If you want to get stronger, you must lift heavy things. If you want to be as strong as possible, you must lift heavy things frequently.

This is just one of those little annoying facts of life. Like the law of gravity. Or taxes. Or that puppies are cute. Or that bacon is awesome. Or that sex is great…All true.

But what is heavy? First, Let’s talk about what heavy is not.Heavy is not about going to failure all the time. You do not walk into the gym and try to lift the most weight possible day in and day out. That’s not going to be that effective.

Every once in a while, perhaps once every 3-4 weeks, you may try a weight that’s a little outside of your reach. Sometimes you will get it, sometimes you won’t. But if you train smart, with good partners, you’ll never have a problem. You’ll keep making progress, safely.

What you need is an approach that will help you manage the attempts you take, but will still push you forward week after week. Enter the Ramp.

Ramping for Crossfit

Maybe the best way to explain this idea is through example.

Let’s assume for a moment that you are a Crossfitter that needs to build up your squat (this is likely true of all Crossfitters!). Your best lift to date is 200 lbs. Not bad, but you’d really like to get that to 250 lbs.

One of the biggest weaknesses holding back your squat is that you round over during heavy attempts. If you could just keep your upper back straight, you may be able to lift much more.

How do we fix this?

Well, we could have you try squatting with a special bar. We decide that the safety squat bar is just what you need. This bar puts the weight a bit higher on your shoulders, and a little bit in front of you. This causes the weight to drift forward during the lift. To keep from pitching forward, you must fight much harder to keep upright.

Ask anyone who’s taken a heavy weight with that bar. It’s a bad boy…It’ll bite you hard if you aren’t ready to fight.

You just got done with 3 hard weeks of training. This week, you’re unloading and taking a bit of a break. This is a perfect time to get used to a new exercise. A good approach is to just to 5 sets of 3, slowly working up to a weight that just starts to become challenging.

Here’s a sample progression.

Set 1: Empty bar*3 reps
Set 2: 95 lbs*3
Set 3: 115 lbs*3
Set 4: 135 lbs*3
Set 5: 155 lbs*3

On that last set, you felt like you started to actually work a little. It wasn’t a hard set, but you had to focus a bit. Stop. You’ve got all the information you need.

In this instance, you’d likely be able to do 175-185 lbs. But we don’t know for sure. We decide that next week you’ll try and do 175. It wouldn’t make sense to have you start by working up to 5 sets of 2 at 80-90% of your max. Why? Because we don’t know what you can really lift. Percents do not matter.

Now it’s time to start the new block.

Week 1

On week 1, the goal is to do 5 sets of 2 reps. We could do more reps, like 3 or 5. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. But if we stick to sets of 1 or 2 reps, we can get a lot of good reps with good form. When you do 3-5 reps, or more, you start getting tired. We aren’t looking for that this time around. Maybe in a few blocks from now…

Here’s the progression.

*You start by doing a few sets with the bar and 95 lbs. But these are really easy. They don’t count.
Set 1: 115*2
Set 2: 135*2
Set 3: 155*2
Set 4: 175*2, “Hey that was easy!! Let’s add a bit more!”
Set 5: 185*2, “I think I could do 195,” you say to me. I say, “No, save it for next week.” You make a sad face, but you listen because I know what’s best for you!

Week 2

A new week, a new goal. You wanted to do more last time. You sat around all week thinking about it. You cannot wait to try again. “Great, let’s see if you can do 195.”

Warm-up as needed
Set 1: 120*2
Set 2: 145*2
Set 3: 170*2
Set 4: 185*2
Set 5: 195*1, “Shit! I lost my balance on the second rep. Can I do that again?!” Today I feel generous. “Yes, try again.”
Set 6: 195*2, It was easy. All we had to do was give you a cue to drive your head up.

Week 3

This time around, your back is a little sore. You feel a bit tired. That’s completely expected. After two really tough weeks, you will start to build up a little fatigue. Fight through it!! This is what all those damn mobility drills are for!

This week, we decide to do 3 sets of 2, then 1-3 sets of 1. Here’s how the progression works now.

Warm-up as needed
Set 1: 125*2
Set 2: 150*2
Set 3: 175*2
Set 4: 190*1, easy
Set 5: 200*1, tough, but good.
Set 6: 205*1, not the prettiest rep, but it got done.

After you complete week 3, you’re done. Time for a rest during week 4. During the unloading week, you come in and do no more than 50-60% of 205. This will ensure that you’re resting when you are supposed to rest.

When its time for the next block to begin, you know exactly what you did before, and what you’d like to do this time around. A reasonable goal would be to try and add 5 pounds to each of your top sets. If you fail at any point, that’s ok. Just try and get it next time.

There are two points to keep in mind. First, always keep fighting for progress. Second, keep your jumps between sets conservative. Take weights you know you can make. If you fail on your second or third set, you know you ramped up to quickly. Go back down and repeat with a lighter load, working back up SLOWLY.

Train heavy, train smart.

Related articles

• Sit on it (thechrismooreblog.com)
• I’ve got a plan (thechrismooreblog.com)
• You’re a Damn Filthy Liar! (thechrismooreblog.com)