“He’s obviously not from this planet. But he keeps up a good façade and everyone thinks he’s from this planet,” says Hari Singh, co-owner of CrossFit NYC. Few suspect Jacinto’s age when they first meet him.

A much-beloved figure at the The Black Box in New York City, Jacinto is no pushover. Jacinto is a stickler for form who motivates his clients to work harder and achieve more than they thought possible. He can hang with firebreathers decades his junior, but gets a lot of satisfaction from training clients who are older or more de-conditioned than most CrossFitters.

Jacinto is retired radiographer. He has always followed a workout regimen and paid attention to his diet, believing nutrition is the key to success in fitness. Jacinto has been very fit for a very long time. Everyone says they want to be like Jacinto when they grow up.

6min 58sec

The list of gear presently at The Ranch includes just about every piece of equipment you’ll ever see in a CrossFit WOD—and it’s all available for use during the 2009 CrossFit Games. The workouts themselves are still a closely guarded secret, but it’s clear that organizers will not be limited by gear when programming the WODs that will challenge the world’s fittest athletes.

The Ranch itself has been modified for this year’s event—to the tune of about $95,000. The main competition area was paved in May and June to offer athletes more stable footing, and the hill around the competition area has been re-graded. New to the event will be a JumboTron, which was added to the list after CrossFit Games Director Dave Castro saw one in use at the Hell’s Half Acre Regional Qualifier in Texas in early May.

The Games promise to be a multimedia extravaganza, with four video teams and seven still photographers documenting the events from every angle. An incredible 60 terabytes of hard-drive space will be at the Games site to accommodate the IT requirements of the media teams and event staff. Verizon and AT&T plan to increase network capacity in the area for the duration of the competition, allowing CrossFitters around the world to access instant updates that will be uploaded after the scores from each event are compiled.

The staff of the CrossFit Journal will be at the Games producing constant updates and reports. You can follow all the action online on the 2009 CrossFit Games website.

In the first in a series of instructional videos, Chris Wilson of Concept 2, a former Olympic coach, shows Jon Gilson of Again Faster how to row faster. Like many CrossFitters, Jon brings a weightlifting approach to his body position in the rower. His chest is up, his back is stiff, and he arches his lower lumbar. Chris points out this position is far from ideal for rowing. Jon relaxes the erector series in his back and relies more on core strength to maintain his position. He slides two inches forward and increases the length of his stroke. The coaching point: greater efficiency in stroke length sets rowers up well to use increased power. Relying on power alone is not the best approach. In all, there are three factors that lead to faster times: stroke length, stroke power and stroke rate.

In future episodes of this five-part series, Jon is coached through a variety of skills and drills that make him a much better rower. In the final episode, he transitions from rowing in the erg to rowing on the water in a one-person scull.

11min 33sec

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 didn’t have the last say, and I was going to investigate every method to get back to being an athlete. My exploration in trying to find an effective solution to my injury led me to the concept of odd-object training.

I’ve always liked using odd objects like stones, logs and tires as training tools, and kettlebell work eased the pain and strengthened my hips and trunk. Sandbags seemed the logical next step. After all, they’re less expensive and more versatile than other objects.

Sandbags bridge the gap between the weight room and the real world because they aren’t perfectly balanced, calibrated and easy to grip. Sandbags teach athletes how to efficiently co-ordinate different muscle groups precisely because they’re awkward. Used correctly, sandbags can be even more challenging than free weights.

Everyone talks about “functional training” and “core training” these days. Both terms are overused, but sandbags are great for developing a solid core because both static and dynamic strength can be trained. By introducing odd objects such as sandbags, you can create a well rounded strength and conditioning program that challenges athletes in new ways and helps them develop functional strength.

This is our first venture into foreign language instruction in a video. For a video containing similar content in English, see Andy Stumpf’s Simulated Level 2 Test. The rest of the core nine movements will be included in this series.

Maggie Dabe explica las sentadillas en Español.

7min 35sec

00:26 With a little more than a week to go until the CrossFit Games, Justin began the show by reading this list of equipment now on site at The Ranch in Aromas, California and available for workouts: 15,000 pounds of bumper plates, 30 rowing machines, 50 barbells, 40 plyo boxes, 50 medicine balls, 12 GHDs, 50 sets of dumbbells, 15 squat/press stands, 25 sets of rings, 50 sandbags, 60 kettlebells, 50 jump ropes and 20 sets of parallettes. Justin wondered what it all meant.

03:45 Justin’s first guest, Jeremy Thiel, placed third at last year’s Games but isn’t sure what to expect this year. Jeremy said the much larger crowds at this year’s Games might change the atmosphere for the athletes. He speculated that the mental game might become more important as athletes try to tune out distractions. Jeremy discussed his preparations, including a recent switch to the paleo diet. Jeremy also spoke about the programs offered at his affiliate, CrossFit Central in Austin, Texas.

28:45 On The Insider Report, Justin said that all competitors at the Games will be required to give urine samples. The samples will be analyzed for performance-enhancing substances at a cost of well over $20,000. Positive tests will erase an athlete’s placing and result in the forfeiture of any prizes.

31:43 Justin’s second guest was Daniel Chase , a high school teacher who has brought a CrossFit approach into his Math classes. Inspired by an article in The CrossFit Journal, Daniel has increased test scores by using Math WODs and competitions based on the CrossFit Games. His students are now excited by Algebra.

42min 54sec

In this video from Again Faster, Natalie advises catching the bar high and riding it down. Proper adjustment from the clean into the press is essential. Natalie explains why the knees splayed out stance is wrong and how to achieve a straight line into the ground. Finally, she shows how the knees should get out of the way as the bar is brought to mid-thigh.

Natalie Woolfolk was a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic weightlifting team. She had previously won national championships three years in a row and earned USA Weightlifting’s Lifter of the Year award in 2006 and 2007. Natalie was a member of the “Share the Dream” project that traveled by RV to give motivational speeches encouraging young female athletes to train hard, eat right and have fun.

Natalie’s father, Kirk is the strength and conditioning coach at the U.S. Naval Academy. For a time, she trained with her father and his athletes. Natalie is married to her Olympic teammate Casey Burgener, son of Coach Mike Burgener. Casey proposed to Natalie on an elephant safari in Thailand. An Associated Press story about the romance was entitled “Love, barbell style.”

5min 25sec

Matt and Steve discussed their CrossFit tour of the U.S., which included a workout soon after stepping of the plane, an oxygen-deprived visit with Lisa Ray at CrossFit Flagstaff and spending time with Lauren and Greg Glassman. A highlight was a pilgrimage to Mike’s Gym where they found it “kind of cool” to receive “a highly technical cue” from Coach Mike Burgener: “Stop being a frickin’ pussy.”

Matt said he quickly learned there was more to being a CrossFit trainer than starting and stopping a stop watch and writing scores on a whiteboard. The level of professionalism shown by CrossFit HQ staff has impressed him. The plan now is for CrossFit in Australia to match that level of virtuosity as rapid expansion continues.

5min 19sec

Sevan Matossian wrote this about these videos:
A series of videos that shows a 6' foot 3", 275lb man (pro athlete) try a simple workout and struggle on all fronts. He wants to complete the workout, he wants to do CrossFit, but maybe the sensations that come with intensity are just too much for him?

Millions of Americans are 250+ lbs. I suspect they are afraid to try CrossFit. Travis will inspire them. After watching his valiant and painful attempt to complete a workout, they will feel safe trying themselves.

Travis, who has been on National and International TV more than 500 times (ESPN, Discovery, Nat Geo, EuroSport and more), puts it all on the line. A character that is known for his cockiness shows his humble side. This video will inspire those who are hesitant.

Part 1: 3min 13sec (this part was also shown on the main site)
Part 2: 3min 17sec
Part 3: 4min 29sec
Part 4: 5min 10sec

Todd begins by breaking down the move, step by step. He advises Matt to squat lower, explode up and bring himself under the bar, and then jump and shrug. He repeats the cue “chest and elbows up” several times, knowing that it will be a constant struggle for Matt. “You’ve got to fight down there,” Todd says.

Being fast is the key to the squat clean. Success has little to do with strength. After working with a PVC pipe, Matt moves up to 135 lbs.

Boz & Todd Episode 3, Part 4: 13min 14sec

In part 1, Coach Glassman begins by speaking of his early influences. His father is an engineer who once made him precisely measure the length of 1,000 nails and plot the results. The lesson learned? Properly defining terms, careful observation, measurement, prediction and experimentation can reveal truths previously undiscovered. The CrossFit story started with a belief in fitness. There is an acquired capacity that lends itself generally well to any and all activities. A person is as fit as they are balanced in 10 general physical skills. The specialty of CrossFit is not specializing. The goal is to prepare for the unknown and unknowable. All physiological adaptations are important. None should be neglected. By this definition, he or she who performs best on average on the skills and drills common to all sports is most fit.

