LEVEL 1 TRAINING GUIDE

TABLE OF CONTENTS Level 1 Training Guide | CrossFit

Methodology
Understanding CrossFit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Supplementation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Foundations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A Theoretical Template for CrossFit’s
What Is Fitness? (Part 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Programming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
What Is Fitness? (Part 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Scaling CrossFit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Technique. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 “The Girls” for Grandmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Nutrition: Avoiding Disease and Running a CrossFit Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Optimizing Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Lesson Plan: Fran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Fitness, Luck and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Lesson Plan: Back Squat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Zone Meal Plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Lesson Plan: 20-Minute AMRAP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Typical CrossFit Block Prescriptions
and Adjustments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Movements
Anatomy and Physiology for Jocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 The Deadlift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Squat Clinic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Medicine-Ball Cleans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
The Overhead Squat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk . . . . . . . . . . 118

Trainer Guidance
Where Do I Go From Here?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Scaling Professional Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Responsible Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Certificate License
Fundamentals, Virtuosity and Mastery: Agreement in Plain English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
An Open Letter to CrossFit Trainers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Frequently Asked Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Professional Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 CrossFit Credentials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Movement Guide
Nine Foundational Movements Summary. . . . . 170 Four Additional Movements Summary. . . . . . . . . 218
The Air Squat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 The Pull-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
The Front Squat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 The Thruster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
The Overhead Squat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 The Muscle-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
The Shoulder Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 The Snatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
The Push Press. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
The Push Jerk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
The Deadlift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The Sumo Deadlift High Pull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
The Medicine-Ball Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Index
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Alphabetical Listing of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Alphabetical Listing of Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

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Understanding CrossFit
Originally published in April 2007.

The aims, prescription, methodology, implementation, and adaptations of CrossFit

are collectively and individually unique, defining of CrossFit, and instrumental in
our program’s successes in diverse applications.

Aims
From the beginning, the aim of CrossFit has been to forge a broad, general, and
inclusive fitness. We sought to build a program that would best prepare trainees
for any physical contingency–prepare them not only for the unknown but for
the unknowable. Looking at all sport and physical tasks collectively, we asked
what physical skills and adaptations would most universally lend themselves
to performance advantage. Capacity culled from the intersection of all sports
demands would quite logically lend itself well to all sport. In sum, our specialty is
not specializing.

Prescription
CrossFit is: “constantly varied, high-intensity functional movement.” This is our
prescription. Functional movements are universal motor recruitment patterns;
they are performed in a wave of contraction from core to extremity; and they are
compound movements–i.e., they are multi-joint. They are natural, effective, and
efficient locomotors of body and external objects. But no aspect of functional
movements is more important than their capacity to move large loads over long
distances, and to do so quickly. Collectively, these three attributes (load, distance,
and speed) uniquely qualify functional movements for the production of high
power. Intensity is defined exactly as power, and intensity is the independent
variable most commonly associated with maximizing the rate of return of favorable
adaptation to exercise. Recognizing that the breadth and depth of a program’s
stimulus will determine the breadth and depth of the adaptation it elicits, our
prescription of functionality and intensity is constantly varied. We believe that

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preparation for random physical challenges–i.e., unknown and unknowable

events–is at odds with fixed, predictable, and routine regimens.

Methodology
The methodology that drives CrossFit is entirely empirical. We believe that
meaningful statements about safety, efficacy, and efficiency, the three most “We’ve taken high-
important and interdependent facets to evaluate any fitness program, can intensity, constantly
be supported only by measurable, observable, repeatable data. We call this varied functional
approach “evidence-based fitness.” CrossFit’s methodology depends on full
workouts and distilled
disclosure of methods, results, and criticisms, and we have employed the internet
to support these values. Our charter is open source, making co-developers out of
load, range of motion,
participating coaches, athletes, and trainers through a spontaneous and collab- exercise, power,
orative online community. CrossFit is empirically driven, clinically tested, and work, line of action,
community developed. flexibility, speed,
and all pertinent
Implementation
metabolics to a
In implementation, CrossFit is, quite simply, a sport—the Sport of Fitness. We have
single value–usually
learned that harnessing the natural camaraderie, competition, and fun of sport or
game yields an intensity that cannot be matched by other means. The late Col. time. This is the Sport
Jeff Cooper observed that “the fear of sporting failure is worse than the fear of of Fitness. We’re
death.” It is our observation that men will die for points. Using whiteboards as best at it.”
scoreboards, keeping accurate scores and records, running a clock, and precisely
defining the rules and standards for performance, we not only motivate unprec- —COACH GLASSMAN
edented output but derive both relative and absolute metrics at every workout;
this data has important value well beyond motivation.

Adaptations
Our commitment to evidence-based fitness, publicly posting performance data,
co-developing our program in collaboration with other coaches, and our open-
source charter in general have well positioned us to garner important lessons from
our program–to learn precisely and accurately, that is, about the adaptations elicited
by CrossFit programming. What we have discovered is that CrossFit increases work
capacity across broad time and modal domains (see “What Is Fitness? (Part 2)”
article). This is a discovery of great import and has come to motivate our program-
ming and refocus our efforts. This far-reaching increase in work capacity supports
our initially stated aims of building a broad, general, and inclusive fitness program.
It also explains the wide variety of sport demands met by CrossFit, as evidenced
by our deep penetration among diverse sports and endeavors. We have come to
see increased work capacity as the Holy Grail of performance improvement and
all other common metrics like VO2 max, lactate threshold, body composition, and
even strength and flexibility as being correlates–derivatives, even. We would not
trade improvements in any other fitness metric for a decrease in work capacity.

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Conclusions
The modest start of publicly posting our daily workouts on the internet beginning
in 2001 has evolved into a community where human performance is measured
and publicly recorded against multiple, diverse, and fixed workloads. CrossFit is an
open-source engine where inputs from any quarter can be publicly given to demon-
strate fitness and fitness programming, and where coaches, trainers, and athletes
can collectively advance the art and science of optimizing human performance.

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Foundations
Originally published in April 2002.

CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program. We have designed our

program to elicit as broad an adaptational response as possible. CrossFit is not
a specialized fitness program but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical
competence in each of 10 fitness domains. They are cardiovascular/respiratory
endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility,
balance, and accuracy.

CrossFit was developed to enhance an individual’s competency at all physical

tasks. Our athletes are trained to perform successfully at multiple, diverse, and
randomized physical challenges. This fitness is demanded of military and police
personnel, firefighters, and many sports requiring total or complete physical
prowess. CrossFit has proven effective in these arenas.

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Aside from the breadth or totality of fitness CrossFit seeks, our program is
distinctive, if not unique, in its focus on maximizing neuroendocrine response,
developing power, cross-training with multiple training modalities, constant
training and practice with functional movements, and the development of
successful diet strategies.

Our athletes are trained to bike, run, swim, and row at short, middle, and long
distances, guaranteeing exposure and competency in each of the three main
metabolic pathways.

We train our athletes in gymnastics from rudimentary to advanced movements,

garnering great capacity at controlling the body both dynamically and statically
while maximizing strength-to-weight ratio and flexibility. We also place a heavy
emphasis on Olympic weightlifting, having seen this sport’s unique ability to
develop an athlete’s explosive power, control of external objects, and mastery
of critical motor recruitment patterns. And finally we encourage and assist our
athletes to explore a variety of sports as a vehicle to express and apply their fitness.

An Effective Approach
In gyms and health clubs throughout the world the typical workout consists of
isolation movements and extended aerobic sessions. The fitness community from
trainers to the magazines has the exercising public believing that lateral raises,
curls, leg extensions, sit-ups and the like combined with 20- to 40-minute stints on
the stationary bike or treadmill are going to lead to some kind of great fitness. Well,
at CrossFit we work exclusively with compound movements and shorter high-in-
tensity cardiovascular sessions. We have replaced the lateral raise with the push
press, the curl with the pull-up, and the leg extension with the squat. For every
long-distance effort our athletes will do five or six at short distance. Why? Because
functional movements and high intensity are radically more effective at eliciting
nearly any desired fitness result. Startlingly, this is not a matter of opinion but solid,
irrefutable scientific fact, and yet the marginally effective old ways persist and are
nearly universal. Our approach is consistent with what is practiced in elite training

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programs associated with major university athletic teams and professional sports.
CrossFit endeavors to bring state-of-the-art coaching techniques to the general
public and athlete.

Is This for Me?

Absolutely! Your needs and the Olympic athlete’s differ by degree not kind.
Increased power, speed, strength, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, flexibil-
ity, stamina, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy are each important to the
world’s best athletes and to our grandparents. The amazing truth is that the very
same methods that elicit optimal response in the Olympic or professional athlete
will optimize the same response in the elderly. Of course, we cannot load your
grandmother with the same squatting weight that we would assign an Olympic
skier, but they both need to squat. In fact, squatting is essential to maintaining
functional independence and improving fitness. Squatting is just one example of
a movement that is universally valuable and essential yet rarely taught to any but
the most advanced of athletes. This is a tragedy. Through painstakingly thorough
coaching and incremental load assignment, CrossFit has been able to teach
everyone who can care for himself or herself to perform safely and with maximum
efficacy the same movements typically utilized by profes-
sional coaches in elite and certainly exclusive environments.

Who Has Benefited From CrossFit?

Many professional and elite athletes are participating in
CrossFit. Prizefighters, cyclists, surfers, skiers, tennis players,
triathletes and others competing at the highest levels are
using CrossFit to advance their core strength and condi-
tioning, but that is not all. CrossFit has tested its methods
on the sedentary, overweight, pathological, and elderly and
found that these special populations met the same success
as our stable of athletes. We call this “bracketing.” If our
program works for Olympic skiers and overweight, sedentary
homemakers then it will work for you.

Your Current Regimen

If your current routine looks somewhat like what we have
described as typical of the fitness magazines and gyms, do
not despair. Any exercise is better than none, and you have
not wasted your time. In fact, the aerobic exercise that you
have been doing is an essential foundation to fitness, and
the isolation movements have given you some degree of
strength. You are in good company; we have found that some
of the world’s best athletes were sorely lacking in their core
strength and conditioning. It is hard to believe, but many elite
athletes have achieved international success and are still far

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from their potential because they have not had the benefit of state-of-the-art
coaching methods.

Just What Is a “Core Strength and Conditioning” Program?

CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program in two distinct senses. First,
we are a core strength and conditioning program in the sense that the fitness
we develop is foundational to all other athletic
needs. This is the same sense in which the
university courses required of a particular major
are called the “core curriculum.” This is the stuff
that everyone needs. Second, we are a “core”
strength and conditioning program in the literal
sense meaning the center of something. Much
of our work focuses on the major functional axis
of the human body, the extension and flexion
of the hips and torso or trunk. The primacy of
core strength and conditioning in this sense
is supported by the simple observation that
powerful hip extension alone is necessary and
nearly sufficient for elite athletic performance.
That is, our experience has been that no one
“Significantly improve without the capacity for powerful hip extension
your 400-meter run, enjoys great athletic prowess and nearly
2,000-meter row, everyone we have met with that capacity was a
great athlete. Running, jumping, punching, and
squat, dead, bench,
throwing all originate at the core. At CrossFit we
pull-up, and dip. endeavor to develop our athletes from the inside out, from core to extremity, which
Now you are a more is, by the way, how good functional movements recruit muscle, from the core to
formidable being.” the extremities.

—COACH GLASSMAN Can I Enjoy Optimal Health Without Being an Athlete?

No! Athletes experience a protection from the ravages of aging and disease
that non-athletes never find. For instance, 80-year-old athletes are stronger
than non-athletes in their prime at 25 years old. If you think that strength is not
important, consider that strength loss is what puts people in nursing homes.
Athletes have greater bone density, stronger immune systems, less coronary heart
disease, reduced cancer risk, fewer strokes, and less depression than non-athletes.

What Is an Athlete?
According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, an athlete is “a person who is trained or
skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.”

The CrossFit definition of an athlete is a bit tighter. The CrossFit definition

of an athlete is “a person who is trained or skilled in strength, power, balance
and agility, flexibility, and endurance.” CrossFit holds “fitness,” “health,” and

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“athleticism” as strongly overlapping constructs. For most purposes, they can be

seen as equivalents.

What if I Do not Want to Be an Athlete; I Just Want to Be Healthy?

You are in luck. We hear this often, but the truth is that fitness, wellness, and
pathology (sickness) are measures of the same entity: your health. There are a
multitude of measurable parameters that can be ordered from sick (pathologi-
cal) to well (normal) to fit (better than normal). These include but are not limited
to blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, body fat, muscle mass, flexibility, and
strength. It seems as though all of the body functions that can go awry have states
that are pathological, normal, and exceptional and that elite athletes typically show
these parameters in the exceptional range. CrossFit’s view is that fitness and health
are the same thing (see “What Is Fitness? (Part 1)” article). It is also interesting to
notice that the health professional maintains your health with drugs and surgery,
each with potentially undesirable side effects, whereas the CrossFit trainer typically
achieves a superior result always with “side benefit” versus side effect.

Examples of CrossFit Exercises

Biking, running, swimming, and rowing in an endless variety of drills. The clean and
jerk, snatch, squat, deadlift, push press, bench press, and power clean. Jumping,
medicine-ball throws and catches, pull-ups, dips, push-ups, handstands, presses
to handstands, pirouettes, kips, cartwheels, muscle-ups, sit-ups, scales, and holds.
We make regular use of bikes, the track, rowing shells and ergometers, Olympic
weight sets, rings, parallel bars, free exercise mats, horizontal bars, plyometrics
boxes, medicine balls, and jump ropes.

There is not a strength and conditioning program anywhere that works with a
greater diversity of tools, modalities, and drills.

What if I Do not Have Time for All of This?

It is a common sentiment to feel that because of the obligations of career and
family that you do not have the time to become as fit as you might like. Here is
the good news: World-class age group strength and conditioning is obtainable
through an hour a day six days per week of training. It turns out that the intensity
of training that optimizes physical conditioning is not sustainable past 45 minutes
to an hour. Athletes who train for hours a day are developing skill or training for
sports that include adaptations inconsistent with elite strength and conditioning.
Past one hour, more is not better!

“Fringe Athletes”
There is a near universal misconception that long-distance athletes are fitter
than their short-distance counterparts. The triathlete, cyclist, and marathoner are
often regarded as among the fittest athletes on Earth. Nothing could be further
from the truth. The endurance athlete has trained long past any cardiovascular
health benefit and has lost ground in strength, speed, and power; typically does

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nothing for coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy; and possesses little more
than average flexibility. This is hardly the stuff of elite athleticism. The CrossFit
athlete, remember, has trained and practiced for optimal physical competence
in all 10 physical skills (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, flexibility,
strength, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy). The excessive
aerobic volume of the endurance athletes’ training costs them in speed, power,
and strength to the point that their athletic competency has been compromised.
No triathlete is in ideal shape to wrestle, box, pole-vault, sprint, play any ball sport,
fight fires, or do police work. Each of these requires a fitness level far beyond the
needs of the endurance athlete. None of this suggests that being a marathoner,
triathlete or other endurance athlete is a bad thing; just do not believe that training
as a long-distance athlete gives you the fitness that is prerequisite to many sports.
CrossFit considers the sumo wrestler, triathlete, marathoner, and powerlifter
to be “fringe athletes” in that their fitness demands are so specialized as to be
inconsistent with the adaptations that give maximum competency at all physical
challenges. Elite strength and conditioning is a compromise between each of the
“Traditionally, 10 physical adaptations. Endurance athletes do not balance that compromise.
calisthenic movements
are high-rep Aerobics and Anaerobics
There are three main energy systems that fuel all human activity. Almost all
movements, but
changes that occur in the body due to exercise are related to the demands placed
there are numerous on these energy systems. Furthermore, the efficacy of any given fitness regimen
body-weight exercises may largely be tied to its ability to elicit an adequate stimulus for change within
that only rarely can be these three energy systems.
performed for more
than a rep or two. Find Energy is derived aerobically when oxygen is utilized to metabolize substrates
derived from food and liberates energy. An activity is termed aerobic when the
them. Explore them!”
majority of energy needed is derived aerobically. These activities are usually
greater than 90 seconds in duration and involve low to moderate power output
—COACH GLASSMAN or intensity. Examples of aerobic activity include running on the treadmill for 20
minutes, swimming a mile, and watching TV.

Energy is derived anaerobically when energy is liberated from substrates in the

absence of oxygen. Activities are considered anaerobic when the majority of the
energy needed is derived anaerobically. In fact, properly structured, anaerobic
activity can be used to develop a very high level of aerobic fitness without the
muscle wasting consistent with high-volume aerobic exercise! These activities are
of less than two minutes in duration and involve moderate to high-power output
or intensity. There are two such anaerobic systems, the phosphagen (or phospho-
creatine) system and the lactic acid (or glycolytic) system. Examples of anaerobic
activity include running a 100-meter sprint, squatting, and doing pull-ups.

Anaerobic and aerobic training support performance variables like strength,

power, speed, and endurance. We also support the contention that total

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conditioning and optimal health necessitate training each of the physiological

systems in a systematic fashion (see “What Is Fitness? (Part 1)” article).

It warrants mention that in any activity all three energy systems are utilized
though one may dominate. The interplay of these systems can be complex, yet
a simple examination of the characteristics of aerobic versus anaerobic training
can prove useful.

CrossFit’s approach is to judiciously balance anaerobic and aerobic exercise in a

manner that is consistent with the athlete’s goals. Our exercise prescriptions adhere
to proper specificity, progression, variation, and recovery to optimize adaptations.

The Olympic Lifts, a.k.a., Weightlifting

There are two Olympic lifts, the clean and jerk
and the snatch. Mastery of these lifts develops
the squat, deadlift, power clean, and split jerk
while integrating them into a single movement of
unequaled value in all of strength and condition-
ing. The Olympic lifters are without a doubt the
world’s strongest athletes.

These lifts train athletes to effectively activate

more muscle fibers more rapidly than through
any other modality of training. The explosiveness
that results from this training is of vital necessity
to every sport.

Practicing the Olympic lifts teaches one to apply

force to muscle groups in proper sequence; i.e.,
from the center of the body to its extremities (core to extremity). Learning this vital
technical lesson benefits all athletes who need to impart force to another person
or object, as is commonly required in nearly all sports.

In addition to learning to impart explosive forces, the clean and jerk and snatch
condition the body to receive such forces from another moving body both safely
and effectively.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the Olympic lifts’ unique capacity to

develop strength, muscle, power, speed, coordination, vertical leap, muscular
endurance, bone strength, and the physical capacity to withstand stress. It is
also worth mentioning that the Olympic lifts are the only lifts shown to increase
maximum oxygen uptake, the most important marker for cardiovascular fitness.

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Sadly, the Olympic lifts are seldom seen in the commercial fitness community
because of their inherently complex and technical nature. CrossFit makes them
available to anyone with the patience and persistence to learn.

Gymnastics
The extraordinary value of gymnastics as a training modality lies in its reliance
on the body’s own weight as the sole source of resistance. This places a unique
premium on the improvement of strength-to-weight ratio. Unlike other strength
training modalities, gymnastics and calisthenics allow for increases in strength
only while increasing strength-to-weight ratio!

Gymnastics develops pull-ups, squats, lunges, jumping, push-ups, and numerous

presses to handstand, scales, and holds. These skills are unrivaled in their benefit
to the physique, as evident in any competitive gymnast.

As important as the capacity of this modality is for strength development, it is

without a doubt the ultimate approach to improving coordination, balance, agility,
accuracy, and flexibility. Through the use of numerous presses, handstands, scales,
and other floor work, the gymnast’s training greatly enhances kinesthetic sense.

The variety of movements available for inclusion in this modality probably

exceeds the number of exercises known to all non-gymnastic sport! The rich
variety here contributes substantially to CrossFit’s ability to inspire great athletic
confidence and prowess.

For a combination of strength, flexibility, well-developed physique, coordi-

nation, balance, accuracy, and agility, the gymnast has no equal in the sports
world. The inclusion of this training modality is absurdly absent from nearly all
training programs.

Routines
There is no ideal routine! In fact, the chief value of any routine lies in abandoning
it for another. The CrossFit ideal is to train for any contingency. The obvious
implication is that this is possible only if there is a tremendously varied quality
to the breadth of stimulus. It is in this sense that CrossFit is a core strength and
conditioning program. Anything else is sport-specific training, not core strength
and conditioning.

Any routine, no matter how complete, contains within its omissions the parameters
for which there will be no adaptation. The breadth of adaptation will exactly match
the breadth of the stimulus. For this reason, CrossFit embraces short-, middle-,
and long-distance metabolic conditioning, and low, moderate, and heavy load
assignment. We encourage creative and continuously varied compositions that
tax physiological functions against every realistically conceivable combination of

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stressors. This is the stuff of surviving fights and fires. Developing a fitness that is
varied yet complete defines the very art of strength and conditioning coaching.

This is not a comforting message in an age when scientific certainty and specializa-
tion confer authority and expertise. Yet, the reality of performance enhancement
cares not one wit for trend or authority. CrossFit’s success in elevating the perfor-
mance of world-class athletes lies clearly in demanding of our athletes total and
complete physical competence. No routine takes us there.

Neuroendocrine Adaptation
“Neuroendocrine adaptation” is a change in the body that affects you either
neurologically or hormonally. Most important adaptations to exercise are in part
or completely a result of a hormonal or neurological shift. Research has shown
which exercise protocols maximize neuroendocrine responses. Earlier we faulted
isolation movements as being ineffectual. Now we can tell you that one of the
critical elements missing from these movements is that they invoke essentially no
neuroendocrine response.

Among the hormonal responses vital to athletic development are substantial

increases in testosterone, insulin-like growth factor, and human growth hormone.
Exercising with protocols known to elevate these hormones eerily mimics the
hormonal changes sought in exogenous hormonal therapy (steroid use) with
none of the deleterious effect. Exercise
regimens that induce a high neuroendocrine
response produce champions! Increased
muscle mass and bone density are just two
of many adaptive responses to exercises
capable of producing a significant neuroen-
docrine response.

It is impossible to overstate the importance

of the neuroendocrine response to exercise
protocols. Heavy load weight training, short
rest between sets, high heart rates, high-in-
tensity training, and short rest intervals,
though not entirely distinct components,
are all associated with a high neuroen-
docrine response.

Power
Power is defined as the “time rate of doing
work.” It has often been said that in sport
speed is king. At CrossFit “power” is the
undisputed king of performance. Power is,
in simplest terms, “hard and fast.” Jumping,

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Foundations, continued

punching, throwing, and

sprinting are all measures of
power. Increasing your ability
to produce power is necessary
and nearly sufficient to elite
“The CrossFit concept athleticism. Additionally,
can be viewed as power is the definition of
‘functional atomism’ intensity, which in turn has
been linked to nearly every
in that we strive
positive aspect of fitness.
to reduce human Increases in strength, perfor-
performance to a mance, muscle mass, and bone
limited number of density all arise in proportion
movements that are to the intensity of exercise.
simple, irreducible, And again, intensity is defined
as power. Power development
indivisible functions.
is an ever-present aspect of
Teaching an athlete
the CrossFit.com Workout of
to run, jump, throw, the Day (WOD).
punch, squat, lunge,
push, pull, and climb Cross Training
powerfully, with Cross training is typically
mechanical efficiency defined as participating in multiple sports. At CrossFit, we take a much broader
view of the term. We view cross training as exceeding the normal parameters
and soundness
of the regular demands of your sport or training. CrossFit recognizes functional,
across a broad range
metabolic, and modal cross training. That is, we regularly train past the normal
of time-intensity motions, metabolic pathways, and modes or sports common to the athlete’s sport
protocols with rapid or exercise regimen. We are unique and again distinctive to the extent that we
recovery establishes adhere to and program within this context.
a foundation that will
give unprecedented If you remember CrossFit’s objective of providing a broad-based fitness that
provides maximal competency in all adaptive capacities, then cross training, or
advantage in
training outside of the athlete’s normal or regular demands, is a given. Long ago,
learning new sports, we noticed that athletes are weakest at the margins of their exposure for almost
mastering existent every measurable parameter. For instance, if you only cycle between 5 and 7 miles
skills, and surviving at each training effort you will test weak at less than 5 and greater than 7 miles.
unforeseeable This is true for range of motion, load, rest, intensity, power, etc. CrossFit workouts
challenges.” are engineered to expand the margins of exposure as broad as function and
capacity will allow.

—COACH GLASSMAN
Functional Movements
There are movements that mimic motor recruitment patterns that are found in
everyday life. Others are somewhat unique to the gym. Squatting is standing from
a seated position; deadlifting is picking any object off the ground. They are both
functional movements. Leg extension and leg curl both have no equivalent in nature

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and are in turn non-functional movements. The bulk of isolation movements are
non-functional movements. By contrast the compound or multi-joint movements
are functional. Natural movement typically involves the movement of multiple
joints for every activity.

Functional movements are mechanically sound and therefore safe, and they also
elicit a high neuroendocrine response.

CrossFit has managed a stable of elite athletes and dramatically enhanced their
performance exclusively with functional movements. The superiority of training
with functional movements is clearly apparent with any athlete within weeks of
their incorporation.

