JOURNAL October 2009

JOURNAL ARTICLES

October 2009

title author

Rugby and the Rotational Kettlebell Swing Rithner

Strength Training and the Young Athlete Starr

A CrossFit Start-Up Guide: Part 3 Widman

Elite Soldiers, Elite Fitness Kostielney

The Business of CrossFit Cej

Diluting the Brand? Hanson

Centers of Excellence - Part II Warkentin

Rugby and the Rotational Kettlebell Swing Nicolas Rithner offers a twist on the traditional kettlebell swing with the goal of increasing explosiveness and torque in athletes playing contact sports.

Nicolas Rithner Courtesy of Nico Rithner of Nico Courtesy

Kettlebell lifting is a great way to develop strength endurance, but it also has the advantage of allowing multi-planar loading. At Glendale Rugby in Colorado, we use kettlebells for conditioning in addition to barbell training. We use the rotational swing often because it’s a challenging, non-stop movement that targets the whole body—armpits down—and replicates the unilateral hip-knee extension seen in tackling. In addition, it’s a “two-speed exercise” that requires explosiveness and complexity.

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Copyright © 2009 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Kettlebell Swing ... (continued) Courtesy of Nico Rithner The rotational swing offers great benefits for sports involving unilateral hip explosiveness and torque, such as hockey, lacrosse and tackling sports such as rugby or football. Mixed-martial-arts athletes can benefit from this exercise to prepare for takedowns and general handling of opponents. Once “off the leash,” there isn’t a stopping point until you put the bell down. This makes the rotational swing very challenging, and the lifter’s heart rate will spike in no time. A great way to implement this exercise is as part of a circuit or in short, intense intervals such as Tabata sets.

The rotational swing offers great benefits for sports involving unilateral hip explosiveness and torque.

This is an advanced exercise that must only be approached after the one-hand swing has been mastered to the point that there is no lower-back soreness after training, even when working with a challenging weight. A similar exercise, the figure-eight-to-hold, can be used as a modification for those still learning the swing. The figure-eight offers its own sets of challenges when done at a fast pace or with a heavy kettlebell. The Rotational Swing: The Finer Points Choose a kettlebell that’s heavy enough to make the exercise challenging yet light enough to allow you to keep going through the set without stopping, and make sure you have enough space to swing it around at arm’s length. Be sure you account for missteps or potential losses of balance. Stand with the kettlebell on your right side and grip the handle on the corner opposite the one you normally grab during one-arm swings. For the standard one-arm swing, we hold the handle on the “inside corner” to facilitate a good rack position or lockout. We don’t see those positions in the rotational swing, and we will be exchanging hands in the back portion of the swing. Therefore, you grip the kettlebell near the corner The rotational kettlebell swing is characterized by a soft furthest away from you when it’s sitting on your left or knee bend and a flat back. The load should be felt in the right side. glutes and hamstrings, not the lower back.

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Copyright © 2009 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Kettlebell Swing ... (continued) Courtesy of Nico Rithner Start with a swinging motion, letting the kettlebell go as far back between your legs as possible while keeping the back flat and loading the hamstrings. For this to happen, your torso will rotate. As the bell moves back, the free hand (the left hand in our example), will reach outside the left leg to grab the bell at the open end of the handle and initiate an outward swing toward the left. At this point the hips and left knee must extend explosively. The bell is forcefully moved forward at arm’s length until it reaches the medial line at chest level (height can be varied). As a checkpoint, the opposite hand moves up to meet the body of the kettlebell in the center, but no exchange takes place. After that we move into a swing between the legs again, but this time the downward path of the kettlebell is toward the inside of the right knee. The exchange to the right side is produced once the kettlebell passes behind the lifter’s legs. This pattern is then repeated on the other side, and so on. Key Components Several important points should be emphasized: • The kettlebell must move away from the body to maintain the loading. • After the bell touches the free hand at the midline, make sure there is no unnecessary tension in arm or grip. Imagine the arm as a steel cable that serves only to transfer forces and link the kettlebell with the rest of the body. • Engage explosively after exchanging hands and imagine you are trying to slam the kettlebell upward and against the other hand. • Find your groove. Timing is a key component, and once it’s achieved it’s easily maintained. • Start light until the coordination is there and you have no problem exchanging. • The back must be kept flat in a neutral position without arching or bending. The key point here is folding at the hips to load the hamstrings rather than bending forward and stressing the lower back. At its maximum inclination, the torso should be at about a 45-degree angle, with the knees slightly bent. You should feel the effort in your glutes and hamstrings—not the lower back. • If you feel you are using your lower back, review your swing technique. • Breathe naturally without holding your breath. Because there is so much movement involved, it is impractical to Explosive hip extension drives the kettlebell up, and the do the Valsalva maneuver or tense up. Keep the weight lack of a rack position at the top makes the movement a relatively light with respect to your capacity. continuous challenge.

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Copyright © 2009 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Kettlebell Swing ... (continued) Courtesy of Nico Rithner The Figure-Eight-to-Hold Modification A modification is also available: the figure-eight-to-hold. This exercise has been around for a long time and can be used by people who have trouble and load their backs with the swing. The form is the same as for the rotational swing, but instead of swinging the kettlebell back, do a figure-eight pass between and around your legs. The figure-eight is characterized by a squatting movement versus the soft knee bend seen in the swing. Start with the bell in your left hand. Once the exchange from left hand to right hand takes place, continue the figure-eight pattern around the outside of your right leg but snap your hips open to move the bell upward and catch it by your left shoulder with the other hand. At this point you are standing holding the kettlebell with both hands at chest level on your left side. The right hand is on the handle and the left hand supports the body of the bell. Initiate a new figure-eight with the right hand by hinging at the elbow and dropping the kettlebell through your legs under the left side of your body. Exchange hands, snap your hips and glutes and bring the kettlebell up to your right shoulder and repeat. Pointers • Squat up and down with the movement, but only partially. The squat height is well above parallel, which helps keep the flow. This is not a squat exercise, per se. We use the movement to lower and lift the upper body safely. • Keep the torso upright throughout the exercise. This is the major difference from the rotational swing. The figure- eight-to-hold is a more controlled movement and puts less torque on your core. • Take the kettlebell up with the rotational forces generated at the hip. The elbow will bend, but don’t biceps-curl the bell to take it to chest level. It is a fast, crisp movement that’s only interrupted when the bell reaches the chest. • Breathe naturally. The main differences are: • There is no “swing” away from the body. The bell travels in a figure-eight around and through the legs. This is accom- plished in a squatted position with the kettlebell close to the body. • The levers are shorter. The bell doesn’t separate much from the body and the arm bends at the elbow on top. • The catch at the top allows for a resting point. If the lifter The figure-eight-to-hold is a modification that still touches the kettlebell briefly at the top and continues, the involves fast hip extension. Fight to keep the torso intensity will be increased. upright throughout the movement, using an above- parallel squat to facilitate the exchange.

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The Results In our experience, the rotational swing has worked as an intermediate-level movement because the standard swing must be practiced to the point that the right muscles are being worked in the rotational version. The benefits we see from the movements are explosiveness, coordination and endurance. The rotational swing is continuous and can be anaerobic when done at the right pace with a weight that is challenging but not too heavy. I’d like to emphasize that this movement is best for short, intense sets and should not be performed to failure due to its complexity. Once fatigue sets in, technique becomes faulty. About the Author How much weight is used will depend on each person’s Coach Nicolas (Nico) Rithner is the strength and condi- ability. Starting very light and going up in small increments tioning coach for the Glendale Raptors. He has done several is what I recommend. How far up? That depends on the kettlebell clinics for the USA Eagles men’s sevens men team core and grip strength of the athlete. You should start as and coaches individuals on daily basis. Rithner has presented low as possible. The priority is constant movement with for the National Strength and Conditioning Association and good technique. the U.S. Army, among others. He is a certification instructor I hope you enjoy practicing this new movement, and I under the International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation believe it will help you improve unilateral explosiveness and judges at American Kettlebell Club sport competitions. and strength. We consider it an important core exercise. Rithner is founder of the Association of Tactical Strength Adding it to your routine will help you increase torque, and Conditioning Instructors (ATSCI) and the Colorado resulting in improved performance on the field. Kettlebell Club. He lists Steve Cotter and Valery Fedorenko as the greatest influences on his kettlebell training methods. Rithner is also a Level 1 certified CrossFit trainer. F

The figure-eight-to-hold involves a catch at the top of the movement, which will give athletes a chance to reset and concentrate on good mechanics before moving on to the rotational swing.

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Strength Training and the Young Athlete 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.

Bill Starr Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

As long as I have been involved in physical culture, the notion that lifting weights is harmful to young people has prevailed. Coaches of various sports have voiced this opinion, and medical authorities have backed them up. Basically, they state that a youngster should be at least in his teens before embarking on any type of fitness program that includes lifting weights. This recommendation primarily has to do with the growth plates found in the long bones of the body. The contention is that lifting heavy weights, relatively speaking, will cause damage to those bones, which will have a detrimental effect on the eventual height of the individual. This idea never made much sense to me.

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Copyright © 2009 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Youth Strength ... (continued) Courtesy of CrossFit Davis Ideas vs. Evidence If the coaches and doctors are correct, athletes shouldn’t train with weights until they’re out of their teens, because growth is still taking place until a person reaches 20. Everyone who follows the sport of Olympic weightlifting is aware of countless examples of athletes in their early and mid-teens who have set national records, won national and international titles, and competed on a level with much older men. I believe the assumption that lifting weights at an early age is harmful to long-term growth to be completely false. It’s one of those concepts that’s been around for so long that no one bothers to challenge it. While just about every authority will say training a very young boy or girl in the weight room is risky, I’ve never come across any scientific data to support the idea—although I’ve read a number of studies done in several European countries that drew the opposite conclusion. Those studies concluded a properly administered strength program is extremely beneficial to young athletes. In many of the studies, boys and girls were introduced to weight training when they were six years old.

I believe the assumption that lifting weights at an early age is harmful to long-term growth to be completely false. It’s one of those concepts that’s been around for so long that no one bothers to challenge it.

Another reason I never went along with the prevailing belief was because I grew up in a farming community. In high school, the farm boys were always bigger and stronger than the rest of the class and therefore became the most proficient players on the various sports teams. This was at a time when everything was done by hand, which meant they did a great deal of manual labor and a lot of heavy lifting. It was clear that this hard work, day in and day out, didn’t stunt the growth of these laborers— Many people will forbid their children to pick up a kettlebell but not by a long shot. In my view, it stimulated growth in allow them onto the football or soccer field, where injuries are much more common. Bill Starr questions this logic.

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Constant supervision from quality instructors will ensure young athletes correct any faults and train safely. their muscles and bones. In every farming family, as I’m very much in favor of all these camps and leagues well as other families whose members did a great deal for youngsters, yet it seems so illogical to forbid young- of physical labor, the sons were always taller and more sters to lift weights while they’re urged to take part in a muscular than their fathers. violent sports activity. What’s more dangerous? Blasting head-on into an opponent at full speed on a football The concept of sparing a child from doing anything field or power-cleaning a 10 lb. bar in the garage? It’s a strenuous is now very prevalent in this country. Just no-brainer, yet the old notion prevails. Even more insane walking a few blocks to catch the school bus is out of is the explosion of extremely risky sports. For example, the question. There’s no mystery to me why the country skateboarding has millions boys and girls soaring high in is facing an epidemic in the form of obese young people: the air over a slab of concrete. we have encouraged them to be lazy. What parents need to understand is that by helping their The only exceptions are those offspring of a father who children get started on some sort of strength-training was a part of competitive weightlifting. Such parents program, they greatly reduce the odds of them getting understand how beneficial strength training can be for seriously hurt when playing any sport. Stronger legs their kids and introduce them to a barbell at an early age. help stabilize the ankles and knees. Stronger shoulders Yet, in the total scheme of things, these instances are but keep the shoulders, arms and elbows from harm, and a a drop in the bucket. stronger back can mean the difference between getting Here’s another thing that continues to baffle me: while up after a violent impact and being carried off the field parents forbid their children from participating in a on a stretcher. strength routine, they often encourage, and sometimes Strength is a valuable asset at any age. Consider the push, them to participate in sports which involve a infant before he becomes a toddler. What does he do a high degree of risk to life and limb. Lacrosse is big in lot before he actually toddles? He squats—and perfectly, Maryland, and throughout the summer here countless I might add. The squatting eventually makes his legs camps run throughout the state. Some are for boys as strong enough to support him, and he takes his first young as six. The same holds true for football, and in the steps. This is the beginning of the bell curve, and strength northern states it’s hockey. Soccer and baseball are not is the most important factor in movement throughout nearly as dangerous as full-contact sports, yet there are life. At the far end of the curve, the octogenarian, after always reports of youngsters getting seriously hurt on hip-replacement surgery, has to gain enough strength in those fields as well. her legs before she can walk again.

