Results for “videos”

Grilled pineapple: it can be a dessert, a garnish for grilled meat, used for sauces or served up as a breakfast side.

But pineapple isn’t the only fruit you can kiss with a flame.

“Stone fruits work really well, so anything with a pit,” says cooking guru Michele Vieux, who adds that she’s grilled plums, peaches, nectarines, peaches and even pears, bananas, and watermelon.

“Get creative with it.”

The first step is to use a… Continue Reading

At Penn State University’s Department of Kinesiology, undergraduate students have the opportunity to do an internship many working adults dream of: at a CrossFit box.

According to Bryan St. Andrews, owner of CrossFit Nittany, students are learning principles of training but have no practical experience.

“They come in and I’m like, ‘All right, perform the power clean.’ And they don’t even know what piece of equipment to pick up,” he says.

The… Continue Reading

In the first part of this Turkish get-up series, kettlebell guru Jeff Martone breaks down the armbar stretch.

“The armbar stretch is probably one of the best shoulder-rehab exercises you can do,” he says.

It builds strength, flexibility and stability in the shoulder girdle, Martone adds.

The stretch starts on the floor with a one-armed press to straighten out the arm. Then the heel on the same side comes into and… Continue Reading

Amelia Penner started CrossFit as a weight-loss program. She shed 80 lb. and found herself as a Regional judge for the third year, along with her husband, Kerry.

Once CrossFit Kids started at their affiliate, the couple’s two daughters joined the workouts.

“I like being to be able to lift things and do things without having to say, ‘Mom, can you pick this up for me?’” daughter Laura Penner says.

The child often finds herself trying… Continue Reading

Active shoulders, weight over the base of the feet and, yes, the hook grip.

In this snippet from an Olympic Weightlifting Trainer Course, Mike Burgener first talks about keeping the shoulders externally rotated to keep the bar in a strong position overhead.

“If that bar’s up here over your head and you’re shrugging your shoulders … where does the bar go? It goes forward automatically because it becomes an internal rotation,” he says.

The next point… Continue Reading

Michele Vieux can be a trickster.

For this recipe she whips up tabbouleh. The Middle Eastern salad traditionally includes couscous or bulgur, both grains. Instead, Vieux uses cauliflower. To achieve the look and feel of rice, she runs it through the food processor.

“I have totally tricked people with this salad,” the CrossFit Invictus coach says. “I was assigned to bring a salad to a barbecue one time. I brought the cauliflower… Continue Reading

At Westside Barbell, Shane Sweatt lives by the maximal-effort method.

It’s a conjugate system, “which is exactly what you guys do,” he says in this CrossFit Powerlifting Trainer Course.

The rotation of exercises not only allows for variety but can also be a useful coaching tool, says Sweatt, who is accompanied by elite powerlifter Laura Phelps-Sweatt.

“A great thing about conjugate is if I have a client come in and… Continue Reading

As a competitive shooter, Cory Magers wanted to get faster. But at more than 400 lb., that was difficult.

At his U.S. Practical Shooting Association club, he happened to run into someone who could help.

“One of the people in the club—Dave Castro—started shooting with us, and I couldn’t believe how fast he was,” Magers says of the CrossFit Director of Training. Magers started at Oceanside CrossFit upon Castro’s recommendation.

… Continue Reading

One Thursday night, Penn State graduate student James Bondi was watching TNT basketball. Former NBA stars Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were arguing over Insanity vs. CrossFit workouts.

“So they were just going back and forth about how one was better than the other,” Bondi recalls. “I guess Charles Barkley is the reason why I started, in a weird way.”

And so Bondi’s journey began at CrossFit Nittany in State College, Pa.

… Continue Reading

CrossFit Jax was once an “underground, dirty garage gym,” explains co-owner Meghan Russell. Today, it’s a 5,500-square-foot affiliate with barbells and bumper plates to spare.

The Atlantic Beach, Fla., gym affiliated in December 2007. Today, both Russell and her husband, Chris, are Level 2 trainers. Chris is a member of CrossFit’s Seminar Staff.

