Results for “Skills and Drills”

Bob Takano recommends five drills perfect for anyone learning the snatch and the clean and jerk.

If we think of drills as exercises or activities performed to learn and refine technique, then it is appropriate to discuss those exercises, but it’s more important to know how and when to implement them into the technique training of a weightlifter.

It is perfectly natural and normal for many coaches to address their own… Continue Reading

Coaching can improve through progressions and practice. James Hobart offers cueing tips and drills to help you communicate with your athletes better.

“A trainer trains.” —Greg Glassman

Our coaching job might be simply stated as follows: help people move better. But that isn’t always simply done. Our efforts to get droopy shoulders more active and wavy midlines stabilized don’t always succeed.

While we frequently rely on tactile and demonstrative cues, verbal cues… Continue Reading

In this video, CrossFitter and world-champion lumberjack competitor Erin LaVoie shows off her axe-throwing skills with Chance Hughs, her boyfriend and fellow co-owner of Predation CrossFit.

LaVoie explains the sport of axe throwing and how it’s judged. Although there’s quite a distance between competitions, winning brings money, prizes and bragging rights.

Her strategy is simple: “It’s just a straight line from behind my back, over my head, to the bull’s eye,” LaVoie says.

… Continue Reading

Ready to take your push-ups to the next level? Try them on rings.

Jeff Tucker, CrossFit Gymnastics coach, uses ring push-ups to develop midline stabilization.

To demonstrate the progressions, Tucker introduces Jeannie Bassi, who overcame childhood scoliosis through gymnastics. Today, she is an accomplished gymnast who helps Tucker coach the CrossFit Gymnastics Seminars.

Using “ins and outs,” “rights and lefts” and plank drills, Bassi demonstrates how… Continue Reading

Join Dave Re, grand master in the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) along with fellow grand master Jake Di Vita, CrossFit Director of Training Dave Castro and PT guru Kelly Starrett as they hone their shooting skills at the Pala Range in California.

“The USPSA is like the shooting version of CrossFit,” says Di Vita. “You never know what’s going to happen at the match.”

Re discusses the current set-up of stages as… Continue Reading

On Episode 186 of CrossFit Radio, host Justin Judkins interviewed CrossFit Scottsdale co-owner Najla Kayyem and Ben Smith, who placed third at the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games. This episode was webcast live at 6 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011.

5:10 Najla Kayyem and her husband Luke own CrossFit Scottsdale. They made the trip from Arizona to Big Sky, Mont., to attend the 2011 Summer Affiliate Gathering. Najla… Continue Reading

On Episode 185 of CrossFit Radio, host Justin Judkins interviewed CrossFitting amputee Ben Lunak and Cheryl Brost, who recently placed seventh at the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games. This episode was webcast live at 6 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011.

4:40 Ben Lunak had part of his leg amputated as a result of injuries sustained from an IED while serving as a U.S. Marine in Iraq. Ben told the story of the incident and… Continue Reading

Retool your gymnastics skills with elite gymnast Carl Paoli, founder of Naka Athletics, coach at San Francisco CrossFit and creator of GymnasticsWOD.com. Through his Freestyle Connections Seminar, Paoli introduces athletes to advanced gymnastics skills using simple progressions and coaching points. Today’s movement is the handstand push-up.

In Part 2 of the series, Paoli explains how active shoulders create tension and stabilize the midline. He describes how… Continue Reading

Jon Kissick of Front Range CrossFit is a rower who competed in college and on the U.S. team. He coaches a specialized rowing program at Front Range CrossFit.

Kissick’s CrossFit community benefits from rowing seminars to improve technique for greater efficiency. The higher-level athletes and those interested in competing in rowing have more training and workouts to learn more advanced skills.

One of these skills is pacing.

“We… Continue Reading

Training gymnastics skills like the pistol requires some creativity and change in perspective. Join Carl Paoli, owner of Naka Athletics and a trainer at San Francisco CrossFit, as he shares his tips for working on the movement.

In Part 1, Paoli focuses on squatting mechanics to create a stable, powerful base for the pistol.

“Ideally, when we are under really heavy loads, what we want to do is add tension or add torque… Continue Reading

Bill Starr explains how you can use special drills and movements to fine-tune your snatch and break your PR.

Performing a full squat snatch precisely is certainly one of the most satisfying experiences in all of strength training. When everything hits just right, the bar seems to have a mind all its own and floats overhead smoothly, allowing plenty of time for the athlete to move under it and lock it out… Continue Reading

The days of long, slow distance work are over—at least for anyone who’s discovered CrossFit. With the CrossFit Endurance program, distance athletes are suddenly finding success without the four-hour steady-state workouts that can beat their bodies into the ground.

Brian MacKenzie breaks the CFE program down into three parts: skills and drills, intensity, and stamina work. Skills are required to prevent injury and give you the tools for success, while… Continue Reading

What does a back tuck have to do with Olympic lifting or Fran?

According to Jeff Tucker of GSX Athletics, the answer is, “A lot.”

Gymnastics is all about efficiently moving your body with strength and power, and improvements in your gymnastics movements will often bring about impressive gains in other aspects of CrossFit. That’s probably why Greg Glassman made gymnastics one of the foundations of CrossFit and reintroduced the rings to the fitness world.

… Continue Reading

CrossFitters are not shy when it comes to rowing. They work hard. But many focus too much on the monitor and too little on the technique of maximizing stroke length that leads to faster times.

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… Continue Reading

On April 22, 2009, Coach Glassman gave a presentation to the Officers and Staff Non-Commissioned Officers of the 3d Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan. Major General Robert Neller extended the invitation to increase the unit leaders’ knowledge of fitness, injury mitigation, and overall combat preparedness.

In part 1, Coach Glassman begins by speaking of his early influences. His father is an engineer who once made him precisely measure the… Continue Reading

CrossFit’s gymnastics component is not properly developed at many affiliates, Jeff Tucker tells participants at a gymnastics certification seminar. Too many people are too fearful they know too little. So they shy away from gymnastics, one of CrossFit’s foundations. And that’s just plain wrong.

When most people think of gymnastics, they think of Nadia Comaneci. But gymnastics is really nothing more than body movement. For CrossFit, gymnastics… Continue Reading

Brian Mackenzie of CrossFit Endurance offers seminars on efficient running techniques. In this video from Again Faster Mackenzie emphasized that foundational work on skills and drills must come first. Getting faster comes second.

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… Continue Reading

In this two part lecture, Coach Greg Glassman unifies fitness and health. This lecture is the first time we’ve published a revolutionary new component (a three-dimensional model) that has the potential to both redefine and unite the health and fitness fields forever.

Health can now be concisely and precisely defined as increased work capacity across broad time, modal, and age domains. Work capacity is the ability to perform real… Continue Reading

In this two part lecture, Coach Greg Glassman unifies fitness and health. This lecture is the first time we’ve published a revolutionary new component (a three-dimensional model) that has the potential to both redefine and unite the health and fitness fields forever.

Health can now be concisely and precisely defined as increased work capacity across broad time, modal, and age domains. Work capacity is the ability to perform real… Continue Reading

In this video, Tony Blauer further explains a drill to defend against a two-handed choke. The video was filmed at CrossFit Virginia Beach.

Street fights are almost always emotionally driven. Blauer refers to them as “Rage Attacks.” During this type of emotional, explosive surprise attack, the body’s natural response is a startle-flinch. Blauer contends that any stances, strategies, tactics or drills designed to protect yourself should be… Continue Reading