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Secondly, strength training is a safe activity for people of any age if properly administered. While this is extremely important for anyone getting started in the discipline, it’s Recommended Equipment even more critical for the young, growing body. Safety is Unlike most athletic endeavors youngsters really the No. 1 concern when dealing with young athletes take part in, strength training doesn’t require in the weight room. Obviously, a boy or girl cannot be helmets, pads, gloves, uniforms or special dealt with in the same manner as an adult. shoes. A T-shirt, shorts and a pair of Nikes Supervision Is the Key are sufficient. However, a couple of items are useful because they make workouts less At what age can a youngster start some form of strength stressful: a four-inch leather lifting belt and training? Should only light weights be used? How many a few rolls of white trainer’s tape. The belt is sets and reps and how many exercises in the routine? useful for overhead lifting and squatting. It How long should each session be and how many times helps to maintain a tight midsection, gives a week should young athletes train? Is there any special feedback on body positioning during the equipment they will need to ensure their safety? Where execution of the movement, and keeps the can a capable instructor be found? back warm during the workout. Keep in mind I’ll get to these concerns, but first I want to state that the that a belt, not matter how strong it is, cannot most important thing to know when training youngsters prevent an injury if sloppy form is used. is that they must be supervised. The younger they are, The tape is for the wrists. Most youngsters the more crucial the supervision. To allow a boy or girl have very small wrists, and the tape will to train alone, even after good coaching, is an invitation support them when they do any exercise that to trouble. forces the wrist to bend, such as when the This is a strict rule laid down by the European coaches bar is racked during a power clean. The tape and should be the same for anyone handling young also helps and reminds the athlete to keep her athletes. Left alone, the youngster will use faulty form, wrists straight when doing such exercises as attempt weights he’s not ready to handle, or neglect the overhead press, incline bench press and the more beneficial exercises in favor of others that are conventional flat bench press. much more fun—bench presses and curls. And while I As the adage states, “An ounce of prevention said the exercises are safe when done correctly, there is worth a pound of cure.” is one exercise that is potentially dangerous when it’s done alone: the flat bench press. This movement is also typically the favorite. Getting stuck on the bench press and having the bar fall across the throat is the leading cause of injury, and often death, in the country with regards to weight training. Never let a young athlete train alone. When she has trained for a few years, the rule can be relaxed, but she still should only do exercises that do not require a spotter. Ignore Age—Let Maturity Be Your Guide What’s a good age to introduce a boy or girl to the discipline of strength training? There is no hard and set number. What matters more than age is mental maturity. I’ve seen some six-year-olds who were more regimented than many 12-year-olds. The real question is this: is the youngster ready to follow instruction to the letter and be The CrossFit Kids program uses the “angry-gorilla back” cue to help kids learn how to deadlift objects safely.

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Copyright © 2009 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Youth Strength ... (continued) able to focus on what he’s trying to accomplish? If so, he can start resistive training. If not, it’s better to have him wait, not so much because he might hurt himself, but rather because he’ll get very little, if anything, out of the training. If he starts off with a poor experience, the odds of his taking it up again are slim to none. As I mentioned, six-year-olds are playing football, baseball, soccer and lacrosse, and gymnasts and figure skaters frequently start training for their sports at even younger ages. The Europeans, from whom we have gotten all the information on how to train young athletes, start children on a strength regime as young as six. I know of two examples in this country where children of former Olympic lifters were introduced to weightlifting when they were just four years old. Jim Moser’s Minor form flaws can be spotted and corrected at an early age, son Willy was doing snatches with a broomstick when setting children up for a lifetime of safe, effective lifting. he was four, trying to emulate what his father and older brother James were doing. He has since gone on to win national titles in his age group. In a similar manner, Mike Burgener’s daughter Sage began lifting with her brothers at the tender age of four and has now competed at the international level. It needs to be noted that when Willy and Sage started getting interested in lifting weights, even if it was only a broomstick or a plastic bar, it was not a regimented routine but rather a part of daily physical play. Neither was pushed into the activity. As they became more interested, more exercises were taught to them. Young athletes have to be self-motivated, and there’s no way this can be instilled in them. It has to come from within. Try to force them to train on a regular basis and they will rebel. While it’s a mistake to rush youngsters into some form of Youngsters should only be introduced to strength training when strength work, it’s also a mistake to tell them they can’t they’re mentally mature enough to follow the instructions that will keep them safe. take part in the activity. Doing so will only prompt them to do some things on their own, which will only lead to an unhappy experience for both child and parents. What the coach of a young athlete must be able to do is create an atmosphere of enjoyment and satisfaction. Sessions The emphasis in the beginning need to be more fun than serious. Sure, they must learn should be on perfecting technique. to follow instructions and do what’s required of them during the workout, but it shouldn’t be like a boot camp. Don’t get caught up in numbers. Master the form and the numbers Two Days a Week Is Plenty How often should young athletes train? It depends. will come automatically. If they’re going to school and participating in a sport or sports, then a couple of times a week with weights

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is enough. One day is heavy, and one not so heavy. If Low or High Reps? they have a lot of free time, such as in the summer, three How many sets and reps are appropriate for a young workouts are recommended. And three sessions will be athlete just starting on a strength program? The standard plenty for a long time. At times, studies and scholastic formula that has been around for ages is three sets of sports demands may be severe and force the youngster 10, and many coaches still use it. The idea behind it is to stop training altogether. This is OK, because if he did the higher reps force the athlete to use lighter weights, enjoy his time lifting weights, he’ll get back into a routine which reduces the risk of injury. I don’t agree. Even with down the line. a light poundage, a youngster who is just learning how The emphasis in the beginning should be on perfecting to do an exercise will start to tire when she reaches the technique. Don’t get caught up in numbers. Master the eighth, ninth and 10th reps. At that point, her form breaks form and the numbers will come automatically. It’s fine, down. On the final set, form may disintegrate halfway and even helpful, to set goals because it gives young through because she hasn’t yet done enough work to athletes something tangible to shoot for—but these build a solid base. Using improper technique, even if it’s goals need to be realistic. only for a few reps on each set, breeds bad habits. Regardless of how often a youngster trains, form must I prefer starting youngsters out with lower reps. always be the main priority. Make it a hard and fast Research has shown that the best formula for gaining rule that the numbers can never be moved up if form strength and building a solid base is 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps, is sloppy. Never—period. This will not only reduce the and this applies to young athletes as well as their older chance of getting injured but also ensure the youngster counterparts. Start an athlete with 4 sets of 4 reps on will know how to do that exercise correctly when he’s any primary exercise. When he is able to handle all the more motivated to get bigger and stronger. In some sets using flawless form without any difficulty, move to cases, athletes will have to stay with the same poundage 5 sets of 5. Then proceed to 6 sets of 6. At that point, on a certain exercise for several months. This is fine add weight to the bar and drop the sets and reps back because he has lots of years ahead of him to move down to 4s. And so on and so forth right up the strength heavier weights. ladder. s Davi of CrossFit Courtesy

Traditional wisdom prescribes high reps for young athletes, but Bill Starr recommends sets of 4-6 reps. Low reps will help increase strength and also allow youths to concentrate on perfect form for a short period of time.

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In this manner, excellent form can be adhered to on Which Exercises Are Best? every set and the progression is slight. It’s important to Length of workouts is an individual matter. Obviously, note that there is no need to get in a hurry. The gains a youngster in high school can handle more work than need to be small in order to give the tendons, ligaments one in junior high, and the eighth-grader can do more and muscles time to adapt to the new form of stress and than someone in grade school. Size, state of fitness, recover. background in athletics and desire are also factors. As The question often arises about limit attempts. I don’t a general rule, 45 minutes of lifting is plenty for the first allow youngsters to do any singles until they have been month, and that can be expanded to an hour for most. A training for at least six months and are using a sufficient knowledgeable instructor is so valuable here. He knows amount of weight so they have built a solid foundation his athletes and can tell if they are getting tired or if they of strength. Their form also has to absolutely perfect. still have some gas in the tank for more work. If those two requirements are met, I can find no reason Youngsters, on the whole, have boundless energy. That’s why they can’t take a shot at a max single. One of two not the problem as much as mental concentration. If things will happen: the athlete will make the attempt their interest starts to wander, send them out of the gym. or he’ll miss. There’s no risk involved if his technique is If a youngster who uses excellent form is suddenly doing flawless. In fact, I think singles are most useful to young a great many things wrong, have her do something else athletes. It necessitates that they put forth a supreme or dismiss her for that day. You don’t want to push her to effort, quite often for the first time in their lives. Singles exhaustion, yet you need her to do enough to reach the can teach a youngster how much grit she has, and when goal of getting stronger. she’s successful with a new PR, her self-confidence soars. This is not only a valuable trait in the world of sports but As for exercises, stay with primary movements for the also in life itself. three major muscle groups: shoulder girdle, back and hips/legs. Choose the back squat for the hips and legs, power cleans for the back, and overhead presses or incline benches for the shoulder girdle. I much prefer inclines and overhead presses over flat benches, but if There is no need to get in a hurry. the youngster is involved in a strength program at his The gains need to be small in order school that includes bench presses, teach him how to do to give the tendons, ligaments and the lift properly. muscles time to adapt to the new Program three exercises per session no more than three times a week. Make these lifts stronger and perfor- form of stress and recover. mance in any athletic endeavor will be greatly improved. The smaller muscles groups should be exercised with free-hand movements rather than with weights in the very beginning. This means chins are preferred over curls However, singles should not be done too often. Three or with a bar or dumbbells. Free-hand dips are great for the four times a year is plenty unless, of course, the young deltoids, and calf-raises with no resistance for high reps athlete wants to compete in an Olympic meet. Then will help stabilize the ankles and increase foot speed. singles have to be done more frequently. Eventually, more exercises can be inserted into the One exercise should not be maxed out: the deadlift. The routine, and auxiliary movements can be done with most weight is handled in this exercise, and even good weights, but in the beginning using bodyweight for the form invariable breaks down on a heavy single. It serves smaller groups is a smarter idea because they’re already no purpose, so just don’t do it. Deadlifts done for the sets receiving attention on the three core lifts. Hammering and reps I suggested are fine, just so perfect technique is away on the biceps after the heavy work has been done utilized, but skip the singles. There will be time for them is counterproductive. There will be ample time to hit later on. those smaller groups with specialized exercises.

