New special edition podcast now available featuring athlete Carys Webster and RedPill coach Kerry Lyske. Carys works in intensive care and compete in CrossFit sanctional level. Kerry is a rheumatologist who mostly works with muscular skeletal pain.

New special edition podcast now available featuring athlete Carys Webster and RedPill coach Kerry Lyske. Carys works in intensive care and compete in CrossFit sanctional level. Kerry is a rheumatologist who mostly works with muscular skeletal pain.

Special Edition: The Doctors 

Everything you need to know about running from injuries, building volume, to the mechanics of running.

Everything you need to know about running from injuries, building volume, to the mechanics of running.

All about running

The coaches delve into how to decipher which strength protocols to select for different athletes and how to get the best out of them.

The coaches delve into how to decipher which strength protocols to select for different athletes and how to get the best out of them.

Strength and power 

It’s been a turbulent couple of months within the sport of CrossFit. Phil, Jowsey and Jemma discuss what’s been going on and what the future of the sport might look like.

It’s been a turbulent couple of months within the sport of CrossFit. Phil, Jowsey and Jemma discuss what’s been going on and what the future of the sport might look like.

Special Edition: The Changes in CrossFit 

How do you know when your athlete is ready to go back to sport? What are the criteria and the thought processes behind us as coaches and how we allow athletes to return to sport? When do you allow them to go back to training and what is involved in that decision process?

Returning to sport from injury 

In this episode, Phil, James, and Jemma discuss flexibility, stability, and how the two exist within motion. They chat about why flexibility and stability are difficult topics to research in tandem, how to assess them in isolation with athletes, strategies about identifying how they exist within motion, how to separate them out to see them within motion, and what strategies to use to help people with deficits in either area.

Flexiblilty vs stability 

Everything about how RedPill Generic — how it came about, the work behind the scenes, what to expect, and the thinking behind the workouts.

Everything about how RedPill Generic — how it came about, the work behind the scenes, what to expect, and the thinking behind the workouts.

Special Edition: All About RedPill Generic 

Culture in SportDifferent sports display different cultural characteristics.Phil Mansfield and James Jowsey explore their experience of different sports to highlight the varying cultures in each one. From sportswear to admitting injury, every sport is different. Is there an opportunity to learn from one another?Intro…One of the things that fascinates me the most.One sport proves you can do it, one sport says you can’t.Everyone thinks they look good in their sports kit.18:00Culture of training25:00Benefits of multi sports training camps26:00CrossFit Athletes competing at the Weightlifting Commonwealth Games34:00Ability to lose35:00Cultural Injury in sportPain threshold – can it be trained through the culture of sport?51:00Display of pain in different sports53:00What is the worlds toughest / hardest sport?58:41What is the best dressed sport?

Culture in SportDifferent sports display different cultural characteristics.Phil Mansfield and James Jowsey explore their experience of different sports to highlight the varying cultures in each one. From sportswear to admitting injury, every sport is different. Is there an opportunity to learn from one another?Intro…One of the things that fascinates me the most.One sport proves you can do it, one sport says you can’t.Everyone thinks they look good in their sports kit.18:00Culture of training25:00Benefits of multi sports training camps26:00CrossFit Athletes competing at the Weightlifting Commonwealth Games34:00Ability to lose35:00Cultural Injury in sportPain threshold – can it be trained through the culture of sport?51:00Display of pain in different sports53:00What is the worlds toughest / hardest sport?58:41What is the best dressed sport?

Culture in sport 

Phil Mansfield and James Jowsey discuss strength training. This is for coaches and athletes struggling to increase their numbers even though they are putting in the work and time during strength training.If you’re not getting the return on investment for time invested, then we need to look at why.IntroThere’s not necessarily much difference in strength cycles – just the way they are sold. People would like you to believe the way they write 4x8 is different to mine but it’s not.Most strength cycles have similar aspects. The critical features are the same. The neurological stimulus they are going after are very similar.7:55The biggest issue with strength training is how we measure it. How many kilos of weight does athlete move from point a from point b not how much force, there is an incredible difference between the two.You are actually moving more weight during a 200-kilo squat than you are a 400-kilo leg press because of where they weight is in relation to the centre of mass.29:00Coaches are scared to make a decision. They want to be told what to do. What do I do in this situation?The manager of the football team ultimately has to decide what tactics. He has to understand the players etc to make that decision.In the CrossFit world we have to understand the athlete to allow us to make the right decision. Understand their body, energy systems, joints etc..34:00How do you know? Do you need a strength cycle or help with positioning?

Phil Mansfield and James Jowsey discuss strength training. This is for coaches and athletes struggling to increase their numbers even though they are putting in the work and time during strength training.If you’re not getting the return on investment for time invested, then we need to look at why.IntroThere’s not necessarily much difference in strength cycles – just the way they are sold. People would like you to believe the way they write 4x8 is different to mine but it’s not.Most strength cycles have similar aspects. The critical features are the same. The neurological stimulus they are going after are very similar.7:55 The biggest issue with strength training is how we measure it. How many kilos of weight does athlete move from point a from point b not how much force, there is an incredible difference between the two.You are actually moving more weight during a 200-kilo squat than you are a 400-kilo leg press because of where they weight is in relation to the centre of mass.29:00 Coaches are scared to make a decision. They want to be told what to do. What do I do in this situation?The manager of the football team ultimately has to decide what tactics. He has to understand the players etc to make that decision.In the CrossFit world we have to understand the athlete to allow us to make the right decision. Understand their body, energy systems, joints etc..34:00 How do you know? Do you need a strength cycle or help with positioning?

