1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch
2. Snatch, losing the bar behind: muscle snatch
3. Split Jerk, unstable: elbow position
4. Clean, catching too high: hip clean
5. Jerk, push presses, forward bar path: weight in heels

There is nothing I love more in the world than weightlifting! No two people lift the same and no two coaches teach the same. There are hundreds, if not thousands of strength drills, speed drills, mobility drills, programs, you name it. All of that…. And it’s just two lifts, the snatch and the clean & jerk.

An advanced athlete to me, is someone that can do the basics extremely well and that has precision and consistency. A beginner athlete should only focus on those things. Precision first of all, can you hit every position needed to make a good lift and can you do it at speed? Then could you take a video of 100 lifts and be able to tell them apart? Only really when you have your consistency should you think about loading up, by all means go as heavy as you want in the rack but don’t cut corners with your technique or you’ll get stuck later on down the line! Play the long game!

Strength is cool, technique is cool but both combined are a recipe for success!

Here are some of the common errors I see with lifters all across the board, beginner to advanced and a few things you can add to your practice and warm ups to start hitting some PR’s in the near future! Remember, strength programs aren’t worth a damn if you don’t move well!

1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch

Probably the most disheartening one, being under the bar and it just falling in front of your very eyes reminding you of the disappointment you have become as you still sit there in your squat. Missing your “triple extension” will be a massive cause of this, especially for newbies. Wanting to be fast under the bar can cause you to be too fast at the wrong point (a favourite saying of mine is “be fast but don’t rush it”) if you mess up your timing then you’re basically going to have to try to adjust in mid air and that will only get you so far.

You have to remember that when you make contact with the bar, that bar is weightless for a moment and in that moment you have all the time in the world to get under IF you finish your pull and close the hip at the right point (listen for the two sounds). The hip snatch is a great drill for giving you confidence in that position and really lets you see how much power comes from that small hip extension!

–

I could go down the usual scaremongering route of “If you don’t do these exercises you’ll get injured!!” But in all my years of working with athletes and myself I’ve tried a lot of stuff.

I hate wasting my time or anyone else’s for that matter, so if I’m going to pick a “mobility exercise,” I’m going to pick something that will give me the best returns possible for the least amount of effort. I can then put my focus into adding weight to my big lifts.

So let’s get started!

1. SIDE PLANK MARCH

Yes… It looks like Pilates, but it’s actually firing up your lateral chain! And from a coaching perspective, it’s gold! It teaches the athlete to stay tight through their trunk with a neutral spine, while simultaneously flexing at the hip! (Squats anyone?)

The key things with this are to keep the shoulders back and have a nice long body and neck, have your hand open and palm flat on the floor otherwise you turn this great oblique exercise into a crappy shoulder exercise. Also practice your breathing technique in this position. Its fantastic for your warm up and takes no time at all! 1 min each side or 20 reps each leg on both sides.

2. SPLIT SQUATS

There are a few different ways to do these but let’s run with the rear foot elevated split squats, another of the unique exercises list. It’s kind of a lunge variation and what I love about it is that it regulates itself, you can’t do it wrong or you’ll fall over, plus you really can’t go that heavy with it, especially at the start. If you can’t control your glutes, your knee will buckle.

In need of a rest or have got stuck with your squat numbers? This is perfect for you, even in general, with one hip in flexion and the other extended its ridiculously transferable to sport and athletic performance. Just as its sexy cousin, the single leg deadlift, is also a major part of my programming. I would always suggest flat shoes when hitting this up just to get a good range with the ankle.

Don’t be a hero, slow and controlled will give you the maximum benefits!

When you get really competent with it then you could also try these with arms overhead, but again the weight will need to be cut right back. Three sets of 10 on each leg is a nice number and an awesome drop set after heavy squats too.

3. BOTTOM UP PRESS

Bottoms UP! Even if you have no real interest in kettlebells you cannot afford to miss out on this exercise! Again, it’s self regulating and creates an automatically braced response to the body so I don’t have to coach anything (WIN). You can’t cheat this one, if you do you’re instantly rewarded with a broken nose.

Start off light, but there’s no reason why you can’t build this exercise up and up and make it a part of your main training, even between sets of strict presses with a barbell or your warm up!

If you can shift a lot of weight in a standard kettle bell press, but only a small fraction with the bottom up, you could be overcompensating when overhead pressing. Three sets of ten on each arm is a good start but get creative!

4. UNIQUE EXERCISES: RING ROWS

This one is definitely directed at “advanced athletes.” THE RING ROW IS NOT A SCALED PULL UP! Never ever ever ever take this out of your training!

Feet elevated, standing, rotate the arms, I don’t care just row! The more variations you can think of the more happy your elbows and shoulders will be!

5. 90/90 ROTATIONS

This is an amazing warm up you’ll see in most MMA gyms in the world, really gets the hips moving and wakes up sleepy muscles. You can use your hands for assistance if you need to but ideally you want to be able to do it with ease, perfect warm up for any lower body movements and there is also a megaton of drills you can learn for this position that are well worth looking into!

Rep schemes for this? Do it for a minute or just until you feel your hips have loosened up.

6. GLUTE BRIDGE

Don’t want none, unless you got buns hun! Who doesn’t want a nicer ass? Unfortunately nice bums lost all meaning to me when I started coaching, now they’re just points of performance, most power is generated from a hip extension which is basically just squeezing your butt. For the best results with this exercise do the couch stretch beforehand to really get the hips opened up!

• Make sure you’re not hyperextending your lower back and take it slow and steady!
• Arms locked out and palms facing up.
• Usually I’d go for 5 sets of 12 at a heavy weight and then back to the warm up weight and do a massive burn out set, you don’t even start counting till your cheeks are burning!

If you’re the kind of person – like me – who loves to lift weight, you’ll agree there is no cooler way to lift weights than with the barbell. There are no better exercises than the back squat, the barbell strict press and the Olympic lifts. After all, Snatch is life!

I could go down the usual scaremongering route of “OMG! If you don’t do these exercises you’ll get injured!” But in all my years of working with athletes (and myself) I’ve tried a lot of stuff, and I mean A LOT.

I hate wasting my time or anyone else’s for that matter, so if I’m going to pick a “mobility exercise” I’m going to pick something that will give me the best returns possible for the least amount of effort. I can then put my focus into adding weight to my big lifts, the only ones Instagram really cares about.

So let’s get started!

SIDE PLANK MARCH

Yes… It looks like Pilates, BUT!

The Side Plank March actually fires up your lateral chain. And from a coaching perspective, it’s gold! It teaches the athlete to stay tight through their trunk with a neutral spine, while simultaneously flexing at the hip! (Squats anyone?)

Key performance points are to keep the shoulders back and have a nice long body and neck, have your hand open and palm flat on the floor, otherwise you turn this great oblique exercise into a crappy shoulder exercise.

Also practice your breathing technique in this position. Its fantastic for your warm up and takes no time at all; 1 min each side or 20 reps each leg on both sides.