In part 2, Coach Glassman discusses the desirability of balance among all metabolic pathways. The performances of athletes who can clean and jerk three times body weight or win an Ironman competition suggest imbalance. CrossFit has looked at human movement and resolved it to its fundamental physical units of force, distance and time. Power output can be measured across broad time and modal domains.

In part 3, the question and answer session begins. After speaking of early encounters with Pukie and stealing unicycles, Coach Glassman discusses programming, implementation, and how to run PT as sport.

In part 4, Coach Glassman discusses the importance of mastering basic mechanics and the balance between safety, efficiency and efficacy. The Colorado State Patrol has now been using CrossFit for five years without a single injury and has just incorporated some CrossFit workouts into its fitness testing.

In part 5, Coach Glassman says that every civilian contractor for physical training throughout the Department of Defense should be fired. Service members have to figure things out for themselves. He discusses some of the challenges that have been encountered in implementing CrossFit in the Marine Corps. Jimi Letchford, Director of Operation Phoenix, provided an update on how CrossFit is being used at the School of Infantry and elsewhere in the Corps.

Part 1: Lecture - 19min 15sec
Part 2: Lecture - 23min 02sec
Part 3: Q and A - 19min 22sec
Part 4: Lecture - 20min 24sec
Part 5: Q and A - 14min 44sec

Jenn has been doing CrossFit for just under a year. She has her heart set on competing in the CrossFit Games. Her qualifier is in five weeks. Jenn has tremendous gas and tons of heart. She’s extremely competitive.

At 28, Jenn is five-foot-seven and 140 pounds. Pull-ups are her self-proclaimed nemesis. She has a 275-pound deadlift, a 200-pound back squat, a 175-pound power clean and a 165-pound squat clean. Her max overhead squat is 120 pounds, but she can do 20 reps at 95 pounds. She can press 105, but her best jerk is 130.

Jenn comes in at least five times a week, and on several occasions she’s been forced to take a rest day after training nine days straight.

Her training so far this week:

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Six 400-meter sprints with a timed 2-minute break. Her times (in seconds) were 72, 79, 74, 76, 73 (threw up), 96.

Tuesday: Three sets of overhead squats: max reps at 110 pounds, max reps at 88 pounds, max reps at 65 pounds. She got 6, 29 and 46 reps, respectively.

Wednesday: The pull-up ladder (1 pull-up in the first minute, 2 the second, etc., until you can’t complete the required number within 60 seconds). She failed at minute 11 but kept doing as many pull-ups as she could each minute. She went 25 minutes until she ripped her right palm badly. She left very frustrated.

Thursday: Ran 5 kilometers in 21:03.

The proposed workout on Friday: Cindy (max rounds in 20 minutes of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats).

Jenn showed up with her hands taped up, eager to break 20 rounds for the first time. What do you do?

Post your opinion to comments and read on to compare your answer to those of top CrossFit trainers.

“Keep the knees back,” Coach Burgener says no fewer than 23 times. To drive the point home, Alex is repeatedly made to do super slow first pulls. Coach Burgener instructs Alex that the knees, bar, shoulder and hip should all rise at the same time. The thought process should be: knees, back, bar up. It’s critical the legs do the work. That puts you in position for the re-bend. If there is no re-bend, there is no elastic storage of energy. The re-bend uses momentum on the barbell.

Coach Burgener tells Alex he would do nothing but snatch drills for two weeks, were he a regular trainee. He says you can’t worry about weight at the beginning. You have focus exclusively on position. But at the end of the two weeks, Alex would set a PR.

The video also features two brief appearances by Coach Burgener’s son, Casey, an Olympian.

14min 20sec

On a visit to CrossFit Santa Cruz Central, Tucker revisited the topic of the kipping pull-up, this time focusing on new clients. Reinforcing body forms is central to open and closed swings. Clients should be in the same position every time. If they can’t achieve that, they should be placed on the ground and shown what a hollow is.

A big swing will help clients gain leverage to get over the bar and get a kipping pull up. Common faults include lack of forward momentum on the initial swing, mistakes in timing or lack of strength.

Scaling the kipping pull-up with rubber bands is a great way to safely develop newbies in the movement, especially if they lack strength or control. Tucker demonstrates by taking a few people through band-assisted swings.

9min 39sec

02:05 The program began with a wide-ranging discussion about the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. Josh Everett, who twice finished in the top three at the CrossFit Games, expressed his support for the recent announcement that all athletes at the Games will be tested for steroids. Josh also discussed his own use of legal supplements. Josh is a college strength and conditioning coach who said he regularly talked with his athletes about the character and integrity issues raised by illegal drug use. Josh also outlined NCAA testing policies and procedures. Finally, Josh talked about his preparations for the Games and disclosed that double-unders are not his strong point. Stressing that he has no inside information, Josh speculated that this year’s Games might include some long-duration events.

23:46 An excerpt from an upcoming CrossFit Journal video featured Jon Gilson of Again Faster making the transition from rowing in the Concept2 erg to rowing on the water.

26:36 Dave Tate, a champion powerlifter, told the surprising behind-the-scenes story of how he came to be associated with CrossFit. He discussed the max effort method and common mistakes made by beginning lifters.

52min 8sec

Coach Rippetoe calls attention to the role of the adductors in the squat. They lengthen in eccentric contraction as athletes squat down, and shorten in concentric contraction as athletes stand up. If the knees stay out, the adductors can be effectively stretched out, contributing to hip extension.

A very common fault occurs when athletes drop their knees in when they squat. They are not using their external rotators to keep their femurs in external rotation. They don’t get their adductors to contract and help with hip extension because the adductors never get stretched out into a position where they can contract.

That’s why stance and knee position are so important. Coach Rippetoe demonstrates both in detail. The stance is selected to involve as much muscle mass as possible. The goal is train stronger athletes who can lift heavier loads.

7min 33sec

I write this from an iffy Internet connection in Iraq at Joint Security Station Loyalty. My vantage point as a U.S. Army Platoon Leader assigned to 5-73 Cavalry (Panther Recon) has caused me to wonder whether current PT tests might be improved to better measure what’s most important: the ability to perform strenuous physical tasks in combat situations.

Current tests don’t always pinpoint strengths and weaknesses. The feedback they provide to service members and their chains of command is not always as useful as it might be. It’s no secret that the basic tests are not designed to measure the fitness of the elites—or even the moderately fit. The tests are an attempt to ensure a minimum standard of fitness for all service members.

Service members must be fit enough to perform constant work for weeks on end interspersed with periods of exertion lasting from seconds to hours. But current tests don’t measure how well a soldier can perform a variety of non-standard physical tasks. These include lifting and carrying unusually shaped and unevenly distributed objects—usually under the weight of anywhere from 40 to 90 pounds of equipment.

What follows are some preliminary ideas about how the Army Physical Fitness Test might be improved. The proposal includes five tests, a 500-point base scale and the elimination of maximum scores. Elite performances could produce scores above 500. The format would also eliminate age and gender grading because gear weighs the same for everyone and the enemy doesn’t discriminate.

Joe begins by cautioning against positioning the elbows behind the bar. This can quickly lead to problems, including an arched back and the inability get the bar over the midline.

Joe goes on to correct an athlete whose chest is falling forward. The movement should be straight up and down, with the hips popping open on the dip. “As soon as your hips open up and you get that bar about two inches above your forehead, I want you getting your torso under the bar,” Joe says. The shoulder should be in line with the hip, not way out in front.

Joe points out that about half the class is doing the wrong thing with their heads: just tilting it back. The correct movement is to move the torso and pull the head back, a bit like what a tortoise does.

7min 49sec

This video is part two of Dave’s analysis of the role of technique in training and performance. Technique is all about being efficient. Sometimes, though, in training, you can let go of perfect training. Some drills just don’t require efficient technique. And, there can be great benefit to intentionally training some reps with inefficient positioning, because there will be times in competition that every athlete will find themselves outside ideal positioning.

Dave suggests that the mental game and technique account for 90% of success in sport. Many pro football players don’t even train in the off season. They can get away with it because on game day, their technique and mental game are spot on.

There is a little known fact about technique, proficiency and experience. The longer you spend doing a specific skill or sport, the more efficient you become. After a while, you need to do less work to sustain or even make gains. Many experienced athletes do too much. They become more efficient and thus each effort becomes greater. They need fewer repetitions to exhaust the system. They also need more time to recover.

12min 41sec

I hit a couple of home runs in the fourth grade. From then on, my athletic career was mostly downhill. In 2007, I discovered CrossFit and everything changed. It’s been quite a journey, with many lessons learned along the way.

I think of myself as a blue-collar athlete, which is to say I work to be fit and have consistently done so since I was 18. But I don’t have a lot to show for it. I’ve wasted a bunch of time feeling frustrated with those athletic limitations but recognized long ago how much better my life was when I worked at some aspect of fitness. I always expected my athletic breakthrough was right around the corner. It finally came in Baghdad in December 2006 when a fine young soldier, Sergeant Alan Fetter, suggested I look at CrossFit.com

I scanned the site for about three weeks and started reading about the concepts behind the crazy workouts. My first actual workout came on Jan. 9, 2007. The prescribed WOD was a 5x5 shoulder press. Soon after I attempted and survived notable CrossFit WODs such as Helen and the Filthy 50, and I knew I was onto something good.