Which weighs more? 200 kilo back squat or 400 kilo leg press?

Talk the TorqueI would like to help people get through the apparent misunderstandings of torque and understand it from a scientific point of view.Why is it important to understand, what is its role for us as coaches? How is it researched?2.15It’s just energy.If you fire water through a tube it creates energy and creates pressure against the outside of the tube.3.05The scientific definition‘A torque acting on a body is created by a force acting a distance away from the axis of rotation.’Axis of rotation in a gym setting… a bicep curl is the elbow.The forces are the key component within the torque concept. Without the forces there can’t be a torque.None Contact ForcesGravityContact ForcesGround reaction forceJoint reaction forcesFrictionFluid resistanceAir resistanceInertial forceMuscle forceElastic force7.50It’s a big topic there are some many different avenues. We could talk about the biomechanical route, muscular route, length / tension … this might be two podcasts.9.20 Digital Human Modelling Paper.13.30EMG vs Torque are 2 completely different topics16.00Muscles force – Achilles tendon20.30We can see from the biomechanical studies these forces iniitate motion…Torque is the final energy.29.00It touches on strength vs techniqueThe application of squat training, the reason people do a box squat trying to keep a vertical shin… when we look at the bone motions the centre of mass has changed. The vertical shin is creating a greater torque than allowing the knee to drift forward. The reason people get stronger by doing box squats is because you have changed the torque on your body, you are overcoming more weight even though there is less weight on the bar…

Talk the TorqueI would like to help people get through the apparent misunderstandings of torque and understand it from a scientific point of view.Why is it important to understand, what is its role for us as coaches? How is it researched?2.15It’s just energy.If you fire water through a tube it creates energy and creates pressure against the outside of the tube.3.05The scientific definition‘A torque acting on a body is created by a force acting a distance away from the axis of rotation.’Axis of rotation in a gym setting… a bicep curl is the elbow.The forces are the key component within the torque concept. Without the forces there can’t be a torque.None Contact ForcesGravityContact ForcesGround reaction force Joint reaction forcesFrictionFluid resistanceAir resistanceInertial forceMuscle forceElastic force7.50It’s a big topic there are some many different avenues. We could talk about the biomechanical route, muscular route, length / tension … this might be two podcasts.9.20 Digital Human Modelling Paper.13.30EMG vs Torque are 2 completely different topics16.00Muscles force – Achilles tendon20.30We can see from the biomechanical studies these forces iniitate motion…Torque is the final energy.29.00It touches on strength vs techniqueThe application of squat training, the reason people do a box squat trying to keep a vertical shin… when we look at the bone motions the centre of mass has changed. The vertical shin is creating a greater torque than allowing the knee to drift forward. The reason people get stronger by doing box squats is because you have changed the torque on your body, you are overcoming more weight even though there is less weight on the bar…

Talk the torque

Sport, training and coffee lover, sharing experiences and science from the sports and training world.

You guys like data, run data driven training programs.  Here is a piece of data. Please get rid of your small talk chit chat at the begining of your podcasts.  If listeners wanted to hear it, they would join you in the morning for a cup of coffee.  It is wasted time and detracts from the topic at hand.  Also, please improve your recording quality (both here and on your YouTube Videos).  I really want to hear what you have to say, but you make it difficult for me to want to.

Terrible

Weak

RedPill Training Podcast

Sam Briggs

Phil Mansfield sits down with Sam to discuss what makes her tick. What does it take to be a professional CrossFit athlete? Who does she look up to? Who is in her fantasy CrossFit team? Get to know Sam a little better and take a listen.Summary1:13Why do you get up and do it every day, mate?3:50How critical are you of yourself after training. Do you analyse what you’ve done or haven’t done? Do you let go quite quickly?6:20How much preparation goes into your training environment? Training in a group, in warm weather, travelling … listening to you, you place huge importance in being in a group, not training alone, not being cold. Do you travel after? You’ve just been to Dubai and had some sessions there, is that worth doing for you?9:58Moving on slightly. On our last podcast we talked about the new system in CrossFit and sanctionals and the whole system and would that potentially create a divide between those that earn the prize money and live professionally as versus those who are working. Putting that aside and talking about CrossFit as it has been rather than the new format, how difficult is it for athletes coming through to try and live professionally and compete against people who are doing this full time and who have sponsorships?11:50What’s the difference between that (professional / amateur)? Just personal opinion, how much being able to sleep and rest between sessions, and relax versus working, difficult to put a percentage on it but is it the difference?13:08On that recovery note… and moving onto training… how do you stop; how do you manage that process and that drive to always want to do more?18:05So, you don’t ever have that (injuries) in the back of your mind, you’re able to block it out and go hard. As you get slightly older does it play more on your mind or are you as fearless as you were at 19 /20?18:54How many hours out of your week are you using for injury prevention or prehabilitation?19:36How many hours a day are you using on training with logistical work etc..20:06What does a typical day look like?22:09What does Sam Briggs say to 19-year-old Sam Briggs now?24:00Where are you in 10 years’ time?25:00Will we ever see Sam Briggs the coach?25:20I would like a life example and an inter sport example who are your role models?31.00You’ve got a bet… and you need to win CrossFit games as a team, what’s your team?Pick two teams actually… one’s I’m going to win and one’s I’m going to have the most fun.33:00Which athlete do you know can positively fire you up? Jowes has programmed you a day from hell and it’s a huge work and you need someone by you … do you have a training partner? Does it depend on the type of work out? Do you have someone next to you? Is it better with a male, not so competitive as a female?34:30You like a practical joke don’t you? Do you have any good stories? good practical joke, CrossFit stories?

