Complexity trumps intensity and intensity trumps volume

The above heading is a solid synopsis of our Programmeming philosophies. Complexity trumps Intensity. The upper body craves complexity and trives on it. Think about a gymnast, they will do anything you can ever ask of them but only train complex movements There is little reason to devote any substantial amount of training to move someone beyond the 5 rep range in the Pull Up exercise with one’s bodyweight.  Dont get me wrong, we have athletes who can do dozens of reps when requested or lift a substantial amount of added weight if needed, but we rarely do so.Instead we focus more on neuromuscular complexity. One direction can be to explore Muscle Up progressions such as 5 strict pull ups, 5 strict C2B pull ups, strict muscle ups etc etc By working towards these more complex goals, intensity and capacity are guaranteed, but not vise versa! However, the lower body craves intensity. Think about an Olympic weightlifter, they can do what ever you can ask of them from their lower body as they hit themselves with such intense squat movements. The problem arises when trainers with little understanding of WHERE TO GO NEXT are the ones responsible for the training process and Programme more volume when complexity is needed.  This leads me to my next statement; Intensity trumps volume If I asked a group of competitive CrossFit athletes which would they rather, run one mile or do 4 x 200m max effort repeats? Every time people will pick the mile. People choose more work over harder work. In competitive CrossFit people are broken trying to add in more and more volume but you don’t need MORE work you need to work harder.   So hit the upper body with more complex movement the lower body with more intensity and give smash your workouts with a harder intensity as opposed to MORE volume.