Crafting Fitness

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I sit down with Colleen Fotsch to discuss two questions she often receives: Question 1: Should you be tracking your food? Question 2: How to eat to perform? We were both able to share our own personal experiences with tracking food and how we’ve ate to perform in the past. We looked at the pros and cons from our personal lens and from our coach lens to show how different seasons of life create different needs for the way we view and consume food. Finally, we discussed the impact of one’s environment, social circles, and traveling regarding the decisions we make with food. If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I review the 2023 CrossFit Open events and share my thoughts on each event and all 4 events as a whole. I broke this episode up into 6 parts: Initial Noticings What’s being tested Changes from previous years How to improve work rate and strength under fatigue Functional Volume Strategy guides - are they useful? If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public. Links from episode: Strength Levels for the sport of CrossFit - https://www.crafted.coach/blog/how-strong-do-you-need-to-be-in-crossfit Improving work "rate" - Episode 15 - https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/Np6vtEeNTxb How to train weightlifting for CrossFit - https://learnrx.app/classes/weightlifting-for-mixed-modal-athletes What is functional volume - https://www.crafted.coach/blog/what-is-functional-volume

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I discuss the differences between pacing and full effort. I recently listened to an episode of the Varied Not Random podcast with Adrian Bozman and Pat Sherwood where they answered a listener Q & A regarding which is better, pacing or going full-send with your workouts. I wanted to add my thoughts to this discussion with the hope of providing an alternative way of looking at effort and training. I broke this episode up into 4 parts: 1st - Defining the terms to be discussed and identifying what the underlying goals are 2nd - Designing appropriate training and how that plays a role in this discussion 3rd - The moderation between high-intensity and sustainability 4th - Reasons for Pacing and Full Effort If you have questions or thoughts you’d like to share with me on the topic, feel free to send me an email at sam@crafted.coach If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I’m honored to be speaking with my colleague Michael Bann. He has been coaching for the past 15 years and has work with thousands of people throughout that time. In this episode, I wanted to pick his brain on his coaching philosophy and how he’s changed his mind on movement and coaching movement over the years. The areas we covered were the following: “The last coach you’ll ever need” How his perspective on movement and movement asymmetries have evolved over the years Saying “no” more often and how he teaches this to his clients Learning to create space for clients to become more aware of themselves allowing them to upgrade their own understanding Why coaching is an investment in yourself And why a coaches job is to call people up and make them better Below you can find the links to the books he mentions in the podcast along with how you can get ahold of him if you are interested in working with 1:1 Books: When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma Sensitive Nervous System The Divided Mind Contacting Michael: Email - michaelbann@crafted.coach IG - @coach_michael_bann If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I’m honored to be speaking with the newest addition to our Crafted Coaching team, Colleen Fotsch. We had a wonderful conversation talking about her athletic career, stories from our time working together during her competitive days, and how she’s navigated the change in her identity from the athlete towards the next chapter of being a coach and data analyst. I’m going to read a short bio of hers to give some of you more insight into who she is and what she has done. So bear with me for a moment as I read this. Colleen is an elite athlete in multiple sports and an all around bad-ass human. She started out as a 5-time All-American swimmer at UC Berkeley, where her team won multiple NCAA D1 championships. After college, Colleen poured her heart into a new sport– CrossFit. She went on to compete at the CrossFit Games as both an individual athlete and in the team division. In 2020, Colleen was recruited to join the National USA Bobsled Team and added yet another impressive adventure to her athletic resumé. Although she’s now retired from competitive athletics, she maintains her athletic spirit as a full-time data analyst putting in hours in the office while still training hard and enjoying life. While pursuing her masters degree, Colleen developed a passion for helping people balance effective training with all of the other facets of life– work, school, family, and friends. Colleen has taken her knowledge and experience competing at the highest level to develop Crafted: Perform. Crafted Perform is our newest program aimed at crafting performance for life outside the arena. You can use the link below to access her program and sign up today. If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public. Contact Colleen: Email - colleen@crafted.coach IG - @colleenfotsch Crafted Perform - https://dashboard.coachrx.app/programs/sales/24169

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I go in-depth on a KPI in the sport of CrossFit that doesn’t get discussed very often or at all. I wrote about it a few years back and I called it, “rate.” In this episode I go over the following with regards to “rate”: -What rate is, using data from past Open and Semifinal results -Why it is important in the sport -A framework for thinking about it and it’s progression as an athlete develops -How to test it -How to train and progress it In the show notes you’ll find a link to the blog post I wrote that has specific numbers and progressions that I mentioned in the episode. Feel free to use them and test them out. If you have questions or thoughts you’d like to share with me on the topic, feel free to send me an email at sam@crafted.coach If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public. Rate Blog Post: https://www.crafted.coach/blog/the-importance-of-rate-in-the-sport-of-crossfit

