According to Mikki Martin of CrossFit Kids and CrossFit Brand X, a typical CrossFit Kids class includes a warm-up, skill work, a workout and a game—all designed to keep things fun while helping young athletes stay fit and learn how to move their bodies.

In this video, Martin takes a group of kids through a handstand push-up progression—from plank position to “stink-bug position”—giving them a foundation for one of CrossFit’s more challenging movements. After practicing the progressions, the children dive into a WOD featuring box jumps and modified handstand push-ups—and then it’s off to the relay races to close out the class.

Video by Again Faster.

6min 58sec

Additional reading: The Inherent Responsibilities of Training Children and Teens by Jeff Martin and Cyndi Rodi, published July 1, 2008.

Zach Even-Esh of Underground Strength Coach/CrossFit Underground had that exact experience, and after injuries and a lack of success, he discovered a kind of training that took him beyond the traditional bodybuilding movements so many people rely on to get “fit.” Even-Esh also had a lot of work to do mentally to pull himself out of depression and self-doubt.

After researching more effective training methods, Even-Esh discovered functional training involving sprinting, gymnastics movements and powerlifting principles perfected by people such as Louie Simmons at West Side Barbell. CrossFit was just the logical next step in the process.

Now, Even-Esh has dedicated himself to using his knowledge to help other athletes avoid the mistakes he made back in the day.

4min 09sec

Video by Again Faster.

Additional reading: Garage Gym II: The Revolution by Greg Glassman, published July 1, 2005.

Dr. Romanov, a two-time Olympic coach, invented the Pose Method in the 1970s as a way to improve efficiency by letting gravity do some of the work usually done by muscles. For an untrained observer, it can be hard to tell Pose runners from “normal” runners, but still photographs of Pose athletes reveal that a straight but oblique line can be drawn between the shoulder, hip and ankle at ground contact due to a forward-leaning body position. In traditional running, that line is often curved, with the ankle in front of the hip during the support phase of the stride.

Using Dr. Romanov’s technique, runners attempt to conserve energy by leaning forward, pulling the feet off the ground, avoiding heel strikes and letting gravity take care of the rest. Each step becomes a very precise movement designed to produce maximum efficiency.

Video by CrossFit by Overload.

3min 58sec

Additional reading: The Basics of Pose Running Techniques by Brian MacKenzie, published Dec. 1, 2007.

Starting with the bar on the shoulders behind the head, the athletes work on a good dip with a vertical torso before jumping and landing in the receiving position with the bar locked out overhead. The next step is to start with the bar in the rack position and ensure a wide grip with the elbows lower than they would be in the receiving position for the clean.

The key to the movement is a vertical torso during the dip and drive. Athletes can get away with forward inclination with a PVC pipe, but larger weights will require better technique. Recovery should be initiated by pushing off the front foot first, then moving the back foot.

8min 28sec

Additional reading: Overhead Is Rising by Bill Starr, published Nov. 7, 2008.

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.

“The reality is I want to take our skills and drills from gymnastics—the sport of gymnastics—and make it applicable to what we do daily in the box,” Tucker says.

A Gymnastics Cert is also a great place to learn more about coaching and movement—how to motivate athletes while keeping them safe as you teach them to control their bodies and build strength.

Tucker was head coach and director of Texas Christian University’s gymnastics/cheerleading programs from 2001 to 2006 and now conducts CrossFit’s Gymnastics Certifications.

Video by CrossFit by Overload.

7min 53sec

Additional reading: Why Train Gymnastics Basics? by Jeff Tucker, published Aug. 1, 2008.

In a first-time event for CrossFit, watch a live Internet stream of Dr. Barry Sears, creator of the Zone Diet, presenting his renowned lecture on the anti-inflammatory aspects of the Zone Diet and how it relates to enhancing your physical performance.

With a precisely balanced diet, smart training and the right amount of essential fatty acids, athletes can improve reaction time, reduce body fat and inflammation, and improve moods—all leading to a higher level of performance.

Click here for the player window and to register.

Watching? Did you watch? Post thoughts on the live feed to comments.

Stone lifting, on the other hand, trains your body to pick up awkward objects without handles and knurling. It’s a real-world activity that’s been around for millennia, and it’s one of several events you can usually expect to see at a strongman competition.

In this video filmed at Rainier CrossFit, Kurtis Bowler shows a female athlete the finer points of lifting a round atlas stone onto a platform, as well as how to get the thing down afterward.

If the snatch is about speed and power, stone lifting is about strength and grinding determination—and lots of chalk.

8min 44sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 87, originally aired Oct. 2, 2009.

With a complicated movement like the clean, it’s not practical to go through a host of progressions that will only confuse and frustrate the kid. Jeff Martin of CrossFit Kids says you only need a few simple and clear cues designed to encourage the most essential parts of the movement—in this case, hip extension.

His cues for the clean: dip-shrug and drop-stand. It’s that simple.

“You’ll have one kid in a hundred that’ll fully extend, do everything right,” Martin says. “Everyone else is going to be a mess, and you’re going to work with it, because that’s the way it is. They’re kids.”

