Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast

With so many different areas to develop in CrossFit, knowing how and what to prioritise in someone's training can be challenging. Once you've created a training split with all the different elements of the sport, there's not much room for anything else...unless you're a full-time athlete with high bandwidth for training.

Balancing priorities while maintaining other qualities found in the sport is more a process of subtraction rather than adding in extra training. The sport, competition and leaderboards can help indicate what needs to be maintained, but it can be tough to let go of all that chest-to-bar pull-up practice for better overall performance, when you've spent a long time developing them.

In this podcast, we continue to talk about designing templates going over how we can identify areas that need to be prioritised and maintained and then how to balance both. Listen to learn more about how sports practice can be a good tool to maintain certain qualities, how baseline ability often dictates a lot of this balancing act and why getting caught up in short-term adaptations can detract from the bigger picture.

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.

• [2:00] How to identify what needs maintaining in training using competition experience
• [4:00] Getting too wrapped in short-term training progressions
• [5:30] The challenge of moving from very general training to more prioritised training
• [7:15] Success from a blunt force approach for people who have a lot of bandwidth to train
• [9:30] How progress varies with people of different baseline abilities
• [13:00] Starting with very broad training and then prioritising with time
• [18:00] Todd's scepticism with "everything is everything"
• [20:20] Using sports practice to maintain different areas in training
• [25:00] Staying dynamic once adaptation has been made
• [27:00] How regression and progression work once adaptation has been made

Since the semi-finals, there has been much talk about PED use at the CrossFit Games. Many athletes were caught this year after the testing at semi-final events, and it has received a lot of attention from YouTubers, blogs like The Morning Chalk Up and finally, our very own podcast!

If you're after hot takes and gossip, this topical episode has all of that, with Todd and I making wild guesses on questions like- "how many people were on PEDs in this year's season".

When we look at PED use in CrossFit and those that are getting caught, it is evident that there are areas around the globe where this is happening more and that the culture around PED use in different regions of the world is different. As CrossFit grows and becomes more global, this is something that the sport will have to navigate more so.

Check out and listen to this episode to hear our cynical views, hot takes and wild guesses on PED use in CrossFit.

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 podcast are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

• [2:00] The culture of PED use in different parts of the world
• [6:00] PED use coming from top down influence or other factors like previous sports history
• [9:20] PED use leading to people quitting the sport early
• [11:25] The balance of CrossFit as a sport vs the methodology
• [17:00] Is everyone on the sauce?
• [20:30] What percentage are on or have used at the games?
• [21:40] What percentage were using during this season?
• [23:30] Todd and Luke's cynicism
• [26:00] PED using in teams at the CrossFit Games
• [29:00] Contaminated supplements
• [30:30] Teams that haven't qualified are not on the drug testing list
• [32:30] Justifying PED use because someone knows a high level athlete using

Writing a few specific progressions to get someone fit and strong can be pretty straightforward for most coaches. The challenge comes in combining these progressions into a cohesive training plan.

Some coaches love zooming out and designing templates. Others feel frustrated and like they're "missing something" — or get caught in analysis paralysis. Either way, template design is an essential skill for coaches.

Especially for intermediate and advanced athletes, having clear priorities in training is often one of the most important things for progression. And, as we've said in the past, layering a strength template on top of some conditioning workouts is not sufficient for most athletes.

In this podcast, we discuss creating training templates — from how we manage the training stress throughout the week to progressing specific skills and abilities.

Also, check out the latest Program Design Workshop on 'Writing Templates', which we will be doing on Saturday, 17th September.

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 podcast are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

• [2:00] Being more flexible in template design for advanced athletes
• [2:57] Managing training stress through the week
• [4:35] Layering metcons and conditioning onto a strength template
• [5:20] Why can elite athletes can progress from straightforward templates?
• [6:20] Progressing conditioning is more important for CrossFit than progressing strength
• [7:30] Developing muscle endurance for CrossFit
• [9:00] Why intermediates mistake "getting stronger" as the main priority for the sport
• [10:35] How Todd progresses someone's muscle endurance and gymnastics
• [11:30] Training for the cycle time and speed required in CrossFit
• [14:20] Integrating structured conditioning into chaotic sport practice
• [16:38] Incorporating grease-the-groove style skill practice into training

As a coach, the last thing you want to be dealing with is a barrage of text messages from clients in different timezones asking contextless questions about workouts you don't quite remember off hand.

One of the toughest things to learn when starting with remote coaching is how to communicate with clients. When coaching in person, you can handle with things reactively as they arise. However, when working with clients remotely, you need a system — both to better serve your athletes and to preserve your sanity.

In the final part of this series on remote coaching, we talk about our system for communicating with our athletes. We discuss the different tools we use, how we organize different "types" of communication, and how to give athletes feedback on their communication habits. Listen to find out more about communication — and to hear about why Luke did a 35-minute AMRAP of just chest-to-bar pull-ups after a communication mishap.