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While a youngster is being introduced to the discipline and selecting items that are more wholesome. A protein of strength training, it’s a good idea to encourage her to shake instead of a Coke, for example. He sleeps more take part in other athletic activities, particularly those soundly because of the strenuous exercising and learns that require high degrees of coordination, balance, foot that when he gets to bed a bit earlier than usual, he has speed and quickness. It’s preferable to choose activities a better workout the next day. without a great deal of physical risk. Linked with the While it may not happen right away, persistence and benefits of strength training, they help build a more determination will cause the athlete’s muscles to grow proficient athlete. and take on a new shape. Endurance will improve, Coaches and Additional Resources overall strength will increase, and performance in the Finding a capable person to teach your child how to athletic arena will be at a much higher level. This leads do the suggested exercises correctly may be the most to elevated self-esteem and pride in accomplishments. difficult part of the whole deal. Personal trainers are These factors gain him or her more attention from the not much help, unless they come from a background of opposite sex. At this point, parents or coaches no longer Olympic lifting. Most fitness facilities offer some type have to prompt children to work out. Rather, they have to of instruction, but seldom does it include the exercises get a lock for the weight-room door. the young athlete needs. Usually, commercial gyms are geared toward bodybuilding and not strength training. F Ask around. Some strength coaches at local colleges and even high Jody Forster schools know how to deal with young athletes, and most welcome them, especially in the summer months when they aren’t busy with sports teams. See if you can find an Olympic lifting club within a few hours’ drive. While the majority of franchised gyms do not cater to athletes, CrossFit affiliates are making quite an impact. Instructors teach members how to do the very exercises I recommended, and the CrossFit Kids program is specially designed to meet the needs of young athletes. CrossFit also holds teaching clinics across the country to help youngsters get started on the right direction in strength training. Visit CrossFit.com to find an affiliate or clinic in your area. Two instructional books on strength training should be About the Author read by every young athlete and parent: my book, The Bill Starr coached at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Strongest Shall Survive, and Starting Strength by Mark the 1970 World Olympic Weightlifting Championship Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. These are filled with sequence in Columbus, Ohio, and the 1975 World Powerlifting photos to help a beginner learn how to perform the Championships in Birmingham, England. He was selected various lifts correctly. A Starting Strength DVD is also as head coach of the 1969 team that competed in the available. All can be ordered online from The Aasgaard Tournament of Americas in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Company Bookstore. where the United States won the team title, making him the first active lifter to be head coach of an international Hidden Health Benefits Olympic weightlifting team. Starr is the author of the books Many positive side effects from getting involved in The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football a strength program aren’t always obvious. Once a and Defying Gravity, which can be found at The Aasgaard youngster gets hooked on lifting weights, he starts Company Bookstore. paying closer attention to his diet, shunning junk foods

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A CrossFit Start-Up Guide: Part 3 Learn the most challenging of CrossFit’s nine foundational movements, add in a few more skills and prepare to tackle a WOD. Scale appropriately without sacrificing intensity, and you’re on the road to success in CrossFit.

Todd Widman Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

Welcome to Part 3 of the Startup Guide, last in this series designed to help propel you on your way to elite fitness. In this final part you’ll find information on the rest of the nine foundational movements, as well as CrossFit Journal links to more instructional material. We’ll also cover the auxiliary movements mentioned in Part 1 and Part 2. It has been and remains my goal to pass on, within three relatively short articles, enough ammunition to arm you for CrossFit’s main-site WODs and lifelong fitness earned in your garage.

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Where Are You? Ultimately, your fitness is your responsibility. You need to constantly pay attention to your strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has plenty to work on. Beginners in particular need to be realistic about what warrants the most attention and must respect the often-difficult process of improving lifelong movement patterns. Everyone’s progress will be different. These articles can’t provide a simple step-by-step approach to CrossFit because it does not exist. CrossFit, like life, isn’t linear. Combining education with continued effort and dedication to moving better is the only solution. With that, let’s finish what we started. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

The correct bar position for the overhead squat is with the bar directly over the middle of your foot. Holding it too far forward or back will usually result in a missed lift.

The Overhead Squat read: Squats are and will remain the cornerstone of functional The Overhead Squat fitness, and the King of Squats is the overhead version. Greg Glassman (Aug. 1, 2005) Unparalleled in the recruitment of musculature to hold The CEO and founder of CrossFit Inc. covers all aspects of the weight at arm’s distance overhead throughout the full overhead squat in a simple, well-written article. range of motion, this squat is also the gateway to one watch: of the two Olympic lifts—the snatch. Practicing the 1. Overhead Squatting Safely overhead squat with PVC proves to be taxing even for This short clip shows two different elite CrossFit the best athletes, so make unloaded overhead squats athletes demonstrating the basics of how to part of every warm-up. properly squat and bail with weight overhead. [wmv][mov] 2. Overhead Squats (Mark Rosen) Here is an example of a man in his mid-40s who Squats are and will remain the struggled with PVC overhead squats when he first came to CrossFit about a year before this video cornerstone of functional fitness, was filmed. and the King of Squats is the [wmv][mov] overhead version. 3. Nicole Carroll Body-Weight OHS x 15 An example of an elite athlete fighting to perform 15 overhead squats at her body weight. This is an immensely difficult task for anyone, and it’s one of the benchmark goals for elite athletes. [wmv][mov]

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First things first, we have to establish the proper grip for The same squat mechanics for the air squat and front the overhead squat. There are several approaches. An squat apply to the overhead squat. Start with the same ideal width exists, but that presupposes full functional stance (foot position). Initiate the movement with the flexibility and no chronic injuries. Most untrained adults pelvis turning over and the hips moving backward (the over 30 don’t have the functional flexibility in the hips hips begin to close before the knees). Fight hard at and shoulders to maintain ideal grip width throughout turning over the pelvis and pulling yourself back and the full overhead squat. down into the bottom of the squat, staying on the heels and driving your knees out so they track over your toes. read: Resist the tendency to drift forward. The overhead squat Learning the Olympic Lifts: The Grip is difficult, even with PVC, and many people need a little Mike Burgener (Dec. 1, 2006) practice to be able to keep their balance throughout the Though he’s talking about the snatch, the methods for finding entire movement. the snatch grip and overhead-squat grip are identical. Another method we frequently use to help folks find a realistic grip width is the pass-through. This is a process that begins by putting your hands very wide on the PVC. Capability in the overhead squat Without bending the elbows, pass the bar over your head with active shoulders (think shoulders in your ears) carries over into all other athletic until you touch your low back with the bar. Then bring it movement and makes the back overhead to the front of your body, again without bending your arms. If you have to bend your arms to get air squat, front squat and back the bar around, your grip is too narrow. squat easy in comparison. You should be able to complete a full arc, front to back and back to front, without discomfort or impingement. Now, move each hand in about a quarter of an inch and attempt another full rep. Again, there should be Finally, ensure you stand all the way up at the top, no real discomfort. Repeat this process until you reach bringing the hips fully under your shoulders. A common the point at which you could probably keep going but fault in the overhead squat is keeping your hips slightly the rotation is sticky. Stop here. Move your hands back cocked; that is, with your torso and your femur at an out a quarter of an inch and use this as your grip for the angle of less than 180 degrees at the top of the lift. overhead squat. Technique and range of motion are two different things. For more on shoulder health, especially if your sticking Always fight for perfect technique in every exercise, point is very wide, read CrossFit Shoulder Therapy by Tyler understanding that 80 percent is pretty close to ideal Hass (Oct. 1, 2005). when you introduce high levels of intensity. Range of motion, barring physical inability, is 100 percent With your grip now established, stand tall and hold the non-negotiable. If you do not stand all the way up or, if bar overhead. Your arms should be perfectly straight capable, do not go all the way down to bring the crease of with your shoulders pressed hard into your ears. This is the hip below the knee, it does not count as a repetition. not a comfortable position, but it is absolutely essential for success. Any bend in the arms or relaxation of the It takes a lot of practice to improve capacity in the shoulders will greatly limit your performance. overhead squat, but it is well worth the effort. Capability in this lift carries over into all other athletic movement Next, to define the overhead position, we want the bar and makes the air squat, front squat and back squat easy to travel only vertically, remaining over the mid-foot in comparison. throughout the full range of the squat. We say “overhead,” but depending on your movement quality, the head may actually move forward in front of the bar at the bottom. The bar should go straight up and down, but your torso may incline.

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The Push Jerk The push jerk is the grand finale of the pressing series. CrossFit has established a very simple method of It’s an incredibly athletic movement that both highlights teaching the lift efficiently and effectively: and fixes many problems. It’s a jump and land in which 1. Jump and land with bent knees and arms you drive the bar from the shoulders to overhead. The lift remaining at your sides. is like the push press, but it’s even faster, and you land in 2. Jump and land with bent knees and hands a partial squat before standing all the way up. up at your shoulders. watch: 3. Jump and land with bent knees, with arms 1. The Overhead Series, Part 3: The Push Jerk starting at your shoulders and shooting up Adrian Bozman (Nov. 13, 2008) above your head, locking them out with This is a fantastic clip of top HQ instructor Adrian a straight elbow and an active shoulder before you land. (Boz) Bozman going through the primary points of performance in the push jerk with fellow HQ 4. Jump and land with bent knees, this instructor and elite athlete Chris Spealler. time using a PVC pipe that starts in the rack position (exactly like the press 2. Better Movements: and shoulder press) and is locked out The Jerk and Kipping Pull-Up overhead before you land. Greg Glassman (Oct. 1, 2007) Ensure numbers three and four are finished by standing This is an interesting and thought-provoking clip up with your hands overhead. All presses end in the same of Coach talking through the physics behind the position: standing up with active shoulders, locked-out push jerk and kipping pull-ups, and how it all elbows and the weight over the heel of the foot. relates to CrossFit’s definition of fitness: work capacity. watch: Jolie Correcting the Push Jerk 3. The Push Jerk This is an example of small-group training in the push A short clip showing Sage Burgener conducting jerk at a CrossFit Level 1 Certification Seminar. several push jerks, with her father, Coach Mike

Burgener, explaining the movement’s basic points, Staff/CrossFit Journal also including his reasoning for starting athletes out with a behind-the-neck push jerk. [wmv][mov] 4. Elements of the Push Jerk Coach Glassman talks through the key points of the push jerk with several different clips of athletes performing both good and bad examples of the lift. [wmv][mov] This is a beautiful lift requiring a symphony of movement radiating from core to extremity. Athletes can put enormous loads overhead with a properly performed jerk. Infinitely nuanced—dipping, driving, re-dipping and squatting—the jerk is easy to over-think. This is a mistake, though. You can’t think your way to a good push jerk (or through any of the fast lifts).

The push jerk is a core-to-extremity movement that’s best learned with a PVC pipe and a good coach present.

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull Now for an interesting movement that’s an excellent The most common flaws are pulling early with the arms gateway to the clean. and not generating enough power and speed with the hips. Keep the elbows as high as you can at the top. The In the sumo deadlift high pull, the bar starts at mid-shin arms are follow-though instruments, capitalizing on the (or resting on the ground if you have plates on the bar) momentum created by the hips and legs. and moves quickly up to about the level of the clavicle. It’s a gateway movement because it is simpler than the clean Pay attention to your body when conducting the sumo but requires both power and speed to be successful. deadlift high pull. If you feel your arms or shoulders getting especially tired during the lift, you are not watch: opening your hips hard enough at the top. Try making 1. Sumo Dead Lift High Pull the bar accelerate from the ground to your chin, keeping This is a great theoretical introduction to the it as close to the body as possible. You’ll be well on your movement with several demos. way to a successful lift, as well as gaining the kines- [wmv][mov] thetic awareness for more complex core-to-extremity 2. Correcting the Sumo Deadlift High Pull movements. Rachel Medina (April 23, 2009) Not only is this movement a great prep for the clean, but It is a perfect clip of a top HQ instructor talking it’s also the substitution for rowing because it mimics through the functionality and basic points of the the same motion of a Concept2 rower in the vertical sumo deadlift high pull. plane instead of the horizontal.

