“So almost eight years later, I ran the same distance using CrossFit training rather than traditional running, and I got a personal best,” she explains. “I thought, ‘Wow, it really does work, doesn’t it?’”

Sargent has been a member of CrossFit Relentless/CrossFit 033 in West Hartford, Conn., for about two years.

After the first workout, she was sore for three days.

“I thought that I was fit, and that one experience taught me that fitness was a lot more than the endurance and the cardio and so forth that I definitely had in my wheelhouse,“ Sargent says.

“The more I got into it, the more convinced I was that it really was a fitness program and a lifestyle that I could easily embrace and was gonna actually enhance my running—and it’s definitely done that.”

6min 22sec

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Additional reading: Less Is More for Champion Runner by Parker Morse, published June 9, 2009.

The next year was an Olympic one, and Cafaro needed to get stronger. Through her brother, she discovered CrossFit. Not only did Cafaro make the team, but her team won gold in Beijing.

This year, she’s headed back to the Olympics.

“If you’ve been to the Olympics before, it’s not a given that you get to go again,” explains Cafaro, who also helps with CrossFit Rowing seminars. “You have to prove yourself every single time.”

For the past four years, her brother, mobility guru Kelly Starrett and now-boyfriend Brian MacKenzie of CrossFit Endurance have been coaching her in one form or another.

In addition to sport-specific training, she does CrossFit workouts “whenever my body feels like I can handle the additional work,” Cafaro says.

“I don’t think I would probably be back on the Olympic team if I hadn’t found CrossFit and hadn’t met the people I’ve met,” Cafaro says. “It encourages you to challenge yourself and evolve.”

Video by Again Faster.

13min 23sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 133 by Justin Judkins, published Aug. 18, 2010.

The band acts as a force multiplier, he says while stretching an attendee at the trainer course with a resistance band.

“His capsule is thick and powerful,” Starrett says. “If I don’t put some kind of vector or encourage a different motion or a hinge going on there, I’m probably not going to capture that capsular piece, and this makes that much less effective for him. This really changes the game.”

Next is bringing together joint surfaces.

Starrett emphasizes the importance of dedicating time to mobility work.

“You guys know the 23:59 rule? ‘I stretched for one minute. I don’t understand why nothin’ changed.’ Well, ’cause for 23 hours and 59 minutes you did nothing else and your body was like, ‘Well, what’s the default?’” he explains. “One of the reasons this is very effective is that we reinforce this new range with movement. We immediately go train.”

10min 50sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Radio Episode 148 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 1, 2010.

Jane Drexler teaches philosophy, and Lynn Kilpatrick teaches composition. Both said CrossFit is a lot like their day jobs. Being a professor requires summoning a tremendous amount of energy, which is followed by an awesome feeling once the class is done, Drexler explains.

“I would describe a CrossFit workout in the same sorts of terms,” she says. “I look at the board, I’m a little bit petrified, and then I’m in the middle of it and I don’t even think about it again, and then at the end I’m like, ‘Aw, that was awesome!’”

Like teaching, CrossFit is inspiring, Kilpatrick adds.

“I feel like the mental part of it has really affected me the most,” she says.

Feeling as if you can’t do the workout and then doing it anyway is a tremendous confidence boost, Kilpatrick explains.

“I think that’s a good reminder for every aspect of your life.”

11min 2sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Algebra by Amie Taylor, published Dec. 24, 2008.

First there’s sitting up, then the transition to the knee and, finally, standing up.

While lying on the floor, your chest must be open. Then, ensure your knuckles remain in the same spot in space. Next, press, drive off the heel and keep coming up to a sitting position. This position, Martone cautions, does not involve merely rolling over or sitting straight up like a regular sit-up

“As you get stronger, you’re always shifting your weight to your forearm,” he explains. “But you gotta minimize weight to it and really work your core pretty hard.”

When it’s time to transition to the knee, push down the shoulder on the opposite side of the weight, push off with the heel and bring the leg through. Then, stand up while keeping the kettlebell in the same overhead position.

15min 38sec

Additional reading: The Turkish Get-up Part 1 by Jeff Martone, published May 1, 2007.

In this video, the Hybrid Athletics owner has a Q&A with a group of nine Israeli CrossFitters who visited his box late last year. Among them is Moshiko “Mo” Sameach, known as an athlete with near-perfect form on every rep.

“If it’s flawless, it’s not fast enough,” Orlando tells him. “If the question is, ‘How do I get from a five-minute Fran to a three-minute Fran?’ … you don’t need to be much stronger. You need to be more willing to hurt.”

The change amounts to a mental one, not a physical one, Orlando explains. Good adaptation happens in intensity, he adds.

“You can’t do a two-and-a-half-minute Fran under control—it’s full speed,” Orlando says.

8min 16sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 202 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 14, 2011.

To illustrate, he has class participants get into the deadlift position, relax and re-tension.

“What are we doing here? Testing and retesting, showing that there’s actual change,” he says.

Next, it’s time to bring the hammer down on the posterior chain, Starrett says.

He asks everyone to lie on the floor and pull one knee to the chest, grab the ankle and pull back. After holding for a few seconds, they relax, and then it’s back to re-tensioning, picking up the “slack” of the stretched muscle and pulling back once more. After five such stretches, he asks participants to stand and find their deadlift positions once more.

