Hey BM Team,
I’m moving in the next couple of weeks and the closest gym to my new place is a CrossFit gym. I don’t want to do their classes, but they have an open gym option. If you had to program with barebones equipment, what would it look like? My thoughts are something simple like:
Day one - barbell bench and barbell rows with cardio
Day two - back squat and RDLs with cardio
Day three - overhead press and pull ups with cardio
Day four - deadlift and front squat with cardio
For general strength and conditioning, is this enough? Do I need to increase volume on these lifts to account for less accessory work? How would you program cardio on rowers and airdyne bikes? For comparison, I’m currently running the time crunch program from you guys. Let me know, thank you!
FWIW - the CrossFit gym is basically in the parking lot of my new place, but there are other more commercial gym options within 20min driving.
Howdy!
I think the bones of the program are reasonable, pending the volume, intensity, and effort prescriptions. Even if you were down to a barbell and nothing else, it’d meet or exceed the resistance training guidelines easily, and once you add cardio it can meet or exceed the conditioning ones as well. Definitely enough to check that box.
That said, I can’t really tell you if it’s good, because that depends on your goals and needs. Strength, hypertrophy, general fitness would each nudge the setup a little differently. Without your goals (and the other, arguably more important elements of the program), I can tell you the skeleton is sound. Whether it’s the right one for you is a different question.
Which brings me to my question: what’s wrong with what you’re doing now? You’re on Time Crunch, do you like it? If so, easiest answer is to keep running it at the new gym. It can work with minimal equipment. Same goes for all our templates, they can be used with minimal equipment if needed, though most CrossFit boxes aren’t as barebones as you’d think. You’ll probably have a rack, plates, a pull-up rig, rowers, bikes, ski ergs, and often DBs or KBs. You may be able to expand your exercise variation 
Good luck with the upcoming move.
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That’s all fair. I think part of the barebones approach is keeping it simple without knowing exactly what is in the gym, and part personal preference of 1-2 strength exercises in the gym per workout day versus 4-6 which can feel a bit tedious. I would also like to be a little more cardio focused than I currently am, and I know my energy levels would suffer if I figured out a way for time crunch to work in the CrossFit gym while ramping cardio. Thanks for your insight as always Jordan!
Makes sense. Not to try and sell you something you don’t need, but the new Hybrid program might be up your alley. If I had to do it with your preferences of 2 exercises per training day, I’d double the volume of the first two exercises and cut everything else besides the running. Might be a good idea to check out the free sample to get some ideas!
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