The FAQ is going to grow and grow until it is a formidable resource. It will continually be updated.
How do I get strong?
Follow the Strength workout. Follow the Metcon. Stretch. Eat a proper diet. Drink lots of water. Get plenty of sleep. Train hard.
How do I get bigger?
Follow the Strength workout. Follow the Metcon. Stretch. Eat a lot of food. Drink lots of water. Get plenty of sleep. Train hard.
When it says “Press” does that mean a “Standing Military Shoulder Press” or a “Bench Press”?
A Press happens when a lifter is standing up right and he presses the weight overhead to lockout using his shoulders and arms. The legs must be locked and no hip movement is allowed. Using the term “standing military shoulder press” is about as strange as saying “below parallel leg back squat”.
Do I need to have attended a CrossFit Level 1 Certification to attend a CrossFit Football Certification?
No. Anyone can attend a CrossFit Football Certification.
How do I follow CrossFit Football’s programming?
You will see a prescription for a strength training. Perform the strength portion. When you are finished take a 5-15 minute break and perform the metcon portion listed to the right of the strength.
Are there two parts to each workout?
Yes. You have to look both places to put the workout together. If either part says rest it means that you don’t do that aspect of the workout. If both a workout and WOD are listed do both on the same day. We are training for strength, speed and power. We must train all areas.
Why are there two parts to the workout?
Because we are trying to get as strong as possible. We are trying to get as fast as possible and we are trying to create work capacity at its highest level. This is done by combining strength training with metabolic conditioning.
When the program calls for “5×5” what does this mean?
When you see “5×5″ this means to do 5 sets of 5 repetitions at the same weight for all 5 sets. This is after a proper warm up building up to this weight.
What does it mean when the program calls for “5, 5, 5, 5, 5″?
That means you do 5 repetitions of each movement, adding weight to every set till you get to a maximal set of 5 repetitions. Yes, you add weight to every set in the hopes of reaching maximal effort.
When it says 3×5, does that mean 3 sets of 5 reps of 3 reps of 5 sets.
It means sets x repetitions. So 3×5 means 3 sets of 5 reps straight across.
Where do I find answers to my questions about the CF Football Certification?
Look to the right of this page and click on the tab that says “Certifications“, that will give you information on the CF Football Certification.
What if I am not competing in a sport and want to use the CF Football program?
We have many people that use and enjoy the CF Football programming, even though they are not competing in a sport. We recommend that you use the Off-Season programming in your training. The In-Season programming takes into account the athlete will be practicing and competing in sporting contests. With these factors in mind the In-Season programming will have reduced volume.
Where do I find explanations of the CF Football Exercises, like Gassers and Rack Jerks?
Click on the tab that says Exercise and Demos and have at it.
What is the official CrossFit Football warm up?
The CrossFit Football Warm Up consists of something Kelly Starrett made up. You can find it in the “New To CF Football?” section under the tab “CF Football Warm Up.”
How long should I rest between sets during the Strength portion?
Unless the rest time is listed and sometimes it is, we ask our athletes to rest between 3 and 5 minutes between sets.
What does Amateur, Collegiate and Professional mean?
Amateur refers to an athlete that just started training, regardless of age. A player is considered at Amateur level from Day 1 through 1 year of consistent training.
Collegiate level applies to an athlete that has been training from 1+ years to 3 years. This is usually a football player that is been training consistently for a few years and is either towards the end of high school or the beginning of college.
Professional level applies to athletes that have been training for many years and are so advanced that linear improvement of strength no longer works. These players have been training for a number of years and gains have slowed. As a result a more complex program is needed to make strength and performance gains.
How will I know when I should move from Amateur to Collegiate and Collegiate to Profesional?
You will know as an athlete. Progress will slow with strength training and a new progression will be needed to continue improvement. Your strength and conditioning will have advanced, your experience will have progressed, and you will be skilled at Olympic Weightlifting, the barbell lifts and the principles of CrossFit.
How does CrossFit Football.com differ from CrossFit.com?
