Sentinel Training – Our Review

I don’t think anyone could describe me as an HWPO fan boy (now or in the past).

I know I followed HWPO Flagship for about a year-and-a-half and even wrote a pretty glowing review of the program (if you Google “HWPO” this review shows up before a lot of the program’s official pages…hi Mat!), but it was more of a CrossFit program that I “liked” more than something I raved about.

I never really told people I followed HWPO or really talked to people about it…

…I tell people about Sentinel Training and I talk to people about Sentinel Training.

In ~4 months, I have made more progress in Sentinel Training than I did in all of that time with HWPO (to be fair, I did have some breaks in this training; 5 months of working with an excellent Olympic weightlifting coach and one month of working with a lazy buffoon of a “CrossFit coach”).

The workouts are fun, I don’t feel beat up or overly exhausted after training, and watching the outrageous antics on the “Kill Taylor” show are much more amusing when contrasting them with Taylor Self’s polite and insightful comments in the program’s/app’s chatroom.

For $20 a month, I’d honestly be satisfied with just good CrossFit content. However, the legit thousands of words of explanatory detail for each day’s programming and accompanying videos make me wonder when membership costs are going to double.

If you’re looking for a new program and thinking about taking a chance on a name that’s not the biggest in the CrossFit space (but may be the most controversial), I highly recommend you give it a look. Let’s break down the key program elements in detail.

NOTE: I have exclusively followed the “Sentinel 60” track and the vast majority of this review will be from the perspective of someone following this track, specifically.

Programming

If there is one thing I can say about Sentinel Training, it is that it is designed to make you a better CrossFit athlete.

Sure, following this programming you’ll likely get stronger, you’ll definitely get more fit, and you will have regular opportunities to work on skills. However, improving all of these modalities simultaneously makes you better at CrossFit.

I think this is something that, while appearing to be so obvious, gets lost in a lot of programming. It’s like, people want to include a bunch of random or “weird” (lulz) workouts to make people “more prepared for life” or something. They miss that this will happen as a byproduct of getting…really good at CrossFit.

So, instead of going off into the weeds with scheduling incredibly niche exercises or workouts, Sentinel programming stays focused on the specific tasks at hand. For example, the current (at the time I’m writing this) cycle, is a “heavy” cycle where the “primary focus (is) on loading and intensity in our lifts”.

Seems simple enough, but if you need more of an explanation of what this entails, there is an accompanying video, breaking down the intent and rationale:

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not one to nerd out on programming in the same way that I’m not really interested in everything the pilot has to do to fly the plane…but I really appreciate that the pilot keeps me safe (I never take Boeings!) and gets me to my destination, in the same way that I really appreciate the thought and effort that goes into the Sentinel programming.

Something important to note is unlike a lot of programs, 60 is not simply an annotated version of the Compete track. While there are some overlapping workouts and lifting schemes, you’re looking at ~70-75 percent exclusive content in each track. I note this to provide some extra context regarding the daily workouts, themselves.

Generally, a 60 workout will include ~5-7 minutes of stretching and ~10 minutes of a workout-specific warmup (gradually increasing in intensity). After these portions, there is a 15-20-minute lifting session. Depending on the cycle, these may be more of strength-focused sessions or more Olympic lifting/technique-focused sessions.

The lifting sessions are rarely something like “5 sets of 8 squats” and oftentimes involve complexes, supersets, or supplementary movements (ex. 10 deadlifts followed by a 100-foot sled push). Neither exact weights nor percentages are prescribed; RPE is almost exclusively used.

Lifting sessions generally follow a similar pattern during each 4-week cycle. There might be squat cleans on Monday with power snatches on Friday. During each week, volume might decrease as intensity or complexity increases.

Generally, at once per week there is a skill development session programmed in place of lifting. This usually involves some type of gymnastics progression with ample time and sets to make legit progress in the movement.

A metcon is almost always programmed after the lifting or skill development session (there are occasions where it is performed first…probably just to mess with us!) Depending on how long the lifting or skill session went, the metcon’s length is “balanced” against it (ex. longer lifting session = shorter metcon and vice versa).

The metcons themselves can best be described as “variable”. I never feel like I’m spinning my wheels, doing the same thing over and over. I will say that there does seem to be a decent number of workouts with “required rest” involved, but this makes sense. Intensity is the best word to describe these workouts (and the programming’s general identity).

