A Stroke of Genius

In this interview with Sevan Matossian, Olympic-lifting coach Mike Burgener comments on the programming of the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games.

“I thought it was right on,” Burgener says of the skills tests. In particular, he liked the one-rep-max snatch following the one-rep-max weighted chest-to-bar pull-up in the Skills 2 event.

“That combination was truly a stroke of genius,” he says. “Truly, the person that does the snatch the wrong way—they pull the bar up with their arms—that person will fatigue after the pull-ups. And then he goes in to try to snatch—they’re not gonna do it.”

The tight two-minute timeframe for the snatch definitely factored into the approach and the outcome.

“For me, I would have instructed my athletes to take maybe two, three lifts, period,” Burgener says.

To gain proficiency with the Olympic Lifts, Burgener says to practice regularly.

“I tell everybody: ‘Do the Burgener Warm-Up’ because there’s five exercises in there, and every one of those exercises has a reason for doing it,” he says.

Burgener adds: “You’ve gotta leave your ego at the door. You’ve gotta go in there in a humble manner, learning about speed. It’s not about strength. It’s really about speed.”

8min 12sec

Additional reading: The Burgener Warmup by Mike Burgener and Tony Budding, published Jan. 1, 2007.