Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast
Health, Fitness & Longevity
About
Coaches Jon, Luke and Todd have decades of combined coaching experience, and they've each worked with multiple CrossFit Games athletes. They've seen every coaching method, programming trick, and mindset hack under the sun, and, in the Legion Strength & Conditioning podcast, they deconstruct what works best to get CrossFit athletes results -- better and faster.
Episodes
- #169 - Optimal Amount of Noise in Training
The Legion Strength & Conditioning podcast episode "#169 - Optimal Amount of Noise in Training" explores the challenge of balancing structured and varied training in group fitness programs. It covers programming, member expectations, and t…
- #168 - 2026 Open Programming
This episode of Legion Strength & Conditioning discusses the 2026 CrossFit Games Open workouts, noting how the limited number of tests can skew results and impact enjoyment for average members. It questions the purpose of the Open and expl…
- #167 - Using and Deciding on Fitness Standards
This episode discusses the importance of fitness standards and metrics in CrossFit, especially as the sport evolves. It explores how to design and use benchmarks effectively, using examples from South Loop Strength and Conditioning, and ex…
- #166 - Right Amount of Legibility in Training
This episode discusses the balance between tracking training metrics and becoming overly focused on daily results. It explores how excessive data fixation can lead to counterproductive habits, while a lack of tracking can obscure progress,…
- #165 - How to Write Programming Faster
This episode of the Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast discusses methods for writing workout programs more efficiently. It covers managing creative blocks, batching tasks, using templates, and finding inspiration to streamline the prog…
- #164 - Templates for Group Programs
The programme for a CrossFit affiliate's group class programme versus a CrossFit competitor is obviously going to look different, but does this mean the process for writing the programme has to be any different? We have spoken a lot on thi…
- #163 - Staying Power of Fitness Racing
Weird and wonderful fitness races and challenges have been around for a while. Over the years, CrossFit has created a sport that provides the variety and spectacle we see in other sports, but now we are seeing many more styles of fitness r…
- #162 - Learning How to Program
We often hear programming referred to as an art grounded in science, and learning to write good programming can take time. You get those with some academic background who struggle to match it with real world application, often leading to p…
- #161 - Coaching Catnip
Enthusiastic coaches can be susceptible to focusing on the details or the shiny new coaching idea they come across rather than the basic, simple things that matter the most. This coaching catnip might come from a good place of curiosity an…
- #160 - How does Coaching Competitors Benefit Coaching Gen Pop
While the goals, training, and purpose of training between a competitor and the general population may differ greatly, there are many skills a coach can develop by working more with the other group. Most would assume that the focus and att…
- #159 - Getting Better for Stagnant Class Members
There are always a few class members who, after a while, begin to progress at a very slow rate or become stagnant in their performance. This is often met with frustration and sometimes inaction, which raises the question of whether some pe…
- #158 - Minimum Effective Dose for Former Competitors
Moving into a phase of lower training volume as a competitor taking things less seriously can be a difficult transition. CrossFit demands a great deal, and when you're accustomed to putting in the work to improve and progress, letting go o…
- #157 - Overused Coaching Cues
Hang around a CrossFit gym for ten minutes and you'll probably hear some coaching of hip extension going on. It might be "popping the hips" during a kipping movement, "finish the pull" in a snatch or clean, or the old "squeeze your butt" a…
- #156 - Bootcamp to CrossFit Funnel
With hybrid training and events like Hyrox on the rise, more gyms are adapting—some diversifying their class offerings, others going as far as de-affiliating from CrossFit entirely. In this episode, we explore how the functional fitness la…
- #155 - Standardisation with Competition Divisions
As a competitor moves up the ranks, the experience they get from different competitions can vary drastically. At some competitions, the standard of the division matches really well with prior expectations and the qualification process. Whe…
- #154 - Who's Cheating?
Cheating in CrossFit has been around since the early days of the Open and online qualifiers. From athletes looping videos to some competitors being exposed year after year at Regionals, it's a persistent undercurrent in the sport. But how…
- #153 - How to Train?
One of the classic clichés often repeated by coaches is that the best programme in the world, executed poorly, is far less effective than the worst programme executed well. While it's true that a poorly designed programme can still be inef…
- #152 - Are You Actually Getting Better?