Metcons do involve odd objects (mainly sandbags) and movements at a semi-decent clip, but I have never felt like things have gotten too niche or that I would have to go out and buy a bunch of random stuff to fully participate. I actually find these to be pretty fun and a good break from straight barbell work (assuming the sandbags, kettlebells, or dumbbells aren’t too heavy!)

Sessions conclude with a quick ~5-10-minute cool-down piece, although, to be honest, I’m pretty bad about actually performing these (I guess you can say I’m actually a “Sentinel 55” athlete).

From what I can see from the Compete track (and I am able to see all of their programming with the same membership), there is usually an additional metcon each day and/or the lifting or skill session is a bit longer or more complex. The Compete weights are also a bit heavier and there are more high-level skills programmed in the track.

On Thursdays, everybody (Compete and 60) has the option of completing one of two Conditioning options. One almost always involves some combination of running, Echo Bike, rower, Bike Erg, and Ski Erg while the other involves swimming. As gruelling and “grindy” as many of these are, I actually don’t mind them. There is always some kind of twist or structure that makes the workouts fly by.

Sundays are programmed rest days. I have yet to feel legit “beat up” by this program, but I appreciate the rest, nonetheless.

Overall, the best way I can sum up the programming is by using a well-known term in the CrossFit space…

Virtuosity

On the surface, nothing about it really seems all that innovative or even terribly exciting. However, as I make my way through each workout, week, and cycle, it is apparent that something is just…flowing properly.

In my experience, this is a lot less common than you might think.

I’m sure that there are some individual programmers who could provide “better” programming for me, specifically, but as far as programming for the “unwashed masses” goes, I don’t think it could get much better.

Programming: 95

Explanation/Notes

As much as I appreciate the well-thought-out and deliberate programming, the explanatory notes might be where the program’s greatest value is.

I can’t recall exactly how programming notes have looked in every app I’ve had before, but most included rather sparse notes (if any) or boring, rambling videos that I would assume ~90 percent of people usually skip.

In contrast, each week of Sentinel Training begins with an explanation of the workouts to come, the intention behind the workouts, and how they fit into the greater mesocycle. These notes are completely different for the 60 and Compete tracks and reflect the different training foci that each track is working through.

From here, each individual day’s work is laid out. For the metcons, there are usually at least three scaling/progression options (intensity is prioritized in Sentinel so most of these reduce volume or complexity rather than loading).

Taking the guesswork out of scaling is really big for me. I probably only scale workouts ~25-30 percent of the time (as opposed to only being able to complete 25-30 percent of workouts as prescribed in HWPO), but it’s nice to have the suggested options provided.

After laying out the workout, the real explanatory pieces come in. Each track’s “NOTES” sections contain the following sub-sections, totalling between 300-600 words of content:

• TRAINING FOCUS
• INTENT AND STIMULUS
• TIME DOMAIN
• STRATEGY/APPROACH
• EQUIPMENT SUBSTITUTES
• MOVEMENT MODIFICATIONS
• LOADING/VOLUME MODIFICATIONS
• MASTERS PRESCRIPTION

Most of this information should be intuitive; “TIME DOMAIN” gives you an idea of how long each section should take and “STRATEGY/APPROACH” gives some tips on how to best attack the workout as well as expected times (in “For Time” metcons) or rounds (in AMRAPs) you can expect to shoot for.

“INTENT AND STIMULUS” is by far the longest portion and provides a deep dive into the rationale behind including each piece and how you can expect to feel during the workout. “MASTERS PRESCRIPTION” is a newer (as of August 2024) inclusion that provides different loading options for older athletes (I’m looking forward to trying these out in late October of ’24!)

In addition to these written portions, there are a number of original videos showing movement and complex demonstrations as well as movement efficiency tips to go along with links to other, appropriate videos.

Finally, it should be noted that the Sentinel Training crew (consisting of Taylor, Bryson Delmonte, and Taylor’s wife Elizabeth) are constantly “in and around” the app’s chat. Besides more casual interactions, the three are regularly fielding questions, giving movement/video critiques, and providing insights and suggestions.

The Sentinel Training crew’s consistent presence and willingness to answer questions is a great supplement to the (already impressive) explanatory information provided throughout the programming materials. This support extends to assisting with “housekeeping”-esque stuff like billing or app issues, which is nice.

Personally, I can’t think of anything more I would like explained to me in a training program like Sentinel. I know others might prefer the inclusion of more technical or sciency aspects, but I think you’d have to look pretty hard (or even go to an individual coach) to find this kind of content. For most people, what you get here is gonna feel like way more than enough.

