Linchpin Conversations

How to go overhead if your ceiling is too low. Tips for early morning workout success. Linchpin Athletics. How often are push-ups programmed? Modulating Intensity.

Nicholas M. is a husband, a father, a medical technologist & a Linchpin member. He is known for his smile & positive attitude in almost any situation. He wss born, raised & lives in Canada where French is his primary language. He grew up part of an overweight & sedentary family. His father suffered from a heart attack & Nicholas saw himself heading down that same path. This motivated him to take control & change the direction his life was heading. This is his story.

New Year's Goals for 2025. Kipping in a small space. Bar speed. Depth drop vs box jumps. Building out your home gym. Using a road bike vs an air bike. Box Jump alternatives. Swimming. Eliminating early arm pull in lifts. 5 days on, 2 days off schedule. Building false grip strength.

Jack R. is a husband, a father & a Linchpin member. When he was 3 years old he had kidney cancer. At 9 years old he needed to have some ribs removed. He has dealt with the ups & downs of a challenging life & found a way to make health & fitness a priority. This is his story.

Touch-n-Go vs quick Singles. Christmas Day Nutrition. Swimming. VNR cycles. Odd objects. Fitness in your 60's, 70's & 80's. Accessory work & gross movement patterns. Resting during dumbbell work. What if you miss a workout?

Joe is a husband, a father & a coach. He coaches at a CrossFit gym & for the US Army. He is a former Marine infrantryman who is Type 1 Diabetic & has another autoimmune disease as well. Fitness & nutrition are absolutely critical to his quality of life & management of this diabetes. This is his story.

Needing Help vs Being Helpless. What would I eat if calories did not matter? What would I do if Linchpin did not exist? What does the rest of my family eat? Damper Settings & Drag Factors for the rower. Functional Threshold Power. Favorite holiday traditions. Candlesticks. Gifting a Linchpin membership to someone else. Dropping from the top of deadlifts.

Nasos has been a member of Linchpin since October of 2018. He is originally from Greece, but moved to Sweden for work about 8 years ago. He has a background in Physiotherapy & massage therapy. He has worked with athletes & regular people helping them rehab from injuries, relieve aches & pains & more. He is a new dad to a 4 month old little girl. Fatherhood has forced him to adjust his training schedule, but he is making it happen. This is his story.

Dumbbell version of the Burgener warm-up. How to pursue undeveloped skills. Is it ok to mix grips on pull-ups? 12 Days of Christmas workout. Entering warm-ups & workouts into btwb. The kipping pull-up. Help...I'm still sore!

John F is a husband, a father & a Linchpin member. His wife & son are also part of the Linchpin community. John has been active his entire life, but he has not always been healthy. He speaks openly about the highs & lows of trying to live a healthy lifestyle & the lessons he has learned along the way.

Smashing two workouts together. How many strict pull-ups should you have? Linchpin Endurance Squad Something dumb I've done while training. My mindset & approach to programming workouts. Working through an injury. Non-fiction book recommendations. How much weight is needed for a home gym? Hernia Surgery. Training while sick.

Corey is a husband, a father & a Linchpin members. He works all day in an aluminum factory & then heads home to his wife & two young kids. Corey workouts in his garage & at his work. He also dedicates time on the weekends to meal prep for the upcoming week. Habits like that set him up for success. He shares his story with us.

When you can't do another rep. Do you need to do the week's workouts in order? Is accessory work necessary? Lifting belts. Too comfortable doing NFT & KFT? If I could only have 5 pieces of gear. Training for HYROX

Julie is a wife, a mother, a former attorney & a Linchpin member. Over the course of her life she has had 12 orthopedic surgeries, including 2 total hip replacements. This all started with an accident she had when she was only 10 year old. At 12 years old she was in a full body cast for 7 weeks! She has remained fit & healthy to the best of her ability even in the face of difficulty & pain. This is her story.

John is a husband, a father & a Law Enforcement Officer. He has 3 young sons & a very busy life. Fitness is mission critical to his occupation. His father is also in Linchpin as well. In this episode, John shares his story with us.

Thoughts on Rogue Invitational. Scaling workouts for kids. Cheat meals. Linchpin monthly fitness tests. Running. Defining "interference". Do "active" people still need to workout? Is warming-up necessary? When/how to establish a 1RM. Pacing on "Not For Time" workouts. How to build up training volume. When to use a sled.