“Does that feel different side to side?” he asks, rhetorically. “You’re not a linear human being, and only you know where you’re tight.”

7min 43sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 148 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 1, 2010.

In Part 2, the gymnastics and movement specialist jumps on the rings and swings. He does so with a pseudo-false grip: the thumb over the index finger. His hands turn out when his feet are behind him.

“If I have that and I can swing and the rings are still still and not going into this crazy swinging ring, then I’m good to go for the next step,” he explains.

Next: kipping and a big hip drive to get the hips as close to the rings as possible.

“I’m trying to keep my legs as straight as possible and just driving the hip up,” Paoli says.

From there, gravity takes care of the rest.

“Now from this hip-on-ring position, all I want to do is fall through by doing a sit-up, pull my heels to my butt,” Paoli says.

After pulling into the rings, drop the legs a bit, do a quick pump-kick, he says, and head right into the next rep.

Video by Again Faster.

6min 37sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 191 by Justin Judkins, published Sept. 28, 2011.

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 he makes is about keeping the bar over the base of support—the feet— while “showing the armpits.”

And, finally, the hook grip.

“The grip will always be—and there is no debate about this either, by the way—when you’re snatching and when you’re cleaning, the grip will always be a hook grip,” Burgener says. “When the weight’s over my head or if I’m pressing, I don’t have to use a hook grip.”

11min 42sec

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Additional reading: Oly Optimization by Chad Vaughn, published Nov. 18, 2011.

In Part 1, gymnastics and movement specialist Carl Paoli shows us the band-assisted muscle-up prep he uses for every athlete.

“I need to be able to bow back and forth as a … pretty strong shape that can kind of just be manipulated, molded,” he begins.

Paoli breaks down the progression into four steps:

1. Hip extension and flexion.
2. From hip extension to a fast sit-up.
3. From the sit-up to driving the heels to the butt.
4. Then pull the body into a dip.

“It’s almost like you’re doing a forward roll over the rings,” he explains. “If I can do those four things—five reps each sitting—I will be primed and ready to go, and we can add it to the big picture of the muscle-up.”

Video by Again Faster.

8min 18sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 191 by Justin Judkins, published Sept. 28, 2011.

Bittner is a high-school assistant principal and athletic director, as well as a member of CrossFit Thin Air in Winter Park, Colo. He’s played baseball, and he was a rings specialist in high school. He was a member of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team in the ’90s, and he recently competed in the Reebok CrossFit Games Open.

“Regardless of what your body type is, regardless of who you are, how old, CrossFit is by far and away the best workout in this country,” he says.

Bittner particularly loves the community aspect of CrossFit, which unites rural people living at 9,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado.

“You can be (as) isolated as you want, or you can be part of a family and community. That’s what CrossFit Thin Air brings us: a family and community,” he says. “My wife brought me into it. It’s been one of the best things in the world.”

5min 51sec

Additional video: Why Do I CrossFit? by Ben Lunak, aired April 12, 2010.

“We’re doing this to get healthier, fitter, faster 10 years from now—not next week,” Orlando explains.

In this video, the Hybrid Athletics owner has a Q&A with a group of nine Israeli CrossFitters who visited his box late last year.

“I can teach somebody how to open their hip and use it in less than five minutes,” he tells them. “The beauty of these movements is that they don’t take much practice or skill. But you get a whole lot of work, so it’s a high return on investment.”

And strongman translates well to every other movement—including the Olympic lifts—Orlando says.

“One of the things that we see in strongman is … how important it is for the athlete to use hip extension and to open those hips violently,” he says. “And the beauty of the movements that we employ is that they don’t have to be taught; they just need to be remembered.”

9min 2sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 202 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 14, 2011.

Shane Farmer of CrossFit Invictus has the answer.

“As I use the term ‘damper setting,’ what I’m talking about is moving this wheel right here,” the rowing specialist explains. “When I’m talking drag factor, I’m calibrating what’s on the monitor using a function that we have on this computer here.”

Specifically, the damper setting lets more or less air into the flywheel.

“If I’m going to use a 5, I want to make sure that I’m calibrating to understand what drag factor I’m actually rowing at and what the feel is going to be,” Farmer says, “because a 5 on this machine and a 5 on another machine won’t feel the same. But the same drag factor on those machines will feel the same.”

In the end, it’s about the individual athlete’s preference.

“If you’re somebody that can let your heart rate run through the roof … then you’re gonna want to live at a lower damper setting,” he says. “It’s not that a 10 is better than a 1; it just matters how your engine works.”

Video by Again Faster.

6min 8sec

Additional reading: Indoor Rowing: Damper Settings & Intensity by Peter Dreissigacker, published April 1, 2007.

Everything’s the same except the 12 pull-ups become 12 full-strike combinations: one-two, one-two, then repeat.

Welcome to CrossFit Striking.

“Combinations have an amazing transference to athletics and life because in sports and in life you need to be able to rotate,” says George Ryan of CrossFit Striking, who is assisted by pro MMA fighter Neal Abrams. “And by performing striking combinations at a high frequency and high intensity, it’s (going to) to really, really develop your core strength, rotational speed and power.”

