Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast

CrossFit recently announced another round of season changes to the CrossFit Games, most notably increasing the field for quarter-finals qualification and decreasing the available games spots at semi-finals in some of the strongest regions. With frequent changes to the season structure in the last five years, who has been the most affected by this, and how does it impact the sport for some competitors?

This week, we talk about how the bubble athlete usually gets affected the most and how this can be frustrating when this majority makes up the ecosystem for the sport. We also discuss other ways in which the season could work and how fewer qualifiers and more in-person competitions are more of what every athlete needs in the sport. We'd like to hear from you, the listeners, and see if you have any ideas on how this could work better and how you feel that the season changes will impact your season as a coach or athlete. Drop us a message on Instagram.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [1:00] News, entertainment and British tabloids
• [3:45] Barbell Spin is "of the people" apparently
• [5:00] Recent season changes announcement
• [10:00] Does increasing the field for quarter finals impact qualification for semi finals?
• [15:00] Does the programming matter as much now as the field becomes stronger?
• [18:00] Bubble athletes getting the rough end of the changes all the time
• [20:00] Is there a better way to structure the season
• [25:00] Athletes placing different at in-person competitions compared to qualifiers?
• [27:30] Can we structure the season like other sports?

This week, we look at Flux Training intervals again and how a coach might programme that for a CrossFit athlete. We also touch on some different, less tangible KPIs to look at when measuring an athlete's performance or improvement, mainly an athlete's ability to recover while doing work and how Flux Training can help build the fitness and pacing skills to do that.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [1:00] Luke's recent use of Flux Training with his athletes
• [4:30] Making work intervals slower to keep the recover intervals more productive
• [6:10] Using flux training with mixed work
• [10:30] Alternative ways of measuring improvement in interval training
• [14:30] Keeping workouts aerobic or being able to recover while doing work
• [18:00] The difference between endurance sports and CrossFit
• [21:30] How to programme this for a CrossFit athlete?

Zone two training has done the rounds and is gaining much attention from the competitive scene. CrossFit, being an "endurance sport", is an idea that is gaining popularity, and big names like Mat Fraser and Chris Hinshaw talking about the importance of low-intensity endurance work has made this training type of training pretty popular recently. But is it effective for improving someone's endurance for metcons and typical CrossFit? It could be what a powerful and fast twitch athlete needs, but it might also be like trying to get a stronger squat by just doing accessory work. Flux training is an approach to interval training that is more flexible, emphasising rolling on and off of higher and lower intensity paces, which captures the sports-specific pacing of CrossFit quite well. The circuit nature of CrossFit usually entails that pacing is more variable and less consistent than your usual endurance event, and this is something that flux training embraces. Check out this episode for why flux training might be a better option than traditional intervals.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [3:30] Easy aerobic work is like doing accessory work for strength training
• [5:00] Do people have enough time to do all these extra zone two sessions
• [7:00] Figuring out how to sneak in easier endurance training
• [10:00] The opportunity cost for regular people versus professional athletes
• [11:15] Increasing volume tolerance for the sport or junk volume
• [13:30] The ceiling on someones endurance
• [15:30] What is flux training?
• [19:00] Starting with very structured intervals as a beginner athlete/coach
• [20:00] Athletes trying to turn fartlek or flux style training into structured intervals
• [21:30] Flux training being a better tool for the average athlete
• [23:30] Developing intuition as an athlete
• [26:15] Is running a better training tool than other endurance modalities

In this episode, Jon shares his experience at the CrossFit Games, coaching CrossFit Omnia to another top-ten finish in the team division. We talk a lot about balancing the weight and order of the events with cuts at the games. This year saw the cuts happening after two days of a heavy engine focus in the programming, which would have affected a lot of teams and athletes that might be more suited to typical CrossFit style events. Is this something to be expected at the CrossFit Games, or could it be managed better? Check out this episode to hear about Jon's experience at the games and our thoughts on all things programming, cuts and strategy for the games.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [0:45] Jon's reflection on the 2023 CrossFit Games
• [2:00] Omnia's performance on the first two days
• [5:45] Taking risks in competition
• [8:00] Is there a way to 'game' the games?
• [9:30] The engine biased events at the games
• [11:30] Why are European teams generally better at endurance based events
• [13:30] The tactics of the bike event
• [17:30] Heavily strategy based events at the games
• [20:00] Cuts at the games and the order of the workouts
• [24:30] Is the games improving and getting better?
• [26:45] The testing determines the results

Is a testing phase of training a reliable assessment for a new athlete coming on board? It's practical, but it's essentially condensing the things you'll find out in training and competition into 1-2 weeks. Many athletes don't want to do it as well. They are usually more eager to start training and stay productive through that initial stage.