One of the challenges in a highly varied sport like CrossFit is determining whether we're actually improving. Once an athlete has accumulated a significant amount of training volume, the classic test-retest approach on isolated elements of…
- #151 - Big Changes to Training
Have you ever felt the urge to flip the table and completely change your training or someone else's programme? Maybe a few small competition experiences have made you feel like your training is heading in the wrong direction. Perhaps you'r…
- #150 - Arguing About Book Learning
Having a formal education in sports science, kinesiology, or a similar field may seem beneficial for a CrossFit coach. However, you might end up learning a lot of technical information without any context or knowledge of how to apply it. C…
- #149 - Beyond MGW
When learning anything, it can be difficult to step back from the details, and this is especially true for CrossFit programming. Often, you'll find coaches who are highly focused on the means (the exercises, the sets and reps) rather than…
- #148 - World Fitness Project
In the past couple of months, a new type of fitness competition has been generating a lot of anticipation. Headed by multiple-time CrossFit Games athlete Will Moorad, the World Fitness Project is entering the competitive landscape in a yea…
- #147 - Improving Moderate Weight Barbell Conditioning
There are a few qualities in CrossFit that can be quite difficult to improve for certain people. It's usually a mix of different problems that manifest in one or two specific styles of workouts in CrossFit. It's not quite this, but not qui…
- #146 - How to Train for the New Open
Now that the Open is advancing significantly fewer athletes to the next stage of the CrossFit Games—online semi-finals—will we see athletes shifting their training to become more specialised? Looking at the numbers, only a very small numbe…
- #145 - Local vs Online Competitions
With the recent announcements from CrossFit regarding changes to the 2025 season, some athletes are exploring alternative avenues for competition, placing less emphasis—if any at all—on the Open and the CrossFit Games season as a whole. Wh…
- #144 - Online Semis
In this episode, we dive into the upcoming 2025 CrossFit Games season, sharing our initial concerns about the increase of online stages. Recorded before the official details were released, this discussion reflects many of the common opinio…
- #143 - Goat Movements in Conditioning
One common issue for athletes with some experience in their sport is struggling with 1–2 specific movements in grunt-style conditioning workouts. Even after extensive effort to develop these movements, they can still be a weak point, espec…
- #142 - Switching Training Days
For busy individuals competing in CrossFit, it's rare to complete a training week exactly as planned. Sessions may be missed, accessory work moved, or entire training days shifted around. Athletes often worry that these adjustments will co…
- #141 - Volume Tolerance after Time Off
Ever taken time off from training and found getting back to it feels like an uphill battle? In this episode, we dive into some of these challenges of returning to CrossFit competition and training after a layoff. Luke reflects on jumping b…
- #140 - Changing Bodyweight for Athletes
In a varied sport like CrossFit, athletes often gravitate toward specific areas of focus, which can be influenced by their height and weight. Since weight is a changeable factor, some athletes set specific bodyweight goals. For example, so…
- #139 - What to Do on Bonked Intervals
Every athlete has probably experienced it at some point—hitting that wall in the middle of some mixed-modal intervals. One second, you're holding pace, and the next, it feels like everything falls apart. Bonking on mixed modal intervals is…
- #138 - Progression Isn't Needed to Progress
There comes a stage in training where week-to-week progress grinds to a halt, and it is often met with feeling like you have regressed or are stuck. You can even stretch this timeline out, and it might feel like noticeable progress doesn't…
- #137 - Competing without Going Crazy
For someone devoting themselves to the sport of CrossFit, the way they train and approach competition is pretty clear-cut. Similarly, for the person doing classes to be healthy and stay fit, the way you train is clear-cut. But for the pers…
- #136 - Semis Recap
Continuing with our very timely podcast release schedule about this year's CrossFit Games season, this week's podcast features a recap of the semi-finals for one of Jon's athletes, Jacob Schmidt. This year, Jacob switched to individual com…
- #135 - Quarterfinals Penalties
A little late on posting this topical podcast. Here are our thoughts on the quarter-finals penalties that happened this season. Jon experienced firsthand as a coach how these penalties were rolled out this year. Check out this episode wher…
- #134 - Skepticism of Scientism
It is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture in the fitness and performance industry. There is a lot of misleading information that coaches and athletes have to sift through, which is difficult when the information is accurate most of th…
- #133 - Next Season
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 compar…
- #132 - Disappointment with Online Qualifiers
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 fo…
- #131 - Getting More Exposure to the Sport
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 t…
- #130 - What to Do After a Competition
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 pl…
- #129 - Skill Work on Non-competition Movements
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,…
- #128 - DUMB Goals
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 leaderboard…
- #127 - CrossFit Affiliate Fee Increase
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 na…
- #126 - Training Camps
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 e…
- #125 - Team Training vs Individual Training
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 wo…
- #124 - Season Changes
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.…
- #123 - Flux Training #2
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…
- #122 - Flux Training
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…
- #121 - CrossFit Games Recap
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 sa…
- #120 - Assessing (Not Just Testing)
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 i…