Almost 40 years after starting, I was stumbling out of the fitness wilderness.

For me, it was transformational to have new fitness goals to pursue and a program that allowed me to achieve them. Competing in the 2008 CrossFit Games left me both humbled and fiercely proud, but the life transformation comes in the daily courage check, the chance to test myself physically and mentally against whatever challenge CrossFit.com delivers.

Performance improvements made it easy to stay with CrossFit in the beginning. Now I have performance goals, skills goals and coaching goals to pursue in what is now my third year in the fitness promised land.

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 calories.

The Model B, about 20 years old, can often be purchased for about $300-$400. It is may not the best option for CrossFitters because of limited readings from its monitor.

The Model C, with the PM2 monitor, is probably the oldest model CrossFitters would want to consider. Expect to pay from $450-$550. But watch for corrosion in the battery compartment, which is right above the circuit board. Remember that replacing the monitor will cost $160.

The relatively new Model D, with PM3 monitor, is the model most often seen in CrossFit affiliates and at CrossFit Games Qualifiers. The Model D sells for $900 new. For the moment, the after market is so limited that you can expect to pay only $100-$150 less for a used Model D in excellent condition. If you see a Model D advertised for less and it’s in good condition, grab it fast. You’ve found yourself a bargain.

The Model E includes a heart rate monitor and is seen more often in globo gyms than CrossFit affiliates. It is higher off the ground and suitable for less conditioned athletes or those with knee problems.

Models D and E feature a slot for a log card that can be used to track times and distances. CrossFitters are welcome ask questions on the Concept 2 website, where where on-water rowers are starting to pay attention to some impressive times posted by CrossFitters. Finally, the folks at Concept 2 are athletes themselves who have great respect for people who puke on their machines.

11min 42sec

Josh has been the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at the University of California Riverside since 2001. Prior to that he served as an Assistant Strength Coach at UCLA & Ohio University. Josh is a competitive weightlifter who has trained under the tutelage of Crossfit Coach Mike Burgener since 1999. During this time Josh has qualified for and competed in 3 U.S. National championship meets placing as high as 9th place in the 85k weight class. In addition to his Collegiate coaching and competitive weightlifting Josh is also deeply involved in the CrossFit community. He serves frequently as an instructor at Crossfit level 1 certs and as a CrossFit athlete has twice finished in the top 3 at the CrossFit Games.

6min 42sec

Shane recalls writing on a piece of paper at age seven that he wanted to go to the Olympics. The dream came true. Shane was on the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team in 2000 and 2004. But Shane had started out as a power-lifter, competing in that sport between the ages of 18 and 23. Shane was advised not to make the switch to Olympic lifting because it had not been done successfully before. Shane disregarded the advice and went on to achieve great things.

But there was a setback along the way: a serious injury in 1999 that put Shane out of action for three weeks, until the day of the nationals when he set three American records. Shane credits his strong Christian faith for pulling him through.

Shane is seen in action coaching athletes along with Mike Burgener. Shane says: “CrossFit is one of the best things to come around for weightlifting. And weightlifting is one of the best things tor CrossFit. It’s such a good fit.” Shane thinks it’s great thousands more people are now doing snatches and clean and jerks because nothing develops athletic ability better.

5min 48sec

01:21 The program began with host Justin Judkins interviewing teenage CrossFit phenom Kallista Pappas. Justin is a high school wrestling coach and said he wished his wrestlers had half of Kallista’s heart. Kallista is only 15 years old and has just qualified for her third consecutive CrossFit Games by submitting a video in the Last Chance Qualifier. Kallista is best known for her gutsy performance at last year's Games where she fell and dropped the weight on herself while performing 30 clean and jerks of near body weight. Kallista went on to complete the workout. Kallista talked about how she has attained elite fitness at such a young age and why CrossFit nation inspires her.

26:22 Justin played a clip from an upcoming CrossFit Journal video featuring the food diary of Josh Everett, a top CrossFit Games competitor. Josh discussed his extensive use of legal supplements.

30:37 The program concluded with the story of one man’s journey from bodybuilding to CrossFit. Chris Saliba was a physical training instructor for the Australian Air Force when he first discovered CrossFit. He confessed to being a slow learner. But it ended well. Today Chris is the owner of Coastal CrossFit Queensland.

44min 11sec

Basketball practice, circa 1987.

You rim out on a foul shot. The coach responds by making you run laps while the rest of the team scrimmages. He’s threatening more if you don’t pick up the pace.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

What your gym teacher might have called punishment can indeed be found in CrossFit from time to time. In CrossFit Endurance WODs you’ll find the occasional “foul,” such as an isometric squat for two minutes if one running interval is slower than its predecessor. Similarly, “penalties” sometimes appear in CrossFit Football workouts. Olympic Lifting Certs are characterized by bouts of burpees.

But coaches such as John Welbourn and Mike Burgener don’t view the additional work they infrequently assign as punishment used to beat athletes into submission.

“I’ve played for coaches who were huge punishment guys... and I don’t necessarily buy into that because I’ve always been intrinsically motivated,” Welbourn says. “I’m able to get my own motor going. I don’t need someone to scream at me to do it.”

Burgener, on the other hand, will throw extra work at athletes to keep them focused, but he says it doesn’t take many burpees to keep a group on task.

“It’s amazing what transformation takes place when you have that threat, that motivational consequence of doing burpees,” he says. “Very, very rarely do I have to do very many burpees.”

Coach Glassman said his goal is to provide opportunities he wished he’d had as a young trainer. To this day, there is no CrossFit business plan. His approach is to make the meatloaf he’d like to eat, and write the novel he’d like to read.

It’s been an interesting journey. As a teenage gymnast, he’d done something unusual by using weights and cycling in his training. “I understood that my moderate capacity in three different domains conferred a physical advantage that nobody got with a single focus.”

He began training people while still in his teens, working at what CrossFitters now call globo gyms. He saw lots of bad stuff, including training that didn’t get results and questionable business practices. Sometimes he would hang gymnastics rings, only to see them cut down. He often disagreed with gym owners and got kicked out of his gym—and his job.

After almost twenty years in the fitness business, he finally made the decision to go off on his own and do things his way. The CrossFit website was launched a few months later and the organization has grown rapidly ever since.

His hope for the future of CrossFit? More of the same.

8min 25sec

In part 2 of our series on how to train through acute injuries, Starrett said conventional advice can sometimes be mistaken. The recovery phase is when athletes need CrossFit most. When it comes to fitness, it’s a case of use it or lose it. Workouts should be modified, not abandoned. Do a workout on one leg, if necessary. Or consider Tabata intervals on day one of the recovery program, and let the intensity find you.

Working out increases blood flow and promotes healing. It drives insulin sensitivity, restores proteins and gets the whole system looking for anabolic enzymes. The recovery phase from an acute injury is also a great time to tackle your “goat” - the stuff you hate to do, but need to do.

Injured athletes are still athletes. They need to avoid feeling sorry for themselves and get their butts back into the gym. And quickly.

8min 34sec

In recent years overhead lifts have experienced a revival in strength routines, and they’re also a big part of CrossFit. Of course, with my background in Olympic lifting, I’ve always encouraged my athletes to do presses and jerks—even my female athletes. Now, more and more scholastic and collegiate strength coaches are seeing the value of these two overhead movements and adding them to their players’ programs. Similarly, CrossFit athletes are putting weight overhead in their quest for total fitness.

Everywhere you turn you’ll see ads pushing some product, exercise gadget or video that claims to enhance core strength. “Core strength” has become trendy phrase. But overhead lifting makes all the groups that constitute the core a great deal stronger in a manner few other exercises can match. Elevating a loaded barbell overhead and holding it in position for five or six seconds strengthens the muscles and attachments of the arms, shoulders, back, hips and legs.

It must be understood that jerking a heavy weight isn’t just a matter of applying raw strength to the bar, like performing a squat or deadlift. It’s knowing how to utilize several athletic attributes, such as timing, co-ordination and speed along with strength. This is exactly why the jerk is such a beneficial exercise for athletes in a wide range of sports. Jerking heavy weight is particularly beneficial to throwers in track and volleyball and basketball players who need vertical strength to excel. In addition, jerks are an asset in nearly every athletic endeavor I can think of.

When done perfectly, the jerk is an aesthetic combination of power and grace, and that’s why so many athletes take to them so readily. They’re much more than just a strengthening exercise. They’re feats of strength that require a very high degree of athleticism. Agility, timing, quickness, co-ordination and determination are needed in order to jerk a heavy poundage.

Learn how to do the lift correctly. Diligently practice your technique. Then you’ll be ready to advance to a higher level of functional strength.

03:57 Dave previewed an upcoming CrossFit Journal article by Mike Warkentin entitled “Is Punishment a Dirty Word?” and then offered his own thoughts on the use of “motivational consequences” to get athletes off their butts.