Phil Mansfield sits down with Sam to discuss what makes her tick. What does it take to be a professional CrossFit athlete? Who does she look up to? Who is in her fantasy CrossFit team? Get to know Sam a little better and take a listen.Summary 1:13 Why do you get up and do it every day, mate? 3:50 How critical are you of yourself after training. Do you analyse what you’ve done or haven’t done? Do you let go quite quickly?6:20 How much preparation goes into your training environment? Training in a group, in warm weather, travelling … listening to you, you place huge importance in being in a group, not training alone, not being cold. Do you travel after? You’ve just been to Dubai and had some sessions there, is that worth doing for you?9:58 Moving on slightly. On our last podcast we talked about the new system in CrossFit and sanctionals and the whole system and would that potentially create a divide between those that earn the prize money and live professionally as versus those who are working. Putting that aside and talking about CrossFit as it has been rather than the new format, how difficult is it for athletes coming through to try and live professionally and compete against people who are doing this full time and who have sponsorships?11:50 What’s the difference between that (professional / amateur)? Just personal opinion, how much being able to sleep and rest between sessions, and relax versus working, difficult to put a percentage on it but is it the difference?13:08 On that recovery note… and moving onto training… how do you stop; how do you manage that process and that drive to always want to do more?18:05 So, you don’t ever have that (injuries) in the back of your mind, you’re able to block it out and go hard. As you get slightly older does it play more on your mind or are you as fearless as you were at 19 /20?18:54 How many hours out of your week are you using for injury prevention or prehabilitation?19:36 How many hours a day are you using on training with logistical work etc..20:06 What does a typical day look like?22:09 What does Sam Briggs say to 19-year-old Sam Briggs now?24:00 Where are you in 10 years’ time?25:00 Will we ever see Sam Briggs the coach?25:20 I would like a life example and an inter sport example who are your role models?31.00 You’ve got a bet… and you need to win CrossFit games as a team, what’s your team? Pick two teams actually… one’s I’m going to win and one’s I’m going to have the most fun.33:00 Which athlete do you know can positively fire you up? Jowes has programmed you a day from hell and it’s a huge work and you need someone by you … do you have a training partner? Does it depend on the type of work out? Do you have someone next to you? Is it better with a male, not so competitive as a female?34:30 You like a practical joke don’t you? Do you have any good stories? good practical joke, CrossFit stories?

Under the skin of Sam Briggs

Back in the day Phil Mansfield was a professional rugby player. He invited an old contemporary of his, Simon Whitnall to sit down and discuss coaching styles and methodologies. Their discussion visits other sports but uses rugby as a guide for practical examples. This is a delve into the library of A Shot In the Dark podcast, Phil wasn't aware at the time of recording that the wheels were going to come off for Eddie Jones and England. His points are still valid...."New players coming into the All Blacks are allowed to express themselves and have a go." Simon Whitnall. 

Back in the day Phil Mansfield was a professional rugby player. He invited an old contemporary of his, Simon Whitnall to sit down and discuss coaching styles and methodologies. Their discussion visits other sports but uses rugby as a guide for practical examples. This is a delve into the library of A Shot In the Dark podcast, Phil wasn't aware at the time of recording that the wheels were going to come off for Eddie Jones and England. His points are still valid...."New players coming into the All Blacks are allowed to express themselves and have a go." Simon Whitnall.

Coaching styles through a rugby looking glass

For years we (RedPill) have thought knees coming over toes as not an issue but we still deal with people who see this as dangerous.Where does this theory come from? Jowsey, Phil and Jemma discuss why the industry believed this and how damaging that understanding has been. "Movement MRI scans on professional weightlifters have shown that they possess significantly higher cartilage thickness in their knee caps than non weightlifters... without injury, there is no suggestion that that is a negative thing." Jemma

For years we (RedPill) have thought knees coming over toes as not an issue but we still deal with people who see this as dangerous.Where does this theory come from? Jowsey, Phil and Jemma discuss why the industry believed this and how damaging that understanding has been. "Movement MRI scans on professional weightlifters have shown that they possess significantly higher cartilage thickness in their knee caps than non weightlifters... without injury, there is no suggestion that that is a negative thing." Jemma

Are we still talking about knees over toes?

Phil interviews Jowsey about his experience in CrossFit and how he became known as ‘the fixer’.I started out fixing people and patching people up. I gained the reputation of ‘fixing people in one session, which is not true.”What is fixing somebody?"For me it’s everything, making them great at CrossFit - not just getting out of the injury….It only takes 1 degree of extra motion…  extra flexibility or range of motion to mean that there is pain or no pain. So, a small change can mean they are out of pain, but they may still be missing 10 degrees of motion that they need to get, not only to be pain free but to be performing better."

Phil interviews Jowsey about his experience in CrossFit and how he became known as ‘the fixer’.I started out fixing people and patching people up. I gained the reputation of ‘fixing people in one session, which is not true.”What is fixing somebody?"For me it’s everything, making them great at CrossFit - not just getting out of the injury….It only takes 1 degree of extra motion…  extra flexibility or range of motion to mean that there is pain or no pain. So, a small change can mean they are out of pain, but they may still be missing 10 degrees of motion that they need to get, not only to be pain free but to be performing better."

