#2 - Starting With a New Athlete: Are Testing Phases Over?
Release Date: 08/12/2025
#5 - Long-Term Development in CrossFit Athletes
Barbell Strategy Podcast
Athletes are often focused on the skills they need to unlock, the next competition result, and what they should be doing now to perform in a year’s time. But what happens after next season? Is there a better way to develop their skills for the long term, rather than simply acquiring them as quickly as possible? And what do training goals look like further down the line? This kind of long-term thinking and planning is something coaches need to support athletes with. You have to consider the athlete’s current level, how to progress them, and whether training can be structured now to maximise...
info_outline
#4 - The Bridge Between Training & Rehab
Barbell Strategy Podcast
Athletes often seek remote coaching to achieve very specific goals. It might be mastering a certain skill, qualifying for a competition, or taking on a new challenge. What usually happens, though, is that through the process of remote coaching, athletes discover unexpected benefits that keep them engaged longer than they anticipated. Having experienced coaching from both sides—as athletes and as coaches—we’ve identified the top three things athletes truly need and ultimately gain through coaching. In this episode, we dive into the bridge between training and rehab, what a prioritised...
info_outline
#3 - Strength in CrossFit Is Overemphasised
Barbell Strategy Podcast
CrossFit is a sport that demands a wide range of skills and physical qualities. You could argue that strength forms the foundation of all of these, but does that mean it’s often overemphasised in people’s training and coaching? One of the biggest things we’d both change, looking back on our younger years of competing and coaching, is how much focus we placed on strength.. In this week’s episode, we share the two biggest things we’ve changed our minds about over the years – and, as it happens, our approach to strength training is one of them. Tune in to hear more about the mental...
info_outline
#2 - Starting With a New Athlete: Are Testing Phases Over?
Barbell Strategy Podcast
We all have a pretty clear picture of what remote coaching looks like day to day, but what are the processes that make it so effective beyond individualised training and regular feedback? What is it that creates the individualised training programme in the first place? This week we take a look at how we start out with a new athlete and what the onboarding and initial training might look like in different situations. Do we need to collect a lot of data or is it better to just let the training guide the process? In this episode we cover different strategies that we use ranging from traditional...
info_outline
#1 - Finding CrossFit & Getting Into Coaching
Barbell Strategy Podcast
Welcome to our first introductory episode of the Barbell Strategy Podcast. In this episode, we (Luke and Sam) share our stories on how we found CrossFit and got into coaching. We finish off the episode by answering some of your questions on training masters athletes and structuring a deload. Check out the episode for tales of CrossFit “back in the day”, university stories, and some nuggets on coaching and training. Show Notes: [1:00] Sam’s secret training programme [2:30] Podcast introduction [4:00] Sam’s coaching story [12:00] Luke’s coaching story [27:00] Barbell Strategy...
info_outlineWe all have a pretty clear picture of what remote coaching looks like day to day, but what are the processes that make it so effective beyond individualised training and regular feedback?
What is it that creates the individualised training programme in the first place?
This week we take a look at how we start out with a new athlete and what the onboarding and initial training might look like in different situations. Do we need to collect a lot of data or is it better to just let the training guide the process?
In this episode we cover different strategies that we use ranging from traditional testing weeks, intake forms and data gathering, to a more emergent process where the focus is on the training and making big wins by refining the execution of daily training.
Check out this episode to discover how we start off with a new athlete and how that has developed over the years
Show Notes:
[0:00] Knowing how often to compete
[5:00] Starting out with a new athlete
[10:00] What stats should you collect
[13:00] Setting goals with a new athlete
[20:00] When goals are not aligned
[25:00] What the first programme looks like
[36:30] QUESTION: Getting a mental block in weightlifting
[45:00] QUESTION: Is Zone 2 helpful for CrossFit athletes
[49:00] QUESTION: Does posture and sitting all day affect mobility
[54:00] QUESTION: Is the “unknown” in CrossFit bad for beginners
Check out Luke on instagram! (https://www.instagram.com/lj.holmes/)
Check out Sam on instagram! (https://www.instagram.com/tailormadecoaching/)
Check out Matt Harvey on instagram! (https://www.instagram.com/mattharvvey/)