General Training Demos
What the Function!?!
Functional fitness is a buzzword that permeates popular fitness methodology. Exercises that get classified as “functional” tend to be multi-joint movements where you have to use your body as a whole. This is actually a pretty good definition, seeing as how life tends...
6 Reasons Movement Quality should be your Priority
When fatigue gives way to exhaustion you’re left with nothing but instinct to sustain you. When this happens will your precise and focused training support you and allow you to power through, or will your shortcuts and “good...
5 Distinctions Between Eating for Performance vs Health
Elite performance and health don’t match. There’s a common idea that represents the sickness and health continuum as a straight line with sickness on the left and health/super-wellness on the right. The part that generally gets left out is when you start pushing...
Paleo – The Gateway Drug to Health and Fitness
For many fitness is a way to improve how we think we should look naked or decrease pain from nagging injuries. We choose different options like group classes or personal training in an attempt to make changes. After a few months we notice that we may be lifting a...
Truth and Recognition
The basic lifestyle guidelines are principles that are essential to both performance and health. Think of them as a base of support for the unexpected stresses in daily life and an anchor for the ever increasing intensity in the pursuit of greatness. The great...
Training Plans, Athlete Intuition, and the Open Space
We make a big distinction between training and testing. We map out generalized plans for our athletes for the long term when they come on board and we stick with these plans because we understand that this is the most effective method for producing both high level...
Poop – It’s what was for Dinner
Poop. Not a topic your coach brings up everyday, unless you have an OPEX coach. We love to look at our own poop and we love to hear about yours. This may sound a little odd at first, but it’s a great way to take a visual look at what your insides are up to without...
Improve Thoracic Extension through Rotation
Thoracic extension is one of the most limited ranges of motion I see when working with new members. It mainly stems from poor posture relating to sitting at a desk for years on end in the same slumped position for hours everyday. Depending what your goals are in...
4 Simple Reasons Calories in doesn’t Equal Calories out
With a million companies happy to count your macros or deliver you food with a label for protein, fats, carbohydrates and total Calories, it's pretty clear that we are paying more attention to what we eat as a society. This is great, but there's a common misconception...
5 Reasons Why Weightlifting Isn’t Making You Bulky
There’s lots of reasons why people may want to lift weights. One of them is to gain size and to look “jacked.” It turns out the very reason why most of these people won’t ever gain any size are the same reasons the rest of you who are concerned with getting too big...
5 Ways to Spend your Rest Day
I can tell when people are getting into their fitness because they started asking about what to do on their rest days. It’s that transition point where they start to realize their fitness is more than the weights they lift in the gym. Depending on your goals there are...
How Much Water Should you be Drinking?
The average adult human being is composed of 60% water. This water is split between the ICF and ECF, or the inside and outsides of our cells. Our bodies rely on this water to create the fluids that allow chemical transport to take place. Without the ability to...
10 Reasons to Fall in Love with Pacing
Going HAM, beastmode, grinding, for time, etc. has become very popular both inside gyms and in the media recently. There is good reason for this, working hard is the only tried and true method for achieving results that no one can really argue with. However, going...
Higher Order Priorities
Priorities are what we do. A large part of my work is centered around creating awareness around this issue with my clients. Often times there is a disconnect between what we feel are, or should be, our priorities and what we are actually spending our time on, aka...
The Warm Up – 3 Ways to Get a Better Workout Today
Have you ever noticed you don’t feel good in your workout until you’re halfway through it? This could be a sign of an incomplete warm up. With our busy schedules navigating work, family and a social life we will often throw out the warm up in an effort to save our...
How to Read your Workout
Every coach has their own method for writing workouts and prescribing intensities. The better you understand what your coach is telling you, the more likely you'll be able to get the results the two of you are aiming for. While there are some accepted strength and...
How do you Define Success?
We all love the days where we have big PR’s. Lifting a heavy weight, going faster than ever and learning new skills are the major boosts that show your hard work is paying off. The trouble is these days are few and far between. Unless you’re a true beginner, there are...
Forget Goal Setting, Align your Life
In the traditional sense a goal is a finite achievement, an end result. Once you achieve a goal you have to either make a new one, or find something new to hold your attention. This is why diets don’t work in the long term and why New Year’s resolutions burnout by the...
How to Fix your Weak Overhead Position
The ability to place something above your own head and hold it there is the ultimate showing of strength. It requires a full range of motion in the shoulder, great core control and the raw strength to hold the weight once it gets heavy. As a bonus, a strong overhead...
Chew, Chew, Chew your Food
Have you ever thought about chewing your food? How many times do you chew per bite? Do you add more food before you finish what’s already in your mouth? Do you chew at all or just inhale your food? The mouth is where we begin to process food mechanically and...
Two Great Resources for Learning how to Lift
When you first start CrossFit your coaches are sage-like possessors of wisdom unfathomable. They guide you, teaching you to control your body, keep your heels on the ground, hinge at the hip and keep your spine secure with the mysterious “core” muscles. After a while,...