BEN BERGERON
Crossfit Coach Ben Bergeron with Katrin Davidsdottir
As Crossfit coaches go, Ben has an impressive reputation as the head coach of Crossfit New England, and runs ‘Competitors Training’. He has over 20 years of coaching experience, and just under 10 of those have been spent in Crossfit. The list of famous athletes and teams that he has coached is highly impressive, including:
- Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir (1st in 2015 and 2016)
- Mat Fraser (1st in 2016)
- Chris Spealler
- Lindsey Valenzuela
- Team Crossfit New England (2nd in 2013)
BECOME A THREE-HEADED MONSTER
According to Bergeron, your job as a Crossfitter is to become a three headed monster! This metaphor, symbolising the three important areas of Crossfit, consists of:
- Strength
- Skills
- Conditioning
‘Your goal is to be feeding (improving) all three heads at the same time – every month, every week, every day. If you have a serious weakness in one (one head is smaller than the other two), feed it more till it is as big as the others.’
CROSSFIT COACHES: WORKOUT TEMPLATES
Bergeron uses a weekly template for all of his Athletes, but adapts accordingly for their goals, motivations and abilities.
‘Let the meat and potatoes of your program be your couplets and triplets, go long once a week, and go heavy one to two times per week.’
Here is the basic version of this template for Crossfitters hoping to do well in the Open:
Monday: Conditioning / Olympic Lifting / Gymnastics
Tuesday: Conditioning / Strength / Rowing
Wednesday: Conditioning / Olympic Lifting / Gymnastics
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Conditioning / Strength / Rowing
Saturday: Conditioning
Sunday: Rest
JAMI TIKKANEN
Jami is famous as the Coach to 2x Crossfit Games winner Annie Thorisdottir, and runs ‘The Training Plan’.
Carl Paoli describes the plan as a ‘roadmap for athletes’, and it prioritises skill and the progression of movement. Even the athletes that he works with at a high level are often encouraged to come back down to basics, to re-examine the most fundamental movements and exercises. Tikkanen himself has:
- Worked as an Osteopath to Mikko Salo
- Coached team Europe in the 2013 invitationals against USA at first ever Crossfit Invitational
- Coached Annie Thorisdottir
- Coached Sara Sigmundsdottir
- Coached Frederik Aegidus
His coaching is based around a movement-based SPP (Specific Physical Preparedness) program for CrossFit athletes. It is designed to help Crossfitters achieve their full potential in the Sport of Fitness.
‘Ultimately, no matter how big your engine or gas tank is, when you move inefficiently, you give away performance. The CrossFit Games are won by those who combine the biggest capacity with movement efficiency.’
STRENGTH
Tikkanen teaches multiple components of strength including (but not limited to):
- Absolute Strength
- Speed Strength
- Strength Speed
He uses various methods of training, from strength aerobic to maximal effort, to address the different types of strength.
CHRIS HINSHAW
Crossfit Endurance Coach Chris Hinshaw
Chris is a former All American swimmer and an experienced professional triathlete with top international finishes including a 2nd place overall finish at the Hawaiian Ironman World Championships, 2-time member of Team USA at the Hawaiian Ironman, 2nd place overall finish at the Ironman World Championships in Canada, and a 1st place overall finish at Ironman Brazil.
He runs ‘Aerobic Capacity’, and has also been a Crossfit Athlete for 7 years. He found that the sport righted many lasting injuries that his body had suffered as a result of the extreme physical exercise that he had put it through earlier in his life. As the endurance coach at NorCal Crossfit, he works with many famous Crossfit Athletes such as:
- Jason Khalipa
- Rich Froning
- Camille Leblanc-Bazinet
- Katrin Davidsdottir
- Mat Fraser
- Julie Foucher
Chris breaks down performance in an exceptionally technical way, taking his athletes back to the basics and pushing them hard. A passionate and involved coach, here he is explaining how he adapts his experience of mental toughness from his times as a world class triathlete, and reconfigures it for the athletes that he coaches.
KELLY STARRETT
Crossfit Coach: Kelly Starrett Practices what he preaches!
Kelly is a mobility expert, and founder of MobilityWOD. He helped start San Francisco Crossfit, one of the first 30 Crossfit gyms and since 2005, and has continually worked with the concept that the vast majority of orthopedic injuries are preventable, if people have a better understanding of the mechanics and movements of their own bodies.
For Kelly, movement lies at the heart of Crossfit, and regular, intelligent mobility work will increase athletic performance, prevent injury and help to resolve pain.
ERIK LAU KELNER
Erik runs Weightlifting 101, which specialises in weightlifting within the context of Crossfit. Undoubtedly, a solid weightlifting foundation built from the Snatch and Clean & Jerk is vital for becoming a solid Crossfitter, but this foundation needs to be functional at all times. For example performing a 1RM Snatch well is completely different from doing the same thing after a 5km run, or performing 30 Snatches for time.
Erik coaches with the philosophy that a solid weightlifting foundation is vital. But that foundation must also be adapted and tested to be able to cope with the strenuous and unpredictable demands of Crossfit. He calls it Crossfit Weightlifting.
Works with:
- Sara Sigmundsdottir
- BK Gdmundsson
- Emma Mcquaid
- Steven Fawcett
Media
Featured Image © Erik Lau Kelner, Weightlifting 101
Ben Bergeron © Ben Bergeron
Ben Bergeron video © Kill Cliff
Jami Tikkanen photo © Chris Greer
Chris Hinshaw © Xendurance
Erik Lau Kelner © Erik Lau Kelner instagram
Erik Lau Kelner © Erik Lau Kelner instagram
