With any form of intense training, the occasional injury happens. CrossFit is no exception to this. While research has repeatedly shown that CrossFit injury rates are not higher than other forms of recreational fitness activities, we have seen multiple studies agree that the shoulder is the most commonly injured area. If you are dealing with shoulder pain, understanding the most common causes of CrossFit...

In the lower body, the glutes tend to get all the love. From strength coaches to the medical world, we all focus on improving glute strength for performance and rehab. But the quads are also vitally important to your athletic performance. When your legs need some extra work, the following exercises are my favorite quad strength & hypertrophy exercises. First,...

Front and side planks are great for teaching core positioning and beginning to develop strength. But quickly they become more of an endurance exercise than a trunk & core strengthener. If you want to build serious strength, then you are going to need to up your game by trying these plank variations! ARTICLE FREEBIE!!! Our Gymnasty Core WODs features several...

If you’ve spent any significant time working to push your performance to the next level, you know that an occasional tweak will happen that creates some soreness with exercise. Usually these tweaks though are nothing to worry about and training can continue as normal. But what can you do when a more significant injury occurs? After months or years of...

Lat strength is incredibly important for CrossFit athletes. I commonly describe this muscle as the glutes of the upper body. In so many movements performed by fitness athletes, the lats are the prime mover and also protect joints such as the shoulder from unnecessary stress. It is essential to understand the role of lat strength in CrossFit athlete performance and...

If you’ve trained hard and worked to push your performance to the next level for any extended period of time you know that the occasional tweak of a muscle or joint is inevitable. But when it comes to a tweak in your back many athletes tend to become more concerned than other areas. Continuing to remain highly active as your...

BUTTERFLY PULL-UPS: WHY WE DO THEM, WHO SHOULD NOT BE DOING THEM & HOW TO DEVELOP THE BUTTERFLY PULL-UP. By Pamela Gagnon Let’s begin with the elephant in the room. Usually, we see a post of an athlete performing Butterfly Pull-ups and we see 100s of comments that say “not one pull-up done.” Ok. Let’s be real. First, if you understand...

Working on improving squat depth can be a long and frustrating journey. And while there are lots of available information on different mobility drills, it can be difficult to determine where to start.  Often, I see athletes working a variety of random movements with no laid out plan for improving squat depth. For example, they are stretching their hips because...

The term squat butt wink refers to an athlete’s low back rounding as they reach the bottom position of their squat. Often, this is considered a movement fault as some low back injuries can occur when the low back rounds under heavy loads. If you are dealing with squat butt wink issues, then there few treatment strategies that can help improve your...