Results for “midline”

Executive Producer Sevan Matossian once again gives us unprecedented access to the fittest athletes on the planet, catching CrossFit Games competitors in intimate moments and vulnerable positions.

In the final installment, Matossian follows the drama behind the scenes as the athletes head into the last three events: Midline Madness, Pedal to the Metal 1 and Pedal to the Metal 2.

Eventual champion Ben Smith, a notoriously low-drama competitor, makes Matossian work hard to find… Continue Reading

CrossFit HQ’s Russell Berger and Pat Sherwood dissect a common problem: athletes who fall backward when learning the air squat.

Longtime CrossFit trainers have seen it more times than they can count: an athlete falls on his butt at the bottom of the air squat.

The hips go back and down, but then the chest falls. When he tries to regain a neutral midline, it’s time for someone to yell “timber!”

But why… Continue Reading

Rich Froning overcomes all adversity and pressure to stand atop the CrossFit Games podium for the fourth consecutive year.

He looked determined, almost angry.

It was seconds before Sunday’s Midline March at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games—the first individual event of the final day. Three-time champ Rich Froning awaited the buzzer.

Between these athletes and the finish line were 3 rounds of 25 GHD sit-ups, a 50-foot handstand walk and 50 feet of… Continue Reading

A bumper plate is a simple tool with which to get an athlete to feel the proper body position needed for a handstand, says CrossFit Level 1 Seminar Staff member Camille Leblanc-Bazinet.

With a bumper plate held overhead, the athlete will learn to squeeze his butt and bring down the rib cage with the abs, eliminating the excessive lower-back arch often seen in inverted athletes.

“I really like this drill just for that… Continue Reading

At the CrossFit Endurance Trainer Course, Doug Katona talks about coaching tools for running. In this video, he highlights drills for torque and midline stability.

He explains by introducing five drills.

The first is the gun-run drill.

“If you’re chasing down a bad guy and your midline stability is off and you’re trying to shoot him, what happens? … You can’t shoot,” Katona explains.

By keeping the midline stable, he adds, “I should be able to stay… 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

You can push jerk more than you can push press, and you can push press more than you can shoulder press. No secret there.

But did you know that most can push press roughly 30 percent more than they can shoulder press and push jerk roughly 30 percent more than they can push press? So says CrossFit Founder and CEO Greg Glassman.

Although not an obvious core-to-extremity movement, the shoulder press requires midline stabilization, says HQ trainer… Continue Reading

CrossFit Santa Cruz’s Laurie Galassi, a gymnast and the fifth-place finisher at the 2011 NorCal Regional, shares her coaching tips for mastering the pull-up. In Part 2 of the series, she focuses on timing—the moment of weightlessness, to be specific.

“When I snap from arch to hollow, in the back of my swing I find this little weightless moment only if I come to an aggressive stop,” Galassi says. “If your rhythm is… Continue Reading

Find out what it’s like to train with 2009 CrossFit Games champion Mikko Salo and Dan Bailey, first-place finisher in the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Open, as filmmaker Sevan Matossian captures their training in preparation for the 2012 Games season.

In Part 3, the pair talk about their certifications and seminars, lifting gear and nutrition while they finish front squatting.

“After this year’s Games, I decided to get rid of the belt, doing every… Continue Reading

“This is a perfect workout for sports,” says Louie Simmons, owner of Westside Barbell in Columbus, Ohio. “The volume is going to be extremely high and the intensity zone extremely low—about 40-45 percent.”

The speed bench-press workout consists of 16 sets of 3 reps using 185 lb. on the bar and 85 lb. of bands at the top of the lift. Lifters press every 30 seconds for 4 sets, then rest 1 minute and repeat. The sets are performed using different grip… Continue Reading

Join Kelly Starrett, owner of San Francisco CrossFit and creator of MobilityWOD, as he teaches coaches and their athletes how to diagnose dysfunction at CrossFit South Bay.

In this segment, Starrett addresses how to express midline stabilization in gymnastics movements like the push-up, because the push-up is a movement often associated with shoulder pain.

“This is basic positioning,” he says.

Starrett has a group of athletes practice push-up… Continue Reading

Join Kelly Starrett, owner of San Francisco CrossFit and creator of MobilityWOD, as he teaches coaches and their athletes how to diagnose dysfunction at CrossFit South Bay.

In Part 5, Starrett addresses lower back pain. First, he looks for a stabilization plan with an organized set-up. He assesses midline stabilization through drills on the floor and discusses how to correct overextension faults.

He also addresses head-position faults and demonstrates how… 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 Kelly Starrett, owner of San Francisco CrossFit and creator of MobilityWOD, as he teaches coaches and their athletes how to diagnose dysfunction.

In Part 4, Starrett shares his athlete checklist.

“When I look at athletes … this is how I diagnose their movement inefficiency and how I can break down any movement, any sport, any position, anything right away,” he says.

First, he looks for best fit set-up, and if that can’t be achieved, he… Continue Reading

“Why do we use this if the best way to train your core and develop midline stabilization is through the nine foundational movements and other functional movements such as Olympic lifts? Then why this machine?” Josh Everett asks at a Level 1 Seminar. In this video, he answers why and how we train using the glute-ham developer (GHD).

Everett says some of the reasons we use the GHD include creating kinesthetic awareness and body control and introducing… Continue Reading

This video series provides a fresh look at skill-transfer exercises and midline stability, combining the powers of Kelly Starrett and gymnast Carl Paoli. Both San Francisco CrossFit coaches add their expertise to refine basic CrossFit movements with the aim of improving power output.

In Part 7, Paoli demonstrates the ring dip. The same “turning out” used for the bar dip in Part 6 adds external rotation, torque and stability to the shoulder in the… Continue Reading

Concept2 master trainer Angela Hart provides tips for improving your rowing efficiency. The force-curve display in the rower’s monitor is one way to evaluate the power and efficiency of your rowing stroke.

“You want it to be smooth,” Hart says. “But don’t be, you know, too hung up on the actual shape of your force curve.”

Hart analyzes common force-curve shapes. For example, a divot in the front half of the force curve shows a lack… Continue Reading

This video series provides a fresh look at skill-transfer exercises and midline stability, combining the powers of Kelly Starrett and gymnast Carl Paoli. Both San Francisco CrossFit coaches add their expertise to refine basic CrossFit movements with the aim of improving power output.

In Part 6, Starrett and Paoli coach the bar dip. They prepare using “The Position,” the same foundational form used for movements from kipping pull-ups to bench press.

Paoli demonstrates getting… Continue Reading

In this series, Brian MacKenzie and Doug Katona of CrossFit Endurance share tips for improving your cycling performance. Using a Wattbike, the two are able to collect data on cycling performance and improve technique. Today’s goal is improving posture while cycling.

“Cycling biomechanically is a very, very fine skill,” Katona says. Using the analogy of a clock, he provides simple ways to look at pedaling biomechanics to see where power is generated.

… 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. In this two-part series, Carl Paoli teaches how to develop midline stability through the hollow-body position.

In Part 1, Paoli developed the hollow rock… Continue Reading