He adds: “That’s how the process is with kids: we have a long time to fix things before we expect them to be perfect.”

Video by Again Faster.

7min 17sec

Additional reading: The Inherent Responsibilities of Training Children and Teens by Jeff Martin and Cyndi Rodi, published July 1, 2008.

He also did an in-studio interview for Fort Hood TV. It is presented here unedited and in its entirety (including an "off-the-record" informal discussion before the official interview). Among other topics, Coach talks about his desire to help men and women in uniform through Operation Phoenix, as well as how CrossFit grew from one tiny facility to a multinational corporation.

After opening the first CrossFit box in Santa Cruz, Calif., Greg and Lauren started training athletes and posting their workouts to the web. “That was the spark that set the fire,” Coach says.

Fort Hood is also home to the affiliates Centurion CrossFit Fort Hood and Lumberjack CrossFit.

Additional reading: The Panther Recon Downrange Gym by 1st Lt. Matthew Hoff, first published Sept. 20, 2009.

In his own special way—no BS with extra profanity— strength expert Dave Tate of Elite FTS offers his strategy for avoiding downtime due to injuries:

“We all do stupid shit. It’s just you want to try to stop from doing stupid shit 100 per cent of the time, and just do stupid shit, like, 20 per cent of the time.”

You may not be able to avoid a freak accident like breaking a finger when racking a bar, but you can often avoid overtraining injuries and injuries due to competitive people pushing too far beyond their limits.

“You want to make sure that injuries that do happen happen because of flukes,” Tate says.

And if you have an injury, take heart:

“I’ve seen people come back from everything,” Tate says.

6min 55sec

Additional reading: CrossFit and Powerlifting by Jason Bagwell, published May 1, 2005.

A good split jerk looks like a quarter lunge, where the back heel is off the deck with the weight in the ball of the foot. The back leg will be slightly bent, and the torso will be erect. The width of the feet in the jerk should be exactly the same as their width in the front squat, creating a solid base to support big weight.

Coach Burgener drills the positions, then has his athletes jump to the proper receiving stance. From there, they recover with a vertical torso.

In Part 4, Coach B has the athletes pick up their PVC pipes and go through the full split jerk.

8min 26sec

Additional reading: Mastering the Jerk by Bill Starr, published June 15, 2009.

What gives?

Robb Wolf asked that question at a recent CrossFit Nutrition cert, and participants came up with the following answer: the calories Selena takes in constantly raise her insulin levels and encourage her body to store fat. Her consumption of artificial sweeteners compounds the problem.

According to Wolf, artificial sweeteners can create insulin spikes via signals between the taste buds and organs such as the pancreas and the brain. Furthermore, the body is wired in ways that allow some people to get insulin spikes just by looking at pictures of food.

In a similar twist, Selena might not need a strict low-block Zone prescription because carrying 300 lb. around all day is a hell of a workout and may require more fuel than you think.

Robb Wolf is the co-owner and founder of CrossFit NorCal. He offers nutrition seminars all over North America.

Video by Again Faster.

7min 25sec

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

“This one is all about walking smooth,” Kurtis Bowler of Rainier CrossFit says of the yoke walk.

The strongman movement is particularly challenging because it requires more than just raw strength and core stability. One of the keys to the movement is fluidity, and athletes who stagger or change speed while under load will find heavy weights very difficult to control.

“If you start walking and stumble around or anything like that, the balance on this thing is going to get off and it’s going to start swinging,” Bowler says.

The key? Grace under pressure—about 1,200 lb. of it.

6min 4sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 87, originally aired Oct. 2, 2009.

Jeff Tucker of GSX Athletics teaches the movement with athletes starting on their knees. That way they can self-spot with their legs while learning how to maintain the false grip and keep the rings close to the body throughout the movement—which will allow a smooth transition phase. By taking a violent kip out of the muscle-up during the early stages of learning, Tucker is encouraging muscles to remember proper mechanics that can be repeated over and over again.

“Get the strength to do this movement first,” he says. “This is training it as a strength/core-control movement.”

Tucker was head coach and director of Texas Christian University’s gymnastics/cheerleading programs from 2001 to 2006 and now conducts CrossFit’s Gymnastics Certifications.

Video by CrossFit by Overload.

10min 12sec

Additional reading: Ring Strength by Greg Glassman, published July 1, 2004.

What if someone had taught you in college to squat below parallel instead of to barely crease your knees while “feeling the burn” in your quads?

How fit and functional would you be right now if you had never set foot in a Globo Gym?

Greg Glassman came up with the CrossFit Kids program to ensure young athletes don’t make the same mistakes their parents did. By starting kids on the right path, CrossFit Kids is creating safe movement patterns at a young age and setting children up for a lifetime of fitness.

Jeff and Mikki Martin of CrossFit Brand X run the CrossFit Kids program, and they explain how it went from an idea batted about over breakfast to a full-fledged training methodology that will help kids avoid the lure of three sets of eight reps on chest and tris, back and bis—grunting optional, flexing in the mirror mandatory.