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 podcast are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

• [1:30] Buckets of communication – results, questions, check-ins
• [3:00] How Todd communicates with clients
• [8:30] Luke's 35 minute AMRAP of Chest-to-bars
• [10:00] Coaches do make typos…it happens
• [13:00] How Luke communicates with clients
• [15:00] Using screenshare video reviews
• [17:15] Getting more out of check-ins
• [20:00] Coaching clients to communicate
• [22:30] Creating different tiers for check-ins
• [23:30] How Jon communicates with clients

It's CrossFit Games week, and in this special 100th episode, Jon gives away all of his secrets in preparing CrossFit Omnia Black and teenage athlete Abigail Moore for the CrossFit Games this year.

CrossFit Omnia qualified for the Games as a "true affiliate team." The team is made up of athletes who live in the Denver area, and some of them have full-time jobs outside of the gym.

Abigail Moore has been training with Jon for the last several months. She has a background in weightlifting and swimming, and Jon has worked a lot on her gymnastics skills in the run-up to the games.

In this episode, we chat about how Jon manages the dynamics of working with a team and what training looks like at different stages of the season.

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 podcast are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

• [01:45] "Affiliate teams" vs "super teams"
• [03:00] How much team training is actually going on?
• [05:45] The breakdown of an individual training session
• [08:30] How much guidance and coaching do athletes receive from Jon?
• [12:30] What are the individual sessions like for the team?
• [14:15] How does training develop throughout the season?
• [21:00] Navigating injuries within the team
• [25:00] Training for the novel events at the CrossFit Games — plus, Jon's secret notepad
• [31:45] How are team workouts like swims, bike rides, and ruck runs planned out?
• [37:30] What are the differences between the training a teen athlete compared to an individual athlete
• [44:00] How much variability is there in the training for a teen athlete?
• [48:20] The volume of training teen athletes can handle
• [49:50] Training the basics for games preparation

Coaches who get into individual program design often start because they enjoy the process of, well, writing programming. However, any experienced coach knows the grind of falling behind on writing training and staying up late on a Sunday evening churning out the final few programmes for the following week.

A good process is important if you want to continue to enjoy programming. If you can stay organised and avoid crunch time situations, you can avoid burnout as a coach and better serve your athletes.

In this episode, we take a zoomed out look at how we write and organise programming. We also discuss some of the (many…) mistakes we have made along the way. We explain how we balance writing programming in advance while also staying adaptable to weekly changes that athletes need. Check out the next part of our series on remote coaching to learn a bit more about how we write training for our 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.

• [1:50] Luke's attempt at making programming more efficient
• [2:20] A bottoms-up approach to writing training week-to-week
• [5:30] Long-term planning, athlete priorities, and periodisation
• [8:15] Being flexible and progressing based upon the athlete's rate of adaptation
• [10:00] How much variation does Luke use in conditioning?
• [12:00] Using a fortnightly training split for conditioning
• [13:30] Progression and variation with beginners
• [16:15] Using variance to keep athletes engaged
• [21:00] How Todd plans out training progressions
• [22:30] Maintaining long-term planning while being adaptable
• [24:45] The common biases with different programming styles
• [28:50] Should we come up with progressions week-to-week or plan them in advance?
• [32:00] Jon's a nice guy, apparently

Even for well-established coaches, acquiring new clients can be a real challenge. For someone just getting started, getting that first client can be a total mystery.

In the early 2010s, there were only a handful of coaches even offering remote coaching. Now, there are dozens of programming companies offering individualized coaching, templated training, and free blogs with workouts.

So, how does a new coach get started? Do you need a significant social media following with a fancy funnel? Do you need to join a more established coaching company with a pipeline of clients?

Many people don't realise that the best place to start is coaching on the gym floor — delivering value to people and helping them. Once an in-person relationship has been established, it's not as much of a step to switch to online coaching. And, it's a lot easier to build trust with someone if you are in the same physical space.

In this part of our series on remote coaching, we get into the helpful (and not-so-helpful strategies) for acquiring new clients. We discuss the different games people play on social media and the importance of referrals to help grow that client list.

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 podcast are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

• [1:00] The challenge of getting clients in the current remote coaching environment
• [3:00] The importance of starting on the gym floor and being in front of people
• [5:10] Why is it easier to build trust in person?
• [7:00] Referrals as a source of coaching clients
• [8:20] Creating trust with a group of online clients
• [13:00] Playing the #content game to get new clients
• [14:50] Helpful and unhelpful social media tactics
• [16:55] The importance of being responsive to communication with prospective clients
• [23:45] Are you creating useful content or content just to attract new clients?
• [25:15] The importance of clarity on what you want to accomplish with social media
• [28:00] Helping your athletes train with others (and build the network of people who see you as an expert coach)
• [32:15] Some bad coaching behavior we've seen from prominent coaches

For our next podcast series, we will discuss the business of remote coaching. To start, we are sharing our personal experiences of getting started coaching athletes remotely.

