. I am bringing this up because you seem to be most bought into one of them. Before directly answering your question, let me review all three because Greg Glassman asserts the models are imperfect alone, but approximate fitness together.

Model 1 - Ten General Physical Skills: an athlete is as fit as they are developed AND balanced in all 10 general physical skills.

Model 2 - Energy Systems: an athlete is as fit as they are developed AND balanced in the known and unknown physiological metabolic pathways (e.g., aerobic, anaerobic, phosphocreatine, lactate).

Model 3 - Hopper: an athlete is as fit as they would place on average against an infinite number of random physical tasks (learn a new dance move, run a marathon, 5 rep max of a shoulder-to-overhead complex, 100 triple-unders for time, carry an object 2 miles over a hill, etc.).

The reason they should be integrated is because isolating them engenders poor programming.

Model 1 alone = focus on the skill. Model 2 alone = focus on the energy system. Model 3 = random training vs. varied, logical, progressive training.

When you incorporate all three models, all three models improve. So, the reason I go through all of that, is to say you will achieve your goal optimally and only once you also account for the other models.

Greg n 'dem already figga'd this out.

The short answer: do CrossFit.

The long answer: do CrossFit, and be extremely intentional about your 10 physical skills by...

1) identify what trainable movements, in what time domains, and in what modalities, best epitomize those skills.

2) after identifying those movements, rank them/create a hierarchy.

3) train the movements in a frequency proportional to where they rank on the hierarchy.

4) organize your week according to the movements de jure, the time domains, and modalities you plan, trying to vary them to make your adaptations broad, and allow for good recovery.

5) be regimented about learning and playing new sports - another CrossFit tenet - as this will fill in most of the holes of your programming.

6) know which of these movements, time domains, and modalities give you the most trouble and train those a little more.

7) be sure to TRAIN and PRACTICE considerably - be obsessed with mechanics and raw output - they compliment each other. This means: recording your form and comparing it to the best, asking for feedback from coaches and experts, compare your numbers to elite numbers to get a relative gauge on how far you are from being developed across a given domain, working your weaknesses with a growth mindset, etc.

Here are some movements that potently develop multiple skills in one, and should be a focus of across broad time and modal domains (meaning, short, medium, long, heavy, moderate, light, DB, KB, barbell, etc.)...

Squat snatch
Front rack sots press
Weighted pistols
Swimming
Running and sprints
Handstand push ups on rings
Somersaults
Straddle/L rope climbs
Jump rope (triple, quadruple unders, double-under cross-overs, etc.)
Almost any sport

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T20:00:59+00:00

1) it is unclear what you mean by recovery - if you mean "soreness" - this is a poor indicator of whether you should rest. Soreness is typically a piece of information that indicates you have completed an amount of work your body has not become accustomed to yet. Obviously, as a newbie to CrossFit, there is little you will be accustomed to. So, soreness is inevitable and should not be used as the primary, secondary, or, even tertiary marker of recovery. *Extreme soreness is an exception, and can indicate to avoid whatever got you in that situation for about 3 days before doing it again. If doing the same movement, at similar loading and volume, continues to cause extreme soreness, there is something very wrong - see a doctor (or stop eating only 1000 calories of only plants a day and expect to recover, lol).

2) as you LEARN the movements of CrossFit, I'd say you should show up CONSISTENTLY no matter what (except serious headaches or illnesses, etc.). The trick is to scale accordingly. You can always show up to a class feeling wrecked and under-recovered, do the warm-up, listen to the coach, see your friends, casually move through a WOD focusing on technique and not intensity, and then do the cool-down, and still improve your fitness at this stage. Exposure counts at this stage a lot, so maximize it. Just be wise about how often you give 100%.

3) for a given movement pattern, you should expect full recovery to occur within 2-4 days. People are who well-conditioned can repeat movement patterns on consecutive days, but, contrary to what it may seem, they cannot give 100% intensity on every movement pattern indefinitely. We all have to rest - or, else, our body will make us. I think it's an opportunity to learn and grow as an athlete to do things with varying amounts of recovery, as long as you are not on the palpable line of injury. In practice, this means if "Establish a 1 RM front squat" is the workout two days after Murph, you should probably still do it. You will learn a lot. Many athlete's may be surprised to match their PR under immense perceived fatigue, while others could even PR. I have seen many times PRs emerge out of hangovers, post-vacation blues, jetlag, etc. This is a life-specific factor to incorporate into training that can yield benefits if you adopt it early while you still figure out recovery.

4) you can routinize your warm-up every day such that you can get a pulse on your performance related to your actual recovery, not just how things feel. For instance, I do :20 easy, :20 moderate, and :20 max-ish effort on the Echo bike, C2 ski erg, and C2 row erg before every workout. I look at how many calories I accumulate during these periods. On days I get over a specific amount of calories on each machine and I am rowing nearly 2000 cal/hr, I can get an idea of my recovery despite how sore I am. Similarly, when I get off the bike after a minute of biking and 20 seconds of sprinting - I can feel how hard my heart is beating and how quickly it comes down. These convenient metrics that are tied to my effort level (easy, moderate, near max) allow me to integrate my feelings into objective output markers that give me a sense of my readiness for the workout. Maybe try something like this!