“Our kids who are coming out of this program, they’re never going to see fitness as going to a 24 Hour Fitness,” Jeff explains. “They’re going to see fitness as going to a CrossFit box.”

Video by Again Faster.

5min 24sec

Additional reading: Getting an A in CrossFit by Vince Miserandino, published Feb. 4, 2009.

Drilling from the high hang position, Burgener has the athletes clean the bar, with one trainee getting holy hell for forgetting to use the hook grip. Under threat of burpees, the athlete takes the proper grip and cleans the bar correctly, and Coach Burgener moves on to drilling the proper elbow position for the press/jerk.

With the military precision and enthusiasm he’s known for, Burgener runs each athlete through the drill again with weight on the bar, all the while looking for flaws in their stance, grip and position.

Interestingly, no burpees are handed out.

In Part 3, Coach Burgener teaches the athletes how to jerk the weight overhead and lock it out.

9min 48sec

Additional reading: Supplemental Olympic Lifting for CrossFitters by Mike Burgener with Tony Budding, published Dec. 1, 2007.

In Part 8 of Dr. Sears’ presentation on Aug. 8, 2009, in Orange County, Calif., the creator of the Zone Diet talks about how proper nutrition has worked for elite athletes. From NFL and NBA players to Olympians, top athletes have found that following the Zone Diet can help them to longer careers, PRs, gold medals and world records.

“These are professionals,” Sears says of elite athletes who endorse the Zone. “Their paycheck depends on performing at peak levels.”

He continues: “What’s our goal? Whether it be wellness or performance, it’s re-establishing harmony with our genes. Our genes still live in the Stone Age. Unfortunately, we’re living in the 21st century, and that makes it harder to maintain wellness, harder to maintain performance.”

With the Zone Diet, you can manage your hormones and modify the expression of your genes. The result? Health, wellness and new standards of personal performance.

18min 22sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Weekend Edition 15, first aired June 2, 2009.

After an aggressive start in the middle of 2008, CrossFit Northern Ireland hosted the Europe Regional Qualifier for the CrossFit Games, an Olympic Weightlifting Cert, a Gymnastics Cert and, most recently, a Level 1 Cert featuring elite athletes/coaches Lisa Ray and Pat Barber.

During the recent Level 1, Sevan Matossian spoke with Jonny and Helen about hosting Mikko Salo and the European regional, the challenges of securing equipment, and the fitness culture in Europe.

7min 06sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Weekend Edition 16, originally aired June 8, 2008.

In this video, Blauer teaches athletes how to behave when a gun is being pointed at them by paying special attention to how people move when they’re startled. The first step is to clear away from the gun—“stay away from the hole”—then control the armed limb. The next step is to counter aggressively, either disarming or disabling your opponent.

Video by Again Faster.

4min 47sec

Additional reading: Fight Training Fitness: An Interview With Tony Blauer by Yael Grauer, published Feb. 1, 2007.

Tate may be focused on the kind of strength that can produce an 800-lb. deadlift, but he understands that the average client wants to be good at everything, not great at anything in particular. Elite athletes, on the other hand, sacrifice competence in some fitness domains for high performance in others.

When training the average person, Tate recommends shooting for moderate levels of competence in all fitness domains. Aim too high and you’re going to risk training-related injuries. Aim too low and you risk injuries due to deconditioning.

Tate, for his part, finds that type of training boring. He’d far rather focus on one element of fitness and take an athlete from good to great.

12min 45sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Strength Bias by Jeff Martin and Darrell White, published Feb. 7, 2009.

When performing the deadlift, the stance will be between hip and shoulder width, with the weight in the heels. The grip will be just outside the knees, and the lumbar curve must be maintained throughout the lift. The shoulders will be over, or just slightly in front of, the bar at the set-up. During the lift, both the hips and shoulders should rise at the same rate. In a good lift, the bar will stay close to the shins and thighs at all times, and the hip and knee angles will be completely open at the top of the movement.

This series is our first venture into foreign-language instruction in a video. The rest of the nine core movements will be included.

Maggie Dabe explica el peso muerto en Español.

Video by Again Faster

6min 37sec

Additional viewing: Correcting the Deadlift with Rachel Medina, originally published March 27, 2009.

Breaking the movement down into pieces, Bowler demonstrates the difficulty of getting the bar into the rack position, noting that his fingers can’t even fully close around the thick 2-inch-diameter bar.

“It just wants to shoot out of the bottom of your hands,” he explains.

Bowler wraps up the session with an attempt at a new PR: 233 lb. from floor to overhead.

Video by Again Faster.

5min 27sec

Additional reading: KingKinggg KongKonggg by Rob Orlando, published Nov. 3, 2008.

Tony Budding of CrossFit HQ threw the challenge at Olympic lifting expert Mike Burgener, who wasn’t phased at all.

“I’m sure we can get it done,” Coach B says. “It’s not going to be that hard.”