Explanation: 95

Community

Oh, man…this one is interesting.

Don’t get me wrong; the Sentinel Training community is awesome…but in order to paint the full picture, I gotta talk about all aspects of this community…

…and that community’s face is Taylor Self…creator, head programmer, and probably a few other things.

I’ve grown to enjoy Taylor quite a bit and I greatly appreciate his impassioned, unrelenting takes, especially when he is going against the grain on controversial topics…but man did he annoy me when I first started listening to him (well, it wasn’t so much my “listening” as much as my overhearing his Tourette’s-esque, scatological outbursts while my wife was listening to Sevan in the next room).

Having lived in a fraternity house for…far too long, I’m accustomed to “all shit talking, all the time”…but Taylor is on a different planet, man. I like it at times, but sometimes, it’s a bit much, even for me. Classic “Kill Taylor” commentary (apparently you have to sign in to view):

That being said, for some reason, when I first learned about Sentinel, I had no idea that Taylor was good at CrossFit.

Like really good.

This fact, combined with his tendency to call out other high-level CrossFit athletes (which I think CrossFit needs a lot more of), and back it up, is incredibly amusing and pleasing to me.

Considering some of the personality-less figureheads to downright lazy buffoons who run other programs, I’m quite happy with Taylor.

With this piling on of Taylor Self aside, it should be noted that in the Sentinel Training app chat and in group messages, Taylor is close to a consummate professional. When he is not traveling or otherwise “away” from the app, he is quick to respond and provides helpful cues, tips, and clarification. He actually comes off a lot more like what you see in this video when he’s shooting the shit in the chat:

As previously mentioned, Elizabeth and Bryson are always in the chat and are extremely helpful when questions arise.

Regarding the chat itself, it definitely veers towards the more “active” with conversation going on throughout most of the day. Probably 80 percent of the chat involves workout and/or exercise technique/critique discussion with the other 20 percent being focused on general CrossFit “gossip”.

The chat tone leans towards “civil” and (mostly) “clean”, although it gets somewhat rowdy and a little vile at times (my wife and I have questioned some of the less tactful comments before). However, judging by the large number of names on the leaderboard, I would estimate that less than 20 percent of total app users look at the chat, yet alone engage.

Speaking of the leaderboard, it is probably one of my favorite aspects of Sentinel Training. Every day, athletes are encouraged to lodge their scores, whether Rx or Scaled, into the app, including any notes or comments they had about the workout.

The leaderboard is a nice little motivator; I’m in Europe so I’m lodging my score before most of the other athletes so I really push myself to give the others a competitive time to beat (sorry if it’s not quite enough!)

It’s also cool to see names of more prominent athletes (CrossFit Games athlete Michael Mikaere regularly posts in the Sentinel 60 leaderboard) as well as popular “CrossFit personalities” (Peter White, better known as “Pedro” from Coffee Pods and WODS is always finding a way to get his 100 burpees in and Brian Spin from The Barbell Spin loves him some conditioning WODs!) on the leaderboard and “compete” with them.

I’m not a yuge “community” person, but I find this aspect of Sentinel Training to be at the perfect level for me. Others might want a little more interaction and other elements (I know some programs have live Zoom sessions every so often), but I think it’s more than sufficient, even for those working out in more isolated environments.

Community: 90

Fun

I started with Sentinel during an interesting training period.

I was currently working my way through my second iteration of HWPO Flagship (probably ~130 days in) with the immediate six months prior to that being spent working with online Olympic weightlifting coach Leo Isaac.

Having done decently well in the 2024 Open, even with very limited CrossFit/conditioning work done in the months prior, I was nevertheless starting to get bored with sitting on a rower for half an hour every Monday and grinding through a 10-round, 40-minute EMOM every Saturday (if you know, you know).

As much as I enjoyed making progress with my weightlifting technique, I can admit that I just don’t have the attention span to perform 7 sets of 3 reps for 5 Oly lifts and accessories during each session…especially when my wife is in the background doing “Classic CrossFit” types of workouts…

Hint: She started Sentinel a few months before I did…you can see where I’m going with this…

There really is no other way to put it other than that Sentinel Training is fun.

I love looking at the schedule when a new week’s worth of workouts comes out and usually get excited about two or three of them and downright giddy about at least one.

…and it’s not because they look easy or that I think I’ll do particularly well (although I’d be lying if I didn’t admit this was the case…some of the time); I’m gasping for air in my puddle of sweat (and sometimes anguish) at the end of just about every metcon.

