Or, as Adam Carolla once put it (while making fun of ‘hardcore’ Tae Kwon Do instructors):

“Sweat on the mat, or BLEED on the street.”

If you are like me, these phrases get you fired up to go and train.

Personally, I think it is because I like to be over-prepared. I usually carry a backpack with all sorts of potentially useful stuff (multitool, tape, extra batteries, notebooks, protein bars, etc.). I like to do a ton research before I enter a new experience. I always have the most stuff …

I started CrossFit when I was 24. I am writing this on my 40^th birthday. I hate working out, and I have never had a membership to a gym (even though I have owned a more than a few).

It has been a crazy journey and I’d like to share some of my history, my mistakes, and what I have learned along the way. This is a ‘long one’ so make sure your coffee is topped off and/or you have your reading glasses handy.

TL;DR Notes

• We have come A LONG way since the early days of CrossFit. I was young eno…

Season 2 is here! We are changing the format a bit for this season. We are going to be talking more about workout programming and going over the prevailing 'myths' we see regularly in the fitness/exercise world. Today we talk about 'bad' workouts, how to spot them, what are the red flags for bad workouts, and what should you do when you visit a gym (or a friend recruits you) and you have to decide how to approach a bad workout. We also talk about the myth "lifting weights will make me bulky". …

EDC stands for “Every Day Carry”. It is a term generally used for what items a person tries to bring with them every day so they can be prepared for life’s unknown and unknowable.

For some, it means carrying their phone, charging cables, a backup battery, headphones, maybe some notebook/journal. For others, it means having a multitool, a flashlight, maybe some paracord, nearby.

Another version of EDC might be the outfit that you can wear in just about any situation. That little black dress m…

 CrossFit is known for being "constantly varied", but that doesn't mean random. Can we improve results, make the classes easier (to learn movements and to coach), while improving safety and ensuring that people make gains for more than 10 years?

Yes.

And we can do that by using what we call the "Strength Focus".

Why have a “Focus” at all?

CrossFit can be credited with demonstrating the power of ‘constantly varied’ or ‘seemingly random’ training for making people fit. While this style of tr…

“I think I want to compete someday, do I need special programming?”

First, I think it is important to point out that regular gym programming is designed to get you fit, keep you safe, and have some fun along the way. It is designed to challenge people from the beginning level to people who have been doing it for decades.

It is not focused ONLY on competition in functional fitness events!

That said, many people who show up consistently, scale accordingly, and listen to their coaches, will en…

 
(Download this: CF_Open_Summary_-_Updated_thru_2018.pdf for a larger file and one that has performance data for top 200, top 1000, and top 2000 in the world).

Attached you’ll find the summary of all of the Open workouts to date with performance data from the CrossFit Games Website. As usual, we have also included the frequency of each movement and what are possible movements that may show up in future years.

If you are interested in improving your performances in the Open, make sure you are …

Avoid Unnecessary Soreness

Being sore is pretty much an unavoidable part of training, but that doesn’t mean we should ‘look’ to be sore or that it is only a good workout if you are really sore!

General muscle soreness the day or two after a workout is usually called “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness” (or DOMS). It is caused by muscle damage that occurs during workouts. This discomfort is one of the signals that tells our bodies to grow more muscle, increase blood capillaries, and more.

Side…

When it is hot outside, and we are doing an activity that generates a lot of excess body heat, we are at risk of overheating. This is especially true when we are paying more attention to what round we are on, our form, and trying not to get passed by the gal/guy next to us!

Chances are, you’ve probably been somewhere close (if not completely) in heat exhaustion before on a hot day when doing a workout, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know the signs so we can avoid it in the future.

Side N…