Sme Masters Trainingguide

CROSSFIT SPECIALTY COURSE: MASTERS
TRAINING GUIDE
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CrossFit Specialty Course: Masters :
Training Guide |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
RE-DEFINING THE MASTERS ATHLETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF AGING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
THE MASTERS QUADRANT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
COMPETITIVE ORIENTATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
FITNESS LEVEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
INJURY STATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
USING THE MASTERS QUADRANT TO GUIDE COACHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

ASSESSING THE MASTERS ATHLETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
KEY PRINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
COMPETITIVE ORIENTATION FACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
AGE FACTORS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
FITNESS FACTORS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
INJURY STATE FACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
THE EFFECTS OF AGING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF AGING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTS OF AGING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
COMMON MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE AGING ATHLETE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
TRAINING ATTENUATES THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SEDENTARY AGING . . . . . . . . . . . 23
CHANGING THE PARADIGM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
USE IT OR LOSE IT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
IMPLEMENTING AN EFFECTIVE MASTER’S PROGRAM WITHIN THE AFFILIATE . . . . . . . . . . 26
GENERAL CLASS CONSIDERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
BE GUIDED BY THE ARCHETYPES AT YOUR GYM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
SPECIAL CLASSES AND PROGRAMMING SPECIFIC TO MASTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
MANAGING RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH AN OLDER ATHLETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
CREATING THE RIGHT SOCIAL DYNAMIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
BIAS PRACTICE TIME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
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TYPICAL MASTERS MODIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