If you’re the kind of person – like me – who loves to lift weight, you’ll agree there is no cooler way to lift weights than with the barbell. There are no better exercises than the back squat, the barbell strict press and the Olympic lifts. After all, Snatch is life!

I could go down the usual scaremongering route of “OMG! If you don’t do these exercises you’ll get injured!” But in all my years of working with athletes (and myself) I’ve tried a lot of stuff, and I mean A LOT.

I hate wasting my time or anyone else’s for that matter, so if I’m going to pick a “mobility exercise” I’m going to pick something that will give me the best returns possible for the least amount of effort. I can then put my focus into adding weight to my big lifts, the only ones Instagram really cares about.

So let’s get started!

SIDE PLANK MARCH

Yes… It looks like Pilates, BUT!

The Side Plank March actually fires up your lateral chain. And from a coaching perspective, it’s gold! It teaches the athlete to stay tight through their trunk with a neutral spine, while simultaneously flexing at the hip! (Squats anyone?)

Key performance points are to keep the shoulders back and have a nice long body and neck, have your hand open and palm flat on the floor, otherwise you turn this great oblique exercise into a crappy shoulder exercise.

Also practice your breathing technique in this position. Its fantastic for your warm up and takes no time at all; 1 min each side or 20 reps each leg on both sides.

SPLIT SQUATS

There are a few different ways to do these but let’s run with the rear foot elevated split squats. Split squat are a type of lunge variation and what I love about them is that they regulate themselves, you can’t do it wrong or you’ll fall over.

Additionally, you really can’t go that heavy with it, especially at the start. If you can’t control your glutes, your knee will buckle.

In need of a rest or have got stuck with your squat numbers? This is perfect for you, even in general, with one hip in flexion and the other extended its ridiculously transferable to sport and athletic performance.

A similar exercise, the single leg deadlift, is also a major part of my programming. I would always suggest flat shoes when hitting this up just to get a good range of motion with the ankle.

Don’t be a hero, slow and controlled will give you the maximum benefits!

When you get really competent with it, then you could also try these with arms overhead, but again the weight will need to be cut right back. Three sets of 10 on each leg is a nice number and an awesome drop set after heavy squats too.

BOTTOM UP PRESS

Bottoms UP! Even if you have no real interest in kettlebells you cannot afford to miss out on this exercise.

The bottom up press is self regulating and creates an automatically braced response to the body so I don’t have to coach anything (WIN). You CAN’T cheat this one because if you do, you’re instantly rewarded with a broken nose.

Start off light, but there’s no reason why you can’t build this exercise up and up and make it a part of your main training, even between sets of strict presses with a barbell or your warm up!

If you can shift a lot of weight in a standard kettlebell press, but only a small fraction with the bottom up, you could be overcompensating when overhead pressing. Three sets of ten on each arm is a good start. but get creative.

FULL BODY EXERCISES – RING ROWS

This one is definitely more directed at “advanced athletes”. THE RING ROW IS NOT A SCALED PULL UP! Never, ever, ever, ever, take this out of your training!

Feet elevated, standing, rotate the arms, any variation is valid as long as you keep performing the ring row. The more variations you can think of the more happy your elbows and shoulders will be.

90/90 ROTATIONS

This is an amazing full body exercise to include during your warm up. You’ll see 90/90 rotations in most MMA gyms in the world because this exercise really gets the hips moving and wakes up sleepy muscles.

You can use your hands for assistance if you need to, but ideally you want to be able to do it with ease. 90/90 rotations are the perfect warm up for any lower body movements and there is also a myriad of drills you can learn for this position that are well worth looking into!

Rep schemes: do it for a minute or just until you feel your hips have loosened up.

GLUTE BRIDGE

Your glutes are incredibly important points of performance, as you can generate the most power from a hip extension, which is basically just squeezing your butt.

For the best results with this exercise do the couch stretch beforehand to really get the hips opened up.

• Make sure you’re not hyperextending your lower back and take it slow and steady!
• Arms locked out and palms facing up.
• Usually I’d go for 5 sets of 12 at a heavy weight and then back to the warm up weight and do a massive burn out set, you don’t even start counting till your cheeks are burning!

If you liked these exercises and would like to see more follow “Tom Morrison” coach Facebook page and send Tom a message any time if you have any questions.

The key to getting more gains is longevity! The key to longevity is to not get hurt! The key to avoiding injury is to have a balanced body that performs well! 

There is no doubt about it! CrossFit is one of the best training methods for all-over fitness and strength. The hard part for any trainer or coach is for people to be consistent with the days that they train so they get the most out of the programming.

You can literally have someone not doing a certain movement for weeks at a time if they work shifts or just have a busy lifestyle, that is why it is so important that CrossFitters themselves know how to check their bodies for imbalances to avoid getting injuries over the long term! And no, foam rolling is not enough!

Stability training is crucial for your mobility! My simplistic mobility method is all built on stability and balance within your range of motion! 

Here are 3 of my favourite movements EVERYONE should test and know how to do: 

Stability Tests – The bottoms up kettlebell press 

Testing each arm individually is SO important. Holding an upside down kettlebell is a great way to get automatic core stabilisation, you literally cannot do it wrong or you will get a kettlebell in the face.

Make sure you are confident with the movement first of all, then you want to test what you can do with each arm. If you can press a 20kg kettlebell with one arm and barely 16kg with the other then THAT is something you need to work on as that imbalance WILL carry over to your pressing and pulling. Especially when it comes to one rep max time!

You always will have one side that you’ll be more confident with, but the difference should be very minimal. Lifting the same weight on both sides is important, but you should also be able to lift the same weight WITH GOOD FORM on both sides! Getting more proficient at this movement will ace your shoulder strength AND stability! 

The bodyweight single leg deadlift 

In the way same way that testing each arm individually is important, so is testing each leg!

Pistol squats are an “ok” single leg exercise but they have very little hamstring involved and they’re just too damn advanced for some people. Standing on one leg for extended periods of time should not be an issue for someone, especially if you want to be good at lifting weight or running (ha! Who wants to be good at running).

• Start off in a deadlift position and make sure you are aware of your hamstrings.
• Shift your weight to one leg, take yourself through 10 single leg deadlifts tapping yourself on the middle of the shin
• maintain a flat back and reach with your hips, not your shoulders.

If you can do this easily on both legs for 10 reps without your hips changing position or your foot rotating away out somewhere then you pass!

If not PRACTICE till you can! If one knee always caves in on you and you rotate on one side you could have a hip mobility issue and that could present itself with either knee pain or lower back pain! 

Side plank straight leg lift 

Your obliques are key to keeping you up! By using the side plank as a test you can start to see if you default more to one side, this can present itself through EVERYTHING that you do! Even chicken winging a bar muscle up.

Weakness on one side of your body can wreak havoc on your shoulder and hip stability. In a lot of cases with people I work with, their joint issues come down to a bracing problem NOT a joint problem!

