Results for “bill starr”

Poor Mikko Salo: the 2009 CrossFit Games champ can’t get a moment to himself. Whether Sevan Matossian is following him around and documenting his every move, or whether he’s just trying to get in a lift at the gym, all eyes are on the man from Pori, Finland. Luckily for us, he’s a good sport.

In this quick interview with Salo, the defending champ briefly covers his current training regimen, giving insight into volume… Continue Reading

Louie Simmons can make you strong, but how he does it can be a bit of a mystery. Louie, however, doesn’t keep any secrets and shares his techniques with the CrossFit community at Powerlifting Certs.

One of the most integral parts to understanding the Westside Barbell method is to know that velocity is critical. While Simmons and crew work towards new PRs by lifting max weights on some days, they also use… Continue Reading

Louie Simmons can make you strong, but how he does it can be a bit of a mystery. Louie, however, doesn’t keep any secrets and shares his techniques with the CrossFit community at Powerlifting Certs.

One of the most integral parts to understanding the Westside Barbell method is to know that velocity is critical. While Simmons and crew work towards new PRs by lifting max weights on some days, they also use… Continue Reading

Many strong athletes eventually hit a wall when training the Olympic lifts. Bill Starr explains how to get back on track when your clean stalls and PRs cease to come.

I’m assuming that you’re using at least decent form and have advanced to the point where you’re handling some testy poundages in the lift. You’re gaining confidence in your technique. Your routine typically has you… Continue Reading

A good overhead position is important to many of the CrossFit movements, and getting weight overhead the right way will ensure both optimal performance and safety.

At a Coaches Prep Seminar at CrossFit Santa Cruz, HQ trainers Austin Begiebing, Adrian (Boz) Bozman and E.C. Synkowski break down the overhead position, emphasizing scapular retraction and elevation. By putting the scapulae is this position, athletes create stability and lessen the chances… Continue Reading

Louie Simmons can make you strong, but how he does it can be a bit of a mystery to some. Louie, however, doesn’t keep any secrets and shares his techniques with the CrossFit community at Powerlifting Certs.

One of the most integral parts of understanding the Westside Barbell method is knowing that velocity is critical. While Simmons and crew work toward new PRs by lifting max weights on some days, they… Continue Reading

Maggie Dabe from CrossFit Fairfax is one of CrossFit HQ’s traveling seminar trainers. Originally from Ecuador, she explains our standard cues and faults for the push jerk entirely in Spanish.

The push jerk is the third in a series of overhead pressing movements, and the jerk allows athletes to get the heaviest load possible overhead. Once the athlete is confident with the push press, he or she is ready to move on… Continue Reading

CrossFit isn’t just about strength, but strength is certainly part of the program. In this video shot at a Coaches Prep Course in San Diego, Chris Spealler talks about how to program strength workouts.

Going over set and rep schemes, Spealler goes on to outline different ways to fit strength training into your programming. For instance, Spealler has a lot of endurance-oriented athletes at CrossFit Park City, so he has to find… Continue Reading

Bill Starr offers up a program designed to help athletes begin training the basics of the Olympic lifts.

I’ve written articles for the CrossFit Journal on how to snatch, clean and jerk. By following the advice in those presentations, any athlete who is interested in the Olympic lifts can learn how to do them. I realize many athletes are tentative in trying these high-skill, explosive movements on their… Continue Reading

After introducing New Zealand All Blacks rugby player Owen Franks to the Burgener Warm-Up and some snatch position drills, Mike Burgener takes him through several weighted skill-transfer exercises at Mike’s Gym in Bonsall, Calif.

Franks is very strong and can overhead-squat well over 200 lb., but Burg wants to test him with the snatch balance. Ideally, you want your snatch balance to be 20-25 kg more than your snatch, and… Continue Reading

Many people take the wrong approach to strength training. Bill Starr says the simple, focused approach is the best way to build strength quickly.

When constructing any sort of structure, from a simple shed for the back yard to a stadium that will seat 100,000 people, you need to create a solid foundation first. If this isn’t done properly, the structure will not be substantial, nor will it last for very… Continue Reading

Maggie Dabe from CrossFit Fairfax is one of CrossFit HQ’s traveling seminar trainers. Originally from Ecuador, she explains our standard cues and faults for the press entirely in Spanish.

The press is the foundation for all overhead movements. With the feet under the hips, the athlete will grip the bar just outside shoulder width. The elbows will be down and slightly in front of the bar, and the entire body should be… Continue Reading

The bench press is the king of lifts for bar stars, Globo Gym thugs and weekend warriors, and you’re likely to see a chest-thumping bench-off go down every hour in every gym in the world. Despite the popularity of the bench press, most people don’t know how to do it with good technique.

Commonly known as a chest exercise, the bench is actually a full-body movement when performed correctly. Louie… Continue Reading

Bill Starr breaks down one of the most difficult athletic movements you’ll ever perform. Put the pieces together to master the world’s fastest lift.

The full snatch is one of the most complicated movements in all of sports. An athlete has to pull a weight upward with force and speed, then completely reverse his mental keys to explode downward under the still-moving bar. To be able to perform a snatch with a maximum… Continue Reading

Maggie Dabe from CrossFit Fairfax is one of CrossFit HQ’s traveling seminar trainers. Originally from Ecuador, she explains our standard cues and faults for the med-ball clean entirely in Spanish.

The med-ball clean builds upon the sumo deadlift high pull by teaching an athlete how to explosively elevate an object and then drop underneath it to receive the load in a rack position. The med-ball clean itself is a gateway… Continue Reading

A clean and jerk takes about 5 seconds to perform—but you can analyze those five seconds for hours.

Working with Stacey Kroon, who finished 10th at the 2009 CrossFit Games, Coach Mike Burgener uses a computer to break down footage of three clean and jerks.

Kroon is working with light weight, but Coach B is quick to correct form errors that will be amplified when the plates start adding up. Kroon’s main… Continue Reading

Full cleans can get complicated, but Bill Starr simplifies the movement into a power clean and a front squat. Get comfortable with the movements, then start refining the clean by adding speed and power.

Full cleans are one of the very best exercises for any strength athlete.

They are beneficial because they involve so many of the large muscles of the body in a dynamic fashion. When performed correctly, full… Continue Reading

After working his athletes through the clean and the first parts of the jerk, Coach Burgener completes the progression with the full split jerk.

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… Continue Reading

In Part 1, Coach Mike Burgener taught a group of athletes the grip and receiving position for the clean. In Part 2, he showed them how to put speed on the bar as they clean it to the rack position. Part 3 finds the CrossFit Olympic-lifting expert teaching the split jerk.

A good split jerk looks like a quarter lunge, where the back heel is off the deck with the weight in… Continue Reading

Many parents let their children play football but believe weight training is too dangerous. Bill Starr examines the issue and explains how to train children safely and effectively.

As long as I have been involved in physical culture, the notion that lifting weights is harmful to young people has prevailed. This idea never made much sense to me.

I believe the assumption that lifting weights at an early age is harmful to… Continue Reading