The soundness and efficacy of functional movements are so profound that

exercising without them is by comparison a colossal waste of time.

Diet
The CrossFit dietary prescription is as follows:
• Protein should be lean and varied and account for about 30 percent of
your total caloric load.
• Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic and account for
about 40 percent of your total caloric load.
• Fat should be from whole food sources and account for about 30 percent
of your total caloric load.

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Total calories should be based on protein needs, which should be set at between
0.7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass (depending on your
activity level). The 0.7 figure is for moderate daily workout loads, and the 1.0 figure
is for the hardcore athlete.

What Should I Eat?

In plain language, base your diet on garden vegetables (especially greens), meats,
nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. That is about as simple as we
can get. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the
grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food
is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. If you follow these simple
guidelines, you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition.

The Caveman or Paleolithic Model for Nutrition

Modern diets are ill suited for our genetic composition. Evolution has not kept pace
with advances in agriculture and food processing, resulting in a plague of health
problems for modern man. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis,
obesity, and psychological dysfunction have all been scientifically linked to a diet
too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. The caveman model is perfectly
consistent with CrossFit’s prescription.

What Foods Should I Avoid?

Excessive consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates is the primary culprit in
nutritionally caused health problems. High-glycemic carbohydrates are those that
raise blood sugar too rapidly. They include rice, bread, candy, potato, sweets, sodas,
and most processed carbohydrates. Processing can include bleaching, baking,
grinding, and refining. Processing of carbohydrates greatly increases their glycemic
index, a measure of their propensity to elevate blood sugar.

What Is the Problem With High-Glycemic Carbohydrates?

The problem with high-glycemic carbohydrates is that in excess they give an
inordinate insulin response. Insulin is an essential hormone for life, yet acute,
chronic elevation of insulin leads to hyperinsulinism, which has been positively
linked to obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, blood pressure, mood dysfunction,
and a Pandora’s box of disease and disability. Research “hyperinsulinism.” CrossFit’s
prescription is a low-glycemic diet (and relatively lower in total carbohydrate
quantity) and consequently severely blunts the insulin response, yet still provides
ample nutrition for rigorous activity.

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What Is Fitness? (Part 1)

Originally published in October 2002. This article explains the supporting models and
concepts for defining fitness, which was formally codified years after this publication.
“What Is Fitness? (Part 2),” which follows, contains the definitions of fitness and health.

What Is Fitness and Who Is Fit?

In 1997, Outside Magazine crowned triathlete Mark Allen “the fittest man on Earth.” Let us
just assume for a moment that this famous six-time winner of the Ironman Triathlon is the
fittest of the fit, then what title do we bestow on the decathlete Simon Poelman, who also
possesses incredible endurance and stamina, yet crushes Mr. Allen in any comparison
that includes strength, power, speed, and coordination?

Perhaps the definition of fitness does not include strength, speed, power, and coordi-
nation, though that seems rather odd. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines
“fitness” and being “fit” as the ability to transmit genes and being healthy. No help there.
Searching the internet for a workable, reasonable definition of fitness yields disappoint-
ingly little. Worse yet, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), the
most respected publisher in exercise physiology, in its highly authoritative “Essentials of
Strength Training and Conditioning,” does not even attempt a definition.

CrossFit’s Fitness
For CrossFit, the specter of championing a fitness program
without clearly defining what it is that the program delivers Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and
combines elements of fraud and farce. The vacuum of seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no
guiding authority has therefore necessitated that CrossFit sugar. Keep intake to levels that will
provides its own definition of fitness. That is what this support exercise but not body fat.
article is about: our “fitness.”
Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift,
Our pondering, studying, debating about, and finally clean, squat, presses, C&J (clean and jerk),
defining fitness have played a formative role in CrossFit’s and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of
successes. The keys to understanding the methods and gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climbs,
achievements of CrossFit are perfectly embedded in our push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstands,
view of fitness and basic exercise science. pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike,
run, swim, row, etc. hard and fast.
It will come as no surprise to most of you that our view
of fitness is a contrarian view. The general public both Five or six days per week mix these
in opinion and in media holds endurance athletes as elements in as many combinations and
exemplars of fitness. We do not. Our incredulity on learning patterns as creativity will allow. Routine
of Outside’s awarding a triathlete the title of “fittest man on is the enemy. Keep workouts short and
Earth” becomes apparent in light of CrossFit’s models for intense.
assessing and defining fitness.
Regularly learn and play new sports.
CrossFit makes use of four different models for evaluating
and guiding fitness. Collectively, these four models provide Figure 1. World-Class Fitness in 100 Words.

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the basis for CrossFit’s definition of fitness. The first

is based on the 10 general physical skills widely
If your goal is optimum physical competence, recognized by exercise physiologists; the second
then all the general physical skills must be model is based on the performance of athletic tasks;
considered: the third is based on the energy systems that drive
all human action; the fourth uses health markers as
1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance—The a measure of fitness.
ability of body systems to gather, process,
and deliver oxygen. Each model is critical to CrossFit and each has
distinct utility in evaluating an athlete’s overall
2. Stamina—The ability of body systems to
fitness or a strength and conditioning regimen’s
process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.
efficacy. Before explaining in detail how each of
3. Strength—The ability of a muscular unit, these four models works, it warrants mention
or combination of muscular units, to apply that we are not attempting to demonstrate our
force. program’s legitimacy through scientific principles.
We are but sharing the methods of a program
4. Flexibility—The ability to maximize the
whose legitimacy has been established through
range of motion at a given joint.
the testimony of athletes, soldiers, cops, and others
5. Power—The ability of a muscular unit, or whose lives or livelihoods depend on fitness.
combination of muscular units, to apply
maximum force in minimum time. CrossFit’s First Fitness Model: The 10 General
Physical Skills
6. Speed—The ability to minimize the time
There are 10 recognized general physical skills. They
cycle of a repeated movement.
are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina,
7. Coordination—The ability to combine strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination,
several distinct movement patterns into a agility, balance, and accuracy. (See Figure 2. Ten
singular distinct movement. General Physical Skills for definitions.) You are as
fit as you are competent in each of these 10 skills.
8. Agility—The ability to minimize transition
A regimen develops fitness to the extent that it
time from one movement pattern to
improves each of these 10 skills.
another.

9. Balance—The ability to control the Importantly, improvements in endurance, stamina,

placement of the body’s center of gravity in strength, and flexibility come about through
relation to its support base. training. Training refers to activity that improves
performance through a measurable organic
10. Accuracy—The ability to control movement
change in the body. By contrast improvements in
in a given direction or at a given intensity.
coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy come
(Thanks to Jim Cawley and Bruce Evans about through practice. Practice refers to activity
of Dynamax) that improves performance through changes in the
nervous system. Power and speed are adaptations
Figure 2. Ten General Physical Skills. of both training and practice.

CrossFit’s Second Fitness Model: The Hopper

The essence of this model is the view that fitness
is about performing well at any and every task

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Table 1. Summary of the Three Metabolic Pathways

Phosphagen Glycolytic Oxidative

Time Domain Short, ~10 seconds Medium, ~120 Long, >120 seconds
seconds

Anaerobic vs. Anaerobic Anaerobic Aerobic

Aerobic

Relative Power Maximum-intensity Medium-high- Low-intensity efforts

Output efforts (~100 percent) intensity efforts (40 percent)
(70 percent)

Other Names Phosphocreatine Lactate Aerobic

Location Cytosol of muscle Cytosol of all cells Mitochondria of cells

cells
(i.e., sarcoplasm)

Muscle Fiber Type IIb Type IIa Type I

Type (General)

Substrate Phosphocreatine Glucose from Pyruvate (from

molecules in muscles bloodstream, muscle glycolysis), or acetate
(glycogen), or glycerol (derived from fat
(derived from fat) or protein)

ATP Phosphate Glucose oxidized to Pyruvate oxidized to

Mechanism molecule from pyruvate produces produce 34 ATP (fat,
phosphocreatine 2 ATP protein yield less)
joins ADP to form ATP

Example 100-meter dash 400-meter sprint Anything >120

Activities 1-repetition- Elite-level Fran seconds of
maximum deadlift sustained effort

imaginable. Picture a hopper loaded with an infinite number of physical challenges,

where no selective mechanism is operative, and being asked to perform feats randomly
drawn from the hopper. This model suggests that your fitness can be measured by your “Our emphasis on
capacity to perform well at these tasks in relation to other individuals. skill development is
integral to our charter
The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even
of optimizing work
unfamiliar tasks and tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. In practice this
encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises,
capacity.”
order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unfore-
seeable challenges; train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and —COACH GLASSMAN
constantly varied.

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Percent of total energy

Time (seconds)
Phosphagen Glycolytic Oxidative

Figure 3. The Metabolic Pathways’ Contribution of Total Energy Versus Time.

CrossFit’s Third Fitness Model: The Metabolic Pathways

There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These
“metabolic engines” are known as the phosphagen (or phosphocreatine) pathway, the
glycolytic (or lactate) pathway, and the oxidative (or aerobic) pathway (Table 1, Figure 3).
The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered activities, those that last less
than about 10 seconds. The second pathway, the glycolytic, dominates moderate-pow-
ered activities, those that last up to several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative,
dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes.

Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and
training in each of these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three
pathways largely determines the how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio”
that we do at CrossFit.

Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of
excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults
in fitness training. More on that later.

CrossFit’s Fourth Fitness Model: Sickness-Wellness-Fitness Continuum

There is another aspect to CrossFit’s fitness that is of great interest and immense value
to us. We have observed that nearly every measurable value of health can be placed on
a continuum that ranges from sickness to wellness to fitness (Figure 4). Though tougher
to measure, we would even add mental health to this observation. Depression is clearly
mitigated by proper diet and exercise.

For example, a blood pressure of 160/95 is pathological, 120/70 is normal or healthy,

and 105/55 is consistent with an athlete’s blood pressure; a body fat of 40 percent is
pathological, 20 percent is normal or healthy, and 10 percent is fit. We observe a similar

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“Wellness”

Based on measurements of:

- Blood Pressure
- Body Fat
- Bone Density
- Triglycerides
- HDL Cholesterol
- Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c)
“Sickness” - Muscle Mass “Fitness”
- Etc.

Figure 4. The Sickness-Wellness-Fitness Continuum.

ordering for bone density, triglycerides, muscle mass, flexibility, high-density lipoprotein
(HDL) or “good cholesterol,” resting heart rate, and dozens of other common measures
of health (Table 2). Many authorities (e.g., Mel Siff, the NSCA) make a clear distinction
between health and fitness. Frequently they cite studies that suggest that the fit may
not be health protected. A close look at the supporting evidence invariably reveals the
studied group is endurance athletes and, we suspect, endurance athletes on a dangerous
fad diet (high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein).

Done right, fitness provides a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and
disease. Where you find otherwise, examine the fitness protocol, especially diet. Fitness is
and should be “super-wellness.” Sickness, wellness, and fitness are measures of the same
entity. A fitness regimen that does not support health is not CrossFit.

Common Ground
The motivation for the four models is simply to ensure the broadest and most general
fitness possible. Our first model evaluates our efforts against a full range of general
physical adaptations; in the second the focus is on breadth and depth of performance;
with the third the measure is time, power and consequently energy systems; and the
fourth is on health markers. It should be fairly clear that the fitness that CrossFit advocates
and develops is deliberately broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializ-
ing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average,
punish the specialist.

Implementation
Our fitness, being “CrossFit,” comes through molding men and women who are equal
parts gymnast, Olympic weightlifter, and multi-modal sprinter or “sprintathlete.” Develop
the capacity of a novice 800-meter track athlete, gymnast, and weightlifter, and you will
be fitter than any world-class runner, gymnast, or weightlifter. Let us look at how CrossFit
incorporates metabolic conditioning (“cardio”), gymnastics, and weightlifting to forge
the world’s fittest men and women.

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Table 2. Representative Sickness-Wellness-Fitness Values

for Selected Parameters

Parameter Sickness Wellness Fitness

Body Fat (percent) >25 (male) ~18 (male) ~6 (male)

>32 (female) ~20 (female) ~12 (female)

Blood Pressure (mm/Hg) >140/90 120/80 105/60

Resting Heart Rate (bpm) >100 70 50

Triglycerides (mg/dL) >200 <150 <100

Low-density Lipoprotein (mg/dL) >160 120 <100

High-density Lipoprotein (mg/dL) <40 40-59 >60

C-Reactive Protein >3 1-3 <1

(high-sensitivity test, mg/L)

Metabolic Conditioning, Or “Cardio”

Biking, running, swimming, rowing, speed skating, and cross-country skiing are collec-
tively known as “metabolic conditioning.” In the common vernacular they are referred
to as “cardio.” CrossFit’s third fitness model, the one that deals with metabolic pathways,
contains the seeds of the CrossFit “cardio” prescription. To understand the CrossFit
approach to “cardio” we need first to briefly cover the nature and interaction of
the three major pathways.

Of the three metabolic pathways the first two, the phosphagen and the glycolytic, are
“anaerobic” and the third, the oxidative, is “aerobic.” We need not belabor the biochem-
ical significance of aerobic and anaerobic systems; suffice it to say that understanding
the nature and interaction of anaerobic exercise and aerobic exercise is vital to under-
standing conditioning. Just remember that efforts at moderate to high power and
lasting less than several minutes are predominantly anaerobic and efforts at low power
and lasting in excess of several minutes are predominantly aerobic. As an example, the
sprints at 100, 200, 400, and 800 meters are largely anaerobic and events like 1,500
meters, the mile, 2,000 meters, and 3,000 meters are largely aerobic.

Aerobic training benefits cardiovascular function and decreases body fat–all good.
Aerobic conditioning allows us to engage in low-power extended efforts efficiently
(cardio/respiratory endurance and stamina). This is critical to many sports. Athletes
engaged in sports or training where a preponderance of the training load is spent
in aerobic efforts witness decreases in muscle mass, strength, speed, and power.
It is not uncommon to find marathoners with a vertical leap of only several inches!
Furthermore, aerobic activity has a pronounced tendency to decrease anaerobic
capacity. This does not bode well for most athletes or those interested in elite fitness.

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Anaerobic activity also benefits cardiovascular function and decreases body fat! In
fact, anaerobic exercise is superior to aerobic exercise for fat loss! Anaerobic activity
is, however, unique in its capacity to dramatically improve power, speed, strength,
and muscle mass. Anaerobic conditioning allows us to exert tremendous forces over
brief time intervals. One aspect of anaerobic conditioning that bears great consider-
ation is that anaerobic conditioning will not adversely affect aerobic capacity. In fact,
properly structured, anaerobic activity can be used to develop a very high level of
aerobic fitness without the muscle wasting consistent with high volumes of aerobic
exercise! The method by which we use anaerobic efforts to develop aerobic condi-
tioning is “interval training.”

Basketball, football, gymnastics, boxing, track events under one mile, soccer, swimming
events under 400 meters, volleyball, wrestling, and weightlifting are all sports that
require the vast majority of training time to be spent in anaerobic activity. Long-
distance and ultra- endurance running, cross-country skiing, and 1,500+ meter
swimming are all sports that require aerobic training at levels that produce results
unacceptable to other athletes or the individual concerned with total conditioning
and optimal health.
“Blur the distinction
We strongly recommend that you attend a track meet of nationally or internationally between strength
competitive athletes. Pay close attention to the physiques of the athletes competing training and metabolic
at 100, 200, 400, and 800 meters and the milers. The difference you are sure to notice
conditioning for the
is a direct result of training at those distances.
simple reason that
Interval Training nature’s challenges are
The key to developing the cardiovascular system without an unacceptable loss of typically blind to the
strength, speed, and power is interval training. Interval training mixes bouts of work distinction.”
and rest in timed intervals. Table 3 gives guidelines for interval training. We can control
the dominant metabolic pathway conditioned by varying the duration of the work and
—COACH GLASSMAN
rest interval and number of interval repetitions. Note that the phosphagen pathway
is the dominant pathway in intervals of 10–30 seconds of work followed by rest of
30–90 seconds (work:recovery 1:3) repeated 25–30 times. The glycolytic pathway is the
dominant pathway in intervals of 30–120 seconds of work followed by rest of 60–240
seconds (work:recovery 1:2) repeated 10–20 times. And finally, the oxidative pathway
is the dominant pathway in intervals of 120–300 seconds of work followed by rest
of 120–300 seconds (work:recovery 1:1) repeated 3–5 times. The bulk of metabolic
training should be interval training.

Interval training need not be so structured or formal. One example would be to sprint
between one set of telephone poles and jog between the next set, alternating in this
manner for the duration of a run.

One example of an interval that CrossFit makes regular use of is the Tabata interval,
which is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated eight times.
Dr. Izumi Tabata published research that demonstrated that this interval protocol

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produced remarkable increases in both anaerobic

and aerobic capacity.

It is highly desirable to regularly experiment with

interval patterns of varying combinations of rest,
work, and repetitions.

Some of the best resources on interval training

come from Dr. Stephen Seiler. His articles on
interval training and the time course of training
adaptations contain the seeds of CrossFit’s heavy
reliance on interval training. The article on the
time course of training adaptations explains that
there are three waves of adaptation to endurance
training. The first wave is increased maximal
oxygen consumption. The second is increased
lactate threshold. The third is increased efficiency.
In the CrossFit concept, we are interested in
maximizing first-wave adaptations and procuring
the second systemically through multiple
modalities, including weight training, and avoiding completely third-wave adapta-
tions. Second- and third-wave adaptations are highly specific to the activity in which
they are developed and can be detrimental with too much focus to the broad fitness
that we advocate and develop. A clear understanding of this material has prompted us
to advocate regular high-intensity training in as many training modalities as possible
through largely anaerobic efforts and intervals while deliberately and specifically
avoiding the efficiency that accompanies mastery of a single modality. It is at first
ironic that our interpretation of Dr. Seiler’s work was not his intention, but when our
quest of optimal physical competence is viewed in light of Dr. Seiler’s more specific aim
of maximizing endurance performance, our interpretation is powerful.

Dr. Seiler’s work, incidentally, makes clear the fallacy of assuming that endurance work
is of greater benefit to the cardiovascular system than higher intensity interval work.
This is very important: with interval training we get all of the cardiovascular benefit of
endurance work without the attendant loss of strength, speed, and power.

Gymnastics
Our use of the term “gymnastics” not only includes the traditional competitive sport
that we have seen on TV but all activities like climbing, yoga, calisthenics, and dance,
where the aim is body control. It is within this realm of activities that we can develop
extraordinary strength (especially upper body and trunk), flexibility, coordination,
balance, agility, and accuracy. In fact, the traditional gymnast has no peer in terms of
development of these skills.

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Table 3. Representative Guidelines for Interval Training

Primary Energy Phosphagen Glycolytic Oxidative

System

Duration of work 10–30 30–120 120–300

(in seconds)

Duration of recovery 30–90 60–240 120–300

(in seconds)

Work:recovery ratio 1:3 1:2 1:1

Total interval 25–30 10–20 3–5

repetitions

CrossFit uses short parallel bars, mats, still rings, pull-up and dip bars, and a climbing
rope to implement our gymnastics training.

The starting place for gymnastic competency lies with the well-known calisthenic
movements: pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and rope climbs. These movements need to
form the core of your upper-body strength work. Set goals for achieving benchmarks
like 20, 25, and 30 pull-ups; 50, 75, and 100 push-ups; 20, 30, 40, and 50 dips; 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5 consecutive trips up the rope without any use of the feet or legs.

At 15 pull-ups and dips each, it is time to start working regularly on a “muscle-up.”

The muscle-up is moving from a hanging position below the rings to a supported
position, arms extended, above the rings. It is a combination movement containing
both a pull-up and a dip. Far from a contrivance, the muscle-up is hugely functional.
With a muscle-up, you will be able to surmount any object on which you can get a
finger hold–if you can touch it, you can get up on it. The value here for survival, police,
firefighter, and military use is impossible to overstate. Pull-ups and dips are the key to
developing the muscle-up.

While developing your upper-body strength with the pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and
rope climbs, a large measure of balance and accuracy can be developed through
mastering the handstand. Start with a headstand against the wall if you need to. Once
reasonably comfortable with the inverted position of the headstand, you can practice
kicking up to the handstand again against a wall. Later take the handstand to the
short parallel bars or parallettes without the benefit of the wall. After you can hold
a handstand for several minutes without benefit of the wall or a spotter it is time to
develop a pirouette. A pirouette is lifting one arm and turning on the supporting arm
90 degrees to regain the handstand, then repeating this with alternate arms until you
have turned 180 degrees. This skill needs to be practiced until it can be done with little
chance of falling from the handstand. Work in intervals of 90 degrees as benchmarks
of your growth–90, 180, 270, 360, 450, 540, 630, and finally 720 degrees.

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Walking on the hands is another fantastic tool for developing both the handstand
and balance and accuracy. A football field or sidewalk is an excellent place to
practice and measure your progress. You want to be able to walk 100 yards in the
handstand without falling.

Competency in the handstand readies the athlete for handstand presses. There
is a family of presses that range from relatively easy ones that any beginning
gymnast can perform to ones so difficult that only the best gymnasts competing
at national levels can perform. Their hierarchy of difficulty is bent arm/bent body
(hip)/bent leg; straight arm/
bent body/bent leg; straight
arm/bent body/straight leg;
“Much of the rudiments and bent arm/straight body/
of gymnastics come straight leg; and finally the
only with great effort monster: straight arm/straight
body/straight leg. It is not
and frustration—that
unusual to take 10 years to get
is acceptable.” these five presses!

—COACH GLASSMAN The trunk flexion work in

gymnastics is beyond anything
you will see anywhere
else. Even the beginning
gymnastics trunk movements cripple bodybuilders, weightlifters, and martial
artists. The basic sit-up and “L” hold are the staples. The L-hold is nothing more
than holding your trunk straight while supported by locked arms with hands on a
bench, the floor or parallel bars; the hips are kept at 90 degrees with legs straight
out in front of you. You want to work towards a three-minute hold in benchmark
increments of 30 seconds–30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 seconds. When you can
hold an “L” for three minutes, all your old ab work will be silly easy.

We recommend Bob Anderson’s “Stretching.” This is a simple, no nonsense approach

to flexibility. The science of stretching is weakly developed, and many athletes, like
gymnasts who demonstrate great flexibility, receive no formal instruction. Just do it.
Generally, you want to stretch in a warm-up to establish safe, effective range of motion
for the ensuing activity and stretch during cool down to improve flexibility.

There is a lot of material to work with here. We highly recommend an adult

gymnastics program if there is one in your area. Our friends at Drills and Skills have
enough material to keep you busy for years. This is among our favorite fitness sites.

Every workout should contain regular gymnastic/calisthenic movements that you

have mastered and other elements under development. Much of the rudiments
of gymnastics come only with great effort and frustration–that is acceptable. The

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return is unprecedented and the most frustrating elements are most beneficial—
long before you have developed even a modicum of competency.

Weightlifting
“Weightlifting” as opposed to “weight lifting” or “weight training,” refers to the
Olympic sport, which includes the “clean and jerk” and the “snatch.” Weightlifting,
as it is often referred to, develops strength (especially in the hips), speed, and
power like no other training modality. It is little known that successful weightlifting
requires substantial flexibility. Olympic weightlifters are as flexible as any athletes.

The benefits of weightlifting do not end with strength, speed, power, and flexibil-
ity. The clean and jerk and the snatch both develop coordination, agility, accuracy,
and balance and to no small degree. Both of these lifts are as nuanced and chal-
lenging as any movement in all of sport. Moderate competency in the Olympic
lifts confers added prowess to any sport.
“If strength at
The Olympic lifts are based on the deadlift, clean, squat, and jerk. These movements high heart rates is
are the starting point for any serious weight-training program. In fact they should fundamental to your
serve as the core of your resistance training throughout your life.
sport then you’d
Why the deadlift, clean, squat, and jerk? Because these movements elicit a profound
best perform your
neuroendocrine response. That is, they alter you hormonally and neurologically. resistance training at
The changes that occur through these movements are essential to athletic devel- high heart rate.”
opment. Most of the development that occurs as a result of exercise is systemic
and a direct result of hormonal and neurological changes. —COACH GLASSMAN

Curls, lateral raises, leg extensions, leg curls, flyes,

and other bodybuilding movements have no place
in a serious strength and conditioning program
primarily because they have a blunted neuroen-
docrine response. A distinctive feature of these
relatively worthless movements is that they have
no functional analog in everyday life and they
work only one joint at a time. Compare this to the
deadlift, clean, squat, and jerk, which are functional
and multi-joint movements.

Start your weightlifting career with the deadlift,

clean, squat, and jerk, then introduce the clean and
jerk and snatch. Much of the best weight-training
material on the internet is found on powerlifting
sites. Powerlifting is the sport of three lifts: the
bench press, squat, and deadlift. Powerlifting is a

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superb start to a lifting program followed later by the more dynamic clean and
the jerk and finally the clean and jerk and the snatch.

The movements that we are recommending are very demanding and very athletic.
As a result they have kept athletes interested and intrigued where the typical
fare offered in most gyms (bodybuilding movements) typically bores athletes to
distraction. Weightlifting is sport; weight training is not.