“For football, we know the demands; football is a game of inches and seconds. We know that timeframe and scale, and we know when, where, and how game day is played. Knowing this, we can precisely prepare for the demands of the sport. What we cannot control is the player’s talent: his instincts, and his ability to react to stress, pressure, and the opponent. We know what weapons we need in our arsenal and we will know when and how to use them. Optimum training results in optimum performance, and the optimally prepared athlete is in the position to make the best use of his talent, and thus to fulfill his potential as a player.” John Welbourn
“Trainers and civilians needs are more akin to the firefighter, cop and soldier than they are to the elite athlete. The reason being, you don’t know what gameday will look like, you don’t know when it will occur and you don’t know what the stressor will be, You just don’t know.” Coach Greg Glassman
What about abs?
“People ask me, ‘what do I do for abs?’ I tell them, stabilize the mid-line like a motherf*@!er, that’s what you do” – Coach Glassman
Abs work to stabilize and support the body with all movements: squats, deadlifts, snatches, burpees, pushups, pullups (especially the kipping variety), etc. These movement patterns place greater emphasis on the abs working in concert with the rest of the body, and will result in greater abdominal stability than the isolation of crunches. CrossFit Football relies primarily on the abdominal work inherent in excercise which demand high levels of midline stabilization. Try to overhead squat or make a tackle without stablizing your midline and you won’t last very long.
Where does Rugby and other contact sports fit into CrossFit Football?
Rugby and other contact sports fit well with CrossFit Football. Our training builds a larger, stronger, faster athlete that will be able to endure the rigors of any contact sport. This applies well to sports like Rugby where toughness and the ability to endure are pivotal.
What is the CF Football Diet?
The CF Football Diet originated from many nutrition discussions between Robb Wolf and John Welbourn. What was created was a diet that an athlete could use to stay strong, maintain size and make performance gains. To find more on the CF Football diet and nutrition click on the tab at the top of the main page labeled “Nutrition.”
What does a 5 RM mean?
RM means Repetition Max. This is the heaviest an individual can do for 5 repetitions, without exhausting yourself before hand. Warm up however you need to, and perform the heaviest set of 5 reps you can.
What is a PR?
A PR is a Personal Best. This is your single best lift.
What is a Bear Crawl?
Start with your hands and feet on the ground and proceed to crawl on all fours the required distance.
What is a Rack Jerk?
A Push Jerk with the bar starting on your back. Starting in the same starting position as the squat.
What is a Rack Thruster?
Starting with the bar on your back and perform a Squat. While coming up from below parallel drive the bar off your back into a locked out position overhead. It is a combination of a Squat and Rack Jerk.
What is a Press?
A Press happens when a lifter is standing up right and he presses the weight overhead to lockout using his shoulders and arms. The legs must be locked and no hip movement is allowed.
What are Knees-To-Elbows?
While hanging from a pull up bar, pull your knees up till they touch your elbows.
What are Toe Touches?
While hanging from a pull up bar, pull your legs up till your toes touch the bar.
What is a Burpee?
Start standing up right, squat down and place your hands shoulder width apart. Jump your feet back into a push up position. Perform a push up. Jump your feet back into a squated positon, jump up into the air and clap your hands above your head.
What are Burpee Box Jumps?
Perform a Burpee. Instead of finishing the burpee with a jump and clap in the air, jump up and land on a box.
What is a Burpee Pull Up?
Perform a Burpee. At the finish of the Burpee jump up into a pull up.
What is a Ball Slam?
Start with a weighted ball between your legs, squat down and lift ball above your head and slam it down to the ground as hard as you can getting full extension of the hips. Try to catch the ball on its first bounce and repeat.
How do I perform a Weighted Step Up?
Place bar on your back, step up on box that is tall enough when you place your foot on the box, the top of your thigh is at 90 degrees. Step up on the box so both feet are on the box then step down. Try to keep your chest up right, do not allow your torso to fall, keep a good up right position.
What does Supine mean?
The supine position is a position of the body; lying down with the face up.
How do I perform a Supine Ring Pull Up?
To perform Sup Ring Pull Ups, set the rings so your back is off the ground, place heels on a box and pull your chest to your hands.
What is a True Push Up?
True Push Ups are done with both hands and feet balancing on parallets, make sure you get your chest below parallel.
How do I perform a ring pull up?
Perform a pull up using a set of rings instead of a fixed bar. Make sure to pull your chest to your hands.