It’s fun because in the Sentinel workouts are the kinds of workouts that you, me, and probably a lot of people did at some point in their/our lives and were what we really liked about CrossFit.

The kinds of workouts that are really challenging (sometimes very deceptively challenging), but rarely so tough that you want to quit.

The kinds of workouts that leave you utterly spent at the end, but not unable to walk for the rest of the week.

The kinds of workouts where you aren’t thinking to yourself the entire time, “…it’s making me ‘better’…” as you contemplate the 234,420 things you’d rather be doing.

Throw in the constantly bumping chat, motivation from a competitive, yet cordial leaderboard, and the non-stop commentary from program participants during programs like “The Sevan Podcast” and “Kill Taylor” and it’s tough to consider other CrossFit programs of its kind.

Fun: 100

Personal Results

I know the previous section was titled “Fun”, but this part is actually the most fun for me.

I know it’s difficult to be completely objective with “results” and, with so many variables and outside factors to consider, correlation can often be really far away from causation.

With that being said, Sentinel was kind enough to put all of the Sentinel 60 track athletes through a number of benchmark workouts in late May (roughly 3 weeks after I had started regularly following the program). It was noted at the time that these same 5 workouts (plus one “workout” involving may strict pull-ups) would be repeated in ~ 3 months (early September).

As I write this, it has been roughly one week since I completed all of the workouts for the second time. My results are as follows:

Monday, May 20: 11:33

***Tuesday, September 3: 10:49

6.78 percent faster

Tuesday, May 21: 97 kilograms

***Monday, September 2: 104 kilograms

7.22 percent more weight

Wednesday, May 22: 30 strict pull-ups

Wednesday, September 4: 29 strict pull-ups

3.45 percent fewer pull-ups

Wednesday, May 22: 5:45

Wednesday, September 4: 5:48

.87 percent slower

Thursday, May 23: 30:40

Thursday, September 5: 29:01

5.69 percent faster

Friday, May 24: 9:46

Friday, September 6: 9:44

.34 percent faster

Saturday, May 25: 13+2 rounds (509)

Saturday, September 7: 14 rounds (546)

7.26 percent more reps

As you can see, I improved on 5 out of the 7 “tests” (my apologies for using that word!) In 4 of these, my improvement was statistically significant.

You’ll also notice that I performed worse on both of my Wednesday tests. Above, you can see the asterisks next to the days of the week where I performed these. When I re-tested, I had to switch out Monday and Tuesday. Because of this, I had a heavy pressing and pushing workout the day before my heavy pulling and pushing workout.

My arms felt way more smoked than they did during the first test and this probably impacted my performance.

On the Friday test, I changed my strategy and actually went against the tips outlined in the Sentinel Training notes (I did some touch-and-go snatches). I think this worked against me and I think I would have experienced more of a time improvement had I just done what Taylor and Bryson suggested!

Something else to note is that for the workouts where I improved the most, I was very cognizant to how I was feeling. I felt much less fatigued during the long cardio workout and during the Saturday AMRAP than I had during the initial tests (my wife did the AMRAP with me both times and confirmed that she felt much better as well).

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I could expand on this area, discussing things like how I “feel so great!”, how “I can do hard things!1!1!!” etc., but anyone can say completely subjective crap like this about anything.

At the end of the day, the numbers don’t like: I made statistically significant improvement in the majority of the tests in roughly 3-and-a-half months. If I had done the tests in order, I probably would have improved in everything.

I was really happy about improving my 20.1 Open time by a little less than 5 percent after doing HWPO for over a year (it was the one time there was a quasi-benchmark, outside of a 2K row, scheduled during my time in the program). You can imagine how I feel about the progress I’ve made across multiple tests in less than 4 months.

Personal Results: 95

Price

Nothing is ever going to beat the CrossFit.com main site “programming”. You head over there, click on “Workout of the Day”, and boom…you have your workout.

It’s not just a random assortment of workouts, either. If you followed it closely for a few months, scaling as needed, you’d likely make some improvements, especially if you were relatively new (I can confirm from my personal experiences back in 2012!)

There aren’t going to be too many programs that can compete with “free” on price…but Sentinel is pretty close. At $20 per month, it’s in a league with likes of Linchpin and Street Parking as one of the most affordable CrossFit paid training programs out there.

Price: 95

App

I’ll be the first to admit a couple of things:

• The Sentinel Training app isn’t the best
• I don’t care

I know that a lot of people get a bit nutty over apps and, truth be told, there have been some rants in the chat about how it could be improved, how it should be moved to a different platform…the list goes on.