All three of us started coaching athletes online in the early 2010s — a time when remote coaching was still new in the CrossFit space.

While being a remote coach sounds like a great digital nomad lifestyle, each of us was able to get started with remote coaching by working with people in person. In order to get programming clients, you need to have trust. Some people get this trust by coaching successful athletes or celebrities within the CrossFit space. For most, however, this trust comes from in-person relationships and being legitimately helpful.

Listen to episode 97 to hear old tales of qualifying for regionals, Jon's secret double under training for open workout 11.1, and how the online coaching space has developed over the years.

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 podcast are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

• [1:15] Jon's story
• [4:50] Jon's competitive background
• [8:00] Jon's secret training methods for double-unders
• [9:30] When did competitors start transitioning from blog programming to coaching?
• [11:40] Luke's story
• [16:00] The benefits of working with people in a hybrid setting
• [20:30] How have client goals shifted since the pandemic?
• [21:45] How is development in the sport of CrossFit changing the typical remote coaching client?
• [24:40] Todd's story
• [27:00] Many coaching relationships come from being in the right place at the right time
• [28:30] The benefits of in-person relationships
• [29:25] How the OPEX CCP influenced Todd and Luke
• [33:00] How did people think you should train for CrossFit pre-2014?

Coaches need to know how to deal with the athlete who wants to increase their squat strength — and requests to add a Smolov squat cycle on top of their normal training. We want athletes to have autonomy and to feel comfortable making suggestions and guiding their training. Simultaneously, as coaches, we can see the bigger picture in a way that athletes can't. And, we have seen a lot of mistakes and dead ends in training.

Ideally, we can consider things like experience, time of the season, and motivations when receiving requests from athletes. Athletes do a good job of identifying the problems they are experiencing. After all, they are the ones actually doing the training that we prescribe. They are not always the best at coming up with solutions, though.

The coaching process is about extracting useful information from athlete feedback and guiding them through a plan to overcome challenges.

In episode 96 of the Legion Strength and Conditioning podcast, we talk about our experience managing programming requests from athletes, how an effective feedback loop is at the heart of the coaching process, what we should do to set athletes up for long-term progress, 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 podcast are posted in video format on YouTube as well.

• [1:50] Looking at long-term progress and giving athletes autonomy
• [4:30] Why athletes make programming requests
• [8:10] Requests from competitors versus general population clients
• [9:20] Setting athletes up for consistency
• [10:30] Using requests and questions to understand the problems that athletes are having
• [12:50] Are athletes hitting the right stimulus in remote coaching?
• [14:50] The consequences of performing training incorrectly
• [17:00] Being more descriptive in prescription to hit the right stimulus
• [20:00] The importance of communication between athlete and coach
• [24:00] The feedback loop is the coaching process

Jacob Tsypkin is the owner of Anarchos Training Methods. He has helped athletes at every level in CrossFit. He is a former affiliate owner at CrossFit Monterey and has coached athletes qualifying for the CrossFit Games.

I first remember hearing about Jacob's coaching when he coached the winner of the UK CrossFit sectionals, Owen Satterly, back in 2010. Jacob was one of the earliest adopters of remote coaching for competitive CrossFit athletes, with his most notable athlete being multiple-time games qualifier Sean Sweeney. In addition to coaching, Jacob has shared his training methods as a contributing writer for Juggernaut Training Systems.

In episode 95 of the Legion Strength and Conditioning podcast, we catch up with Jacob and discuss managing the training of competitive CrossFit athletes. Jacob shares his thoughts on balancing variance with repetition in training, explains his methods for creating "emergent programming," and much more.

You can check out Jacob's work on Anarchos Training Methods website and on social. He also writes a blog, Exercise Philosophy, going in-depth on some of the ideas we discuss on this podcast.

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.

• [2:15] Balancing variance with progress through repetition
• [8:55] Diminishing returns with strength training in CrossFit
• [10:00] The importance of resource management in CrossFit
• [11:30] The profiles of different elite athletes
• [14:30] Emergence cycles
• [17:00] Designing mixed training via limiters
• [23:00] Balancing the chaos of CrossFit using variance in training
• [29:00] What's happening when athletes repeat workouts?
• [31:30] Making small changes to workouts to make training legible
• [33:45] How to manage variation with beginners
• [34:30] The importance of enjoying your training
• [36:00] Being specific with gamified workouts
• [39:34] Learning how to improvise for competitive CrossFit
• [43:00] Sports specific practice rowing compared to CrossFit
• [45:00] How much training is iterative with Jacob's athletes?
• [46:10] Where does Jacob start with athletes?
• [51:00] Managing daily variance in performance with iterative training
• [56:30] Cost of miscalculating expectations and pacing
• [59:35] Phases of learning in pacing
• [1:02:00] Jacob's secret spreadsheet of conditioning progressions (see below for an example of the alternation intervals)
• [1:03:00] What Jacob is currently into with training and coaching