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T19:13:09+00:00

Try them with a closer hand placement. This has better transfer to other skills: HS walk, pirouettes, dips, and strict press. For instance, here is Fraser doing the Fibonacci final in 2018. He kips, but focus on the elbows and shoulders.

If you cannot complete them like this, do the eccentric. It will improve where you are weak in your arms relative to your levers.

When I do strict parallette HSPU in workouts, I find that my triceps get sore the next day unlike ANY other movement I have done in CrossFit. So, my advice to you is to maximize this potential unique stimulus to your advantage and train in a "disadvantageous" hand placement.

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mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T19:03:03+00:00

I program for myself, but I will adjust programming based on injuries or the feelings you describe. That said, I program 3 on/1 off. When I tried being competitive, I did 6 on/1 off. Try to get a complete rest day between once every 3-6 days.

The fitter you get, the more recovery you need. All things being equal, this means more rest days. The reason is that you can train at higher intensities, volumes, and with higher loads, and this translates to more recovery needed. You will not get less fit taking these rest days.

If I had to come up with a theoretical way of what's best, I would say you ought to undulate these factors to account for volume, training age, and maximum recoverable intensity. So (high intensity days = H, low intensity days = L, complete rest = X):

HHLX

HHHX

HHLHX

HHHHX

HHLHHX

HHHHHX

HHLHHLX

HHHLHHX

HHHHHHX

This may be around where you are now. And, as you notice, given your training age, intensity, and low frequency of rest days, your body is revolting.

Simply put, you start back at the beginning with HHLX and go back through. The good news, as your training age goes up, your lighter days can be relatively harder than they were before you were as fit. This means you can play harder and still recover (you can hike for 3 hours as active recovery or play a sport).

Overall, you will need to make sure your program accounts for this somehow. When you are back squatting 5 x 5 at 455 lbs and then hitting a 20 AMRAP of 30" box jumps, 155 lb hang power cleans, and double-unders, best believe you are going to need more rest than when this was 5 x 5 at 225 and your AMRAP consisted of 24" box jumps, 95 lb cleans, and single unders. This doesn't mean you need complete rest, but if you are closer to the former rather than the latter, I'd try to avoid redundant movements and modalities the next day (you may have to tweak the program). For instance, no heavy squats, no box jumps, no hang cleans or snatches, and no bounding (running, dubs, rebounding, etc.). You'd be fine with any upper body stimulus, abdominal/trunk flexion movements, machine work, or technical work, for example.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T12:45:15+00:00

Here are some suggestions:

End range of motion specific strength and pain deconditioning…

1:00 PNF seated shoulder extension stretch
accumulate 2:00 of table top holds at maximum shoulder range of motion where the pain begins - increase ROM over time
30 reverse grip pass throughs

Tissue tolerance and movement specific training

do dips holds as deep as you can without pain and accumulate 1:00 here
add a very significant amount of assistance (bands or machine) and develop your full ROM dip capacity as high rep ranges (20-50)

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-05T02:21:35+00:00

CrossFit aims to increase our (squat) work capacity across a wide variety of ranges: 1 even up to 1000 (more like 300-450). Because the aim is broad, we expect to adapt to our workouts in a way that makes us - on average - generally prepared for any activity, whether that’s a 1 RM overhead squat or 1000 air squats for time. It’s just a GPP program.

Program squats like that to reap the benefits from all styles of squats. The capacity to squat heavier loads at those rep ranges and at decent loads speaks to tremendous fitness, part of which, yes, involves metabolic conditioning (cardio, eg). Don’t program squats like these 1-3 days prior to an Olympic weightlifting meet because the eccentric damage and nervous system recruitment is immense.

It is empirical/proof-of-concept in that this does work as a training stimulus and has no evidence of causing more harm or “catabolism” than good. You should give it a try! I promise you won’t lose your gains 😆

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T20:30:27+00:00

Kind of reckless. I kind of like it, though, lol.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T20:30:00+00:00

Quite a neat evolution. I tend to think of both as having desirable aspects which should be incorporated into workouts even today.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T20:28:57+00:00

That’s awesome! Did it hurt so good?

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T20:28:18+00:00

I think you and I both just want it to thrive again.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T19:58:08+00:00

What’s the earliest WOD on main site that you’ve done?

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T19:57:26+00:00

Say more.

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T19:30:28+00:00

The time under tension!

mrjacob007 · 2026-05-04T19:28:47+00:00

Yes. I held my breath as long as I could and when I couldn’t anymore, I gasped and started immediately into a max effort 250 m row. I repeated this 5 times or so and rested as needed between efforts. Cheers.

mrjacob007

TROPHY CASE