Imagine your core is a house of cards, if one card is out of place your house will topple, side planks are not just a boring Pilates exercise they are FUNDAMENTAL CORE STRENGTH for everyone! If you attend the CrossFit football course you will be planked to DEATH and be stronger for it! 

So, there it’s is! Get off the foam roller, ace these movements, add the bottom up press to your PR list and get stuck in to making your body perform better and get stronger every day! If you are interested in more of my methods I have a video tutorial and guide available from my website, No equipment needed. Nothing fancy. No big words. Just great drills with simple explanations. 

I could go down the usual scaremongering route of “If you don’t do these exercises you’ll get injured!!” But in all my years of working with athletes and myself I’ve tried a lot of stuff.

I hate wasting my time or anyone else’s for that matter, so if I’m going to pick a “mobility exercise,” I’m going to pick something that will give me the best returns possible for the least amount of effort. I can then put my focus into adding weight to my big lifts.

So let’s get started!

1. SIDE PLANK MARCH

Yes… It looks like Pilates, but it’s actually firing up your lateral chain! And from a coaching perspective, it’s gold! It teaches the athlete to stay tight through their trunk with a neutral spine, while simultaneously flexing at the hip! (Squats anyone?)

The key things with this are to keep the shoulders back and have a nice long body and neck, have your hand open and palm flat on the floor otherwise you turn this great oblique exercise into a crappy shoulder exercise. Also practice your breathing technique in this position. Its fantastic for your warm up and takes no time at all! 1 min each side or 20 reps each leg on both sides.

2. SPLIT SQUATS

There are a few different ways to do these but let’s run with the rear foot elevated split squats. It’s kind of a lunge variation and what I love about it is that it regulates itself, you can’t do it wrong or you’ll fall over, plus you really can’t go that heavy with it, especially at the start. If you can’t control your glutes, your knee will buckle.

In need of a rest or have got stuck with your squat numbers? This is perfect for you, even in general, with one hip in flexion and the other extended its ridiculously transferable to sport and athletic performance. Just as its sexy cousin, the single leg deadlift, is also a major part of my programming. I would always suggest flat shoes when hitting this up just to get a good range with the ankle.

Don’t be a hero, slow and controlled will give you the maximum benefits!

When you get really competent with it then you could also try these with arms overhead, but again the weight will need to be cut right back. Three sets of 10 on each leg is a nice number and an awesome drop set after heavy squats too.

3. BOTTOM UP PRESS

Bottoms UP! Even if you have no real interest in kettlebells you cannot afford to miss out on this exercise! Again, it’s self regulating and creates an automatically braced response to the body so I don’t have to coach anything (WIN). You can’t cheat this one, if you do you’re instantly rewarded with a broken nose.

Start off light, but there’s no reason why you can’t build this exercise up and up and make it a part of your main training, even between sets of strict presses with a barbell or your warm up!

If you can shift a lot of weight in a standard kettle bell press, but only a small fraction with the bottom up, you could be overcompensating when overhead pressing. Three sets of ten on each arm is a good start but get creative!

4. UNIQUE EXERCISES: RING ROWS

This one is definitely directed at “advanced athletes.” THE RING ROW IS NOT A SCALED PULL UP! Never ever ever ever take this out of your training!

Feet elevated, standing, rotate the arms, I don’t care just row! The more variations you can think of the more happy your elbows and shoulders will be!

5. 90/90 ROTATIONS

This is an amazing warm up you’ll see in most MMA gyms in the world, really gets the hips moving and wakes up sleepy muscles. You can use your hands for assistance if you need to but ideally you want to be able to do it with ease, perfect warm up for any lower body movements and there is also a megaton of drills you can learn for this position that are well worth looking into!

Rep schemes for this? Do it for a minute or just until you feel your hips have loosened up.

6. GLUTE BRIDGE

Don’t want none, unless you got buns hun! Who doesn’t want a nicer ass? Unfortunately nice bums lost all meaning to me when I started coaching, now they’re just points of performance, most power is generated from a hip extension which is basically just squeezing your butt. For the best results with this exercise do the couch stretch beforehand to really get the hips opened up!

• Make sure you’re not hyperextending your lower back and take it slow and steady!
• Arms locked out and palms facing up.
• Usually I’d go for 5 sets of 12 at a heavy weight and then back to the warm up weight and do a massive burn out set, you don’t even start counting till your cheeks are burning!

1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch
2. Snatch, losing the bar behind: muscle snatch
3. Split Jerk, unstable: elbow position
4. Clean, catching too high: hip clean
5. Jerk, push presses, forward bar path: weight in heels

There is nothing I love more in the world than weightlifting! No two people lift the same and no two coaches teach the same. There are hundreds, if not thousands of strength drills, speed drills, mobility drills, programs, you name it. All of that…. And it’s just two lifts, the snatch and the clean & jerk.

An advanced athlete to me, is someone that can do the basics extremely well and that has precision and consistency. A beginner athlete should only focus on those things. Precision first of all, can you hit every position needed to make a good lift and can you do it at speed? Then could you take a video of 100 lifts and be able to tell them apart? Only really when you have your consistency should you think about loading up, by all means go as heavy as you want in the rack but don’t cut corners with your technique or you’ll get stuck later on down the line! Play the long game!

Strength is cool, technique is cool but both combined are a recipe for success!

Here are some of the common errors I see with lifters all across the board, beginner to advanced and a few things you can add to your practice and warm ups to start hitting some PR’s in the near future! Remember, strength programs aren’t worth a damn if you don’t move well!

1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch

Probably the most disheartening one, being under the bar and it just falling in front of your very eyes reminding you of the disappointment you have become as you still sit there in your squat. Missing your “triple extension” will be a massive cause of this, especially for newbies. Wanting to be fast under the bar can cause you to be too fast at the wrong point (a favourite saying of mine is “be fast but don’t rush it”) if you mess up your timing then you’re basically going to have to try to adjust in mid air and that will only get you so far.

You have to remember that when you make contact with the bar, that bar is weightless for a moment and in that moment you have all the time in the world to get under IF you finish your pull and close the hip at the right point (listen for the two sounds). The hip snatch is a great drill for giving you confidence in that position and really lets you see how much power comes from that small hip extension!

–

Here are some ways that you can brighten up your coaches day and get the most out of your workouts!

1. Show up ready to smash it!

There is nothing I love more than someone coming in with a “come at me bro” attitude, it literally doesn’t matter what is on that whiteboard, you’re going to destroy it!

It’s one of the things that sets the tone of the entire class! I really feed off energy and the more energy I see the more I can give. It doesn’t matter if it’s a light technique day or murph, if every one of your weaknesses is on that whiteboard your attitude can be the determining factor of you having an awesome session or you having a hard ass WOD and feeling down about your performance! Athlete mindset is – be ready for anything!

Source: RX'd Photography

Like me, you probably all love to lift weights, and there is no cooler way to lift weights than with the barbell. There are no better exercises than the back squat, the barbell strict press and the Olympic lifts, like after all… Snatch is life!