11:40 When Globo gyms masquerade as CrossFit gyms, it’s bad for everyone. Jason Galvan posted on the subject recently on the CrossFit discussion board. Dave moderated a discussion with Jason and Lisbeth Darsh, the CrossFit HQ affiliate director.

32:50 Paul "Apolloswabbie" Eich contributed a “hard fought wisdom” segment on why scaling down workouts can often be the smart thing to do. In a follow up interview, Paul and Dave discussed the importance of intensity.

First up: the top roll. Travis describes it as the art of pulling your opponent towards you by applying back pressure. You manipulate the starting position and thrust under and into the table as you go down. Your opponent feels his hand opening up. The side pressure makes his wrist open up. Pretty soon, it’s game over.

Next up: the hook. You lock your wrist into a curl and form a hook. Pull-ups help in training for this move. When force is applied, your opponent sees the palm of his hand. That’s not good. Travis says: “If you’re looking at the palm of your hand you shouldn’t be in an arm wrestling match, because you’ve got some problems.”

Last up: the shoulder roll. This is a dangerous move that’s rarely used. You get your body on the outside of your hand and drive your opponent to the pin pad by pushing, rather than pulling.

8min 55sec

Recently GSX Athletics hosted kettlebell expert Jeff Martone for a two day seminar. The crew from CrossFit Again Faster was there to catch some of the action. Jeff takes us through the kettlebell Turkish Get Up step by step and corrects the common errors made by some of the seminar participants.

Jeff emphasizes the importance of using two hands to pick up and set down the kettlebell for safety reasons. Before getting up, the chest should be open and the shoulders back and down. The wrist should be straight and perpendicular to the floor. The kettlebell should then be pressed straight up. “Nice and easy,” said Jeff. “Nothing to it.”

7min 41sec

Steve is 42-year-old banker and has been CrossFitting for six months. He can do most of the main-site WODs as prescribed—some of them just barely. Steve often scales workouts back a little so he can keep moving. He follows the main-site workouts most of the time and comes in for personal training once or twice a week as his schedule allows.

Today is Thursday. Steve will be in later today. It’s time to program his session. Here’s what Steve has done this week.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Diane scaled to 21 deadlifts (185 pounds), 15 handstand push-ups, 15 deadlifts,10 Handstand pushups, 9 deadlifts, 5 handstand push-ups. Steve’s time was 9:40.

Wednesday: Kelly as prescribed. Five rounds of 400-meter run, 30 box jumps on a 20-inch box, 30 wall-ball shots. Steve’s time was 32:45.

The proposed workout:
50-40-30-20-10
Kettlebell swings (1.5 pood or approximately 53 pounds)
Push-ups

Is this a good workout for Steve today? If not, what should be changed? Decide for yourself or continue reading the article. Compare your answer to our trainers’ opinions. Post your results to comments.

01:31 Kicking off the show was an interview with Peter Egyed who won a place at the CrossFit Games by finishing first in the Last Chance Qualifier. Peter was disappointed to place 11th at the Great Basin Qualfier. So he welcomed the opportunity to get to the Games by submitting video evidence that he was among CrossFit’s best. Peter talked about the three workouts he completed within 24 hours and how he strategized each one. Peter is the owner of CrossFit Fury.

23:51 Justin previewed an upcoming video featuring world arm-wrestling champion Travis Bagent. He also read an email about the perils of doing burpees at the the side of highway when there are state troopers around..

29:35 Robin Moore, who trains at CrossFit Flagstaff, described how CrossFit has changed his life in five short months. He has lost a tremendous amount of weight, and has improved his health with the help of CrossFit and a Paleo-inspired diet. Robin explained how he is now helping others travel the path he found.

46min 47sec

Major Dan Blackmon describes how CrossFit grew on the West Point campus. An important milestone was sending some cadets, who were early adopters of CrossFit, to a cert. The breakthrough came when the West Point Class of ’62 contributed funds to fully equip a CrossFit gym called Black and Gold CrossFit. Today, voluntary CrossFit workouts at West Point attract as many as 100+ athletes.

The video includes Cadet Chris Villareal describing how he built a custom pull-up bar structure that can accommodate up to 18 athletes doing kipping pull-ups at the same time. Chris fabricated the structure as a project for his engineering class.

Boz and Todd, who conducted a CrossFit Level 1 cert at West Point on April 28-29, 2009, get a guided tour of their famous indoor obstacle course. The video continues with a look at a very special version of Fran: 21 thrusters at 95 pounds and 6 very challenging rope climbs; followed by 15 thrusters and 6 rope climbs; followed by 9 thrusters and 1 rope climb.

Dan sees every soldier as an athlete and should be treated as such. But unlike professional athletes, soldiers don’t know when and how the game will be played. That’s why they need to be prepared for everything. Conventional PT tests are no longer good enough because they measure only push-ups, sit-ups, and how fast soldiers can run two miles.

The cadets seen in this video will soon be second lieutenants in the United States Army. They are using CrossFit to prepare not just for the PT tests, but also for the rigors of combat.

10min 8sec

When most people think of gymnastics, they think of Nadia Comaneci. But gymnastics is really nothing more than body movement. For CrossFit, gymnastics is a series of skills and drills used in WODs.

There is no real reason to substitute dips and pull ups for muscle ups. It’s just a matter of learning the progressions to the muscle up.

The video also includes shout outs to Kelly Moore and Jon Gilson, plus a foray to ancient Greece for some remarks on the Greek ideal of fitness and life.

Jeff Tucker (just “Tucker” to most folks) is a retired 20-year member of the Fort Worth Fire Department, where he served as a firefighter and arson/bomb investigator. He was head coach and director of Texas Christian University's gymnastics/cheerleading programs from 2001 to 2006, and he holds a multitude of degrees and certifications. He currently owns and operates GSX Athletics in Fort Worth, Texas, which specializes in Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics, CrossFit, and private athletic instruction.

9min 10sec

Scott Hartley is defying just about everything: the odds, conventional wisdom and his own running past.

Early in March, Hartley, from Nunn, Colorado, won the 800-meter and one-mile races at the 2009 U.S.A. Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships. In April, he won the masters mile at the Drake Relays, one of the biggest and oldest track meets in the United States. On a 200-meter indoor track, Hartley ran 1:57.89 for 800 meters—within four seconds of his all-time PR, which he set half a lifetime ago as a Division 2 collegiate athlete at the Colorado School of Mines.

Hartley’s system involves fewer than 20 miles per week and very little of the traditional high volume training developed by legendary coach Arthur Lydiard. A combination of middle-distance training and CrossFit has meant an extraordinarily low-mileage program, and Hartley is actually running between 20 and 40 percent of the miles run by other athletes at his level.

He’s working just as hard, though, because his training calendar is liberally sprinkled with names like Michael, Fran and Cindy.

“My weight hasn’t changed at all,” Hartley says. “My appearance has. It’s been nice not to have to give up strength in order to run.”

This video starts with snippets from an interview with Coach Burgener. He talks about the real world transference of training the Olympic lifts, and about the difference between pure strength and speed strength.

The Burgener approach to cleaning and snatching is to develop proficiency from the high hang position (standing tall with the arms long). This is the essence of the “jump and land.” Every clean and every snatch pass through this high hang position.

Foot position is absolutely essential for successful Oly-lifting. Coach B works extensively with both athletes on getting their footwork correct. Jocelyn tends to lift her feet too high, creating instability, and Jason’s feet are all over the place. “Ninety percent of all missed lifts can be attributed to the feet in one way or another.”

This videos covers the early part of the session with light weights. Coming soon are more videos of their full session (in which both athletes set PRs in the snatch).

15min 45sec

This special edition of the program featured a look at CrossFit around the world, as seen through the eyes of CrossFit trainers and affiliate owners in Denmark, Australia and Northern Ireland. Dave discovered the CrossFit story is much the same everywhere: explosive growth fueled by passionate people who have drunk the koolaid. No matter what the language, burpies still suck. And nowhere do landlords understand why CrossFit workouts are so noisy.


00:00 - 17:34 A trainer with the very Danish name of Thor Larsen talked about how CrossFit Copenhagen has grown to 550 members. The affiliate operates out of a small space in a former church. It is trying to raise funds to send eight athletes to the CrossFit Games next month.


17:34 - 36:12 Matt Swift, owner of CrossFit Brisbane told the story of CrossFit in Australia. Matt’s website boasts: “We have chalk, we make noise, we know everyone by name, we sweat, we swear, we laugh and we train hard. It is a great place to be a part of.”


36:12 - 52:33 Jonny Smyth of Northern Ireland CrossFit outside Belfast talked about the birth and growth of his affiliate.

52min 33sec

Mac used a workout he called “Diafranabeth.” It combines the first round of Diane, the second round of Fran, and the third round of Elizabeth.

