Hey everyone, quick preview of this weekend’s Stimulus Matters episode. Ryne and I hit record in the middle of a conversation that started with a personal “side quest” of mine (weightlifting, running, weight cuts) and quickly turned into a much bigger discussion on season prep. We dig into what happens when multiple coaches are involved, why oversight and constraints matter more than having the “perfect” program, and how coaching actually changes once the Open and Quarterfinals are on the calendar. We also talk chronic vs acute volume, borrowing concepts from strength training for conditioning progressions, using the Open as a bridge instead of something to coast through, and how programming decisions need to shift based on athlete level and resilience. To watch: CLICK HERE

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all doing well! Does anyone have recommended materials about the conjugate method for CF training? I tried to search online and there are a lot of information already but I don' know where to start with. For example: 1. What does the max effort in conjugate training normally means? 2. How does then conjugate method apply to different types of CF athletes? I'd highly vote for having one of the office hour or the Stimulus Podcast discussing this topic. Cheers!

While it’s not entirely CrossFit related (or is it??), I thought this article was a great read as I am studying for the CSCS. It gave a good overview of understanding what is "optimal" loading in terms of tissue, cartilage, bone, and normal muscle adaptations. The synopsis I got from this: • Load response is non-uniform, tissue-dependent, and time-sensitive (i.e cartilage requires around 15-30 min for recovery, bone 4-8 hours b/t stimuli, tendons around 48 hours, muscle (eccentric focused) around 72 hours, and so on) • Optimal training requires understanding what tissue is limiting and adjusting sequence, spacing, and recovery. For many of my clients who have some sort of joint pain (typically elbow, shoulder, and/or knees), I can see the utility in this paper to help guide some programming. Isometric holds and slow eccentrics tend to do very well in tissue remodeling and strengthening of bones and muscle tissue. I like how they also give An athlete monitoring framework to help guide external loading, internal loading, measures of well-being, and measures of physical readiness.

First, thanks to @Jan Lenczuk for being willing to submit a real athlete’s program and open it up for discussion. It takes some guts to put your work out there. The intent behind these reviews is simply to give back to the coaching community. I’ve been coaching for a long time, and this is a way to share how I actually think through program design when I’m working with real constraints, not ideal scenarios. In this review, I walk through a full training week for Aga (Jan's client), a first-year RX athlete dealing with a shoulder issue, limited weekly training time, and long-term development goals. I start with athlete context and intent, then move into strength and hypertrophy decisions, gymnastics progressions, conditioning structure, and where I’d make adjustments or ask different questions. This is for coaches who want to improve how they think about programming, not just copy templates. If you have feedback on the format or ideas for making these more useful, let me know!