The sumo deadlift high pull is often mistaken for an upper-body exercise, but it’s most efficiently performed by using the lower body to move the bar with explosive hip extension. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

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The Medicine Ball Clean The med-ball clean is the capstone of the deadlift series. watch: Do not get frustrated: the clean, in any form, is infinitely 1. Medicine Ball Cleans nuanced and will never be perfect. It will take years Greg Glassman (Sept. 1, 2004) to garner a capacity in this lift, so grab a ball and get Coach presents a fantastically simple article started! outlining the importance of the med-ball clean What about barbell cleans and dumbbell cleans? The and common faults in the movement. mechanics are identical, so learning one develops 2. CrossFit: Learning Medicine Ball Cleans capacity in the other. We teach the med-ball clean at the A perfect bi-panel clip showing Nicole Carroll Level 1 CrossFit seminars for several reasons. Perhaps the and other top CrossFit athletes conducting the most important is that it’s closer to what you’ll do outside medicine ball clean, with Coach Glassman talking the gym. More objects on the planet are like medicine about its elements. balls than barbells or dumbbells. They’re hard to grip, [wmv][mov] they have volume, and they’re a little awkward. That said, both barbell and dumbbell cleans are outstanding 3. Medicine Ball Cleans movements that develop tremendous capacity across Andrew Thompson broad domains, and they should be practiced often. Here’s another excellent clip on the med-ball clean. Staff/CrossFit Journal [wmv][mov] 4. Learning the Medicine Ball Clean Rob Miller This is a great seminar clip from a few years ago. [wmv][mov] read: Skill Based Warmups for Groups Tony Budding (Sept. 1, 2006) This PDF describes how to take a group through a slight variation on our Level 1 seminar approach to teaching the med-ball clean. The essence is there, though, and you can begin to develop proficiency in the clean. Time to start working with the medicine ball. This is an amazing tool with unlimited applications, and we first used it as a depth gauge for the squat. It’s now the pathway to a barbell clean. Pillow-soft and unintimi- dating, medicine balls create a perfect bridge between the core-to-extremity work done in a sumo deadlift high pull and both Olympic lifts. Fight hard to feed the power and momentum generated by the hip into the shoulder and the ball (think of your arms as straps attached to the ball, not as levers that bend the ball up to you), then pull yourself under. Again, take note of how and where you feel the strain. Is it in your arms? Your shoulders? Though the med-ball clean is certainly a full-body movement, your legs should bear Learning a clean with a bar can be challenging. Using a the brunt of the load. medicine ball removes the pain of having a bar crash onto your shoulders while you practice reaching full hip extension.

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Wall Ball read: Make sure you’re getting all the way down in the squat, Functionality and Wallball with the crease of the hip below the knee in the bottom, Greg Glassman (Aug. 1, 2003) and ensure the ball hits at or above the line of your target This is a sensational article about the CrossFit view on (as RX’d is 10 feet with a 20-lb. ball for men and a 14-lb. conditioning using all metabolic pathways and functional ball for women). Start with a light ball and work your way movements, leading to a discussion on how to complete the up to a heavier one only when you’re able to success- wall-ball exercise. fully and repeatedly hit your target. Focus on making the ball’s impact on your hands as soft and quiet as possible, watch: taking the energy down into your legs and rebounding CrossFit Wall Ball back out of the bottom. Here’s a great bi-panel clip showing a CrossFit athlete exhib- iting both good and bad technique on the wall ball, as well as This is a sensational movement that will not disappoint completing the benchmark WOD Karen in an astoundingly in its metabolic response. Work at stringing together 10 low time. in a row and you will be well on your way. [mov] [wmv] Now that we’ve become familiar with the medicine ball, it’s prudent to start using it as a tool for throwing. Wall ball Wall ball pairs a front squat pairs a front squat and push press—perfectly displaying a need for seamless core-to-extremity movement—but and push press but requires requires an additional skill in the form of accuracy. an additional skill in the form of accuracy. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

Wall-ball shots pack a great metabolic kick and also introduce accuracy into your workout.

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Pull-Ups read: Pull-ups, along with air squats, are the backbone of The Pull-Up CrossFit and elite fitness. The importance of pulling Greg Glassman (April 1, 2003) your body up to an object cannot be overstated. Work This article explains the value of this essential gymnastic through the progression above in warm-ups, cool-downs movement. and workouts. Pull-ups can be done by everyone— jumping, band or kipping pull-ups are all important—and watch: no exercise regime is complete without a solid base on CrossFit: Kipping Pull-Up 1—The Concept the pull-up bar. Coach Glassman talks through the basics of a kipping pull-up while watching several top athletes show how to perform the The only thing that needs to be added to the above clips movement. is a quick piece on hand care. Buy a hand file and keep [wmv] your calluses down. Though impervious to a puncture, calluses have the tendency to tear off in one giant chunk For an easy progression to increase capacity in the when doing high-rep pull-ups. Also, understand that kipping pull-up, the series listed below features sensa- moisture is your enemy when it comes to avoiding rips tional athlete and trainer Annie Sakamoto teaching at a on your hands. Get into the habit of drying your hands off CrossFit Level 1 seminar: on your shirt or shorts during a WOD to keep the sweat The Kipping Pull-Up, Step 1: [wmv][mov] off. Chalk will also help with this by keeping smooth and The Kipping Pull-Up, Step 2: [wmv][mov] dry contact with the bar. The Kipping Pull-Up, Step 3: [wmv][mov] The Kipping Pull-Up, Step 4: [wmv][mov] Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, mentally check in with your hands as you’re pulling. If and when you feel watch: “hot spots,” slightly change the way you’re gripping the 1. Adrian Teaches Kipping, Part 1 bar during your pull. The toughest skin in the world will [wmv][mov] not withstand high-rep pull-ups rubbing one spot on 2. Adrian Teaches Kipping, Part 2 your hand. [wmv][mov] read: 3. Adrian Teaches Kipping, Using the Hips Hand Rips: Causes, Treatments and Prevention [wmv][mov] Phil Savage (April 1, 2008)

This last series is another approach to achieving the Staff/CrossFit Journal same ends. There’s no one solution. Whatever gets you moving most effectively is best. And in case you need some motivation to jump-start your quest for pull-ups, check out Pull-Ups, Pregnant. [wmv]

Pull-ups, along with air squats, are the backbone of CrossFit and elite fitness.

Chris Spealler teaches the kipping pull-up at a Level 1 cert. Master it and you’re well on your way to finding success in WODs such as Fran and Angie.

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Push-Ups What About Abs? read: watch: The Push-Up 1. What About Abs? Greg Glassman (March 1, 2003). Coach Glassman answers the question by saying This PDF details the performance steps, common faults and ab work for CrossFitters is all about midline advanced techniques of the push-up and provides links to stabilization. more info. [wmv][mov] watch: 2. Glute-Ham Sit-Up Elements Lecture Clip 1. Push-Up Standards The GHD sit-up is not a beginner movement, but Top athlete Annie Sakamoto demonstrates good it comes up frequently in the main-site workouts. and bad push-up technique. This clip explains why the GHD sit-up is so [wmv][mov] potent and effective, and also why it’s potentially dangerous. 2. Developing Push-Ups [wmv][mov] This video gives a series of modifications that help you develop the strength to do standard push-ups. read: [wmv][mov] 1. Three Important Ab Exercises Greg Glassman (May 1, 2003) 3. Playing with Push-Ups Coach talks about the GHD sit-up, the hollow rock This video has several athletes playing with some and the L-sit. of the common (and uncommon) variations of the movement. 2. Calisthenics [wmv][mov] Roger Harrell (May 1, 2006) Here’s a comprehensive article by one of CrossFit’s In my opinion, push-ups are the most-cheated CrossFit gymnasts on a variety of calisthenics: push-ups movement. One rep: all the way down (touch your chest and sit-ups and their variations. to the ground) and all the way up with elbows locked out and an active shoulder (think of pushing the shoulder

toward the ground and your body into the air). If you have Staff/CrossFit Journal trouble with this, go from your knees and use the same points of performance. If you still cannot complete a full rep, hook a band to the pull-up bar, loop it under your armpits across your chest, and let the band’s resistance help you out of the bottom. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

Proper depth on a push-up is all the way to the ground, and a The GHD sit-up is tremendously effective, but beginners should good trainer will make sure you hit that depth on every rep. approach the movement with caution.

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Finding the right amount of intensity is important. Too much will leave you overly sore, while too little won’t get you the results you want. Still, sit-ups do come up in workouts, and the best reps and build up over time. (This is not recommended variation for beginners is the basic sit-up, made much for timed workouts such as Angie or Annie, in which you more comfortable and effective with a towel or AbMat want to move as fast as you can.) under the lumbar spine. Scaling, Part 2 When doing a standard sit-up without a towel or AbMat, In the previous article, we introduced a few approaches the lumbar spine bottoms out on the ground as the chest to scaling. These can be applied to any given workout. starts to come up, leaving your body with nothing to As stated before, you should vary the approach you use lever against. This forces the hip flexors to pull up the to scaling because the “constant variation” component trunk of the body and creates a bi-phasic movement. of CrossFit applies here also. If last time you reduced Though nothing is functionally wrong with this, it has the the load but kept the reps the same, this time keep the tendency to leave out development of the lower portion load the same (or scale less, depending on how much of the abdominal wall. By sticking something under the you reduced the RX’d load last time) and do fewer reps. lumbar spine, be it a T-shirt, towel or AbMat, we are now Remember, the idea is to work as hard as you reasonably able to lever off each part of the back, forcing awareness and sustainably can. Some variations work strength and strength along the entirety of the lower trunk. more, some stamina, some metabolic conditioning. One drill you can do to strengthen the abs is a very slow, When you’re just starting out, chances are pretty good momentum-free butterfly AbMat sit-up. Lying down on you need to work on all 10 general physical skills. your back with the AbMat under your lumbar spine, put Once you’ve gotten to the point where you are doing the soles of your feet together with your knees splayed scaled workouts regularly, you need to start thinking out. Straighten your arms low over your body with your about scaling methods as they apply to weeks and palms together. Your head should rest on the ground. months. You have to think about progress and recovery. Very slowly, without throwing your head or arms, Of course you’re going to be sore (if you’re not, you’re squeeze yourself up until you are sitting completely not working hard enough)—but are you too sore? Are upright (this wouldn’t be possible without the AbMat or you excited to be at the gym? How are your moods? a towel). Lower down and repeat. Start with just a few

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Your goal is to find a happy medium between overtraining squat, any scaling of this workout that would make sense and undertraining. Unfortunately, no formula exists, and for you would move you very far away from the original many, many factors play into it. Beyond the workouts intent. These workouts are designed to exceed the themselves, you have to consider the quantity and limitations of the world’s best athletes. Not all WODs quality of your food intake and sleep, as well as other can and should be scaled for anyone at any time. factors such as work, home life, stress, etc. Get rid of the You are performing a sophisticated experiment on your word “should” and pay attention to what “is.” body and mind. Play close attention to what’s happening. There is nothing wrong with taking an extra day off Don’t overdo it and don’t under-do it. Practice your here and there, especially in the beginning. There’s also mechanics and play with intensity. Also, log all workouts, nothing wrong with backing off on a workout if you times and weights so you can chart and analyze your overestimate what you can do. With beginners, I always performance. say scale more, more often. This isn’t always true for And, as usual, Coach Glassman summed it up best. He intermediate and elite athletes, but it is for beginners. was recently asked by someone from a new affiliate what It’s a long game, and you’re much better off leaving a it takes to be successful in the most general terms. From little in the tank for the next day than overdoing it and what I can see, this approach should probably be applied risking quitting. Remember that your CrossFit habit is still to every venture in life: young. You have to nurture it gently. Too many beginners “Don’t quit, always try to make what you do better, and quit early in their quest for fitness because they bite off have fun with it.” more than they can chew too early.

Scaling: your goal is to find a happy medium between overtraining and undertraining.

All that being said, you can be too gentle. The danger here is that you won’t see the results you deserve. Now is the time to experiment with intensity. How hard can you go without overdoing it? If you don’t feel totally spent the second you finish the workout, chances are good you could go harder. Next workout, ramp it up a bit. See what happens. What Workouts Should I Do? This is a great question. We generally recommend following the CrossFit.com workouts (scaled appropriately) for a number of reasons. For beginners, however, following the main site might not be ideal, even scaled. Of course, it’s fun to keep up with the rest of the CrossFit About the Author world, and often that outweighs any negatives. Todd Widman is a former Marine and one of CrossFit’s top But there are negatives. For example, the Hero workout trainers. He spends a significant portion of his time traveling Tommy V is many heavy thrusters and rope climbs. If around the country (and world) working the CrossFit Level 1 you’re already struggling with pull-ups and your front and Level 2 certification seminars.

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Elite Soldiers, Elite Fitness A Scout Sniper instructor implements CrossFit in his training program and sees dramatic results.

Staff Sgt. Matthew Kostielney, U.S. Marines Cpl. D.A. Haynes/United States Marine Corps States Haynes/United Cpl. D.A.