I could go down the usual scaremongering route of “omg! If you don’t do these exercises you’ll get injured!!” But in all my years of working with athletes and myself I’ve tried a lot of stuff, and I mean A LOT. I hate wasting my time or anyone else’s for that matter, so if I’m going to pick a “mobility exercise” I’m going to pick something that will give me the best returns possible for the least amount of effort. I can then put my focus into adding weight to my big lifts, the only ones Instagram really cares about!

So let’s get started!

SIDE PLANK MARCH

Yes… It looks like Pilates, BUT! It’s actually firing up your lateral chain! And from a coaching perspective, it’s gold! It teaches the athlete to stay tight through their trunk with a neutral spine, while simultaneously flexing at the hip! (Squats anyone?)

The key things with this are to keep the shoulders back and have a nice long body and neck, have your hand open and palm flat on the floor otherwise you turn this great oblique exercise into a crappy shoulder exercise. Also practice your breathing technique in this position. Its fantastic for your warm up and takes no time at all! 1 min each side or 20 reps each leg on both sides.

In the world of mobility there are a crazy amount of thoughts and opinions, there is also the standard “best marketer has the best knowledge” which is always good fun! The smart way for you as the athlete or coach, is to “self doctor”. If something feels good then it’s good, if something hurts then it is not good. Especially for any coach, if you have not tried it yourself I would not recommend teaching it.

When it comes to mobility, common sense is the most important thing.

In my opinion, the rubber bands and lacrosse balls are a step too late. It’s not that I don’t teach those things and I am not disregarding that they have a place, but my argument is, how do you know you’re not creating more instability within a joint? If something is “tight” what is it trying to protect? Wouldn’t taking a joint through its end ranges be enough to “activate” and “mobilise” if that’s what you’re really doing? Plus, how do you know that the lasting effects of 15 minutes on a foam roller will actually transfer when you are put under load again? If you’re needing to beat yourself up every time before training then maybe it’s time to see a good physiotherapist that can tell you your imbalances without the use of doctor internet.

These are some of my favourite exercises that promote a good range of motion and strength, they are actual “training” but the benefit is mobility!

1. Deep lunge with rotation

I would probably hit this stretch every day and it’s a great test for feedback from your hips, if you struggle with this stretch in the morning then it would be a good idea to spend a bit more time warming up before any ass to grass squats. If you notice one side that is a lot tighter than the other then spend more time on that side, getting your elbow down to the floor with a vertical shin is optimal to get a good range of flexion and extension throughout the hips. As most of the movements in Crossfit are bilateral, lunges should be a part of your day every day otherwise you are only half the athlete you could be!

Here are some ways that you can brighten up your coaches day and get the most out of your workouts!

1. Show up ready to smash it!

There is nothing I love more than someone coming in with a “come at me bro” attitude, it literally doesn’t matter what is on that whiteboard, you’re going to destroy it!

It’s one of the things that sets the tone of the entire class! I really feed off energy and the more energy I see the more I can give. It doesn’t matter if it’s a light technique day or murph, if every one of your weaknesses is on that whiteboard your attitude can be the determining factor of you having an awesome session or you having a hard ass WOD and feeling down about your performance! Athlete mindset is – be ready for anything!

Source: RX'd Photography

2. Never be scared to ask questions!

Your coach lives and breathes exercise and fitness, they know everything there is to know about everything… But it is completely irrelevant if they can’t transfer that knowledge to their athletes. One of the best ways for you to progress is to ask questions. You don’t know what questions to ask? Good! Now you have to THINK! Nothing makes me happier than someone asking about a specific part of a movement, that’s when you know the person is REALLY starting to take an interest! And that’s when gains start to happen! You’re now on the road to becoming self sufficient, coach isn’t going to be there forever. If you honestly don’t understand something and ESPECIALLY at the start of the class then just say!

The only stupid question is one that was never asked!

3. Keep a notebook!

Crossfit is NOT a circuit class, it is a program, you can get better at it and the only way to get better and to know if you’re getting better is to keep a log of what you’re doing.

As a beginner, it is quite daunting to look at heavier weights and it’s hard to know when to step it up a little. Generally the same weights are used for certain movements in WOD’s so around 40kg for guys and 30kg for girls, if you’ve been using a 20kg bar for push presses and thrusters etc, your technique is solid and you’re finishing well within the time cap of the workouts then try going up to 25kg for a WOD and see how you go!

If you still finish within the time cap then it was the right thing to do! If you’re standing looking at the barbell for 2 minutes between reps then yes it’s too soon, you don’t know if you don’t try and you’ll usually surprise yourself! When someone knows exactly what weights they’re using for workouts and strength movements, results will happen and if they aren’t then we can actually look at your training log and hopefully see what could be improved!

Source: RX'd Photography

4. Crossfit WODs – Accountability!

After the WOD is when you can set yourself up for your next success! Make friends! See someone new? Introduce yourself! Arrange when you’re next going to be there with someone and you’ll have more chance of sticking to it and so will they!

I don’t think people really realise the power they have. If you hang around with motivated people you will more likely be motivated and vice versa, be more motivated and you WILL influence those around you and they in turn will motivate you! And you know what? Be one of those people that posts about their workouts! You’ve no idea how much a mum in her 40’s can inspire someone just by uploading a picture on social media of themselves being active! Breed positivism by being positive!

5. Enforce the rules

If there are penalties for leaving water bottles, not putting equipment away and even the dreaded BIRTHDAY BURPEES! Do all that stuff! It’s good stuff that keeps the box in order and encourages people to be more respectful! If you have been there longer it’s up to you to lead by example and pull other members too! There’s nothing worse than having to clean up after a messy class when it takes seconds to put a barbell or a kettlebell away! Your box should be like your second home and you should treat it as such!

Be the change you want to see! Be positive and inspire others!

1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch
2. Snatch, losing the bar behind: muscle snatch
3. Split Jerk, unstable: elbow position
4. Clean, catching too high: hip clean
5. Jerk, push presses, forward bar path: weight in heels

There is nothing I love more in the world than weightlifting! No two people lift the same and no two coaches teach the same. There are hundreds, if not thousands of strength drills, speed drills, mobility drills, programs, you name it. All of that…. And it’s just two lifts, the snatch and the clean & jerk.

An advanced athlete to me, is someone that can do the basics extremely well and that has precision and consistency. A beginner athlete should only focus on those things. Precision first of all, can you hit every position needed to make a good lift and can you do it at speed? Then could you take a video of 100 lifts and be able to tell them apart? Only really when you have your consistency should you think about loading up, by all means go as heavy as you want in the rack but don’t cut corners with your technique or you’ll get stuck later on down the line! Play the long game!

Strength is cool, technique is cool but both combined are a recipe for success!

Here are some of the common errors I see with lifters all across the board, beginner to advanced and a few things you can add to your practice and warm ups to start hitting some PR’s in the near future! Remember, strength programs aren’t worth a damn if you don’t move well!

