#138 - Progression Isn't Needed to Progress
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
Release Date: 09/12/2024
#158 - Minimum Effective Dose for Former Competitors
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
Moving into a phase of lower training volume as a competitor taking things less seriously can be a difficult transition. CrossFit demands a great deal, and when you’re accustomed to putting in the work to improve and progress, letting go of some of that progress, or even just slowing the rate of improvement, can feel like a big ask. Is it possible to improve at a lower volume than competitors typically maintain in such a high-volume sport? Keeping intensity and strength doesn’t require much, but the ability to tolerate the demanding nature of competition and qualifiers can fade quickly. It...
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#157 - Overused Coaching Cues
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
Hang around a CrossFit gym for ten minutes and you’ll probably hear some coaching of hip extension going on. It might be “popping the hips” during a kipping movement, “finish the pull” in a snatch or clean, or the old “squeeze your butt” at the top of a squat or deadlift. All coaching cues have a degree of truth behind them, but some are overused to the point where they are unhelpful or even misleading. An overemphasis on hip extension in movement is definitely one of those cues that are overused. In this week’s episode we discuss the use of coaching cues, rant a little about...
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#156 - Bootcamp to CrossFit Funnel
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
With hybrid training and events like Hyrox on the rise, more gyms are adapting—some diversifying their class offerings, others going as far as de-affiliating from CrossFit entirely. In this episode, we explore how the functional fitness landscape is shifting and what that means for gym owners. Todd draws a brilliant analogy between the spectrum of fitness offerings and doom metal. On one end, you've got the aggressive intensity of CrossFit, on the other, the more polished, accessible experience of a Barry's Bootcamp-style class. We discuss what makes a gym successful, how onboarding (or the...
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#155 - Standardisation with Competition Divisions
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
As a competitor moves up the ranks, the experience they get from different competitions can vary drastically. At some competitions, the standard of the division matches really well with prior expectations and the qualification process. Whereas in a different competition, divisions are named the same as others, but it's a notch or two up or down when comparing. This difference can be very frustrating as an athlete and coach. It means that some competitions don't provide useful information to help with training and improving. It's going to be impossible to make everyone happy–for some it will...
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#154 - Who's Cheating?
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
Cheating in CrossFit has been around since the early days of the Open and online qualifiers. From athletes looping videos to some competitors being exposed year after year at Regionals, it's a persistent undercurrent in the sport. But how widespread is cheating and does it always happen intentionally? At one end of the spectrum, you have blatant rule-breaking, like switching out a medicine ball for a lighter one. At the other, you see more subtle infractions, such as a judge giving a warning for a squat that is just shy of full depth. Both technically count as cheating, but they are worlds...
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#153 - How to Train?
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
One of the classic clichés often repeated by coaches is that the best programme in the world, executed poorly, is far less effective than the worst programme executed well. While it’s true that a poorly designed programme can still be ineffective, there is merit in the idea that how you train matters more than what’s on paper. Teaching athletes how to train effectively and execute a programme to the best of their ability is one of the best leverage points for a coach. Much of this comes down to observing and interpreting training outcomes. These results often reveal whether the athlete is...
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#152 - Are You Actually Getting Better?
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
One of the challenges in a highly varied sport like CrossFit is determining whether we’re actually improving. Once an athlete has accumulated a significant amount of training volume, the classic test-retest approach on isolated elements of the sport becomes less effective. We can spend weeks or even months working on a particular movement, only to struggle with it again when the context shifts slightly. Coaches can use tools such as variation, psychological momentum, and developing complementary areas to support progress—but what happens when an athlete hits a ceiling with a...
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#151 - Big Changes to Training
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
Have you ever felt the urge to flip the table and completely change your training or someone else's programme? Maybe a few small competition experiences have made you feel like your training is heading in the wrong direction. Perhaps you're getting tired of working on the same things. Or maybe you want to change your training goal entirely. Whether you're making big changes to your training goals and what you train for, or you're shifting the direction and focus of your training while keeping the same goal, some of these changes can be reactionary and driven by frustration—this is where you...
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#150 - Arguing About Book Learning
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
Having a formal education in sports science, kinesiology, or a similar field may seem beneficial for a CrossFit coach. However, you might end up learning a lot of technical information without any context or knowledge of how to apply it. Conversely, you may develop extensive coaching experience and navigate situations in the moment with ease but lack the technical knowledge or critical thinking skills to tackle more complex challenges. This week's episode is all about striking a balance between being book-smart and having the coaching experience to handle situations effectively. We discuss...
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#149 - Beyond MGW
Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
When learning anything, it can be difficult to step back from the details, and this is especially true for CrossFit programming. Often, you'll find coaches who are highly focused on the means (the exercises, the sets and reps) rather than the methods (the programme, the desired stimulus, the weekly plan, etc.). As much as constructing a programme or workout based on the latest sports science information is considered the best approach, sometimes it doesn't hold up, and you need to rely on your own training or coaching experience to create something more contextual and effective. In this...
info_outlineThere comes a stage in training where week-to-week progress grinds to a halt, and it is often met with feeling like you have regressed or are stuck. You can even stretch this timeline out, and it might feel like noticeable progress doesn't happen for months. This can be a difficult realisation to overcome, and it is a constant battle that challenges many athletes and coaches.
But progress doesn't have to be measured by adding more weight to the bar or knocking off seconds on your interval split times. A lot of CrossFit is about maintaining your abilities under more duress and fatigue.
In this episode, we discuss some other, more discreet ways to measure progress and see if an athlete is improving. We talk about how this applies to different training modalities and how we can harness it to help motivate athletes, along with some other thoughts and ideas about programming.
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Show Notes:
- [2:30] The goal of training is to create adaptation
- [4:30] Alternative and discreet measures of progress
- [6:00] Progress happens under the curve
- [8:45] Athlete confidence or progress?
- [10:00] Tricking athletes with different styles of programming
- [11:30] Accumulating work as a form of improvement
- [13:30] Making your performance more durable
- [14:45] Durability of gymnastics skills
- [17:00] Being flexible with gymnastics programming