FAQ
The FAQ is going to grow and grow until it is a formidable resource. It will continually be updated.
How do I get strong?
Follow the Strength workout. Follow the Metcon. Stretch. Eat a proper diet. Drink lots of water. Get plenty of sleep. Train hard.
How do I get bigger?
Follow the Strength workout. Follow the Metcon. Stretch. Eat a lot of food. Drink lots of water. Get plenty of sleep. Train hard.
When it says “Press” does that mean a “Standing Military Shoulder Press” or a “Bench Press”?
A Press happens when a lifter is standing up right and he presses the weight overhead to lockout using his shoulders and arms. The legs must be locked and no hip movement is allowed. Using the term “standing military shoulder press” is about as strange as saying “below parallel leg back squat”.
Do I need to have attended a CrossFit Level 1 Certification to attend a CrossFit Football Certification?
No. Anyone can attend a CrossFit Football Certification.
How do I follow CrossFit Football’s programming?
You will see a prescription for a strength training. Perform the strength portion. When you are finished take a 5-15 minute break and perform the metcon portion listed to the right of the strength.
Are there two parts to each workout?
Yes. You have to look both places to put the workout together. If either part says rest it means that you don’t do that aspect of the workout. If both a workout and WOD are listed do both on the same day. We are training for strength, speed and power. We must train all areas.
Why are there two parts to the workout?
Because we are trying to get as strong as possible. We are trying to get as fast as possible and we are trying to create work capacity at its highest level. This is done by combining strength training with metabolic conditioning.
When the program calls for “5×5” what does this mean?
When you see “5×5″ this means to do 5 sets of 5 repetitions at the same weight for all 5 sets. This is after a proper warm up building up to this weight.
What does it mean when the program calls for “5, 5, 5, 5, 5″?
That means you do 5 repetitions of each movement, adding weight to every set till you get to a maximal set of 5 repetitions. Yes, you add weight to every set in the hopes of reaching maximal effort.
When it says 3×5, does that mean 3 sets of 5 reps of 3 reps of 5 sets.
It means sets x repetitions. So 3×5 means 3 sets of 5 reps straight across.
Where do I find answers to my questions about the CF Football Certification?
Look to the right of this page and click on the tab that says “Certifications“, that will give you information on the CF Football Certification.
What if I am not competing in a sport and want to use the CF Football program?
We have many people that use and enjoy the CF Football programming, even though they are not competing in a sport. We recommend that you use the Off-Season programming in your training. The In-Season programming takes into account the athlete will be practicing and competing in sporting contests. With these factors in mind the In-Season programming will have reduced volume.
Where do I find explanations of the CF Football Exercises, like Gassers and Rack Jerks?
Click on the tab that says Exercise and Demos and have at it.
What is the official CrossFit Football warm up?
The CrossFit Football Warm Up consists of something Kelly Starrett made up. You can find it in the “New To CF Football?” section under the tab “CF Football Warm Up.”
How long should I rest between sets during the Strength portion?
Unless the rest time is listed and sometimes it is, we ask our athletes to rest between 3 and 5 minutes between sets.
What does Amateur, Collegiate and Professional mean?
Amateur refers to an athlete that just started training, regardless of age. A player is considered at Amateur level from Day 1 through 1 year of consistent training.
Collegiate level applies to an athlete that has been training from 1+ years to 3 years. This is usually a football player that is been training consistently for a few years and is either towards the end of high school or the beginning of college.
Professional level applies to athletes that have been training for many years and are so advanced that linear improvement of strength no longer works. These players have been training for a number of years and gains have slowed. As a result a more complex program is needed to make strength and performance gains.
How will I know when I should move from Amateur to Collegiate and Collegiate to Profesional?
You will know as an athlete. Progress will slow with strength training and a new progression will be needed to continue improvement. Your strength and conditioning will have advanced, your experience will have progressed, and you will be skilled at Olympic Weightlifting, the barbell lifts and the principles of CrossFit.
How does CrossFit Football.com differ from CrossFit.com?