I have felt no better satisfaction nor shared any greater responsibility than serving my country with my fellow Marines. I consider my duty to be both a privilege and a skilled profession that requires great commitment. Before I get hot and heavy into the concept of combat fitness and my own experience gained by the implementation of the CrossFit method at the United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper School, I want to be perfectly clear: I don’t give a shit about test tubes, biomedical chemistry experiments and the biological processes involved with physiological adaptations from exercise.

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The Soldier and Fitness I have taken the time to research and understand the What I can take from my experiences is this: in war, principles governing exercise physiology, but I’m intel- you should expect to find yourself in a confrontation in ligent enough to realize that they are minuscule in which you are fighting an enemy in a multitude of rapidly importance when compared to the overall goal. This goal changing situations. You’ll test your cardiorespiratory is fitness—not just any type of fitness, but elite fitness. endurance while trekking the mountainous peaks of Afghanistan, and in an instant you’ll have to posses the CrossFit provides a means to that goal, and it’s a protocol strength and agility needed to root out your foe house adaptable to men and women of all ages, sizes and, most to house, room by room, just like you’re in the alleyways importantly, levels of skill. I will give my best effort to of Al Ramadi or Fallujah. This is what it takes to perform explain what I do, what my students do, what we were America’s business and achieve victory. This is who I doing before, and what we are doing better now with the am, and this is what I do. direction given by Greg and Lauren Glassman and the rest of the CrossFit team. So, you’re dealing with a Marine with recent combat experience, and he says war is an ever-changing animal. I currently serve as an instructor at the United States Sweet—but what the hell does that have to do with Marine Corps Scout Sniper School. Greater detail is not your everyday nine-to-five routine filled with work, kids, needed. What the enemy doesn’t know can kill them— daycare, and maybe dinner and a movie? I’ll tell you that which is a good thing. I have deployed several times it means everything in the arena of fitness and survival in support of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring because CrossFit will allow you, just like the soldier, Freedom. I have learned a great deal of the demands to prepare for any circumstances and perform in any encountered when pursuing, hunting and killing our situation. enemies abroad. Courtesy of Staff Sgt. Matthew Kostielney Sgt. Matthew of Staff Courtesy

Staff Sgt. Kostielney says candidates at the United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper School have experienced less injuries as a result of CrossFit training.

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A Letter to Greg Glassman Allow me to discuss what I have witnessed during my implementation of the CrossFit method at the Marine Corps Scout Sniper School. I’ll start by presenting a letter I wrote to Greg Glassman, which I later discussed with Neil Anderson on CrossFit Radio.

Greg, You and I crossed paths the other day at your Performance recent Level 1 Certification at CrossFit Camp Initial Average Final Average Pendleton. We discussed the performance of my Differential students at the USMC Scout Sniper course over Body weight: the past eight weeks and the impact of CrossFit on their final fitness evaluation. I am a Scout 176.23 lb. 173.55 lb. -2.68 Sniper instructor and a very calculated man, but Physical Fitness Test score (out of 300): you do not have to be a genius to analyze the results. They are as follows: 272.3 288.8 +16.5

July 7-Sept. 5, 2008 PFT score above 285: 10 25 +15 31 Scout Sniper candidates 3-mile run: 12 CrossFit sessions 20:44 19:15 -1:29 5 conditioning hikes

4 endurance runs The most significant observation was there were absolutely no injuries encountered Scout Sniper candidates performed a throughout the training regimen. Candidates did benchmark CrossFit workout every Monday and not develop rhabdomyolysis, stress fractures, Wednesday. They were in the standard Girls and ITB overuse, ACL tears or muscle strains. This Hero formats, and in the beginning we had to comes as a surprise considering that past scale these for most students to ensure proper records indicate we regularly dis-enroll three to form. In the end, over 93 percent of the class four candidates per class for medical afflictions was performing these evolutions as required. sustained directly from training. Every even Friday, we performed a conditioning These students were specifically selected hike ranging from 5 to 15 miles through the from the Fleet Marine Force to attend Scout hills of Camp Pendleton at the fastest pace Sniper School. Most have served and fought in the individual candidate could maintain. GPS combative areas of operation. In other words, data from a Garmin Foretrex 101 indicates an they were seasoned veterans but adhered to average pace of 4.5-5.3 miles per hour, as well the old standard of five days of long, slow runs as breadcrumb trails indicating frequent gains and limited calisthenics sessions. These Marines in elevation ranging from 300 to 900 feet mean are now more capable of shooting, moving, sea level. Loads carried by the candidate were communicating and ultimately killing. They are incrementally increased by 5 lb. starting with an a testament to your training principles. More initial load of 35 lb. and progressing to a load of people should hear your voice and most impor- 55 lb. tantly listen! I thank you for your contributions Every odd Friday, we performed an endurance to CrossFit Camp Pendleton, and even more so, run ranging in distance from 4 to 7 miles in full for your patriotism. utility uniform, holding a pace of 6:45-7:45 per Thanks, Coach. mile across uneven terrain.

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Forging Elite Combat Fitness This was simply the beginning. In essence, I was just The results of the progress made by my other students starting to scratch the surface of the potential CrossFit are as follows: had for improving my combat fitness and that of my Scout Sniper Basic Course 1-09 Marines. Oct. 7-Dec. 5, 2008 Over time and through trial and error, I’ve played with 26 Scout Sniper candidates the amount of conditioning hikes and endurance runs, as well as the frequency and number of CrossFit sessions. 16 CrossFit sessions In doing so, I’ve seen reduced injuries and an overall 2 conditioning hikes increase in fitness in a relatively short period of time. 3 endurance runs This approach to training better prepares my Marines for combat and makes them more lethal when applying Performance the skills they learn at Scout Sniper School. Initial Average Final Average Differential This fitness program is still in the works, and I keep Body weight: tabulated scores of all CrossFit sessions performed by 169.85 lb. 158.37 lb. -11.48 lb. my students. I record the tracks and routes of all hikes that we perform aboard MCB Camp Pendleton. I place Physical Fitness Test score (out of 300): the students on an unknown course without stating a 260.4 280 +19.6 distance or time standard. I introduce as many variables PFT score above 285: as possible, all while emphasizing that the maneuver be negotiated as quickly as humanly possible. These hikes 2 12 +10 are long and they are painful. They are always fast, and 3-mile run: they really force you to look deep inside your psyche. But 20:31 19:23 -1:08 I have to say the CrossFit method has prepared these snipers better for said challenges than the typical shit you find littering the “fitness” section of most magazine stands. Lance Cpl. Kyle J. Keathley/United States Marine Corps States Keathley/United J. Cpl. Kyle Lance

Functional fitness is critical for deployed soldiers who have no idea what each mission will require of their bodies.

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Scout Snipers find themselves in a wide variety of situations. Elite fitness allows them a chance to succeed in all of them.

Scout Sniper Basic Course 2-09 Scout Sniper Basic Course 3-09 March 9–May 1, 2009 June 2-July 27, 2009 31 Scout Sniper candidates 32 Scout Sniper candidates 20 CrossFit sessions 20 CrossFit sessions 2 conditioning hikes 3 conditioning hikes 3 endurance runs 3 endurance runs

Performance Initial Average Final Average Performance Initial Average Final Average Differential Differential Body weight: Body weight: 172.63 lb. 163.48 lb. -9.15 lb. 174.59 lb. 171.19 lb. -3.4 lb. Physical Fitness Test score (out of 300): Physical Fitness Test score (out of 300): 274.4 288.8 + 14.4 267.5 283.6 + 16.1 PFT score above 285: PFT score above 285: 9 23 +14 4 19 +15 3-mile run: 3-mile run: 20:44 19:44 -1:00 21:36 19:58 -1:38

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Analyzing the Results My pay is average, but I would be willing to wager a Marines did what they normally do when they get pissed paycheck that no results of this magnitude have been off. They cursed themselves, taunted each other and, replicated in such a short time using any other program in the end, pushed one another to the limits of their or fitness regimen. personal work capacity. Pain was common but never ignored. It was more or less embraced, with humiliation The Marines who struggled to complete Helen under and scrutiny acting as the penalty for laziness. 12 minutes struggled on the steep inclines and varying terrain experienced during conditioning hikes. Some Overall, the fitness achieved at the end of every course of this particular pool had what is considered a “High” far exceeded the end state observed in previous Sniper USMC Physical Fitness Test score. Those who were very courses when we were not using CrossFit. Marines strong in the slow lifts were crippled when it came to gained a “dangerous balance” in their personal ability to overall body control demonstrated in the muscle-up perform combat duties. The men who were fast are now or handstand push-up. Marines with a blazing five- fast and strong. Those who were strong can now carry kilometer time had issues doing body-weight deadlifts that same strength to the fight over a longer distance— for repetitions. and quickly. I would argue, and many would agree, that these Marines are fitter and more balanced for combat than those who train in a single domain. Would you ever isolate your Overall, the fitness achieved mind? Why would you dare isolate the body? at the end of every course far We train men to independently carry out high-risk missions forward of friendly lines, often on a condensed exceeded the end state observed timeline with arduous circumstances pending. That kind in previous Sniper courses when of sounds like the stress you feel physically when you have Fight Gone Bad coming up at 3:30 in the morning. we were not using CrossFit. These Marines learned to thrive in such predicaments, and I would with great confidence employ them anytime and anyplace because they now see no physical or mental task as insurmountable. Cpl. D.A. Haynes/United States Marine Corps States Haynes/United Cpl. D.A.

Data shows that over the last year, three groups of Scout Sniper candidates have improved their fitness significantly with CrossFit workouts.

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There is no other physical regimen better suited to Courtesy of Staff Sgt. Matthew Kostielney produce the results needed by the combat athlete in existence today. Moreover, the CrossFit program is scalable to the needs of all, providing the individual with a fitness that is applicable in any and all eventualities. I enjoy witnessing my students overcoming hardship, and I similarly enjoy the leadership and camaraderie created after a brutal physical task has been undertaken and overcome. I believe the late president John F. Kennedy said it best:

There is no other physical regimen better suited to produce the results needed by the combat athlete in CrossFit raised the fitness level of candidates at Scout Sniper existence today. School, but it also taught them about overcoming adversity.

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” During workouts and on long hikes, I am asked, “How far, sergeant?” The answer I give is as simple as it is comical: “All the way!” In my eyes there is no other way to render faithful service to our children and to our home. The author believes CrossFit has helped prepare graduates of Thank you for allowing me to share how CrossFit has Scout Sniper School for the challenges they’ll face impacted and pushed the fitness standard at the United on the battlefield. States Marine Corps Scout Sniper School. And to my fellow Snipers, happy hunting! Semper Fidelis.

About the Author Staff Sgt. Kostielney has deployed in support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He has served as a Scout Sniper on numerous combat operations and is now charged with the duty of teaching his skills to infantry Marines.

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The Business of CrossFit CrossFit Inc. defies categorization according to traditional business models. Perhaps that’s why the company is exploding during the worst economic climate since the Great Depression.

Marty Cej Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

It’s March 2009, and Dave Castro is sitting over a laptop, planning a CrossFit Level 1 seminar. He and colleague Nicole Carroll must decide which trainers will take part and who will lecture, and they’ll have to deal with a hundred other fine points that require discussion before every seminar. Only this time, Castro is hunched over a computer screen somewhere in Afghanistan. Carroll is in Sydney, Australia.