Ryan notes that Abrams twists on each strike, engages his hips and moves his hands back to his face after each one-two punch.

Next, Ryan adds the hook.

“It’s a great, great rotational strike,” he explains.

Using the core, Ryan says, makes for maximum speed and power.

8min 1sec

Additional reading: Got Striking? by George Ryan, published Dec. 29, 2010.

“Anyone can make this—even the most bachelorest bachelor ever,” she says.

The ingredients: 1 lb. of ground beef, yellow curry powder, fresh chopped garlic, green onions, sesame oil, and salt and pepper. The beef is shaped around the skewers and can be thrown onto a grill or into the oven.

“If you have uninvited guests (and) you still feel like feeding them even though they just showed up, this is really easy.”

To download the recipe for beef skewers, click here.

Video by Again Faster.

10min 57sec

Additional reading: The Kitchen WOD by Nick Massie, published Nov. 2, 2011.

When the back opens early in the stroke, much of the hip drive is missing, says Shane Farmer of CrossFit Rowing. The legs and hips should work in harmony, he explains.

“As the legs get close to finishing, then we’re going to kick our hips in to continue momentum and help us finish the stroke,” Farmer says.

He adds that keeping a nice posture is key.

In the early arm break, Farmer gives a shout-out to Olympic weightlifting coach Mike Burgener.

“When the arm bends, the power ends,” Farmer says.

The arms fatigue quickly, he notes, but they don’t need to.

In the extreme layback—think handle pulled all the way to the face—power is lost, Farmer explains.

“We see this at almost every single competition, and I’m here to tell you that is not how you get length in the stroke,” he says.

Get long in the front, he says, while keeping the knees just under the arms, the hamstrings loaded and the back tight.

Video by Again Faster.

6min 8sec

Additional reading: Smoother Rowing for More Power by Tom Bohrer, published April 1, 2008.

“They all joined at the same time,” says owner Karen Candia. “They got in here and they just went full force.”

Today, all three—as well as Jeff’s wife, Courtney—are coaches at the affiliate. The younger couple’s 4-year-old daughter, Camden, also CrossFits.

“I think it really has helped bring us together as a family,” Pam Beck says.

Courtney Beck agrees.

“We care about each other, and we know that CrossFit and Paleo Diet, eating clean, is good for us,” she says. “Just being here and encouraging each other, we know that by doing CrossFit and gettin’ healthy we’ll hopefully be able to spend a lot more years together as a family.”

12min 15sec

Additional reading: “I’m so Glad Daddy Found CrossFit” by Angie Fontes, published April 26, 2012.

“I contend that if you turn that foot out as an unconscious compromise, you’re immediately going to collapse through the ankle,” he says. “And that sets me up … so my only plane of force is to rotate in—’cause it’s difficult to rotate out—and there I’ve collapsed and there’s my ACL.”

Cuing “knees out” can accomplish the same effect, Starrett says, citing Coach Mike Burgener.

“I shove my knees out—that allows me to really drop my torso into an upright position, and now I’m just into transition so easily,” he explains. “How do I get out of transition so I can jump longer and have movement options? … I do that with external rotation.”

7min 50sec

Additional reading: Learning the Olympic Lifts: The Stance by Mike Burgener and Tony Budding, published Nov. 1, 2006.

“How many of us stretch as much as you’re supposed to stretch?” Ruiz asks. “How many of us do the things that we suck at?”

When training athletes, you must remember the end goal, he explains. Always focus on the type of demands you’re imposing.

“My job is to make my athletes as perfect as possible for whatever situation that they are being called to perform in,” Ruiz says. “If my job is to put up big numbers on the board but that doesn’t translate to on-field performance, there’s something wrong with what I’m doing as a professional.”

8min 27sec

Additional reading: Sport-Specific Training Using CrossFit Fundamentals by Kevin W. Cann Jr., published May 14, 2011.

In Part 1, the Original Firebreather explains that the program’s goal is to “bring the culture of physical fitness back to the law-enforcement profession.” The project aims to teach officers to view themselves as “professional warrior athletes” and to treat their bodies as their first asset.

In Part 2, Amundson talks to a handful of participants about their experiences. The stories are not only uplifting but are also full of elements familiar to the CrossFit community: personal improvement, lost weight, improved attitude, etc.

Lori Luhnow, who is in upper management at the San Diego Police Department, helped launch the project.

“It’s kind of frustrating to me that most agencies and cities aren’t allowed to have physical-fitness standards for people to maintain throughout their career. And it’s one of those careers that’s going to eat people up with disease and unhealthy lifestyles,” she says. “So, for me, I think it’s an opportunity to save a life. Many lives.”

Video by Again Faster Equipment.

Part 1
6min 17sec

Part 2
6min 36sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Training for Law Enforcement: Jacksonville Five Years Later by T.J. Cooper and Phil Canto, published Sept. 1, 2007.

In Part 1, the Original Firebreather explains that the program’s goal is to “bring the culture of physical fitness back to the law-enforcement profession.” The project aims to teach officers to view themselves as “professional warrior athletes” and to treat their bodies as their first asset.