Coach Burgener starts with the basics. To establish a good rack position, he ensures proper grip width and has the athletes perform “Frankenstein squats,” where the bar rests on the shoulders and the arms are outstretched while the lifter squats. He follows it up with traditional front squats with the bar racked on the shoulders, the elbows high and the feet in the receiving position.

In Part 2, Coach Burgener teaches the athletes how to put speed on the bar and clean it to the rack position.

8min 24sec

Additional reading: From the Snatch to the Clean by Mike Burgener with Tony Budding, published Apr. 1, 2007.

To demonstrate the correct position of the upper arm throughout a kettlebell clean, expert Jeff Martone of Tactical Athlete squeezes an eraser between his humerus and torso while performing the movement. The key is to keep your arm tight to your body as you pop your hips to drive the kettlebell upward. The elbow drops, the “death grip” is relaxed, and the bell should slide into the proper rack position. To initiate the down phase, simply reverse the movement.

To clean a pair of kettlebells, widen your stance slightly but change little else. With two bells meeting at the rack position in the center of your chest, the correct grip is important to avoid smashed fingers. Ensure you grip the kettlebells by the inside corners of their handles, and release your fingers as you get into the rack position. Doing so will allow the handles to touch without creating black fingernails.

“All you have to do is get them smashed once, you know, and you’re not going to wanna repeat it,” Martone says.

Video by Again Faster.

6min 41sec

Additional reading: Double-Kettlebell Push Press and Jerk by Jeff Martone, published Jan. 1, 2008.

The SPEAR System—spontaneous protection enabling accelerated response—is based on the startle/flinch reflex that’s hard-wired into the body. As such, the SPEAR movements are “prehistoric,” instinctive and natural in the same way a squat or a deadlift has been part of human movement for millennia. Furthermore, much of the training Blauer does through Blauer Tactical Systems involves stressing several energy pathways in a wide range of different ways, much like a CrossFit WOD.

“Aerobics gets you to the fight,” Blauer says. “Anaerobics gets you through the fight.”

Video by Again Faster.

6min 15sec

Additional reading: Fight Training Fitness: An Interview With Tony Blauer by Yael Grauer, published Feb. 1, 2007.

At a Gymnastics Cert held Aug. 29-30, 2009, at Elite 400/CrossFit Northern Ireland, Tucker uses John Brown (CrossFit Agoge) and Michelle Benedict (CrossFit Fort Bragg) to demonstrate several ways to scale the iron cross while you build up the strength needed to complete the full movement.

By reaching through the straps and grabbing the rings from the outside, athletes can create some leverage to assist them as they move from the support position to the first, second and third positions. With a spotter’s assistance, aspiring CrossFit gymnasts can work through the progressions until they’re ready to tackle the full movement, which is an impressive feat of strength that’s also good at a party.

“Hold my pint and look at this shit,” Tucker says.

Tucker was head coach and director of Texas Christian University’s gymnastics/cheerleading programs from 2001 to 2006 and now conducts CrossFit’s Gymnastics Certifications.

9min 20sec

Additional reading: Scaling up CrossFit Workouts With Rings by Tyler Hass, published May 1, 2008.

Yes, you will learn about exercise technique and how to help youngsters “bank” bone mass as they grow older, but if you don’t have fun, you’re probably missing the point.

According to Jeff Martin of CrossFit Kids, making things fun for kids is the most important part of the program. If children are enjoying themselves, it’s going to be far easier to get them hooked on a valuable program that will benefit them physically, socially, mentally and emotionally.

“Get to the game at all costs,” says Mikki Martin. “We will cut off our workout to make sure we fit that game in. If we’re running over, we’re not going to skip the game. That’s what the kids want to leave on: that high note. They’re having a good time. Now remember the games aren’t just a game—there’s work in there.”

By packaging high-intensity, functional movements as games, kids will have fun while forging the future of fitness.

Video by CrossFit by Overload.

4min 54sec

Additional reading: The Inherent Responsibilities of Training Children and Teens by Jeff Martin and Cyndi Rodi, published July 1, 2008.

Speaking at a recent Level 1 Cert at Elite 400/CrossFit Northern Ireland, Dr. Ray addresses macronutrients and their effects on the body. Simply put, your body needs carbohydrates, but different kinds of carbohydrates can produce very different changes in the body.

Low-glycemic carbs will slightly boost insulin and glucose levels for a longer period of time, while high-glycemic carbs send them skyward for a short period of time. When the levels plummet back down, you feel hungry, and if you eat high-glycemic carbs again, you’re setting a pattern of insulin spikes that can have negative effects on the walls of your blood vessels.

Consuming protein encourages the release of glucagon, which helps blunt insulin spikes, and eating low-glycemic carbs reduces the potential for sharp peaks even more. The inclusion of fat in a meal slows the absorption of high-glycemic carbs and further reduces the likelihood of dramatic increases in hormone levels. The result of a well-planned meal: nicely regulated levels of insulin and glucose.

7min 15sec

Additional reading: Meth in a Can by Keith Graves, published Nov. 24, 2008.

