Best Todd Niefs Podcasts (2024)

1
#133 - Next Season 30:13

7h ago30:13

30:13

This year's quarter-finals workouts were well received by the CrossFit community as a whole. Many enjoyed the simplicity of the workouts, which provided a good challenge for athletes of various levels. We saw workouts that were more compartmentalised than in previous years. There was less chaos, simpler skills, and no crushingly high volume of work…

1
#132 - Disappointment with Online Qualifiers 21:43

2M ago21:43

21:43

Qualifiers can be a stressful experience for athletes. The online leaderboard and the doubt created by not seeing other athletes perform all make for potentially neurotic self-comparison. With quarter-finals being much easier to qualify for, the open has less weight than in previous years. And now you're starting to see athletes say they are not in…

1
#131 - Getting More Exposure to the Sport 26:08

2M ago26:08

26:08

Often, when someone comes through the ranks of class workouts and starts to contemplate competing in CrossFit, they conjure up an image of their training having to dramatically change to "take it to the next level". In reality, they need to get more exposure to the sport and develop experience. Telling someone to do more of the sport can seem like …

1
#130 - What to Do After a Competition 24:35

3M ago24:35

24:35

After a competition, athletes are usually keen to get to work and train for potential weaknesses highlighted in the competition. But often, this is too hasty, and it's wise to have a process figured out on how to approach the review and planning post-competition period. This week, we discuss some of our processes for reviewing an athlete's performa…

1
#129 - Skill Work on Non-competition Movements 24:35

4M ago24:35

24:35

Since Adrian Bozman has led the programming for the CrossFit Games, each season has seen more variety in the skills and movements involved. From the max sandbag to shoulder event at the games to learning cross-over single unders in class, everyone in the sport has felt this inclusion of new skills in some way. This shift in the programming pays hom…

1
#128 - DUMB Goals 32:28

5M ago32:28

32:28

In a data-heavy sport like CrossFit, it can be pretty easy for athletes to get overwhelmed when setting goals. You have your placings in the open and other competitions and your training numbers. We don't have much control over leaderboards and tend to overestimate what we can achieve in our training when increasing numbers. In this episode, we tal…

1
#127 - CrossFit Affiliate Fee Increase 33:03

5M ago33:03

33:03

Recently, CrossFit announced a price increase for the yearly affiliation fee and that you must also hold a CrossFit Level 2 qualification to open an affiliate. This episode is a topical one, where we talk about the value of the CrossFit name now, whether the price increase is warranted and whether this is acting as a filter to elevate the brand nam…

1
#126 - Training Camps 26:54

5M ago26:54

26:54

Since the first CrossFit Games, there have been certain trends that athletes have adopted to excel in the sport. There have always been those athletes who do well under the direction of a coach and others who might be more independent or even train with a group of fellow competitors. But as the sport grows and coaching businesses grow with it, you'…

1
#125 - Team Training vs Individual Training 23:28

6M ago23:28

23:28

Team competition back in the earlier days of CrossFit consisted of relay-style workouts, where the total score was the sum of individual efforts. This style of workout meant that the training could primarily be individual, and often you would see a broader range of abilities in team, maybe with one athlete always getting bottlenecked by a certain w…

1
#124 - Season Changes 31:09

6M ago31:09

31:09

CrossFit recently announced another round of season changes to the CrossFit Games, most notably increasing the field for quarter-finals qualification and decreasing the available games spots at semi-finals in some of the strongest regions. With frequent changes to the season structure in the last five years, who has been the most affected by this, …

1
#123 - Flux Training #2 30:13

7M ago30:13

30:13

This week, we look at Flux Training intervals again and how a coach might programme that for a CrossFit athlete. We also touch on some different, less tangible KPIs to look at when measuring an athlete's performance or improvement, mainly an athlete's ability to recover while doing work and how Flux Training can help build the fitness and pacing sk…

1
#122 - Flux Training 31:53

9M ago31:53

31:53

Zone two training has done the rounds and is gaining much attention from the competitive scene. CrossFit, being an “endurance sport”, is an idea that is gaining popularity, and big names like Mat Fraser and Chris Hinshaw talking about the importance of low-intensity endurance work has made this training type of training pretty popular recently. But…

1
#121 - CrossFit Games Recap 32:05

9M ago32:05

32:05

In this episode, Jon shares his experience at the CrossFit Games, coaching CrossFit Omnia to another top-ten finish in the team division. We talk a lot about balancing the weight and order of the events with cuts at the games. This year saw the cuts happening after two days of a heavy engine focus in the programming, which would have affected a lot…

1
#120 - Assessing (Not Just Testing) 23:17

10M ago23:17

23:17

Is a testing phase of training a reliable assessment for a new athlete coming on board? It's practical, but it's essentially condensing the things you'll find out in training and competition into 1-2 weeks. Many athletes don't want to do it as well. They are usually more eager to start training and stay productive through that initial stage. One di…

1
#119 - What to Do When You Stop Improving 27:07

11M ago27:07

27:07

What makes training difficult isn't the challenge of getting someone fitter and stronger. It's understanding how to keep athletes improving for a long time What happens when it feels like you stop improving? In a sport where you get punished more for your weaknesses than you do rewarded for your strengths, finding ways to progress long-term is esse…

1
#118 - Coach Education Part 3 25:21

12M ago25:21

25:21

There are a lot of subtleties in coaching that you can't pick up in textbooks and from theory. We all probably know a coach that doesn't have all the qualifications, but they grasp the craft better than others who might have always had their head in a textbook. Tacit knowledge is what you pick up from doing the activity, and it's something that can…

1
#117 - Coach Education #2 26:29

1y ago26:29

26:29

Have you ever returned after doing a course with your brain frazzled and unsure of what to do on Monday? Well...that is part of the journey in upgrading your knowledge and coaching model, but how can you extract the helpful information to make it workable with the people you coach. If you're working with people in person, maybe you can experiment w…

1
#116 - Coach Education #1 33:34

1y ago33:34

33:34

Curiosity is what gets a lot of coaches into training and eventually becoming coaches, and usually, these people continue to digest a lot of information, content and education about training. But being able to apply this information in a practical setting can be challenging. Especially when much of the information out there isn't delivered in a way…

1
#115 - How to Think About the Open Leaderboard 47:28

1y ago47:28

47:28

With the changes in the structure of the CrossFit Games in the past few seasons, the stakes of the open have changed, with many athletes not needing to take it as seriously. But what happens when CrossFitters see a leaderboard...well they approach it like any leaderboard. Misaligning expectations with the open like this is detrimental, especially i…

1
#114 - Do the Actual Thing 25:42

1y ago25:42

25:42

Ever had a very structured training plan that you were almost certain would come together, but when you did the competition or the qualifier, it didn't go as well as you'd hoped? Relying on very structured approaches of preparation for CrossFit is a standard failure mode we find in the sport, coming from athletes and coaches that are pretty analyti…

1
#113 - How to Coach Athletes Through Quarter Finals 30:38

1+ y ago30:38

30:38

We're a week away from Quarter Finals, and the qualified athletes have already had three workouts to sharpen the competing sword with the open. But as the workouts become more high stakes going into the next round, how do we support athletes? Some athletes need encouragement and a good luck message, and they are good! Others will require a warm-up,…

1
#112: How to Train Faster Cycle Time 29:22

1+ y ago29:22

29:22

Ever found yourself or one of your athletes having a block in increasing the cycle speed with specific movements? You do 100+ burpees in a long workout, and it's the same 'step down, step up' style you do in a shorter sprint-style workout. Is it that burpees are just hard, is there a particular technique you should use, or is it that you have a str…

1
#111: Quarter Finals Bubble Athletes 29:30

1+ y ago29:30

29:30

With a week to go until the open, there are probably a lot of athletes on the bubble of quarter-finals putting in those final touches to their training. But is it too late to work on those training progressions? Many of the athletes on the bubble likely have one thing that prevents them from being more certain about being in the top 10%. They are e…

1
#110: Movement Planes 36:07

1+ y ago36:07

36:07

Do CrossFit athletes need to train more in the transverse plane? It definitely sounds nice to those interested in programming, but if we look at the demands of the sport, we don't see movements challenging the transverse or frontal plane much. It's not always clear what level of variability in movement we should include in a CrossFit athlete's trai…

1
#109: Collective Teacher Efficacy 29:22

1+ y ago29:22

29:22

Is working on your mindset all it's hyped up to be? Is it actually what people need to maximise their potential, or can it misalign expectations and cause a lot of wasted time? In this week's episode, Todd talks about 'Collective Teacher Efficacy', presented to him in his rationality group. We draw on some of the parallels found in fitness. Collect…

1
#108: Self Deprecating Comments from Athletes 31:57

1+ y ago31:57

31:57

In a data-heavy sport like CrossFit, athletes are always working towards ironing out the holes in their game to progress and bring up the bigger picture. But when does focusing on priorities become myopic and make athletes pessimistic about their performance and training. There are many examples in elite sports where dissatisfaction with where you …

1
#107: New Season Structure 32:48

1+ y ago32:48

32:48

The CrossFit Games season structure has changed again, and the qualification stage of the semi-finals is set to be more structured moving into next season. Every year since the sport stopped doing regionals, qualifying for the CrossFit Games has always looked a bit different every year. The changes moving forward look to centralise the programming …

1
#106: How to Use Qualifier Workouts in Training 30:03

1+ y ago30:03

30:03

In many sports, you can get reasonably frequent exposure to competitions which can take the pressure off these competitive experiences. But in CrossFit, the ratio of training to competition is significantly one-sided. Competitions, even during the 'season', don't happen that often, so when they do the pressure is on. But one part of the sport that …

1
#105: Template Design and Reverse Engineering 24:54

1+ y ago24:54

24:54

What are the essential parts that make up a programme? Is it the sets and reps, the exercise selection, or the weekly progression scheme? We'd argue that having a clear understanding and picture of what you want the programming to lead to is the most critical element when writing training. Often people can get wrapped up in the minutia and the deta…

1
#104: Templates and Priorities 33:54

1+ y ago33:54

33:54

With so many different areas to develop in CrossFit, knowing how and what to prioritise in someone's training can be challenging. Once you've created a training split with all the different elements of the sport, there's not much room for anything else...unless you're a full-time athlete with high bandwidth for training. Balancing priorities while …

1
#103: PEDs in CrossFit 35:15

1+ y ago35:15

35:15

Since the semi-finals, there has been much talk about PED use at the CrossFit Games. Many athletes were caught this year after the testing at semi-final events, and it has received a lot of attention from YouTubers, blogs like The Morning Chalk Up and finally, our very own podcast! If you're after hot takes and gossip, this topical episode has all …

1
#102: Template Design 23:26

2y ago23:26

23:26

Writing a few specific progressions to get someone fit and strong can be pretty straightforward for most coaches. The challenge comes in combining these progressions into a cohesive training plan. Some coaches love zooming out and designing templates. Others feel frustrated and like they’re “missing something” — or get caught in analysis paralysis.…

1
#101: Remote Coaching #4 (How We Communicate with Clients) 35:39

2y ago35:39

35:39

As a coach, the last thing you want to be dealing with is a barrage of text messages from clients in different timezones asking contextless questions about workouts you don’t quite remember off hand. One of the toughest things to learn when starting with remote coaching is how to communicate with clients. When coaching in person, you can handle wit…

1
#100: Coaching Competitive Athletes 52:32

2y ago52:32

52:32

It’s CrossFit Games week, and in this special 100th episode, Jon gives away all of his secrets in preparing CrossFit Omnia Black and teenage athlete Abigail Moore for the CrossFit Games this year. CrossFit Omnia qualified for the Games as a “true affiliate team.” The team is made up of athletes who live in the Denver area, and some of them have ful…

1
#99: Remote Coaching #3 (How We Write Programming) 34:11

2y ago34:11

34:11

Coaches who get into individual program design often start because they enjoy the process of, well, writing programming. However, any experienced coach knows the grind of falling behind on writing training and staying up late on a Sunday evening churning out the final few programmes for the following week. A good process is important if you want to…

1
#98: Remote Coaching #2 (Getting Your First Clients) 36:55

2y ago36:55

36:55

Even for well-established coaches, acquiring new clients can be a real challenge. For someone just getting started, getting that first client can be a total mystery. In the early 2010s, there were only a handful of coaches even offering remote coaching. Now, there are dozens of programming companies offering individualized coaching, templated train…

1
#97: Remote Coaching #1 (How We Got Started) 36:12

2y ago36:12

36:12

For our next podcast series, we will discuss the business of remote coaching. To start, we are sharing our personal experiences of getting started coaching athletes remotely. All three of us started coaching athletes online in the early 2010s — a time when remote coaching was still new in the CrossFit space. While being a remote coach sounds like a…

1
#96: Athlete Suggestions 26:12

2y ago26:12

26:12

Coaches need to know how to deal with the athlete who wants to increase their squat strength — and requests to add a Smolov squat cycle on top of their normal training. We want athletes to have autonomy and to feel comfortable making suggestions and guiding their training. Simultaneously, as coaches, we can see the bigger picture in a way that athl…

1
#95: Jacob Tsypkin (Anarchos Training Methods) 1:07:14

2y ago1:07:14

1:07:14

Jacob Tsypkin is the owner of Anarchos Training Methods. He has helped athletes at every level in CrossFit. He is a former affiliate owner at CrossFit Monterey and has coached athletes qualifying for the CrossFit Games. I first remember hearing about Jacob’s coaching when he coached the winner of the UK CrossFit sectionals, Owen Satterly, back in 2…

1
#94: Legibility and Goodharting 29:57

2y ago29:57

29:57

Using data to track (and hopefully improve) performance is nothing new for the kinds of coaches who listen to strength and conditioning podcasts. We hope that data will help us find patterns in messy, complex systems (like the human body) and guide the training that we give athletes. But what happens when that information is not used correctly? Con…

1
#93: Improvising vs Sticking to the Plan - Part 3 25:44

2y ago25:44

25:44

We’ve all been there. You come into the gym feeling tired and run down, and the day’s programming calls for a 1RM back squat. Should you swap days around and do something different? See how your warm-up sets feel and go from there? It’s competition season in CrossFit, so you may see more people than usual writing out spreadsheets of split times on …

1
#92: Improvising vs Sticking to the Plan - Part 2 31:55

2y ago31:55

31:55

To improve, do we need to faithfully execute everything in our training program exactly as written? Not really — the goal of training is to stimulate adaptation, not to check everything off of a list. Athletes often get caught up in the details of plans and progressions and may lose sight of the overall goal of training. To create long term progres…

1
#91: Keeping the Goal the Goal (CrossFit Games Season) 28:18

2y ago28:18

28:18

How much does your performance in the Open matter if you are confident that you will make it to Quarterfinals? Many athletes have shifted their focus in training away from the Open and onto Quarterfinals, but staying focused on the bigger picture goal after a disappointing Open finish can be difficult. While Open finishes can provide helpful data p…

1
#90: Improvising vs Sticking to the Plan 23:25

2+ y ago23:25

23:25

When is it appropriate for athletes to adjust their training based upon how they're feeling? If an athlete is fatigued and stressed going into a session and they're supposed to max out their snatch, should they adjust the session? For a sport like CrossFit, athletes and coaches should consider the goal of the training session. Are we trying to targ…

1
#89: How Often Should I Compete? 37:41

2+ y ago37:41

37:41

How often should CrossFit athletes compete? Only the Open and Quarterfinals? Do a local throwdown every weekend? Hit every online qualifier workout that comes up? As coaches, we see people make mistakes by both competing too often and be competing too infrequently. Some people place all of their focus on the CrossFit Games season while not getting …

1
#88: Castro! 28:29

2+ y ago28:29

28:29

In a rare topical episode, Luke, Jon, and Todd weigh in on the recent drama surrounding the firing of Dave Castro. CrossFit firing Dave Castro is like WWE firing Vince McMahon. While Castro had a clear creative vision for the CrossFit Games, there were also obvious downsides to having so much responsibility for an entire sport's ecosystem in one pe…

1
#87: Injury and Pain (Part 4) 30:25

2+ y ago30:25

30:25

When getting back into training after injury, it's easy to compile a laundry list of corrective exercises to throw into warm-ups and accessory work to add to training sessions. But, how much do these things actually help when we are chomping at the bit to get back into "real" training? This episode wraps up the mini-series on injury and pain in Cro…

1
#86: Injury and Pain (Part 3) 24:19

2+ y ago24:19

24:19

In episode 86 of the Legion Strength and Conditioning podcast, Jon, Luke, and Todd continue their mini-series on injury and pain. This discussion focuses on recovering from injury and the return to play process. Athletes and coaches often overreact to an injury, either pushing through pain and discomfort too much or, on the other end, catastrophizi…

1
#85: Injury and Pain (Part 2) 30:21

2+ y ago30:21

30:21

Episode 85 of the Legion Strength and Conditioning podcast is the second part of a mini-series about pain and injury. Specifically, this episode goes over the relationship between technique, fatigue and injury. Whilst technique is essential to reduce the risk of injury, fatigue often plays a significant role, especially in a sport like CrossFit. To…

1
#84 - Injury and Pain (Part 1) 27:26

2+ y ago27:26

27:26

For the next mini-series on the Legion Strength and Conditioning podcast, Todd, Jon, and Luke discuss injury and pain and how it relates to CrossFit. Episode 84 kicks things off with a discussion on the relationship many athletes have with pain. Whether an athlete is dealing with a long term overuse injury or a dislocated shoulder, it’s important t…

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