In Part 2, Amundson talks to a handful of participants about their experiences. The stories are not only uplifting but are also full of elements familiar to the CrossFit community: personal improvement, lost weight, improved attitude, etc.

Lori Luhnow, who is in upper management at the San Diego Police Department, helped launch the project.

“It’s kind of frustrating to me that most agencies and cities aren’t allowed to have physical-fitness standards for people to maintain throughout their career. And it’s one of those careers that’s going to eat people up with disease and unhealthy lifestyles,” she says. “So, for me, I think it’s an opportunity to save a life. Many lives.”

Video by Again Faster Equipment.

Part 1
6min 17sec

Part 2
6min 36sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Training for Law Enforcement: Jacksonville Five Years Later by T.J. Cooper and Phil Canto, published Sept. 1, 2007.

“We want to do the same thing every time, particularly when it becomes a complex motor skill and all of a sudden there’s a lot of things going on—I’m breathing hard, I’m almost in the pain cave, I really can’t see anything, but there’s 150,000 people cheering for me and everything’s getting small,” Starrett says.

He adds: “I need to be able to walk up to the bar and get stiff and pull without having to make this a very conscious move. And so I want my default patterning to be safe and effective and efficient and the same every time.”

In his Movement and Mobility Trainer Course, Starrett advises the class to tighten up the belly and squeeze the butt. The priority should be on spinal mechanics first, then loading from the hip and hamstring down.

13min 18sec

Additional reading: The Forgotten Part of the Deadlift by John Zimmer, published Dec. 7, 2011.

“I just couldn’t provide a service to my clients unless I got out,” he says of the space his business outgrew.

That’s when he found the “giant rectangle” that is now P3 CrossFit, which has been open for about three years in Houston. The box has 198 active members, 47 children in its CrossFit Kids program, three full-time trainers and four part-time trainers in the instructor-training program.

The program is modeled after one started at CrossFit L.A., McPherson says. First comes identifying the “truly motivated and actively involved athlete.” Over time, these trainees are given small duties for added responsibility, then they complete a Level 1 seminar and spend time shadowing coaches.

“It’s months before they ever actually get in front of a class,” McPherson says.

6min 49sec

Additional reading: Lessons Learned by Pat Sherwood, published Feb. 6, 2012.

“If you have bar deceleration, you’re teaching yourself to slow down. … In sports, that is not optimal,” he says.

As you move a barbell, it’s natural to reduce your effort as you get to positions of mechanical advantage; e.g., the top of a bench-press rep. Enter accommodating resistance that incorporates the use of bands or chains on the barbell. By making certain parts of the rep more challenging, you’re teaching your body to exert maximal force throughout the rep.

“We want this to affect your central nervous system. We want your central nervous system to optimally fire through all range of the motion,” says Sweatt, who is accompanied by elite powerlifter Laura Phelps-Sweatt.

“We want (athletes) to accelerate all the way through the range of motion,” Sweatt says.

5min 45sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Strength Training by Louie Simmons, published Feb. 1, 2011.

Watts is also a cancer survivor who jumps at any chance to fight the disease. Starting in 2002, Watts started feeling unwell, and after going through the medical process, he was told he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After getting through treatment and beating cancer in 2006, Watts found himself out of shape and overweight.

CrossFit “just kind of took over at that point,” Watts says.

Watts says the program has helped improve his will power and outlook on life, so after being laid off from a job he hated about two years ago, Watts felt excited to explore new opportunities. Soon enough, he found himself sucked into CrossFit and embarking on an apprentice program at the box. Then he became the CrossFit New Haven gym manager.

“Basically, my career is CrossFit at this point,” he says.

As for cancer, Watts is happy that he can inspire others to win their own fights with disease, injury or anything else.

“It’s helped some people out. I’ve had some people tell me that knowing that I got through the things that I did kind of makes the things they have to go through seem smaller,” he says.

16min 50sec

Additional reading: CrossFit—and My 10-Year-Old—Helped Me Beat Leukemia by Rick Reifenberg, published Dec. 19, 2011.

“Punching is a rudimentary and functional movement that involves the core… . We’re going to punch from the floor up. We want to use our entire body,” Ryan says.

Ryan covers the lead straight and rear straight punches, and it should be clear to all that striking involves core-to-extremity movement. With proper footwork and head position, athletes can throw fast, powerful punches that will land on target every time.

6min 33sec

Additional reading: Got Striking? By George Ryan, published Dec. 29, 2010.

“Having as many people that understand what we’re doing to spread the word is the best thing that could happen,” says Omry Peled, owner of CrossFit Herzliya in Israel.

Peled took the course more than two and half years ago but needed to take the written exam.

“Omry is a pioneer,” Orlando says. “The guy’s got vision. He invited his future competitors to come here and get certified and to learn, and he’s doing it for CrossFit and he’s doing it for Israel. He’s leading the charge, for sure.”

Seminar staffer Russell Berger says it’s the first time he’s seen such a large group of people whose first language is not English at a Level 1.

“It’s clear to me that it’s a very performance-driven culture,” he says. “They want to do well on this test. They want to prove their fitness to us in a way.”

21min 58sec

Additional reading: Additional reading: Where I’ve Trained, What I’ve Learned by Russell Greene, published Dec. 27, 2010.

