Results for “swing”

Catalyst Fitness sees one of its members die from a brain tumor and re-dedicates itself to exercise for the benefit of the brain. Chris Cooper explains.

Sarah Grand arrived at our gym in 2008, bald and pierced, with a chip on her shoulder.

She wore the baldness as if she was daring you to ask why. There was no victim in her swagger, no black cloud over her death-metal baseball cap.

Two weeks earlier, she’d been… Continue Reading

On Episode 221 of CrossFit Radio, host Justin Judkins interviewed CrossFit trainer and yoga instructor Nikki McGowan. Judkins also interviewed CrossFit newcomer Brent Bearup. This episode was webcast live at 6 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, April 25, 2012.

The WOW (Workout of the Week) is from CrossFit Invictus in San Diego, Calif.

Four sets of:
Turkish get-up, 2 reps
Rest 60 seconds
Kettlebell swings, 25 reps
Rest 60 seconds

Then three rounds… Continue Reading

Seeking Jeff Martone’s famous “boom!”?

Look no further. At this CrossFit Kettlebell Trainer Course at Progressive F.O.R.C.E. CrossFit in Las Vegas, Martone talks about establishing body awareness to get the hips back in the swing.

First, he has attendees do wall squats with their faces within inches of the wall. Next, he talks about getting the butt back.

“This is really a timing issue,” he says.

And it applies not only… Continue Reading

One of Jeff Martone’s favorite drills is a hip-flexor stretch followed by vertical jumps and kettlebell swings.

“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… Continue Reading

After being among the youngest individual competitors at the regional level of the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, 19-year-old Trevor James wants to make CrossFit his life and career. Andréa Maria Cecil reports.

On his 19th birthday, Trevor James didn’t celebrate in the traditional way. He drove nearly five hours from Shrewsbury, N.J., to Canton, Mass., for the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Northeast Regional. But he almost didn’t make it that far.

After… Continue Reading

In the CrossFit Kettlebell Trainer course, Jeff Martone says a good kettlebell swing has four key elements: weight on the heels, neutral neck, straight back and purposeful breathing. He emphasizes kinesthetic drills to help athletes understand the right and wrong ways to move their bodies.

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… Continue Reading

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

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

Gary McLean, owner of CrossFit 365 in South Wales, shares how he started his U.K. affiliate and how the Ospreys Rugby team has embraced CrossFit and shares its facility with the affiliate.

Mark Bennett, the head strength-and-conditioning coach for the Ospreys, and his assistant, Kevin Morgan, discuss how beneficial CrossFit has been for their athletes.

“It’s not just the physical ability,” Bennett says. “It gives us that mental edge, hopefully.”

Bennett… Continue Reading

Emma Keen is an international field-hockey player for Wales and also a CrossFitter out of CrossFit 365, which shares its facility with Ospreys Rugby. Keen discusses how she found CrossFit and how it has improved her performance.

Gary McLean, owner of CrossFit 365, talks about the progress she has made.

“She is like a cat—she moves very, very well, naturally gifted with the barbell, but quite inexperienced at the moment, so we can… Continue Reading

On Episode 203 of CrossFit Radio, host Justin Judkins interviewed Dr. John Berardi, who owns Precision Nutrition. Justin also interviewed Meghan Russell, co-owner of CrossFit JAX. This episode was webcast live at 6 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011.

The WOW (Workout of the Week) is from Beaverton CrossFit.

Every minute on the minute for 15 minutes:

185-lb. power cleans, 2 reps
70-lb. kettlebell swings, 5 reps
Double-unders for the… Continue Reading

CrossFit Gymnastics coach Jeff Tucker shared his expertise at the 2011 Summer Affiliate Gathering in Big Sky, Mont. In this video, he instructs an athlete on the kipping muscle-up to help refine her movement.

“What I look at as a coach are angles. If you’re creating angles and popping the hip in the movement, I’m wondering if we have a strength issue here,” he says.

Tucker has the athlete use her swing on… Continue Reading

This summer, Rainier CrossFit in Washington state hosted the Lumberjack Challenge. With events like single bucking, double bucking, standing block chop, choker setting and axe throwing, this challenge brought classic lumberjack skills to CrossFitters.

Says Rainer CrossFit owner Kurtis Bowler: “It’s really fun, and it’s hard too.”

In today’s video, Bowler teaches the correct technique for chopping a block of wood.

When using sharp objects like an axe, safety comes… Continue Reading

Kids see infinite games in a set of pull-up bars, and Jeff Martin describes three versions that just might work with “big kids” too.

Every CrossFit gym has pull-up bars. For grown-ups, this is where we get our work done; for kids, even teens, the bars are not just a place to do pull-ups. Walk into any box with a thriving Kids program, and before class you will see kids hanging, swinging and… Continue Reading

At the 2011 Summer Affiliate Gathering recently held in Big Sky, Mont., CrossFit Gymnastics coach Jeff Tucker instructs an athlete on the technique of the kipping pull-up.

Tucker addresses whether the kipping pull-up is driven by the hips or the upper body. The gymnastics expert says it’s smoother when the upper body is the prime mover.

“When you throw your lower body into it, you gotta have a shitload of muscle to control that… Continue Reading

Concept2 master trainer Angela Hart shows how adjustments in your rowing technique can improve your power and efficiency.

At the catch, you want to achieve an acute angle of about 60 degrees, whereas at the finish, you want to achieve an obtuse angle of about 120 degrees, Hart says. While most rowers can achieve the angle at the back of their stroke, the front angle is problematic.

“You’ve gotta close the… Continue Reading

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

In Part 5, the coaches examine the pull-up.

“It’s almost like a good pull-up reinforces his overhead position,” Starrett says as Paoli demonstrates the proper body position: active shoulders… Continue Reading

Creative CrossFitters create new workouts every day. Blair Morrison continues the search for signature workouts from around the world.

“I could totally do a pull-up on that branch.”

CrossFit changed the way we view the world. Tree branches became pull-up bars, picnic tables turned into plyo boxes and swing sets seemed like great places to hang a set of rings. And that rock over there? You should probably overhead squat it.

… Continue Reading

Join CrossFit Kettlebell trainer Jeff Martone as he adds more kettlebell movements to the CrossFit toolbox. In Part 3, he shares one of his specialties: the Turkish get-up.

“This is another exercise that’s phenomenal for your shoulder, and it’s a total body exercise,” Martone says. He believes the movement translates well to getting up defensively, especially for law-enforcement officers.

The first stage of the Turkish get-up is sitting up from a supine… Continue Reading

Spring is in full swing! Birds are singing, temperatures are warming and flowers are blooming everywhere. Bring some spring into the kitchen and have your kid’s breakfast blooming, too.

This simple egg creation looks like flowers sprouted right out of the plate!

Creative CrossFitters create new workouts every day. Ryan Ford continues the search for signature workouts from around the world.

“I could totally do a pull-up on that branch.”

Greg Glassman changed the way CrossFitters view the world. Tree branches became pull-up bars, picnic tables turned into plyo boxes and swing sets seemed like great places to hang a set of rings. And that rock over there? You should probably overhead… Continue Reading