Linchpin Conversations

Real life disrupts your workout schedule. I walk through the last 3 days of poor sleep, less than ideal nutrition, travel and how I heavily modified workouts to make fitness possible.

1. Can you improve on a movement without doing it every week? 2. What if you don't have enough time to properly rest during intervals?

Addictive experiences can be "engineered". This is neither inherently good or bad. The critical factor is increasing your awareness about what makes certain behaviors addictive in a good way versus addictive in a bad way. We want YOU to be in control and that is only possible through information and education. A "fitness addiction" has the potential to become unhealthy if certain factors get out o...

1. Writing a book 2. Scaling for various age groups 3. Estimating your 1RM without attempting a 1RM 4. Benefits of gymnastics 5. Get a 100 lb. weighted pull-up without training for it

The difficulty of the task/workout needs to be appropriately paired to the skill level of the individual athlete. If the task is well beyond the athlete's skill level it can lead to frustration, anxiety & failure. If the difficulty is too low the athlete grows bored & does not progress. Finding the sweet spot is critical.

1. Box Jumps vs. Box Step-ups, pros & cons. 2. Adding a weight vest to training 3. Linchpin meet-ups 4. What to do if you cannot maintain pace during intervals 5. Top 3 book recommendations

The purpose of general & specific warm-ups. A hybrid model is presented. Practice rounds are discussed. Examples are given for specific workouts.

1. What is my biggest source of inspiration when programming? 2. Daily rituals, time & task management tips/tricks 3. How to maintain intensity near the end of a workout And much more...

Can someone be fit & healthy without snatching? What movements do not get the respect they deserve?

1. Could Adrian Bozman come on the AMA? 2. Can Rest Days be shifted around? 3. Regular Oreos or double-stuffed? 4. Three items to have when the Zombies come. 5. Biggest obstacles I've had to overcome in CrossFit. 6. Topics for the Varied Not Random podcast. 7. Getting in a "pump session" after the workout. 8. Working on weakness.

Marcus owns CrossFit KH in Germany. He is a member of the CF Seminar Staff and is also the CrossFit Country Manager overseeing more than 500 affiliates in Germany, Austria & Switzerland. He shares his story as well as advice for gym owners & trainers.

1. In what area could CrossFit improve? 2. How do you know when to take an unscheduled Rest Day because your body needs it? 3. The benefits of a "Foundations" or "On-ramp" program. 4. How to use CrossFit workouts to compliment another activity like running or cycling.

CF Linchpin Test 5 For time: 20 Back Squats, 225/155 2 Mile Run 20 Back Squats, 225/155 The "Fitness Level" in the BTWB app is also discussed.

1. How to develop Chest-to-bar pull-up strength. 2. Using D-balls & Sandbags on Heavy Days. 3. Is Elite Gymnastics a broken sport? 4. How "over-involved" parents can make their kids hate sports. 5. Why do I prefer helping "normal" people instead of coaching elite CrossFit competitors? 6. How to employ Active Recovery.

Karl is a Level 4 CrossFit trainer who lives in Scotland. He has work at roughly 400 CrossFit seminars all around the globe. He is a wealth of knowledge and shares valuable insight on training and how to be a better coach.

1. Butterfly kip vs C-kip, which is safer/better? 2. A member asked how it is possible that his major lifts are improving even though we only go heavy once a week. His old gym lifted heavy every day. Now he goes heavy only once a week and lifts are going up. How is this possible? 3. Is "Rowing Murph" a good modification for people who cannot run? 4. Weight belts & knee sleeves...do they have utili...

Tips & tricks to successfully perform CrossFit workouts in a traditional gym environment. 

1. How to stay healthy & sane in a global pandemic 2. Every training session should have a goal. 3. Targeting individual weaknesses. & much more...

Rod talks about community, coaching, helping people and why he chose to open a gym in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Do I ever make Super Fitness Robot times that are unobtainable just to see if people can do it? 2. Pros & Cons of pursuing high skill movements like the snatch alone in your garage. 3. Dynamic stretching in warm-ups. 4. What are the benefits of "Rucking" & why do people seem to enjoy it so much?

How to modulate your intensity in order to have a long, happy, healthy & sustainable experience with CrossFit.

1. Why I should or should not go head-to-head against Emily Sherwood in the classic CrossFit workout "Nasty Girls". 2. How much do poor decisions outside the gym, such as nutrition, sleep, screen time, etc affect the results we hope to achieve inside the gym? 3. How to improve your burpee capacity. 4. What is my plan to maintain workouts once my new baby daughter is born?

A question about scaling is answered from an athlete who says they struggle with almost all aspects of any given workout. The "RX'd" loading, rep range, rounds, etc all seems out of reach. What is the proper course of action to keep them safe while improving their overall capacity?

Topics addressed were: 1. What do I take into account when including CrossFit benchmarks or Hero workouts into the Linchpin programming? 2. How does (or should) bodyweight be taken into consideration when choosing loading and/or making the decision whether or not to scale a workout?

CF Insanity has been an affiliate for over 10 years. They are one of the many gyms which choose to follow the CF Linchpin private track for their programming. Dave talks with me about what it takes to build a strong community, lessons learned over the years and how to become a better trainer.