Todd is a husband, a father, a firefighter, a jiu jitsu brown belt & a Linchpin member. He started lifting weights in 6th grade & has been active ever since. He has been a member of various gyms & tried different online programming, but he decided to return to Linchpin. This is his story.

Grant is a husband, a father & a Linchpin member. He a former Marine who also had a full career as an FBI agent. We talk about his life experiences as well as what lead him to Linchpin.

How to warm-up for heavy squats. How long should you wait after warming up to start the workout? The Burgener warm-up. How often do I really work out? A day of eating.

Aaron is currently on active duty the Irish military. He has tried various programs all aimed at the needs of "tatical occupations". After trying all of these various specialty programs, he chooses to train with Linchpin. This is his story.

What's the next homemade ice cream flavor? Linchpin sub-group for nutrition. Women specific issues. Why no ads for Linchpin? Static overhead holds. Data points & consistency. Assessing your overall fitness. Accessory work. My current version of Paleo. Using dumbbells for Heavy Days. Modulating Intensity. Coming back from an injury.

Erica is a mother of two kids, a wife & a 3rd grade school teacher. She has experimented with a large number of online programs. She has also gained & then lost 100 pounds. In this episode she shares her weight loss journey as well as lead her back to Linchpin.

It seems unpopular these days to tell people the truth about the health risks associated with being overweight. Lying to people and/or avoiding uncomfortable conversations is not going to help anyone. People need to hear the truth. Tell them the truth. Tell them with empathy & compassion, but tell them the truth or their health is in serious jeopardy.

Travis first joined Linchpin in 2019 after being a part of several different gyms. In 2023 he left Linchpin & tried a different program for 5 months. That program left his body feeling beat up, so he decided to rejoin Linchpin. He's happy to be back & shares his fitness journey during this episode.

Buy-in's & cash-out's. C2 rower vs Assault Rower. Programming considerations. When is doing "extra" warranted? Monitoring data. Pre-workout stretching. Machines for bodybuilding. When to add a vest to Linchpin Test 13. Training for other sports. Strict Press vs strict hspu. Alternatives to squatting. When do you need to "suck it up"? Which movements to program? Sports massage.

Chris is a husband, a father, a physical therapist, & a former program hopper. He has been active his entire life & played multiple sport. He tried CrossFit, bodybuilding workouts, Wendler 5/3/1, other strength programs & even created workouts for himself. We discuss his fitness journey, lessons learned & what lead him to Linchpin.

Assigning loads vs letting athletes choose. Frequency of bike vs row workouts. How to approach accessory work. Wallballs vs Thrusters.

Artur lives in Portugal. Nikos lives in Greece. Both are married with kids & have busy jobs. Through Linchpin, they started commenting on each other's workout scores. Then they started to motivate one another & a freindly competition developed. As time went by they became true friends & talk almost every day. This is their story.

Box Jumps vs Step-ups Linchpin for Adaptive Athletes & kids. Choosing only 3 workouts a week. Improving Pull-ups. Improving Oly lifts. Do you need an Abmat for sit-ups? When you miss a day...skip it or make it up?

Josh R. is a husband, a father & a self-admitted program hopper. During a 2 year period he was a part of 12-16 different online programs. Josh walks us through his fitness journey, what lead him to try so many different programs & why he chose to return to Linchpin.

Do I ever get bored programming? What would I change about Linchpin? Body says YES, head says NO to working out. How to break through plateaus. Podcast recommendations. Thoughts on the "electrolyte craze" happening. How to workout with your kids. One arm stronger than the other. Do I look at the clock during "for time" workouts?

Chelsae is a wife, a mother to 6 children & a Linchpin member. She is also currently pregnant with another baby. This will be her 4th postpartum jounrey with Linchpin & her 3rd pregnancy with Linchpin since day one. She shares her journey & lessons learned for other moms who are pregnant & active.

Did Adrian Bozman quit? | How to get more strict pull-ups. | Echo bike & upper body fatigue. | Craziest thing I've seen in a gym. | Proper height for box step-ups. | Redefining CrossFit? | Linchpin & competition. | What is the ideal rest day. | Sustainable nutrition. | What's being tested in "Helen"?

Ruan is a husband, a new father to a little baby girl & a Linchpin member. He was born & raised in South Africa, but recently moved to Germany for a new job. He is adapting to a new country, a new culture & his new role as a dad. His free time is limited, & he only has a pair of dumbbells for working out. This is his story.

