Coach Sam Smith - OPEX Remote Coaching

Individuals who are naturally more powerful often fatigue faster during intense activity and recover more slowly between bouts.

A few common reasons why:

1. Greater proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers
2. Greater W prime
3. Slower recovery kinetics
4. Poor pacing and effort regulation

In a sport like CrossFit, where work capacity matters, powerful athletes often need to become more enduring.

One useful tool for building this is work:work intervals.

The goal is simple:

Increase training volume while improving both physiology and pacing.

Complete:

5 rounds:
3 min Echo Bike @ Easy Pace/Easy Effort
(Into)
Fast:
5 RMU
5 Power Cleans - singles, Start @ 155lbs, add 5lbs per round
25’ Handstand Walk
+
5-7 min Rest
+
5 rounds:
3 min Row @ Easy Pace/Easy Effort
(Into)
Fast:
50 Double Unders
10 Bar Facing Burpees
5 Overhead Squats - Start @ 135lbs, add 5lbs per round

The beauty of this approach is its flexibility.

You can use it with gymnastics, loaded movements, or mixed combinations while developing both the “hardware” (physiology) and “software” (pacing, decision-making, RPE regulation).

A good starting rule:

Make the active recovery period 3–4x longer than the work bout.

Work intervals are challenging at first, especially for powerful athletes.

Signals adaptation is occurring:

• Recovery improves between bouts
• Speed and aggressiveness are maintained
• Overall RPE drops over time

Annual penance.

Really pleased with my performance today - 194.9 calories.

I’ve done this test at least 12 times. First time I did it was in 2014 for initial testing with Michael Fitzgerald. My score was 191 calories. Goal back then was of course 200.

Over the next 3 years, I hit:

200
203
207
215 - all time best in late 2017 (I did it in the morning before a new client consult. I was dripping on the call and constantly wiping my face.)

The bike used to be one of my strongest attributes. I hit 500 calories in 30 minutes back in my prime (hardest/most painful thing I’ve done).

My most recent attempt was early 2025 or late 2024. I hit 180 calories. I’m about 5 pounds heavier than I was then, but my fitness has improved quite a bit. I felt much more in control this time around and was confident through out despite not a lot of specific preparation for this test (just 1 ~20 min session per week with only ~3 min worth of severe intensity which is a VERY small amount).

A great, simple test.
Once per year is plenty.

Pain is a powerful feedback system that helps regulate effort and pacing.

Without it, performance breaks down (PMID: 19015193).

In the study, athletes who had their pain response blunted started too aggressively and faded hard in the second half because they lost an important source of feedback.

Pain is not just something to avoid.
It is information.

The athletes who perform best are often the ones who learn to recognize it, interpret it correctly, and continue performing effectively alongside it.

——

Mantra to use when confronting pain:

“I don’t want to be afraid of it or steer away from it. I want to use it as an ally to help maximize my performance.”

One aspect of performance I spend a lot of time thinking about is what I call the “software.”

If physiology is the hardware, then things like perception of effort, mental fatigue, stress, anticipation, motivation, pacing behavior, and decision-making are the software.

The interesting part?

These factors can dramatically change performance even when the physiology underneath has not changed.

At a past training camp, we explored this through a simple experiment looking at mental fatigue and physical performance.

No additional physical fatigue was created.
Yet performance still declined.

(This paper explores the idea more deeply - “Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans” - Marcora 2009)

I think this matters because most people only evaluate performance through the lens of the hardware:

Fitness.
Strength.
Engine.
Recovery.

But the software shapes how much of that hardware you can actually express on a given day.

It also changes how you interpret your performance.

Some days are not a fitness problem.
They are an output problem.

The better we understand the variables influencing performance, the better we can position ourselves to perform well when it matters most.
And when conditions are less than ideal, we can adjust expectations appropriately instead of drawing the wrong conclusions about ourselves or our fitness.

——

My next camp is 2 months away.

If you want to dive deeper into topics like this and develop a more comprehensive understanding of your fitness, click the link in my bio to secure your spot!

——

Training Camp Details:

Date: July 11-12th
Location: Hudson River Athletics, Hoboken, New Jersey
Who should attend: Anyone interested in understanding their fitness on a deeper level—all ability levels welcome!

If you need to get stronger, here’s your tip:

Lower your training max.

The lower we train, the stronger we can get with fewer to no plateaus.
Strength development is a long term game. Which means you must be able to stay in it for longer.

One of the biggest pitfalls is pushing it too much too often.
This is one of the main reasons 5/3/1 works so well.

By taking 5-10% of off your training maximums, you create space to build.

EFFORT is the act of managing “current” fatigue.
(What are you feeling right now?)

PACING is the act of managing “future” fatigue.
(What do you know is coming later?)

The exciting part about both is that they are malleable.
You can improve your ability to leverage them in both training and competition.

——

Importance of Effort:

“Interventions that reduce perception of effort should improve the performance of highly motivated endurance athletes over and above what can be accomplished by solely improving their VO2 max, lactate threshold, and exercise economy.”
— Marcora (2019)

Importance of Pacing:

“Pacing in endurance exercise refers to the strategy of distributing energy resources over the duration of the task to achieve the desired result. It involves balancing energy availability, technique, and fatigue.”
— Jones (2008)

In CrossFit, pacing is constantly happening whether you realize it or not.

Work on it every single day.

Whether it’s a test or a workout in your weekly training, these 3 points can set you up for success when it comes to your pacing strategy:

1. Time / Length of the Test
-The length is going to give you a good idea of what type of cadence and speed you will need to hold throughout the test. For example, there’s a big difference in speed/intensity/etc. when comparing a 3 minute verse a 14 minute test.

2. Turnover Rate
-What type of turnover rate is the workout or test asking for? To give a salient example: if you have to perform a “chipper” style test, the turnover rate will be much slower due to you needing to “chip” through various movements. Whereas if it’s 3 complementary movements that need to be performed for 15-20 minutes with lower repetition ranges, the turnover rate will be fast, transitions will need to be fast, breathing will need to get up and stay up throughout. This can help better set your intention and pacing strategy for the test before getting into it.

3. Specific Movement
-Is there a specific movement you need to pace for? You can also think of this as a “bottleneck” movement. Usually a higher skill gymnastic movement or a heavier barbell would fall into this category. As a result, you must build your pacing strategy around this movement to ensure you aren’t too fatigued when reaching it.

Use these 3 points when looking at your weekly training pieces as well. Start thinking about workouts and tests in a deeper way to upgrade your ‘software’ and get more out of your fitness.