Many CrossFit boxes post their workouts a day ahead of time, so if you are like me and have to check and see what the WOD is, sometimes you might feel a bit disappointed when you see an EMOM. One of the biggest misconceptions is that every workout in CrossFit should just leave you spent on the floor with sweat buckets and the feeling of overcoming death. Even though having tough workouts is great, every once in while EMOM’s take the center stage !
If you look at a class from start to finish you have the yoga/mobility part, warm up, strength/skill then the workout. Some days, depending on what is programmed for you to follow and what the goals are for the box, you’ll be working some of the pieces in your strength training at 75%, or 85% and other times you might be working more for muscular strength and endurance. One thing you need to understand, not every session should kick your butt!!! IF you are at a box or have a coach that is pushing you 100% every day, please reconsider in finding a new place. There is a reason to scaling down workouts, especially if the program was done with heavy loads, there might be a week of deloads to just reset your mind and body.
So what is an EMOM ? It stands for Every Minute On the Minute. This means you are performing a task that is specific to each minute on the clock starting at 0:00.It’s fairly common to have a strength portion, then an EMOM, and then perhaps a short conditioning piece. When doing an EMOM they do not “feel” hard. They are designed for you to perform maximal effort for a given rep scheme and then rest for the rest of the time. The EMOM itself is the workout. Some think that merely doing an EMOM is “not working hard” and that the EMOM is all you’re doing that day, BUT the rest is part of the training.
Part of the reason EMOM’s might feel like an easier workout is because of the demands that you are placing on your CNS. You need to make sure your choosing weights that are challenging for the reps and that are going to make you push hard for that given time. Taxing that system with a heavy burst and adequate rest will allow you to push into either higher weight or more reps in a shorter period of time. Similarly, a ten-minute EMOM of five burpees and five box jumps will, when used effectively, can be a great aerobic training tool ! Remember the EMOM we did of Double Unders and Power Cleans? Your heart rate was up and you were challenged throughout the workout.
EMOM’s are a great part of training that can help you work on techniques more than just in the training aspect but they will challenge you to push harder due to a time restraint. Next time you see an EMOM just have fun with it and know it’s because your working on your skill and power output that will make you stronger and faster in the long run!