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CrossFit: A Virtual Company Special Operator Chief Petty Officer Castro is a Navy Glassman, 53, a competitive college gymnast and the SEAL and has just returned to base from a mission. son of an engineering professor, started out in the late He’s taken off his helmet, turned on his computer and is 1980s training individual clients in and around the Santa typing instructions, working with a team of trainers now Cruz area. Now he and his wife control CrossFit Inc., a rather than soldiers. privately held company nominally based out of an office in Washington, D.C. Together with a small core group At about the same time in the southwest corner of New of managers that currently numbers around eight, they Hampshire, CrossFit operations manager Lynne Pitts oversee an exploding fitness empire that extends from moderates—and contributes to—a rancorous online Seattle to Bogota to Reykjavik and includes nearly 1,500 debate on the proper execution of a workout bearing affiliated gyms, with hundreds more in the pipeline. her name, examining the company accounts in between posts. In Santa Cruz, Calif., media director Tony Budding The company publishes a subscription-only online fitness edits and posts an article to the CrossFit Journal. The journal, certifies hundreds of CrossFit trainers a week at company’s customer-service staff in Ottawa, Ont., helps an average of $1,000 US per person, and provides the a recent CrossFit convert through the website, while the expertise and inspiration for trainers to open their own CrossFit Store based in Laguna Beach, Calif., verifies its gyms—what they call “boxes”—bearing the CrossFit inventory and ships another order. imprimatur for a fee that ranges from $500 to $2,000 per year. Meanwhile, in the southwest United States, CrossFit founders Greg and Lauren Glassman fret over Castro’s safety and marvel at the efficiency, profitability and evolution of a company that still has no fixed headquarters A few things are certain: CrossFit by any standard definition of the term. is hugely profitable, and its growth And the Glassmans are fine with that. has only accelerated during the “The world knows nothing of the virtual company,” Greg worst economic downturn since says. “Venture capitalists don’t get it, the MBAs don’t the 1930s. That’s something get it, and the media don’t get it. The very people who should understand it best are aghast at the concept.” very few companies—fitness or otherwise—can claim. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

Greg Glassman’s company doesn’t adhere to traditional business methods—and he’s fine with that.

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CrossFit Inc. is variously portrayed as a fitness company, a grassroots health movement, a nascent sport, a fad, a publishing business and sometimes, disparagingly, a cult. Whatever the description, a few things are certain: CrossFit is hugely profitable, and its growth has only accelerated during the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. That’s something very few companies— fitness or otherwise—can claim. “In a high tide like the last 10 years, lots of people did well,” says David Patchell-Evans, founder and chief executive officer of GoodLife Fitness, Canada’s largest fitness-club company. “In a low tide, only the best survive and thrive.” Patchell-Evans, who started GoodLife Fitness 30 years ago with a single gym in London, Ont., has seen far more failures in the fitness industry than successes as he guided his own company through economic booms and busts and fitness fads and crazes. “Times change, but how you look after people can’t,” he says. By defining exactly what it is to be fit and designing a An early version of the CrossFit website from 2001-02: different program that quantifiably optimizes physical compe- look, same message—and free from Day 1 to the present. tence, the Glassmans have sparked a fitness movement that has attracted and inspired hundreds of thousands of people around the world. CrossFit’s founders must now contend with the challenges of managing one of the fastest-growing fitness companies on the planet. “We’re clumsy at times at what we do,” Greg admits. “We are managing growth and millions and millions of dollars. There is no one to lean on in a virtual company.”

The Glassmans had seen their workouts change people’s lives, so they began posting a new workout to the site every day. Whatever value the site might have, they reasoned, would have to come through the workouts in the real world. The CrossFit Journal has now evolved into a multimedia publication featuring radio, video and print content contributed from all around the world.

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A Simple Idea Glassman had been calling his training program CrossFit for more than 10 years before he launched the CrossFit. com website in 2001 at the insistence of an unrelenting client. Glassman’s method—constantly varied functional movements in an infinite combination of exercises performed at high intensity—was both addictive and effective. “I was a trainer with a different style with a contract at a gym,” Greg recalls. “A client had reserved the CrossFit name on the web and told me about it. I thought he was a nut. I didn’t even own a computer.” The client provided Greg and Lauren with a computer, said, “You’re online,” and asked them what they wanted their website to do. Their answer was simple: help people. The Glassmans had seen their workouts change people’s lives, so they began posting a new workout to the site every day. Whatever value the site might have, they reasoned, would have to come through the workouts in the real world. CrossFit went online just as stock-market valuations for Internet-related companies were reaching their peaks and any firm with a “dot-com” suffix in its name could reap millions in IPO dollars. Like dozens of other start-ups in Silicon Valley, CrossFit suddenly had financial backers, business advisors and million-dollar expectations. Some of those early advisors suggested giving away free stationary rowers to entice new sign-ups, but the Glassmans disagreed. The website, they insisted, needed CrossFit.com hasn’t changed much over the years because to be simple and functional, like the workouts. Greg and Lauren Glassman believe great content is best “The Internet experts laughed, called it grassroots,” Greg delivered simply so it can stand on its own merit. says. “We tried it anyway.” When the bubble burst, the financiers fled and the CEOs and so-called captains of industry and the new economy Greg Glassman wrote every were led handcuffed to jail, but the website persevered. article that appeared in the CrossFit—the company and brand—began to take shape, one user at a time. earliest editions of the CrossFit The design of the website, sketched in pencil by Journal. He attempted to define Glassman in early 2001, remains almost unchanged fitness, revive respect for the from its earliest iteration, something considered almost anathema in the Internet sector. simplicity of the garage gym and establish the foundations of the CrossFit program.

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The seminal CrossFit Journal article “What Is Fitness” was published in 2002, forming the basis of a program that quickly changed the face of the fitness industry.

“The site looks dated, but it’s functional—so the excel- Considering the Media lence shows through, just like the boxes,” CrossFit CrossFit would not provide traffic data for its principal creative director Ryan Lucas explains from his home websites, which include the main website, the CrossFit in Portland, Ore. “The content is compelling, and that Games hub, the affiliate site and the subscription-only overrides everything else.” CrossFit Journal, which is one of the company’s three A simple grey masthead states the company’s name and primary revenue streams. its mission. A central column displays the workout of the According to Internet data aggregator Alexa.com, though, day—the “WOD”—and provides hyperlinks to instruc- the main site’s users are based overwhelmingly in the tional videos or links to materials that are otherwise U.S. (76 percent) and Canada (3.1 percent), but the site related to the workout. The left-hand navigation bar ranks higher among the most popular sites in Finland. provides links to an FAQ and instructional videos. It also Alexa.com also says that page views have surged almost answers the over-arching question “What is CrossFit?” 23 percent in the past three months alone. The right nav bar provides access to the archives, certification seminars and affiliate links. The CrossFit Journal—full of fitness information, educa- tional material and debate—went online in September of “The website is an important point of impact for us, but last year after spending the first few years of its existence we won’t get lost in presentation,” Lucas says. “What as a monthly newsletter e-mailed to subscribers in a PDF happens in a guy’s garage gym, that’s where the company file. It’s now an Internet presence that’s updated daily really is. The website is where we communicate that.” with fresh print, video or radio content. Media director Tony Budding says the Journal is profitable, but its evolution has never been determined CrossFit claims to be an by its earnings considerations. In fact, the Journal wasn’t even Greg Glassman’s idea. open-source fitness program, and “Client after client of Greg’s said, ‘You need to publish a the CrossFit Journal is where the newsletter,’” Budding says. “Finally, after five years, one masses get their say. of the clients designed it and brought it over to Greg.”

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Copyright © 2009 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Business ... (continued) Staff/CrossFit Journal Glassman wrote every article that appeared in the earliest editions of the Journal when it was launched in September 2002. He attempted to define fitness, revive respect for the simplicity of the garage gym and establish the foundations of the CrossFit program. “It was Lauren and me in a little two-bedroom house, hoping to make a few hundred a week, and now it’s close to a seven-figure property,” Greg says. “People using the site felt obligated to pay because we were giving away everything for free.” The popularity of the Journal required more content, which was increasingly provided by a growing number of CrossFit trainers, clients and coaches from various Dave Castro, a Navy SEAL, serves as CrossFit’s co-director of fitness and sports backgrounds, all of whom flocked to a training and director of the annual CrossFit Games. small gym the Glassmans opened in Santa Cruz. CrossFit claims to be an open-source fitness program, and the Journal is where the masses get their say. Every article, video and MP3 file is open for immediate discussion, debate and sometimes dismissal. “We don’t claim that everything we publish is the most authoritative or correct, only that it has some value, and the community can decide on its merit,” Budding says. “It’s an outlet for great coaches to publish their ideas and dialogue about them instantly. Sometimes the comments are more instructive than the articles.”

At the end of July, there were Tony Budding is CrossFit’s media director, overseeing the about 1,350 CrossFit affiliates CrossFit Journal and coverage of the CrossFit Games. around the world, with almost 500 going through the affiliation process and awaiting equipment or property.

From his home office set back from the road among redwoods and oaks outside Santa Cruz, Budding edits copy, shoots and cuts video, and liaises with colleagues around the world about events that need to be covered, topics that ought to be explored and opportunities to grow the media business. Nicole Carroll, an outstanding athlete in her own right, is CrossFit’s co-director of training.

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Perhaps the biggest opportunity, Budding says, lies in the The CrossFit media unit “is responsible for getting CrossFit Games, a weekend-long gathering held each people up from behind the computer and into the local July in Aromas, Calif., where athletes compete for the gym, where the experience is always better than online,” titles World’s Fittest Man and World’s Fittest Woman. Budding explains. “If that wasn’t the case, all the media Now three years old, the Games initially featured a and marketing in the world wouldn’t matter at all.” handful of CrossFit athletes who were invited to Castro’s family ranch, where they ran, jumped, pulled, lifted and An Unhealthy Health Sector? collapsed in front of an audience of family, friends and a Once visitors to CrossFit.com finally get up the gumption few Camcorders. to hit the gym, they’ll find their choices far richer than The 2009 CrossFit Games featured 77 men and 72 they were even a few months ago. Despite an economic women who qualified at regional events around the backdrop that has driven unemployment rates and world, and CrossFit gyms from Copenhagen to Oakland personal and corporate bankruptcies in the U.S., Canada sent just under a hundred teams to contend for an and Europe to their highest levels in decades, CrossFit’s affiliate championship. Thousands of fans packed the growth has accelerated while that of their competitors stands, and a tent city rose to accommodate a food has slowed, shrunk or disappeared. court, a shopping strip and beer vendors. Town Sports International Holdings, owner of New York “This could be a year-round sport with international Sports Clubs, is expected to report a loss of 6 cents a appeal,” Budding insists. “Will there be a live webcast of share in the third quarter, according to the average the 2010 games? Would it be free? Paid for? We don’t estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. That know yet, but the big thing has not been to create a comes after it recorded a 50-percent plunge in earnings revenue stream but to support the community.” in the second quarter. Life Time Fitness Inc., whose shares have more than tripled since March, is expected to report a 13-percent decline in third-quarter earnings. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

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“The overall health of the sector is difficult to determine, 650 gyms to affiliate paid $1,000 a year. Now, affiliates but the downturn has been solely a function of the pay $2,000 a year. economy,” says Brian Nagel, a New York analyst at The affiliates themselves seem to endorse CrossFit’s Oppenheimer and Co. who covers Life Time Fitness. “The iconoclastic approach to business. smaller gyms, the one-offs, have a tough time because they are generally not well capitalized, and if they close, “A traditional business model says that if you are the best Life Time picks (clients) up.” hairdresser, you keep your secrets to yourself. Why train the competition?” Patterson says. “I say that if you can make others do well, then we’ll all benefit. Now you’re really making a difference.” At least two CrossFit Level Of course, CrossFit isn’t the only fitness company 1 seminars are going on thriving under the harshest economic conditions since somewhere in North America the Great Depression. Canada’s GoodLife Fitness, for each weekend from now until example, is opening new gyms and will expand faster this year than ever before, and the business philosophy well into 2010—and they’re of founder Patchell-Evans echoes Greg Glassman’s. completely sold out. Staff/CrossFit Journal

Many privately held companies have fared worse than their public counterparts. Crunch Fitness was a health-club chain that promoted cardio strip-tease classes and pole-dancing sessions. It was sold by Bally Fitness in 2006 to an investor group and filed for bankruptcy in May. Bally Fitness, meanwhile, has filed for bankruptcy twice since 2007. That isn’t surprising to Craig Patterson, owner of CrossFit Vancouver. “About 80 percent of the people who come here haven’t been in a gym in five years,” he says. According to Patterson, that’s because the average gym is “like a bad nightclub.” Patterson says CrossFit Vancouver has had to move four times in the past four years to accommodate its growing numbers, while more than a dozen other CrossFit affiliates have been started by former clients and trainers. At the end of July, there were about 1,350 CrossFit affiliates around the world, with almost 500 going through the affiliation process and awaiting equipment or property. At the end of January 2007, there were 300 affiliates. Twelve months earlier, the number was 100. Level 1 and 2 CrossFit certification seminars are held all over the world every weekend, with elite trainers from CrossFit HQ The first 350 affiliates paid just $500 a year for the right teaching attendees how to move properly and coach more to call themselves CrossFit gyms, and that price will effectively. The seminars are already sold out into 2010. never change for them, Greg Glassman says. The next