Throwing
Our program includes not only weightlifting and powerlifting but also throwing
work with medicine balls. The medicine-ball work we favor provides both physical
training and general movement practice. We are huge fans of the Dynamax medicine
ball and associated throwing exercises. The medicine-ball drills add another potent
stimulus for strength, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.

There is a medicine-ball game known as Hoover-Ball. It is played with an 8-foot

“There is no single volleyball net and scored like tennis. This game burns three times more calories
sport or activity that than tennis and is great fun. The history and rules of Hoover-Ball are available
trains for perfect from the internet.

fitness. True fitness

Nutrition
requires a compromise Nutrition plays a critical role in your fitness. Proper nutrition can amplify or diminish
in adaptation broader the effect of your training efforts. Effective nutrition is moderate in protein, carbohy-
than the demands of drate, and fat. Forget about the fad high-carbohydrate, low-fat, and low-protein diet.
most every sport.” Balanced macronutrient and healthy nutrition looks more like 40 percent carbohydrate,
30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat. Dr. Barry Sears’ Zone Diet still offers the greatest
precision, efficacy, and health benefit of any clearly defined protocol. The Zone Diet
—COACH GLASSMAN
does an adequate job of jointly managing issues of blood glucose control, proper
macronutrient proportion, and caloric restriction whether your concern is athletic
performance, disease prevention and longevity, or body composition. We recommend
that everyone read Dr. Sears’ book “Enter the Zone” (see also “Zone Meal Plans” article).

Sport
Sport plays a wonderful role in fitness. Sport is the application of fitness in a fantastic
atmosphere of competition and mastery. Training efforts typically include relatively
predictable repetitive movements and provide limited opportunity for the essential
combination of our 10 general physical skills. It is, after all, the combined expression,
or application, of the 10 general skills that is our motivation for their development in
the first place. Sports and games like soccer, martial arts, baseball, and basketball, in
contrast to our training workouts, have more varied and less predictable movements.
But, where sports develop and require all 10 general skills simultaneously, they do
so slowly compared to our strength and conditioning regimen. Sport is better, in
our view, at expression and testing of skills than it is at developing these same skills.
Both expression and development are crucial to our fitness. Sport, in many respects,
more closely mimics the demands of nature than does our training. We encourage

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and expect our athletes to engage in regular sports efforts in addition to all of their
strength and conditioning work.

A Theoretical Hierarchy of Development

A theoretical hierarchy exists for the development of an athlete (Figure 5). It starts
with nutrition and moves to metabolic conditioning, gymnastics, weightlifting, and
finally sport. This hierarchy largely reflects foundational dependence, skill, and to some
degree, time ordering of development. The logical flow is from molecular founda-
tions to cardiovascular sufficiency, body control, external object control, and ultimately
mastery and application. This model has greatest utility in analyzing athletes’ short-
comings or difficulties.

We do not deliberately order these components but nature will. If you have a deficiency
at any level of “the pyramid” the components above will suffer.

Integration
Every regimen, every routine contains within its structure a blueprint for its deficiency.
If you only work your weight training at low reps you will not develop the localized
muscular endurance that you might have otherwise. If you work high reps exclusively
you will not build the same strength or power that you would have at low reps. There
are advantages and disadvantages to working out slowly or quickly, with high weights
or low weights, completing “cardio” before or after, etc.

For the fitness that we are pursuing, every parameter within your control needs to be
modulated to broaden the stimulus as much as possible. Your body will only respond
to an unaccustomed stressor; routine is the enemy of progress and broad
adaptation. Do not subscribe to high reps, or low reps, or long rests, or
short rests but strive for variance.

So then, what are we to do? Work on becoming a better weight-

SPORT
lifter, stronger-better gymnast, and faster rower, runner,
swimmer, cyclist is the answer. There are an infinite number
of workouts that will deliver the goods. WEIGHTLIFTING
& THROWING
Generally, we have found that three days on and
one day off allows for a maximum sustainability at GYMNASTICS
maximum intensities. One of our favorite workout
patterns is to warm up and then perform 3 to
5 sets of 3 to 5 reps of a fundamental lift at a METABOLIC CONDITIONING
moderately comfortable pace followed by a
10-minute circuit of gymnastics elements
at a blistering pace and finally finish NUTRITION
with 2 to 10 minutes of high-intensity
Figure 5. The Theoretical Hierarchy of the
Development of an Athlete.

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“The needs of an
Olympic athlete and
our grandparents
differ by degree
not kind.”

—COACH GLASSMAN

metabolic conditioning. There is nothing sacred in this pattern. The magic is in the
movements not the routine. Be creative.

Another favorite is to blend elements of gymnastics and weightlifting in couplets that

combine to make a dramatic metabolic challenge. An example would be to perform
5 reps of a moderately heavy back squat followed immediately by a set of max-reps
pull-ups repeated 3–5 times.

On other occasions we will take five or six elements balanced between weightlifting,
metabolic conditioning, and gymnastics and combine them in a single circuit that we
blow through three times without a break.

We can create routines like this forever. In fact, our CrossFit.com archives contain
thousands of daily workouts consciously mixed and varied in this manner. Perusing
them will give you an idea of how we mix and modulate our key elements.

We have not mentioned here our penchant for jumping, kettlebells, odd-object lifting,
and obstacle-course work. The recurring theme of functionality and variety clearly
suggest the need and validity for their inclusion though.

Finally, strive to blur distinctions between “cardio” and strength training. Nature has
no regard for this distinction or any other, including our 10 physical adaptations. We
will use weights and plyometrics training to elicit a metabolic response and sprinting
to improve strength.

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Scalability and Applicability

The question regularly arises as to the applicability of a regimen like CrossFit’s to older
and deconditioned or untrained populations. The needs of an Olympic athlete and
our grandparents differ by degree not kind. One is looking for functional dominance,
the other for functional competence. Competence and dominance manifest through
identical physiological mechanisms.

We have used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage
fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we do not
change programs.

We get requests from athletes from every sport looking for a strength and conditioning
program for their sport. Firemen, soccer players, triathletes, boxers, and surfers all want
programs that conform to the specificity of their needs. While we admit that there are
surely needs specific to any sport, the bulk of sport-specific training has been ridicu-
lously ineffective. The need for specificity is nearly completely met by regular practice
and training within the sport, not in the strength and conditioning environment. Our
terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bikers and housewives have found their best fitness
from the same regimen.

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What Is Fitness? (Part 2)

Adapted from Coach Glassman’s Feb 21, 2009, L1 lecture.

This concept started with me having what I call “a belief in fitness.”

I was (and still am) of the view that there is a physical capacity that would lend
itself generally well to any and all contingencies—to the likely, to the unlikely, to
the known, to the unknown. This physical capacity is different than the fitness
required for sport. One of the things that demarcates sport is how much we know
about the event’s physiological demands. Instead, we are chasing headlong this
concept of fitness—as a broad, general and inclusive adaptive capacity—a fitness
that would prepare you for the unknown and the unknowable.

And we went to the literature to look for such a definition and could not find
anything. The information we did find seemed esoteric, irrelevant, or flawed—
logically and/or scientifically. For example, to date the American College of Sports
Medicine (ACSM) cannot give a scientific definition of fitness. They give a definition,
but it contains nothing that can be measured. If it is not measurable, it is not a
valid definition.

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The First Three Models

And so we started playing with a definition and came out with three operational
models. They were clumsy, but they had utility: They guided us and kept us on this
path towards this fitness.

The first model originated from Jim Cawley and Bruce Evans of Dynamax medicine
balls. They produced a list of physiological adaptations that represented the gamut
of potential physiological adaptations in an exercise program. You can improve
cardiorespiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordina-
tion, accuracy, agility and balance by exercising. They gave reasonable definitions to
each of these 10 so that they seemed fairly distinct. Keep in mind, however, nature “Valid criticisms of a
has no obligation to recognize these distinctions. They are completely manmade. fitness program need
This model is an abstraction to help us understand fitness better. to speak to measurable,
observable, repeatable
What we did with this was we said that a person was as fit as he or she was
developed in breadth and depth in those 10 capacities. And to the extent that he
data. If an alternative
or she was deficient in one capacity relative to any cohort, he or she was less fit. to CrossFit is worthy
This is a balance: a compromise of physiological adaptation. of our consideration it
ought to be presented
The second model is a statistical model based on training modality. A hopper, like in terms of distance,
those used to determine a lottery winner, is loaded with as many skills and drills from
time, load, velocity,
as many different sports and strength and conditioning regimens imaginable. It
work and power
could be agility drills from track; one-rep-max bench press from football; Fran, Helen
and Diane from CrossFit; Pilates, and yoga. Do not exclude anything: the more, the related to movements,
better. Then, line up everyone willing to participate, turn the handle, pull a task out skills, and drills. Give
at random, and put them to the test. Here is the contention: he or she who performs me performance
best at these randomly assigned physical tasks is the fittest. data. CrossFit can
be scientifically and
It may very well be that the fittest man on Earth is in the 75th percentile for each event
logically evaluated
picked. In fact, being best at many things would tell me immediately that you are not
only on these terms.”
as fit as you could be.

For instance, if you have a 4-minute mile time, thousands of people are much fitter —COACH GLASSMAN
than you. Part of the adaptation to get a 4-minute mile is that it coincides with the
max bench press of about half body weight and a vertical leap of 3 to 4 inches.
That is part and parcel of the adaptation. It is not a character flaw. There is no value
judgment. Rather, you are not advancing your fitness. Instead, you are advancing a
very narrow bandwidth of a specialized capacity.

Everyone probably knows what it is he or she does not want to see come out of the
hopper. What I have learned about fitness, about sport training, about preparing
yourself for the unknown and the unknowable is this: There is more traction, more
advantage, more opportunity in pursuing headlong that event or skill that you
do not want to see come out of the hopper than putting more time into the ones
where you already excel. That thing you do not want to see come out of the hopper

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is a chink in your armor. It is a glaring deficiency in your general physical prepared-

ness (GPP). And fixing it will give advantage where it does not always make sense
maybe mechanically or metabolically.

We have countless examples of this from amateur and professional sports. At

the heart of this is that we have learned some things about GPP that the world
never knew before. There is more opportunity of advancing athletic performance
via advancing GPP than there is in more sport-specific strength and conditioning
training. For example, I am not sure why more pull-ups make for better skiers, but
they do. We have some theories why that occurs, but we do not actually need to
know the mechanism. We are focused on advancing performance.

So the second model is a statistical model using skills and drills. I am looking for a
balance of capacity across training modalities.

The third model uses the three metabolic pathways. These are the three engines
that produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the currency of effort of all energy
output. Power is plotted on the Y-axis and duration of effort (time) on the X-axis.
The first pathway (phosphagen or phosphocreatine) is high powered and short
duration. It can account for about 100 percent of max human output and taps
out at about 10 seconds. The second pathway (lactate or glycolytic) is moderate
powered, moderate duration. It accounts for approximately 70 percent of max
power output, peaks at about 60 seconds and terminates at 120 seconds. The
third pathway (oxidative or aerobic) is low powered, long duration. It accounts
for approximately 40 percent of max power output and does not fade in any
reasonable time for which I have the patience to measure. The phosphagen and
the glycolytic pathways are anaerobic; oxidative is aerobic. All three engines work
all the time to some extent. The degree to which each is active is dependent on the
activity. One idles, while the other two rev; two will rev, one will idle, etc.

Our thought is this: He or she is as fit as he or she is balanced in capacity in all

three of these engines. A human being is a vehicle with three engines. Suppose we
discover there is a fourth engine; we want capacity there, too. We develop capacity
in all engines through our prescription: constantly varied functional movement
executed at high intensity. We are looking for a balance in the bioenergetics (the
engines that fuel all human activity).

Definition of Fitness (2002-2008)

Although clumsy, these three models served as a litmus test for the fitness we were
after. And we moved forward. We launched CrossFit.com and posted the Workout
of the Day (WOD): constantly varied, high-intensity functional movement.

We were collecting the data from doing WODs and started asking: “What does it
really mean to do Fran? What does it really mean to do Helen? What does it mean

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Table 1. Example Work and Power Calculations Between

Benchmark Attempts

Workout Fran
21-15-9
Thrusters, 95 lb.
Pull-ups

Athlete 6 ft. tall

200 lb.

Work Per Rep Forcex Distance= Work (approx.)

1 ft.
Pull-up 200 lb. 24 in. x 400 ft.-lb.
12 in.

Thruster 1 ft.
200 lb. 26 in. x 433 ft.-lb.
(athlete) 12 in.

Thruster 1 ft.
95 lb. 47 in. x 372 ft.-lb.
(barbell) 12 in.

TOTAL 1,205 ft.-lb.

Per Fran Repsx Work= Total (approx.)

45 1,205 ft.-lb. 54,225 ft.-lb.

Power Date Finished Time Power Output (approx.)

April 2015 4 min. 30 sec. 54,225 ft.-lb. / 4.5 min. = 12,050 ft.-lb. / min.

May 2016 2 min. 45 sec. 54,225 ft.-lb. / 2.75 min. = 19,718 ft.-lb. / min.

Change in April 2015 May 2016 Change (approx.)

Power
Power 12,050 ft.-lb. / min. vs. 19,718 ft.-lb. / min. 60% increase in power

Time 4.5 min. vs. 2.75 min. 60% decrease in time

Conclusion Time approximates our change in power output.

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to say that your time went from 7 minutes to 6 minutes to 5 minutes to 4 minutes?”
Some interesting things came of this.

The workout Fran is 21-15-9 thrusters (95 lb.) and pull-ups. Complete the workout
by doing 21 thrusters (front squat 95 lb., then drive it overhead), then 21 pull-ups
(get your chin over a bar from a hang anyhow). Then go back to the thrusters
for 15 repetitions, 15 pull-ups, 9 of each, stop the clock, and we get a total time
for the effort.

Power is force times distance (work) divided by time. The work required to do Fran
is constant (force times distance). It does not change unless your height changes
(distance), the distance we travel (the movement’s range of motion) changes, the
load changes (95 lb.), or your weight changes. This means that every time you do
Fran or a specific benchmark workout, the work is constant.

So, you do Fran for the first time and have a Time 1 for it (T1). If you do it a year later,
the same work was completed but you have a separate time (T2). In comparing
the two efforts, we find that the work quantity cancels and the difference in time
is the difference in power produced (Table 1).

There will be measurement error in this calculation. I can measure the force/weight
with a scale, the distance traveled with a tape measure, and time with a watch.
There is not a lot of error therein, but there are some concerns as we are calculating
the body’s displacement by using the center of mass, for example. However, as long
as the work is constant, the same error occurs with every effort. And in comparison
from one effort to the next, the errors cancel each other out (zero order error). This
ratio of time (T2/T1) describes my progress to the accuracy and precision of the
watch, which is the best of my three tools (stopwatch, tape measure, scale).

By tracking the difference in time between workout attempts, we are looking at

changes in power. We did not have to study this much longer to come to this
understanding that your collection of workout data points represented your work
capacity across broad time and modal domains. This is your fitness.

With power on the Y-axis and duration of effort on the X-axis, the power output
of any effort can be plotted. Take a handful of efforts that take approximately 10
seconds to do, measure their power output individually, and then get an average of
these efforts. Repeat this exercise at 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 60 minutes,
etc. Plot these data points. With adequate scientific accuracy and precision, I have
graphed mathematically an individual’s work capacity across broad time and
modal domains (Figure 1).

A Fourth Model and the Definition of Health (2008)

Along the way in using these three models, we had also observed that there was
a continuum of measures from sickness to wellness to fitness. If it was a measure I

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Figure 1. A Graphical Representation of One’s Fitness (Work Capacity)

at a Certain Time in His or Her Life.

could quantify, something of interest to a physician or exercise physiologist, we find

it would sit well ordered on this pattern.

Take body fat, for example. If you are 40 percent body fat, that is considered
morbidly obese. The numbers vary by community, but 15 percent is often
considered well or normal. Five percent is typically what you would see in an elite
athlete. Bone density follows a similar pattern. There is a level of bone density that
is pathological; it is osteoporosis or osteopenia in early stages. There is a value that
is normal. We find gymnasts with three to five times normal bone density. I can do
this with a resting heart rate, flexibility (any of the 10 general physical skills), and
even some subjective things to which we cannot put numbers through analytical
methods (e.g., mood). I do not know of a metric that runs counter to this pattern.
This observation led us to believe that fitness and health were varying different
measures of the same reality.

This also means that if you are fit, you first have to become well to become patho-
logically sick. It tells me that fitness is a hedge against sickness, with wellness as an
intermediate value.

If there is anything in your lifestyle, training regimen or recreational pursuits that

has one of these metrics moving in a wrong direction, I want you to entertain the
possibility you are doing something profoundly wrong. What we find is when you
do CrossFit (constantly varied, high-intensity functional movements), eat meat and

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Figure 2. A Graphical Representation of One’s Health

(Fitness Throughout His or Her Life).

vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar, and get plenty of
sleep every night, we do not have this divergent side effect. It does not work such
that everything is improving except one value. We knew this observation could
be another test in assessing one’s fitness regimen.

Recall that we represent fitness as the area under the curve on a graph with power
on the Y-axis and duration of effort on the X-axis. By adding a third dimension, age,
on the Z-axis and extending the fitness across, it produces a three-dimensional
solid (Figure 2). That is health. And with this measure, I have the same relationship
to things that seemingly matter: high-density lipoproteins (HDL), triglycerides,
heart rate, anything that the doctor would tell you is important.

I am of the opinion that health would be maximally held by maximizing your area
under the curve and holding that work capacity for as long as you can. In other
words: Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar;
do constantly varied high-intensity exercise; learn and play new sports throughout
your life. This will buy you more health than will trying to fix your cholesterol or
bone density with a pharmaceutical intervention. That it is a failed approach.

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I want you to understand how these definitions of fitness and health are different
than those found in exercise-science literature. First, understand that our defi-
nitions of these quantities are measurable. One of the problems with exercise
science is that it would very rarely meet the rigors of any real science (chemistry,
physics, engineering).

Secondly, it is also almost never about exercise. For example, maximal oxygen
consumption (VO2 max) and lactate threshold are correlates, maybe components,
but absolutely subordinate to what happens to work capacity. Who would take an
increase in VO2 max for a decrease in work capacity across broad time and modal
domains? What that would look like is breathing more air than you ever had before
on a treadmill test in a lab but losing the road race. Similarly, someone’s lactate
threshold could increase, but he or she still gets choked out in the fight because
of lack of work capacity.

I could make a list of hundreds of these metrics, and no one has ever produced
a great athlete by advancing them one at a time. It does not happen. I can move
them best by doing constantly varied, high-intensity functional movements; doing
things that look like Fran, Diane, Helen; turning fitness into sport by working with
fixed workloads and trying to minimize the time by making every workout a
competitive effort among the cohort. And when I do that, what we find is that
these metrics do spectacular things.

Suppose a man at 90 years old is living independently, running up and down the
steps and playing with his grandchildren. We would not be concerned if his choles-
terol numbers were “high.” There is a problem looking only at longevity. Imagine
a curve that stretches to 90 or even 105 years but has very low work capacity for
its duration. That is not what CrossFit is about: It is about vitality and capacity.
What can you do?

It is imperative for making meaningful assertions about training that fitness and
health are measurable. The area (or volume) under the curve gives me a scientifically
accurate, precise and valid measure of an athlete’s fitness (or health). And we are the
first to have ever done that. When we showed this to physicists, chemists, engineers,
they agreed there is no other way to assess the capacity of something, be it a rocket,
motorcycle, truck or human. Tell me how much it weighs, how far it moves and how
long it takes. Everything else is entirely irrelevant.

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Technique, continued

Technique
Adapted from Coach Glassman’s Dec. 1, 2007, L1 lecture in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In no small part, what is behind this program is the quantification of fitness. This means
we put a number on fitness: work capacity across broad time and modal domains.
You can assess one’s fitness by determining the area under his or her work-capacity
curve. This would be similar to a group of athletes competing in 25 to 30 workouts.
Include a range of activities—like three pulls on the Concept2 rower for average watts
to a 10-mile run—and a multitude of workouts in between. Compile their overall
placing across these events, and everyone then has a reasonable metric of his or her
total capacity.
“Learn the mechanics
of fundamental This quantification of fitness is a part of a broader concept that is at the heart of this
movements, establish movement: We call it evidence-based fitness. This means measurable, observable,
repeatable data is used in analyzing and assessing a fitness program. There are three
a consistent pattern of
meaningful components to analysis of a fitness program: safety, efficacy, and efficiency.
practicing these same
movements, and, only The efficacy of a program means, “What is the return?” Maybe a fitness program
then, ratchet up the advertises that it will make you a better soccer player. There needs to be evidence
intensity of workouts of this supported by measurable, observable, repeatable data. For CrossFit, we want
incorporating to increase your work capacity across broad time and modal domains. This is the
efficacy of this program. What are the tangible results? What is the adaptation that
these movements.
the program induces?
‘Mechanics,’ then
‘Consistency,’ and Efficiency is the time rate of that adaptation. Maybe the fitness program advertises that
then ‘Intensity’– this it can deliver 50 pull-ups. There is a big difference whether it takes six months versus
is the key to effective nine years to achieve that.
implementation of
CrossFit programming.” Safety is how many people end up at the finish line. Suppose I have a fitness program.
I start with 10 individuals: Two of them become the fittest human beings on Earth and
the other eight die. While I would rather be one of the two fittest than the eight dead,
—COACH GLASSMAN and I do not know if I want to play, I am not going to attach a normative value to it. The
real tragedy comes in not knowing the safety numbers.

These three vectors of safety, efficacy and efficiency point in the same direction, such
that they are not entirely at odds with each other. I can greatly increase the safety
of a program by turning the efficacy and efficiency down to zero. I can increase the
efficiency by turning up the intensity and then possibly compromising safety. Or I
could damage the efficacy by losing people. Safety, efficacy and efficiency are the
three meaningful aspects of a program. They give me all I need to assess it.

This quantification of fitness, by choosing work capacity as our standard for the efficacy
of the program, necessitates the qualification of movement. Our quantification of
fitness introduces qualification of movement.

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Technique, continued

For the qualification of movement there are four common terms: mechanics, technique,
form and style. I will not delve into them with too much detail: The distinction is not
that important. I use both technique and form somewhat interchangeably, although
there is a slightly nuanced distinction.

When I talk about angular velocity, momentum, leverage, origin or insertion of muscles,
torque, force, power, relative angles, we are taking about mechanics. When I speak to
the physics of movement, and especially the statics and less so the dynamics, I am
looking at the mechanics.

Technique is the method to success for completion of a movement. For example, if you
want to do a full twisting dismount on the rings, the technique would be: pull, let go, look,
arm up, turn, shoulder drop, etc. Technique includes head posture and body posture. And
there are effective and less effective techniques. Technique includes the mechanics, but
it is in the macro sense of “how do you complete the movement without the physics?”

Form is the normative value: This is good or this is bad—“you should” or “you shouldn’t”
applied to mechanics and technique.

Style is essentially the signature to a movement; that is, that aspect of the movement
that is fairly unique to you. The best of the weightlifting coaches can look at the bar
path during a lift and tell you which lifter it is. There are aspects to all of our movements
that define us like your thumbprint. It is the signature. To be truly just the signature,
style elements have no bearing on form, technique or mechanics. Style does not
enter into the normative assessment, is not important to technique, and does not
alter substantially the physics.

These four terms are all qualifications to movement. I want to speak generally to
technique and form to include all of this, but what we are talking about here is the
non-quantification of output; that is, how you move.

By taking power or work capacity as our primary value for assessing technique—and
this reliance on functional movement—we end up in kind of an interesting position.
We end up where power is the successful completion of functional movement.

This is not about merely energy exerted. On a graph, you could put work completed on
the X-axis and energy expended on the Y-axis. Someone could potentially expend a lot
of energy and do very little work by being inefficient. Ideally, what that individual would
do would see little energy expended for the maximum amount of work. Technique is
what maximizes the work completed for the energy expended (Figure 1). For any given
capacity, say metabolically, for energy expenditure, the guy who knows the technique
is going to be able to do the most amount of work.

Suppose I take two people at random and they are both trying the same task. One is
familiar with how to deadlift, and one is not. One knows how to clean, one does not.

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Technique, continued

One knows how to drive overhead, one does not. Suppose they are loading a truck
with sandbags. The one familiar with lifting large objects and transporting them is
going to do a lot more work.

You can have the argument as to who is stronger. For example, you can use an elec-
tromyogram and see with what force the biceps shortens. If you are defining strength
as contractile potential, you may end up with the guy with enormous contractile
potential—but not knowing the technique of the clean, the jerk, the deadlift, he
cannot do as much work.

We, however, do not take contractile potential as the gold standard for strength.
Strength is the productive application of force. If you cannot complete work, if you
cannot express strength as power, if strength cannot be expressed as productive result,
it does not count. Having enormous biceps and quadriceps is useless if you cannot
run, jump, lift, throw, press.

Figure 1. Technique Maximizes the Work Accomplished for the Energy Expended.

This is related to safety, efficacy and efficiency because technique (quality of movement)
is the heart of maximizing each of these.