Choosing the right dumbbell loading. | How to use a sandbag. | What skill challenged me the most? | When to do the Monster Mash? | Selecting rest periods for intervals. | How deep should you squat? | Programming for a hypothetical athlete.

Scott F. is a husband, a father & a Linchpin member. For 15 years he worked as a National Park Ranger in Yosemite & the Grand Canyon. He did law enforcement, search & rescue, as well as emergency medical work. He first got into CrossFit in 2006 & has been hooked ever since. This is his story.

Does 1RM relate to as "Rx'd" loading? | 10k run program. | Programming mistakes. | Relative Intensity explained. | Is sitting all day bad? | How do you test your fitness in real life? | What is a total hip replacement? | Why is Strength + Metcon so popular? | Training for Hyrox & engine building. | How sore is too sore? | How important is handstand walking? | Training 3x per week.

Nick B. is a husband, a father, military officer & member of the Linchpin community. He spent many years as a dedicated runner doing everything from 5k runs to 100 miles races & everything in between. In 2018 he joined Linchpin & has been a member for over 6 years. This is his story.

Minimum fitness equipment. | Deload weeks. | Programming themes. | Fitness Test at the Olympics. | Taking time off from working out. | Strict before kipping for T2B? | 1st, 2nd, 3rd wave adaption in CrossFit | The kickstand squat.

Patrick S. is one of the many amazing people we have in the Linchpin community. He has a profoundly physically demanding job. Every day he moves heavy boxes for hours & hours. In a previous phase of life he was also a power lifter who experimented with performance enhancing drugs. Patrick is an open book & shares all aspects of his fitness jounrey during this interview.

My favorite movement/workout. | How to be ok scaling workouts. | Lazar & the 2024 CF Games. | Upcoming challenges - Linchpin Test 13 | Turkish Get-ups | My Paleo journey | Supplementation | Motivation | Fasting

Adrian is a gym owner & member of the Linchpin community. He grew up playing soccer & loves to dance. He first tried CrossFit while in college & has been hooked ever since. This is his story.

VO2 Max vs Lactate Threshold. | Using btwb data to improve Linchpin. | Are some weeks of Linchpin harder than others? | Pull-ups vs Chin-ups. | Olympic events I love.

Scott M started doing CrossFit in 2010. He was the heaviest he had ever been in his life at 250 pounds. He found a gym & got his diet under control. Over the last 14 years he has owned a gym, but now works out in his garage as a member of the Linchpin community. This is his story.

My favorite "on the go" snack & drink. | What did CF teach me that the SEALs did not? | Plank holds. | Does Rest = Strength? | The hardest workout I ever programmed. | How long will I keep programming? | How to lift without dying. | Fitness & kids. | How to rearrange workouts. | Proper grip for Deadlifts.

Anthony is a husband, a father, a civil enginner & a member of Linchpin. He was a 3 sport athlete in highschool who went on to attend West Point. He walks us through his time in the military as well as his fitness regimen now that he is a civilian.

Common run distances. | The love of Oly lifting. | Improving mobility & warming up. | Do workouts surprises me? | Are butterfly pull-ups worth the risk? | At what stage should we reset our PR's? | Heavy Days vs Sprint Days. | Echo Bike vs Assault Bike. | Dealing with DOMS. | When is it ok to struggle? | Real bike vs rower or Air Bikes.

Scott is a husband, a father, a clinical laboratory scientist & a Linchpin member. Originally a runner, he first tried CrossFit back in 2013 & got hooked. In 2016 he built a garage gym & started following Linchpin. He & his wife have two children & have fostered many kids over the years. This is his story.

Evan W. is a husband, a father, a fulltime farmer & a Linchpin member. He has an extremely physically demanding job which often forces his to work long days outside, regardless of the weather. Even though Evan's job is so tough, he chooses to workout. As a matter of fact, he says it helps him be a better farmer. This is his story.

How to know if a workout is original. | Meters vs Calories on the Air Bike. | Why are Thursdays & Sundays "rest days"? | Mental toughness. | Putting "notes" in btwb. | Using "Crash pads" for barbells. | Balancing Linchpin & a sport. | Improving Handstands. | Do we need to do HSPU's? | Fitness on a vacation.