The Paul Weber Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Once you have the lean body mass and the strength to handle the loads, CrossFit is about who can endure .  Relative to other strength sports, CrossFit is a marathon.  The average CrossFit event lasts 12 minutes and has 300 contractions.   Once you’re strong enough, athletes should deprioritize strength and train like a conditioning biased athlete.  In this episode, we cover when y...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I argue that CrossFit is, first and foremost, a strength sport.  I also cover: Should you train like a strength-biased athlete? How to train like a strength-biased athlete. 

Send us Fan Mail Premise: you experience 80% of your potential gains during the first four years of training. Key points: 1. Openness to experience. Curiosity about the 20%.  2. Hard work is necessary but not sufficient.  3. Accuracy becomes more important because you’re past the point of diminishing returns.  Difference between beginner and intermediate? Consistency.  Difference between intermedi...

Send us Fan Mail Principles  1. Acquire attributes in this order: a. Muscle Mass b. Strength + Power c. Conditioning Resistance training (RT) does not negatively impact endurance adaptations but endurance training appears to negatively impact RT adaptations .  If you focus too early on becoming conditioned then it’s very tough to build the structure you need, and gain the strength you need.  This...

Send us Fan Mail Common problems 1. Rotator cuff strength – most common 2. Limited rotation 3. Limited flexion Usually people have all 3 Progression   Rotator cuff strength 1. Banded side pulls with rotation 2. Crossover Symmetry 3. Seated DB External Rotation  Limited rotation 1. Passive stretch – front rack = external, behind back = internal 2. PNF stretching 3. Loaded rotation  Limited flexion...

Send us Fan Mail Two factors: Range of Motion – how much knee flexion you allow Tension – how much tension you are putting through the quad, connective tissue of the knee Progression Progress ROM first, then tension  0 – no ROM, no tension  Zone 1-2 Biking  Daily 1 – some ROM, micro tension Reverse sled drag / backwards walking Daily 2 – full ROM, mini tension Heel sits  Daily 3 – full ROM, low te...

Send us Fan Mail Here is the weight class for competitive CrossFit: Males - 185-225 lbs at 6-12% body fat Females - 130-160 lbs at 12-18% body fat If you want to compete in CrossFit, then you need to be within striking distance of the weight class.  For those below it, if you gain less than .5-1 lb of bodyweight per month, then consider doing more hypertrophy and less conditioning.  Bodyweight asi...

Send us Fan Mail Fitness sport churns a lot of athletes.  Most people last 2-5 years in serious training.  Two things make athletes quit: 1. Tissue integrity  2. Stress-response fatigue Here's how to keep these at bay so you can realize your potential.  Two principles: Get training designed for you (individualized) and training with seasons (periodized) What to do today: 1. More easy training...

Send us Fan Mail #1 Long before short Learn pacing Oxygen uptake Respiratory capacity Lower blood lactate Higher mitochondrial and capillary density Improved enzyme activity #2 Cyclical before mixed Concentric vs. eccentric Low skill vs. high skill Very fast twitch vs. fast twitch #3 Paces before races Practice your paces with intervals before racing at that pace to exhaustion.  This lowers your p...

Send us Fan Mail I used to have no priorities.  It was like trying to sprint a marathon.  It’s like saying, look at Kipchoge, he runs 4:30 miles for a marathon. I can’t run a 4:30 mile, so I should just run as fast as I can for as long as I can.   This only leads to frustration, confusion and exhaustion.  That’s not how YOU run YOUR fastest marathon.  Yet this is what we’re doing with multidiscipl...

Send us Fan Mail You’re probably compensating . You’re doing something other than the most efficient pattern of contractions. Here’s what to do about it >>>  Daily movement prep. Practice the positions you struggle with. Every day .  This usually involves 3 sets of alternating passive stretching and contracting at end ranges of motion in the positions you struggle with.  Here’s a common e...

Send us Fan Mail Especially in CrossFit. Here’s how >>> CrossFit is a strength sport masquerading as a test of everything.  CrossFitters are advanced in strength, intermediate in endurance, and novice level in gymnastics.   Even the tests that seem like conditioning often involve lifting some weight.  If you can’t lift the weight in the first place, there’s nothing to endure .  Scaling wo...

