The Living Superhuman Fitness Podcast

The ideal Crossfit athlete is someone [we'd consider] that is the swiss army knife of athletes. They are someone who has all 5 of these tools, and can use them all at an above average rate.

The 5 tools are as follows:

1. Strength, 2. Skills, 3. Conditioning make what Ben Bergeron calls the "three headed monster" 

4. Flexibility and 5. Mental Toughness.

In this episode we talk about these 5 tools as a framework for thinking about yourself as an overall athlete and what areas you'd like to improve. We talk about our opinions of the most important tool; and also go over why the 5th tool, mental toughness is the glue that binds the 5 tools together, creating the ultimate competitor. 

It's important to know what makes an Athlete of the Month because that is someone everyone wants to work out with. They push themselves hard in the box but they also lift up their fellow athletes. The athlete our coaches vote for in the meetings is the person they love to coach. Someone who is open to coaching, asks questions, teams up with new people, cheers on others to finish, helps clean up equipment after class. The results are important too, we love celebrating the big PRs, but it's the person who can enjoy every single day in the gym and help make everyone else's day better.

If you are in CFPB, check out our "10 Unwritten Rules of CFPB, written down". It's a great guideline for what we expect from our athletes.

Some highlights of an Athlete of the Month: Community and team focused. Will partner up with anyone in the class and will be welcoming to drop-ins. Consistency over a longer period of time. Not just looking at the past month, more like looking at 6+ months. Athlete's name will come up in several coach's meetings consistently. Keeps the talk positive within the class. Doesn't bring up the negative. Has a great relationship with CrossFit and is respectful to their own body. Shows up early to class and is cordial with other athletes in the other classes. Be respectful of others and cheer on others to finish their workout. Help clean up the gym after class.

In order to truly GAIN something from strength WODS, it takes more than simply putting plates on the bar. Our UNDERSTANDING of the strength workout itself, how we approach the work, and how we recover ALL effect what we can get out of our strength work. 

This episode is a meeting of the minds between three coaches; we go over everything you'd want to know about strength work. In this episode we talk about the terminology[moderate-heavy-max], about percentage work and why its useful, what energy systems are targeted and benefit from strength work and more tips we individually use during strength workouts.

Being mentally tough has been a part of the Crossfit persona since "Pukie the clown" had originally reared his ugly head. However, most people understand mental toughness as "who can withstand the most pain?". In this episode we dive into why this isn't necessarily the case when it comes to being mentally tough, and why being mentally tough has more to do with being in the present moment and what you're focusing on.  We dive into what we learned coming off of a weekend of training with Katrin Davidsdottir, Brooke Wells, and Ben Bergeron at the Competitors Training "Competitive Excellence" Camp, and talk about some insight Ben shared with us on how the best in the sport work on their "mental game". 

Coming off our recent CompTrain Camp hosted at our gym with Coach Ben Bergeron, Katrin Davidsdottir, and Brooke Wells, we got to learn pacing from the best in the world. Today we have Coaches Andrew, Whitney, Brendon, and resident CrossFit Games team competitor Craig Avera (and his dog Kobe) giving their best tips for pacing a workout and getting the most out of it. Pacing can typically have a negative connotation where it means you aren't giving it your full effort. Pacing doesn't mean you aren't working hard, it means you are working smarter to work more consistently through a workout. What is lactate threshold? Lactate threshold is roughly 80% of your max effort. It's a pace you can hold for a ten to twenty minute workout without dropping off. To get the most out of every workout, we need to work at lactate threshold for as long as we can. The fittest on earth like Katrin work more at lactate threshold than anyone else. Going beyond your threshold and just trying to survive the final minutes of a workout is not the key to success. It's tougher to do in a competition or in the CrossFit Games Open where we want to push ourselves but we need to stick to our own gameplan.

"How to maximize your 2017 CrossFit Games Open" Coach Zach @cellblock.z and Coach Tony @livingsuperhuman talk about what "leaderboarding" or obsessing over the leaderboard can do to your overall performance during the @crossfitgames Open. (Spoiler: it isn't pretty 😫) Take a listen to podcast episode 23 to find out how to maximize 💪💪your performance during this year's Open. #committedclub #openready #mindset #crossfit #321go #CFPB

We discuss the pros and cons of the whiteboard. Are you using the whiteboard correctly? What are the characteristics of the physical whiteboard versus a digital whiteboard and how can we best use either? What does the whiteboard mean for your fitness, what does it mean for the community of the gym and how does it effect your performance in CrossFit? We answer all these questions and more in Episode 19. If you have a moment, we would love a review from you on iTunes!

In this episode of the Living Superhuman Fitness Podcast we discuss resolutions, goals and strategies for making a commitment to your health and fitness. We also look at some favorite motivational quotes, what they really mean, and how to make the most of them for a new year of CrossFit training.

We also talk about our "Committed Club" that we started at CrossFit Palm Beach and the power of consistency in your life.  We examine how you can combat burnout and take a longer term approach to your goals. 

"People tend to abandon the good system they'll follow in search of the perfect system that they will quit." -Tim Ferriss

One of the unique merits and challenges of CrossFit is its nearly infinite scalability. Whether you are dealing an injury, limited range of motion, or other limiting factor, there are always options when it comes to the workout on the board.

We distinguish the difference between scaling and effort within a workout, and also dive into why scaling a workout allows everyone to achieve a similar stimulus from the WOD.

In this episode, we talk about how to approach scaling in CrossFit with a positive mindset as we highlight the differences between scaling a workout for progressive results, versus "cheating or sandbagging" your performance potential. 

The holiday season provides a lot of opportunities to veer off-track from your health and fitness goals. It can be overwhelming, especially if you're just starting a new health and fitness routine, to navigate all the parties and dinners that surround us at this time of year. Knowing that you're not going to be perfect is the first step. In this episode, we discuss ways to navigate the temptations of the season by integrating them into a healthy diet and fitness lifestyle.