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“Where I’m going with the business, I haven’t sat down and discussed it with (Greg Glassman),” Patterson says. “He’s given me everything I need. They demand payment and that’s it. Everything is there on the site, but it doesn’t help you run a business. You figure that out on your own.” Indeed, in CrossFit’s virtual business model, the affiliates are left to succeed or fail largely on their own. “We are not a franchisor,” Greg says. “Franchises lack a diversity of approach, and if I try to get everyone moving in lockstep, I get everyone moving towards mediocrity. Because we have a Darwinian/free-market approach to the affiliates, best practices arise at a breathtaking rate.” Certifiable One of the biggest draws for a CrossFit affiliate is a certification seminar, the company’s biggest revenue generator. The fitness program itself involves an infinite number of exercises and movement combinations done at high intensity, and many of those movements are exceptionally technical. Every CrossFit trainer must go through a weekend-long seminar where each is taught

Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit and then drilled on movements as simple as the squat Certification seminars focus on a variety of movements, and as complex as the muscle-up. with the squat chief among them. Level 1 certification seminars teach the basics of the “A club is a box made alive by the people in it,” Patchell- core CrossFit movements and concepts, then Level 2 Evans says. “Everything boils down to people, whether certifications take Level 1 graduates and deepen their you’re CrossFit or GoodLife. The core competency is understanding and hone their coaching skills through a caring.” rigorous testing process. CrossFit athletes can continue to improve their performance through seminars for Both Patchell-Evans and Glassman refer to their facilities barbell basics, Olympic lifts, gymnastics, nutrition, as “boxes,” but in CrossFit’s case, the term is remarkably rowing, running, kettlebells and training children. accurate. Ranging in size from single-car garages to industrial warehouses, CrossFit gyms typically feature The Level 1 seminars are open to anyone—CrossFitter or bare walls, rubberized floors, thousands of pounds of not—who wants to learn better exercise technique and Olympic weights, dozens of Olympic bars, climbing get more out of the gym. And they’re popular. At least ropes and gymnastic rings suspended from the rafters, two CrossFit Level 1 seminars are going on somewhere pull-up bars, a few racks of dumbbells, maybe some in North America each weekend from now until well into massive truck tires, and a few rowing machines. And a 2010, and they’re completely sold out. The weekend of lot of chalk. Oct. 17, for example, saw CrossFit HQ trainers hosting seminars in Brisbane, Australia; Montclair, N.J.; and “The people in the boxes define the brand,” says Lucas, Reno, Nev. the creative director. “Each affiliate is a shepherd of the CrossFit brand. The look of the gym, the T-shirts, that’s An average of 60 students attend each seminar. up to them, but go to a box in California, Toronto or That number often includes five scholarship spots Australia and the feeling will be the same.” for the host affiliate; discounted rates for military, law-enforcement officers and other first responders; and Patterson agrees.

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Copyright © 2009 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Business ... (continued) Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit Certification seminars feature lectures, hands-on instruction and a workout so participants understand what CrossFit is all about.

other complimentary spots for special cases. CrossFit kids and running. Though the number of attendees at says it has sold out every Level 1 seminar it has offered. each specialty seminar isn’t fixed—nor are the prices—it With each paying student forking over $1,000, the third seems a safe bet that the special-material certifications weekend of October generated an estimated $150,000. provide a significant revenue stream for CrossFit Inc. Castro, co-director of training with Nicole Carroll, says Headquarters on the Internet CrossFit runs two Level 1 seminars every weekend of the Like the other two principal business units—media and year in North America but for the major holidays. Often affiliation—the seminar business is managed by the you’ll find three or four seminars on a single weekend, Glassmans with a light touch, staying in close contact but that will include at least one Level 2 seminar and an with Castro and Carroll via phone and computer but additional Level 1 seminar overseas. letting them make the day-to-day decisions—even if CrossFit also conducts several mid-week seminars some of those decisions are being made by an exhausted through the course of the year for military units and Navy SEAL in a combat zone half a world away. law-enforcement officers in smaller groups of 20 at $800 per person. Every week of September had a military seminar, Castro says. Using the most conservative assumptions (CrossFit “Franchises lack a diversity of Inc. declined several requests for detailed financials) approach, and if I try to get for an average of two Level 1 seminars per weekend for 49 weekends per year, two Level 2 seminars per everyone moving in lockstep, I month (though there are often more), plus two military get everyone moving towards seminars per month, the certification program generates roughly $6.48 million in revenue. mediocrity. Because we have a Darwinian/free-market approach That number also excludes well over a hundred specialty seminars each year, where subject matter experts pay to the affiliates, best practices affiliates a small fee for hosting the event. CrossFit Inc. arise at a breathtaking rate.” receives a percentage—20 or 30—of the gross revenue taken in by the specialist. In the final three months — Greg Glassman of 2009, there will be dozens of specialty seminars focusing on Olympic lifts, rowing, nutrition, working with

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Greg and Lauren Glassman carry the titles of CEO and and therefore improving life. And the system, like CFO, respectively, in a largely flat management structure the company, is designed to constantly accept and that has plenty of overlap and requires careful communi- implement change from without. cation, coordination and cooperation among its far-flung “We have a gift for all people,” he says. “We are helping team. people move and improve their lives. There is a price for “The virtual model works extremely well, but not admission: you have to exert yourself, but you will be perfectly,” says Pitts, the operations manager. “We are better for having worked with us.” all self-directed, self-motivated and don’t need adult supervision, but sometimes it is tougher to coordinate F stuff.” Pitts, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, produces About the Author a weekly activity report, or “WAR,” for the Glassmans, aggregating the revenue streams and highlighting and Marty Cej is an anchor analyzing what’s working and what isn’t. Right now, Pitts and the managing editor is confident the virtual model will continue to function at Canada’s BNN, the well in the foreseeable future, even if it is impossible to Business News Network. throw a paper clip at a colleague in the next cubicle. He covered financial markets in Europe, the “You can’t walk down the hall, put your nose on U.S. and Canada for more someone’s desk and pester them,” she says, “but the than a decade as a print technology to stay in touch is only going to get better. journalist with Bloomberg There will be hiccups and mistakes, but the model won’t News, MarketWatch fail anytime soon.” and The Globe and Mail Greg Glassman calls the company’s evolution “organic,” before he was seduced by a term that has become a buzzword for any sort of the glamour of Canadian growth that doesn’t result from an acquisition or merger. television. He has been In CrossFit’s case, the word is both accurate and specific. CrossFitting since 2006. Glassman has taken his lead from clients and trainers, cherry-picking what works and dismissing what doesn’t. He likens his role to that of an orchard keeper rather than manager. “When you map out the revenue streams—the affiliates, media and the seminars—the way they support each other is too beautiful to have been planned,” Glassman admits. “The Journal validates our approach, the seminars authenticate it by providing a real human experience, and the affiliates replicate the process. It’s the virulent nature of CrossFit.” At its core, the business is about the individual client who shows up at the gym hoping to improve her fitness, whether she’s a triathlete stuck in a training rut, a retired accountant or a 38-year-old mother of three looking for the energy to recover from a cancer diagnosis and double-mastectomy. Glassman and his trainers believe they have created the best system in the world for improving fitness,

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Diluting the Brand? Passionate CrossFitters have questions about the growth of the movement. Alec Hanson believes existing affiliates need to spend less time worrying and more time pursuing excellence and virtuosity.

Alec Hanson Chris Worden/CrossFit Costa Mesa Costa Chris Worden/CrossFit

The following open letter was posted Oct. 7, 2009, on the CrossFit Discussion Board as part of a thread titled “Huge Decline in Quality.” It is reformatted and reprinted here with the author’s permission. An Open Letter Regarding CrossFit I don’t normally respond to various letters, articles, blogs, posts and comments regarding CrossFit as a national movement simply because I am too busy growing my humble CrossFit gym and thriving. But today is different for me for some reason, and I feel compelled.

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My partner and I have always wondered about the The list goes on and on. I have watched affiliates try to future of the CrossFit movement as we find ourselves harm other affiliates, steal clients and trainers, and rip progressing forward from days of underground garage other CrossFit marketing out of the ground or off walls gyms to warehouse “boxes” and eventually moving into and buildings. I have watched verbal sparring on forums massive fitness facilities in the tens of thousands of and blogs as people try to show how such and such is square feet. This is the future of CrossFit as I see it. superior or inferior, all in an effort to cover their own insecurity. We have pondered the topic of hundreds of new “certified” trainers being pumped out every weekend and watched It all leads me back to the same consistent foundation in curiosity as subsequent affiliates began popping up all CrossFit was built on that has been a major building over the nation. We had the same questions about the block to the explosive growth: Excellence. People train ability of these “certified” trainers and new affiliates, at with trainers who provide excellence. times thinking the same things a lot of people think. When the first WOD was posted on CrossFit.com and Things like: the request was made to “post time to comments,” the world of fitness was changed. Our old fitness ideas 1. These people are diluting the brand. were challenged and old mind frames refuted—all with 2. They are causing destruction to what CrossFit the underlying foundation that we will back it up. And really is. CrossFitters have been backing it up for years now. 3. They are injuring people. 4. They don’t know what they are doing. Drop your insecurity and inferiority 5. They don’t know how to program, they are bad trainers, they suck. complex and get some confidence in your product and what you do. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

The face of CrossFit has changed since Greg Glassman started the first box in Santa Cruz, Calif., but the constant pursuit of training excellence remains the same.

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If a “new” trainer affiliates after getting certified and Staff/CrossFit Journal starts and gym and grows it through passion and enthu- siasm to hundreds of clients, and if those clients are gaining strength, improving their gym times, dropping fat and lifting heavier every quarter ... guess what? That is a good trainer. Now are they are good as you are? Do they know more about exercise physiology than you do? Are they creating superior athletes like you are? Maybe not. If they are unsafe or not knowledgeable, their clients will all eventually leave them and find you. If they are creating massive success for their clients and setting new PRs all the time and they still keep growing and expanding and loving their success, then guess what? They are great Dave Werner’s CrossFit North became the first affiliate trainers. Those who complain that these people don’t in 2002. It was the first step to making CrossFit a global movement. know enough, are not good trainers, etc., are whiney, whiney victims and need to shut up or go away.

Don’t you get it? A great trainer is someone who inspires Staff/CrossFit Journal those they train. They create new opportunities for their members. They push them and encourage them and are invested in their lives and their success. If they are bad trainers, their clients will either get hurt, hit plateaus or realize they don’t really know anything and leave. What are you afraid of?

Focus on the foundational truths our community is built on. Love the fact that we are open-source Staff/CrossFit Journal affiliates versus carbon-copy franchises.

That’s why I don’t care if 100 new CrossFit gyms open up blocks apart from me. I spend every day improving my ability to train people, deepening my knowledge in all areas around fitness and nutrition, and learning and adapting to become better each day. If I lose a client to another gym because that gym does a better job training them or inspiring them, I don’t cry about how unfair life is—I learn and I get better. I’m more interested in helping Level 1 certs add more people to the CrossFit movement every those new gyms grow effectively, train better and have week—and Alec Hanson believes this is a very good thing. massive success like I have.

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“But, Alec, the brand is being diluted. People are thinking Staff/CrossFit Journal they are getting trained at ‘CrossFit’ when they are not.” I don’t give a shit. Why would I? People have been getting trained by “personal trainers” who know nothing about fitness for years and years now. Talk about a diluted brand image. The title “personal trainer” means just about as much to me as “life coach.” I don’t know what the hell you do! So, my open letter to the CrossFit community can be simplified into several succinct points: • Get over yourself. Focus on becoming excellent in what you do and help those around you become excellent as well. • Drop your insecurity and inferiority complex and get some confidence in your product and what you do.