Send us Fan Mail When you’re multidisciplinary, you’re asking more of your body than anyone else.  This makes how you spend your time outside the gym even more important.  Your rhythm, fuel, sleep and lifestyle make up the four pillars of how you spend your time outside of training.  In this episode, we cover lifestyle:  Sunlight Non-exercise activity Hydration Hygiene Stress

Send us Fan Mail Two approaches I see athletes take all the time (and did a ton myself) that inevitably lead to injury, fatigue and lost potential.  1. Combining training programs from different sources: Common problems: -undereating -non-complementary choices -peaking programs – often time-bound programs are designed for peaking, not long term development 2. Making it up on your own: Common probl...

Send us Fan Mail Sensing that you’re beat up all the time, or not progressing at the rate you think you should for all the work you’re putting in? Yes, it is possible to train too much. Even with perfect support, perfect rhythm, perfect sleep, perfect nutrition, perfect lifestyle – there is a finite amount of stress that the body can positively adapt to.  If you’re military – you know what I mean....

Send us Fan Mail Few things can be more frustrating than pain that keeps you from training. I’ve been there – we all have.   1. Accept that injuries will happen They are not a deviation from the path – they are the path 2. Be slow to give meaning to sensations You are not as good at assessing your structure as you think Pain vs. Injury 3. Dial in your psycho-social-environmental factors Sensitizat...

Send us Fan Mail 1. Food = fuel 2. Low drag 3. Increase tolerance over time 4. Keep within striking distance of fighting weight Most individuals are going to consume:  P = LBM – BW F = .3-.5x BW C = 1.5-3x BW  Exceptions – I like to increase fat slightly if carbs are going very, very high When fat drops too low as a percentage of total calories (below 40%) this has a detrimental effect on testoste...

Send us Fan Mail For lots of athletes, the ideal day isn't possible because of vocation. This is where these other principles come into play. When you're deciding whether to train before or after work, or both, and when to train what.  1. Train your top priorities first This will allow you to apply the most intensity to your highest priorities. 2. Train fed Training fed will allow you to...

Send us Fan Mail You can outwork a beginner. You can outwork an intermediate.  Once you become advanced, working hard is the bare minimum.  The hard work gospel, hustle culture, go one more, pay the man message is for getting people off the couch. If you're an advanced athlete, time to start ignoring it.  After working with hundreds of advanced athletes I've seen where the real margins a...

Send us Fan Mail Sleep is one of the pillars of support that allows an athlete to take on more stress. In this episode, I cover: -sleep hygiene -circadian biology -auditing your sleep -sleeping positions -products and supplements

Send us Fan Mail Tactical is its own discipline. The best tactical program isn't going all in on CrossFit, or powerlifting, or triathlon, or bodybuilding. The best tactical program supports the primary skills of the operator's function and will have a combination of these disciplines for maximal expression over a careerspan. 

Send us Fan Mail Mindfulness is the practice of controlling your attention.  When you practice paying attention to your sensory experience, you start to notice how transient it is as a source of information. An example is paying attention to your breath. It is here for a moment and then it's gone. How does this help the athlete?  We're focused on physical performances that often involve...

Send us Fan Mail I was in the army CrossFit was like everywhere. You deploy to Afghanistan and there are bumper plates. I could literally walk to the CrossFit gym over lunch. It was 10 years, seven years of really competitive and hard. Honestly was arrogant. I felt like I had kind of figured it out with rock climbing. I was training all the time. Like all of my free time was spent training. I have...

Send us Fan Mail What you shouldn't expect is inspiration. I am not an inspiring figure, I am not a fitness influencer, you won't see any shirtless pics, you won't be sold any supplements, you won't see any dudes on gear flexing, you're just not going to get that from me, I care too much about learning for that.  If you're looking for inspiration, you will be disappoi...

Send us Fan Mail As an athlete, time is one of your most important resources. You can do two things with your time. You can work or you can rest. Your biology will only experience a beneficial response to a properly dosed amount of work, followed by adequate rest. So going one more or working harder is not always the answer. There is a maximum dose that then requires a certain amount of rest. And...