“Nobody ever got strong out of a vending machine,” says CrossFit Football seminar staffer Ben Oliver. “Training makes you weaker.”

It’s rest, recovery and food that make you stronger. Next up on CrossFit Football’s pyramid is strength and conditioning. In other words, Oliver says, “conditioned enough to survive our training.”

He adds: “You can’t really get conditioned for your sport in the weight room.”

Then it’s on to the Olympic lifts and other barbell movements.

“This is where we develop speed in the weight room,” Oliver says. “This is where we know that we can teach people how to be explosive.”

From there, the next level of the pyramid is gymnastics/body awareness. Finally, the pyramid’s point contains the sport itself, which is split into the game (about 1 percent) and sport practice (about 99 percent). Still, religiously following the pyramid doesn’t necessarily guarantee results, he says.

“At the end of the day, if your training’s awesome but you actually just suck at your sport, you will never play.”

9min 11sec

Additional reading: Sport-Specific Training Using CrossFit Fundamentals by Kevin W. Cann Jr., published May 14, 2011.

“Ninety percent of all missed lifts are attributed to the feet,” Burgener says to a group of athletes at a CrossFit Oly seminar.

To be successful on the platform, Burgener says you need to find the jumping position and the landing position. The first position has the feet right under the hips, while the latter position is the same stance you would use for a squat. The jumping position is easy to find, but when you add some speed and a barbell, the landing position can be very difficult to locate.

“You have to focus on those feet,” Burgener says while drilling foot position.

Imparting more wisdom, Burgener reminds that you don’t actually pull the barbell overhead in Olympic lifting. You drive it off the floor and then shrug yourself underneath it. But the key to the movement is simply jumping and landing in the ideal receiving position.

13min 43sec

Additional reading: Burg’s Eye View No. 1 by Mike Burgener, published Nov. 3, 2010.

Listening to Swift, it’s clear that he and his box are very focused.

“My only role as a coach is just to keep reminding people there’s only one important thing and everything else is distraction … . My job as a coach is to make sure that behavior matches the goal, because I can only change one or the other.”

For athletes and coaches, Swift says it’s important to figure out what the goal is and then make sure all actions support that goal. And every once in a while, it’s a good idea to review the goal to see if you’re moving in the right direction.

If you’re always focused on the goal, you have a pretty good chance of accomplishing it.

5min 58sec

Additional reading: Performance Psychology: Taming the Inner Voice by Wendy Swift, published Nov. 10, 2009.

“One of our slogans is ‘vengeance is mine,’ meaning that the Lord takes care of the big stuff. We handle the small stuff,” Edwards explains. “Our enemies are sedentary lifestyles, bad diet, just being a victim, if you will.”

Friends and family—their only clients when they started CrossFitting out of Globo Gyms and their garage—talked the couple into opening the box. In six months, CrossFit Vengeance has outgrown its space and is now looking for something bigger so it can add a CrossFit Kids program as well as host several CrossFit seminars, Rachel says.

“We have a community, and that’s what we build on,” Bryan says. “It’s not just a gym where we’re punching a card and we’re handing them a towel and they leave. We’re a tight-knit family.”

7min 3sec

Additional reading: My Tribe by Jeremy Striffler, published Feb. 16, 2012.

Washington native John Rhode lost 220 lb. on the show, winning the grand prize of $250,000 by weighing 225 lb.

“I’m more energetic, I’m more optimistic, my entire countenance has changed, my outlook on life has changed,” he says while at CrossFit Scottsdale to complete a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Course. “I now know that with proper planning and execution of those plans, anything is possible.”

Rhode says he has never felt more welcomed at a gym than he has at CrossFit boxes, and he believes the training methodology is for everyone. After being lucky enough to be on The Biggest Loser, Rhode says he feels not obligated but passionate to help others meet their fitness goals.

“You must contribute. You must give back,” he says. “Right now it’s about passing the Level 1, getting my box open and touching lives right in my community, right in my own backyard.”

5min 11sec

Additional reading: By the Numbers by Amy Santamaria and Tim Retzik, published Sept. 29, 2010.

“You’ll feel a difference. You should be a lot more explosive,” he says. “A lot of times people say that the weight feels lighter.”

And the drill not only applies to the sport of kettlebell but also to Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting, Martone says. By the time people reach the swing at the end of the drill, their backs should be straight with no backward lean.

“If your hip flexors are tight, it’s like trying to drive with your parking brake on,” he says. “Just by doing that drill, it frees it up, gives you more speed, endurance and power.”

Martone recommends always performing the standing vertical jump after the hip-flexor stretch to ensure a vertical torso.

Click here for more information and a list of upcoming CrossFit Kettlebell Trainer Courses.

7min 23sec

HD file size: 266 MB
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Additional reading: Kettlebell Basics: Drills for Improving Your Swing by Jeff Martone, published Nov. 1, 2006.

Muhammad has been “doing CrossFit and training hard with No. 1 and No. 6,” he says with a smile.

“No. 1” is Rich Froning Jr., who won the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, and “No. 6” is Dan Bailey, who finished in sixth place at the Games.