Don't call me a Movement Coach

1:40Ash Grossman’s question:In terms of programming how do you trade off the repetition required for progressive overload against practicing the randomness of competition in a CrossFit setting?5:32Paul Wools’ QuestionHow do you get Games athletes to relax, whether that’s in training or at the Games?12:57Cyril Grechi’s QuestionWith the CrossFit Open Just around the corner what would be your best advice for athletes to be as ready as they can mentally and physically with only a few weeks to go?21:06Steve Fawcett’s questionHow does the Nordic curl fit into the functional continuum?31:48Ash Grossmann’s QuestionI’d like to know more about your approach to testing your athletes. You hear a lot about testing a strength isn’t building a strength. You don’t want to max out too often because it’s not actually giving you the stimulus to get better – so how do you balance base lining and assessing improvement against actual training that’s improving performance in the long term?38:15Cyril Grechi’s questionWe know you guys work with elite athletes quite a lot, but do you work with recreational or competitive athletes who like to compete on the weekend?42:15 EndRedPill Training Podcast Season 2 Episode 1 TranscriptEpisode 1 References Heavy-Load Eccentric Calf Muscle Training For the Treatment of Chronic Achilles Tendinosis 1988The Preventive Effect of the Nordic Hamstring Exercise on Hamstring Injuries in Amateur Soccer Players: A Randomized Controlled Trial

1:40 Ash Grossman’s question:In terms of programming how do you trade off the repetition required for progressive overload against practicing the randomness of competition in a CrossFit setting?5:32 Paul Wools’ QuestionHow do you get Games athletes to relax, whether that’s in training or at the Games?12:57 Cyril Grechi’s QuestionWith the CrossFit Open Just around the corner what would be your best advice for athletes to be as ready as they can mentally and physically with only a few weeks to go?21:06 Steve Fawcett’s questionHow does the Nordic curl fit into the functional continuum?31:48 Ash Grossmann’s QuestionI’d like to know more about your approach to testing your athletes. You hear a lot about testing a strength isn’t building a strength. You don’t want to max out too often because it’s not actually giving you the stimulus to get better – so how do you balance base lining and assessing improvement against actual training that’s improving performance in the long term?38:15 Cyril Grechi’s questionWe know you guys work with elite athletes quite a lot, but do you work with recreational or competitive athletes who like to compete on the weekend?42:15 End<a href="/s/RedPill-Podcast-Live-QA-with-the-RedPill-Training-Team.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RedPill Training Podcast Season 2 Episode 1 Transcript</a>Episode 1 References <a href="http://njsportsmed.com/files/alfredson-heavy_load_eccentric_achilles.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Heavy-Load Eccentric Calf Muscle Training For the Treatment of Chronic Achilles Tendinosis 1988</a><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0363546515574057" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Preventive Effect of the Nordic Hamstring Exercise on Hamstring Injuries in Amateur Soccer Players: A Randomized Controlled Trial</a>

