Help on programming: flexibility + strength + rowing

[Henry Poydar]

Hi everyone, I'm a 42-year-old male who's been cross-fitting for over 18 months and stayed somewhat fit before that by biking and running. During the last 4 months I trained for the CRASH-B sprints, which are a 2K indoor rowing (Concept2 erg) competition. I kept lifting 3 days a week but dropped WODs completely in favor of erg workouts. I was a bit disappointed with my final result (though I made huge progress) and will probably train again next year, starting on November. In the meantime, I plan on incorporating a couple of "steady state" rowing workouts a week, which are akin to a light, long-distance jogs (45' or more). Overall, I have the general goals (in order) of improving flexibility, mobility, gymnastics skills and strength. 

 

With all that in mind, I'm trying to design a program for myself over the next 8 months and I'm wondering how this course work could fit in. I would like to keep 2-3 visits per week to the crossfit gym because, frankly, I get a lot out of being a part of that community. Realistically I'll only have 60-90 minutes or so to devote per day to any routine (including warmup, cool-down, etc.)

 

My initial thought was to start with a stretching course, and do that 1 or 2 days a week on top of the steady state pieces and a couple of lifting days at crossfit. Does that make sense? If so, which stretching course would be the one to start with and what are the time requirements?