Muhammad is a strength-and-conditioning graduate assistant coach at the university. The institution also employs Froning as assistant strength coach and Bailey as a strength-and-conditioning graduate assistant.

“They whoop on me all the time,” Muhammad says. “Them guys can move, man.”

Spending time with Froning has opened his eyes to training not just the body but also the mind and spirituality, Muhammad says.

“Every hurdle that comes in his way, he overcomes it,” he explains. “He’s a tough guy.”

6min 42sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 210 by Justin Judkins, published Feb. 8, 2012.

“We’ve practiced the kegs, the yoke, the farmer’s handles, the logs, the stones—all the tools that we use—and we’re going to send them home armed with the knowledge of how to use it and teach it,” Orlando says.

Omry Peled, owner of CrossFit Herzliya in Israel, says time spent with Orlando will help him instruct strongman movements to his clients with confidence.

“Being in Israel, far away from the action, getting this kind of attention from that great of an athlete … kind of connects it to the entire community,” he says.

Click here for more information and a list of upcoming CrossFit Strongman Trainer Courses.

17min 4sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 202 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 14, 2011.

Dynamic-effort days find powerlifters racking up a certain amount of volume by moving percentages of their max very quickly in small sets, usually with additional resistance added to the bar in the form of bands and/or chains.

The dynamic sessions are programmed in a three-week wave: in the first week, you load the movement at 50 percent of your max—plus bands or chains—and you increase the bar weight by five percent each week. At the end of the cycle, you move on to a different movement and start building up again.

Sweatt says the mistake that’s most often seen in dynamic-effort training is loading too much weight on the bar and moving it slowly. If you aren’t generating optimal bar speed—0.8 to 1 meter per second—you need to reduce the load.

Click here for more information and a list of upcoming CrossFit Powerlifting Trainer Courses. Click here for ongoing Westside Barbell webinars.

5min 10sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Strength Training by Louie Simmons, published Feb. 1, 2011.

Kelly Starrett and Carl Paoli explain exactly how to set up for efficient box jumps, and they say it all starts with foot position and body position. As all supple leopards know, great body position takes work, so Starrett offers up some mobility drills to get you ready to bounce.

The experts also explain how the standard of landing on top of the box and opening the hips usually results in good positioning, while the landing on the ground is sometimes less than graceful. Often the knees go into bad positions on the ground landing, which creates what Starrett calls a “torque dump.” To prevent this, Paoli recommends keeping the feet quite close together during ground contact.

By preparing your joints and tissues properly and then using solid positioning during reps, your box-jump efficiency will improve instantly.

23min 17sec

Additional reading: Kelly’s Koffin: Five Feet Over by Larry Gallagher, published May 25, 2009.

After his presentation to the CrossFit Seminar Staff in San Diego in October 2011, Taubes took questions from the crowd of trainers and HQ staff members.

The author of Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories addresses such things as what he would do with unlimited funds. It turns out if he had all the cash he needed, Taubes would actually design a study that would prove “that you can increase energy intake above expenditure and still cause weight loss, and that the meaningful variable is the nutrient composition of the diet, not the calories.”

And if Taubes could create that study, how would he convince the average person that the revolutionary findings are actually true?

And what about the links between diet and cancer?

Taubes answers a host of thoughtful questions, but perhaps the question you really need to ask is a very simple one:

Is there too much sugar in your diet?

20min 20sec

Additional reading: Good Hormones, Bad Hormones: The Energy Balance Equation by Tony Leyland, published March 1, 2008.

Ameer Lambert-Smith is involved in the kids program at CrossFit Vitality in North Carolina, and he talks about what drew him to coaching young CrossFitters, as well as some of the modifications he uses with them.

Lambert-Smith also addresses some of the standard questions about running a program for kids: what’s a good coach-athlete ratio and how do you deal with differences in age?

Of course, CrossFit Kids really always comes back to making fitness fun.

“If the children are working out, in the long run they’re going to be happier (and) the adults are going to be happy. It’s good for anyone at any age to start working out,” Lambert-Smith says.

4min 59sec

Additional reading: Mind the Gap by Mikki Lee Martin with Keegan Lee Martin, published Feb. 21, 2012.

The muscle-snatch technique is a great way to cycle reps quickly, and the bar path should still be very tight to the body. Loopy bar paths are inefficient and undesirable—just as they are in the full squat snatch performed on a platform. O’Connor also covers the return to the ground, which is where you can greatly increase the cycle time by actively pulling the bar down for touch-and-go reps.

If a muscle snatch is unavailable, the power snatch is the next best choice. You want to pull the bar as high as possible to eliminate the deeper squats in the receiving position, and if you can avoid having to reset your feet from landing position to pulling position, you’ll further increase speed.

With the full squat snatch and a light load, you just might want to consider not fully extending the hips on the pull. As strange as that might seem at first, remember that we are considering light loads, and fully extending might result in an over-pull that wastes a lot of time and energy. Similarly, if you can pull the rep with your feet already in the squat position, you’ll save time.

5min 46sec

Additional reading: Snatch Strategies for CrossFit Workouts and Competitions by Dave Castro, published June 2, 2010.

After dealing with body shaping and grip in Part 1, Galassi addresses the place where everything usually goes awry: the transition.

