Building the MMA athlete w/CrossFit? I have to say that of any of the athletes that I work with, training the MMA athlete is probably my favorite. I think that it requires a coach to consider a broad range of attributes that must be accounted for. I also think it is fun as hell to [...]

In part I, I put forth a general philosophy for the training of competitive CrossFitters. Movements are ranked by tier, dependent on three main criteria: their ability to carry over to other movements, the likelihood of their appearance in CrossFit contests, and the need to train those movements specifically in order to improve at them. [...]

Team Juggernaut is coming to Chicago!! On June 8-9th, at Crossfit Chicago, Team Juggernaut’s Brandon Lilly, Eric Lilliebridge and Chad Wesley Smith are invading the windy city to help you reach your strength and training goals! Eric Lilliebridge, at only 23 years old, has taken the powerlifting world by storm! With a 2204 raw total [...]

Juggernaut would like to congratulate Colin Burns on his selection to the US Team for the Pan/Am Games! Way to go Colin!! The snatch is quite possibly the most technical lift in all of weight training.  The combination of strength, power, timing, and mobility is quite unique to this movement.  For most, the greatest are [...]

First off, I want to make the disclaimer that my “reflections on the CrossFit Open” are as a coach and not as an athlete. I didn’t even do the workouts. I didn’t train for it and know damn good and well that I couldn’t have competed with the people that I would have expected myself [...]

“Oh no she dih-int!” Oh yes…yes I did.  I went there.  And I just called your ass out. Energy systems training, or “conditioning” as many people call it, is a subject that seems to be more misunderstood than a 15 year old emo kid with Southern Baptist parents. In the 80’s and 90’s, step aerobics [...]

If you want to be good at coaching a Crossfit class then you must also be good at assessing people on the fly. I have an hour to safely run a group of anywhere between 5 to 15 members of varying ability through the workout of the day.  For the class to run smoothly I [...]

I’ve been using kettlebells since 2004 when I discovered Dragondoor and Pavel, the “Evil Russian”.  I learned one way to swing a Kettlebell, how it was taught by Pavel on the Russian Kettlebell Challenge VHS tape. That was before young Freeman discovered Crossfit, and well before the American Swing was the Crossfit standard. Since then [...]

Recently, I have been mulling around the idea of opening up my gym during the non class times for an open gym membership. It would run pretty much the same as any other gym… People come in, do whatever it is that they want to do and they leave. The negative to a situation like [...]

Unless you are at least a national level competitor, weightlifting is generally not considered a seasonal sport.  Therefore it may seem counterintuitive to plan off-season training for a weightlifter.  However, I have found that brief cycles of a GPP bias in training serve my lifters well.  It breaks the monotony, serves to increase work capacity [...]

Name: Mattie Rogers Age: 17 Height/Weight: 5’7″, 133 pounds Hometown: Apopka, Florida Current City: Apopka, Florida Years Training: gymnastics: 12 years (stopped at age 13), Crossfit: 5 months, oly lifting: 5 months, cheerleading: 4.5 years Years Competing: gymnastics: uh… I’d say 9 years? Crossfit: only done 1 competition (last month), Oly lifting: 4 months, cheerleading: [...]

To master the Olympic lifts it takes many years of repetitive daily training and drilling of the movements. And even then I’m sure some top lever weightlifters would claim that no one ever really masters the lifts. So when you throw these highly technical movements into a crossfit class you are undoubtedly going to see [...]

Team Juggernaut’s Chad Wesley Smith, Brandon Lilly, Brad Little and Ryan Brown, along with Mike Tuchscherer, Jim Laird and Corey Hayes sit down to discuss various training issues after training together at Derby City Crossfit in Louisville, KY. Check out part 1 of this 5 part series, as we discuss mobility and staying healthy through [...]

Get to know new Team Juggernaut member, Nathan Wilson of Derby City Crossfit in Louisville, KY… Name: Nathan Wilson        Age: 23 Height/Weight: 6’1/ 215 Hometown: Louisville, KY Current City: Louisville Years Training: 1.5 Years competing in Crossfit: just recently really started taking my training for crossfit seriously, so about 6 months. PRs [...]

By Ryan Brown I have always hated the articles on the internet that discuss what is a good exercise and what is a bad exercise. I remember something that the Legendary Maximillion Mormont said to me a couple of years ago regarding exercise selection and it has stuck with me and my thought process behind [...]

Get to know new Team Juggernaut member, Crossfit athlete/coach, JoEllyn McAtee Name:JoEllyn McAtee   Age: 26 Height/Weight: 5’7” /145 Hometown: Louisville, KY Current City: Louisville, KY Years Training: 3 yrs of CrossFit training Years Competing: 4 years as NCAA Division I Track athlete. Training for Life/CrossFit 3 yrs. PRs in relevant lifts/events: Finished 6th in [...]

By Chad Wesley Smith A few weeks ago I attended a Crossfit Powerlifting Seminar at Crossfit 714 in Orange, CA as a guest presenter, where I helped out my friends Mark Bell of Supertraining Gym and Jesse Burdick of Reactive Gym. Both Mark and Jesse are accomplished powerlifters in single and multi ply gear. I really enjoyed my time helping [...]

In assembling Team Juggernaut, my goal is to bring you the best information possible from a diverse group of athletes. Everyone does things in training that are unique to them and advice from one person might not work for you, but someone else’s approach may be perfect for your needs. Team Juggernaut is a collection [...]

Check Out the Darkside Crossfit Training Log Here Last Sunday, we took 5 lifters to the worst most digusting city ever… Lexington, to compete in a USAW meet. For 3 of our lifters, Nathan, Lauren, and Lauren, it was their first meet. Lauren C. – Lauren has been about to shit herself with nervousness all [...]

Check Out Ryan’s Training Log Here Name: Ryan Brown Age: 27 Hometown: Brandenburg, KY Current City: Louisville, KY Years Training: Technically, since high school, but I didn’t start training with a coach until 2009 Years competing in Crossfit: 3 PR’s: Box Squat 465# Front Squat 370# Press 225# Bench Press 335# Deadlift 530# Snatch 230# Clean & Jerk 305# (clean 330#) [...]