It looks like this:
21 Deadlifts at 185 pounds
21 Handstand push-ups
15 Thrusters at 80 pounds
15 Pull-ups
9 Squat cleans at 105 pounds
9 Ring dips

Gillian averaged her fastest and slowest times on Diane, Fran and Elizabeth to come up with a predicted time of 6:25. Mac used a different formula, taking into account the differences in male and female weights, to come up with a predicted time of 5:37.

Then it was off to Mac’s garage for the workout. Mac jumped behind his camera to record the results for posterity. Turns out Gillian’s predictions were pretty good.

Editor’s Note: Always the provocateur, we asked Jocelyn Forest from CrossFit West Santa Cruz to try her hand at the workout also. Jocelyn won the 2009 CrossFit Games NorCal Regional Qualifier, and will be competing against Gillian at the Games on July 11th, 2009. Jocelyn’s Response video ... [wmv] [mov]

10min 04sec

Scaling is an important aspect of Crossfit, but one that’s often misunderstood. Correctly altering and customizing workouts can increase your work capacity, make training more gratifying and keep your Fran times well under 20 minutes—all good things.

The simple fact is that the WODs posted on CrossFit.com are designed for elite athletes with CrossFit experience, and almost all new CrossFitters will have to scale their workouts. But scaling properly isn’t easy.

So how do you scale to achieve the best results?

There are various ways to scale. How to elicit the most effective response is both subtle and complex. You don’t always scale by reducing the duration of workouts, for instance. Scaling correctly will increase work capacity more efficiently than attempting to complete workouts as prescribed before you’re ready for them. Properly lowering the weight and achieving a faster time will actually yield a higher level of power.

It’s also critical to scale weight on workouts. You need to evaluate the point of the WOD. In CrossFit, one-rep max days exist for a reason: to build strength while struggling with a heavy load. If the WOD calls for 30 clean and jerks at 155 pounds, it’s clearly a met-con WOD. If you turn the workout into 30 single reps with a minute rest between them, you’ve missed the point. Lowering the rep count, altering the movements themselves, and tinkering with round and rep prescriptions are other options.

Careful scaling works—but it takes planning and experience. Track your progress, evaluate the results of your scaling and correct your mistakes. Talk to other coaches and athletes and ask for advice. Think, plan and educate yourself. Most importantly, keep at it.

03:23 Stacey Kroon is a trainer at CrossFit Boston who recently won the Northeast Regional Qualifier for the CrossFit Games. Stacey commented on the article that Patrick Cummings wrote after he watched her performance through the viewfinder of his Again Faster video camera. Stacey discussed her mental preparation and the pressure she faced because she led the competition throughout the weekend. Stacey explained how her background in gymnastics and other sports contributed to her development as a CrossFit athlete. The interview concluded with a dietary confession: Stacey loves to bake.

20:24 The Insider Report corrected a slight error in last week’s account of just how brutal the trainer workout was at a recent meeting. Listeners were also to directed to The Affiliate Blog for a listing of summer events, including The CrossFit Ontario Challenge on July l8 in Toronto, Canada.

23:28 In an excerpt from an upcoming video, Kelly Starrett says that athletes with acute injuries need to get their butts back into the gym quickly. In most case, workouts should be modified rather than abandoned. Starrett is the owner of CrossFit San Francisco and a doctor of physiotherapy.

25:29 The program concluded with a discussion of a free workout tracking application called No Scrolls

42min 40sec

Continuing to work out reinforces tissue and keeps systems intact. The metabolic and anabolic cascade and neurendocrine response lead to increased growth hormone, increased testosterone and increased insulin growth factors—all good things.

And the psycho-social factors are also important. Athletes should not be isolated from their workout buddies or allowed to give up. They need to get back into action.

7min 36sec

One of the reasons I do what I do is simply because I wanted to know how to make myself a better athlete. From the age of 11, I read anatomy and biology books. I read them not for fun but to improve my competition fitness in wrestling and weightlifting. Even in school I took elective classes I thought would help me figure things out. In high school I took advanced biology, and my senior research project was investigating the effect of different salt solutions and concentrations thereof on force production in isolated frog muscle preps.

From my earliest recollections, I wanted to know how muscle was built and how it worked. I wanted to know how I could make things move.

To understand how things move we first need to take a little look at how muscles are constructed—a little anatomy lesson if you will.

Muscles are composed of thousands and thousands of individual muscle cells. Small, tiny muscles have a few thousand cells that can be less than a centimeter long. Big, massive muscles such as the latissimus dorsi, which covers a huge portion of the back, will have millions of muscle cells that can be up to 30 centimeters (about a foot) in length. All together, muscle accounts for about 40 percent of total body weight in an average human.

Let’s dissect the muscle down to the cellular level, look at how a cell is built, identify its basic components and briefly examine what each part does. A conceptual understanding of the anatomy of muscle contraction makes it obvious that there is much going on within a muscle during contraction. Indeed there is, from individual molecules to the entire muscle.

Muscle anatomy forms the structural basis of contraction. From the proteins that produce the force to the level of whole muscle action, a simple understanding of how things are built forms the core of our knowledge of how to change their structure to improve their function.

Pre-participation screening of athletes is an honorable venture. The sudden death of an athlete is a tragedy in every sense of the term. The attempt to avoid or eliminate tragedy by pre-screening those athletes susceptible to it is natural and fully understandable.

Dr. Ray looks at some of the statistics associated with screening and sudden death. The conclusions are dramatic, and put the practice of pre-screening in a different light.

According to one source, 1 in 200,000 athletes under 35 years old are at significant risk of dying during athletic activity. If we were to develop a pre-screening test that was 99% accurate (though in reality, we don’t have anything nearly that good), 99.95% of all the positive test results would be false positives (the explanation of this is in part 2).

The first of two primary conclusions of Dr. Ray’s lecture is that as much as we would like to prevent tragedy, the statistical reality is that we don’t have a reasonable means of doing so with pre-participation screening.

The second primary conclusion is that as tragic as sudden death is, these tests are significantly more likely to stop safe athletes from healthy activity than they are to prevent unsafe athletes from harm. This is unfortunate and preventable with clear thinking.

Part 1 is the technical background to the lecture. 18min 1sec

Part 2 is the conclusion, from which the essence of the entire lecture could be garnered if time were a consideration. 10min 44sec

03:21: E.C. Synkowski is on the traveling squad of trainers for the level 1 certs. She talked about placing in the top 20% of over 200 women at an indoor rowing competition, using only CrossFit for preparation. E.C. commented on the video of her doing Grace with the men's weight.

25:38: Steve Rakow, owner of CrossFit Ocean City discussed the men and women he’s trained and the differences he’ s seen. Steve is also an attorney who spoke about how CrossFit’s RRG will help protect affiliates and trainers.

38:13: The show ended with an interview with Stephane Rochet, Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of San Diego. Stephane talked about what a difference CrossFit has made to the athletic teams at the university. He explained how he uses CrossFit to foster competition and improve performance. He also offered his insights about training both male and female athletes.

54min 48sec

Dave calls weaknesses sticking points. All sticking points are mental, physical, or technique based. In this video, Dave talks about technique.

Technique means being efficient. Making gains in efficiency translates immediately to better performance with no gains in strength or speed. The higher you go in a competition, the more important technique becomes.

Technique is all about realizing the nature of the event and the nature of the athlete. You want to take advantage of the athlete’s natural orientation, and you want to orient the effort toward the event. If it’s an endurance event, you won’t maximize your reps (or minimize your time) if you go out 100%. You should exert just enough force to get the rep done, which leaves the most in the tank for the rest of the reps.

There are no bad exercises, only bad technique.

11min 42sec

03:46 
Tony Budding discusses the CrossFit Games: where they’ve been and where they’re going. Among the topics covered were the video submissions for The Last Chance Qualifiers and the growing international interest in the Games. As the Qualifiers drew to a close, Tony talked about highlights, lowlights and lessons learned. He also touched on how the Games and Qualifiers might expand next year.


31:20 Dave interviewed Dr. Barry Sears, author of The Zone. Barry discussed the principles of eating for performance, and various diet strategies for competitive athletes.


51min 10sec

05:56 Terry Laughlin is an expert swimming coach best known for his “Total Immersion” program, which does for swimming what POSE does for running. Terry talked about why he is such a big believer in CrossFit. He discussed why midline stabilization is so important for swimmers, along with squats and deadlifts.

30:43 Craig Patterson is the owner of CrossFit Vancouver, today one of the most successful affiliates. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Craig was the fifth affiliate. At first, he had so little idea what he was doing that he almost went bankrupt. He discussed the school for affiliates he’s establishing and some of the obstacles he had to overcome along the way

51:47 David Leys was one of the faces in many of the early CrossFit videos. He discussed his non-profit organization Awaken Humanity.

1hr 00min 32sec

In this video from Again Faster, Tony works on hip drive with Matt Miles, an athlete with a leg prosthesis. Matt’s range of motion is limited. But Tony points out that there is great variation in how much dip is used even by accomplished athletes, and Matt should seek to use what he can.

The key is keeping the range of motion smooth and safe and in the right plane, in a way that takes advantage of the muscle’s natural stretch reflex. It’s an excellent illustration of the concept of universal scalability.