• Focus on the foundational truths our community People all over the world are discovering what athletes in Santa is built on. Love the fact that we are open-source Cruz found out years ago: the magic is in the movements. affiliates versus carbon-copy franchises. • Stop complaining about how unfair life is and own up to the reality you have created in your life. Your ego is not that special. Oh, and one more thing: Show some damn respect and appreciation to CrossFit HQ for fighting through the BS it took to bring this revolution to the world and for helping fill your damn gym with clients simply through their Chris Worden/CrossFit Costa Mesa “brand” and placing your link on their website. Alec Hanson Owner CrossFit Costa Mesa

About the Author Alec Hanson owns and operates CrossFit Costa Mesa with his friend and partner Steve Dugger. He has been CrossFitting for a little over two years. Alec is 28 and married, with two bulldogs: an English bulldog named She-Ra and a French bulldog named He-Man. Alec lives in Costa Mesa, Calif., and posts regularly to his blog, The CrossFit Gamer. He is an avid gamer, a fantasy nerd and a CrossFit addict, and his super power is irrational self-confidence (so he’s been told).

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Centers of Excellence - Part II Athletes from CrossFit Calgary and CrossFit Central did extremely well at the 2009 CrossFit Games. In Part 2 of this two-part series, we talk to Jeremy Thiel and Mike Gregory about their training secrets.

Mike Warkentin Courtesy of CrossFit Central CrossFit of Courtesy

Rewind to July 11 at the 2009 CrossFit Games. Jeremy Thiel is standing in the athletes’ warm-up area, yelling at a flat-screen TV streaming the live feed from the JumboTron towering over the Stadium. The energized Texan is barking instructions and encouragement as Crystal McReynolds and Carey Kepler work their way through a WOD. He looks almost as fired up as when he pulled 505 in the deadlift ladder a few hours earlier.

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Thiel is passionate about CrossFit, but he’s also Staff/CrossFit Journal passionate about CrossFit Central, his athletes, his friends, his co-workers and his family—and Kepler and McReynolds represent all those things at once. It Takes a Village CrossFit Central did extremely well at the 2009 Games. McReynolds, a coach at Thiel’s box, finished ninth, and Kepler, his sister and the co-founder of CrossFit Central, finished third. Lance Cantu, another Central coach, placed 34th. CrossFit Central’s Affiliate Cup team— made up predominately of Central trainers—placed second. One year after finishing third at the 2008 competition, Thiel himself made the Top 16, placing 16th after withdrawing from the final WOD with a lat strain. Together with CrossFit Calgary, which placed four athletes in the Top 16 and a team in the Affiliate Cup final, CrossFit Central stood out as a box that was “doing something right.” Thiel believes the success of his box in Austin, Texas, comes from within. “We have a mission here to push the human potential,” Thiel says, “and each coach and each person, each athlete, is constantly supporting and elevating. ... What we see is CrossFit as a community, and CrossFit Central has taken it to the next level. I think maybe it’s a problem possibly in our culture these days where a lot of people are going it alone and there’s not a lot of community. Our goal and focus at CrossFit Central is to develop a supportive community that can actually be an extended part of your family.”

To move knowledge from coach to coach, CrossFit Central has implemented its own in-house training program.

Prior to the Games, Carey Kepler complemented her outstanding metabolic conditioning with some extra strength work.

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While Thiel is very conscious that at least half of the “What we’ve been able to do collectively is bring more than 500 members of CrossFit Central don’t really together very intelligent individuals who are coachable, understand the CrossFit Games and the new sport they and we’ve been educated through CrossFit and through represent, he strives to produce excellence in every the specialists from Coach Burgener to Robb Wolf to athlete, from firebreathers trying to get to Aromas Coach Glassman,” Thiel explains. to deconditioned members trying to get into smaller Thiel has about eight Level 2-certified CrossFit trainers, clothes. That means being a coach at the box comes and the rest of his staff of approximately 22 have with a responsibility to learn as much about CrossFit as well-rounded qualifications. If you run down the list of possible. coaches on CrossFitCentral.com, you’ll see experts in “How do you take what’s on dot-com—all the videos, all powerlifting, kettlebells, running, agility, parkour, Oly the journals—and condense that and teach it to a lot of lifting and beyond. To move knowledge from coach people?” Thiel asks. “I think it takes a well-rounded staff to coach, CrossFit Central has implemented its own of individuals who are experts, and that’s what Coach in-house training program. Glassman has done. HQ has brought in Olympic weightlifting experts or barbell experts or gymnastics experts. We have kind of created that community here.” Thiel has tried to hire a staff of experts to train his “What we see is CrossFit as a athletes, and he believes the special skills of each coach community, and CrossFit Central were a real asset in preparing for the Games. With elite coaches watching qualifying Games athletes train and has taken it to the next level.” giving constant feedback, the athletes were able to train harder and smarter while preparing for the rigors of —Jeremy Thiel the Games. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

CrossFit Central places a lot of importance on nutrition, supplementation and psychological preparation—aspects that take training beyond the WOD.

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“We really believe in modelling,” Thiel explains. “So from Staff/CrossFit Journal there, whenever we certify and get trained, Carey Kepler is in charge of our overall education and development of our trainers. And so we’re very well educated. If we have three trainers go to an Endurance Cert, we bring back the content and basically replicate the cert to all of our trainers to teach them what it is that they’ve learned.” Dot-Com Delivers In terms of specific training for the Games competitors, Thiel reveals the strategy wasn’t all that complicated: the coaches basically just followed CrossFit.com and supplemented the main-site WODs with some additional work. “I think there was a discipline of doing some of the weaknesses, working weaknesses, and working on repetitions of certain skills,” Thiel says, noting that his sister is a great runner who is challenged by strength WODs. To compensate, Kepler supplemented her met-con WODs with some strength work and overhead lifting in the months prior to the Games. Interestingly enough, CrossFit Central actually does less strength-focused WODs than you might think. Whereas some boxes—CrossFit Calgary is one—try to add in more strength WODs than you see on the main site, the athletes in Austin are doing more met-con work. “Strength work is something that we definitely promote and we definitely believe in, but at the same time, our clients that come to us on a regular basis, 95 percent of them come twice or three times per week,” says Mike Gregory, who handles the programming for the co-ed classes. “With that in mind, a lot of times they want to Mike Gregory, who captained CrossFit Central’s Affiliate Cup team, handles the programming come in and feel like they’re spent. A three-times-a- in Austin. Interestingly, he opts for less weeker coming to us isn’t probably looking for specifi- strength work and more met-con WODs. cally gaining strength, so I’ve got to keep in mind that we’re going to incorporate strength training into our workout, but a lot more metabolic conditioning than you’d probably find on dot-com.” Heavy days only come up about four times a month, with the hopes that every client will get a two heavy WODs Thiel believes solid nutrition a month. Gregory believes strength is as important as accounts for 60-70 percent any of the other 10 CrossFit fitness domains, but he of CrossFit Central’s success encourages athletes to work on it on their own. in Aromas.

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Jeremy Thiel came into the Games 10 lb. heavier than last year but made sure his endurance wasn’t affected by the increased muscle mass.

As for the Affiliate Cup team, Gregory says the members “I actually started running about 30 days out about three primarily trained as individuals, but the group would days a week. ... I weighed actually 10 more pounds this practice key team workouts once or twice a week for year than I did last year,” Thiel says. “I put on quite a bit about two months before the Games in order to get a of weight. And it’s kind of interesting because, prior to sense of each other. Once they got to The Ranch and sticking to dot-com on a regular basis, I was running found out the format for the competition, they felt more quite a bit as a regular part of my routine just because than prepared. I enjoy it. “We understood the strategy involved with team “And I got away from that because I was really focusing workouts going into it.” Gregory says. “We very much on the Games and my strength was going up and I was stuck to doing our own workouts as individuals because, putting on weight. I don’t know if it was an age thing, in my opinion, that’s what’s going help set your ability to too. I’m 27 now. I don’t know if I’m holding onto muscle become the most fit, and then on occasion we’d have a mass better than I was when I was younger, but I gained team workout that would tax the body but allow you to weight and I wanted to trim down a little bit more before have good time to rest and recover.” I went to the Games.” That strategy paid off in July when Gregory, Andy Lewis, Tyler Parsons, Jessica Sharratt, Jen Cardella and Kris Kepler managed to place no lower than 14th in all three of If you had to summarize the Friday’s Affiliate Cup WODs. reasons for CrossFit Central’s In addition to Gregory, Lewis, Sharratt and Cardella all collect checks at CrossFit Central, and Kris Kepler is the success at the Games in proud husband of Carey—how’s that for community? one word, you might choose Thiel himself looked to build on last year’s success at the “community.” Games by doing a bit more running and putting on some mass.

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Clocking about 4.5 miles per training workout at a pace Staff/CrossFit Journal around 6:45 allowed Thiel to finish 16th in the trail run in Aromas, and less than an hour later he was one of 16 men to pull 505 and complete the deadlift ladder in WOD 2. The combination of strength and endurance served Thiel well in the contest, and he was one of the favored competitors before a rough go in the sledge- hammer WOD dropped him out of contention for the overall title. Beyond the WOD One of the common threads between the CrossFit boxes in Calgary and Austin is nutrition. OPT and Brett Marshall are very careful when it comes to diet for their athletes in Canada, and Thiel takes a similar approach to fuelling his clients. In fact, Thiel believes solid nutrition accounts for 60-70 percent of CrossFit Central’s success in Aromas. “We follow a pretty rigorous nutrition program from the Paleo/Zone, athlete Zone model,” Thiel explains. “I’d say 90 percent of the athletes at the Games that qualified were doing that Paleo/Zone-athlete Zone.” Gregory agrees: “I believe it was very good athletes with a very hard work ethic and a really good grasp on their nutrition.” Supplementation also plays a key role, and Thiel puts a great deal of emphasis on recovery via myofascial release and trigger-point therapy. “We want to activate support for the overall body with the nutrition and then we want to come in post-high- intensity training and put in active recovery with the myofascial-release type of activities,” he says. Moving beyond the body, Thiel worked hard to prepare his athletes psychologically for both their daily WODs and the CrossFit Games. After competing himself in 2007 and 2008, Thiel knew what it was like to go head-to-head with the fittest athletes in the world in a high-intensity environment full of cameras and screaming fans. “We’re very conscious of sports psychology, and the sense of awareness of how you’re approaching your workout and the level of intensity that is brought,” Thiel While Jeremy Thiel is an intense competitor, says. Crystal McReynolds is more laid back. CrossFit Central tries to teach their athletes how to get into an He adds: “We look at a wealth of information from goal- ideal mental state before each WOD. setting and how you’re adjusting your goals and how you’re addressing each component of your workout.”

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Thiel utilizes the collective intensity created in his box to Staff/CrossFit Journal prepare his athletes for competition, but he’ll also turn them on to books such as The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson and selections by motivator Anthony Robbins. Mental preparation, discipline, goal setting and mental toughness are all aspects Thiel works on with his athletes. He pays particular attention to the personality of each athlete and tries to use a different approach to bring out the best in each one. Thiel himself is a fiery, intense competitor who ramps up the energy before a workout, while McReynolds is extremely laid back and calm. By recognizing the characteristics of each athlete, trainers at CrossFit Central hope to create the ideal ready state for top performance, even in gruelling circumstances. Community Club If you had to summarize the reasons for CrossFit Central’s success at the Games in one word, you might choose “community.” Thiel has worked hard to create something more than a box in Texas—he’s trying to create a lifestyle. That lifestyle includes hard workouts and great programming, but it also includes good food, continuing education, psychological preparation, careful supplementation, friendship and camaraderie. The result is a community that was on display in Aromas The trainers at CrossFit Central believe a holistic approach is in July—a community perhaps best illustrated by one the key to producing top athletes—and they may be right. passionate trainer/athlete yelling encouragement at a flat-screen TV.

About the Author Mike Warkentin is the managing editor of the CrossFit Journal. He is a Level 2 certified trainer, and he enjoyed working with Coach Mike Burgener and meeting affiliate owners from Squamish, B.C., to Bathhurst, N.B., at a recent Olympic lifting cert in Ottawa, Ont.

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