He or she who knows how to do these movements when confronted with them will
get a better result in terms of safety. Two individuals attempt to lift a heavy object;
one knows how to pop a hip and get under it (clean), and the other guy starts to pull
with a rounded back. I can tell you what is likely to happen to he or she who does not
know how to lift. If you want to stay safe, you better have good technique, good form.

Efficacy, for any given contractile potential, for any given limit to your total metabolic
capacity, he or she who knows the technique will be able to get more work done and
will develop faster. If after six months of teaching you how to clean it still does not look
like I would like it to, you will not get twice body weight overhead more quickly than

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Technique, continued

someone who looks like a natural. You want an effective program, you are going to
have to move with quality, you want to get the result quickly—technique is going to
be pivotal to your success.

Technique is an intimate part of safety, efficacy, and efficiency.

We can see how this manifests in CrossFit workouts by way of a comparison. I want to
look at typing, shooting, playing the violin, NASCAR driving and CrossFit. What these
domains have in common is that a marked proficiency is associated with speed. Being
able to shoot accurately and quickly is better than quickly or accurately.

You may try to get a job as a typist because you do not make any mistakes. However,
for this perfection, you type at a rate of 20 words a minute and only use two fingers.
You will never get hired. Playing the violin fast and error-free is critical for a virtuoso.
However, someone who gets through “Flight of the Bumblebee” in 12 minutes is
not there yet. A NASCAR driver wants to both drive fast and not wreck. In CrossFit, a
perfectly exquisite Fran is worthless if it takes 32 minutes.

And yet, it is presented to CrossFit coaches as, “Should I use good form or should I do
it quickly?” I do not like my choices. One is impossible without the other.

Technique and speed are not at odds with one another, where “speed” is related to all
the quantification of the movement: power, force, distance, time. They are seemingly
at odds. It is a misapprehension. It is an illusion.

Can you learn to drive fast without wrecking? Can you learn to type fast without making
errors? Can you shoot quickly without missing? Eventually, but not in the learning. One
is impossible without the other.

You will not learn to type fast without typing where you make a ton of errors and then
work to reduce the errors at that speed. Then you go faster, and then again pull the
errors back in, then go faster and pull the errors back in. You drive faster and faster and
then you spin out in the infield or you hit the wall.

If you are a race driver and you have never spun out, gone out in the infield or never been
in a wreck, you are not very good. If you are a typist and you have never made a mistake,
you are very slow. In CrossFit, if your technique is perfect, your intensity is always low.

Here is the part that is hard to understand: You will not maximize the intensity or the
speed without mistakes. But it is not the mistakes that make you faster. It is not reaching
for the letter P with your pinky and hitting the O. It is not hitting the wrong note that
made you play faster. It is not missing the target by two feet that made you a better
shooter. It is not running into the wall that made you a faster driver. But you will not
get there without it. The errors are an unavoidable consequence of development.

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Technique, continued

This iterative process of letting this scope of errors broaden then reducing them
without reducing the speed is called “threshold training.”

In a CrossFit workout, if you are moving well, I will tell you to pick up the speed. Suppose
at the higher speed the movement still looks good: I will encourage you to go faster.
And if it still looks good I will encourage you to go even faster. Now the movement
starts falling apart.

I do not want you to slow down yet. First, at that speed I want you to fix your
technique. What you need to do is continuously and constantly advance the margins
at which form falters.

It may be that initially at 10,000 foot-pounds per minute my technique is perfect, but it
falls apart at 12,000 foot-pounds per minute. Work at that 10,000 to 12,000 foot-pounds
per minute mark to fix the form, and soon enough you will have great technique at
12,000 foot-pounds per minute. The next step is to achieve that technique at 14,000
foot-pounds per minute.

At first, the technique at 14,000 foot-pounds per minute will suffer. Then you must
narrow it in. That is the process. It is ineluctable. It is unavoidable. There is nothing I
can do about it. That is not my rule.

We are the technique people. We drill technique incessantly, but simultaneously I want
you to go faster. You will learn to work at higher intensity with good technique only
by ratcheting up the intensity to a point where good technique is impossible. This
dichotomy means that it is impossible at the limits of your capacity to obey every little
detail and nuance of technique. Some of the refined motor-recruitment patterns are
not going to always look perfect.

I do not know of a domain where speed matters and technique is not at the heart of
it. In every athletic endeavor where we can quantify the output, there is incredible
technique at the highest levels of performance.

Suppose someone set the new world record for the shot put, but his technique was
poor. This means one of two things: one, either with good technique it would have
gone farther, or two, we were wrong in understanding what is good technique.

Technique is everything. It is at the heart of our quantification. You will not express
power in significant measure without technique. You might expend a lot of energy, but
you will not see the productive application of force. You will not be able to complete
functional tasks efficiently or effectively. You will not be safe in trying.

There is a perceived paradox here that really is not a paradox when you understand
the factors at play.

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A Theoretical Template for CrossFit’s Programming, continued

A Theoretical Template for CrossFit’s

Programming
Originally published in February 2003.

“What Is Fitness? (Part 1)” explores the aims and objectives of our program. Most
of you have a clear understanding of how we implement our program through
familiarity with the Workout of the Day (WOD) from our website. What is likely
less clear is the rationale behind the WOD or more specifically what motivates the
specifics of CrossFit’s programming. It is our aim in this article to offer a model or
template for our workout programming in the hope of elaborating on the CrossFit
concept and potentially stimulating productive thought on the subject of exercise
prescription (generally) and workout construction (specifically). What we want to
do is bridge the gap between an understanding of our philosophy of fitness and
the workouts themselves; that is, how we get from theory to practice. CrossFit.com
has never used this template for its programming, but it provides new trainers
a way to effectively apply variance within the tenets of CrossFit’s methodology.
“The magic is in the
At first glance, the template seems to be offering a routine or regimen. This might movement, the art is
seem at odds with our contention that workouts need considerable variance or in the programming,
unpredictability to best mimic the often unforeseeable challenges that combat,
the science is in the
sport, and survival demand and reward. We have often said, “What your regimen
needs is to not become routine.” But the model we offer allows for wide variance
explanation, and
of mode, exercise, metabolic pathway, rest, intensity, sets, and reps. In fact, it is the fun is in the
mathematically likely that each three-day cycle is a singularly unique stimulus community.”
never to be repeated in a lifetime of CrossFit workouts.
—COACH GLASSMAN
The template is engineered to allow for a wide and constantly varied stimulus,
randomized within some parameters, but still true to the aims and purposes of
CrossFit. Our template contains sufficient structure to formalize or define our
programming objectives while not setting in stone parameters that must be left
to variance if the workouts are going to meet our needs. That is our mission–to
ideally blend structure and flexibility.

It is not our intention to suggest that your workouts should, or that our workouts
do, fit neatly and cleanly within the template, for that is absolutely not the case. But,
the template does offer sufficient structure to aid comprehension, reflect the bulk
of our programming concerns, and not hamstring the need for radically varying
stimulus. So as not to seem redundant, what we are saying here is that the purpose
of the template is as much descriptive as prescriptive.

Template Macro View

In the broadest view we see a three-days-on, one-day-off pattern. We have found
that this allows for a relatively higher volume of high-intensity work than the

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Table 1. Template Macro View

3-days-on, 1-day-off

Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

M G M OFF G W G OFF W M W OFF

Modality W G M W G M
W M G

5-days-on, 2-days-off

Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

M G M M W OFF OFF Modalities

Week 1 W G G M = monostructural
W metabolic
conditioning
G W G G M OFF OFF
G = gymnastics
Week 2 M W W
W = weightlifting
M

W M W W G OFF OFF
Week 3 G M M
G

many others that we have experimented with. With this format the athlete can
work at or near the highest intensities possible for three straight days, but by the
fourth day both neuromuscular function and anatomy are hammered to the point
where continued work becomes noticeably less effective and impossible without
reducing intensity.

The chief drawback to the three-days-on, one-day-off regimen is that it does not
sync with the five-days-on, two-days-off pattern that seems to govern most of
the world’s work habits. The regimen is at odds with the seven-day week. Many of
our clients are running programs within professional settings, where the five-day
workweek with weekends off is de rigueur. Others have found that the scheduling
needs of family, work, and school require scheduling workouts on specific days of
the week every week. For these people we have devised a five-days-on, two-days-
off regimen that has worked very well.

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A Theoretical Template for CrossFit’s Programming, continued

The workout of the day was originally a five-on, two-off pattern and it worked
perfectly. But the three-on, one-off pattern was devised to increase both the
intensity of and recovery from the workouts, and the feedback we have received
and our observations suggest that it was successful in this regard.

If life is easier with the five-on, two-off pattern, do not hesitate to employ it. The
difference in potential between the two might not warrant restructuring your
entire life to accommodate the more effective pattern. There are other factors
that will ultimately overshadow any disadvantages inherent in the potentially less
effective regimen, such as convenience, attitude, exercise selection, and pacing.

For the remainder of this article the three-day cycle is the one in discussion, but
most of the analysis and discussion applies perfectly to the five-day cycle.

Elements By Modality
Looking at the Template Macro View (Table 1) it can readily be seen that the
template is based on the rotation of three distinct modalities: monostructural
metabolic conditioning (M), gymnastics (G), and weightlifting (W). The monostruc-
tural metabolic conditioning activities are commonly referred to as “cardio,” the
purpose of which is primarily to improve cardiorespiratory capacity and stamina.
They are repetitive, cyclical movements that could be sustained for long periods
of time. The gymnastics modality comprises body-weight exercises/elements or
calisthenics, and its primary purpose is to improve body control by improving
neurological components such as coordination, balance, agility, and accuracy, and
to improve functional upper-body capacity and trunk strength. The weightlifting
modality comprises the most important weight-training basics, Olympic lifts and

Table 2. Exercises by Modality

Gymnastics Metabolic Conditioning Weightlifting

Air Squat Run Deadlift

Pull-up Bike Cleans
Push-up Row Press
Dip Jump Rope Snatch
Handstand Push-up Clean and Jerk
Rope Climb Medicine-Ball Drills
Muscle-up Kettlebell Swing
Press to Handstand
Back Extension
Sit-up
Jump
Lunge

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A Theoretical Template for CrossFit’s Programming, continued

powerlifting, where the aim is primarily to increase strength, power, and hip/leg
capacity. This category includes any exercise with the addition of an external load.

Table 2 gives the common exercises used by our program, separated by modality,
in fleshing out the routines.

For metabolic conditioning the exercises are run, bike, row, and jump rope. The
gymnastics modality includes air squats, pull-ups, push-ups, dips, handstand
push-ups, rope climbs, muscle-ups, presses to handstands, back/hip extensions,
sit-ups, and jumps (vertical, box, broad, etc.). The weightlifting modality includes
“A strength and deadlifts, cleans, presses, snatches, clean and jerks, medicine-ball drills and throws,
conditioning regimen and kettlebell swings.
devoid of gymnastics
The elements, or exercises, chosen for each modality were selected for their
practice and skills is
functionality, neuroendocrine response, and overall capacity to dramatically and
deficient.” broadly impact the human body.

—COACH GLASSMAN Workout Structure

The workout structure varies by the inclusion of one, two, or three modalities for
each day (Table 3). Days 1, 5, and 9 are each single-modality workouts whereas days
2, 6, and 10 include two modalities each (couplets), and finally, days 3, 7, and 11
use three modalities each (triplets). In every case each modality is represented by a
single exercise or element; i.e., each M, W, and G represents a single exercise from
metabolic conditioning, weightlifting, and gymnastics modalities respectively.

When the workout includes a single exercise (days 1, 5, and 9) the focus is on a
single exercise or effort. When the element is the single “M” (day 1) the workout
is a single effort and is typically a long, slow, distance effort. When the modality

Table 3. Workout Structure

Days Single-Element Days Two-Element Days Three-Element Days

(1, 5, 9) (2, 6, 10) (3, 7, 11)

Priority Element priority Task priority Time priority

Structure (Set M: Single effort Couplet repeated 3-5 Triplet repeated for 20
Structure) G: Single skill times for time minutes for rotations
W: Single lift

Intensity M: Long, slow distance Two moderately to Three lightly to

G: High skill intensely challenging moderately challenging
W: Heavy elements elements

Work Recovery Recovery not a limiting Work/rest interval Work/rest interval

Character factor management critical marginal factor

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is a single “G” (day 5) the workout is practice of a single skill, and typically this skill
is sufficiently complex to require great practice but might not be yet suitable for
inclusion in a timed workout because performance is not yet adequate for efficient
inclusion. When the modality is the single “W” (day 9) the workout is a single lift
and typically performed at high weight and low repetition. It is worth repeating
that the focus on days 1, 5, and 9 is single efforts of “cardio” at long distance;
improving high-skill, more complex gymnastics movements; and single/low-rep
heavy weightlifting basics, respectively. This is not the day to work sprints, pull-ups,
or high-repetition clean and jerks­—the other days would be more appropriate.

On the single-element days (1, 5, and 9), recovery is not a limiting factor. For the “G” “No successful strength
and “W” days, rest is long and deliberate and the focus is kept clearly on improve- and conditioning
ment of the element and not on total metabolic effect. program has
anywhere ever been
For the two-element days (2, 6, and 10), the structure is typically a couplet of
exercises performed alternately until repeated for a total of 3-5 rounds performed
derived from scientific
for time. We say these days are “task priority” because the task is set and the time principles. Those
varies. The workout is most often scored by the time required to complete the claiming efficacy or
prescribed rounds. The two elements themselves are designed to be moderate to legitimacy on the basis
high intensity and work-rest interval management is critical. These elements are of theories they’ve
made intense by pace, load, reps or some combination. Ideally, the first round is
either invented or
hard but possible, whereas the second and subsequent rounds will require pacing,
corralled to explain
rest, and breaking the task up into manageable efforts.
their programming
For the three-element days (3, 7, and 11), the structure is typically a triplet of are guilty of fraud.
exercises, this time repeated for a specified number of minutes and scored by Programming derives
number of rotations or repetitions completed. We say these workouts are “time from clinical practice
priority” because the athlete is kept moving for a specified time and the goal and can only be
is to complete as many cycles as possible. The elements are chosen in order to
justified or legitimized
provide a challenge that manifests only through repeated cycles. Ideally the
by the results of that
elements chosen are not significant outside of the blistering pace required to
maximize rotations completed within the time allotted (typically 20 minutes). This practice.”
is in stark contrast to the two-element days, where the elements are of a much
higher intensity. This workout is tough, extremely tough, but managing work-rest —COACH GLASSMAN
intervals is a marginal factor.

Each of the three distinct days has a distinct character. Generally speaking, as the
number of elements increases from one to two to three, the workout’s effect is due
less to the individual element selected and more to the effect of repeated efforts.
Table 4 depicts workout examples following this template.

Application
The template in discussion does not generate the CrossFit.com Workout of the
Day (WOD), but the qualities of one-, two-, and three-element workouts expressed
there motivated the template’s design. Our experience in the gym and the

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Table 4. Workout Examples Using the Template

Day Modality Elements

1 M Run 10 km

2 GW (5 handstand push-ups/225 x 5 deadlifts + 20 lb./round) x 5

for time

3 MGW Run 400 m/10 pull-ups/thruster 50% of body weight (BW) x

15 for 20 min. for rotations

4 OFF

5 G Practice handstands for 45 minutes

6 WM (Bench press 75% BW x 10/Row 500 m) x 5 for time

7 GWM Lunges 100 ft./push press 50% BW x 15/row 500 m for 20

min. for rotations

8 OFF

9 W Deadlift 5-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1

10 MG (Run 200 m/box jump 30 in. x 10) x 5 for time

11 WMG Clean 50% BW x 20/bike 1 mile/15 push-ups for 20 min. for

rotations

12 OFF

feedback from our athletes following the WOD have demonstrated that the mix
of one-, two-, and three-element workouts is crushing in impact and unrivaled in
bodily response. The information garnered through your feedback on the WOD has
given CrossFit an advantage in estimating and evaluating the effect of workouts
that might have taken decades or been impossible without the internet.

Typically our most effective workouts, like art, are remarkable in composition,
symmetry, balance, theme, and character. There is a “choreography” of exertion
that draws from a working knowledge of physiological response, a well-developed
sense of the limits of human performance, the use of effective elements, experi-
mentation, and even luck. Our hope is that this model will aid in learning this art.

The template encourages new skill development, generates unique stressors,

crosses modes, incorporates quality movements, and hits all three metabolic
pathways. It does this within a framework of sets and reps and a cast of exercises that
CrossFit has repeatedly tested and proven effective. We contend that this template
does a reasonable job of formally expressing many CrossFit objectives and values.

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Scaling CrossFit, continued

Scaling CrossFit
CrossFit workouts, and especially those on CrossFit.com, are designed to challenge
even the most advanced athlete. Many athletes need to “scale” (i.e., modify) the
workouts for the safest implementation of the program. Finding a CrossFit affiliate is
one way to receive proper coaching and guidance through this process. In absence
of an experienced trainer, this article presents some basic concepts for scaling
workouts particularly for beginners. Scaling for other populations (e.g., advanced
or injured athletes) is discussed in greater detail at the Level 2 Certificate Course,
as well as in the Online Scaling Course.

Athletes will need to scale workouts for variable lengths of time. One’s athletic
background, as well as his or her current health and fitness capacity, dictates how
long scaling is necessary. The methodology presented here can be used indefi-
nitely, but a month is the minimum period for which significant scaling should be
applied. This introductory period serves two purposes: 1) it develops competency
of movements used in CrossFit; and 2) it appropriately exposes the athlete to
gradual increases in intensity and volume.

Mechanics and Consistency First

CrossFit’s charter for creating the most optimal balance of safety, efficacy, and
efficiency is: mechanics, consistency, then—and only then—intensity. The
initial exposure to CrossFit is when movement mechanics should be prioritized
over intensity. And for some, just practicing the movements will be intense. It
is imperative that the movements can be performed correctly and consistently
before load and speed are added. While intensity is an important part of the
CrossFit program, it is added after movement proficiency is established. Ignoring
this order increases the risk for injury and potentially blunts long-term progress,
especially if poor mechanics are combined with load.

Scaling Effectively: Preserve the Stimulus

When scaling workouts, the main principle to follow is “preserve the stimulus.”
The stimulus of the workout refers to the effects of the specific combination of
movements, time domain, and load. Aspects of this combination can be adjusted
for each individual so that the workout produces relatively similar effects on each
athlete—regardless of physical abilities.

The breadth of workouts and varying levels of CrossFit beginners make it

impossible to provide a single rule for scaling workouts. Similarly, deviations from
the guidelines presented herein can be effective choices at times (especially for
more advanced athletes). For best results, the individual should use his or her own
judgment—or the advice of a qualified trainer—to determine what is appropriate.
Athletes and trainers should not be afraid to alter the workout after it has begun.
At the appearance of unsafe form, the athlete or coach should end the workout
or reduce the load to that which allows proper mechanics.

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Scaling CrossFit, continued

Intensity and Volume

Two factors need to be scaled for every beginner: 1) intensity; and 2) volume. A
prudent method for beginners is reducing intensity and/or volume by half for at
least two weeks. Depending on how the athlete progresses, volume and intensity
can be gradually increased in the following weeks, months, and years.

Intensity refers to the amount of power an athlete generates. Intensity may be

modified in three ways: 1) load; 2) speed; and/or 3) volume.

Load is the variable to scale first; scaling the load is an easy way to preserve the
stimulus relative to an athlete’s capacity. Load is also the most common variable
modified after the beginner period. Especially for a conditioning workout, the
athlete should use a load that ensures he or she is able to complete the first set
or round without compromising form or reaching muscular failure. Determining
appropriate loads for newer athletes requires some estimation, and scaling will
not always be perfect. Often, loads for newer athletes will be less than 50 percent
of the prescribed load, especially if an athlete is new to lifting weights. Coaches
should err on the side of scaling too much rather than not enough, particularly
for newer athletes.

Speed tends to be more self-modulated due to the athlete’s fitness level, although
a coach can modulate speed based on the mechanics demonstrated. A coach
might have to slow an athlete down to achieve the correct mechanics. Similarly,
coaches might have to encourage an athlete who is moving well to move faster,
though this is less common when working with beginners (see “Technique” article).

Volume is the total amount of work accomplished by the athlete. Depending

on the workout, volume can be lowered by reducing: 1) time; 2) reps/rounds;
and/or 3) distance.

Newer CrossFit athletes might attempt to struggle through a workout where

the volume of repetitions (or load, above) is beyond their current capacity. For
example, an advanced CrossFit athlete might complete Fran in 2 minutes. That
same workout might take a newer athlete 15 minutes or more if completed as
prescribed. While it is not imperative for beginners to finish in the same time as
advanced athletes – times should be relatively similar. Fran should be completed
within several minutes.

While lowering the volume can increase intensity (i.e., produce more power),
volume reductions are also important for beginners because muscles, ligaments,
and tendons need to become gradually accustomed to the volume in CrossFit.
Reducing volume also reduces excessive soreness, as well as the risk for rhabdo-
myolysis and injury.

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Scaling CrossFit, continued

Movements
When a movement cannot be performed at all, it can be substituted. CrossFit
suggests modifying this variable last because avoiding a movement prevents
an individual from developing proficiency in it. An athlete or trainer should first
try reducing the load before substituting the movement. If the workout calls for
snatches at 95 lb., for example, it is generally preferable that the athlete performs
the snatches with a PVC pipe instead of substituting 95-lb. overhead squats.

Complete movement substitutions should be considered when a physical

limitation or injury is present, or when the load cannot be reduced. When selecting
a substitute movement, trainers should try to preserve the original movement’s
function and range of motion as best they can. When determining movement
substitutions consider:
1) Whether the movement is primarily driven by the lower
body or upper body.
2) The movement function (e.g., push versus pull).
3) The range of motion used by the movement (specifically of the hips,
knees, and ankles).
4) The plane of movement.

Particularly in the case of injury, a complete movement replacement might be

necessary. Consideration of these variables can help trainers select a movement
substitution or replacement that is as similar as possible to the prescribed movement.

A Sample Week of Scaling

This section outlines five typical CrossFit workouts. For each Workout of the Day
(WOD), scaled workouts are presented with modifications to volume, load, and
movements. Some of the rationale for the options is also described. These scaled
workouts should be considered but three examples of the many options available.
They do not take the place of scaled workouts created by an experienced trainer
who is relying on intuition and detailed knowledge of a specific athlete.

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WORKOUT 1
CINDY SCALED VERSION A SCALED VERSION B SCALED VERSION C
As many rounds as 10-minute AMRAP of: 10-minute AMRAP of: 10 rounds for time of:
possible (AMRAP) 5 ring rows 5 jumping pull-ups 3 pull-ups with
in 20 minutes of: 10 push-ups from 10 push-ups against bands
5 pull-ups knees a wall 6 push-ups
10 push-ups 15 air squats to a 15 air squats from toes
15 air squats target 9 air squats
Scaling Considerations
• Volume is reduced by halving the time or setting an upper limit of rounds.
• The rep range can also be reduced so the individual keeps moving through most of the
workout instead of reaching muscular failure too quickly.
• Pull-ups and push-ups often exceed the upper-body strength of beginning athletes, and
these movements can be scaled in various ways to reduce the load.
• Air squats should be maintained unless there is an injury, although a target is useful for
those developing full range of motion.

WORKOUT 2
SCALED VERSION A SCALED VERSION B SCALED VERSION C
50-40-30-20-10 25-20-15-10-5 50-40-30-20-10 5 rounds for time of:
reps for time of: reps for time of: reps for time of: 15 Wall-ball shots,
Wall-ball shots, Wall-ball shots, Wall-ball shots, 10-lb. ball
20-lb. ball 20-lb. ball 14-lb. ball 15 Plate jumps,
Box jumps, 24-in. Box jumps, 24-in. 25-20-15-10-5 45-lb. plate
box box reps for time of:
Box jumps, 24-in.
box
Scaling Considerations
• The total volume of this workout is relatively high for each movement (150 reps).
Controlling the reps is the easiest way to reduce the volume.
• It is also possible to reduce volume on one movement only. For example, if the athlete
is attempting box jumps at a certain height for the first time this can be reduced while
keeping the wall-ball shots at the prescribed volume.
• The box height can be significantly reduced to help preserve the jump. Step-ups could be
used to preserve the range of motion when capacity does allow for jumps (e.g., injury).
• Also consider changing the height to which the wall ball is thrown, particularly when the
athlete is new to the movement and/or trying a new weight.

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WORKOUT 3
DEADLIFT SCALED VERSION A SCALED VERSION B SCALED VERSION C
5-5-5-5-5 Everyone works up to heavy set of 5 repetitions with sound mechanics.
The set should be taxing, but form should not be lost.
Scaling Considerations
• When the heavy day has a low repetition count per set (<5 reps), trainers might
choose to increase the repetitions for beginners who are working at a lower weight to
practice mechanics. For example, a 1-repetition-maximum snatch day may be changed
to 3 repetitions.
• In rare cases, the range of motion may be shortened until the mechanics are correct.
This might require the barbell to be pulled from pins (or off bumpers), for example.
Typically, however, beginners should work on improving mechanics through the full
range of motion.

