Rest Day/Theory

Tim Curdt believes CrossFit workouts helped him deal with one of the hardest parts of his life: saying goodbye to his father.

In a Q&A session at FilFest 2010, CrossFit founder Greg Glassman mildly scolded a delegate who said he had found little success persuading people to do CrossFit by reciting the stated goals of “increasing one’s work capacity across broad time and modal domains” or making one more… Continue Reading

Dr. Lon Kilgore questions the modern foundations of the study of exercise physiology and suggests a new way forward.

“Into what abyss of fears and horrors hast thou driven me, out of which I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged.” —John Milton, Paradise Lost

I don’t know why no one has asked this before. I don’t know why it has come down to me to ask a question central to the existence of an academic discipline. But someone needs to cowboy… Continue Reading

Greg Glassman asked the question, “What is fitness?” Blair Morrison offers some of his own thoughts to help you discover what fitness means to you.

What is fitness?

The question is one of the foundations of the CrossFit program, and asking it will make you reconsider just about everything you know about training. In answering it, Greg Glassman created a new way of training and a new way of thinking about health and… Continue Reading

Can workouts help produce smarter kids? Chris Cooper has a study lined up to answer that question.

Imagine a drug that would put you 33 percent ahead of your peers, nationwide, on standardized tests, a pill that would give you a full two months’ head start, every year, on every other student. It’s out there: it’s called Learning Readiness PE. Mostly, kids just call it exercise.

There’s a slowing process happening in our schools. While other… Continue Reading

CrossFit has become an integral part of the lives of athletes, coaches and affiliate owners. Dr. Allison Belger interviews CrossFit athletes from different walks of life to find out just how much CrossFit affects us.

Ever notice that we CrossFitters tend to talk about CrossFitting a lot? Do you ever find yourself wondering what you used to talk about before you started CrossFitting?

I’ve written before that I think… Continue Reading

Is linear-progression strength training optimal for CrossFitters? Chris Mason doesn’t think so and offers up a different method for building strength.

Linear progression is a system utilized by many CrossFit practitioners for the strength-training component of their overall regimen. Linear progression as it relates to resistance training involves the progressive increase of loads in a straightforward manner, hence the name “linear.” In other words, for a… Continue Reading

Every athlete deals with self-talk, that little voice in the head telling him or her to quit, speed up, drop the bar or push harder. How we manage that inner voice has a lot to do with the success or failure of our efforts. Standing in front of a room of elite CrossFitters, Trevor Moawad, IMG’s director of performance, gives these athletes a pep talk on scripting a strong inner monologue.

“You can literally… Continue Reading

CrossFit isn’t just kettlebells and rope climbs. Sometimes improving one’s fitness requires a WOD of the mental kind. Zip Zap Zop is a game of focus and determination, requiring the participants to analyze a pattern and look their competitors in the eyes.

What happens when you throw a group of highly competitive CrossFit Games athletes under the pressure of a mental WOD? Well, Chris Spealler goes down early, Jimi Letchford plays… Continue Reading