1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch

Probably the most disheartening one, being under the bar and it just falling in front of your very eyes reminding you of the disappointment you have become as you still sit there in your squat. Missing your “triple extension” will be a massive cause of this, especially for newbies. Wanting to be fast under the bar can cause you to be too fast at the wrong point (a favourite saying of mine is “be fast but don’t rush it”) if you mess up your timing then you’re basically going to have to try to adjust in mid air and that will only get you so far.

You have to remember that when you make contact with the bar, that bar is weightless for a moment and in that moment you have all the time in the world to get under IF you finish your pull and close the hip at the right point (listen for the two sounds). The hip snatch is a great drill for giving you confidence in that position and really lets you see how much power comes from that small hip extension!

–

1. False grip rows
2. Legless rope climbs
3. Russian dips
4. Baby muscle up
5. Negative muscle up
6. L-sit lift off

“There really is nothing cooler than someone hopping up on a set of rings and doing a muscle up. Most people can deadlift and squat to some degree, a majority can do pull ups, but in the world of getting acknowledgement for being a legend, the strict ring muscle up is King!

I still remember the first time I ever saw one (and I would have already deemed myself pretty strong at this point) and thinking ‘that dude is a beast!’ I wanted to take him out and buy him drinks just in the hope that he would like me.

Then I saw a 10 year old girl do one… And I became jealous. Clearly this girl couldn’t be stronger than me, so she must have been cheating! Which she was, she was using this thing called “technique” and what made it even worse was this other thing called… “Practicing”.

The progressions I am giving you here I teach to all my athletes, and every one that has devoted time to them has got their first muscle up, generally around 6 weeks.

Even if you already have your muscle up, these progressions are great for tidying it up and helping you achieve multiple reps. A super secret programming technique for you: whichever ones you suck at, do them the most.

1. False Grip Rows

One of the most important parts of the muscle up is the false grip, if it’s not solid you’re going to have a really hard time with your transition to the top.

Remember, set up is King! Wrist stretches should be done EVERY DAY in an extended and flexed position so you should have no problem attaining this. You HAVE to train the pull in this position or you will just not get through to the top, even if you can do 20 unbroken pull ups and dips, it is the wrist position that gives you leverage, turn out at the bottom and turn your knuckles to face each other then pull to your chest maintaining the grip at all times.

2. Legless Rope Climbs

The BEST exercise for pulling and grip strength is the legless rope climb. If you can’t do it then scale it so that you’re still having to pull with your ARMS, unless your goal is to get better at standing up while holding on to something. Almost try to pull the rope to your stomach and the slower you move the better, think like a ninja.

3. Russian Dips

The transition is the tricky part of the muscle up, and it’s generally were most people will get stuck when they’re having their first attempt, the Russian dip is a great way to break it down and just focus on that one part.

Again, slower is better and you can really hit this one with some high volume, keep as low as possible during the transition from elbow to press and try to have a really long neck the whole way through the movement.

It’s all about shifting your weight and moving your body as one unit, so your hollow body position is key here! Keep your elbows in close to your sides, this applies to the push up also.

4. The Baby Muscle Up

The baby muscle up is putting the movement together with the feet still on the floor for a slight bit of assistance, opt for the tip toes rather than the ball of the foot or you may subconsciously push through your feet too much.

Keep the rings as close as possible to you and break it down into:

1. Pull to chest
2. Transition and
3. Press

Feel the weight shift in your hand and make sure to maintain that false grip! The higher the rings are the more challenging this exercise is.

5. Negative Muscle Up

Again, this is putting the full movement together but in reverse. Take your time with this one and try to get that feeling of where your weight needs to be at each stage of the movement, be as ninja as possible!

If you’re just dropping down in the transition part then go back to the baby muscle up until you get more strength, when you can do this movement with really good control you are well on your way to your first muscle up!

6. L-sit Lift Off

I accidentally came up with this one day when I was practicing L-sit muscle ups. I had started to get tired then all of a sudden I starting stringing massive sets together, it took me a good 5 reps to realise I was actually just cheating.

Set up with your false grip in place then drive through your heels to give yourself a boost to the rings, it’s all about the weight shift again, stay really tight through the middle and use the legs as a counter balance for the transition to the top of the rings, to make it slightly harder just don’t use your legs as much!

I’ve lots more progressions that I have used over the years but these days I spend more time getting rid of exercises to keep things more simplistic.

So to recap, you’ve got your grip, your pull, your middle transition for below to above the rings, your dip and your lockout! All there in a nice bundle!

I hope to see you posting your first muscle up soon!

1. Side plank march
2. Split squats
3. Bottom up press
4. Ring rows
5. 90/90 rotations
6. Glute bridge

Evening you beautiful people! Like me, you probably all love to lift weights, and there is no cooler way to lift weights than with the barbell. There are no better exercises than the back squat, the barbell strict press and the Olympic lifts, like after all… Snatch is life!

I could go down the usual scaremongering route of “omg! If you don’t do these exercises you’ll get injured!!” But in all my years of working with athletes and myself I’ve tried a lot of stuff, and I mean A LOT. I hate wasting my time or anyone else’s for that matter, so if I’m going to pick a “mobility exercise” I’m going to pick something that will give me the best returns possible for the least amount of effort. I can then put my focus into adding weight to my big lifts, the only ones Instagram really cares about!

So let’s get started!

1. SIDE PLANK MARCH

Yes… It looks like Pilates, BUT! It’s actually firing up your lateral chain! And from a coaching perspective, it’s gold! It teaches the athlete to stay tight through their trunk with a neutral spine, while simultaneously flexing at the hip! (Squats anyone?)

The key things with this are to keep the shoulders back and have a nice long body and neck, have your hand open and palm flat on the floor otherwise you turn this great oblique exercise into a crappy shoulder exercise. Also practice your breathing technique in this position. Its fantastic for your warm up and takes no time at all! 1 min each side or 20 reps each leg on both sides.

Source: Crossfit 204

What if my only experience is a few years of CrossFit classes? Or a few nights at a weightlifting or powerlifting club? Am I really going to be moving well enough to do a strength program and actually get the desired results or am I progressively loading bad habits?

DON’T LOAD IT UP IF YOU’RE NOT MOVING RIGHT

Programs are “things to do” your overall strength development at the end of the day comes down to how well you move, and how well you know your body, how hard to push it and know when to back off. Strength programs don’t take your dog dying and you getting sacked from your job into account, they don’t care when you’ve got a stomach ache or if you’re not sleeping… They are numbers and that’s it. “Advanced” athletes are some of the worst ones to work with, they’re hitting good numbers, and the ego has kicked in, they’ve done lots of programs and always gotten stronger from it so OBVIOUSLY they work right! Right?