Maynard has been wrestling for years, so he’s no stranger to one-on-one physical competition. Still, wrestling in high school and college is different from being locked in a cage with another fighter. Maynard explains that he lost the MMA match but scored yet another important personal victory:

“For me, getting in the cage and having that shut, regardless of the outcome, that was my new limit—the new thing that I set for myself—and I’m going to try and break that,” Maynard said.

Video by Again Faster.

5min 13sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 68, originally aired May 26, 2009.

Working up in weight, Aardal uses a split jerk to get the bar overhead, then sets up for her squats. Ray cues Aardal to be aggressive on the jerk, then keep her shoulders active, midsection tight and knees out during her reps.

Ray’s best cue might be the simplest: “Just have fun with it now. Don’t overthink it.”

With 125 lb. on the bar, Aardal puts it all together and bangs out three strong reps on her way to a new PR.

11min 47sec

Additional reading: The Overhead Squat by Greg Glassman, published Aug. 1, 2005.

Flexibility is one of CrossFit’s 10 fitness domains, but it’s often overlooked by athletes focused on sexier domains such as strength, power and endurance. In this video shot at CrossFit Santa Cruz, Kelly Starrett explains that a lack of mobility will hurt your performance just as much as poor cardio or a lack of strength.

Analyzing an athlete with hip and knee issues, Starrett shows exactly how poor flexibility limits what you can do during a WOD. Imagine tackling a workout and being unable to fully extend your arm because of tight muscles. As strange as that may seem, many athletes dive into CrossFit with lower-body mobility issues that put them at a similar disadvantage and prevent them from performing at a high level.

“If you’re missing a bunch of hip range of motion, you kind of have fewer options mechanically,” Starrett says. “You’re forced into certain mechanical compromises.”

In Part 2, Starrett explains how you can improve your mobility with simple stretches and mobility exercises.

Starrett is a doctor of physical therapy and the owner of San Francisco CrossFit.

12min 28sec

Additional reading: A Postural Error: A Costly Biomechanical Fault—Muted Hip Function (MHF) by Greg Glassman, published Jan. 1, 2003.

Flexibility is one of CrossFit’s 10 fitness domains, but it’s often overlooked by athletes focused on sexier domains such as strength, power and endurance. In this video shot at CrossFit Santa Cruz, Kelly Starrett explains that a lack of mobility will hurt your performance just as much as poor cardio or a lack of strength.

Analyzing an athlete with hip and knee issues, Starrett shows exactly how poor flexibility limits what you can do during a WOD. Imagine tackling a workout and being unable to fully extend your arm because of tight muscles. As strange as that may seem, many athletes dive into CrossFit with lower-body mobility issues that put them at a similar disadvantage and prevent them from performing at a high level.

“If you’re missing a bunch of hip range of motion, you kind of have fewer options mechanically,” Starrett says. “You’re forced into certain mechanical compromises.”

In Part 2, Starrett explains how you can improve your mobility with simple stretches and mobility exercises.

Starrett is a doctor of physical therapy and the owner of San Francisco CrossFit.

12min 28sec

Additional reading: A Postural Error: A Costly Biomechanical Fault—Muted Hip Function (MHF) by Greg Glassman, published Jan. 1, 2003.

Jeff Martin of CrossFit Kids speaks a language kids understand, and he uses it to help young CrossFitters get fit safely. In this video from a CrossFit Kids Certification, Martin teaches attendees how to get children to deadlift properly with very basic instructions.

Martin has developed a simple deadlift progression, the key piece of which comes from the zoo: saying “angry-gorilla back” helps kids envision exactly what they need to do each time they pull anything off the floor, whether it’s a barbell or a backpack.

Video by Again Faster

6min 19sec

Additional reading: Will CrossFit Make American Kids Smarter? by Lisa Bakshi, published Jan. 26, 2009.

Drawing on 20 years of experience as an elite football player, Welbourn has designed a program that prepares athletes for the gridiron and the physical testing every player will encounter at some point. Being able to change direction quickly and immediately return to top speed are keys to high performance during common tests such as the short shuttle and three-cone drill, so CrossFit football involves a lot of lateral movement, jumping and sprinting. Nutrition and programming are also covered in the seminar.

Attendees at this cert are put through a CrossFit Football WOD involving heavy deadlifts, resisted runs and pull-ups, giving a new twist to constantly varied, high-intensity functional movement. Video by Again Faster.

4min 31sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 49, originally aired March 29, 2009.

4min 31sec

According to Dr. Barry Sears, diet is the real key to improving athletic performance, winning competitions and setting new PRs.

In Part 7 of Dr. Sears’ presentation held Aug. 8, 2009, in Orange County, Calif., the creator of the Zone Diet talks about the finer points of his program: how much protein you really need, when athletes should up their fat intake, how to determine the quality of the fish oil you should be taking, and how much fish oil you really need to improve performance.

With a carefully planned diet, smart training and the right amount of fish oil, athletes can improve reaction time, reduce body fat and inflammation, and improve moods—all leading to high performance.