WORKOUT 4
SCALED VERSION A SCALED VERSION B SCALED VERSION C
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 15-12-9-6-3 reps of: 15-12-9-6-3 reps of: 5 rounds for time of:
reps of: SDHP (45 lb.) SDHP 10 SDHP (45 lb.)
Sumo deadlift high Push jerks (45 lb.) (1-pood/36-lb. 10 Push jerks (45 lb.)
pulls (SDHP) (75 lb.) kettlebell)
Push jerks (75 lb.) Push presses (45 lb.)
Scaling Considerations
The total volume is moderately high (84 reps) and is effectively halved by removing the first two
rounds of 21 and 18 reps.
• The load can be reduced for both movements. As they are more complicated movements
for beginners, this is a perfect opportunity to keep the movements as is but lower the load
to refine the mechanics.
• In rare cases, a push press should be substituted when the mechanics of the push jerk are
not proficient for significant load or volume.
• Substituting a kettlebell for a barbell in the SDHP is a way to reduce the complexity of the
movement. It allows the athletes to work on the core-to-extremity movement pattern
without having to navigate a bar around the knees.

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Scaling CrossFit, continued

WORKOUT 5
SCALED VERSION A SCALED VERSION B SCALED VERSION C
12-9-6 reps of: 12-9-6 reps of: 12-9-6 reps of: 3 rounds for time of:
Cleans (185 lb.) Cleans (75 lb.) Medicine-ball 8 cleans (95 lb.)
Muscle-ups Banded strict cleans (20 lb.) 8 banded
pull-ups Ring rows muscle-up
Banded strict dips Bench dips transitions
Scaling Considerations
• The total volume of this workout is low without any modifications.
• The load is significantly heavy and will need to be reduced for beginners. A medicine ball
is particularly useful for the newer athlete.
• The muscle-up will need to be scaled, and this is best accomplished with upper-body
pulling and pushing movements, or even a banded version of the full movement itself.
• Changing the rep scheme can be useful when the modification significantly challenges
the individual’s strength stamina. Doing so will allow the individual to achieve almost the
same volume while he or she develops new skills and/or is exposed to heavier elements.

Conclusion
Athletes and their trainers should focus on movement proficiency before adding
speed and load. Workouts should be scaled significantly for at least a month,
particularly with regard to intensity and volume. The period of scaling workouts—
especially load—might continue for months and years as the athlete develops the
requisite capacities. With appropriate scaling, an athlete will make significant fitness
gains by working at his or her relative level of physical and psychological tolerance.

Most athletes need to modify CrossFit.com workouts to dose themselves appro-

priately. As mentioned in “Where Do I Go From Here?” we challenge all athletes
and trainers to follow CrossFit.com for their daily workouts for at least six months.
Following this recommendation will provide first-hand experience at scaling
workouts. While this article is tailored for the beginner athlete, intermediate
and advanced scaling options are available every day on the @crossfittraining
Instagram account. The @crossfitwod account provides additional information
on workout strategy.

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“The Girls” for Grandmas, continued

“The Girls” for Grandmas

Originally published in October 2004.

As a demonstration of the program’s universal applicability, this article gives

scaled variations of benchmark workouts Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane,
Elizabeth, and Fran.

These six workouts are as good as any to demonstrate our concept of scalability.
Here we offer versions of those workouts that have been “tuned down” in intensity
and had exercises substituted to accommodate any audience, particularly the
elderly, beginner, or deconditioned athlete.

With scaling, the intent is to preserve the stimulus: adhere to as many of the
original workout factors as possible relative to the individual’s physical and
psychological tolerances.

ANGIE
ORIGINAL SCALED

For time: For time:

100 pull-ups 25 ring rows
100 push-ups 25 push-ups off the knees
100 sit-ups 25 sit-ups
100 squats 25 squats

Ring Rows

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BARBARA
ORIGINAL SCALED

5 rounds for time of: 3 rounds for time of:

20 pull-ups 20 ring rows
30 push-ups 30 push-ups off the knees
40 sit-ups 40 sit-ups
50 squats 50 squats
3 minutes of rest between rounds 3 minutes of rest between rounds

Push-ups off the Knees

Sit-ups

Squats

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CHELSEA
ORIGINAL SCALED

5 pull-ups 5 ring rows

10 push-ups 10 push-ups off the knees
15 squats 15 squats
Each minute on the minute for 30 Each minute on the minute for 20
minutes minutes

DIANE
ORIGINAL SCALED

21-15-9 repetitions (reps) for time of: 21-15-9 reps for time of:
deadlift 225 lb. deadlift 50 lb.
handstand push-ups dumbbell shoulder press 10 lb.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

FRAN
ORIGINAL SCALED

21-15-9 reps for time of: 21-15-9 reps for time of:
thruster 95 lb. thruster 25 lb.
pull-ups ring rows

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“The Girls” for Grandmas, continued

ELIZABETH
ORIGINAL SCALED

21-15-9 reps for time of: 21-15-9 reps for time of:
clean 135 lb. clean 25 lb.
ring dips bench dips

Clean

Bench Dips

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Running a CrossFit Class, continued

Running a CrossFit Class

At most affiliates, group classes outnumber private or semi-private sessions.
This is a short primer on how to effectively plan and run a group class. While the
concepts presented here are relevant to private training, the logistical demands
of running a group class are significantly increased such that additional pressure
is placed on planning.

More information on designing and running effective classes is provided in the

Level 2 Certificate Course. Programming well-designed workouts and providing
scaling options are only part of running an effective class. At the very least, a
warm-up, workout, and cool-down plan should be drafted before the class to
outline the duration of each section and its specific elements. Additional consid-
erations for each section are outlined below.

Does the warm-up…

• Increase the body’s core temperature?
• Prepare the athletes to handle the intensity of the workout?
• Allow the coach to correct movement mechanics needed in the workout?
• Allow the coach to assess capacity for scaling modifications?
• Offer skill development and refinement (potentially including elements
not in the workout, time permitting)?

Does the workout…

• Include a description of range-of-motion standards?
• Include scaling options that are appropriate for all athletes in the class?
• Allow athletes to reach their relative level of high intensity?
• Challenge the athlete’s current level of fitness?
• Include corrections of movement mechanics under high intensity?

Does the cool-down…

• Allow the heart and respiratory rate to slow and the athlete to
regain mental acuity?
• Allow the athlete to record workout performance to track progress?
• Prepare the gym for the following class?
• Take advantage of remaining time for recovery practices, additional skill
refinement, and/or education?

The following three sample Lesson Plans and Workout of the Day (WOD) Scales
serve as examples for how to plan a class session.

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LESSON PLAN: FRAN

WORKOUT
Fran
21-15-9 reps of:
95-lb. thrusters
Pull-ups

Score: total time

INTENDED STIMULUS
This workout is classic benchmark that allows coaches and athletes to assess
progress. Fran, a couplet of gymnastics and weightlifting movements, is a
relatively fast workout elite athletes finish in less than 2 minutes.

The complementary movement patterns—lower-body push and upper-body

pull—allow for relatively continuous movement. The greatest challenge is
managing an extremely high heart rate.

BREAKDOWN
ƒƒ This workout is more a challenge of one’s cardiovascular response than
strength. Athletes should not need to break these movements up more than
three times in the set of 21, two times in the set of 15, and once in the set of 9.

ƒƒ The suggested female Rx’d weight is 65 lb. for the thruster.

ƒƒ The scaling options include: reduced load on the thruster, and/or reduced
volume or load on the pull-ups. If an athlete’s last Fran was scaled and
completed under 5 minutes, difficulty should be increased.

ƒƒ Coaches should demonstrate each movement including movement

standards.

ƒƒ Coaches should explain the score is total time for workout completion.

ƒƒ Coaches should ask if any athletes are injured.

ƒƒ Athletes should attempt to complete the workout in less than 10 minutes.

The approximate estimates of each component are: 30-90 seconds for
each set of 21, 20-60 seconds for each set of 15, and 15-45 seconds for
each set of 9.

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Coaches: All parts of the class are coach led. Demonstrate each new piece
before athletes perform it. Cue athletes to achieve better positions throughout
each section.

:00-:03
WHITEBOARD (3 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Explain the workout, intended stimulus and breakdown (above).

:03-:13
GENERAL WARM-UP (10 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Explain at the board and have athletes complete the work at their own
pace with a 10-minute limit. It should be steady but not rushed.
ƒƒ Cue throughout.
ƒƒ 800-m run.
ƒƒ Two rounds, 15 reps of each movement, of (first round/second round):
• Squat therapy/PVC front squats.
• Ring rows/strict pull-ups (banded, if necessary).
• Push-ups/PVC shoulder presses.
• AbMat sit-ups/hollow-body rocks.
• Hip extensions/Supermans.

:13-:23
PULL-UP SPECIFIC WARM-UP (10 MINUTES)
If an athlete can perform 8-10 consecutive pull-ups in the warm-up, it is
likely the athlete can complete the prescribed reps in the workout.

ƒƒ Bar hang (30 seconds).

• Look for: grip strength.
ƒƒ 10 kipping swings.
• Look for: tight body position.
ƒƒ 10 kipping swings focusing on a big kip.
• Look for: vertical displacement of the hips.
ƒƒ 10 pull-ups (banded if necessary).
ƒƒ Teach: gymnastics versus butterfly kip.
• Allow 5 minutes for athletes to practice and refine mechanics.
• Encourage small sets of refined movement and ensure athletes
do not unduly fatigue themselves.

:23-:36
THRUSTER SPECIFIC WARM-UP (13 MINUTES)
Assess movement to determine proper workout loading.

ƒƒ 60-second barbell rack-wrist stretch.

• Allow them to come off/on tension as needed.
ƒƒ 6 front squats with a pause at bottom.
• Look for: hips pushing back to initiate.

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ƒƒ 6 shoulder presses with a pause overheard.

• Look for: neutral spine.
ƒƒ 6 thrusters on the coach’s cadence with a reset at the rack position.
• Look for: timing of the press.
ƒƒ 6 thrusters on their own cadence.
• Encourage them to move fast.
ƒƒ Instruct athletes to add weight to reach their workout load.
• On their own cadence, they perform 3 sets of 3 reps per set.
• After each set, they perform 3 pull-ups.
• Scale loads as appropriate

:36-:39
BREAK & LOGISTICS (3 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Bathroom break.
ƒƒ Remind athletes that additional scaling might occur during
the workout.
ƒƒ Review scaling options with each athlete.
ƒƒ Safety check: Ensure adequate room around barbells (including for
bounces after bars are dropped) and pull-up spaces (e.g., boxes to the
side of a working athlete).
ƒƒ Rebrief workout, flow and safety considerations.

:39-:50
WORKOUT: START AT :39 (11 MINUTES)
Cue athletes to achieve better positions while maintaining technique.
Further scale the workout as needed.

ƒƒ Thruster: Look for athletes who shift weight forward to the toes and
press too soon (fatiguing the arms).
ƒƒ Pull-up: Look for full range of motion at bottom and the top.

:50-:60
COOL-DOWN (10 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Clean up equipment.
ƒƒ Shoulder stretch (1 minute each side).
ƒƒ Forearm “smash” (e.g., lacrosse ball) (1 minute each arm).
ƒƒ Collect scores, celebrate new personal records, and exchange
high fives!

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WOD SCALE: FRAN

WORKOUT BEGINNER
Fran 21-15-9 reps of:
21-15-9 reps of: 65-lb./45-lb. thrusters
95-lb. thrusters Ring rows
Pull-ups
ƒƒ The reps remain unchanged
Score: total time and should be acceptable
for most beginners with the
SCALING THIS WOD reduced loads.
This workout is classic benchmark
ƒƒ The thruster weight is lowered.
that allows athletes and coaches
to assess progress. Fran, a couplet ƒƒ Ring rows lower the upper-body
of gymnastics and weightlifting demand while still developing
movements, is a relatively fast basic pulling strength. Adjusting
workout elite finish in less than the athlete’s foot position to keep
2 minutes. the body more vertical reduces
the upper-body demand; choose
The suggested female Rx’d weight is a position that allows him or her
65 lb. for the thruster. Either element to complete each set with no
may be modified in load. Athletes more than 2 breaks.
should aim to complete the workout
INTERMEDIATE
under 10 minutes. Coaches are
21-15-9 reps of:
encouraged to use their judgment
95-lb./65-lb. thrusters
to find challenging but manageable
15-12-9
substitutions for their athletes.
Pull-ups

ƒƒ Many intermediate athletes can

do this workout as prescribed.

ƒƒ In cases where kipping pull-

ups are a newly acquired skill,
consider reducing the reps. If
8-10 consecutive pull-ups are not
yet feasible, it is recommended
coaches lower the volume.

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LESSON PLAN: BACK SQUAT

WORKOUT
Back squat
5-5-5-5-5

Score: maximum load for a set of 5 reps

INTENDED STIMULUS
This workout is a single-modality weightlifting heavy day. Today, the sets are
ascending (i.e., add weight after every set). At 5 reps per set, the workout has a
slight bias toward strength-stamina versus top-end strength.

The goal is to lift the maximum load possible for a set of 5 reps while
maintaining sound technique. Adequate rest (i.e., 3-5 minutes) must be taken
between these sets to maximize loading.

BREAKDOWN
ƒƒ The goal is to develop strength, although at 5 reps per set the loads will not
be close to 1-repetition maximums.

ƒƒ Athletes are expected to add load after a successful 5-rep set.

ƒƒ New personal records should be attempted in the third or fourth set.

ƒƒ Scaling options are modulated by load.

ƒƒ Coaches should ask if any athletes are injured.

ƒƒ Coaches should demonstrate the movement, including movement

standards.

ƒƒ Coaches should explain the score is the maximum load for a set of 5 reps.

ƒƒ The load is reduced when 5 reps are not achieved or form degrades
significantly.

ƒƒ Suggested rest periods: 3-5 minutes between working sets.

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Coaches: All parts of the class are coach led. Demonstrate each new piece
before athletes perform it. Cue athletes to achieve better positions throughout
each section.

:00-:03
WHITEBOARD (3 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Explain the workout, intended stimulus and breakdown (above).

:03-:08
GENERAL WARM-UP (5 MINUTES)
Assess for hip, knee and ankle range of motion. Athletes might need
assistance selecting an appropriate PVC pipe height.

OVER-UNDER
ƒƒ Partner 1 holds a PVC pipe parallel to the ground at approximately
hip height.
ƒƒ Partner 2 lifts one leg at a time over the PVC, then squats and moves
underneath it to return to the other side.
ƒƒ Partner 2 completes 5 reps with each leg, and then the partners
switch roles.
ƒƒ Each person completes two turns in each role.

WALKING LUNGE STRETCH

ƒƒ Athletes step out with one leg into a lunge while the hands, with
interlaced fingers, reach up and to the opposite side of the front leg.
ƒƒ Have the athletes stand and repeat with the opposite leg until they
have completed 5 steps with each leg.

:08-:23
BACK SQUAT SPECIFIC WARM-UP (15 MINUTES)
Assess movement to determine proper workout loading.

ƒƒ Have athletes partner or group together on racks set to

appropriate heights.
ƒƒ One athlete at a time is cued through this sequence:
• Place the barbell on the back.
• Brace the abdominals.
• Step two steps back from the rack.
• Squat to full depth.
• Pause at the bottom.
• Stand up aggressively.
• Exhale at the top.
ƒƒ Have each athlete repeat that sequence 4 more times on his
or her own.
ƒƒ Rotate new athletes in. Continue in this manner, cueing the first rep
and allowing 4 independent reps, until everyone has completed a set.

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• Look for: hips initiating back and down, lumbar curve maintained
and weight on the heels.
ƒƒ Instruct athletes to warm up to their first working set (about 80
percent of current max).
• They perform 3-4 sets of 5 reps per set, increasing the load
after each.
• They do not need to pause at the bottom.
ƒƒ Inform athletes they must be spotted on 1 rep in one warm-up set.
• Teach and demonstrate spotting techniques before athletes
practice them.

:23-:26
BREAK & LOGISTICS (3 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Bathroom break.
ƒƒ Remind athletes that coaches will be cueing during lifts.
ƒƒ Continue to review scaling options with each athlete.
ƒƒ Safety check: Ensure adequate room around racks for bailing, and
ensure athletes understand how to spot.
ƒƒ Re-brief workout, flow and safety considerations.

:26-:53
WORKOUT: START WORKOUT AT :26 (27 MINUTES)
Cue athletes to better positions while maintaining technique. Reduce load
when needed.

ƒƒ Ensure athletes load and unload barbells safely.

ƒƒ Ensure plates are clearly off the platform and will not create a hazard if
a barbell is dropped.
ƒƒ Make suggestions for loading based on technique displayed.

:53-:60
COOL-DOWN (7 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Clean up equipment.
ƒƒ Hip-flexor stretch (1 minute each leg).
ƒƒ Collect scores, celebrate new personal records, and exchange
high fives!

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WOD SCALE: BACK SQUAT

WORKOUT SCALING THIS WOD
Back squat This workout is a single-modality
5-5-5-5-5 weightlifting heavy day. For today’s
heavy day, the sets are ascending
Score: maximum load for a (i.e., add weight after every set).
set of 5 reps
Regardless of experience, all athletes
should find a heavy set of 5 relative
to their capacity. For this workout,
it is acceptable for beginner or
intermediate athletes to complete
more than 5 working sets if they
have not yet previously established
a 5-rep maximum, but coaches
need to ensure the overall volume
remains appropriate.

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LESSON PLAN: 20-MINUTE AMRAP

WORKOUT
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
Run 400 m
15 L pull-ups
205-lb. clean and jerk, 5 reps

Score: completed rounds and reps

INTENDED STIMULUS
This workout is a triplet of monostructural, gymnastics and weightlifting
movements. Coaches should expect athletes to complete 4 or more rounds.

This workout taxes athletes metabolically and technically: The 400-m run
elevates the heart rate, increasing the difficulty of the other two elements. L
pull-ups require greater midline and pulling strength than strict pull-ups. The
clean and jerk loading is intended to be moderate so the reps can be performed
touch-and-go or as relatively quick singles.

BREAKDOWN
ƒƒ Given the added stress from the run, the loading and reps of the L pull-
ups and clean and jerk should be well within the athlete’s capacity when
considered independently.

ƒƒ The suggested female Rx’d weight is 135 lb. for the clean and jerk.

ƒƒ The scaling options include reduced volume on the run, reduced volume and
load on the L pull-ups, and reduced load on the clean and jerk.

ƒƒ Coaches should demonstrate each movement, including movement

standards.

ƒƒ Coaches should explain the workout is scored by completed

rounds and reps.

ƒƒ Coaches should ask if any athletes are injured.

ƒƒ Athletes should aim to complete at least 4 rounds. Approximate maximum

estimates of time spent on each component: 2 minutes for the run, 2 minutes
for the L pull-ups and 1 minute for the clean and jerks.

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Coaches: All parts of the class are coach led. Demonstrate each new piece
before athletes perform it. Cue athletes to achieve better positions throughout
each section.

:00-:03
WHITEBOARD (3 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Explain the workout, intended stimulus and breakdown (above).
:03-:09
GENERAL WARM-UP (6 MINUTES)
If athletes are laboring on the run, struggling to perform the straight-leg
raises or pull-ups, or not maintaining positioning in the deadlifts, scales are
needed for the workout.

ƒƒ 100-m run + 6 kip swings + 6 deadlifts (empty barbell).

ƒƒ 100-m run + 6 straight-leg raises to an L + 6 deadlifts (empty barbell).
ƒƒ 100-m run + 6 strict pull-ups + 6 deadlifts (empty barbell).

:09-:23
SPECIFIC CLEAN AND JERK WARM-UP (14 MINUTES)
Assess movement to determine proper workout loading.

CLEAN
ƒƒ 6 deadlift-shrugs with empty barbell.
• Look for: straight arms.
ƒƒ 6 deadlift-high pulls with empty barbell.
• Look for: bar staying close to the body.
ƒƒ 6 power cleans with empty barbell.
• Look for: proper receiving position and reset of the feet.
JERK
ƒƒ 6 jump and land without barbell.
• Look for: jumping through heels.
ƒƒ 6 jump and land with hands at shoulders.
• Look for: full hip extension.
ƒƒ 6 jump and punch hands overhead.
• Look for: timing of press after hip extension.
ƒƒ 6 push jerks with empty barbell.
CLEAN AND JERK
ƒƒ 6 power clean and jerks with pause after receiving the clean.
• Teach: reset of the hands and feet.
ƒƒ 12 power clean and jerks with athletes on their own cadence.
• Look for: all major points of performance to determine for
proper loading.
ƒƒ Instruct athletes to work up to their workout load.
• Athletes perform 3-4 sets of 3 reps per set, increasing the load
after each set.

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• Athletes should be capable of performing 5 reps within short

succession.
• Coaches should scale loads appropriately based on movement
in warm-up.

:23-:30
L PULL-UP SPECIFIC WARM-UP (7 MINUTES)
Ensure athletes are prepared for the workout without being too fatigued
from work in this section.

ƒƒ 3 strict pull-ups (banded if necessary).

• Remind athletes proper range of motion includes arm extension
at the bottom (this will be challenging in the L pull-up).
ƒƒ 3 straight-leg raises with pause in L position.
• Teach athletes to squeeze heels together with toes pointed and
legs straight.
• Capacity displayed here will help coaches determine whether L
pull-ups should be used in the workout.
ƒƒ 3 L pull-ups (banded if necessary).
• Remind athletes that the pull-up starts with the legs elevated in
the L position; it is not a “kipping” rep in which the legs swing to
the L position with momentum.

:30-:33
BREAK & LOGISTICS (3 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Bathroom break.
ƒƒ Remind athletes that additional scaling might occur during
the workout.
ƒƒ Review scaling options with each athlete.
ƒƒ Safety check: Ensure adequate room around pull-up bars and barbells.
ƒƒ Re-brief workout, flow and safety considerations.

:33-:53
WORKOUT: START AT :33 (20 MINUTES)
Cue athletes to better positions while maintaining technique. Scale workout
further if needed.

ƒƒ Consider scaling for athletes who do not complete the first round in
about 4 minutes; scale those who take more than 5 minutes.

:53-:60
COOL DOWN (7 MINUTES)
ƒƒ Clean up equipment.
ƒƒ Hip-flexor stretch (1 minute each leg).
ƒƒ Lat stretch (1 minute each arm).
ƒƒ Collect scores and exchange high fives!

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Running a CrossFit Class, continued

WOD SCALE: 20-MINUTE AMRAP

WORKOUT BEGINNER
Complete as many rounds as Complete as many rounds as
possible in 20 minutes of: possible in 20 minutes of:
Run 400 m Run 200 m
15 L pull-ups 10 banded L pull-ups
205-lb. clean and jerk, 5 reps 115-lb./75-lb. clean and jerk, 5 reps

Score: completed rounds ƒƒ The distance for the run has

been reduced.
SCALING THIS WOD
ƒƒ The L pull-ups have been
This workout is a triplet of
modified in reps and loading
monostructural, gymnastics and
to reduce the demand on the
weightlifting movements. Coaches
midline and upper-body pulling
should expect athletes to complete
muscles. The band should allow
4 or more rounds.
for full range of motion in proper
positions.
The suggested female Rx’d weight
is 135 lb. for the clean and jerk. One, ƒƒ The clean and jerk load is
two or all of the workout elements lowered to allow for a relatively
may be modified in volume or load. quick set.
Coaches are encouraged to use their
INTERMEDIATE
judgment for finding a challenging
Complete as many rounds as
but manageable substitution
possible in 20 minutes of:
for athletes.
Run 400 m
10 L pull-ups
155-lb./105-lb. clean and jerk, 5 reps

ƒƒ The L pull-ups reps have been

reduced so that each round can
be completed in about 2 sets.

ƒƒ The clean and jerk load has

been reduced to keep the
intensity high.

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Anatomy and Physiology for Jocks, continued

Anatomy and Physiology for Jocks

Originally published in August 2003.

Effective coaching requires efficient communication. This communication is greatly

aided when coach and athlete share a terminology for both human movement
and body parts.

We have developed an exceedingly simple lesson in anatomy and physiology

that we believe has improved our ability to accurately and precisely motivate
desired behaviors and enhanced our athletes’ understanding of both
movement and posture.

Basically, we ask that our athletes learn four body parts, three joints (not including
the spine), and two general directions for joint movement. We cap our Anatomy
and Physiology lesson with the essence of sports biomechanics distilled to
three simple rules.

Spine

Sacroiliac Joint Trunk:

pelvis and spine
(trunk neutral)
Pelvis

Hip Joint
(hip extended)

Femur

Leg:
tibia and femur
(leg extended)

Tibia Knee Joint

Figure 1. Essential Anatomy and Physiology.

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Anatomy and Physiology for Jocks, continued

Trunk neutral, hip extension, leg extension Trunk extension

Trunk flexion Leg flexion

Hip flexion

Figure 2. Flexion and Extension of the Trunk, Hip, and Leg.

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Anatomy and Physiology for Jocks, continued

Pelvis chasing
femur
(muted hip)
Power comes
from the hip
Pelvis and spine
stay together

Figure 3. Midline Stabilization Versus Muted Hip.