Working from a position lying under the rings, Galassi demonstrates the transition by pulling while keeping her legs out front as she pushes the chest through and keeps the rings close to her body. Also important is a grip that allows the rings to move a little bit as you transition from a position below the rings to the bottom of a dip on top of the rings.

To help athletes feel the positions, Galassi introduces the “dream machine”—a harness that reduces the load and allows the athlete to move more easily.

Ultimately, there is a strength requirement for a muscle-up, and you have to drill the positions over and over again.

“Do a whole bunch. Then do a whole bunch more,” Galassi says.

13min 57sec

Additional reading: The Muscle-Up by Greg Glassman, published Nov. 1, 2002.

The key to the movement is external rotation of the arms for the best efficiency and mechanics, says the movement and mobility guru.

During this trainer course, Starrett has three male athletes hold the top of the ring-dip position. None are in the correct position. All three started and finished in internally rotated positions. The turned-out finish position of the arms should be in the 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock positions, he says.

“That’s the stable position of the joint,” Starrett explains. “And as I go to ring dip, I come back to neutral and I have a vertical forearm—unload the shoulder.”

Although one athlete can do a strict muscle-up, he lacks the shoulder mobility to get his arms in the proper positions for efficient ring dips, Starrett notes. This can be problematic during a competitive WOD.

“Why do you think that … snatch/muscle-up was such a beautiful, beautiful, evil combination?” says Starrett, referencing the Amanda workout at the 2010 CrossFit Games. “That just destroyed people.”

Click here for more information and a list of upcoming CrossFit Movement and Mobility Trainer Courses.

7min 16sec

Additional reading: Applications of the Support on Rings by Tyler Hass, published May 1, 2007.

“We had sleds that we pulled around in dirt parking lots. … We did that when we were young, and now we do it for fun when we’re older,” says Norman, a two-year member of CrossFit Relentless in West Hartford, Conn.

With four children—including a set of twins—Norman has her hands full. CrossFit and eating Paleo have been her solutions.

“You have to be in shape. If you’re not in shape, they’re … literally going to bowl you over,” she says of her children.

Now that “I have my body back,” CrossFit seemed like a good path to her next athletic endeavor, says Norman, who competed in track and field since the age of 8.

Last year, she participated in the Reebok CrossFit Games Open. She says she plans to do the Open again this year.

Her goal: “Just to have fun with it.”

Everyone should try CrossFit, she says.

“It’s something that becomes addictive,” Norman says. “You’re so much better for it.”

6min 54sec

Additional reading: I Am a CrossFitter by Erin Okonek, published Feb. 15, 2012.

“We drove past this probably 40 times ... when we were looking for a space because we thought it was just an office space,” says CrossFit Vitality co-owner Steve Pinkerton.

Although the space—at more than 4,500 square feet—was larger than what they initially wanted, the wide-open warehouse-like space was perfectly suited for an affiliate. With mirrors on the wall and turf covering the floors, Pinkerton said he got some jeering from other boxes, who jokingly accused him of opening a “Globo CrossFit.”

Pinkerton says the mirrors have helped members better execute movements, and the turf is easier on people’s backs and knees. It’s also a good surface on which to push sleds.

“We tried to appeal to as many people as we could just to get them exposed to CrossFit,” Pinkerton explains. “I knew if we could get them in the door that CrossFit was going to be something they could really embrace.”

Vitality also has a supervised daycare center called Kids Club.

“It really has worked out to be one of the best decisions we made,” he says, “because now we give moms no excuse not to come and do CrossFit.”

11min 6sec

Additional reading: One-Year Reflection by Leon Chang and Paul Estrada, published May 30, 2011.

During the box’s October Barbells for Boobs event, the bearded man decided to “dress it up, booty short it up” all in pink.

“Too many competitions, too much seriousness—gotta bring it back to basics,” he says with a smile.

More than 100 people last year registered for the affiliate’s two-hour event, and co-owner Eric O’Brien says charity is important to the people at the box.

“Our members really get behind causes,” he says. “It’s just great the energy around—guys struggling, RXing it for the first time.”

And the encouragement is constant—regardless of whether the person finishes first or last.

“That’s the spirit of CrossFit—that’s what it’s all about,” O’Brien says.

Having worked for a nonprofit for many years, another member says the kind of energy at CrossFit New Haven is difficult to find elsewhere.

“When you have people who care so much about each other … ,” she starts. “If one person in this gym is sick, we all feel that and we all rally and do anything we can to support them.”

6min 50sec

Additional reading: CrossFit—and My 10-Year-Old—Helped Me Beat Leukemia by Rick Reifenberg, published Dec. 19, 2011.

Start classes with the age group you’re most comfortable with, Widman says. And only begin with three children whose parents are already CrossFitters.

“You don’t have to sell those parents on anything,” he explains. “They’re like, ‘Sweet. CrossFit Kids class? Do it. Can’t wait. How much? I’ll pay whatever you want.’”

For the first month, make it free, Widman says.

As the class grows, be mindful of trainer ratios, Kelly Brown says. For preschoolers, one trainer ideally coaches six; for older children and teen groups, one trainer ideally coaches 15, she says. Bergeron advises combining kids and teens so the two groups begin and end playing a game together but are separate in the middle with a coach dedicated to each group.