One direction all of our coaching styles has moved towards more is creating an initial training phase, where testing might be a part of that, but the emphasis is on the training. Having a common starting point for your athletes is a good way of covering all your bases as a CrossFit coach. From there, the programme can evolve, and the training priorities emerge from the training as time goes on.

In this week's episode, we talk about how we onboard athletes and how using common training progressions can help create more predictable and reliable results and give something more familiar to navigate when trying to move an athlete forward on something. Imagine writing different progressions for the problems you often see in multiple athletes. Recycling previous progressions, and making adjustments of course, can help you make more effective decisions as you start to notice patterns in various athletes.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [0:30] Creating a common starting point for athletes with a programme
• [1:45] Using repeated progressions with athletes to make results more predictable
• [3:20] Using a Saturday throwdown style workout to build the athletes profile
• [4:00] What does the first week of training look like
• [5:00] Distribution of working on specific and general things for the athlete
• [6:15] How the training programme evolves through iteration
• [8:10] Do people actually want to do testing weeks?
• [10:20] Using competitions as more reliable data than testing in training
• [15:00] Using the first period of training to identify training priorities
• [18:00] Structuring and organising progressions

What makes training difficult isn't the challenge of getting someone fitter and stronger. It's understanding how to keep athletes improving for a long time

What happens when it feels like you stop improving? In a sport where you get punished more for your weaknesses than you do rewarded for your strengths, finding ways to progress long-term is essential. But maybe our framing of improvement needs to evolve with time spent in sport. We might need to look more granularly at our skills and develop them this way.

In this episode, we look into some of the ways we can start feeling like we're not improving and ways to combat this and still make training challenging, engaging and ultimately get you closer to your training goals.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [3:00] When do athletes start to feel like they're not improving
• [4:00] Athletes should reframe their expectations
• [6:15] Ceilings on performance in CrossFit do exist
• [9:00] Structuring training priorities for more advanced and experienced athletes
• [10:50] Good responders to training are not the norm
• [12:30] Finding a way of making yourself productive on things you're limited on
• [14:30] Going down the specificity route too hard
• [16:00] Repetition without repetition with skill acquisition
• [19:30] Giving people more variation to keep motivation
• [21:00] Keeping training different and interesting for those that train alone
• [23:00] Do coaches know if what they programme is going to work?
• [24:00] Working on your weaknesses and GOAT day!
• [25:30] Making training progressions more narrowly defined

There are a lot of subtleties in coaching that you can't pick up in textbooks and from theory.

We all probably know a coach that doesn't have all the qualifications, but they grasp the craft better than others who might have always had their head in a textbook.

Tacit knowledge is what you pick up from doing the activity, and it's something that can be tremendously valuable in a dynamic field where you're working with people, like coaching.

You'll often go to a course and start learning models and progressions (explicit and codified knowledge) that organise a lot of the tacit knowledge you already have.

In this week's episode, we talk about the differences between tacit and explicit knowledge and share examples we've encountered in our coaching and helping other coaches.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [2:20] Seeing what other coaches notice in situations and stealing those ideas
• [3:20] How Luke threads tacit knowledge into weightlifting courses
• [5:00] Watching other coaches coach
• [6:15] Internalising and mimicking other people's behaviours
• [9:00] Behaviours of more experienced coaches
• [11:30] Being less boring explaining the workout before classes
• [13:15] When inexperienced coaches care about the details more and care about the wrong things
• [16:00] Should warm-ups be fun, and should you play games?
• [18:30] Does the explicit knowledge organise and structure a lot of the internal models we develop through tacit knowledge
• [20:45] Getting further with just tacit knowledge
• [21:15] Finding a balance between tacit and explicit knowledge and which one in what situation should be emphasised

Have you ever returned after doing a course with your brain frazzled and unsure of what to do on Monday?