Red Pill Training Q&A with the team

A conversation, Skill vs Threshold.The way oxygen works and moves around the body and how we strategize different energy systems…I’m purposely avoiding the word ‘aerobic’ because there is a skill element to it and a more power element to how oxygen is used around the body. We’re going to go a little bit technical at points but also give some really good take home elements that you can apply to your training and as coaches get something from it.1.49Sam Briggs is very good at utilising oxygen, JJ as her coach how much of a difference does it make to be good at utilising oxygen? We often talk about the strength elements, being stronger etc… is there a carry-over between the utilisation of oxygen and strength and power?3.25Essentially what’s happening is the components of exercise are coexisting… you are only as strong as your strongest and weak as your weakest and looking at neurological fitness or the inter / intra muscular control and how the athlete coordinates and how muscle firing patterns essentially fire and right or wrong times which coordinates movement and of course the more advanced that is or the more skilful that is, the more weight you’ll lift. Essentially that is strength, contrary to popular belief. A big element is the aerobic side and Sam’s capacity to work at 95% is unmatchable. Her 95% might not be same weight but her ability to turn the bar over, whereas someone with a lower aerobic capacity would be able to coordinate the movement better and use less energy- ultimately it will come down to ATP adenity triphosphate and how much we can produce and how quickly. The skilful athlete will … requires less energy because they are skilful, but Sam can produce more energy … so they are on different scales, but the outcome might be the same speed. Having that skill acquisition balance against threshold how do you programme for that? Do you say, “right, strength isn’t our strength so we’re going to leave that alone,” or do you work more on that because it isn’t our strength and go right I’m going to rely on being able to work harder at 95% and do even more and bag onto our strengths?9:00Just to clarify what I mean by Inter and Intra muscular control…InterHow muscles interact with each other to coordinate motion. So, you will have a sequencing pattern that precipitates that when you run, for example, the calf is activated before the quads because the force is coming from the floor and they don’t all fire at the same time, there is a wave or sequence.IntraWhat’s happening inside the muscle itself.On the aerobic side of things, the ability to produce oxygen is an inter muscular skill, not produce oxygen, sorry – have oxygen produce ATP and how you utilise oxygen and how I coordinate my muscles relative to each other or what’s happening inside the muscle are two very different things. They co-exist and they work together but they are different things.Having more efficiency in the muscle enables me to coordinate the inter and fire at the right times.That’s what you’ll see with stiffness for example or flexibility that the sequencing is off. A very crude example not even talking about muscles but the leg. The calf fires a little early and that puts stress or moves that force or torque to another part of the body.10.26Jowsey, how do you test those different elements?Coaching Strategies – 13.15If you don’t understand me, or you don’t understand the cue it’s not you that’s stupid it’s my communication strategy that is. So, as coaches if we find ourselves repeating the same cues over and over we need to do something different.14:00 Biomechanical AssessmentSkill acquisition and trying to teach skill without necessarily banging our head against the wall and over coaching and over repeating, how do you manage that process with technical things like Olympic weightlifting?17:48It’s quite often we will see people take a step forward after a clean or a snatch… the right leg will go forward. What we’re seeing is one side is moving quicker than the other side and that is that inter muscular sequencing… one leg is producing more power and one is less power. The leg you step forward with is probably the good leg and the one you want to focus on is the other. There is a miscommunication somewhere. So, for the people listening who are recording their lifts and see something can they do something about it? Or do they need to come and see a RedPill coach?21.04We are still talking about aerobic and oxygen… now we have to talk about how many and much. We’ve covered intensity, intensity is how much I do once. I think people think that running 400m as fast as you possibly can and dying at the end has intensity to it but it’s not that intense… the most powerful movements in the world are the golf swing, cricket bowl, baseball pitch, snatch these are 100% intensity, almost. In those 100% intensity lifts or sports or whatever… inter muscular coordination is crucial because if that’s off by a mm you’ve only got one second to get it right. In a more volume-based sport you can get it right in the next rep, or you can catch up… here you don’t get it right, you don’t get it right.When we require that finite inter muscular control of the body, especially something that is using both legs and arms, 4 limbs working simultaneously through a middle section..22:57How easy is it for that to go wrong? And then do you want to repeat that?27:00Let’s be honest…You go to an Olympic lifting coach and then a movement coach who gives you some correctional work.You go into the gym and do 45 mins with the bar and then you do your movement work and you’re moving really well and really pleased with your bar work. Because you have had the heart rate up and involved oxygen today, you then go and do a work out – because you want to train - which is fair enough. Then you go and do, I don’t know Amanda or … whatever is that stupidity? Are you undoing all your work? Are you slowing your good work down?The take home point is the patience of doing the skill work and not allowing the aerobic side of it to come into it until you’re ready. The question then is, when am I ready? Am I never going to train again until I look like the best in the world? At what point do you go, that’s acceptable – lets go train again?29.06For the listeners at home, threshold work. Can you give us 2 or 3 examples?31:45I would always … the continuum for me would always be; Skill, Threshold, then Threshold then Skill and then looking at blending them.35:48In the competitive world, when do I accept that this is as good as its going to get right now?And now we need to work on threshold.36:12It’s quite hard as a coach to know you’re undoing some good work due to competition phase..37:05I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the easy exercises are the aerobic exercise but there’s a reason that running is running, biking is biking, and rowing is rowing and it’s so easy, it’s because we can’t have a high skill element there because as soon as the skill element goes up its too hard and that’s when you fail breathing.We need that simple nature of the skill, we all know what it feels like to do a barbell cycling work out and how high the heart rate goes, how quickly, which is why CrossFitters get so fit. They get that threshold carry-over from doing barbell cycling but the problem being that we soon see as soon as that threshold goes up, we see the skill break down.Which is when you get the CrossFit haters pop up and bash..Yes, it’s just a skill under pressure, you see it in all sports. A footballer makes a break down the field and runs past every player, but he’s run out of energy so by the time he gets to the keeper he scuffs the ball.41:45Which is why we stay with the simple movements to develop the threshold work.42:21Aerobic conditioning is easy, breath.We know lactate isn’t the enemy, what’s burning isn’t lactate, lactate is actually a fuel source. The crux of it ultimately is your skill must drive your aerobic conditioning. What the muscle is missing must be the determining factor in how your using aerobic conditioning in CrossFit.46:20That was really enjoyable, I hope the listeners have had as much fun.