“For football, we know the demands; football is a game of inches and seconds. We know that timeframe and scale, and we know when, where, and how game day is played. Knowing this, we can precisely prepare for the demands of the sport. What we cannot control is the player’s talent: his instincts, and his ability to react to stress, pressure, and the opponent. We know what weapons we need in our arsenal and we will know when and how to use them. Optimum training results in optimum performance, and the optimally prepared athlete is in the position to make the best use of his talent, and thus to fulfill his potential as a player.” John Welbourn
“Trainers and civilians needs are more akin to the firefighter, cop and soldier than they are to the elite athlete. The reason being, you don’t know what gameday will look like, you don’t know when it will occur and you don’t know what the stressor will be, You just don’t know.” Coach Greg Glassman
What about abs?
“People ask me, ‘what do I do for abs?’ I tell them, stabilize the mid-line like a motherf*@!er, that’s what you do” – Coach Glassman
Abs work to stabilize and support the body with all movements: squats, deadlifts, snatches, burpees, pushups, pullups (especially the kipping variety), etc. These movement patterns place greater emphasis on the abs working in concert with the rest of the body, and will result in greater abdominal stability than the isolation of crunches. CrossFit Football relies primarily on the abdominal work inherent in excercise which demand high levels of midline stabilization. Try to overhead squat or make a tackle without stablizing your midline and you won’t last very long.
Where does Rugby and other contact sports fit into CrossFit Football?
Rugby and other contact sports fit well with CrossFit Football. Our training builds a larger, stronger, faster athlete that will be able to endure the rigors of any contact sport. This applies well to sports like Rugby where toughness and the ability to endure are pivotal.
What is the CF Football Diet?
The CF Football Diet originated from many nutrition discussions between Robb Wolf and John Welbourn. What was created was a diet that an athlete could use to stay strong, maintain size and make performance gains. To find more on the CF Football diet and nutrition click on the tab at the top of the main page labeled “Nutrition.”
What does a 5 RM mean?
RM means Repetition Max. This is the heaviest an individual can do for 5 repetitions, without exhausting yourself before hand. Warm up however you need to, and perform the heaviest set of 5 reps you can.
What is a PR?
A PR is a Personal Best. This is your single best lift.
What is a Bear Crawl?
Start with your hands and feet on the ground and proceed to crawl on all fours the required distance.
What is a Rack Jerk?
A Push Jerk with the bar starting on your back. Starting in the same starting position as the squat.
What is a Rack Thruster?
Starting with the bar on your back and perform a Squat. While coming up from below parallel drive the bar off your back into a locked out position overhead. It is a combination of a Squat and Rack Jerk.
What is a Press?
A Press happens when a lifter is standing up right and he presses the weight overhead to lockout using his shoulders and arms. The legs must be locked and no hip movement is allowed.
What are Knees-To-Elbows?
While hanging from a pull up bar, pull your knees up till they touch your elbows.
What are Toe Touches?
While hanging from a pull up bar, pull your legs up till your toes touch the bar.
What is a Burpee?
Start standing up right, squat down and place your hands shoulder width apart. Jump your feet back into a push up position. Perform a push up. Jump your feet back into a squated positon, jump up into the air and clap your hands above your head.
What are Burpee Box Jumps?
Perform a Burpee. Instead of finishing the burpee with a jump and clap in the air, jump up and land on a box.
What is a Burpee Pull Up?
Perform a Burpee. At the finish of the Burpee jump up into a pull up.
What is a Ball Slam?
Start with a weighted ball between your legs, squat down and lift ball above your head and slam it down to the ground as hard as you can getting full extension of the hips. Try to catch the ball on its first bounce and repeat.
How do I perform a Weighted Step Up?
Place bar on your back, step up on box that is tall enough when you place your foot on the box, the top of your thigh is at 90 degrees. Step up on the box so both feet are on the box then step down. Try to keep your chest up right, do not allow your torso to fall, keep a good up right position.
What does Supine mean?
The supine position is a position of the body; lying down with the face up.
How do I perform a Supine Ring Pull Up?
To perform Sup Ring Pull Ups, set the rings so your back is off the ground, place heels on a box and pull your chest to your hands.
What is a True Push Up?
True Push Ups are done with both hands and feet balancing on parallets, make sure you get your chest below parallel.
How do I perform a ring pull up?
Perform a pull up using a set of rings instead of a fixed bar. Make sure to pull your chest to your hands.