Tony coaches Matt in much the same way he would any other athlete and says at the end: “Good. You’re working. I like it! I like it! That’s great. That’s where we’re going to get the gains.”

4min 27sec

01:34 Matt Chan was the first guest, discussing his first place performance at the recent Rocky Mountain Regional Qualifier for the CrossFit Games. Matt talked about how he prepared mentally for the competition. He stressed the importance of listening to your body daily in order to reach your peak. Matt also discussed his diet. It became clear that Matt is a busy guy. He revealed how he balances his family life, his work as a firefigher, his ownership of an affiliate and his preparation for the CrossFit Games.

22:45 Justin gave a much too detailed first-hand account of his recent encounter with Pukie. On the Insider Report, Justin discussed the workout level 1 trainers did when they met last weekend in Colorado.

26:43 Mike and Lisa Ray own CrossFit Flagstaff host of this year's Great Basin Qualifier. Mike and Lisa provided a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to put on a qualifier. Lisa discussed her third place finish and what it took to get through the workouts. She also discussed Flagstaff’s 7,000 feet elevation and how it affects athletic performance. Mike and Lisa also spoke about how they are preparing a team to compete in The Affiliate Cup at The CrossFit Games.

48min 31sec

The video and audio articles are not contained in the PDF.

The articles included here are:

Warkentin - No Risk Retention Group, No Reward
Whitty - Muscling Through It
Cooper - The Secrets of Sticking With It
Thompson - Improvising, Adapting and Overcoming
Morris and Burrow - To Serve, Protect—and Sweat
Gallagher - Kelly’s Koffin: Five Feet Over
Starr - The Holy Trinity of Strength Training
Murphy - GR8 Fran Time, BTW

Jeff should know. He looks into the camera and tells his own injury story: lots of shoulder dislocations, messing up his back, and blowing out his ACL. His problems began in 1985, during his last year in high school. By 2000, he was facing a third shoulder surgery. But the doctor warned of diminishing returns.

That’s when Jeff turned to kettlebells. He found lots of reps built strength and endurance. Turkish Get Ups were especially helpful. Jeff has been injury free and surgery free for the last nine years. Now he’s using what helped him to help the people he trains.

6min 31sec

CrossFit founder Greg Glassman says competition is the cornerstone of his challenging workouts. Now, software developers have taken CrossFit’s famous whiteboard online, where technology is harnessing competitive energy in new ways.

Tyler Weir says his application, As RX’d, has made a difference in his own training.

“One of the most important things in CrossFit is logging your workouts. I hit plateaus and I know it’s time to adjust (various variables). Logging gives you an overall view of your progression. Just by looking at those numbers, it gives you context.”

Craig Patterson of CrossFit Vancouver has noticed that CrossFitLeaderBoard has strengthened the CrossFit community, if just in his own gym.

“It brings the community together on a larger scale, the bonding of all the classes. The morning crew is talking to the evening crew. It’s fostered a great camaraderie.”

A lot of CrossFitters are convinced that tracking software has ramped up their workouts. But is the anecdotal evidence backed by hard facts? Sports psychologist Shane Murphy says it is.

“There’s a process in psychology known as self-monitoring, which is quite strong,” he says. “It becomes much easier to change just from the process of tracking. You’ve brought the attention to your own behavior and you can control it. Online tracking would be very liable to have the same effect. It’s something that we notice in goal-setting literature: public goals do produce stronger adherence than private goals. You’re more likely to persist, even with some setbacks.”

If that’s the case, do you really want to be the last one to log on?

When they graduate, the cadets seen in this video will become second lieutenants in the US army. But first they had to get past Boz and Todd. And that wasn't easy.

It all had to do with a giant staircase Boz and Todd saw in a "humongous building" at West Point.

Boz and Todd got out of breath just walking up the stairs. So they decided to do the only logical thing possible: make the cadets run up the stairs. And that was just for starters. Then the cadets did pushups, ran up some more stairs, did some more pushups, ran up some more stairs and did some more pushups. And that was only half of the first round.

Boz and Todd called it a quick and dirty workout that would take 2 or 3 minutes.

“Two or three minutes, my ass!” said one cadet at the end of the workout.

8min 11sec

In this video by CrossFit Again Faster, Coach Burgener advised staying over the bar and watching the hips. “The speed will take care of itself,” he said. He also discussed making lifts through turnover and generating outstanding power.

Coach Burgener said it’s best to go up a little at a time, not in leaps and bounds. He emphasized the importance of forming patterns and staying within already established parameters. He said lifters will never go up in weight until they’ve mastered the pattern.

13min 27sec

If you’re looking to build brute strength, you need to avoid machines and biceps curls. Instead, focus your time in the weight room on a small number of core exercises that hit the main muscle groups.

It’s called keeping it simple—and it works.

We selected three exercises: bench press, back squat and power clean. We called them the Big Three.

The main reason the Big Three works well is that all the energy of an athlete is put into making the large muscles and corresponding attachments stronger. The main problem with routines that consist of numerous exercises is only so much energy is available. When it’s spread out over a dozen or more movements, none receive much attention. Therefore, we do not get stronger.

It’s my observation that those in charge of putting together strength programs in high school, colleges and professional sports have reverted back to the same mistakes their predecessors made in the ʼ60s. There are far too many exercises in nearly every program I’m asked to examine. In truth, the athletes who are using this multi-layered concept aren’t getting that much stronger. They might get a little stronger, but not nearly as much as if they had applied all their energy to moving iron.

Three is the operative number when designing a beginning strength program: three basic exercises for the three major muscle groups done three times a week. This program is equally useful to those starting back into a strength routine after a layoff, as well as those wanting to maintain a high level of strength fitness at any age.

Simplicity is the key to success in strength training—so keep it simple.

The shoulder is designed primarily for mobility. There are a number of forces that rotate it internally, while there are relatively few forces rotating externally. Balancing the shoulder so that it remains in an optimal position for maximum stability and force production is the goal.

In this video Kelly shows us a checklist for seeing where your impingement is in your shoulders focusing mainly on someones posture.

8min 20sec

This footage is taken from his Basic Barbell Certification seminar at CrossFit Brand X in Ramona, CA on February 14, 2009.

In this video, Rip explains the proper lumbar mechanics required for squatting effectively. Awareness of the pelvis and the musculature of the lower back is essential. A slight anterior pelvic tilt is generally required at the start of the squat so that lumbar stability is not lost at the bottom of the squat.

Rip says that a significant percentage of athletes are not even aware enough of the lumbar spine to know when they lose their arch while squatting, deadlifting, or even grabbing something casually off the floor.

7min 19sec

25:06 Kyle Maynard was born with a condition called congenital amputation that left him with limbs that end at the elbows and the knees. But this has not stopped Kyle from competing in sports at high levels and owning an affiliate. Kyle talked about how he competed in wrestling in high school and college. Then it was on to a discussion about how Kyle helped with the special Level 1 certification conducted in February 2008 for disabled veterans from the Warrior Transition Battalion. Kyle talked about the speech he gave during the inspiring weekend. Kyle has always overcome obstacles. The interview concluded with Kyle disclosing his latest venture: MMA fighting. Kyle outlined how he plans to compete in the sport.

51min 07sec

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, I accepted the challenge.

After a few weeks of head-scratching and sketching followed by a day of cutting, gluing and screwing, I was able to present him with the prototype adjustable jumping box. In the long-standing American tradition of semi-literacy, we dubbed it “Kelly’s Koffin.”

The Koffin has quickly worked its way into the culture at SFCF. Coach Adrian (Boz) Bozman has added a Koffin T-shirt to his line of homemade silkscreens and has also offered a challenge to all CrossFitters: mount the box at the highest setting (58 inches) and receive a free T. Thus far only two SFCF athletes have achieved this distinction.

Do you have what it takes? Planning a trip to the Bay Area soon? The Koffin beckons.

This episode featured coverage of The CrossFit Games Qualifiers. It included an on-the-scene report and a look at nutritional preparation.

00:00 - 13:47 Jason Ackerman, owner of CrossFit Albany was the lead organizer for the Northeast Qualifer. Jason said it was quite a scene in the parking lot of his affiliate, with 240 competitors and more than 500 spectators participating. Jason described two killer WODs, including a 2,000 meter row.

13:47 - 16:10 In a clip from a video, Brian MacKenzie of CrossFit Endurance talked about the importance of technique in developing running speed.

16:10 - 39:46 Dave focused on how diet can be tweaked for competitions like the qualifiers with nutrition expert Robb Wolf. Robb also discussed the importance of nutrition timing. He suggested that there may be a two hour post workout window when carbs can be increased and fats reduced.

Mackenzie told seminar participants, “There is a reason we do a workout with running in it. It's to show you how quickly it can go to shit” if technique is lacking. “If you don't have the skills and the conditioning, you're not going to get the power and speed,” Mackenzie said.

Elite runners run quietly, often on the balls on their feet. But the masses run noisily. They are heel strikers who pound away and waste a great deal of energy.