Well...that is part of the journey in upgrading your knowledge and coaching model, but how can you extract the helpful information to make it workable with the people you coach.

If you're working with people in person, maybe you can experiment with things immediately. But if you coach athletes online, you don't have that luxury, and you need to make sure that the things you include in someone's program are the real deal.

Experimenting in your training will be the best way of trying out new things and extracting valuable information to help solve the problem set you to tackle in your coaching. We continue this series on coach education and, in this episode, discuss coach education and specifically cover how to use new information in your coaching practice. Listen to find out why breathing drills are the hardest thing to get any online client to do, why the last course you did might have a 30-day challenge and more.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [2:00] How to include material from a course into your practice
• [3:00] Practicing things in person versus online
• [4:00] Trying things on yourself in your own training
• [6:00] Why breathing work is really difficult to coach
• [8:30] Translating your own personal experience into someone else's training
• [10:00] Developing the skill of extracting the useful information and passing it on
• [11:45] The curiosity amongst early adopter coaches in CrossFit
• [15:45] Similarities between CrossFit and MMA
• [20:00] What's the goal of taking the next course?
• [22:30] Engaging in material fully to eventually upgrade your own model
• [24:30] Getting repeated exposure from challenges after courses

Curiosity is what gets a lot of coaches into training and eventually becoming coaches, and usually, these people continue to digest a lot of information, content and education about training. But being able to apply this information in a practical setting can be challenging. Especially when much of the information out there isn't delivered in a way that makes this transition easy.

In this episode, we share our background in continuing education, going into detail about the courses we've done, books we've read and how we came across and discovered a lot of that information.

We also discuss the importance of making information workable and how some education is purposely watered down so it speaks to their respective audiences better.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [1:45] Luke's journey with continuing education
• [5:40] Making a point to take in some educational content every day
• [6:00] Making ideas from education workable for coaches
• [9:00] Luke's new learning and education in biomechanics
• [15:00] Learning for the fun of it versus learning to solve a problem
• [18:00] Reviewing old learning material
• [19:30] Luke's attempts of creating educational content
• [23:00] Offering a different perspective to help change someones mental model
• [26:00] Todd's experience doing a masters in computer science
• [30:00] Learning through rapid trial and error

With the changes in the structure of the CrossFit Games in the past few seasons, the stakes of the open have changed, with many athletes not needing to take it as seriously. But what happens when CrossFitters see a leaderboard...well they approach it like any leaderboard. Misaligning expectations with the open like this is detrimental, especially if their training is not preparing them specifically for the open.

Although qualification to quarter-finals might be a lot easier for some folk, we can still get some valuable things out of the open. In this episode, we talk about how to manage expectations during the open and where it can be a great tool in sharpening that competitive edge before quarter-finals.

Check out this episode to learn more about how you should structure training around the open and quarter-finals if your goal is quarters, how to practice competing with open workouts, and we share our thoughts on programming new skills at the games.

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, head over to www.legionsc.com to get a weekly selection of training tips and our favorite articles.

We run online workshops for coaches as well. Find out when our next workshop is here: https://legionsc.com/program-design-workshops

These podcasts are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

Show Notes:

• [2:10] Less emphasis on the open for Jon and his athletes
• [3:00] How training during the open looks different now
• [4:30] Is the open a good gauge of your performance and how useful is the leaderboard
• [5:30] Do you need to manage training volume during the open?
• [9:10] Using the open to prepare and practice for quarter finals
• [10:20] Using the open to practice high stakes workouts
• [12:55] Getting athletes to practice filming workouts
• [15:00] Learning how to navigate doing qualifiers in busy gyms
• [16:45] Live competitions versus in-the-gym qualifiers
• [21:00] High level athletes getting exposed on low skill open workouts and having a wake up call
• [23:30] Still using the data points of the open even if that's not the goal
• [26:30] Creating good and varied open tests without just pushing the volume on everything
• [31:00] Is the programming better with Boz in charge?
• [33:00] Luke has superior CrossFit Games knowledge than Jon
• [35:00] Are games athletes athletic?
• [36:30] Are new skills being introduced at the games good for spectators?
• [39:30] Trade offs of including new skills at the games