Rest Day/Theory

CrossFit subject-matter experts George Ryan and Tony Blauer explain how fear-management and positive action are the keys to any crisis situation.

A feeling of helplessness tormented most Americans in the wake of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. In the face of so much horror and injustice, some argued for more gun control, while others called for a heavier gun presence in our schools. Many brought… Continue Reading

Champion weightlifter Donny Shankle addresses the true character of the world’s fastest lift.

The snatch is one of two exercises in the sport of weightlifting. It involves lifting a barbell from the floor up and over your head in one motion. Many hours are spent in the gym practicing the snatch, trying to get as close to perfection as possible. Because the movement is so quick, there is little room for error. The… Continue Reading

John Doole takes a philosophical look at the things that make us who we are.

Changing the timing of when I was pulling the bar in a clean was incredibly difficult.

Cleans, like golf swings, are difficult to perform consistently well. Lats engaged, butt up, load the hamstrings, move the bar past the knees, slight re-bend, explode with the hips, shrug and bend the arms to move your body under the bar, elbows… Continue Reading

On the moving of heavy things.

Humans have moved stones for millennia.

Flipping, pushing, pulling, dragging, rolling and sliding until the pyramids towered over the desert.

People moved some of the mighty blocks of Stonehenge over 100 miles, scientists say.

The Paro moai erected on Easter Island is almost 10 meters tall and weighs 82 tons.

It’s in our nature to move heavy stones because we build things. Great things like temples… Continue Reading

Chris Cavallerano looks at how the benefits of the box extend to the rest of your life.

According to CrossFit Founder and CEO Greg Glassman, the psychology and emotional benefits of CrossFit are “hard to measure and difficult if not impossible to prove.”

That’s certainly true, but the field of psychology suggests several reasons why the things that happen during a CrossFit workout have such an effect on life outside the gym.

People join CrossFit for fitness and… Continue Reading

When it’s time to stuff your face for Thanksgiving, affiliates have the antidote. Andréa Maria Cecil advises you to think of the holiday workout as “preventative maintenance.”

Nearly 391 years ago, the first Thanksgiving feast was documented in the U.S.: it was celebrated by pilgrims in modern-day Massachusetts after a plentiful harvest.

Today, the holiday has retained its integrity: it’s a day of appreciation involving gluttony and ruthless consumerism.

Wait. What?

How… Continue Reading

A couple of years ago, Mike Ute started doing CrossFit in a 7-foot-square space in the gym on the Wind River Reservation in Fort Washakie, Wyo. He found the one barbell in the entire place and some old bumper plates, and he did Fran.

“I started to believe that CrossFit was going to be the way for everybody to become more fit,” says Ute, of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.

Then he told his friend of 10 years, Cody… Continue Reading

Dr. Lon Kilgore finds a numbers game at the heart of the obesity epidemic.

An increased frequency of obesity is a cross-societal issue that is receiving a tremendous amount of scientific and media attention. Current estimates of obesity range from 33.8 percent in the U.S., 23.0 percent in the U.K. (with Scotland leading the way with 27.0 percent) to an international low of 3.4 percent in Japan.

There are myriad proposed explanations… Continue Reading