Sean McCullagh couldn’t do it anymore: He couldn’t run a business that lacked proper systems for success, not to mention systems for measuring his clients’ progress.

While we aren’t CrossFit coaches we’ve worked with well over a thousand CrossFit coaches across the globe. We speak with coaches daily about their goals and their struggles. These dialogues have offered us unique insights about what works and what doesn’t work in the fitness coaching as it relates to CrossFit.

“Someone would come to the gym and they’d tell me what they were looking for, and then I’d throw them into a class alongside a mom of two kids and someone else who wanted to be competitive in CrossFit,” Guitron remembered of her days coaching group classes. 

This titanium smart ring is built with a host of sensors, giving the wearer real-time insight into what’s happening within their body. This blog will cover the basics of the Oura ring, our personal experiences with it, and some of its potential uses.

But these long weighted marches are tougher than they first appear. To complete a long ruck you need a robust aerobic system and adequate muscle endurance. So, whether you are preparing for a military test or want to ruck a long distance, here is how to create a ruck training plan and prepare for your march. 

The tempo is the rate of speed at which an exercise is done. Coaches use tempo to control the time under tension in each exercise. Tempo is written with four numbers for each lift (eccentric-isometric-concentric-isometric). For example bicep curls at a 2121 tempo: the client lowers the curl for 2 seconds, holds for 1 second, raises for 2 seconds, and holds for 1 second. Learn more about how tempo and time under tension affect your program in this course.

Neuromuscular efficiency is a fundamental strength and conditioning principle that refers to one’s ability to recruit muscles to produce force. In this blog, we will cover the basics of neuromuscular efficiency and show you how to incorporate it into your training programs.

An AirBike is one of the most common pieces of equipment in a gym and likely to be used when designing programs for your clients. In this video, James FitzGerald and CrossFit Games Athlete Amanda Goodman demonstrate how your clients can instantly improve the number of calories they burn on an AirBike. The trick? Set-up.

At one time or another, you have probably come into contact with caffeine. Whether it be through an accidental consumption of coffee-flavored ice-cream or a habitual meeting with your morning coffee maker. Most humans have some form of experience with caffeine. In fact, caffeine is the most widely consumed behaviorally active substance in the world. This article aims to explain exactly what caffeine is and the pros and cons associated with its consumption.

“After a while, it started to feel like babysitting,” said the 37-year-old, who would spend more than 30 hours a week on the floor coaching, along with his programming and administrative hours.

One of the most common themes we see and hear, time and time again, amongst coaches, clients and athletes who are looking for insight into their nutrition is that they are not taking in enough water.

“I do love being in front of a group, but I felt like I was just putting on a show and engaging in crowd control when I was coaching instead of actually coaching and helping people,” said the 26-year-old, a native of Australia, who completed the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) in 2017.

With the introduction of the TrueForm Runner in recent years to a variety of fitness competitions including the CrossFit Games; it’s becoming increasingly important for athletes to learn how to use the device. The most important part of using the TrueForm Runner is getting used to its unique design and operation. This starts with learning how to warm-up on the TrueForm Runner.

In this week’s Ask Me Anything sneak peek, James FitzGerald, answers the question should you use CrossFit heart rate zone training?

James FitzGerald gave a seminar on the eight characteristics of elite fitness athletes on the Wodapalooza Seminar Stage. Use these eight characteristics to determine if your client is capable of being an elite fitness athlete.

A moment where you realized, after coaching this person for two years, that the reason he has a massive forward lean on his squat isn’t because his hamstrings are tight, but because of a motor control and bracing deficiency.

Bodyweight training is one of our favorite types of training for a number of reasons. It’s a great option for clients with limited access to equipment, it helps clients build motor control, and the relative strength it develops carries over to daily life.

Early models of functional fitness development usually relied on one of two things — performing random tasks with the hope that some type of adaptation would occur, or layering different sport specific models on top of each other and hoping that this would build the base of support and skills necessary for success in competitive functional fitness. However, now that the sport has been around for quite some time allowing industry-leading program design expert James FitzGerald has been able to create an Athlete Development Blueprint specifically for competitive functional fitness. This is critically important for long-term athletic development. What an athlete needs to excel and ultimately achieve the highest levels of performance in competition is directly dependent on their current stage of athletic development.

Eating properly before a workout is important. The type of meal eaten pre-workout can be the difference between performing at your highest potential and coming up frustratingly short. In order to give you the basics of pre-workout nutrition OPEX Instructor, Carl Hardwick breaks down how to eat before three different types of performance-based workouts.

From the concepts we coach, to the language we use, if you’re a gym owner or coach, you would probably agree that when your coaches aren’t on the same page, your business has no chance of running smoothly. Meanwhile, clients become confused by the disjointed information they receive.