written by Julie Shope (Emu) 66 y/o, 5 year Veteran. 6/6/24
A day like this past Saturday — when a large group of people sweated and laughed our way through three ten-minute workouts that involved sled drags, kettlebell farmer carries, ski ergs, overhead plate holds, burpee broad jumps, reverse sandbag tosses, and dip bar support holds — reminds me to appreciate the extraordinary programming at Railroad CrossFit.
After 5 years at Railroad, I’ve learned there’s more to the programming than meets the eye.
When you first start out, you can see that the workouts are always challenging, fun and full of surprises, but there’s a lot going on that is less obvious.
While you could drop in and enjoy any workout on any single day, there is actually a master plan for the year that is divided into 5-week cycles, and there is a meticulously thought out relationship between the workouts programmed for each day, each week and each cycle.
Shawn has been creating Railroad’s workouts for over a decade and in the time I’ve been there I have watched him continue to study, learn and grow, always trying to improve how he does it because he cares deeply about making every workout the best it can be.
There’s a vast myriad of considerations swirling in his brain as he designs the programming, including:
- Understanding each member’s abilities and goals: the programming is tailored to us, not to any other CrossFit group.
- Focus on longevity: concentrating on movements that allow us to build fitness and strength without injury, so we can keep CrossFitting for the long run.
- Need for variety: I used to be surprised at how the nature of the workouts constantly changed; brand new movements were continually introduced; different tempos, pauses, quantities or combinations of movements created new experiences that challenged the mind as well as the body. Now I’ve come to expect to always be surprised.
- Need for balance: carefully weighing how much and when to work each muscle group; how and when to perform cardio, strength and muscle building. Even the warm ups and cooldown/stretch movements are deliberately thought out.
- Maximizing the effectiveness of equipment and space logistics: There is a complex choreography involved in making a day like Saturday work. It’s easy to take the daily seamless orderliness for granted, but it doesn’t happen by magic.
All that and far more than I know factor in to how Railroad’s programming is crafted. As a CF affiliate, our gym could obtain programming for free and save a ton of work.
I’ve seen the free affiliate programming: It’s one-size-fits-all, meaning that it often doesn’t match the gym’s equipment and facilities, is inappropriate for the abilities of the members, and lacks variety.
We are fortunate to have our workouts custom-made for us by someone with boundless passion, commitment, knowledge and creativity, to give us that extraordinary experience every time we walk into Railroad CrossFit.