A conversation, Skill vs Threshold.The way oxygen works and moves around the body and how we strategize different energy systems…I’m purposely avoiding the word ‘aerobic’ because there is a skill element to it and a more power element to how oxygen is used around the body. We’re going to go a little bit technical at points but also give some really good take home elements that you can apply to your training and as coaches get something from it.1.49Sam Briggs is very good at utilising oxygen, JJ as her coach how much of a difference does it make to be good at utilising oxygen? We often talk about the strength elements, being stronger etc… is there a carry-over between the utilisation of oxygen and strength and power?3.25Essentially what’s happening is the components of exercise are coexisting… you are only as strong as your strongest and weak as your weakest and looking at neurological fitness or the inter / intra muscular control and how the athlete coordinates and how muscle firing patterns essentially fire and right or wrong times which coordinates movement and of course the more advanced that is or the more skilful that is, the more weight you’ll lift. Essentially that is strength, contrary to popular belief. A big element is the aerobic side and Sam’s capacity to work at 95% is unmatchable. Her 95% might not be same weight but her ability to turn the bar over, whereas someone with a lower aerobic capacity would be able to coordinate the movement better and use less energy- ultimately it will come down to ATP adenity triphosphate and how much we can produce and how quickly. The skilful athlete will … requires less energy because they are skilful, but Sam can produce more energy … so they are on different scales, but the outcome might be the same speed. Having that skill acquisition balance against threshold how do you programme for that? Do you say, “right, strength isn’t our strength so we’re going to leave that alone,” or do you work more on that because it isn’t our strength and go right I’m going to rely on being able to work harder at 95% and do even more and bag onto our strengths?9:00Just to clarify what I mean by Inter and Intra muscular control…InterHow muscles interact with each other to coordinate motion. So, you will have a sequencing pattern that precipitates that when you run, for example, the calf is activated before the quads because the force is coming from the floor and they don’t all fire at the same time, there is a wave or sequence.IntraWhat’s happening inside the muscle itself.On the aerobic side of things, the ability to produce oxygen is an inter muscular skill, not produce oxygen, sorry – have oxygen produce ATP and how you utilise oxygen and how I coordinate my muscles relative to each other or what’s happening inside the muscle are two very different things. They co-exist and they work together but they are different things.Having more efficiency in the muscle enables me to coordinate the inter and fire at the right times.That’s what you’ll see with stiffness for example or flexibility that the sequencing is off. A very crude example not even talking about muscles but the leg. The calf fires a little early and that puts stress or moves that force or torque to another part of the body.10.26Jowsey, how do you test those different elements?Coaching Strategies – 13.15If you don’t understand me, or you don’t understand the cue it’s not you that’s stupid it’s my communication strategy that is. So, as coaches if we find ourselves repeating the same cues over and over we need to do something different.14:00 Biomechanical AssessmentSkill acquisition and trying to teach skill without necessarily banging our head against the wall and over coaching and over repeating, how do you manage that process with technical things like Olympic weightlifting?17:48It’s quite often we will see people take a step forward after a clean or a snatch… the right leg will go forward. What we’re seeing is one side is moving quicker than the other side and that is that inter muscular sequencing… one leg is producing more power and one is less power. The leg you step forward with is probably the good leg and the one you want to focus on is the other. There is a miscommunication somewhere. So, for the people listening who are recording their lifts and see something can they do something about it? Or do they need to come and see a RedPill coach?21.04We are still talking about aerobic and oxygen… now we have to talk about how many and much. We’ve covered intensity, intensity is how much I do once. I think people think that running 400m as fast as you possibly can and dying at the end has intensity to it but it’s not that intense… the most powerful movements in the world are the golf swing, cricket bowl, baseball pitch, snatch these are 100% intensity, almost. In those 100% intensity lifts or sports or whatever… inter muscular coordination is crucial because if that’s off by a mm you’ve only got one second to get it right. In a more volume-based sport you can get it right in the next rep, or you can catch up… here you don’t get it right, you don’t get it right.When we require that finite inter muscular control of the body, especially something that is using both legs and arms, 4 limbs working simultaneously through a middle section..22:57How easy is it for that to go wrong? And then do you want to repeat that?27:00Let’s be honest…You go to an Olympic lifting coach and then a movement coach who gives you some correctional work.You go into the gym and do 45 mins with the bar and then you do your movement work and you’re moving really well and really pleased with your bar work. Because you have had the heart rate up and involved oxygen today, you then go and do a work out – because you want to train - which is fair enough. Then you go and do, I don’t know Amanda or … whatever is that stupidity? Are you undoing all your work? Are you slowing your good work down?The take home point is the patience of doing the skill work and not allowing the aerobic side of it to come into it until you’re ready. The question then is, when am I ready? Am I never going to train again until I look like the best in the world? At what point do you go, that’s acceptable – lets go train again?29.06For the listeners at home, threshold work. Can you give us 2 or 3 examples?31:45I would always … the continuum for me would always be; Skill, Threshold, then Threshold then Skill and then looking at blending them.35:48In the competitive world, when do I accept that this is as good as its going to get right now?And now we need to work on threshold.36:12It’s quite hard as a coach to know you’re undoing some good work due to competition phase..37:05I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the easy exercises are the aerobic exercise but there’s a reason that running is running, biking is biking, and rowing is rowing and it’s so easy, it’s because we can’t have a high skill element there because as soon as the skill element goes up its too hard and that’s when you fail breathing.We need that simple nature of the skill, we all know what it feels like to do a barbell cycling work out and how high the heart rate goes, how quickly, which is why CrossFitters get so fit. They get that threshold carry-over from doing barbell cycling but the problem being that we soon see as soon as that threshold goes up, we see the skill break down.Which is when you get the CrossFit haters pop up and bash..Yes, it’s just a skill under pressure, you see it in all sports. A footballer makes a break down the field and runs past every player, but he’s run out of energy so by the time he gets to the keeper he scuffs the ball.41:45Which is why we stay with the simple movements to develop the threshold work.42:21Aerobic conditioning is easy, breath.We know lactate isn’t the enemy, what’s burning isn’t lactate, lactate is actually a fuel source. The crux of it ultimately is your skill must drive your aerobic conditioning. What the muscle is missing must be the determining factor in how your using aerobic conditioning in CrossFit.46:20That was really enjoyable, I hope the listeners have had as much fun.

Skill vs threshold - a conversation 

It's a big weekend coming up for Phil and Jowsey as they take their athletes to the 2018 CrossFit Regionals - so we're delving into the 'Shot in the Dark' podcast library. This is a podcast from this time last year looking at momentum for athletes and how important it is. All athletes are chasing that extra kilo or second, the trick is to make them feel like 'today's a success'. "The lower we come, the higher we can reach" Phil Mansfield

It's a big weekend coming up for Phil and Jowsey as they take their athletes to the 2018 CrossFit Regionals - so we're delving into the 'Shot in the Dark' podcast library. This is a podcast from this time last year looking at momentum for athletes and how important it is. All athletes are chasing that extra kilo or second, the trick is to make them feel like 'today's a success'. "The lower we come, the higher we can reach" Phil Mansfield