While these items are either true or may be true, I look at it like an awesome old NES game that happens to have 8-bit graphics. Like, the game (in this analogy, the programming, explanations, community, etc.) is great and I know how to navigate it just fine. I’m cognizant of certain factors (8-bit console & a $20-per-month membership fee) that probably impact certain areas.

Anyways, the app allows me to do pretty much everything I want to do with it so I don’t mind. It reminds me of my first crappy smartphone. When people would criticize it (which was long before I met my wife), I would reply “I just need to be able to call, text, and swipe right!”

Probably the biggest limiting factor with the app is that there isn’t a place to log your lifts, times, etc. in one place. You can include this information on the leaderboard each day, but, if you want to refer to it, you have to go back to that specific day and workout to access it.

Thankfully, there is a calendar feature (which is pretty much the centerpiece of the entire app) that makes it pretty easy to navigate, but a personal, centralized record-keeping system would definitely be much more preferable.

Besides this, I don’t really have too many significant gripes with the Sentinel Training app. It’s easy to navigate, easy to lodge scores, easy to chat…no problems. It is rather bare bones, but again…what additional features do you need? Do you really just want to be screwing around in a fitness app all day?

You do you, man.

So, yeah; if you want some super sophisticated and comprehensive app, you’ll have to look elsewhere. If you’re cool with something simple and functional, you’ll be fine.

App: 80

Who is Sentinel Training really for?

Sentinel Training isn’t for everybody, but most (at least) semi-experienced athletes will likely appreciate the program. Let’s take a look at who would enjoy it the most:

People who want “classic CrossFit”…with a little more

Despite being more focused on performing the kinds of workouts you might find in the CrossFit Open or fun variations of Hero WODs, Sentinel Training isn’t only focused on “classic CrossFit” type of training.

Rather than only focusing on getting destroyed by fun, but challenging metcons, there is a good balance between improving on all of the main CrossFit-related modalities and not going crazy or getting bored while doing it.

Athletes who don’t mind working out 6 days per week

As mentioned before, Thursdays are devoted to conditioning workouts. Most of these are actually pretty long and not in a “sit on a Concept2 Bike Erg with headphones in for an hour and zone out” kind of way.

You gotta push these…these are big components to improving overall fitness.

That’s not to say that the other 5 workouts every week aren’t; it’s just that many programs only go 4 or 5 days or reserve the 6th day for something intentionally “easy” (ex. “Spin Day”, “Active Rest Day”, etc.).

You can certainly opt for less days, but I would estimate (by looking at the Thursday scoreboard) that probably 1/2-2/3 of athletes go 6 days per week and probably at least 75% go at least 5 days per week.

Not for more inexperienced athletes

I mentioned before that Sentinel has a number of scaling options for every workout. These involve volume scaling (the most common), movement scaling, equipment scaling (for those without access to a lot of gear) and, intensity scaling.

I definitely scale at least a workout every week and those who don’t “have” certain movements shouldn’t be discouraged from participating. However, due to the heavy emphasis on attacking workouts with intensity and the assumption that most athletes have most, if not all, of the most fundamental movements down, less experienced athletes likely won’t get the full benefit.

This isn’t to discourage newbies from joining, but, if this is you, be prepared to put in additional work on the side to master the basics and to see somewhat limited progress by simply not being able to go as hard (even in a relative sense) in many of the workouts.

Frequently Asked Questions

I understand that putting time, effort, and energy into a new training program is a lot more “expensive” than the $20 membership cost. As such, let’s cover those last few “on the fence” questions you might have:

Sentinel Training…enjoyable (and affordable) progress

I know that there are a lot of CrossFit training programs to choose from.

I also know that I haven’t tried even a fraction of all of the available programs out there.

What I do know is that over the last ~4 months I’ve been more excited about CrossFit than I have been in a long time and have made more measurable progress than I have during any period (many of which have been much longer), excluding my “extreme newbie” phase, in my life.

I understand that there are going to be people who dismiss Sentinel Training on its face because Taylor Self is a rather polarizing figure in the space. If you can’t get over this, do what you gotta do.

If, however, you’ve tried other programs, could care less about who’s programming the workouts (or are actually looking for someone with a bit more personality) and are ready to give an enjoyable and inexpensive program a try, I would invite you to give Sentinel a look.

It’s been awhile since I’ve called up Fred, but we’re on the same page here: