The reason why, we as coaches, use tempo is to specifically control the athlete. Tempo is an important tool, which can not only help the athlete learn the movement, but also develop appropriate mo...

There is no “perfect” model of fitness for everyone, but we believe that individual design is the most effective way to get people to their goals in a safe and sustainable way. We believe that having a professional coach is something that every person should experience. Will they need that coach for the rest of their lives? We hope not! Coaches should teach their clients the importance of a healthy lifestyle, great fitness practices and sustainable nutritional protocols. There are things that group training simply cannot offer.

Improper preparation for training sessions and competition is a common mistake in fitness. While it’s important to challenge your limits, we want to maximize those opportunities through specific preparation pieces on the front end of our training sessions. You cannot maximize your potential if your body isn't warmed up. Additionally, not warming up (or warming up incorrectly) can not only lead to injury, but can also decrease your training output.

Coach Sam Smith programs Open workout 17.5 for Big Dawgs Athlete, Colleen Fotsch.

THE CONVERGENCE OF FUNCTIONAL TRAINING AND BODYBUILDING Too many coaches and functional fitness athletes, the term “Functional Bodybuilding” may seem like an oxymoron. But since we’ve begun using b...

To improve movements, you must remove them from challenging workouts. You must bring them up front within a training day so that your CNS is fresh so that you can attack the weakness of the movement first. Only after you work a movement in a non-fatigued way can you begin to challenge it.

Will has so much experience with his athletes needing different things when they are run down or close to injury. He always thinks about what the most stressful, or intense, thing is for people, and he wants to remove that from training when they are close to collapse.

These are a list of habits and points that we try to emphasize every day to our athletes. If we try and focus and develop these this will lead to a significant improvement in energy, digestion an...

Colleen Fotsch and Coach Sam Smith Sept. 24, 2019 Behind The Scene Training On this episode of Behind the Scenes Training, Coach Brian Foley dives into the why behind Colleen Fotsch's programmin...

In the video, we hit on these big topics: What is a ring muscle up? - a definition and explanation to give context to the conversation Why are muscle ups challenging for people? - be it technique, strength, or muscle endurance, there are some barriers that people need to overcome. What technique and drills help improve the skill of the ring muscle up? What type of training or programming helps to improve your max muscle ups set? What helps you improve muscle ups in workouts when you're tired?

Whitney Reese sat down with me today to break down movement. Movement is near and dear to all fitness athletes because they want to move faster, for longer, with less chance of risk - injury.  Move...

So your training has started for the Open. Whether you’re working with a coach who is individually programming your training sessions or following a blog, there’s no such thing as being “too prepared”. Big Dawgs coaches give you 5 tips for success during the CrossFit Open: 1. Lifestyle, 2. Prepare appropriately, 3. Follow the open prep guide, 4. Mindset, 5. Allow your body to recover

Functional volume is the requisite amount of repetitions an athlete in the sport of fitness needs to build towards within their training design to match the relatively consistent amount of repetitions required to complete in online qualifiers, Sanctional events, and other various competitions.

The 5 Stages to Fitness Training Mastery is a model in which the five predominate stages of physical development are broken down. It is designed to allow you to find your starting point and then em...

Jim Crowell and Brian Foley sat down to discuss what GOOD means in CrossFit. So many people say that a CrossFitter is "good" but there aren't any qualifiers to that term. Jim asked Brian to qualify what Good means, so Brian discussed data - specific numbers good CrossFitters need to hit, mindset, history, and what good CrossFitters do outside of the gym! Enjoy!

In this blog, Jim Crowell spoke to both Big Dawgs Coaches, Henry Torano and Sam Smith. They discussed the 4 athletes they had compete in the 2019 CrossFit Games, Colleen Fotsch, Nick Bloch, Yuyi Aldano, and Corrin Lemieux. The 3 of them discussed their take on the CrossFit Games format in 2019, what went well and what went poorly for their athletes, and what they will focus hard with all of their athletes on for the upcoming 2020 CrossFit Games and Sanctional Season. Enjoy!

Jim Crowell and Will Trujillo suited up to discuss the 2019 CrossFit Games. Will had his athlete, Tommy Vinas, competing with Invictus' Team. They ended up taking 3rd place after a resilient and hard fought weekend in Madison. Will discussed what training and mental work helped Tommy step up and "race" all weekend to help Invictus make the podium, and then Will discussed what he'll do with all of his athletes to get them prepped for the 2019/2020 CrossFit and Sanctionals season. Enjoy!

Jim Crowell and Mike McElroy dug into how athletes can build stronger confidence in themselves at all levels of their fitness. From a young kid through his years playing golf, to his time on the floor as a multi-year CrossFit Games Regional Athlete, to now moving into the triathlon world, Mike has learned what he and his athletes need in order to progress through the numerous ups and downs that life throws at them. Enjoy!

This article digs deeply into what remote coaching is. Along the way, we discuss the other forms of online fitness training and coaching that exist, but we then narrow in to Individual Design Remote Coaching as the article's focus. We discuss which clients and athletes remote coaching is good for, and we discuss which clients and athletes remote coaching is bad for. And then, we discuss what quality remote coaching should look like for you from your coach. Enjoy!

Big Dawgs Coach, Will Trujillo, discusses how he helps his fitness athletes improve throughout their entire fitness lifecycle whether they are just beginning a 10 year progression or whether they are finishes their fitness career in favor of their next goals in life. They discuss how Will's background in football, high level CrossFit Games competition, physical therapy, and coaching athletes such as Tommy Vinas - Tommy V - have helped him progress all of his clients and athletes forward more successfully.

The article discusses how athletes can practice to improve their ability to overcome tiring or burning out in a fitness workout or fitness competition. We discuss how they can improve their results in both training and competitions by implementing physical and mental preparation and practice in training as well as physical and mental tactics during a competition

Ideally a linear type of progression works. Such as the example below: WEEK 1: 3 reps x 5 sets @ 87% WEEK 2: 3 reps x 5 sets @ 89% WEEK 3: 3 reps x 5 sets @ 91% But what happens when you completel...

A lot of us can relate to that one workout up on the board that we all dread. We probably all have that goat of a movement that really can throw a wrench in our plans for a solid fitness session. W...

Fasted aerobic work (FAW), a term that I would categorize as a “hot topic.” A tool the social media world sees as the holy grail for the body of their dreams. Let’s not forget FAW is just a tool. A...

How do you prepare your mindset for training? While this might seem like a trivial question to ponder, there’s actually a lot in it. Before we dive into that, let’s create context around what I m...

What breeds success in competitive fitness? While that can be a broad question, let’s pull it apart. First, we need to define success. We have to remember whenever we think of success we filter tha...

“You miss the trees in the woods if you try to build Rome in a day”. That nonsensical made up quote really reminds me of the point I’m trying to get across today. ‘Longevity’.  We are all on this ...

Here are a few pieces to think about: Preparing aerobic system (pulmonary, cardiovascular, and muscular systems) for work ahead Getting the mind prepared and centered on the tasks ahead Getting th...

The main takeaways: 1) The recovery process starts once your session has finished 2) Easy blood flow and mindful stretching post training are great tools to start the recovery process 3) Diaphragmatic breathing is a great tool to help transition the body from a sympathetically driven state to a parasympathetic state 4) Ensure your body has cooled down before consuming food or shakes post workout 5) Prioritize food hygiene (great chewing, sitting down, relaxing) when consuming food post workout 6) Post Workout macronutrient prescriptions and the food choices within it are highly individualized

What if I told you there were optimal times to train in the day? That’s probably something you’d be interested in hearing. The truth is, there are times throughout the day that are more optimal tha...