Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5

That is all.

No more to it than that. The general consensus is that dashes mean "add weight" versus a sets across approach. Even so, this simple, no extra detail WOD prescription leads to all sorts of questions, and I think that's the point.

Does it mean you should do five sets of five back squats?

Yes.

Are those all work sets?

Yep.

Should I just do five sets, increasing the weight each time?

Yes.

Does it mean work up to a 5RM?

Sure.

If you go down in weight, will the CrossFit Police come?

Definitely.

Should you do more than five sets total?

Yes.

And so forth....

This is a standard CrossFit WOD with close to 5,000 posts on Beyond the Whiteboard. For whatever reason, the powers that be at BTW decided, when they entered this WOD, that the person with the higest max load out of the five sets was the "winner". To me, if that were the case, the WOD would be written: "Find your 5RM back squat". What about overall volume? It's quite possible to stay below your max, carry heavy weights across the board and wind up with more overall tonnage than you would if you stair stepped your way up to a max.

Let's look at the #2 and #3 males for this WOD on BTW:

Javier moved 2,102 more pounds than Aaron, and on a lift by lift comparison, outlifted Aaron in a series winning three out of five lifts, but Aaron gets the props. Is this fair? Yes! Standards for scoring are often arbitrary. The right approach for you could be to phone in a WOD using 65% of your 1RM, to max out or carry sets across. Our job is to help you with that.

The following WOD is brought to you by the letters "C" and "J" . Take a look at the Natalie Burgener video to see how it's done when you're just fantastic. In the WOD though, you will not be doing a complete clean and jerk. Rather, the movement standard is going to be the same as Grace. Ground to Shoulder to Overhead Anyhow.

Part 1)

3 minutes max box jumps at 36"
1 minute rest
2 minutes max box jumps at 28"
1 minute rest
1 minute max box jumps at 20"

Part 2)

Press: 5-5-5

Use common sense when deciding whether or not to go for that last box jump when fatigued. Presses should be building off of what you did last week.

There have been many interesting post-wod expressions captured for posterity here at CFD. This one has had the honor of making it on our wall-paper here at the box.

Priceless.