Source: RX'd Photography

VISUALISING SUCCESS

Everyone always freaks out when I ask them “what do you feel when you’re doing that?” And I’m usually met with a depressing bemused “I dunno” or even worse, being told the external cues that they have been taught “keep back straight, knees over toes, arms locked out, look forward, belly tight” …….. Really? You can think all that at the same time?? I can’t…

Want to know what I think when I’m snatching? I put my hands on the gates of hell and rip them off, the flames explode up around me and I stand up, paint a picture that gives you confidence!

So why can I think something as “silly” as that? Because the other training that I do is working towards FEELING the movement intrinsically, so when I do go through a full movement I don’t have to think, I know my body knows what to do. When was the last time you double checked something like how to do a push up, a pull up? Or how to brace?

People seem to assume that when they’ve done something once they’ve mastered it, I’ve had so many people that could squat a hell of a lot of weight and they’re taking the bar out of the rack incorrectly, they are three years away from getting an “inexplicable” back injury, when I show them the difference after a few sessions they’ll generally hit a PR. Not only are they in a better position to squat but the weight doesn’t feel as heavy due to being stacked in the right way, there is more to bracing than just keeping your back straight.

STRENGTH PROGRAMS: IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS WITHIN MOVEMENT PATTERNS

I recently had a difference of opinion with someone over a lifter, his clean was limited and he wasn’t able to stand up out of the hole, he had a belt on and the first things I noticed was that he was being pulled out of position in the pull and also coming back up from the squat his back rounded. This was put down to a leg strength issue. He was given a squat program and later PR’d. My point of view was that if your spine doesn’t feel safe then you will not be able to access the potential strength that you have. Therefore a program is just fueling the problem. And yes, now he is able to lift more… But it’s still not as good as it could be. If he was given a deeper understanding of bracing would he have needed the squat program or did he already have the strength?

Source: RX'd Photography

Make a movement as close to perfect as you can THEN by all means LOAD IT UP!

I’ve actually nothing against strength programs, they are great for giving an athlete focus and logical progression. But with modern day training and time commitments, people aren’t able to get the benefits. Many people don’t seem to realise the work that goes in to being able to cope with a program starts years before doing programs. You can’t skip that part!

It used to really bug me when I was younger and playing guitar, I would see people trying to play these stupidly fast licks and their pinky finger was sticking out when not being used… How the F**K can you play something fast when your god dammed finger is half way across the room! Sort that out first then learn how to play fast! As a personal favour to me if you ever see a guitarists pinky sticking out, break it.

In short, we’re human, we miss things, make sure you are always learning and most importantly keep going over the things you do know to give yourself a solid foundation, when you truly move like a badass THEN it’s time for programs.

Experience is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately it is usually acquired in hindsight. When you have completed your desired task, with whatever method you chose, then you know if it worked or not. Sometimes you discover that the method was awesome, sometimes you discover you dived in too deep, and most of the time you’ll think that you could have done something better. The more mistakes you make, the better you will be in some respects, but when those mistakes start to cost you your health and mobility, then you HAVE to take a more sensible approach.

Source: BOXROX

For my own sanity, recently I decided to put people’s ignorance and stupidity towards training down to their “training age” which basically means experience with training in any field.

I used to go crazy that someone that has only been training for six months won’t address their shoulder or hip mobility every day if that’s what they need to do to progress. Even though I tell again and again that it’s gonna end up backfiring one day and they ignore the advice! WHY WON’T YOU LISTEN!?!? (As I shake the athlete) but truthfully they don’t care, unless you have been grabbed at a very early age and shown how to move properly, you just will not see the significance of it.

DON’T LET PAIN BECOME YOUR TEACHER

The part that upsets me is that ultimately pain will become the teacher, that silly couple of centimetres that you are lacking in your hamstring flexibility will cause your lower back to compensate for the extra range and it will just say “screw you buddy”. This could take up to 2-4 years to happen, but it WILL happen then all your awesome PR’s will turn into fear of even bending over to put your socks on.

“I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.” James Joyce

TRAINING AGE: WORKING FOR THE FUTURE

A wise old dude once said to me “train now like you are in your 30’s and when you hit your 30’s train like you’re in your 40’s so that YOU CAN STILL TRAIN WHEN YOU ACTUALLY GET THERE” this wise old dude isn’t actually that old but he is the best back specialist I have ever met. The work he does is not short of miracles.

Source: BOXROX

Competitive fitness is great but you do have to place yourself on the risk and reward line and be honest with yourself if you really need to put more work in than you are. Professional athletes do a lot more than just tick the box of “gym” four times a week.

“If you’re not competing and want to use your training to make you stronger, more confident and become able to do a few cool things then sticking to a progressive loading program with a good focus on YOUR individual mobility (more on this another time) and technique is the best for you.”

If you start off like that then the chances are that if you are consistent then you will actually build a good base so that you can compete AND compete safely.

LISTEN TO YOUR COACH

Your training age and training maturity will take time to develop but if you really do want to accelerate the process just listen to what your coach says. My athletes that perform at the highest level are the ones that say “yes coach”. The ones that get stuck, or never seem to master a technique that they really want, never seem to do as they’re advised. Personally I have gotten to a point (and this is for other coaches too) where I feel that if you have told an athlete multiple times to strip something back or just work on their technique and they don’t listen then they are the bad athlete, there is nothing wrong with your coaching.

If this takes place in a class, then you are not going to waste ten minutes of your time with one person that just wants to get numbers when there are ten other people that could be getting valuable technique cues. If you pay for private coaching then you do exactly what I say and how I say it and if not then you can go elsewhere, I do not waste my time or anyone else’s.

TRAINING AGE AND MATURITY

You’ll not hurt yourself with missing triple extension on your Olympic lifts but your numbers will reflect your sloppy technique. Coaching to me becomes really special when someone does finally break that barrier and say “you know what, I need to go back to the start and relearn everything” and that’s when you hit training maturity.

GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS

Again I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, some people are set in their ways and the thought of being a “beginner” can really decrease your manhood by a few inches, but if you grow some balls and take things seriously you’ll make long term gains that will win any measuring contest.

The most attentive and best athletes I know just want to learn ALL of the time but they are also the athletes that have been through injuries and setbacks and lost motivation more times than you would ever imagine. They have a training age that allows them to progress in a solid and intelligent fashion.

• My plea to new and upcoming athletes is to actually try and take heed of what you are being told to do and get really invested in your development right from the beginning.

• Don’t spend a few years building bad habits before you really start to care.

• Abs and performance are a consequence of good training, knowledge and balance, not from trying solely to get abs and improve performance without learning.

If even one person reads this and decides to just go in and start listening to every piece of advice they are given I’ll be happy, coaches everywhere give the gift of knowledge and experience and in my opinion we as athletes and coaches should take those gifts and give them the attention they deserve.

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence” – Vince Lombardi.

Everyone deserves a feeling out stage to get the hang of things, but when you’re ready for something more, dive all in face first and take it seriously. Why should you do anything less? Think about training age and an early mindset with focus and trust will set you apart from everyone else in your crucial first years of training.