Momentum is a snowball

Insights into the differences between coaching at Weightlifting and CrossFit competitions.2:34You have some cool experiences over the last year or so, that have opened your eyes to different approaches across cultures in sport… relative to weightlifting in CrossFit, in particular.You’ve been working in CrossFit with myself, helping me out, well working together with our athletes and helping them to develop and a big part of CrossFit is Olympic weightlifting and you’ve recently been to the weightlifting world championships in Turkmenistan with Sara and came back with… it was an eye-opening experience. What were your first impressions of being in that environment??8:00So, are you saying, then, that there’s a different in what you’ve experienced in CrossFit vs the Weightlifting (coaching) environment?10:20The coach’s perspective that you talk about, the coach, on competition day, the coach in that middle range field of athlete needs to feel like they are helping the athlete whereas the experienced coach isn’t necessarily doing as much technical work. What kind of thing did you experience there (at the Weightlifting WC)?16:05You had experiences of countries who did overcoach, on the whole what type of coaching did you experience from the ones who were doing it right?22:16How does your experience at the weightlifting world cup compare to your experiences at CrossFit, in the short time you’ve been going to competitions there?26:56Do you think, within CrossFit that process of pausing during weightlifting coaching comes from the … because CrossFit encompasses the power lifting elements, so they then use the elements of training from other sports to gain strength… do they are bring it in but then potentially negating the actual…..28:32Within CrossFit itself, the programming dictates that guys need to be able to cycle a barbell but the side effect is they are not going to do a max velocity hip explosion with every rep because it’s going to send the heart rate through the roof send then the work out will feel a lot harder… so they are operating at that sub maximal output so they can sustain the workload.There’s a video that might still be on YouTube somewhere where Sam Briggs goes against one of the Commonwealth weightlifters from Wales and they have an ‘Isabelle off’, the Olympic weightlifter sets off like she’s doing a one rep max and the intent for the 1st3 reps is that same as she’s trained… and it quickly dies off and the technique breaks down… whereas Sam does it in sub 1.40 and every rep looks the same, its nowhere near as powerful but it’s just that level below max that the CrossFitter needs.Video: https://www.facebook.com/michaelabreezeweightliftingcoach/videos/249076878603084/35:15Olympic weightlifting on the Skill vs Threshold is closer to darts…

Insights into the differences between coaching at Weightlifting and CrossFit competitions. 2:34 You have some cool experiences over the last year or so, that have opened your eyes to different approaches across cultures in sport… relative to weightlifting in CrossFit, in particular. You’ve been working in CrossFit with myself, helping me out, well working together with our athletes and helping them to develop and a big part of CrossFit is Olympic weightlifting and you’ve recently been to the weightlifting world championships in Turkmenistan with Sara and came back with… it was an eye-opening experience. What were your first impressions of being in that environment?? 8:00 So, are you saying, then, that there’s a different in what you’ve experienced in CrossFit vs the Weightlifting (coaching) environment? 10:20 The coach’s perspective that you talk about, the coach, on competition day, the coach in that middle range field of athlete needs to feel like they are helping the athlete whereas the experienced coach isn’t necessarily doing as much technical work. What kind of thing did you experience there (at the Weightlifting WC)? 16:05 You had experiences of countries who did overcoach, on the whole what type of coaching did you experience from the ones who were doing it right? 22:16 How does your experience at the weightlifting world cup compare to your experiences at CrossFit, in the short time you’ve been going to competitions there? 26:56 Do you think, within CrossFit that process of pausing during weightlifting coaching comes from the … because CrossFit encompasses the power lifting elements, so they then use the elements of training from other sports to gain strength… do they are bring it in but then potentially negating the actual….. 28:32 Within CrossFit itself, the programming dictates that guys need to be able to cycle a barbell but the side effect is they are not going to do a max velocity hip explosion with every rep because it’s going to send the heart rate through the roof send then the work out will feel a lot harder… so they are operating at that sub maximal output so they can sustain the workload. There’s a video that might still be on YouTube somewhere where Sam Briggs goes against one of the Commonwealth weightlifters from Wales and they have an ‘Isabelle off’, the Olympic weightlifter sets off like she’s doing a one rep max and the intent for the 1st3 reps is that same as she’s trained… and it quickly dies off and the technique breaks down… whereas Sam does it in sub 1.40 and every rep looks the same, its nowhere near as powerful but it’s just that level below max that the CrossFitter needs.Video: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/michaelabreezeweightliftingcoach/videos/249076878603084/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/michaelabreezeweightliftingcoach/videos/249076878603084/</a> 35:15 Olympic weightlifting on the Skill vs Threshold is closer to darts…

Coaching at competition weightlifting vs CrossFit

This is the second in the Shot in the Dark podcast about momentum. Phil &amp; Jowsey continue their discussion, why does momentum stop and what to do about it."The athletes and teams who aren't performing well... finding a way to find success in their everyday and growing that is our job as coaches but it's also the job of the athletes themselves to look and focus on those successes rather than negatives." 

This is the second in the Shot in the Dark podcast about momentum. Phil &amp; Jowsey continue their discussion, why does momentum stop and what to do about it."The athletes and teams who aren't performing well... finding a way to find success in their everyday and growing that is our job as coaches but it's also the job of the athletes themselves to look and focus on those successes rather than negatives."

What happens when the snowball stops?