Coach Carl Borg led the seminar participants in partner drills that reinforced these points. They learned to pull the foot from the ground using gravity. The technique is quite different from what most other coaches use.

7min 55sec

8min 38sec

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 Northshore Fire Foundation with our new passion. Last year we decided to merge our love of CrossFit with our desire to raise money for the Northwest Burn Foundation, raising awareness about CrossFit in the process. In August 2008, our Firefighter/Police CrossFit Challenge came to fruition. Over 50 people from the local area participated, with numerous others watching.

The event was a big hit, and CrossFit has grown immensely because of the exposure. Within two weeks of our inaugural competition, three of us began talking about opening an affiliate. Within three months we had keys to an 1,800 square-foot box that became the home of Kirkland CrossFit

Our goal of raising the awareness of CrossFit and raising money for the NW Burn Foundation has significantly affected our community. Local area firefighters and police officers are visibly fitter, and we believe lives will be saved because of commitments made by civil servants to improve their lives through CrossFit. We’ve seen the results in action with our own colleagues.

People are already talking about Kirkland CrossFit’s 2nd Annual Firefighter/Police CrossFit Challenge scheduled for August 8th, 2009.

Dave calls any weakness (in training or in life) a sticking point. All sticking points are mental, physical, or technique based. This video focuses on mental sticking points.

The mental issues are the easiest to understand but the hardest to actually change. What is your mental game? How do you deal with obstacles? How do you deal with criticism? People think they're being positive, but if you're not successful already, you can't really be positive.

The best solution, Dave says, is to stay focused and get your job done. If your busy being successful, who has time to worry about what others say about you? You’re too busy to be a troll, and you’re too busy to pay attention to trolls. Success is the best revenge.

7min 05sec

This special episode features commentary and observations from host Dave Young, based on his experience as a judge at the Northwest Regional Qualifying Round of the 2009 Games, held May 16, 2009 in Seattle, WA.

00:00 - 27:00 Dave explained how he did his job as a judge.

27:00 - 39:30 Dave wondered if the integrity of the judging could be open to dispute. He wondered why there should ever be compromises on integrity. Dave closed by suggesting improvements to the judging process.

39min 47sec

Editor’s note: Each regional qualifier was run completely by the regional director, who in this case was Dave Werner from CrossFit Seattle. All choices about venue, programming, judging, and scoring were his.

Here are a few of the most important:

Be quick to listen and slow to advise—It will take time to establish trust and a rapport with each athlete. It’s highly likely that each individual has seen multiple doctors, specialists, nurses and occupational therapists. They will be skeptical of additional “help.” A trainer will have to earn a warrior’s respect. Don’t push athletes who aren’t ready or willing to gain or re-establish real-world work capacity.

Be creative, resourceful, and flexible with programming efforts—No one-size-fits-all workout formula exists. Each injury is unique in scope, scale and magnitude. Some athletes will have multiple injuries. In group settings, it’s highly probable that a prescribed workout will have one or more modifications for each participant.

Focus on what each athlete can do—Be aware of limitations but don’t belabor them. Encourage each athlete personally to transcend the physical elements. Exploit opportunities for growth. In the words of army Lieut. Brian Ipock, “There’s always something you can do.”

As a community, CrossFit emphasizes that the physical needs of athletes differ only in degree, not kind. Universal scalability of basic workouts and modified movements are acceptable parts of an athlete’s journey. Working with combat-wounded populations is no different, although additional time, care and attention must be devoted to those with catastrophic injuries.

In this episode, Boz coaches Ashley on her presses as a complement to the pull-up work she did in Part 1. Ashley is a multisport athlete, competing in Olympic-style weightlifting, track (heptathlon), and rugby for the US Military Academy at West Point. Her best lifts are about 155lbs in the snatch and about 200lbs in the clean and jerk. She is a strong, all around athlete.

Boz finishes up the pressing session with an explanation of putting delts on a pencil before putting Ashley through a quick couplet:
15 DB push jerks / 15 Burpee pull-ups
10 DB push jerks / 10 Burpee pull-ups

Ashley has done a lot of strength work earlier in the session, and has a program to follow to further develop her upper body capacity. In the workout, she doesn’t achieve full range of motion on all her reps. Boz explains after she’s done why he didn’t stop her and enforce the complete ROM.

12min 16sec

This video is the sixth in a series in which we get up close and personal with Pat and his eating. He brings his camera to the meal and we see exactly what happens.

In this episode, Pat is at the Fort Riley Army base in Kansas for a CrossFit Level 1 cert. He goes out to eat on base at the PX with fellow HQ staff Joe Degain, Lisa Ray, and Jon Gilson, as well as two participants. Each one of them makes a slightly different choice, some more conducive to elite performance than others.

The video was shot on April 21st, 2009, two days after Lisa qualified for the 2009 CrossFit Games and 4 days before Pat qualified. These are serious athletes competing successfully with their region’s fittest.

The point of this series, unlike many of the other nutrition videos in the Journal, is not to address the theoretical tenets of diet, but rather to look at the real world habits of athletes and trainers performing at the top of their game while maintaining significant work and travel schedules.

7min 32sec

Chastity has been in several videos, planning her diet, competing against some top Games competitors, and training the clean.

In this video by Again Faster, Chastity talks about her training, and the Arnold competition. She describes her history as a bodybuilder and how she came to CrossFit.

She will be competing at the 2009 Midwest Regional Qualifier for a spot in the 2009 CrossFit Games.

Two Parts.

The shoulder is designed primarily for mobility. There are a number of forces that rotate it internally, while there are relatively few forces rotating externally. Balancing the shoulder so that it remains in an optimal position for maximum stability and force production is the goal.

In this video, Kelly explains how the shoulder works both when it is healthy and when there is an impingement.

5min 33sec

Since Jimi and Tony were guest instructors, they used the warmup as an opportunity both see how the athletes moved and to work on some core technique issues. They also taught the more complex movements of the workout.

Josh helps divide the class into teams. The workout was designed to maximize each athlete’s power output or intensity. How? Well, the reps were kept low enough that the athletes could move through very quickly. Then, plenty of rest was allowed, so they could hit it as hard as possible each time. Finally, given that it was a team workout with only one athlete working at a time, there was a lot of pressure to work hard for your team.

The workout was 7 burpees, 7 box jumps, and 7 hang squat cleans. Teams of three, with only one person working at a time. Everyone went through in order 7 times each.

8min 01sec

01:43 A special series of audio clips called "The Voices of CrossFit" opened the show. Affiliate owners explained why it is so important to support the CrossFit RRG, a form of self-insurance. Host Justin Judkins announced that CrossFit HQ had contributed $40,000 to the cause. He said affiliates are being asked to contribute $1,000 each and trainers are being asked for $200 each. The money buys an ownership stake in the RRG and a say in how it's run. Most of all it buys protection. Justin said: "If you're sued, the RRG will stand behind you. Guaranteed. We're still about $150,000 short of the $500,000 we need to start the RRG. But we've made tremendous progress is the last two weeks -- raising many thousands of dollars a day. One way or another, we are going to make it." For more information, go to www.crossfitrrg.com

03:36 Jason Leydon is the owner and head trainer at CrossFit Milford, CT. Jason is also on won CrossFit traveling squads. He is a coach at both Level 1 certifications and and with Brian McKenzie's CrossFit Endurance. Jason explained how CrossFit works in conjunction with CrossFit Endurance. He explained how runners can actually improve their performance by running fewer miles. Jason also described the POSE method of running.

26:54 Josh Bunch is the owner of Practice CrossFit and is preparing to compete in the Midwestern Qualifier this weekend. It's something new for Josh, best known as a a CrossFitter whose sport of choice is bodybuilding. He talked about how training and eating for the qualifier differs from preparing for a bodybuilding competition. Josh also talked about the recent video of figure competitor Chastity Stone taking on Caity Matter and Jolie Gentry in a workout.

48min 46sec

This episode was originally labeled episode 66.

In the second video of this series from CrossFit by Overload, Coach B explains his approach to the potential conflict of developing technique on the one hand, and strength, speed, and power on the other.

This video concludes Jason Khalipa’s and Jocelyn Forest’s warmup. At the end of the warmup, Burg transitions into the workout using a variety of skill transfer exercise that teach pieces of the snatch. It’s easier to learn individual segments, and the muscle memory that is developed comes to bear fruit when the entire movement is practiced later.

Coming soon are more videos of their full session (in which both athletes set PRs in the snatch).

8min 11sec

In this video, Jeff explains the proper Kettlebell swing, along with some good progressions for developing it. He shows multiple tips and tricks for getting clients to move properly.

He says, “When in doubt, go hands on, but do it appropriately.” For example, when encouraging a client to engage the glutes at the top of the swing, a little contact on the glute itself can do more than any verbal cue. It’s probably a good idea, he suggests, to use a closed hand when working with members of the opposite sex.

At the end of the video, Jeff demonstrates some advanced Kettlebell juggling, including with his eyes closed.