Still known as “The Hot Box” from its former days, CrossFit Jax… Continue Reading

Clever chef Michele Vieux has figured out a way to nearly Paleo-ize The Olive Garden’s zuppa Toscana.

“We’re going to take out the potatoes. We’re going to use something else instead. But, otherwise, it’s just a bunch of vegetables,” she explains.

The CrossFit Invictus coach begins with bite-sized pieces of Italian chicken sausage in a pot with bacon grease. While it browns, she makes additional sausage with ground beef… Continue Reading

Eighteen-year-old Harvey Barnett was a head lifeguard and a professional surfer preparing to head off to a Division 1 school for swimming.

But what he saw one day after coming home from work forever changed his life.

“When I got to my parents’ home, a bomb had gone off,” Dr. Barnett recalls. “People were just walking around in the street aimlessly.”

Barnett’s infant neighbor had rolled down into a drainage ditch… Continue Reading

At CrossFit Nittany, everyone knows Joelle Hirschfeld and Cydney Korek.

“They are definitely (a) very … integral part of the community,” says Bryan St. Andrews, owner of the State College, Pa., affiliate.

“We rein them in when necessary,” he adds with a laugh.

The sorority sisters started CrossFit in August and have been making the 30-minute drive to the box ever since.

“We wanted to get involved in real sports; we just weren’t being challenged… Continue Reading

When UFC fighter Jason MacDonald opened his training facility, it was half mixed-martial-arts gym, half CrossFit box.

Admittedly, it was for selfish reasons, he says, as he wanted a place to train for himself. But that led to some problems.

“My MMA career was not allowing me to be the best MMA instructor,” MacDonald explains. “And also my MMA training/MMA career was pulling me away from doing a great job at… Continue Reading

Gary Roberts has reached the turning point familiar to so many CrossFitters: He’s completing the Level 1 Trainer Course.

In this episode of Killing the Fat Man—called “I found myself again”—our hero is in Oahu, Hawaii, for the seminar.

Before starting CrossFit three months ago, Roberts says he never would have thought he’d “be this interested in mastering my fitness and what my personal capabilities are.”

He adds: “I’ve never been this… Continue Reading

It’s time for another mouth-watering recipe by CrossFit Invictus coach and kitchen guru Michele Vieux.

Today’s dish: smothered pork tenderloin.

First she cuts the pork into medallions, which she flattens with a rolling pin. Next, she browns the meat in a pan with bacon grease. Cooks who like to experiment can try similar methods with chicken or steak, she notes.

While the pork cooks, Vieux prepares a flour-free sauce of portabella… Continue Reading

Ever wondered what the world’s fittest man does to plan for the Reebok CrossFit Games?

He squats on Monday, presses on Tuesday, deadlifts on Wednesday, presses again on Thursday and squats once more on Friday. And he cleans and snatches heavy twice a week.

“Other than that, just whatever goes,” says Rich Froning, assistant strength coach at Tennessee Tech University.

“I try not to plan out a week or anything, because if I don’t get to it …… Continue Reading

Nearly 50 workouts later, Gary Roberts has gone from being focused on his weight loss to being focused on general healthy living.

“Now I’m (going) to concentrate on improving my fitness—not necessarily worried about fat,” he says.

In this episode of the Killing the Fat Man—called “we’ve had more sex in the past 7 days then we have had in the past 2 years”—Roberts is once again talking about bedroom time with his wife.

“She’s now… Continue Reading

In 2005, Bryan St. Andrews helped found one of the earliest CrossFit affiliates, CrossFit SouthWest, in Tempe, Ariz., not far from Arizona State University. Five years later, he moved back to his hometown and opened CrossFit Nittany near Penn State University.

“Demographically, State College made a lot of sense,” he says of the college town in Pennsylvania. The town has a population of roughly 40,000, but you need much less… Continue Reading

For those clients who don’t yet have upper-body strength, the ring row is a good scaling exercise for the pull-up, Julie Barnes Maurer says in this Gymnastics Trainer Course. Immediately putting them on the bar isn’t a good idea, much less having them kip, she emphasizes.

When performing the ring row, “really think about engaging your lats … I don’t want all the stress to be on your elbow and your biceps,” Maurer says.

… Continue Reading