Master CrossFit Athlete Coach Jason Leydon lists a 10-step approach to programming for a CrossFit Masters Athlete. Read more.

Over the years, we have seen a total influx of on line coaches and fitness “experts” appear out of thin air. With this, comes each person's “expert” view on how to train, look good, move good etc. However, many people are missing the key ingredient to any coaching experience, and that is the part of BEING A COACH. Read more.

The 2023 CrossFit Open is a short five months away! With the holidays approaching, by the time you come up for air, the open will be here. So, this is the perfect time to really dial in the necessary tools to ensure you have the best CrossFit Open season yet. For this to happen, I broke down the top three action items you need to put into place.

The longer people are involved in training, the harder and harder it takes to hit new PR’s. However, that doesn’t mean that their skills need to slow down too. Rather, what you should be seeing is an increase in your ability to perform them, or you’re able to add onto your skills in a way that will benefit you and your workouts. Yet, for some reason many people see a slow down in their ability to perform skills, add to skills, or progress in their skills. So, I have listed some main reasons for this.

Compared to the early days of CrossFit, the average athlete in the sport is now expected to perform a wider array of gymnastic movements at ridiculously high volumes. It’s amazing to watch and it’s even cooler to sit back and think about how far these athletes have come in such a short period of time. But with expectations and demands still increasing, I have found myself wondering if we have forgotten the value that a strong foundation has on improving performance and preserving the athlete.

If you're a Masters athlete and your goal is succeeding at the SPORT of CrossFit, then listen up. It’s time to stop focusing on just “being good” at CrossFit. Yes, to be successful, obviously, you have to be good at the skills you’re going to see in the tests, but it’s time to start focusing on becoming athletic in a broader sense. Read more.

Over the years, I have seen the CrossFit Masters world grow and grow, and with that I have seen more and more companies coming out looking to capitalize on this market. The biggest problem I have seen from this lies around snake oil sales to these athletes.

Over the past 15 years of being in the Sport of CrossFit, I have developed eight different teams that have all made the CrossFit Games. To me, the most exciting part is that not one of those teams was the same team as the year before. Each year, having a new team presented new challenges, new personalities, new strengths, new weaknesses, and new focus on bonding. Over the years and the teams, I can honestly say there is one attribute that separates the teams that do well and are resilient, versus those that fold. So, the million dollar question is what is that one thing?

Over the years I have trained over thirty CrossFit Games Masters athletes, and of those thirty athletes, I have produced over nine podium finishers with four gold medal winners. All of the podium finishers have one thing in common, as it relates to mindset: they all have the ability to spot the forest through the trees.

Over the years, I have seen many athletes start off blazing hot and then at some point crash out due to not feeling fulfilled around other areas in their lives. What I have noticed through working with thousands of people is that humans have this urge to go “all in.” However, they often, in my opinion, misunderstand that terminology. Going “all in,” doesn’t mean drop everything in your life for this one thing. Going “all in” means doing everything you can to be successful in your endeavor. Now, I know those too sound the same, yet they are in fact different. Allow me to explain.

There’s so many options out there for you as an athlete. My goal here is to help you pick the right choice for your ability level and your wallet. Finding the best fit for you will keep you consistent, and consistency is more times than not the thing that’s stopping you from achieving your goals. First what I’ll do is summarize each and then we’ll get into more of the specifics of choosing what’s right for you…

In the sport of CrossFit, you may have heard the phrase “that athlete has an engine”. What that really means is the athlete is very aerobically fit. This athlete who is known to have an engine will look like they can just keep going for hours on end, without ever needing to stop. An athlete's aerobic capacity is the base of their performance. Aerobic capacity is the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can utilize for a period of time.

Burnout is no joke; you begin to see a dip in performance, increased anxiety around training, and just generally feel like you don’t want to “grind” anymore. Some people would say that you’re not burnt out, but rather you're just under-recovered… Personally, I think that’s bullshit.

When considering all the ways that someone could maximize performance, one thing that is typically mentioned but maybe under-appreciated is recovery. That’s not to say that good behaviors around recovery do not exist, it’s that it seems to get an uneven amount of attention as compared to the actual training program.

Over the years, I have produced nine different teams that have qualified for the CrossFit Games. I am going to outline three things I do with the team to put them in the best possible position to succeed in the Team Crossfit Games Championship.

Plan accordingly. Too often athletes jump into programs without truly understanding what they need and what their priorities are. CrossFit Masters athletes need to really break down the last year of training and establish where they did really well, and where they fell short.

As more and more Masters athletes come to Conquer, the more I see how a large portion of the Masters community is working off old ideas and principles when it comes to training. Addressing the Masters athletes out there - I don’t fault you for it, it’s just what’s been/being offered to you. Read more.

As more and more Masters athletes come to Conquer, the more I see how a large portion of the Masters community is working off old ideas and principles when it comes to training. Addressing the Masters athletes out there - I don’t fault you for it, it’s just what’s been/being offered to you. Read more.

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.

For a long time, accessory work was not commonly included in a CrossFit athlete’s program. I have to imagine that it wasn’t because people thought it was unimportant, but rather that in those early days of CrossFit the method and style of training was just different. But now, as the sport has evolved and the baseline level of fitness needed to be “competitive” has gone to a level that I don’t believe anyone could have imagined, more care must go into the training programs for these individuals. Accessory work, although a small part of a program, is a simple way to support the athlete as they deal with the physical requirements of the sport.