10min 53sec

In this video, which is a basic introduction to the Zone, Robb explains that the most acute benefit of the Zone approach to food is the accuracy and precision with which food is consumed.

There are three macronutrients that greatly affect the workings of the body: Protein, carbohydrate, and fat. With the Zone block system, you can know exactly the ratio of each at all times throughout the day. Zone blocks normalize the various differences in macronutrient effect, such that one block of sugar affects insulin to the same degree that one block of zucchini does.

No matter which approach to managing your blocks you follow, following a precise system of managing food is essential to understanding the effects of food on all levels of performance, fitness, and health.

6min 50sec

00:00 - 16:59 Interview/Matt Stonkus. Matt is a collegiate athlete from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, who has embraced CrossFit Football as his primary training program since its inception. Matt has realized significant athlete performance gains from his CrossFit Football work and diet, and explains why this program should be adopted by all field sports competitors.

17:00 - 50:46 Interview/Chris Spealler. Dave discusses the most effective warm-ups, stretching, and recovery practices with Chris - a soon-to-be 3-time Games competitor and CrossFit HQ trainer.

The next CrossFit Radio Weekend Edition show airs live on Saturday, May 16th, 2009, at 6PM PDT. The topic will be the NW Regional Qualifying Event for the 2009 CrossFit Games held earlier in the day.

50min 46sec

In this video, he is captured teaching the basic squat at the Maine State Police Criminal Justice Academy on June 19th, 2008. Even if you know the traits of a good squat, getting others to move well is a whole different story.

Pat uses a wide variety of cues, tricks, stories, and humor to keep the group engaged and constantly improving their movement.

6min 32sec

In this episode, Boz coaches Ashley on her pullups. Ashley is a multisport athlete, competing in Olympic-style weightlifting, track (heptathlon), and rugby for the US Military Academy at West Point. Her best lifts are about 155lbs in the snatch and about 200lbs in the clean and jerk. She is a strong, all around athlete.

Her self-proclaimed weakness is pull-ups. She only has a few, explaining that the weightlifters were not allowed to train their upper bodies for fear of becoming inflexible. Boz takes her through a multitude of drills that can be practiced to develop stronger pull-ups.

11min 35sec

This material has been covered already in a thorough explanation of the volume of work capacity sustained throughout life, and in his presentation to the American Society of Exercise Physiologists. But, this short clip summarizes the essence of the definition extremely well. And, it specifically addresses some of the discussion happening in the comments of those two clips.

Fitness is defined as work capacity measured across broad time and modal domains. Health is the ability to sustain that fitness. It takes into consideration all-cause disruption in that any disease, illness, or injury will manifest itself as reduced work capacity (if it doesn’t, how sick or hurt can you be?). Therefore, the only way to sustain the highest levels of fitness is to avoid, or at least minimize, disease, illness, and injury.

This is a metric for defining and measuring health. Arguably, the first of its kind.

7min 25sec

This is the story of how you get your clients off their butts.

Or, if you insist on more polite conversation, we can talk about a fitness adherence study I conducted to try to understand what makes people stay with an exercise program. Among the key factors identified were intensity, novelty, accountability and competition. Sound familiar?

I put an article on a local news site asking for 12 volunteers who weren’t currently Catalyst members. They were told we were studying the efficacy of a workout program, not the adherence rate. The volunteers were split into two groups.

Group 1 got a booklet with exercise descriptions and pictures. The booklet detailed a month’s worth of workouts, written day by day. Group members were told to check off the workouts they started, even if they didn’t complete them. Group 2 was given the same booklet without the workouts included. Instead, they were e-mailed the daily workout and asked to reply with times or weights they had used.

We applied for government funding through one body and were redirected to another. In the end we were given a 50 percent reimbursement allowance. That meant for every dollar we spent on the research, we’d be given 50 cents back, provided we developed a product for sale and created jobs. That started a two-year research and development process. More importantly, it changed the way we approach fitness.

The shoulder is designed primarily for mobility. There are a number of forces that rotate it internally, while there are relatively few forces rotating externally. Balancing the shoulder so that it remains in an optimal position for maximum stability and force production is the goal.

In this first video of the new series, Kelly talks about what to do with tight shoulders, and describes good and bad positioning when it comes to shoulder movement.

5min 38sec

21:28 Affiliate owners speak out on why they have signed up for the Risk Retention Group (RRG), a form of self-insurance that will safeguard CrossFit’s future.

22:56 Our focus on Regional Qualifiers continued in an interview with Jeff Tucker, the owner of GSX CrossFit. Jeff hosted the Hell’s Half Acre Qualifier this past weekend. Jeff described the emotion and intensity that were so much a part of the event. He also described the WODs and talked about the performances of the athletes. Jeff described an gymnastics station invention that he and his father created. They believe it is perfectly suited for CrossFit. Called the Iron Beam, it was unveiled it at the qualifiers to positive response. Jeff also conducts then Gymnastics Certs and outlined his busy travel schedule in the coming months.

41:12 The Insider Report focused on the changing face of CrossFit. More athletes from other sports and more medical professionals have been seen at certs in recent months. Finally, the Insider questioned the beverage choice of a certain trainer.

44min 54sec

This episode was originally labeled episode 64.

This episode focuses on the Northern California CrossFit Games Qualifying Round with another on-the-scene report.

00:00 - 08:00 Pat Barber, Part 1 - on site for the Nor Cal Games Qualifier.

08:00 - 13:22 An on-the-scene interview with the day’s 1st-place female finisher, Brianne Feudel.

13:22 - 17:20 Pat Barber, Part 2 - on site for the Nor Cal Games Qualifier.

17:20 - 19:25 CrossFit RRG - pre-recorded comments from CF Affiliate owners on the need for such a program, and their personal reasons for participating.

19:25 - 37:08 An interview with Dave Millar, 1st-place finisher in the Southern California Games Qualifications from 2 weeks ago. For this interview Dave is on-site at the Northern Cal qualifications and provides a spectators perspective on the current event.

The next CrossFit Radio Weekend Edition show airs live on Saturday, May 10th, 2009, at 6PM PDT.

37min 8sec

This episode features the first on-the-scene report from a CrossFit competition; the Northern California Qualifying Round of the 2009 CrossFit Games.

00:00 - 17:30 Pat Barber - on site for the Nor Cal Games Qualifier. This segment also includes an interview with the Men’s First-place finisher, Jeff Leonard.

17:30 - 19:35 CrossFit RRG - pre-recorded comments from CF Affiliate owners on the need for such a program, and their personal reasons for participating.

19:35 - 46:46 Dave interviews Steve Liberati from Steve’s Club in Camden, NJ. Steve updates the community on the progress of his CF program for under-privileged kids in his town, and what the help he has received from the CF community has meant to his kids.

The next CrossFit Radio Weekend Edition show airs live on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009, at 6PM PDT. It will feature more on-the-scene reports from Day 2 of the Nor Cal Qualifier with Pat Barber and Dave Millar.

40min 13sec

In this first video of this series from CrossFit by Overload, Coach B talks a little about the lifts and why we train them. Then, the two athletes are introduced. They are 2008 CrossFit Games champ Jason Khalipa from CrossFit Santa Clara and NorCal Regional Qualifiers winner Jocelyn Forest from CrossFit West Santa Cruz (though this video was filmed before the event).

Burg points out that both athletes are very strong, which can sometimes be a curse when it comes to the Olympic lifts. Strength is important, but not nearly as important as speed-strength. He takes them through the Burgener Warmup and explains what he sees happening.

Coming soon are more videos of their full session (in which both athletes set PRs in the snatch).

9min 15sec

Now CrossFit never claims that the main site workouts are designed to prepare you to run 100 miles, but Greg never shies away from a challenge. He had been challenged by Melissa Mackenzie, and he turned it into a fundraiser for Operation Phoenix.

In this video, Greg, Jimi, and Steve talk about the attempt (he ended up covering just over 80 miles in 24 hours), the logistics, the training, and why Operation Phoenix.

Part 1 - 8min 49sec
Part 2 - 8min 43sec

02:50 Scott Hartley is running less and winning more. He recently won the Masters Indoor Nationals in both he 800 meters and the mile in the M45 category. Much of his training is based on CrossFit. His training log looks quite different from the logs of other runners. Michael, Cindy and Fran are a big part of how he prepares for races. Conrad Schaefer of CrossFit Eaton is Conrad’s coach. He joins the discussion to tell the story of how difficult it was to get Scott to squat. But now it’s paid off, big time.

25:23 There has been some heated discussion lately on the affiliate blog. At issue is the slow response from some affiliates in signing up for the CrossFit RRG. Neil and JJ read excerpts and offer their thoughts.

26:40 Michele Vieux placed fifth at the Southern California qualifiers for The CrossFit Games. Michele discusses how she did it and how important a role nutrition played. Michele is also a trainer at CrossFit Invictus and the owner of Mmmm Good Foods. She talked about running this successful zone meal catering business, how it got started, and where it's going.

49min 07sec