2:30How do you get to understand your athlete? How much is too much? how much is not enough? Both In terms of weekly volume, level of fatigue, optimal performance for the athlete.2:40Acute / Chronic balanceWhat they’re doing today against what they have been doing over a period of time.3:43Start by defining Acute / Chronic4:43I use a 42-day past and 7 days present…5:30Knowing what the year looks like and the phase focus allows us to see where the stresses are coming.6:30Measurement Tools:• Heart rate• Wattage• Calories burnt (poor indicator but is used)• Work effort / how much load you’re putting through the system in the day• Acceleration• Deceleration• Change of direction• Blood valuesThat data set is ultimately how hard I’ve worked in that day.Essentially you’re a detective. I even use body language and tonality / how the athlete communicates with you…11:13That is the game, everything stems from this question.The most important thing we do is balance acute / chronic12:32Unlike the science of gravity when you drop something out of our hand and 100% of the time it will hit the floor, when it comes to a training response, the bodies adaptation to sport and demand… in all the studies that we read across the different parameters from injuries to performance we don’t see 100 out of 100, we don’t see 100%.14:51Sleep is another parameter … and an important one.17:05The question is how do you get the balance right?Communication with the athlete is crucial. Performance can be sub optimal because of fatigue.Missed timed or purely communicated and the athlete will panic when they are not hitting their numbers.20:34How do we manage, how do you know when is too much?27:00The goal is to be practicing your sport as much as possible. When monitoring your athlete, you’ll quite often give them more work? What makes you go that way?I use acute / chronic for performance not injury prevention.The simplicity of this is it’s just listening to the athlete and getting as much information from them as you can get. I expect messages from my athlete 5/6 times a day giving me feedback, if we’re not in camp.30:38We’re not dealing with machines, computers. We, as humans, are variable.The science of training vs the humanThe athletes don’t need to understand, they just need to provide the data (e.g. heart rate, squat numbers etc) It’s your job as a coach to interpret the data.

2:30How do you get to understand your athlete? How much is too much? how much is not enough? Both In terms of weekly volume, level of fatigue, optimal performance for the athlete.2:40Acute / Chronic balanceWhat they’re doing today against what they have been doing over a period of time.3:43Start by defining Acute / Chronic4:43I use a 42-day past and 7 days present…5:30Knowing what the year looks like and the phase focus allows us to see where the stresses are coming.6:30Measurement Tools:• Heart rate• Wattage• Calories burnt (poor indicator but is used)• Work effort / how much load you’re putting through the system in the day• Acceleration• Deceleration• Change of direction• Blood valuesThat data set is ultimately how hard I’ve worked in that day.Essentially you’re a detective. I even use body language and tonality / how the athlete communicates with you…11:13That is the game, everything stems from this question.The most important thing we do is balance acute / chronic12:32Unlike the science of gravity when you drop something out of our hand and 100% of the time it will hit the floor, when it comes to a training response, the bodies adaptation to sport and demand… in all the studies that we read across the different parameters from injuries to performance we don’t see 100 out of 100, we don’t see 100%.14:51Sleep is another parameter … and an important one.17:05The question is how do you get the balance right?Communication with the athlete is crucial. Performance can be sub optimal because of fatigue.Missed timed or purely communicated and the athlete will panic when they are not hitting their numbers.20:34How do we manage, how do you know when is too much?27:00The goal is to be practicing your sport as much as possible. When monitoring your athlete, you’ll quite often give them more work? What makes you go that way?I use acute / chronic for performance not injury prevention.The simplicity of this is it’s just listening to the athlete and getting as much information from them as you can get. I expect messages from my athlete 5/6 times a day giving me feedback, if we’re not in camp.30:38We’re not dealing with machines, computers. We, as humans, are variable.The science of training vs the humanThe athletes don’t need to understand, they just need to provide the data (e.g. heart rate, squat numbers etc) It’s your job as a coach to interpret the data.

How do you understand your athlete? How much is too much?

0- 8minsJowsey, Phil and Jemma discuss the consequences of the CrossFit season changes. Looking at who will benefit from the introduction of CrossFit sanctional events and who may be unintentionally, negatively influenced. 8-16.00How will the CrossFit Open be effected by the changes? Top 1 from each country and top 20 worldwide, the team argue the Open has more importance this year than ever before. 16-30.00CrossFit sanctionals - how do they stack up to the old style Regionals? As a coach, how does the format of the new season impact you're programming? Can you be strategic in your choice of sanctional event to attend?30-41.00Phil Mansfield draws on his experience in cycling to make comparisons to the CrossFit doping procedures. “I have huge amount of respect for how difficult the job is.Have they got the balance right in its current format? My instinct is not quite. There’s work to be done but it might just an evolutionary progress and it’s a new system. The experiences I’ve had of the doping policy, so far, coming from a very strict cycling background. You finish a race and you get a body guard, essentially, stand next to you until you have peed in the cup, given blood etc, etc and we are not quite there yet.”41-43.23 What’s next from RedPill Training Podcast 

0- 8minsJowsey, Phil and Jemma discuss the consequences of the CrossFit season changes. Looking at who will benefit from the introduction of CrossFit sanctional events and who may be unintentionally, negatively influenced. 8-16.00How will the CrossFit Open be effected by the changes? Top 1 from each country and top 20 worldwide, the team argue the Open has more importance this year than ever before. 16-30.00CrossFit sanctionals - how do they stack up to the old style Regionals? As a coach, how does the format of the new season impact you're programming? Can you be strategic in your choice of sanctional event to attend?30-41.00Phil Mansfield draws on his experience in cycling to make comparisons to the CrossFit doping procedures. “I have huge amount of respect for how difficult the job is.Have they got the balance right in its current format? My instinct is not quite. There’s work to be done but it might just an evolutionary progress and it’s a new system. The experiences I’ve had of the doping policy, so far, coming from a very strict cycling background. You finish a race and you get a body guard, essentially, stand next to you until you have peed in the cup, given blood etc, etc and we are not quite there yet.”41-43.23 What’s next from RedPill Training Podcast

CrossFit: the shake up

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