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I review the events from Wodapalooza. This is one of the premier CrossFit events that took place from January 12-15th of 2023. I had one athlete compete in the elite male team division and one athlete in the upper adaptive division who won. Due to this event being a big one in the competitive CrossFit space, we decided a review was in order. In this episode we go over: All 9 events The breakdown of the events and their characteristics Our thoughts on each event And pieces we would potentially change if we were designing the events If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I’m pleased to be joined with my colleague, Henry Torano. We both recently saw a post from Ben Bergeron saying that CrossFit Games athletes have healthy bodies. Henry and I both have differing viewpoints on this statement and wanted to share our thoughts on why we see sport and health being mutually exclusive. Our aim for this discussion was to share an opposing viewpoint to the one stated and to add perspective on why we think sport sits outside of longevity and health regardless of what that sport entails. If you have questions or thoughts you’d like to share with us on the topic, feel free to send us an email at sam@crafted.coach If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I tackle a listener Q & A. The question revolved around how to develop dynamic skills. Most specifically: T2B, C2B, MUs, HSPUs, HSW Being able to do all of these movements is required in order to compete in the Sport of Crossfit. So, how do you go about helping people develop them… Some of the pieces I covered are the following: Potential for development Strict Strength Requirements Skill Development Programming Considerations If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public. Functional Volume Article: https://www.crafted.coach/blog/what-is-functional-volume#:~:text=Functional%20volume%20is%20the%20requisite,events%2C%20and%20other%20various%20competitions.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I tackle a listener Q & A. The question revolved around how to turn your arms into legs, meaning, how do you make your arms very enduring and very strong for the sport of Crossfit. I briefly spoke about this idea in a previous episode where I said the higher you climb in this sport, the more important your arms become. Some of the pieces I covered are the following: Potential for improvement Limitations Strategies Training Principles Programming Considerations If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I review the events from the 2022 Legends Championship. This is one of the premier Crossfit masters events that took place on December 8-11th of 2022. We both had athletes compete in the competition and decided a review of the events and programming would be fun to discuss with our audience. In this episode we go over: All 9 events Our thoughts on each event And pieces we would potentially change if we were designing the events If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I discuss how to structure In-Season Training for the CrossFit Athlete. In this episode we combine our previous 3 conversations on In-season training for the CrossFit Athlete and show how we blend them together to effectively prepare our clients for the competitive season. We also discuss: Why doing "metcons" every day isn’t going to make you better We revisit the 3-bucket analogy for categorizing aspects of training And finally, how the training split must change as we move to the in-season If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I discuss In-Season Anaerobic Training for the CrossFit Athlete. (We refer to it as pain training throughout the episode) This is part 3 of our 3 part series on In-Season Training for the Crossfit Athlete. In this episode, we discuss: How we define “pain” training Why perform “pain” training How “pain” training differs from the in-season vs. the off-season Considerations when designing “pain” training And lastly, length of use and structuring of “pain” training If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public. Show Notes: Research paper on Critical Power - https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2010/10000/Critical_Power__Implications_for_Determination_of.11.aspx#

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today I’ll be discussing In-Season Aerobic Training for the CrossFit Athlete. Mike is out of town at a competition so it’ll just be me today. This is part 2 of a 3 part series on In-Season Training for the Crossfit Athlete. In this episode, I cover: The difference between aerobic potential, what I call your ceiling, and working underneath that potential, what I call your efficiency and economy How you can assess someone’s predisposition for aerobic training. The value in Aerobic Training The differences in design for In-Season vs. Off-Season Aerobic Training Examples showing differences in both cyclical and mixed pieces of work And finally, how manipulating constraints and chaos play a vital role in the progression and development of one’s aerobic potential inside the sport of CrossFit. If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I discuss In-Season Strength Training for the Crossfit Athlete. This is part 1 of a 3 part series on In-Season Training for the Crossfit Athlete. In this episode, we discuss: -How you assess someone’s absolute strength potential -What is required for absolute strength expression -What role does absolute strength play in the sport of Crossfit and how often is it tested -The differences between in-season and off-season absolute strength training and examples of both of them to highlight their differences And finally, the intentional aspect of absolute strength expression that is often missed. If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I have a great discussion with our fellow colleague Dr. Will Trujillo. In this episode, we learn about: -Will’s sport and academic background -His thoughts on young Crossfit athlete development and the principles that are often missed inside their program design -Gaps he sees in performance coaching & program design from his PT lens And on the flip side, -How his PT lens has limited him at times with training progressions -The 2 biggest movement issues he sees in the CF space, why that might be the case, and how to manage both of them And finally, what he’s changed his mind on in the past year with regards to program design If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I discuss why you need goals. I saw a quote recently that made me pause and reflect upon why we have goals and what the true purpose a worthy goal serves. In this episode, we discuss: What purpose does a goal serve and the benefits it provide not only in the short-term but also in the long-term We discuss what you are truly getting out of pursuing a goal; the deeper purpose behind a goal We add our own stories and paths through life thus far to provide an example of how goals serve a bigger purpose than achievement alone. Finally, we close with some practical considerations on how to pick a worthy goal. What measures you can use to determine if this goal is a worthy one that will elicit the deeper purpose you want out of a goal. If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and be able share more great content with the public.

Hey guys, welcome back to Crafting Fitness! Today Mike and I discuss a question I received from one of my instagram Q and A’s. The question was, “muscle fatigue before breathing when performing conditioning work.” I thought this was a good question and an opportunity to elaborate on how both Mike and I think about developing capacity and fixing limitations. In this episode, we discuss how one’s body, limb length, muscle mass, training background, and essence can play a role in fatigue We discuss the importance around knowing what you are performing and when are you fatiguing when performing it to help figure out what might be happening We discuss how to train and improve capacity through a framework I use that looks at the Lungs, Heart, Muscles on a spectrum for developing capacity. And lastly, we discuss some of the different approaches Mike and I use in program design to help develop muscle endurance and capacity with our clients. If you enjoy this episode, please like and share it with others as it helps us build our reach and share great content with the public.

Today Mike and I are pleased to have our colleague Henry Torano on the show. We discuss Henry’s training history in American football, triathlon, and Crossfit. We then move to discussing his coaching career, his new training program entitled Crafted Function, and how it differs from his 1 to 1 remote coaching service. Please like, subscribe, and share our platform to help us grow. We hope you enjoy the show!

What are the differences? How are they similar? How do you know which one is right for you? Sam Smith and Michael McElroy discuss: Why we added programs at Crafted Coaching What Individual Design is and isn’t What Templated Programs are and are not How programs are different from Individual Design Who is Individual Design appropriate for Who is Templated Program appropriate for