CrossFit Intermediate Strength & Conditioning

A structured 5-day program for athletes who have completed CrossFit Foundations and developed basic movement patterns. The intermediate stage shifts from learning movements to developing capacity within them: increasing strength on barbell lifts, building higher-rep gymnastics capacity, and improving metabolic conditioning benchmarks over time.

Who This Is For

• Athletes who have completed CrossFit Foundations or 3–6 months of regular CrossFit
• Can perform: kipping pull-ups, basic barbell cycling (power clean, overhead press), double-unders
• Wants structured progression rather than randomized daily programming

Weekly Schedule

Day	Strength	Conditioning
Mon	Back Squat 5×3 + Ring Dips 3×max	AMRAP 12: Pull-ups / Pushups / Air Squats
Tue	Overhead Press 5×3 + Power Clean 5×3	Couplet or triplet, 10–15 min
Wed	Conventional Deadlift 5×3 + Romanian DL 3×8	Chipper or hero WOD (20–30 min)
Thu	Front Squat 4×4 + Back Squat 3×10	EMOM 20: mixed monostructural
Fri	Push Press 5×3 + Power Clean cycling	Benchmark (5 rounds for time)
Sat–Sun	Rest or aerobic Zone 2 (see aerobic_base)

Strength Work Protocol

Strength blocks precede conditioning each day. Warm up to working weight, complete all prescribed strength sets at the given percentage, then transition directly to conditioning after a short rest. This order ensures strength quality is not compromised by prior fatigue.

Conditioning Structure

Each week includes:

• 1 AMRAP (as many rounds as possible): tracks total work capacity
• 1 Benchmark WOD (Girls, Heroes, or named workout): trackable over time
• 1 Chipper or long WOD: engine work, sustained output
• 1 EMOM (every minute on the minute): power output consistency
• 1 Couplet/Triplet: high-intensity short effort

Keep conditioning scores. Re-test the same benchmark every 4 weeks to track improvement.

Gymnastics Development

Gymnastics capacity grows from strict to kipping to butterfly on pull-ups, and from basic ring support to ring dips to muscle-up progressions. Prioritize:

1. Strict capacity before adding kipping volume
2. Ring dips before ring muscle-up attempts
3. Hollow body position as the foundation for all gymnastics

Benchmark Targets at Program Completion

Movement	Entry standard	12-week goal
Back Squat	1.0× BW	1.15× BW
Strict Press	0.55× BW	0.65× BW
Power Clean	0.75× BW	0.85× BW
Pull-ups (unbroken)	10	15+
Ring Dips	5	10+

For beginner CrossFit: crossfit_foundations. For concurrent training considerations: concurrent_training. For aerobic base development: aerobic_base.