I can confidently say that I am one hundred times better than I was six months ago. Coming back to checking out what is going on in the gyms and boxes, with the PT’s and the martial artists alike, the one thing I have to say about the majority of them is “what do you actually teach?”

CROSSFIT COACHING

If you want to learn about lifting, learn from those who have a strong background in it

We’ve all jumped on the bandwagon of movement and mobility, no one is actually training anymore!?!? And worst of all no one is performing in their own specific fields! Yes it’s fantastic that information is so readily available but WHY is it that we find ourselves in an age that we can ask everyone anything, but we just ask anyone?

What do I mean by that? I’ll try and relate this as much as possible to myself through fear of being boycotted by the CrossFit community, but if I have a client that wants to talk about nutrition I’ll acknowledge their interest and certainly talk about it, BUT I will also send them over to talk to the nutritionist that I work with, and will have no shame in admitting that I’m not great with nutrition, and that this guy has been studying it for 10 years and absolutely lives for it… That’s not being a tool, that’s just common sense.

SPECIALITY IN THE SPORT OF CONSTANT VARIETY

As a coach I feel we need to find our boundaries, because CrossFit is SO varied we have to have a general knowledge about a lot of stuff:

• weightlifting
• gymnastics
• rowing
• rehab
• mobility
• sports
• injury prevention

But where are you getting your information from? I can tell you now, the CF-L1 does not and never will teach you how to “bulletproof your shoulders”.

You honestly don’t have to fly around the world and spend thousands upon thousands on certifications, people seem to get obsessed with whose shoulders you’ve rubbed up with, but the truth is, there are already good trainers out there.

Jason Khalipa has won the CrossFit Games, so he practices what he preaches, learn to rope climb with from an athlete and coach in the know!

We’re doing lots of work with a weightlifting club at the minute and you know how much it costs? £5 a session. There is a gymnastics centre not even twenty minute’s walk away from our box, you know how much it costs? £7 a session, you’re training with experts with years of experience and you can go as often as you like and it doesn’t cost a fortune, especially if you are a new box and struggling to make payments, you should never put your education on hold! Obviously I’m not saying send all your clients away to other places, but for your coaches and your RX athletes, I see it as crucial for their development.

LEARN FROM THE BEST

Never get comfortable and always assume there’s someone better than you, be the best damn Crossfit coach there is but check out your area and learn from the best in each element you teach!

Don’t fall into the trap of doing what you see online, that’s called marketing, if it looks fancy it’s probably useless (yes attach yourself to a med ball with forty sticks on your head and three rubber bands around your ankles, that’ll definitely improve your snatch).

‘No one likes the truth that the fundamentals are fine and advanced means fundamentals done well.’

Keep learning, train hard, teach with passion and let’s make this world a stronger place!

Featured Image © Islip Crossfit

Mat Fraser video © CrossFit.com

Rope Climb video © Jason Khalipa

Apologies if this isn’t as motivating as you may of thought with all these New Years shenanigans, but what the hell does a date in a calendar have to do with how you should influence your life? If you change your habits you will meet success, and you can change habits any time of the year.

I will however humour you, and let you use the 1st of January as a starting point, have you arranged to go out and get incredibly drunk on New Year’s Eve? Well, you’ve already messed up! (Sounds like I don’t like fun at all!) chances are you’re a real person with real friends, especially if you already do CrossFit and one thing I know about crossfitters is that they like to party, nothing wrong with it, but do understand that on the first of January you’re not gonna feel like doing handstands and burpees… SO the New Year maybe starts on the fifth, just make sure that when you start YOU START!

1. LONG TERM GOALS

Setting short term goals are dangerous, you run a risk of maybe not hitting that PR or movement you wanted in a short space of time and that can be very de-motivating, especially when you have worked really hard. Long term goals are far better for not putting so much pressure on you AND nine times out of ten; you’ll hit your goal early (awesome!), anything from six months to a year! You’ll notice progress along the way and have far more focus!

2. THE OVERVIEW

Have a broad general goal for the entire year, the older I get the more I realise that a year isn’t a very long time. Say to yourself that this next year you want to become as strong as possible, you want to be able to do as many advanced gymnastics moves as possible or you want to learn as much about nutrition as you can. Open gym time is your time so you should have another focus alongside your CrossFit programming that is YOUR goal, if it’s personal to you it’ll be a lot more enjoyable and you’ll find yourself at the gym more often for “secret ninja training.”

3. SACRIFICE

Yes if you want the best from yourself it means early nights, early mornings, no bad food, no booze, no complaining and you’re gonna be sore! Nobody likes being the buzzkill but trust me;

‘All those “you’re no fun” comments don’t matter when someone says they wish they had your dedication/abs.’

4. TALK TO YOUR COACH

Tell your coach what your goals are, let them know what you’re interested in, nothing makes me happier when someone comes up to me ten minutes before a class asking to see a progression for something they want to be able to do! Seeing people with goals makes me happy, maybe I’m just weird but I have far more fun teaching someone when they are asking questions and want to know where an exercise leads to!

5. FOUNDATION COMES FIRST

If you’re told that you need to do three hundred billion push-ups before you can do ring dips just do the frigging push-ups, don’t keep hopping up to the rings endlessly failing, if you are at a certain stage just work hard and guess what it comes back to… LISTEN TO YOUR COACH!

6. LOOK AFTER YOURSELF BETTER

Let’s face it, another year is gone and you’re getting on a bit… Injuries are looming and if you’re training hard and not recovering correctly it’s only a matter of time! Eat healthy, sleep, get massaged, have ice baths, relax, have ‘you’ time, have sexy time and above all else get to know your body! If you feel like you need a break… You probably need a break. You have the whole year and the rest of your life to train, don’t destroy yourself in the name of a PR or better Fran time.

So my rant has come to an end, I’ll leave you with this thought:

7. YOUR NEW YEAR CAN START ANY TIME!

‘If you want something go and get it, wait for no man and let nothing get in your way, not even yourself.’

Things are being broken up too much! I’m a simple person and I think simplistically.

The sad part of the fitness industry is that marketing is taking over and every form of something is becoming a “fitness buzzword”.

How often do you see “Oh, we do movement” or “Oh, stabilisation training, functional” and “We do injury prevention”? Well you should. I’m still yet to find a gym that seeks to actively injure you; everything is movement and how is swinging kettlebells on a swiss ball actually functional?

Anyhow, everyone is trying to sell something and it is up to you to choose who you’re going to trust to lead you down your path.

Don’t be taken aback by fancy equipment and big words, and think that automatically this is the place for you. If you want to specialise in something then by all means go for it, but go to a specialist to learn how to!