“For parents, it’s awesome because they can drop both kids off at one time and know they’re both getting the appropriate coaching and training,” she says.

The Browns found that offering a family rate got not only kids but also more adults in their box.

Video by Again Faster.

8min 48sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Kids “Switch” by Mikki Lee Martin, published Jan. 3, 2012.

Focusing first on body shapes and hand position, Galassi explains how very small adjustments can make a big difference on the rings.

Of course, the false grip is critical to success, and no, it isn’t very comfortable. For those who tend to get red and raw wrists, Galassi has a quick-and-easy taping technique that will help you avoid leaving blood on the rings.

8min 4sec

Additional reading: The Muscle-Up by Greg Glassman, published Nov. 1, 2002.

“Backtracked it all the way to CrossFit,” Riepenhoff says.

The other couple then found CrossFit Atlanta. And thus the addiction began.

“Anything and everything was CrossFit. When we were at dinner, when we were at lunch, when we’d go out to the bar, they were talking CrossFit,” he says.

One month later, Riepenhoff and his wife started at the box, too.

“It’s been the best moments of our lives as far as (a) workout and getting in shape,” he says.

As for Riepenhoff’s wife, she’s been getting the best of him, he says with a smile.

“She beat me on the first workout,” he says. “She continues to beat me on workouts.”

9min 59sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Weekend Edition 9 by Dave Young, published April 29, 2009.

Orlando’s response: $50,000.

“He just took out his checkbook and wrote me a check. He basically told me to shut up, find some space and open a gym.”

Hybrid Athletics was born in May 2008, and it became a CrossFit affiliate later that year.

In Part 1, Orlando talks about opening his gym and his entrance into the CrossFit community.

In Part 2, take a tour of the Stamford, Conn., facility.

Orlando often says if the typical box has 100 toys, Hybrid has 107. There are tires weighing 750 and 1000 lb., a 330-lb. piece of timber that washed up on shore during a hurricane, 11-ft. axles, and kegs as heavy as 250 lb.—for starters.

And there’s the so-called “Globo Gym Graveyard,” where dozens of plastic key-ring cards are nailed to the wall.

“This is where people have kind of finally seen the light and they come in and they turn in their card on my desk and I hang it up,” Orlando says with a smile. “Love that.”

Click here for more information and a list of upcoming CrossFit Strongman Trainer Courses.

Part 1
7min 4sec

Part 2
8min 11sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 202 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 14, 2011.

Orlando’s response: $50,000.

“He just took out his checkbook and wrote me a check. He basically told me to shut up, find some space and open a gym.”

Hybrid Athletics was born in May 2008, and it became a CrossFit affiliate later that year.

In Part 1, Orlando talks about opening his gym and his entrance into the CrossFit community.

In Part 2, take a tour of the Stamford, Conn., facility.

Orlando often says if the typical box has 100 toys, Hybrid has 107. There are tires weighing 750 and 1000 lb., a 330-lb. piece of timber that washed up on shore during a hurricane, 11-ft. axles, and kegs as heavy as 250 lb.—for starters.

And there’s the so-called “Globo Gym Graveyard,” where dozens of plastic key-ring cards are nailed to the wall.

“This is where people have kind of finally seen the light and they come in and they turn in their card on my desk and I hang it up,” Orlando says with a smile. “Love that.”

Click here for more information and a list of upcoming CrossFit Strongman Trainer Courses.

Part 1
7min 4sec

Part 2
8min 11sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 202 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 14, 2011.

He has course attendees do several reps of kettlebell deadlifts while keeping their weight on their heels, their necks neutral and their backs flat.

What’s often forgotten is breathing.

“Just kind of gettin’ that air in there will really take some pressure off that lower back,” Martone says.

Breathing will also help the body and mind relax and lead to better performance.

“To get max power … you gotta be relaxed,” he says. “So if you’re tense, it’s going to rob of you of speed, endurance and power.”

Click here for more information and a list of upcoming CrossFit Kettlebell Trainer Courses.

13min 57sec

Additional reading: Rugby and the Rotational Kettlebell Swing by Nicolas Rithner, published Oct. 5, 2009.

“It is imperative that you pair fitness with fun—has to happen,” Todd Widman says during a CrossFit Kids Trainer Course at CrossFit New England. “If they do not have fun, you have ruined them for life.”

Just remember that fun changes as preschoolers become preteens and then teenagers.

Quality of movement is also paramount.

“We’re training children how to move so that we can embed these movement patterns for life,” he explains.

Children primarily become stronger by building muscle-to-brain connections. Thus, it’s essential for coaches to place emphasis on good movements—not the amount of weight children are moving, Widman says.

Finally, the CrossFit Kids prescription is similar to that of the adult program: constantly varied functional movement executed at high intensity. But Widman says the timeline is different. For children, years should be spent on mechanics and consistency before moving to intensity.

“For children, do less better,” he says. “We’re not trying to load them up. We’re not trying to get them to go fast and hard. We’re trying to get them to move better for years.”

Video by Again Faster.

14min 44sec

Additional reading: Throwing Down the Gauntlet by Hilary Achauer, published Nov. 19, 2011.