“When you’re trying to give elite athletes an unfair but legal advantage, diet becomes the key factor,” Dr. Sears concludes.

13min 48sec

Additional audio: Diet Secrets of the Tupperware Man by Greg Amundson, published Dec. 28, 2008.

In this video shot at Rainier CrossFit, Lisa Ray of CrossFit Flagstaff takes Stephanie Aardal through the steps to properly getting substantial weight locked out before attempting any overhead squats.

Before you’re ready to squat, you’re going to need solid mechanics on the push jerk after taking the bar out of the rack. If the weight is heavy enough, you may even have to split jerk. Heavy weight will also require you to jerk from behind your head to better accommodate the wider grip required for the overhead squat. Technique is critical or you’ll lose the load before you even start your set.

After all the effort spent getting the weight overhead, then the real work starts.

10min 03sec

Additional reading: The Overhead Squat by Greg Glassman, published Aug. 1, 2005.

That may be true—but Boz is also one of CrossFit’s top trainers, and he’s a damn fine athlete by CrossFit’s standards. Interestingly enough, he learned most of the CrossFit movements on his own and developed into a great trainer. When his plans to open his own box didn’t materialize, Boz teamed up with Kelly Starrett at San Francisco CrossFit, where he coaches athletes within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Boz also travels the country working the Level 1 and 2 certs and serves as a head judge at the CrossFit Games, and he’s one half of The Boz and Todd Experience with Todd Widman.

Employment history aside, you should know that Boz can locate a good barbecue restaurant blindfolded in any city in America, he doesn’t like beer, and he loves a hot sauna in a Russian/Turkish bathhouse.

Video by Again Faster.

6min 57sec

Additional reading: By Any Means Necessary by Mike Warkentin, published July 29, 2009.

To give Tate a taste of what CrossFit is all about, Amundson did Fran at a private seminar held Jan. 9, 2009, at CrossFit San Diego. With Amundson 10 reps into his opening set of thrusters, Tate shifts his position and starts pointing to Greg. During the post-WOD critique, the uncensored powerlifting coach explains what he saw.

“On his first set of thrusters ... his foot was everywhere. Every time he applied force, one rep it was in the front of the foot, one rep was in the back off the foot. One rep was here, one rep was here. There was a shitload of wasted energy being applied because of that.”

Amundson’s second set was better, but he shifted his weight too far forward and took his posterior chain out of the movement. Tate explains that the quads burn out quickly, and that leaning forward also makes for a longer bar path. His recommendation? Sit back and drive off the glutes and hamstrings. The resulting movement will be more efficient and will produce more reps in less time.

11min 25sec

Additional reading: Human Power Output and CrossFit Met-Con Workouts by Tony Leyland, published July 1, 2008.

The initiation of Operation Phoenix in March 2008 marked the end of the legendary CrossFit HQ, Greg and Lauren Glassman’s gym in Santa Cruz. With all the gear donated to the Marines and the lease up, it seemed as though the writing was on the wall.

And what was going to happen to the culture of CrossFit now that the founders had moved?

What happened was an explosion of growth. What may have looked like a curse—the loss of the chief—quickly turned into a blessing. Three Santa Cruz gyms immediately rose from the ashes of HQ, all located within 10 miles of each other. The question remained: could all of them survive?

Skip forward to September 2009, and we now have five affiliates in Santa Cruz, each with its own base of clients and trainers, and two within 800m of each other. What started as a small gym in Santa Cruz has turned into a large, vibrant community of athletes. The original HQ was a modest 1,200 square-foot facility in a small research park. CrossFit Santa Cruz now resides in a 3,500 square-foot facility, and the four other gyms make even more real estate available for CrossFit.

Getting all the gyms together at CrossFit Santa Cruz Central on Sept. 12, 2009 was an exciting and inspiring event. The members of each affiliate seemed to be quick friends and were often cheering for their competition. It was a lot like the athletes’ warm-up area at the 2009 Games. Competitors were socializing and assisting each other during the breaks. Coaches were assisting rival athletes before a competition. At the end of the event, everyone couldn't stop talking about the next one.

CrossFit in Santa Cruz is alive and well.

6min

Additional reading: The Garage Gym II: The Revolution by Greg Glassman, originally published July 1, 2005.

Still, some kids need help with their squats, but Jeff Martin of CrossFit Kids says they need different cues than adults. Yelling “Maintain your lumbar curve!” and “Knees out!” at five-year-olds won’t get the results you want, so Martin has devised a host of cues that are easier for children to grasp.

Martin’s solutions are efficient, allowing a trainer to quickly fix problems in a large group without risking losing the other athletes. They can also be integrated into a fun workout so the kid doesn’t have to sit through lengthy one-on-one squat sessions that may become tedious and boring.

As an added bonus, Martin’s techniques will work pretty well with adults who drop their chests, collapse at the bottom and roll their knees in.

Video by Again Faster.

8min 00sec

Additional reading: CrossFit Kids: Forging Future Achievers by Cyndi Rodi, published Aug. 1, 2008.