I love Crossfit to bits, I really do: the coaching is simple “back, straight, knees, bend, body part, direction”, but I do enjoy when they throw up the odd post like: When optimising mechanics and having a breakdown of movement patterns, we find that functional development is only standardised in core to extremity by utilising external rotation and finding the positions of physical performance. -Tom Morrison Level 1 million of how to speak Crossfit Seminar Staff

Come on! We’ve all seen it! But if you’re interested in fitness and have experience you’re going to be like “Yeah! Midline stability!” But… If you don’t know where to start, or you’ve been sitting on the sofa for thirty years, that’s a whole other language that can be intimidating. I hate hearing stories about people wanting to join Crossfit but assuming you need to get “fit” first, you don’t!

It will happen if you come down and just move. Crossfit is for everyone and I think that is what it needs to keep. Everyone is a strength and conditioning coach these days or a “movement specialist” – it’s what is selling at the minute and hey hats off to you if you can make business out of it.

The “average joe” is easily intimidated and I hate to think of someone missing out on such a program because they think they’ll never be able to do something.

There’s a million things I can’t do, but if I take a notion for one and start working towards it, I will get there.

Just a matter of how much time I’m willing to commit to it. I do think it is a good trait to have to look after yourself physically. How can you help anyone else if you can’t look after yourself after all?

Crossfit is evolving in two different ways: the elite of the elite are now doing things that no one thought possible and it’s amazing to watch but also seems quite unattainable to many. But never forget that these guys have the experience and are paving the way for us. We learn from their mistakes and we find new more efficient ways through their hard work and successes, making our path that bit easier!

Crossfit through trial and error is basically discovering how moving through so many different patterns with different loads is going to keep us moving and healthy well into our later years! Even through injuries that competitive athletes have unfortunately got (like every sport), they are sharing with us why it happened to them, how they have fixed it and how they are going to prevent the injury from ever happening again.

Leading to a fast track, safe system if taught correctly, it isn’t done yet. What I loved about Crossfit back at the start is that it takes the best of the best. If it works we steal it! And it is still doing that to this day, it is ever evolving and isn’t afraid to drop something if it is not effective. I am so excited to see where we all end up and I am glad to see more of these “hybrid” gyms popping up, because I believe in what we are doing and you can’t ignore the results! Now go lift!

(Friendly captivating intro done.)

Now into the nitty gritty stuff, goal setting and training for Crossfit, what is a goal? Just got to get the ball past the ugly guy! Right? Exactly!

The net is your endgame and getting past the ugly guy is the crappy stuff you’ve got to practice to attain your vision.

First of all sit down and think about your goal.

Make sure it’s something you want to do, don’t just do what everyone else is doing. You’re a beautiful unique individual and screw everyone else.

Next you’ve got to find out where you’re starting from.

This is where your Crossfit coach/trainer/mentor will come in, they can assess your current skill level then build your training from where you are now using the progressions and conditioning that you need not someone else’s magic super duper get fit 6 week dumbbell fly wolverine program for jacked abs that doesn’t involve deadlifts but does sell magazines (oh yes, I went there). I don’t want to live in a world where X-men don’t lift heavy.

Next thing that needs to be decided is a deadline and how much time you can commit to.

If someone is training Crossfit for an hour 5 times a week and someone is training once a week after 6 weeks both people can say they’ve been doing Crossfit training for 6 weeks but I’m going to take a guess here that the person training more might just maybe have made a little bit more progress than the person that’s trained 6 hours.

When your deadline is decided, a few tests will be needed to see what you can do currently. Really give it your all here, if you go half assed then try and blast it a few weeks later who are you trying to kid here? Whether it be sprinting or swimming a distance for time, lifting a weight or drooping off the rings wishing for your first muscle up, go for it! Log it! I would even record it if you can.

Now the hard work begins.

Whatever the plan of action is your job is to stick to it! If it’s programmed that you have to be at the gym at 5.00 am on a Monday morning to run then you turn up on time and ready to go, don’t be texting saying you’ll do it yourself that night or catch it up another day, you didn’t sleep well, you didn’t eat right, you don’t feel good… go anyway!

I’ll tell you what, you’ll sleep well that night. The biggest part of you making progress in Crossfit is showing up consistently. If you’re on a progressive overload with numbers you have to hit increasing every week, tough luck if you don’t feel like it some day (and you will get those days) you have to stick to it and see it out, otherwise you’re wasting your time and your trainers.

When the retest comes around again, same idea give it your all and see how much your hard work has paid off and check the results!

Did you fall short of your goals?

Surpass them? It’s from those figures you can really start to learn: what works for you, what doesn’t. Everyone progresses differently and testing is the only way to track yourself and how you improve in the most efficient way!

Training specifically for Crossfit: obviously the movements that you are enhancing should replicate the movements that you are doing during play otherwise what’s the point? The idea is to put yourself through hell so that when match time comes around it seems like a breeze. Make things harder, go for longer, wear that weighted vest, become a Crossfit machine so that your opponent has squeaky bum syndrome at the very sight of your chiseled sexiness.

You also need to take into account which parts of your body are going to take a beating and start to increase your what we’ll laughingly call “rehab exercises”. These exercises are your bread and butter and should not be skipped.

It keeps me awake at night wondering why people wait until something is injured before strengthening it, why not do it now?

And ditch the pink 1.5 kg weights! Those are for after surgery, start building up what you use for those too and you’ll be well on your way to being bulletproof, add them into warm ups and cool downs.

Getting the best out of yourself performance wise doesn’t just come down to showing up unfortunately.

When you are training for something specifically, like Crossfit, then sleep, nutrition and body maintenance has to be really dialled in! Especially if your event means hitting a certain weight at a certain time!

Getting a nutritionist should be one of the first things on your list. They can obviously help with gaining/losing weight but on top of that can recommend the best supplements for you to take to help you sleep, help your joints, recovery. I’ve that much trust with Tomek (CrossFit Varangian nutritionist) that if he handed me something and said take 40 morning, noon and night I would.

Again with the nutritionist, if they ask you for a food diary, be honest! Who are you trying to impress by not mentioning that accidental jelly baby pizza.

If you’re gonna start pushing big numbers and pushing your endurance to maximum, you’re going to get sore!

Get a good sports massage therapist! I don’t want to turn this into another posture rant so just remember “stand up straight or I’ll kick you in the face” and never skip on stretching. You show people how to warm up and stretch they do it for the training then on game day they don’t bother and later wonder why they get sore afterwards.

Goals are great, you should definitely have long term ones. But remember that you have your whole life to do stuff so in between 30 day challenges and super duper programs you should still be training hard and consistently.

Personally I like to think of it like going back to base, I will try things and focus on certain aspects but when I have reached my goal or surpassed it, I will have a couple of days to mess about with my new found “gains” then straight back to strength work focusing on the most bang for your buck exercises.

Having strength as a base in my opinion is a damn good attribute to have. You even think if you’re going to go for a bodybuilding idea with high rep schemes with lower weights. The stronger you are, the more weight you can push which will ultimately make you more of a beast!

The term “functional” has became a fitness buzzword by the way (something you can sell): everything you do should be functional, always be working on your flexibility and your strength and any training program you do happen to partake in, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you adapt!