We use a simple iconography to depict the spine, pelvis, femur, and tibia. We show
that the spine has a normal “S” shape and we show where it is on the athlete’s body.
We similarly demonstrate the pelvis, femur, and tibia (Figure 1).

We next demonstrate the motion of three joints. First, the knee is the joint
connecting tibia and femur. Second, working our way up, is the hip. The hip is the
joint that connects the femur to the pelvis. Third, is the sacroiliac joint (SI joint),
which connects the pelvis to the spine. (We additionally make the point that the
spine is really a whole bunch of joints.)

We explain that the femur and tibia constitute “the leg” and that the pelvis and
spine constitute “the trunk.”

That completes our anatomy lesson–now for the physiology. We demonstrate

that “flexion” is reducing the angle of a joint and that “extension” is increasing the
angle of a joint.

Before covering our distillation of essential biomechanics, we test our students to

see if everyone can flex and extend their knee (or “leg”), hip, spine, and sacroiliac
joint (or “trunk”) on cue. When it is clear that the difference between flexion and
extension is understood at each joint, we cue for combinations of behaviors, for
instance, “flex one leg and trunk but not your hip” (Figure 2).

Once the joints, parts, and movements are clear we offer these three tidbits
of biomechanics:
• Functional movement generally weds the spine to the pelvis. The SI
joint and spine were designed for small-range movement in multiple
directions. Endeavor to keep the trunk tight and solid for running,
jumping, squatting, throwing, cycling, etc.

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Anatomy and Physiology for Jocks, continued

• The dynamics of those movements comes from the hip–primarily

extension. Powerful hip extension is certainly necessary and nearly
sufficient for elite athletic capacity.

• Do not let the pelvis chase the femur instead of the spine. We refer to
this as “muted hip function”: the pelvis chases the femur. The hip angle
remains open and is consequently powerless to extend (Figure 3).

Four parts, three joints, two motions, and three rules give our athletes and us
a simple but powerful lexicon and understanding whose immediate effect is to
render our athletes at once more “coachable.” We could not ask for more.

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Squat Clinic, continued

Squat Clinic

Originally published in December 2002.

The squat is essential to your well-being. The squat can both greatly improve your athlet-
icism and keep your hips, back, and knees sound and functioning in your senior years.

Not only is the squat not detrimental to the knees, but it is remarkably rehabilita-
tive of cranky, damaged, or delicate knees. In fact, if you do not squat, your knees
are not healthy regardless of how free of pain or discomfort you are. This is equally
true of the hips and back.

The squat is no more an invention of a coach or trainer than is the hiccup or sneeze.
It is a vital, natural, functional component of your being.

The squat, in the bottom position, is nature’s intended sitting posture (chairs are not
part of your biological makeup), and the rise from the bottom to the stand is the
biomechanically sound method by which we stand up. There is nothing contrived
or artificial about this movement.

Most of the world’s inhabitants sit not on chairs but in a squat. Meals, ceremonies,
conversation, gatherings, and defecation are all performed bereft of chairs or seats.
Only in the industrialized world do we find the need for chairs, couches, benches,

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Squat Clinic, continued

and stools. This comes at a loss of functionality that How to Squat

contributes immensely to decrepitude. Here are some valuable cues to a sound squat.
Many encourage identical behaviors.
Frequently, we encounter individuals whose 1. Start with the feet about shoulder width apart
doctor or chiropractor has told them not to squat. and slightly toed out.
In nearly every instance this is pure ignorance on 2. Keep your head up, looking slightly above
the part of the practitioner. When doctors who parallel.
do not like the squat are asked, “By what method 3. Do not look down at all; ground is in the
should your patient get off the toilet?” they are at peripheral vision only.
a loss for words. 4. Accentuate the normal arch of the lumbar
curve and then pull the excess arch out with
the abs.
In a similarly misinformed manner we have heard
trainers and health care providers suggest that 5. Keep the midsection very tight.
the knee should not be bent past 90 degrees. It is 6. Send your butt back and down.
entertaining to ask proponents of this view to sit 7. Your knees track over the line of the foot.
on the ground with their legs out in front of them 8. Do not let the knees roll inside the foot. Keep
and then to stand without bending the legs more as much pressure on the heels as possible.
than 90 degrees. It cannot be done without some 9. Stay off the balls of the feet.
grotesque bit of contrived movement. The truth 10. Delay the knees’ forward travel as much as
is that getting up off of the floor involves a force possible.
on at least one knee that is substantially greater 11. Lift your arms out and up as you descend.
than the squat. 12. Keep your torso elongated.
13. Send your hands as far away from your butt as
Our presumption is that those who counsel against possible.
the squat are either just repeating nonsense they 14. In profile, the ear does not move forward
have heard in the media or at the gym, or in their during the squat; it travels straight down.
clinical practice they have encountered people who 15. Do not let the squat just sink, but pull yourself
have injured themselves squatting incorrectly. down with your hip flexors.
16. Do not let the lumbar curve surrender as you
It is entirely possible to injure yourself squatting settle into the bottom.
incorrectly, but it is also exceedingly easy to bring 17. Stop when the fold of the hip is below the
the squat to a level of safety matched by walking. knees–break parallel with the thigh.
18. Squeeze the glutes and hamstrings and rise
On the athletic front, the squat is the quintessen- without any leaning forward or shifting of
balance.
tial hip extension exercise, and hip extension is
19. Return on the exact same path as you
the foundation of all good human movement.
descended.
Powerful, controlled hip extension is necessary and
20. Use every bit of musculature you can; there is
nearly sufficient for elite athleticism. “Necessary” in
no part of the body uninvolved.
that without powerful, controlled hip extension you
21. On rising, without moving the feet, exert
are not functioning anywhere near your potential.
pressure to the outside of your feet as though
“Sufficient” in the sense that everyone we have you were trying to separate the ground
met with the capacity to explosively open the beneath you.
hip could also run, jump, throw, and punch with 22. At the top of the stroke, stand as tall as you
impressive force. possibly can.

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Squat Clinic, continued

Secondarily, but no less important, the squat is among those exercises eliciting
a potent neuroendocrine response. This benefit is ample reason for an exercise’s
inclusion in your regimen.

The Air Squat

All our athletes begin their squatting with the “air squat”; that is, without any weight
other than body weight. As a matter of terminology, when we refer to the “squat”
we are talking about an unladen, body-weight-only squat. When we wish to refer
to a weighted squat we will use the term back squat, overhead squat, or front
squat, referring to those distinct weighted squats. Training with the front, back, and
overhead squats before the weightless variant has been mastered retards athletic
potential and compromises safety and efficacy.

When has the squat been mastered? This is a good question. It is fair to say that
the squat is mastered when both technique and performance are superior. This
suggests that none of the points of performance are deficient and fast multiple reps
are possible. Our favorite standard for fast multiple reps would be the Tabata squat
(20 seconds on/10 seconds off repeated 8 times) with the weakest of eight intervals
being between 18 and 20 reps. Do not misunderstand­—we are looking for 18-20
perfect squats in 20 seconds, rest for 10, and repeat seven more times for a total of
eight intervals.

The most common faults to look for are surrendering of the lumbar curve at the
bottom, not breaking the parallel plane with the hips, slouching in the chest and
shoulders, lifting the heels, and not fully extending the hip at the top (Figure 1). Do
not even think about weighted squats until none of these faults belong to you.

A relatively small angle of hip extension, while indicative of a beginner’s or weak

squat and caused by weak hips extensors, is not strictly considered a fault as long
as the lumbar spine is neutral.

Causes of a Bad Squat

1) Weak glute/hamstring. The glutes and hams are responsible for powerful
hip extension, which is the key to the athletic performance universe.
2) Poor engagement, weak control, and no awareness of glute and
hamstring. The road to powerful, effective hip extension is a three-to-
five-year odyssey for most athletes.
3) Attempting to squat with quads. Leg extension dominance over hip
extension is a leading obstacle to elite performance in athletes.
4) Inflexibility. Tight hamstrings are a powerful contributor to slipping into
lumbar flexion–the worst fault of all.
5) Sloppy work, poor focus. This is not going to come out right by accident.
It takes incredible effort. The more you work on the squat, the more
awareness you develop as to its complexity.

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Squat Clinic, continued

Not breaking the parallel plane Rolling knees inside feet Dropping Head

Losing lumbar extension (rounding

the back­—this may be the worst) Dropping the shoulders Heels off the ground

Not finishing the squat­­—not

completing hip extension
Figure 1. Common Faults or Anatomy of a Bad Squat.

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Squat Clinic, continued

Table 1. Squat Troubleshooting: Common Faults

and Therapies

Faults Causes Therapies

Not going to Weak hip extensors, Bottom to bottoms, bar

parallel (not laziness, quad dominance holds, box squatting
deep enough)

Rolling knees Weak adductors, weak Push feet to outside of

inside feet abductors, cheat to quads shoe, deliberately abduct
(attempt to stretch floor
apart beneath feet)

Dropping head Lack of focus, weak upper Bar holds, overhead squats
back, lack of upper-back
control

Losing lumbar Lack of focus, tight Bar holds, overhead squats

extension hamstrings, cheat for
balance due to weak glute/
hams

Dropping Lack of focus, weak upper Bar holds, overhead squats

shoulders back, lack of upper-back
control, tight shoulders

Heels off Cheat for balance due to Focus, bar holds

ground weak glute/hams

Therapies for Common Faults

Bar Holds: Grab a bar racked higher and
closer than your normal reach at the bottom
of a squat, then settle into a perfect bottom
position with chest, head, hands, arms,
shoulders, and back higher than usual (Figure
2). Find balance, let go, repeat closer and
higher, etc. This lifts the squat (raises head,
chest, shoulders, and torso), putting more
load on heels and glute/hams. This imme-
diately forces a solid bottom posture from
which you have the opportunity to feel the
forces required to balance in good posture.
This is a reasonable shoulder stretch but not
Figure 2. Bar Hold Squat Therapy. as good as the overhead squat.

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Squat Clinic, continued

Figure 3. Bottom-to-Bottoms Squat Therapy.

Box Squatting: Squat to a 10-inch box, rest at the bottom without altering posture,
then squeeze and rise without rocking forward. Keep a perfect posture at the
bottom. This is a classic bit of technology perfected at the Westside Barbell Club.

Bottom-to-Bottoms: Stay at the bottom, come up to full extension, and quickly

return to the bottom, spending much more time at the bottom than the top; for
instance, sitting in the bottom for five minutes, coming up to full extension only once
every five seconds (60 reps) (Figure 3). Many will avoid the bottom like the plague.
You want to get down there, stay down there, and learn to like it.

Overhead Squats: Hold broomstick at snatch-grip width directly overhead, arms

locked. The triangle formed by the arms and stick must stay perfectly perpendic-
ular to the ground as you squat (Figure 4). This is a good shoulder stretch and lifts
the squat. With weight, this exercise demands good balance and posture or loads
become wildly unmanageable. The overhead squat is a quick punisher of sloppy
technique. If shoulders are too tight, this movement will give an instant diagnosis.

Figure 4. Overhead Squat Therapy.

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Squat Clinic, continued

You can move into a doorway and find where the arms fall and cause the stick to
bang into the doorway. Lift the arms, head, chest, back, and hip enough to travel
up and down without hitting the doorway. Over time, work to move the feet closer
and closer to the doorway without hitting it. The broomstick foundation is critical
to learning the snatch–the world’s fastest lift.

Air Squat
• Maintain the arch in the back
• Look straight ahead
• Keep weight on heels
• Reach the full range of motion (i.e., below parallel)
• Keep the chest high
• Keep the midsection tight
The squat is essential to human movement, a proven performance enhancer and
a gateway movement to the best exercise in strength and conditioning.

Figure 5. Air Squat.

Front Squat
• Bar rests on chest and shoulders with loose grip–“racked”
• The mechanics are otherwise like the air squat
The hardest part of the front squat might be the rack position. Practice until you
can get the bar and hands in the proper position. Handstands help. This one will
force shoulder and wrist flexibility.

Figure 6. Front Squat.

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The Overhead Squat, continued

The Overhead Squat

Originally published in August 2005.

The overhead squat is the ultimate core exercise, the heart of the snatch, and
peerless in developing effective athletic movement.

This functional gem trains for efficient transfer of energy from large to small body
parts–the essence of sport movement. For this reason it is an indispensable tool
for developing speed and power.

The overhead squat also demands and develops functional flexibility, and it
similarly develops the squat by amplifying and cruelly punishing faults in squat
posture, movement, and stability.

The overhead squat is to midline control, stability, and balance what the clean and
snatch are to power–unsurpassed.

Ironically, the overhead squat is exceedingly simple yet universally nettlesome

for beginners. There are three common obstacles to learning the overhead squat.
The first is the scarcity of skilled instruction—outside the weightlifting community
most instruction on the overhead squat is laughably, horribly wrong—dead

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The Overhead Squat, continued

wrong. The second is a weak squat­—you need to have a rock-solid squat to learn
the overhead squat. The third obstacle is starting with too much weight–you have
not a snowball’s chance in hell of learning the overhead squat with a bar. You will
need to use a length of dowel or PVC pipe; use anything over 5 lb. to learn this
move and your overhead squat will be stillborn.

Learning the Overhead Squat

1) Start only when you have a strong squat and use a dowel or PVC pipe, not
a weight. You should be able to maintain a rock-bottom squat with your
back arched, head and eyes forward, and body weight predominantly
on your heels for several minutes as a prerequisite to the overhead
squat. Even a 15-lb. training bar is way too heavy to learn the overhead
squat (Figure 1).

Figure 1. An Overhead Squat Depends on a Proficient Air Squat.

2) Learn locked-arm “dislocates” or “pass-throughs” with the dowel. You

want to be able to move the dowel nearly 360 degrees, starting with the
dowel down and at arms’ length in front of your body, and then moving it
in a wide arc until it comes to rest down and behind you without bending
your arms at any point in its travel. Start with a grip wide enough to easily
pass through, and then repeatedly bring the hands in closer until passing
through presents a moderate stretch of the shoulders (Figure 2). This is
your training grip.

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The Overhead Squat, continued

Figure 2. Shoulder Dislocates to Determine Grip Width.

3) Be able to perform the pass-through at the top, the bottom, and

everywhere in between while descending into the squat. Practice by
stopping at several points on the path to the bottom, hold, and gently,
slowly, swing the dowel from front to back, again, with locked arms. At
the bottom of each squat, slowly bring the dowel back and forth moving
from front to back (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Shoulder Dislocates Throughout the Overhead Squat Range of Motion.

4) Learn to find the frontal plane with the dowel from every position in the
squat. Practice this with your eyes closed. You want to develop a keen
sense of where the frontal plane is located. This is the same drill as Step 3
but this time you are bringing the dowel to a stop in the frontal plane and
holding briefly with each pass-through (Figure 4). Have a training partner
check to see if at each stop the dowel is in the frontal plane.

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The Overhead Squat, continued

Figure 4. Shoulder Dislocates Stopping in the Frontal Plane.

5) Start the overhead squat by standing tall with the dowel held as high as
possible in the frontal plane (Figure 5). You want to start with the dowel
directly overhead, not behind you, or, worse yet, even a little bit in front.

Figure 5. Overhead Position.

6) Very slowly lower to the bottom of the squat, keeping the dowel in the
frontal plane the entire time (Figure 6). Have a training partner watch
from your side to make sure that the dowel does not move forward
or backward as you squat to the bottom. Moving slightly behind the
frontal plane is acceptable, but forward is dead wrong. If you cannot

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The Overhead Squat, continued

keep the dowel from coming forward your grip might be too narrow.
The dowel will not stay in the frontal plane automatically; you will have
to pull it back very deliberately as you descend (particularly if your chest
comes forward).

Figure 6. Overhead Squat.

7) Practice the overhead squat regularly and increase load in tiny

increments. We can put a 2.5-lb. plate on the dowel, then a 5, then a 5
and a 2.5, and then a 10. Next use a 15-lb. training bar, but only while
maintaining perfect form (Figure 7). There is no benefit to adding weight
if the dowel, and later the bar, cannot be kept in the frontal plane.

Figure 7. Increasing Weight when Learning the Overhead Squat.

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The Overhead Squat, continued

With practice, you will be able to bring your hands closer together and still keep the
bar in the frontal plane. Ultimately you can develop enough control and flexibility
to descend to a rock-bottom squat with your feet together and hands together
without the dowel coming forward. Practicing for this is a superb warm-up and
cool-down drill and stretch.

The overhead squat develops core control by punishing any forward wobble of the
load with an enormous and instant increase in the moment about the hip and back.
When the bar is held perfectly overhead and still, which is nearly impossible, the
overhead squat does not present greater load on the hip or back, but moving too fast,
along the wrong line of action, or wiggling can bring even the lightest loads down like
a house of cards. You have two, and only two, safe options for bailing out–dumping the
load forward and stepping or falling backward, or dumping backward and stepping or
falling forward. Both are safe and easy. Lateral escapes are not an option.

The difference between your overhead squat and your back or front squat is a solid
measure of your midline stability and control and the precision of your squatting
posture and line of action. Improving and developing your overhead squat will fix
faults not visible in the back and front squat.

As your max overhead, back, and front squat each rise, their relative measure
reveals much about your developing potential for athletic movement.

An average of your max back and front squat is an excellent measure of your core,
hip, and leg strength. Your max overhead squat is an excellent measure of your
core stability and control and ultimately your ability to generate effective and
efficient athletic power.

Your max overhead squat will always be a fraction of the average of your max
back and front squat but, ideally, with time, they should converge rather than
diverge (Figure 8).

Should they diverge, you are developing hip and core strength, but your capacity
to efficiently apply power distally is reduced. In athletic pursuits you might be
prone to injury. Should they converge, you are developing useful strength and
power that can be successfully applied to athletic movements.

The functional application or utility of the overhead squat might not be readily
apparent, but there are many real-world occurrences where objects high enough
to get under are too heavy or not free enough to be jerked or pressed overhead
yet can be elevated by first lowering your hips until your arms can be locked and
then squatting upward.

Once developed, the overhead squat is a thing of beauty–a masterpiece of

expression in control, stability, balance, efficient power, and utility. Get on it.

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The Overhead Squat, continued

A: The torso’s angle of inclination above horizontal.

As a squat matures this angle increases. The squat
f.
becomes more upright as the athlete’s strength
and neural “connectedness” to the posterior chain a.
increase. Lower angles of inclination are created
in an attempt to cantilever away from a weak c. d.
posterior chain and onto the quadriceps. While
technically correct, the lower angle is mechanically
disadvantaged, particularly in loaded variations.

90-A: This is the angle of rotation of the arms, at the

shoulders, past overhead. The lower A is, the greater b.
the rotation, 90-A, required of the shoulders to keep
the bar in the frontal plane. The larger 90-A is, the
wider the grip required to allow the shoulders to
rotate to keep the bar in the frontal plane. Ultimately
the connectedness/strength of the posterior chain
will determine the width of the grip, elevation of
the squat, and degree of rotation of the shoulders.
Maturity and quality of the squat are determinants
of all of the mechanics of the overhead squat.
g.
g: These lines mark horizontal.

f: This line defines the frontal plane. It divides the

athlete’s front half from back half. In the squat (as
with most weightlifting movements), the athlete
endeavors to keep the load in this plane. If a load
deviates substantially from this plane the athlete
f. g.
has to bring the load back, which in turn pulls the Figure 8. Relative Angles and Bar Positioning
athlete off balance. in Squat Variations.

b: This is roughly the position for a back or front squat.

c: This position has the load behind the frontal plane.
a: This is the position for the overhead squat. With It can actually decrease the moment on the hip
perfect stability, movement, and alignment this and back. As long as balance is maintained, the
position does not increase the moment about the position is strong.
hip or back. The difference in an athlete’s strength
when squatting here, overhead, as opposed to d: This is a fatal flaw in the overhead squat. Even
Position b, the back or front squat, is a perfect slight movement in this direction greatly increases
measure of instability in the torso, legs, or shoulders; the moment in the hip and back. Moving in this
improper line of action in the shoulders, hips, or direction with even a small load can collapse the
legs, and; weak or flawed posture in the squat. squat like a house of cards.

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Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk, continued

Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk

Originally published in January 2003.

Learning the progression of lifts that moves from the shoulder press (Figure 1) to the
push press (Figure 2) to the push jerk (Figure 3) has long been a CrossFit staple. This
progression offers the opportunity to acquire some essential motor recruitment
patterns found in sport and life (functionality) while greatly improving strength in
the “power zone” and upper body. In terms of power zone and functional recruit-
ment patterns, the push press and push jerk have no peer among other presses
such as the “king” of upper-body lifts, the bench press. As the athlete moves from
shoulder press to push press to push jerk, the importance of core-to-extremity
muscle recruitment is learned and reinforced. This concept alone would justify
the practice and training of these lifts. Core-to-extremity muscular recruitment
is foundational to the effective and efficient performance of athletic movement.

The most common errors in punching, jumping, throwing, and a multitude of other
athletic movements typically express themselves as a violation of this concept.
Because good athletic movement begins at the core and radiates to the extremi-
ties, core strength is absolutely essential to athletic success. The region of the body
from which these movements emanate, the core, is often referred to as the “power

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Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk, continued

zone.” The muscle groups comprising the “power zone” include the hip flexors, hip
extensors (glutes and hams), spinal erectors, and quadriceps.

These lifts are enormous aids to developing the power zone. Additionally, the
advanced elements of the progression, the push press and jerk, train for and
develop power and speed. Power and speed are “king” in sport performance.
Coupling force with velocity is the very essence of power and speed. Some of
our favorite and most developmental lifts lack this quality. The push press and
jerk are performed explosively–that is the hallmark of speed and power training.
Finally, mastering this progression gives ideal opportunity to detect and eliminate
a postural/mechanical fault that plagues more athletes than not–the pelvis
“chasing” the leg during hip flexion (Figure 4). This fault needs to be searched out
and destroyed. The push press performed under great stress is the perfect tool to
conjure up this performance wrecker so it can be eliminated.

SHOULDER PRESS
SET-UP: Take the bar from supports or clean to a racked position. The
bar sits on the shoulders with the grip slightly wider than
shoulder width. The elbows are below and in front of bar. The
stance is approximately hip width.

PRESS: Press the bar to a position directly overhead. The head must
accommodate the bar.

Figure 1. Shoulder Press.

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Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk, continued

PUSH PRESS
SET-UP: The set-up is the same as the shoulder press.

DIP: Initiate the dip by bending the hips and knees while keeping
the torso upright. The dip will be only a couple of inches.

DRIVE: With no pause at the bottom of the dip, the hips and legs are
forcefully extended.

PRESS: As the hips and legs complete extension, the shoulders and
arms forcefully press the bar overhead until the arms are fully
extended.

PUSH JERK
SET-UP: The set-up is the same as the shoulder press and push press.

DIP: The dip is identical to the push press.

DRIVE: The drive is identical to the push press.

PRESS This time instead of just pressing, you press and dip a second
UNDER: time simultaneously, catching the bar in a partial squat with
the arms fully extended overhead.

FINISH: Stand to fully erect with bar directly overhead, identical to the
finish position in the push press and shoulder press.

The Role of the Abs in the Overhead Lifts

Athletically, the abdominals’ primary role is midline stabilization, not trunk flexion.
They are critical to swimming, running, cycling, and jumping, but never is their
stabilizing role more critical than when attempting to drive loads overhead, and,
of course, the heavier the load, the more critical the abs’ role becomes. We train
our athletes to think of every exercise as an ab exercise but in the overhead lifts it
is absolutely essential to do so. It is easy to see when an athlete is not sufficiently
engaging the abs in an overhead press—the body arches so as to push the hips,
pelvis, and stomach ahead of the bar. Constant vigilance is required of every lifter
to prevent and correct this postural deformation.

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Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk, continued

Figure 2. Push Press.

Figure 3. Push Jerk.

Figure 4. The Muted Hip in the Dip Phase.

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Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk, continued

Summary
From shoulder press to push jerk the movements become increasingly more
athletic, functional, and suited to heavier loads. The progression also increasingly
relies on the power zone. In the shoulder press, the power zone is used for stabili-
zation only. In the push press the power zone provides not only stability but also
the primary impetus in both the dip and drive. In the push jerk the power zone is
called on for the dip, drive, second dip, and squat. The role of the hip is increased
in each exercise.

With the push press you will be able to drive overhead as much as 30 percent more
weight than with the shoulder press. The push jerk will allow you to drive as much
as 30 percent more overhead than you would with the push press.

In effect the hip is increasingly recruited through the progression of lifts to assist
the arms and shoulders in raising loads overhead. After mastering the push jerk
you will find that it will unconsciously displace the push press as your method of
choice when going overhead.

The second dip on the push jerk will become lower and lower as you both master
the technique and increase the load. At some point in your development, the loads
will become so substantial that the upper body cannot contribute but a fraction
to the movement, at which point the catch becomes very low and an increasing
amount of the lift is accomplished by the overhead squat.

On both the push press and jerk, the “dip” is critical to the entire movement. The
stomach is held very tightly and the resultant turnaround from dip to drive is sudden,
explosive, and violent.