Zeier discovered CrossFit in 2006, when he was a recon Marine stationed in Iraq. Only months later, an improvised explosive device (IED) left him unable to walk, let alone do Fran. During a year of surgeries and rehab, Zeier got back into CrossFit and used it to prove the doctors wrong.

Once he was back on his feet, he was determined to run 100 miles from Key Largo to Key West to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a group dedicated to providing scholarship grants to the children of deceased special-ops personnel and financial aid to severely wounded servicepeople and their families.

Unable to put in a lot of miles in training, Zeier used CrossFit to help him complete the run and raise over $78,000. Keith was featured on The Today Show on MSNBC.com, and he shared his inspirational story with the CrossFit Journal at a Level 1 Cert held Aug. 8-9, 2009, at CrossFit South Brooklyn.

Video by Again Faster.

5min 33sec

Additional reading: CrossFit, Stoicism and an American Prisoner of War by Andrew Thompson with Tony Budding, published Dec. 1, 2004.

The future of the event is even brighter, and Coach Greg Glassman talks about what’s next in this video shot on July 25, 2009, at CrossFit Watertown in Oakville, Conn.

For the 2010 Games, Coach Glassman is planning sectional events as precursors to regional qualifiers that will produce 150 total athletes for the competition in Aromas. The event will be streamed live over the Internet for free via a feed from the on-site JumboTron, and the Games will feature a master’s division in addition to the Affiliate Cup and individual categories.

CrossFit’s founder also addresses reality-TV deals, sponsorship and commercialization. In short, Coach is going to do what he’s always done: use the Internet to keep CrossFit true to its grassroots origins.

Video by Again Faster.

9min 50sec

Additional reading: Salo, Wagner Win 2009 CrossFit Games by Mike Warkentin, published July 14, 2009.

C2 master instructor Bruce Kocher teaches a group of athletes at CrossFit New England how to get the lowest time for the sprint distance, covering topics such as torso angle, damper settings and the all-important start.

“More is not better,” Kocher says of the oft-misunderstood damper. “Elite rowers row at five and below. Many train at zero. Nothing good happens above seven.”

Novices can often be more successful with a higher damper setting, but as technique and efficiency improve, a lower setting with be far better. With the damper set at five, Kocher talks about quickly moving the hands away from the body when the stroke is complete, stabilizing the midline throughout, and keeping the stroke fairly compact.

The start involves three quick pulls, the first from a position with the handle above the toes, the second from above the ankles, and the third from above the toes. After that you should slide into a longer but still very fast stroke for 200 meters of intense effort.

Kocher demonstrates the techniques and pulls a time just over 30 seconds—and then it’s Chris Spealler’s turn. Speal has one “false start” before getting nasty with the C2 and pulling a fast 200.

Video by Again Faster.

15min 00sec

Additional reading: Row Fast: How to Prepare for an Erg Test by Peter Dreissigacker, published Feb. 1, 2007.

In snatching, you don’t want a perfectly vertical bar path but rather a line that curves in toward you slightly.

“The path of the bar is where?” Coach Mike Burgener asks. “It’s back. That’s the key. You don’t want that path to be straight. You don’t want it to go around. You want it to be back.”

With light weight on the bars, Jason Khalipa and Jocelyn Forest, work on finding the “pocket area” by deadlifting the bar, pulling it back toward the pockets in their shorts and then exploding upward with a fast and powerful jump that snaps the weight overhead.

Many athletes start the jump with the bar far too low on their legs, creating a bar path that arcs outward and pulls them forward. The result is usually bumpers hitting the deck. Coach B explains that the longer you stay back and over the bar as it rises, the better chance you have to make the lift.

When Khalipa gets on the iron, he unleashes his strength and pulls prematurely with his arms, almost muscle-snatching the weight. Forest pulls straight from the ground, forgets to find the pocket position and goes “to hell in a handbasket.”

Coach Burgener takes each athlete back in the progression from the ground to the mid-thigh to the pockets, eliminating the errors. The final step is putting it all together in one smooth, technically sound, explosive movement.

11min 21sec

Additional reading: The Scoop and the Second Pull by Greg Glassman, published Jan. 1, 2006.

The mechanics of the overhead squat are identical to the air squat and front squat. The key difference is that the barbell must be stabilized overhead. For this to be effective, the shoulders must be elevated as much as possible, with the arms straight. Any bend to the elbows or relaxation of the shoulders reduces performance instantly.

The heavier the bar is, the more important it is to keep the weight on the heels, and the more core stability is required to maintain effective mechanics. In fact, the core stability requirements of the overhead squat makes it one of the best “ab exercises” known.

This series is our first venture into foreign-language instruction in a video. The rest of the nine core movements will be included.

Maggie Dabe explica las sentadillas sobre la cabeza en Español.

10min 21sec

The key to the kettlebell thruster is keeping your elbows tight against your body, allowing the momentum created by explosive hip extension to be transferred efficiently to the bells. After the kettlebells start to rise due to hip extension, the pressing phase finishes off the thruster.

