For Masters athletes in CrossFit, understanding fatigue is crucial for navigating the fine line between progress and potential setbacks. In strength and conditioning, fatigue isn't simply the feeling of being tired after a workout—it's a complex biological response that directly influences your performance, recovery, and overall adaptation. With age, understanding and managing fatigue becomes even more essential for optimizing results and ensuring longevity in the sport.

When it comes to preparing Masters athletes for peak performance in CrossFit, tapering is an essential yet often misunderstood component of the training process. As a strength and conditioning coach who has worked with athletes across various age groups, I’ve seen firsthand the transformative power of a well-executed taper. In this essay, I will outline the most important aspects of tapering for masters athletes, explain how to effectively implement a taper, and delve into why tapering is crucial for optimizing performance and recovery.

In the dynamic and demanding world of CrossFit, the pursuit of excellence is not just for the young. Masters athletes, those bravely competing in age categories ranging from 35 and above, face unique challenges and opportunities. Embracing an elite mindset is crucial not only for performance but also for longevity in the sport. Here’s how you can cultivate this mindset, backed by strength and conditioning principles and inspiring stories of athletes who have mastered the art.

One of the most common questions I receive is, "Should I still train if I'm not feeling my best?" Whether you're dealing with minor aches, mild illness, or just feeling unmotivated, maintaining your training routine is crucial. Let's delve into why it's important to keep moving even when you're not at 100%.

In the world of strength and conditioning, the journey of athletes is marked by both triumphs and setbacks. The mindset of champions, however, sets them apart. Their ability to navigate challenges and turn setbacks into stepping stones is what ultimately leads to their success. Let’s explore how elite athletes cultivate this mindset and the strategies they employ to overcome obstacles.

Learn how to “go to the well” when the situation calls for it, and you’ll see your ability to compete improve.

Let’s into the world of growth mindsets. As a strength and conditioning coach, over the years I’ve observed firsthand how the mental framework we adopt influences our physical training and overall well-being.

In the realm of sports, success isn't solely determined by physical prowess or natural talent. A crucial factor lies in the mindset of the athlete. As a strength and conditioning coach, I've witnessed firsthand the transformative power of a growth mindset in athletes. It's the foundation upon which champions are built, the mindset that propels individuals beyond their perceived limitations. In this short essay we will delve into the principles and practices of cultivating a growth mindset to unlock your full athletic potential.

To maximize your athletic potential, long-term thinking has to be part of your mindset.

A big portion of that includes training smart, training consistently, and avoiding injuries.

Creating long-term habits can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be a boring one! Whether you're looking to ditch bad habits or adopt new, positive ones, the journey to lasting change can be enjoyable and rewarding. In this article, we'll explore five light-hearted and fun ideas that can help you make lasting changes to your habits.

Everything's impossible until it's not! And without these athletes who are willing to fail time after time, none of it would be possible. Failure is a part of the process for everyone, including the immortals. If you truly want to accomplish your goals, you just need to be willing to work for them.

The ultimate goal of every Crossfit competitor is to qualify for the “Crossfit Games”. The Crossfit Games is an annual event that showcases the fittest athletes competing against one another in various modalities of fitness. In order to compete at this level, an athlete must posses amazing work ethic, talent and some luck. Today, we will be addressing the sport requirements to compete at each stage of the Crossfit Games season. We’re hopeful that by the end of this, you will have a better understanding of what you need to address in order to compete!

Training athletes can be as "simple" or as detailed as you want it to be. But simple doesn't always mean it's going to be effective nor does being complex. If something isn't working, you have to be able and willing to pivot and try something new. When trying something new, review the old, look at your data points, talk to your athlete and allow that to drive your next decision.

Training plateaus can be frustrating and demotivating, but they are a common obstacle on the path to achieving fitness goals. Whether you're an athlete, a fitness enthusiast, or someone who simply wants to stay in shape, hitting a plateau can feel like hitting a wall. However, with the right mindset and strategies, you can overcome training plateaus and continue making progress towards your goals. 

Competing in any field or sport comes with its fair share of highs and lows. While victories are sweet, setbacks are an inevitable part of the journey. How you handle these setbacks can significantly impact your performance and overall growth as an athlete. In this blog, we will explore effective strategies to help you bounce back strong from setbacks in competition, enabling you to maintain a resilient mindset and continue striving for success.

For everything we do, we need to have an elite mindset. Whether this is around your job, your relationships, or your passion, you need to have a strong mindset. So, the next logical question is: What is an elite mindset? You can take each priority of yours and think about what defines a strong mindset to you based around how you define success within that area.

According to Brian Cain in his Mental Performance Mastery Certification Course, there are ten steps to developing a high caliber mind. I want to talk about the first, which is having an elite mindset (outlook). In the simplest terms, your mindset is how you perceive your world and yourself. For that matter, two people can look at the same thing and view it differently. This different perception can totally make or break some people, depending on if the perception is positive or negative.

I recently read the below short on exactsports.com. The below piece is authored by Amanda Ferranti. I pasted it here to our blog because I felt she did an amazing job with it. The topic of Mindset, and how it affects performance, was the hot topic for this week…

What is an elite mindset? As told to me by Brian Cain in his Mental Performance Mastery Certification: your mindset is how you see yourself, your situation, and the world - basically your perspective. So, if we break this down even more, a strong mindset comes down to the person having a strong/positive perspective around themselves, their situation, and the world around them…