Try These
1) Start with 95 lb. and push press or push jerk 15 straight repetitions, rest
30 seconds, and repeat for total of 5 sets of 15 repetitions each. Go up in
weight only when you can complete all 5 sets with only 30 seconds of
rest between each and do not pause in any set.

2) Repetition 1: shoulder press, Repetition 2: push press, Repetition 3: push

jerk. Repeat until shoulder press is impossible, then continue until push
press is impossible, then five more push jerks. Start with 95 lb. and go up
only when the total repetitions exceed 30.

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The Deadlift, continued

The Deadlift
Originally published in August 2003.

The deadlift is unrivaled in its simplicity and impact while unique in its capacity
for increasing head-to-toe strength.

Regardless of whether your fitness goals are to “rev up” your metabolism, increase
strength or lean body mass, decrease body fat, rehabilitate your back, improve
athletic performance, or maintain functional independence as a senior, the deadlift
is a marked shortcut to that end.

To the detriment of millions, the deadlift is infrequently used and seldom seen
either by most of the exercising public and/or, believe it or not, by athletes.

It might be that the deadlift’s name has scared away the masses; its older name,
“the healthlift,” was a better choice for this perfect movement. “The deadlift keeps
company with
In its most advanced application the deadlift is prerequisite to, and a component standing, running,
of, “the world’s fastest lift,” the snatch, and “the world’s most powerful lift,” the
jumping, and throwing
clean, but it is also, quite simply, no more than the safe and sound approach by
which any object should be lifted from the ground.
for functionality but
imparts quick and
The deadlift, being no more than picking a thing off the ground, keeps company prominent athletic
with standing, running, jumping, and throwing for functionality but imparts quick advantage like no
and prominent athletic advantage like no other exercise. Not until the clean, other exercise.”
snatch, and squat are well developed will the athlete again find as useful a tool
for improving general physical ability.
—COACH GLASSMAN
The deadlift’s primal functionality, whole-body nature, and mechanical advantage
with large loads suggest its strong neuroendocrine impact, and for most athletes
the deadlift delivers such a quick boost in general strength and sense of power
that its benefits are easily understood.

If you want to get stronger, improve your deadlift. Driving your deadlift up can
nudge your other lifts upward, especially the Olympic lifts.

Fear of the deadlift abounds, but like fear of the squat, it is groundless. No exercise
or regimen will protect the back from the potential injuries of sport and life or the
certain ravages of time like the deadlift (Table 1).

We recommend deadlifting at near-max loads once per week or so and maybe one
other time at loads that would be insignificant at low reps. Be patient and learn to
celebrate small, infrequent bests.

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The Deadlift, continued

Major benchmarks would certainly include body-weight, twice-body-weight, and

three-times-body-weight deadlifts, representing “beginning,” “good,” and “great”
deadlifts respectively.

For us, the guiding principles of proper technique rest on three pillars: orthopedic
safety, functionality, and mechanical advantage. Concerns for orthopedic stresses
and limited functionality are behind our rejection of stances wider than hip to
shoulder width. While acknowledging the remarkable achievements of many
powerlifters with the super-wide deadlift stance, we feel that its limited function-
ality (we cannot safely, walk, clean, or snatch from “out there”) and the increased
resultant forces on the hip from wider stances warrant only infrequent and
moderate to light exposures to wider stances.

Experiment and work regularly with alternate, parallel, and hook grips. Explore
carefully and cautiously variances in stance, grip width, and even plate diameter—
each variant uniquely stresses the margins of an all-important functional
movement. This is an effective path to increased hip capacity.

Consider each of the following cues to a sound deadlift. Many motivate identical
behaviors, yet each of us responds differently to different cues.

• Natural stance with feet under hips.

• Symmetrical grip whether parallel, hook, or alternate.
• Hands placed where arms will not interfere with legs while pulling
from the ground.
• Bar above the knot of the shoelaces.
• Shoulders slightly forward of bar.
• Inside of elbows facing one another.
• Chest up and inflated.
• Abs tight.
• Arms locked and not pulling.
• Shoulders pinned back and down.
• Lats and triceps contracted and pressing against one another.
• Keep your weight on your heels.
• Bar stays close to legs and essentially travels straight up and down.
• Torso’s angle of inclination remains constant while bar is below the knees.
• Gaze straight ahead.
• Shoulders and hips rise at same rate when bar is below the knees.
• Arms remain perpendicular to ground until lockout.

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The Deadlift, continued

Table 1. Transcript of a Conversation Between

a Doctor and Coach Glassman

Doc: Many of my patients shouldn’t be doing the deadlift.

Coach: Which ones are those, Doc?

Doc: Many are elderly, marginally ambulatory, and frail/feeble and osteoporotic.

Coach: Doc, would you let such a patient, let’s say an old woman, walk to the store to
get cat food?

Doc: Sure, if the walk weren’t too far, I’d endorse it.

Coach: All right, suppose after walking home she came up to the front door and
realized that her keys were in her pocket. Is she medically cleared to set the bag
down, get her keys out of her pocket, unlock the door, pick the bag back up,
and go in?

Doc: Of course, that’s essential activity.

Coach: As I see it, the only difference between us is that I want to show her how to do
this “essential activity” safely and soundly and you don’t.

Doc: I see where you’re going. Good point.

Coach: Doc, we haven’t scratched the surface.

Deadlift
• Look straight ahead.
• Keep the back arched.
• Arms do not pull; they are just straps.
• Bar travels along legs.
• Push through the heels.

The deadlift, like the squat, is an essential functional movement and carries a
potent hormonal punch. This is core training like no other.

Figure 1. The Deadlift.

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The Deadlift, continued

Sumo Deadlift High Pull

• Start with bar at mid-shin.
• Wide, “sumo” stance.
• Take narrow grip on bar.
• Look straight ahead.
• Keep back arched.
• Pull with hips and legs only until both are at full extension.
• Aggressively open hip fully.
• Powerfully shrug.
• Immediately pull with arms to continue the upward travel of the bar.
• Keep the elbows as far above your hands as possible.
• Bring the bar right up under the chin briefly.
• Lower to hang.
• Lower to mid-shin.

For range of motion, line of action, and length and speed of action, the sumo
deadlift high pull is a great conjugate to the thruster. At low loads this is our favorite
substitute for Concept2 rowing.

A B C

D E F

Figure 2. Sumo Deadlift High Pull.

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Medicine-Ball Cleans, continued

Medicine-Ball Cleans

Originally published in September 2004.

The clean and jerk and the snatch, the Olympic lifts, present the toughest learning
challenge in all of weight training. Absent these lifts, there are no complex
movements found in the weight room. By contrast, the average collegiate gymnast
has learned hundreds of movements at least as complex, difficult, and nuanced
as the clean or snatch. In large part because most weight training is exceedingly
simple, learning the Olympic lifts is, for too many athletes, a shock of frustration
and incompetence.

Sadly, many coaches, trainers, and athletes have avoided these movements
precisely because of their technical complexity. Ironically, but not surprisingly, the
technical complexity of the quick lifts exactly contains the seeds of their worth; that
is, they simultaneously demand and develop strength, power, speed, flexibility,
coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.

When examining the reasons offered for not teaching the Olympic lifts we cannot
help but suspect that the lifts’ detractors have no first-hand (real) experience with
them. We want to see someone, anyone, do a technically sound clean or snatch at
any weight and then offer a rationale for the movement’s restricted applicability.
Were they dangerous or inappropriate for any particular population, we would
find coaches intimate with the lifts articulating the nature of their inappropriate-
ness. We do not.

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Medicine-Ball Cleans, continued

Figure 1. Medicine-Ball Clean.

At CrossFit, everyone learns the Olympic lifts—that is right, everyone.

We review here the bad rap hung on the Olympic lifts because we have made
“We review here the exciting progress working past the common misconceptions and fears surround-
bad rap hung on the ing their introduction, execution, and applicability to general populations. The
Olympic lifts because medicine-ball clean has been integral to our successes.

we have made exciting

The Dynamax medicine ball is a soft, large, pillowy ball that ranges in weight from
progress working 4 to 30 lb. available in increments. It is nonthreatening, even friendly.
past the common
misconceptions and Working with Dynamax balls, we introduce the starting position and posture of the
fears surrounding deadlift, then the lift itself. In a matter of minutes we then shift our efforts to front
their introduction, squatting with the ball. After a little practice with the squat we move to the clean.
(A similar approach is used to teach the shoulder press, push press, and push jerk.)
execution, and
applicability to general
The clean is then reduced to “pop the hip and drop–catch it in a squat” and it is
populations. The done. The devil is in the details, but the group is cleaning in five minutes. It is a
medicine-ball clean legitimate, functional clean. More so even than cleaning with a bar, the medi-
has been integral to cine-ball clean might in fact have clearer application to heaving a bag of cement
our successes.” into a pick-up or hucking up a toddler to put in a car seat.

The faults universal to lifting initiates are all there in as plain sight with the ball as
—COACH GLASSMAN
with the bar. Any subtleties of matured and modern bar technique not possible
with the ball are not immediate concerns, and their absence is plainly justified
by the imparted understanding that this is functional stuff and applicable to all
objects we might desire to heave from ground to chest.

In a group of mixed capacities the newbies get the light balls and the veterans
get the heavy ones. In 30-rep doses whoever ends up with the 30-lb. ball is going
to get a workout regardless of his or her abilities. The heavier balls impart a nasty

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Medicine-Ball Cleans, continued

Heels up Back rounded Head down Corrected

starting position:
heels down, head up,
back arched

Arms bent Pulling too high No hip extension No shrug Curling the ball Corrections:
Arms locked, full
extension, shrug, pull
the body down, ball
kept close to body

Low, slow elbows Correction:

in catch Catch with elbows
high

Figure 2. Medicine-Ball Clean Common Faults and Corrections.

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Medicine-Ball Cleans, continued

wallop far beyond the same work done with a bar or dumbbell of equal weight;
considerable additional effort is expended adducting the arms, which is required
to “pinch” the ball and keep it from slipping.

We use the medicine-ball clean in warm-ups and cool-downs to reinforce the

movement, and the results are clearly manifest in the number and rate of personal
records we are seeing in bar cleans with all our athletes. Yes, the benefit transfers
to the bar—even for our better lifters!

In the duration of a warm-up there are uncountable opportunities to weed out

bad mechanics. Pulling with the arms, not finishing hip extension, failing to shrug,
pulling too high, lifting the heels in the first pull, curling the ball, losing back
extension, looking down, catching high then squatting, slow dropping under,
slow elbows—all the faults are there (Figure 2).

With several weeks’ practice, a group will go from “spastic” to a precision medi-
cine-ball drill team in perfect sync. In fact, that is how we conduct the training effort.

We put the athletes in a small circle, put the best clean available in the center as
leader, and ask the athletes to mirror the center. Screw-ups are clearly evident by
being in postures or positions out of sync. Attention is riveted on a good model
while duplicating the movement in real time. The time required for “paralysis
through analysis” is wonderfully not there (Figure 2). Thinking becomes doing.

Individuals generally impervious to verbal cues become self-correcting of faults

made apparent by watching and comparing to others. It is not uncommon for
shouts of correction to be lobbed across the circle from participant to participant.
Coaching cues and discussion are reduced to the minimum and essential as the
process is turned into a child’s game of “follow the leader.”

Where this becomes “dangerous,” “bad for the joints,” “too technical to learn,”
or any other nonsense routinely uttered about weightlifting, we do not know.

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD)

Adapted from Coach Glassman’s March 18, 2007, L1 lecture in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Our definition of core strength is midline stabilization. In profile, there is a reference

line that trisects the spine and bisects the pelvis. Midline stabilization is the ability
to maintain rigidity, stability, and a lack of deflection about that line (Figure 1). This
translates to improved efficiency and performance and greater power output.

It is critical to the deadlift, to the laden squat, to the shoulder press, and to any
sport. In a swimmer’s stroke—when the left leg kicks and right arm pulls—if the
torso deviates to one side, you lose energy. Energy is lost in its deflection, whether
throwing a punch, riding a bicycle, or squatting. The abdominals, with the hip
flexors, control one side of the torso, with the hip extensors and erectors involved
on the other side.

However, what we have in modern physical culture is an excessive awareness

and focus on the anterior and not on the posterior. As a culture of athletes and
non-athletes alike, we are unfortunately frontally fixated. Pecs—what about the
rhomboids? Abs—what about the erectors? Quads—what about the glute-ham-
string? And for the best of functional movement—punch, jump, throw, run—the
impetus comes out of the posterior.

We see communities where there is a very deliberate and concerted effort to

minimize hip-flexor involvement in exercise. And yet, by insertion and origin, by
mechanical position and advantage, and just kinematically, the hip flexors, have
several times the contraction capacity that is estimated of the abdominals. All of
it: hip extensors, hip flexors, trunk flexors, and extensors are essential to midline
stabilization. The abdominals are just one
part of the story.

For core strength (midline stabilization), we are

talking about static control. We do not want
this relationship of spine to pelvis deflecting.
Nevertheless, a lot of the commonly used “core”
movements involve dynamic movements: the
crunch is a very deliberate flexion of the trunk.
Conversely, when we deadlift, we very deliber-
ately hold that relationship static.

What is amazing is how many communities

that are regularly involved in physical training
(PT) have 1) almost no effort focused on hip
extension and 2) almost no awareness of the
Figure 1. Midline Stabilization. spine-to-pelvis relationship. About the only

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

thing that we see them paying attention to is dynamic trunk-flexion work. There
“Midline stability, is no trunk-extension work, no hip-extension work, and hip flexion is deliberately
control of the major limited. Some of these communities also have problems with chronic back injury,
body axis, is a CrossFit which comes at no surprise. If there is anything to “muscle balance,” it makes sense.
In how many communities are they doing an equal number of deadlifts and squats
constant.”
to their sit-ups? Most of the military/law-enforcement PT is completely devoid of
full-range-of-motion hip extension. Rucking, running, jumping jacks—all will not
—COACH GLASSMAN do it. The run, pull-up, sit-up, push-up, lather-rinse-repeat PT has no real good core
movement. The crunch does not count.

While a cumbersome and space-taking piece of gear, the GHD has been essential to
our work. We have four of them in 2,500 square feet, so one every 600 feet. We use
the GHD for four exercises to heighten awareness and develop capacity at midline
stabilization. The punchline to the story is that static contractions that stabilize the
midsection are the most important and functional (powerful) muscular contrac-
tions in that region. Static contractions for midline stabilization are the best ab
exercises known. No amount of crunches are ever going to get you to the same
end point as the L-sit, overhead squat, deadlift, etc.

What we suspect is that if you could sequentially fire the abs with the same force
in any kind of dynamic pattern, you would have the ability to seriously injure your
spine. If you could ever crunch with the same force that you can stabilize, you
would be able to break your back at will. We have come hardwired unable to do
that—that is my guess.

The movements are presented in the order in which they should be developed in
a client. The first thing is a simple hip extension: articulate at the hip only, main-
taining the distance from xiphoid process to pubic bone. There is no shortening
of the trunk. There is no trunk flexion, just hip extension and flexion while main-
taining midline stabilization.
The erectors are being used
statically, and the primary
movers here are glutes
and hamstrings working
concentrically and eccen-
trically. Be careful such that
the client’s femur is on the
pad and the pelvis is free.
If the pelvis is trapped, the
athlete will not be able to
hold the lumbar curve. The
hip extension is static in the
Figure 2. Trainers Can Provide Assistance for trunk and dynamic in the hip
Hip Extensions Until Capacity Is Developed. (Figures 2 and 3).

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

A B

C D

Figure 3. GHD Hip Extension.

Not only is this movement exceedingly safe, but it is also incredibly rehabilita-
tive of the lower back. Even people with near-acute lower-back injury can do
this, but ensure there is no flexion in the torso. With the capacity to do 25-30
consecutive repetitions without momentum, they will find there is substantial
mitigation in whatever was bothering them. This is a milder stimulus to that region
than a moderate-weight deadlift. An air squat and an insignificant-load deadlift
combined with this movement create a great launching point. It is a critical part
of our beginning efforts with our clients regardless of age.

Once a client has shown some competence here (25-30 consecutive reps), the next
movement is the back extension. The pad has to be adjusted such that it is under
the pelvis. In this movement, the athlete deliberately surrenders the lumbar curve,
thereby engaging in trunk flexion and extension. The erectors are now working
dynamically, with the glute and hamstring working statically or isometrically.
We are doing it controlled—not bouncing, not flopping. We are doing it initially
unladen (Figure 4).

When there is proven capacity in the back extension (25-30 consecutive reps), we
move on to the hip-and-back extension. The pad is adjusted back to the setting
used for hip extension. Starting from the bottom, extended in the spine, full flexion
in the hip, the pelvis first lifts followed by a wave of contraction from lumbar all
the way to the cervical, finishing with a rhomboid pull back at the top. The initial

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

A B

C D

Figure 4. GHD Back Extension.

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

A B

C D

E F

Figure 5. GHD Hip-and-Back Extension.

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

A B

C D

Figure 6. Trainers Should Initially Spot Clients and Shorten the

Range of Motion in the GHD Sit-up.

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

A B

C D

E F

Figure 7. GHD Sit-up.

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

A B

C D

E F

Figure 8. AbMat Sit-up.

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

movement comes out of a powerful, dynamic glute-hamstring movement that

extends the hip. Then the back extends sequentially along the spine from “south
to north” (Figure 5).

This movement does a lot for a coach. It heightens a neurological awareness. It

allows me to introduce some essential vernacular to the client. If we do not have
cues that allow me to talk about hip flexion, trunk flexion, hip extension, trunk
extension, I am fairly worthless with a client. Very early, get clients to know terms.
Be able to call it out and get the response you need.

This movement demonstrates tremendous control. There is hip flexion, hip

extension, trunk flexion and trunk extension in a combo “snake” move. Using those
muscles is essential for midline stabilization and working the posterior.

The fourth movement on the GHD is a sit-up but involves no trunk flexion. For the
GHD sit-up, the pad is set so that the pelvis is free, and the athlete descends back
to touch the ground and then comes back to seated. More than a few exercise
physiologists and certified trainers have observed that this movement is pure hip
flexion and consequently asserted “there’s no abs in that.”

But what the abs are doing in this exercise is midline stabilization.

Before having clients perform the GHD sit-up, ensure they have demonstrated
capacity in the hip extension, back extension, and hip-and-back extension. Even
still, their first GHD sit-ups should be performed in a shortened range of motion,
with the trainer spotting behind them (Figure 6). That might be it for the first dose.
Once they come back and you can determine the effect from that dose, increase
the range of motion and volume as their capacity allows.

To perform a GHD sit-up, there is some leg flexion in the descent. Then, the leg
extends dramatically and pulls the athlete to seated (Figure 7). Conversely, if the
athlete does not extend the leg to come to seated, the primary movers are the hip
flexors, but specifically the psoas.

The psoas comes off the femur, runs through the pelvis (without attachment)
and attaches to the lumbar spine. The hip flexors also include a very powerful
complement to the psoas: the rectus femoris, which is the dominant piece of the
quadriceps. The rectus femoris does not attach to the lumbar spine, but it attaches
to the pelvis. This attachment to the pelvis is a point of enormous mechanical
advantage and leverage. And to fully engage that, the leg must extend dramat-
ically. The leg cannot sharply extend without working rectus femoris—a leg
extensor and a hip flexor.

The force with which an athlete comes up is amazing. Rather than being pulled
from the psoas alone, which is a fairly dysfunctional kind of pull, the athlete uses

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

the full complement of hip-flexor musculature. Any time you are using a fraction of
the primary movers responsible for that articulation, it is not natural, not functional,
and contrary to nature. Not extending the leg can also be a little irritating to the
low back due to this shearing force on the lumbar spine. Performed correctly, the
movement is not irritating to the low back. Straightening that leg enables profound
musculature to lift from the pelvis.

There are people who have this irritation in the spine from a shear force. If you can
teach them to extend the legs to work the full complement of hip flexors, we will
move the margins where this irritation occurs from 3 reps to 4 reps to 10 reps and
so on. That is rehabilitation. That is neuromuscular re-education.

There is an adjunct movement to GHD sit-up in which the athlete is dynamic in

the trunk and static in the hip. It is the AbMat sit-up, where we deliberately take
the hip flexors out of the equation and work the torso dynamically. The hip flexors
are working statically or possibly to no significant degree.

To do this, the hip flexors need to be removed from the line of action. The fat part
of the AbMat goes toward the glutes, and the athlete puts the bottom of his or her
soles together with the knees butterflied. This positioning makes the hip flexors
tangential to the line of action; i.e., they cannot do any productive work. This is
done deliberately. Then the athlete slowly and under control comes to seated by
contracting the abdominals. This is a very dynamic bit of trunk flexion and the hip
flexors are removed (Figure 8).

As the athlete fails, adduct and extend the legs to some degree. This creates more
purchase for the hip flexors and brings them into the line of action. This allows the
athlete to modulate the assistance and keep each rep focused on the midsection.

If reps are performed slowly and deliberately, most athletes will fail a sit-up without
an AbMat. The failure is not necessarily a neuromuscular failure. It is not necessarily
a weakness or deficiency. The truth is the movement is defective minus the AbMat.

Without an AbMat, the athlete has a solid point of contact below the upper back.
To move, I need to act off of something immovable. When the athlete gets full
contraction of the rectus, the lower back actually goes flat. This is not enough to
bring him up to seated. When this space between the low back and the floor is
filled with something to act against (like the AbMat), the athlete can curl to seated.

There is a very short range of motion available in lumbar flexion to protect the
spine. The beauty of the spine is that each piece moves a very short range of
motion in all directions, and in total they get some pretty cool dynamics. But that
lumbar region is fairly inflexible, and all that range of motion that is available moves
one from spinally extended through to neutral. There is no more shortening or
flexion to it; it is not enough to sit up.

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The Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), continued

Without the AbMat, the sit-up is a biphasic movement. While I have solid contact,
I use upper rectus and create enough momentum to throw the load to the hip
flexors, where I have more connection. This means that the full rectus has little
stimulus—it is pulling me from spinally extended through to neutral, but absent of
any load. The upper rectus is worked where there is a fulcrum, so the back flattens,
but it is the hip flexors that pull me to seated. There is no amount of sit-ups you
can do on the ground that is ever going to work you from pubic bone to about
3 or 4 inches above the belly button. The AbMat moves the athlete from spinally
extended through to neutral in the lumbar spine against a load.

How big would your bench press get if you only pushed air? You would get as
strong as your abs will with a ground-based sit-up. With or without the pad, there
is the same contraction and range of motion in the midsection. Without the pad,
the fibers shortened but there was no load and no real work completed. With the
pad, they got the same motion but under a load, and it produced fruitful work.

The two sit-ups, GHD and AbMat, complement each other beautifully. One is
dynamic in the hips and static in the trunk; the other is dynamic in the trunk and
static in the hip. In conjunction with the L-sit (static in the trunk and hip), they
develop a formidable capacity in the midline.

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Nine Foundational Movements Summary

Effective coaching can be measured as a trainer’s capacity in six areas: teaching,
seeing, correcting, group management, presence and attitude, and demonstra-
tion. This section helps participants learn the fundamentals of the first three:
teaching, seeing, and correcting the nine foundational movements of the Level 1
Certificate Course.

The nine foundational movements of the Level 1 Course are:

• The Air Squat
• The Front Squat
• The Overhead Squat
• The Shoulder Press
• The Push Press
• The Push Jerk
• The Deadlift
• The Sumo Deadlift High Pull
• The Medicine-Ball Clean

Teaching requires knowing the necessary points of performance for proper

execution, including set-up and finish positions. Seeing builds on this knowledge
by requiring the trainer to assess these points of performance (and deviation from
them) in real time. Correcting is the ability to improve a client’s mechanics to better
adhere to the points of performance.

Each movement has at least two sections: 1) Points of Performance; and 2) Common
Faults and Corrections. Where applicable, some movements also have a third
section: 3) Teaching Progression. These progressions break complex movements
down into simple steps that focus on developing the primary points of perfor-
mance in the full movement.

This section is not meant to serve as an exhaustive resource of all the knowledge,
teaching progressions, or possible corrections when coaching movements. Rather,
it is a sufficient introductory guide to support the development of new trainers.

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The Air Squat, continued

MOVIE
THE AIR SQUAT
The air squat is the cornerstone movement of CrossFit and is foundational to the front squat and
overhead squat. The air squat raises one’s center of mass from a seated to standing position.

1. SET-UP
• Shoulder-width stance.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Hips descend back and down. • Hips descend lower than knees. • Complete at full
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Heels down. hip and knee
• Knees in line with toes. extension.

