July 26, 2018

What, When, Why: Compression Gear

There was a time, long before Tobey Maguire was bitten by a CGI spider, that spandex bodysuits were the realm of bobsled teams and ballet dancers. Who’s to say if the recent glut of superhero movies have influenced fitness culture, but somewhere along the way it became common to see athletes from the professional (NBA players, pro endurance athletes, etc.) to the amateur (that bro Colin at your gym who is following a Mash Elite program) to suit up in stretchy sleeves, shirts, and tights. We don’t want you to be the last kid on your block wearing boring old loose exercise clothes, so today on What, When, Why we will examine Compression Gear, and its place and effect on your fitness!
Read More

July 20, 2018

Fixing The Cracks: Starting A CrossFit Gym Part 15

After being a coach at CrossFit South Brooklyn in NYC for 6 years I moved halfway across the country to open my own affiliate, CrossFit Lumos, in Austin, TX. This series will chronicle my experience opening the gym and what I am learning along the way. This article is the final piece of the adventure, before I’m a real live gym owner. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8. Part 9. Part 10. Part 11. Part 12. Part 13. Part 14.

CrossFit Lumos had been open for a little over a year, and some things were going very well. We had a great core community- motivated, caring, fun people who were in it for the right reasons, supported each other, and valued the service we were providing. I’d been lucky to hire three amazing coaches who all really enjoyed each other, covered for each other, and communicated well. People were having fun, the space was working out well, we had plans and ideas for how to progress and grow the gym… there just weren’t enough people there.
Read More

July 11, 2018

Coach’s Corner: Coaching The “Older” Athlete

While the “ripe” coaches among us can certainly gain something from the following paragraphs, this one is aimed at those freshly picked coaches who’ve yet to experience approaching CrossFit from a more “mature” perspective. While the movements in CrossFit are universally important, scalable, and accessible, it can be beneficial to approach older athletes with a slightly different mindset. That doesn’t mean wrapping them in bubble tape and sitting them in the corner- read on, and see why!
Read More

June 22, 2018

What, When, Why: Barbells

Today on WWW, we are going to tackle a piece of equipment that every CrossFitter will use with great regularity- the barbell. Normally on WWW, we talk about the What– what each piece of equipment is, since some of it is somewhat specialized, the When– what situations are appropriate for use, and the Why– why someone would choose to use the given piece of equipment and what advantages/disadvantages it offers. Barbells are incredibly common, used a lot, and their use case is pretty obvious- when the workout has a barbell movement in it!) With that in mind we will talk about the characteristics and differences between barbells, rather than if you should use one or not.
Read More

June 21, 2018

btwb is now CrossFit btwb

Our mission, from day one, has been to make amazing technology for a community we respect, admire and love. In May, we entered into an exclusive agreement with CrossFit Inc. to help CrossFit athletes and Affiliates maximize their results. This opportunity will not only help us on this mission, but allow us to play a larger part in CrossFit’s mission to improve health and fitness worldwide.

We started btwb out of our garage affiliate over a decade ago. Today we are home to the largest and most comprehensive database of workout, exercise and human performance data. This data powers our proprietary features like Fitness Level and Imbalances, but isn’t the core of who we are. It’s people like you.

This entire journey has been possible because of amazing people like you. We could not have done this without your support. Our team at btwb is a lot like you. We go to the gym a lot, work on our weaknesses and try to eat clean.  To us, we look at our work on btwb as something we’re building for our friends. We get excited every time someone sends a cool email or comments on a new feature. That relationship will never change. It means the world to us. We promise to continue putting out amazing features because you deserve it.

Thanks for all your support, let’s continue chasing new PRs. Together.

June 19, 2018

WODscreen Updates: Wirelessly Display Daily Workouts, WOD Activity, Leaderboards, PR Board & Committed Club

The newest version of our WODscreen is now live! With just a TV and a $35 Chromecast, you can wirelessly display your choice of several different screens including Daily Workouts, WOD & Activity, WOD Leaderboard, Committed Club and PR Board. This gives you the option of setting up multiple TVs in different areas of your gym to use for different purposes. You can put a TV by the whiteboard to display today’s WODs. The Committed Club and PR Board screens work great in a lobby or other area where your members congregate. The screens stay updated automatically with the latest data.
Read More

June 14, 2018

Coach’s Corner: Know Thyself

It should come as no surprise to you that I’m a fan of journaling your fitness. After all, you’re reading this article on the Official CrossFit Workout Tracker, BTWB.

I began keeping my own training notes before the internet was a thing, way before we all carried around these powerful mini-computers we affectionately call “phones” in our pockets. I used a pen, sometimes even a pencil, and wrote “stuff” on a piece of paper in a notebook. I’ve collected dozens of these throughout the years, and sometimes like to dig one up and look back with a mix of amusement and embarrassment at what my 20 year old self was doing in the gym at the time. Read More

June 7, 2018

Hosting An L1 Certification: Starting A CrossFit Gym Part 14

📷:CrossFit.com

After being a coach at CrossFit South Brooklyn in NYC for 6 years I moved halfway across the country to open my own affiliate, CrossFit Lumos, in Austin, TX. This series will chronicle my experience opening the gym and what I am learning along the way. This article is the final piece of the adventure, before I’m a real live gym owner. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8. Part 9. Part 10. Part 11. Part 12. Part 13.

One day, about a year after CrossFit Lumos opened, I sat down in front of my computer to knock through the day’s administrative tasks. I noticed an email from CrossFit HQ that simply said: “Host Request: L1 June 2-3 Austin, TX.” I couldn’t believe it, my little gym, barely a year old, was going to host a Level 1 Certification!

Read More

May 27, 2018

Murph Tips

📷: CrossFit

Ok folks, we’re in the home stretch- Memorial Day is here and the time honored CrossFit tradition of performing “Murph”, the best known of all the Hero WODs, named after Lt. Michael Murphy.

For those of you just joining us- Murph is a long and arduous workout, designed by a Navy SEAL to better prepare for the rigors of combat. It consists of:

For Time:
1 Mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Air Squats
1 Mile Run
Read More