At the top, athletes should guard against any rotation of the kettlebell, which adds unnecessary movement to the lift.

Video by Again Faster.

5min 32sec

Additional reading: The Kettlebell Press by Jeff Martone, published Oct. 1, 2007.

Traditional thinking suggests a simple relationship between calories in and calories out. Dr. Sears suggests a different way to look at things in this presentation held Aug. 8, 2009, in Orange County: in athletic performance, calories aren’t as important as their ability to produce chemical energy—ATP, or adenosine triphosphate.

“The more efficient you are in making ATP, the more of a competitive advantage you will have,” Dr. Sears says.

Furthermore, your hormones are directly linked to food intake, and you can regulate them by monitoring the type of food you eat and when you eat it. With carefully planned caloric intake during the pre-demand, demand, recovery and regeneration phases of exercise, you will give your body the fuel it needs to perform and recover. By controlling your hormones in this way, you can reduce inflammation, decrease body fat and recovery time, and produce a host of favorable physiological changes that will result in improved and even elite performance.

“You’re working real hard in the gym. Don’t let your diet work against you,” Dr. Sears says.

12min 22sec

Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Weekend Edition 15, first aired June 2, 2009.

Demanding CrossFit WODs challenge bodies, but they also challenge hearts and minds. You simply have to be motivated enough to pick up the bar one more time even though your muscles are burning. Some athletes have endless stores of motivation, while others benefit from outside influence.

A great trainer can help drive you when your own motivation is failing, and Todd Widman of The Boz and Todd Experience is more than willing to provide the encouragement.

In this video filmed at Rainier CrossFit, Widman works with athletes during a front squat/double-under/run WOD. Offering technique tips and passionate encouragement, Widman helps a group of women push themselves to give their best performances.

Adrian (Boz) Bozman and Todd Widman are two of CrossFit’s top trainers. They spend a significant portion of their time traveling around the country working the CrossFit Level 1 and Level 2 certification seminars.

4min 30sec

Additional reading: Is “Punishment” a Dirty Word? by Mike Warkentin, published June 18, 2009.

In this video shot at a Level 1 Cert held Aug. 8-9, 2009, in New York, CrossFit South Brooklyn owner David Osorio explains how he started training in a park but was forced indoors when the weather turned a few months later. He eventually found space in The Brooklyn Lyceum, a century-old building that used to be a bathhouse.

Offering advice to affiliate owners or potential affiliate owners, Osorio talks about finding space, scheduling challenges when sharing space with other groups, and attracting clients.

Osorio believes many potential affiliate owners should balance their enthusiasm for CrossFit with a dose of realism. It’s one thing to love doing CrossFit yourself, but it’s another thing to train others, organize classes, and crunch numbers that have nothing to do with PRs and Fran times.

“Be prepared to spend a lot of sleepless nights working on the affiliate,” he advises.

By preparing for the challenges of owning an affiliate—challenges that go beyond the daily WOD— you can avoid unforeseen difficulties and ensure that your box grows and thrives.

Video by Again Faster.

7min 19sec

Additional reading: Partnering With a Martial Arts Dojo by Matt Swift, published Dec. 1, 2007.

Capacity in all 10 fitness domains will result in high performance and health, which Kelly Starrett refers to as an “ideal ready state.”

Speaking at a special seminar held at CrossFit Santa Cruz on March 14, 2009, Starrett maintains that any deviation from the ready state because of injuries and chronic conditions results in a decrease in performance. Therefore, dysfunction simply represents undeveloped capacity and an opportunity to improve.

To reach the ready state, you have to address your weaknesses systematically, whether they include a lack of strength, poor endurance, chronic back pain or a severe knee injury. CrossFit is the perfect way to deal with any deficiency because it’s all about eliminating weaknesses. By forcing yourself to break down barriers to performance, CrossFit will move you closer to the ready state and the elite fitness that comes with it.

Starrett is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the owner of San Francisco CrossFit.

6min 44sec

Additional reading: Working Wounded by Greg Glassman, published May 1, 2005.

You need to feed him—but what and when?

In this clip from a CrossFit Nutrition Cert with Robb Wolf, participants are asked to formulate a meal plan for an elite athlete, taking into consideration a host of different factors. The goal: fuelling the athlete for optimal performance.

When an athlete is in the middle of a challenging and gruelling competition, Wolf recommends paying less attention to precise Zone blocks, focusing instead on providing foods the athlete digests well and is comfortable with. Post-WOD, the competitor is going to need far more carbs than normal. Controlling blood-sugar levels while replenishing muscle glycogen is key.

Perhaps the most important aspect is going into the event with a tested plan, so pack a cooler full of nutritious foods the athlete has successfully used for recovery in trials prior to the event. Game day is no time to experiment with new food choices.

Robb Wolf is the co-owner and founder of CrossFit NorCal. He offers nutrition seminars all over North America.

Video by Again Faster.

6min 54sec

Additional reading: Zone on the Rocks: Fueling Performance by Rob Miller, published Nov. 1, 2007.