Equipment

Staying fit on the frontlines presents unique challenges to soldiers in Iraq. 1st Lt. Matthew Hoff explains how his Panther Recon squadron used ingenuity and the CrossFit Journal to create a special gym near Baghdad.

In the late 1970s, Saddam Hussein purchased a nuclear reactor from France and began to build a power station, which was eventually bombed by the Israeli Air Force. The ruined site sits near the town of Jisr Diyala… Continue Reading

Matthew Hall analyzes 18 months of main-site WODs and comes to some surprising conclusions about what equipment you should buy and when.

If you’re outfitting your home gym, invest in a bar, squat stand and bumper plates right away. Buy those rings. Get a pull-up bar and an AbMat. Put dumbbells, kettlebells, a Concept2 rower and a GHD machine at the bottom of your priority list.

Surprised? So was… Continue Reading

CrossFitters know a lot of fitness equipment isn’t functional. Zach Even-Esh has two more beefs with most workout gear: it’s expensive and it’s shiny.

Even-Esh runs Underground Strength Coach/CrossFit Underground, a rugged fitness facility in “Dirty Jersey.” Packed with strength-training equipment from a power cage to giant tires to a set of ancient globe dumbbells, Even-Esh’s gym is not for the delicate. The air conditioning never goes on, and you won’t find any… Continue Reading

Josh Henkin is the creator and owner of Sandbag Fitness Systems.

The real world isn’t filled with perfectly balanced, easy-to-grip weights. Josh Henkin says training with odd objects such as sandbags is one way to build functional strength for use outside the gym.

When the disks I had herniated at age 14 had come back to haunt me, I was devastated. I wasn’t ready to accept that I would not be athletic ever again. Deep down I knew the doctors… Continue Reading

Jon Gilson of Again Faster sits down with Greg Hammond of Concept2 and the two men come up with a comprehensive buying guide for used C2 rowers. A key point: replacing the monitor will cost $160, so factor this into your negotiations and buying decisions.

The Model A, almost 30 years old, is now mostly a historical curiosity for collectors. Its speedometer readings are difficult to translate into meters and… Continue Reading

Larry Gallagher created an adjustable, stable box nearly five feet tall to challenge even the mightiest of CrossFit’s leapers.

Sometime last fall after a workout at San Francisco CrossFit, I was pulled aside by Kelly Starrett. He had a vision of creating the ultimate jumping box, a platform that would be stable and high—higher than anything anyone at SFCF had ever ascended. Confident in my modest but solid woodworking skills… Continue Reading

Mike Morris and John Burrow are firefighters in Washington state.

We discovered CrossFit just over three years ago and quickly recognized the CrossFit prescription of fitness would increase our effectiveness as firefighters and improve our health. Now over 50 percent of our 50-member department participates at work or through a local affiliate

As our fitness and awareness of CrossFit increased, we wanted to combine the charitable work of the … Continue Reading

This is the 4th episode of the Weekend Edition of CrossFit Radio, which aired at 6pm PDT on Saturday, April 11th, 2009.

Dave Young interviews Bill Henniger, owner/coach of Rogue Fitness, a CrossFit gym and equipment supplier in Columbus, Ohio, on the subject of garage gyms.

Bill Henniger passes on the latest and best advice on choosing equipment for a home CrossFit gym. The information ranges from the… Continue Reading