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The Air Squat, continued

THE AIR SQUAT COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

(A)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Loss of a neutral position due • Cue the athlete to lift the chest.
to flexion in lumbar spine. • Have the athlete raise the arms as he or she
descends to the bottom of the squat. (A)

(B) (C)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Weight on toes or • Have the athlete exaggerate weight on the
shifting to toes. heels by lifting the toes slightly throughout the
entire movement. (B)
• Give a tactile cue to push the hips back and down. (C)

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The Air Squat, continued

(D)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Not going low enough. • Cue “Lower!” and do not relent.
• Have the athlete squat to a target that
places the hip crease lower than the knee to
develop awareness of depth. (D)

(E)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Improper line of action: hips • Give a tactile cue to push the hips back
do not travel back, knees and down.
move excessively forward • Block the knees' forward travel with the hand
placing weight on the toes. at the initiation of the descent to encourage
movement of the hips. (E)

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The Air Squat, continued

(F)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Knees not tracking in line with • Cue “Push your knees out” or “Spread
toes, which usually causes them the ground apart with your feet.”
to roll inside the feet. • Use a target on the outside of the
knee for the athlete to reach. (F)

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The Air Squat, continued

FAULT: FAULT:
• Multiple-fault squat: Inability to • Immature squat: All points of
¡¡ Maintain lumbar curve; performance are maintained
¡¡ Keep weight on the heels; but the athlete has to cantilever
¡¡ Keep the knees tracking in line forward excessively onto the
with the feet; and quads to maintain balance.
¡¡ Get to depth all at the same time.

CORRECTION:
• Squat Therapy: Set the athlete facing a wall or racked bar with a target at
depth. Set him or her in the proper stance, with heels to the box, chest close to
wall. Have the athlete squat to the box slowly, maintaining control and weight
on the heels.

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The Front Squat, continued

MOVIE
THE FRONT SQUAT
The points of performance, common faults, and corrections carry over from the air squat.
The new element of the front squat is the addition of a loaded barbell to the front of the
body. The barbell is supported by the torso in the front-rack position.

1. SET-UP
• Shoulder-width stance. • Hands just outside shoulders.
• Loose fingertip grip on the bar. • Elbows high (upper arm parallel to the ground).

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Hips descend back and down. • Hips descend lower than knees. • Complete at full
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Heels down. hip and knee
• Knees in line with toes. extension.

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The Front Squat, continued

THE FRONT SQUAT COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

All faults and corrections from the air squat apply to this movement, plus the following:

(A)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Improper rack position where the bar • Ensure the athlete has an open grip and the bar
is not in contact with the torso. is resting on the fingertips.
• Cue “Elbows high!”
• Manually adjust the rack position. (A)

(B)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Elbows drop during the squat. • Encourage the athlete to move their elbows
away from the trainer’s hands. (B)
• Cue “Elbows up!” and encourage athlete to lift
the chest.

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The Overhead Squat, continued

MOVIE
THE OVERHEAD SQUAT
The points of performance, common faults, and corrections carry over from the air squat.
The new element in the overhead squat is a load added in the overhead position.

1. SET-UP
• Shoulder-width stance. • Wide grip on the bar (wide enough
• Shoulders push up into the bar. to perform a pass-through).
• Arms extended. • Armpits face forward.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Hips descend back and down. • Hips descend lower than knees. • Complete at full
• Knees in line with toes. • Heels down. hip and knee
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Bar moves over the middle of extension.
the foot.
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The Overhead Squat, continued

THE OVERHEAD SQUAT COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

All faults and corrections from the air squat apply to this movement, plus the following:

(A)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Inactive overhead position due to flexed • Cue athlete to press the bar up.
elbows and/or inactive shoulders. • Use a tactile cue to push the elbows straight,
shoulders up, and armpits forward. (A)

FAULT: CORRECTION:
• Bar moves forward of the frontal plane. • Cue the athlete to press the bar up and pull
it back over midfoot or slightly behind the
frontal plane.

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The Shoulder Press, continued

MOVIE
THE SHOULDER PRESS
The shoulder press is foundational to all the overhead lifts. The key elements of this lift are a neutral
spine, straight bar path and correct overhead position.

1. SET-UP
• Hip-width stance. • Hands just outside shoulders.
• Elbows slightly in front of • Full grip on the bar.
the bar. • Bar rests on torso.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Spine neutral and legs extended. • Bar moves over the middle • Complete at full
• Heels down. of the foot. arm extension.
• Shoulders push up into the bar.

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The Shoulder Press, continued

THE SHOULDER PRESS COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

(A)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Overextending the spine • Have the athlete tighten the abdominals by pulling the rib
with the ribs sticking out. cage down (be sure to check the overhead position again
after this fix). (A)
• Have the athlete use a slightly wider grip if needed, until
flexibility improves.

(B)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Bar finishes forward of • Cue the athlete to press up and pull back on the bar as it
frontal plane. travels overhead.
• Use a tactile cue and gently push the bar back into the
correct position. (B)

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The Shoulder Press, continued

FAULT: CORRECTION:
• Elbows are bent or shoulders are not active. • Cue “Press up!” and use a tactile cue to lock
out the elbows and push the shoulders up.

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The Shoulder Press, continued

FAULT:
• Bar arcs out around the face instead of moving straight up and following the frontal plane.

(C)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue the athlete to pull the head back and out of the way of the bar.
• Check that elbows are not too low in the set-up.
• Block the forward travel of the bar with another object, such as a piece of PVC. (C)

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The Push Press, continued

MOVIE
THE PUSH PRESS
The push press builds on the shoulder press. The set-up, bar path and spinal and overhead positions
are the same as in the shoulder press. Unique to the push press is a vertical dip of the torso followed
by a rapid extension of the hips, which adds velocity to the movement.

1. SET-UP
• Hip-width stance. • Hands just outside shoulders.
• Elbows slightly in front of • Full grip on the bar.
the bar. • Bar rests on torso.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Torso remains vertical as hips • Heels remain down until hips • Complete
and knees flex in the dip. and knees extend. at full hip,
• Hips and legs extend, then • Bar moves over the middle of knee, and arm
arms press. the foot. extension.

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The Push Press, continued

THE PUSH PRESS TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1: STEP 2:
• Dip and hold. • Dip-drive, slow.

STEP 3:
• Dip-drive, fast.

STEP 4:
• Full push press.

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The Push Press, continued

THE PUSH PRESS COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

(A) (B)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Forward inclination • Have the athlete hold the dip. Manually adjust him or her to an
of the chest during upright position. (A)
the dip. • Cue a shorter dip.
• Cue “Knees forward."
• Stand in front of athlete to prevent the chest from coming forward.
• Dip Therapy: Have the athlete stand against a target with hips
and shoulder blades touching the target (heels slightly away).
Then have the athlete dip and drive while keeping the hips and
shoulders in contact with the target. (B)

(C)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Muted hips: hips push • Use a tactile cue to help the athlete create flexion of
forward during the dip. the hip in the dip. (C)
• Cue “Push the hips back slightly.”

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The Push Press, continued

FAULT:
• Pressing early: press begins before the hip extends.

(D)

CORRECTIONS:
• Take the athlete back in the teaching progression (p. 185) to perform two dip-drives before
adding the press.
• Place your hand at the top of the athlete’s head when fully standing; keep it at that height
and then ask the athlete to hit your hand during the drive before pressing. (D)

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The Push Jerk, continued

MOVIE
THE PUSH JERK
The push jerk builds on both the shoulder press and push press. The set-up, bar path and spinal and
overhead positions are the same, as are the dip and drive. Unique to the push jerk is the press under
the bar. After extension of the hip, the athlete presses against the bar and receives the lift in a partial
overhead squat before standing to finish the lift.

1. SET-UP
• Hip-width stance. • Hands just outside shoulders.
• Elbows slightly in front of • Full grip on the bar.
the bar. • Bar rests on torso.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Bar rests on torso. • Heels stay down until hips • Complete at full
• Torso remains vertical as hips and knees extend. hip, knee, and arm
and knees flex in the dip. • Hips and knees extend extension.
rapidly, then arms press to
drive under the bar.
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The Push Jerk, continued

THE PUSH JERK TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1:
• Jump and land with hands at sides. Stick the landing before standing.

STEP 2:
• Jump and land with hands at shoulders. Stick the landing before standing.

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The Push Jerk, continued

STEP 3:
• Jump and extend the arms after the hip opens. Stick the landing before standing with
arms overhead.

STEP 4:
• With the PVC in hands, complete the full push jerk.

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The Push Jerk, continued

THE PUSH JERK COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

All faults and corrections from the shoulder press and push press apply to this movement,
plus the following:

FAULT:
• Lack of full hip extension.

(A)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue “Jump higher.”
• Place your hand at the top of the athlete’s head when fully standing; keep it at that height
and then ask the athlete to hit your hand during the drive. (A)
• Take the athlete back to steps 1-3 of the teaching progression (pp. 189–190). Have the
athlete focus on reaching hip extension before moving on to the next step.
• Encourage the athlete to squeeze the glutes and quads before pressing under.

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The Push Jerk, continued

FAULT:
• Poor/inactive overhead position (particularly when receiving the bar).

CORRECTION:
• Cue the athlete to press up on the bar while in the receiving position, before standing
to extension.

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The Push Jerk, continued

FAULT:
• Lowering the bar before standing all the way up.

(B)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue the athlete to keep the bar overhead until hips and knees are fully extended.
• Use a tactile cue: hold your hand over the athlete’s head and instruct him or her to hit the
hand before lowering the bar. (B)

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The Deadlift, continued

MOVIE
THE DEADLIFT
The deadlift is foundational to all pulling lifts. For proper execution of the deadlift, the spine should
be neutral at all times and the object should be kept close to the frontal plane throughout the
range of motion.

1. SET-UP
• Hip-to-shoulder-width stance. • Full grip on the bar.
• Hands just outside hips. • Shoulders slightly in front of or over the bar.
• Eyes on the horizon. • Arms straight and bar in contact with the shins.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Complete at full
• Hips and shoulders rise at the same rate until the bar passes the knee. hip and knee
• Hips then open. extension.  
• Bar moves over the middle of the foot.
• Heels down.

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The Deadlift, continued

THE DEADLIFT COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

(A)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Loss of lumbar curve due to • Abort current lift and decrease the load to where the lumbar
flexion of the spine. curve can be maintained.
• At a lower weight, cue the athlete to “lift the chest” and do
not relent. (A)

FAULT: CORRECTION:
• Weight on, or shifting, to • Have the athlete pull the hips back and settle on the
toes. heels. Have him or her focus on driving through heels.

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The Deadlift, continued

FAULT: CORRECTION:
• Shoulders behind bar in • Raise the hips to move the shoulders over, or slightly in
set-up. front of, the bar.

FAULT: CORRECTION:
• Hips too high in set-up. • Lower the hips to move the shoulders over, or slightly
in front of, the bar.

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The Deadlift, continued

FAULT:
• Hips do not move back to initiate the descent.

CORRECTION:
• Cue the athlete to initiate the return by pushing the hips back and delaying the knee bend
until the bar passes below the knees.

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The Deadlift, continued

FAULT:
• Bar loses contact with legs.

(B)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue “Pull the bar in to your legs the whole time.”
• Use a tactile cue to help engage the upper back. (B)

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The Deadlift, continued

FAULT:
• Hips rise before the chest (stiff-legged deadlift).

(C)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue “Lift your chest more aggressively.”
• Give a tactile cue at the hips and shoulders so they rise in unison. (C)

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The Deadlift, continued

FAULT:
• Shoulders rise without the hips. Bar travels around the knees instead of straight up.

(D)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue “Push the knees back as your chest rises.”
• Be sure the athlete is set up correctly and that the hips are not too low.
• Give a tactile cue at the hips and shoulders so they rise in unison. (D)

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull, continued

MOVIE
THE SUMO DEADLIFT HIGH PULL
The sumo deadlift high pull builds on the deadlift but uses a wider stance and a narrower grip. The
sumo deadlift high pull also adds velocity and range of motion. This movement is a good example
of a core-to-extremity movement: the bar is accelerated by the hips and legs before the arms are
engaged to finish the pull.

1. SET-UP
• Slightly wider than shoulder-width stance. • Knees in line with toes.
• Hands inside legs with a full grip on the bar. • Arms straight and bar in contact with the shins.
• Shoulders slightly in front of or over the bar. • Eyes on the horizon.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Shoulders shrug, then the • Complete at full
• Hips and shoulders rise at the arms pull. hip and knee
same rate until the bar passes • Elbows move high and outside. extension with the
the knee. • Bar moves over the middle of bar pulled under
• Hips then extend rapidly. the foot. the chin.  
• Heels down until hips and
legs extend.

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull, continued

THE SUMO DEADLIFT HIGH PULL TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1:
• Sumo deadlift.

STEP 2:
• Sumo deadlift-shrug, slow.

STEP 3:
• Sumo deadlift-shrug, fast.

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull, continued

STEP 4:
• Full sumo deadlift high pull.

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull, continued

THE SUMO DEADLIFT HIGH PULL COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

All faults and corrections from the deadlift apply to this movement, plus the following:

FAULT:
• Pulling early: the shoulders shrug or the arms bend before the hips are completely extended.

(A)

CORRECTIONS:
• Take the athlete back in the teaching progression (pp. 202–203) to work the deadlift-shrug
at a speed that allows correct timing. Once the deadlift-shrug is correct at speed, try two
deadlift-shrugs for every one full sumo deadlift high pull.
• Give a tactile cue to have the athlete hit your hands with his or her shoulders before pulling
with the arms. (A)

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull, continued

(B)

FAULT: CORRECTIONS:
• Athlete pulls with the elbows low • Cue “Elbows high!”
and inside. • Give a tactile cue to have the athlete
hit your hands where his or her elbows
should finish. (B)

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull, continued

FAULT:
• Incorrect descent (hips flex before the arms extend).

CORRECTION:
• Slow down the movement and have the athlete practice the return in a segmented fashion
by extending the arms first before re-introducing speed.

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The Sumo Deadlift High Pull, continued

FAULT:
• Shoulders rolling forward in the set-up or during the pull.

(C)

CORRECTIONS:
• Correct the position in the set-up or at the top of the pull. (C)
• Widen the grip and/or reduce the range of motion so the shoulders remain in the proper
position.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

MOVIE
THE MEDICINE-BALL CLEAN
The medicine-ball clean builds on the deadlift and the sumo deadlift high pull. Unique to the medi-
cine-ball clean is the pull-under, which allows the athlete to bring the object to a position of support
(the front-rack position).

1. SET-UP
• Shoulder-width stance. • Knees in line with toes.
• Ball between the feet with palms • Shoulders over the ball.
on the ball. • Eyes on the horizon.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Heels down until the hips and • Complete at full
• Hips extend rapidly. knees extend. hip and knee
• Shoulders then shrug. • Arms then pull under to the extension with
bottom of the squat. the ball at the
• Ball stays close to the body. rack position.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

THE MEDICINE-BALL CLEAN TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1:
• Deadlift.

STEP 2:
• Deadlift-shrug, fast.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

STEP 3:
• Front squat.

STEP 4:
• Pull-under.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

STEP 5:
• Full medicine-ball clean.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

THE MEDICINE-BALL CLEAN COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

FAULT:
• Lack of full hip extension.

(A)

CORRECTIONS:
• Take athlete back to the teaching progression (pp. 209–211), and have him or her do two
deadlift-shrugs for every one medicine-ball clean.
• Give a tactile cue to have the athlete hit your hand with his or her head before pulling
under the ball. (A)

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

FAULT:
• Curling the ball.

(B)

CORRECTIONS:
• Stand in front of the athlete to block him or her from curling (can also use a wall). (B)
• Cue “Elbows high and outside!”

CORRECTION:
• Require the athlete to keep the laces (or any markings) of the ball facing out for the entire movement.
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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

FAULT: CORRECTION:
• Collapsing in the • Take the athlete back to the teaching progression
receiving position. (pp. 209–211) and have him or her practice the pull-under
with sound front squat mechanics.

CORRECTION:
• Cue the athlete to lift the chest in the front squat.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

FAULT:
• Receiving too high.

(C)

CORRECTIONS:
• Hold the ball at the peak of the shrug and let the athlete practice the pull-under without
moving the ball higher. (C)
• Take athlete back to the teaching progression (pp. 209–211) and have him or her practice
the pull-under. Have him or her do two pull-unders for every one medicine-ball clean.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

FAULT: CORRECTION:
• Tossing or flicking the medicine ball up • Have the athlete hold the ball without
without pulling under. the fingers, using palms or fists only.

CORRECTION:
• Hold ball at the peak of the shrug and let athlete practice the pull-under to feel the rotation
of the hands.

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The Medicine-Ball Clean, continued

FAULT:
• Not standing up before lowering the weight.

(D)

CORRECTIONS:
• Give a tactile cue to have the athlete keep the ball at the chest until his or her shoulder
contacts a target. (D)
• Cue the athlete to stand all the way up before lowering the ball from the chest.

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Four Additional Movements Summary

The four additional movements of the Level 1 Course are:
“The most important • The Pull-up
criterion for • The Thruster
exercise selection is • The Muscle-up
• The Snatch
neuroendocrine effect.
Regardless of your As in the instructions for the nine foundational movements, each movement has
sport or your fitness three sections: 1) Points of Performance; 2) Common Faults and Corrections; and
goals, these moves are 3) Teaching Progression.
the shortest path to
success.” We teach these movements at the Level 1 Course to improve participants’ mechanics
and also to provide a teaching method for more complicated movements.

—COACH GLASSMAN

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The Pull-up, continued

MOVIE
THE PULL-UP
The kipping pull-up is CrossFit’s default pull-up. It allows the athlete to accomplish more work
in less time (higher power) due to the hips assisting the upper-body pull. CrossFit recommends
athletes have at least one strict pull-up before performing kipping pull-ups.

1. SET-UP 2. EXECUTION
• Hands just outside • Initiate kip swing with the shoulders.
shoulder width. • As feet swing forward, push bar straight down with the arms.
• Hang with arms • Chest stays up with the eyes forward.
extended.

EXECUTION, CONTINUED
• Pull until chin is higher than the bar. • Return to full extension to begin the
• Push away from the bar to begin the descent. next repetition.

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The Pull-up, continued

THE PULL-UP TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1:
• Kip swings.

STEP 2:
• Two kip swings and a kip.
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The Pull-up, continued

STEP 3:
• Two kip swings and a pull-up.

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The Pull-up, continued

STEP 4:
• Two kip swings, a pull-up, and two kip swings.

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The Pull-up, continued

STEP 5:
• Multiple pull-ups without additional swings.

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The Pull-up, continued

THE PULL-UP COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

FAULT:
• Initiating the swing with the legs.

CORRECTION:
• Have the athlete go back in the progression (pp. 220–223) to the kip swing and initiate the
movement from the shoulders.

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The Pull-up, continued

FAULT:
• Not pushing away after clearing the bar, sending the athlete straight down instead of
following the arc of the kip swing.

(A)

CORRECTIONS:
• Have the athlete pause at the top of the pull-up, focusing on pushing away from the bar.
• Have the athlete perform two kip swings in between each pull-up, practicing a sound return.
• Give the athlete a target at the back to encourage him or her to push away. (A)

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The Pull-up, continued

FAULT:
• Losing midline stabilization by overextending the spine or exaggerating the swing.

(B)

CORRECTIONS:
• Have the athlete work on the kip swing in a tighter position by keeping the legs together
and the knees straight.
• Have the athlete put a towel between his or her feet to encourage a tight body position. (B)

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The Thruster, continued

MOVIE
THE THRUSTER
The thruster combines the front squat and push press in a single movement. Unlike the loose fingertip
grip used in the front squat, the thruster requires a full grip on the bar and a lower elbow position.
The athlete must move in a core-to-extremity movement pattern by extending the hip then pressing.

1. SET-UP
• Elbows in front of the bar. • Hands just outside shoulders.
• Bar rests on front rack. • Full grip on the bar.
• Shoulder-width stance.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Hips descend back and down. • Hips and knees extend rapidly, • Complete at full
• Hips descend lower than knees. then arms press. hip, knee and arm
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Heels down until hips and extension.
• Knees in line with toes. knees extend.
• Elbows stay off knees. • Bar moves over the middle
of the foot.

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The Thruster, continued

THE THRUSTER TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1:
• Front squat.

STEP 2:
• Push press (wide stance).

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The Thruster, continued

STEP 3:
• Thruster (pausing at reset).

STEP 4:
• Multiple thrusters (no pausing at any point in the movement).

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The Thruster, continued

THE THRUSTER COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

Most faults and fixes from the front squat and push press apply to this movement,
plus the following:

FAULT:
• Pressing the bar before extending the hips.

CORRECTION:
• Use a tactile cue and instruct the athlete to hit the hand before pressing.

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The Thruster, continued

FAULT:
• Descending into the squat before the bar is in the rack position.

CORRECTION:
• Take the athlete back in the progression (pp. 228–229) and have him or her pause at the
rack position before squatting.

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The Muscle-up, continued

MOVIE
THE MUSCLE-UP
The muscle-up combines the pull-up and dip into one movement. The athlete pulls from a hang to a
position of support, in this case above the rings. The false grip and the positioning of the rings during
the transition are the keys to linking the pull-up and dip. Due to the dynamic nature of the rings,
CrossFit recommends athletes achieve a strict muscle-up before attempting kipping muscle-ups.

1. SET-UP
• Rings set approximately shoulder width apart.
• False grip on the rings.
• Hang with arms extended.

2. EXECUTION 3. FINISH
• Pull rings to sternum as torso leans back. • Complete at full arm
• Move the chest over the rings; hands and elbows stay close to extension in support
body. position.

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The Muscle-up, continued

THE MUSCLE-UP TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1:
• Ring support.

STEP 2:
• Ring dip.

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The Muscle-up, continued

STEP 3:
• False grip.

STEP 4:
• Kneeling muscle-ups. Raise the rings or move the feet further in front of the athlete to
increase the challenge.

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The Muscle-up, continued

STEP 5
• Muscle-up.

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The Muscle-up, continued

THE MUSCLE-UP COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

FAULT:
• Losing the false grip.

(A)

CORRECTIONS:
• Ensure the false grip is set before beginning a repetition. (A)
• Allow the athlete to use bent arms as he or she continues to develop the strength to hold the false
grip with extended elbows.

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The Muscle-up, continued

FAULT:
• Keeping the body too vertical in the pull so that the rings will not be in a position for an
efficient transition.

CORRECTION:
• Lean back so the rings can be pulled to the chest.

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The Muscle-up, continued

FAULT:
• Letting the elbows flare during the pull or transition.

CORRECTION:
• Have the athlete keep the elbows close to the ribcage throughout the movement.

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The Muscle-up, continued

FAULT:
• Not pulling the rings low enough before beginning the transition.

(B)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue the athlete to lean back and pull the rings to the sternum before beginning
the transition.
• Have the athlete go back in the progression (pp. 233–235) to the kneeling muscle-up
drill, selecting a ring height that is challenging. (B)

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The Snatch, continued

MOVIE
THE SNATCH
The snatch—the world’s fastest lift—moves the barbell from the ground to overhead in one
movement. Its complexity brings great benefit to CrossFit athletes.

1. SET-UP
• Hip-width stance.
• Hands wide enough that bar rests in crease of hips when knees
and hips are extended.
• Hook grip on the bar.
• Shoulders slightly in front of the bar.
• Eyes on the horizon.

2. EXECUTION
• Lumbar curve maintained. • Heels down until hips and knees extend.
• Hips and shoulders rise at the same rate. • Shoulders shrug, followed by a pull-under
• Hips then extend rapidly. with the arms.

EXECUTION, CONTINUED 3. FINISH

• Bar is received at the bottom of an overhead squat. • Complete at full hip,
knee and arm extension
with the bar over the
middle of the foot.

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The Snatch, continued

THE SNATCH TEACHING PROGRESSION

STEP 1:
• Deadlift to mid-thigh.

STEP 2:
• Deadlift-shrug.

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The Snatch, continued

STEP 3:
• Muscle snatch.

STEP 4:
• Overhead squat.

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The Snatch, continued

STEP 5:
• Hang snatch.

STEP 6:
• Snatch.

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The Snatch, continued

THE SNATCH COMMON FAULTS AND CORRECTIONS

Most faults and fixes from the deadlift, sumo deadlift high pull, and medicine-ball clean apply to
this movement, plus the following:

FAULT:
• Lack of hip extension.

(A)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue “Jump higher!”
• Place your hand at the top of the athlete’s head when he or she is fully standing; keep it at
that height and then ask the athlete to hit your hand during the drive. (A)
• Have the athlete perform two snatch deadlift-shrugs for every one snatch.

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The Snatch, continued

FAULT:
• Not moving the elbows high and outside or moving the bar around the body.

(B)

CORRECTIONS:
• If the athlete is using PVC, use a tactile cue to prevent him or her from swinging the bar out
in front. (B)
• Cue “Elbows high and outside!”
• Cue the athlete to brush his or her shirt with the PVC/barbell.

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The Snatch, continued

FAULT:
• Shoulders rise without the hips.

(C)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue “Push the knees back as your chest rises.”
• Be sure the athlete is set up correctly and the hips are not too low.
• Give a tactile cue at the hips and shoulders to have them lift in unison. (C)

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The Snatch, continued

FAULT:
• Hips rise without the shoulders.

(D)

CORRECTIONS:
• Cue “Keep the chest lifted as you straighten your legs.”
• Be sure the athlete is set up correctly and the hips are not too high.
• Give a tactile cue at the hips and shoulders to have them lift in unison. (D)

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