IMPLEMENTATION IDEAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
UNDERSTANDING THE MASTERS MINDSET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
TRAINER SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
THE ANXIOUS ATHLETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
SELF-LIMITING BELIEFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
RIGID THINKING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ATTITUDE TO INTENSITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
DEALING WITH SETBACKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ROLE OF THE TRAINER IN CREATING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
NEGATIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE IS AMPLIFIED BY AGING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
SELF-AWARENESS AND THE MASTERS ATHLETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
COACHING AND PROGRAMMING FOR WELLNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
CONSTANTLY VARIED FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS AT HIGH INTENSITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WELLNESS PROGRAMMING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
BIASING NEUROLOGICAL SKILLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
ASSIGN APPROPRIATE LOADS AND MOVEMENT COMPLEXITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
MANAGE THE REPETITION BUDGET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
THE DISEASED OR TERMINAL CLIENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
SAMPLE PROGRAMMING TEMPLATE FOR LATE WELLNESS ATHLETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
SAMPLE ON-RAMP PROGRAM FOR THE LATE UNFIT WELLNESS UNINJURED MASTERS
ATHLETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
COACHING AND PROGRAMMING FOR COMPETITION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
COACHING A MASTERS COMPETITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
COMMON MISTAKES AND PITFALLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
QUANTIFYING THE DEMANDS OF COMPETITION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
UNDERSTANDING THE RATE OF IMPROVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
LEARNING FROM THE DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
EARLY MASTERS (40-54 YEARS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
LATE MASTERS (55 YEARS PLUS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
PLAN THE COMPETITION YEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AND TRAIN ACCORDINGLY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
FOCUS ON BROAD SKILL DEVELOPMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
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STRENGTH TRAINING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
TYPICAL TRAINING DAY FOR AN ELITE COMPETITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
TARGETING WEAKNESSES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
INTENSITY VS VOLUME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
COMPETITION CONSIDERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
READY FOR COMPETITION? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
PROGRAMMING EXAMPLE – 4 WEEKS LEADING INTO THE
2015 CROSSFIT MASTERS GAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
SAMPLE TRAINING WEEK FOR AN EARLY MASTERS COMPETITOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
SAMPLE TRAINING WEEK FOR A LATE MASTERS COMPETITOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
TRAINING FOR QUALITY OF LIFE – THE STORY OF MICHAEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
EFFECTIVE SCALING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
MAKE THE ATHLETE SELF-SUFFICIENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
RECOMMENDED READING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
OLDER, WISER, FITTER BY MARTY CEJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
CROSSFIT AFTER 40 BY DR. ALLISON BELGER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
AGING, PERFORMANCE AND HEALTH BY LON KILGORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
FITNESS: A CHOICE FOR THE AGES BY LON KILGORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
“THE GIRLS” FOR GRANDMAS! BY GREG GLASSMAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SCALING CROSSFIT WORKOUTS BY JEREMY GORDON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
APPENDIX 1 - REFERENCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
GENERAL MASTERS REFERENCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
SCALING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
STORIES FROM THE COMMUNITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
BOOKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
RESEARCH & LITERATURE REVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
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Introduction Training Guide |
INTRODUCTION
Like it or not, we all get old, and we will all have to deal with the physiological and psy-
chological changes that are associated with the aging process. However, to a very large
extent we have control over the degree to which those changes impact our quality of
life because “we are only as old as we believe we are”. We have a very simple choice
between sedentary aging that involves a myriad of negative effects resulting from
inactivity, or active aging in which we can maintain a high quality of life and functionality
well into our elderly years. Coach Greg Glassman once stated that his greatest fear was
living a long life without the basic functionality to enjoy it, i.e. 100 years on the planet
where 40 of them require the support of others to perform basic daily tasks. That is a very
real prospect for the majority of humans in the western world, a later life that is marred
by ill-health and spent largely in the nursing home. Our greatest motivation as trainers
and coaches should be to not only extend the lives of our clients, but prevent a decline of
functionality with age. The goal is a life well lived.
Photo Credit: Wendy Swift
Attitude plays a huge role in determining the degree to which we remain active as we age,
and in turn our level of activity determines the degree to which we remain functional
across our lifespan. Contrary to previous belief that functional decline and illness were
unavoidable and predictable aspects of aging, the emerging research on fit older athletes
is clearly showing that not only do they live longer than a non-athletic population, they
also are healthier in later life with a lower prevalence of disease (Garatachea et al., 2014).
The research is catching up to what we have known in the CrossFit community for some
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time. It is the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, not age, that cause functional decline and ill-
ness, and quality of life is significantly better for those that remain fit and active through-
out the course of their lifespan (Wright, V.J. 2012). Becoming an athlete, and remaining an
athlete throughout life creates a “survival advantage” (Bauman et al., 2012).
This should be no surprise to the CrossFit trainer. Our definition of health is fitness across
age, or in more technical terms, increased work capacity across broad time and model
domains throughout life. The way we achieve this is by practicing constantly varied
functional movements at high intensity. Applying this to an older client should be no
problem because we use a principle of relative intensity where the stimulus is modi-
fied to match current levels of physical and psychological tolerance. This means that the
CrossFit program is universally scalable, i.e. anyone can do it, and everyone should do it,
especially your Grandma. As CrossFit continues to grow in popularity, the theory of univer-
sal scalability is being proven in practice as the average age of participants in the program
increases. We have a growing body of empirical data that shows that CrossFit applied with
appropriate scaling is a very effective method for training the older athlete, unlocking the
benefits of active aging. The CrossFit Games provides us with compelling data that older
athletes can get fitter and stronger despite getting older.
When kids started following their parents into CrossFit gyms it became readily apparent
they benefited most when the training program was adapted to their developmental
needs as a special population. This thinking was intuitive and lead to the very successful
creation of the CrossFit Kids program. It is well understood that kids are not just “little
adults” but rather have physiological and psychological differences to adults that the
trainer has to accommodate to ensure long term and best success in the program. The
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program does not need to change, but it does need to be adapted to be fully effective. It
is perhaps less intuitive, but equally true, that older adults are a similar special population
for similar reasons, i.e. they are physically and psychologically different to younger adults
and cannot be treated the same (Langer, 2015). Now that parents and grandparents are
following their kids into CrossFit gyms in large numbers, there are great benefits to trainer
and client alike to understand fully and address the needs of the older participant.
We coin the term Masters athlete to refer to the older adult client. We will define this term
in further detail in subsequent sections, but in essence we consider a Masters athlete to
be anyone older than 40 years of age. This is a general age when changes become more
apparent. For the purpose of this course we refer to athletes younger than 40 years as
Younger adults (or athletes). Trainers with limited experience with the Masters commu-
nity will often refer to younger adults as “Normal athletes”. This is an underlying prejudice
that we do not support. Masters athletes are normal athletes. We encourage trainers to
resist using or accepting any terminology that implies limitations.
It is important to recognize that Masters athletes come in all shapes and sizes, and therein
lies the specific challenge for the Trainer. Whereas kids follow a universal development
path of predictable ages and stages, older adults do not, and there are many situational
factors that cause variability between Masters athletes and also a lot of changeability in
the situational factors that define their needs. This means that training Masters athletes is
a complex endeavour because development is not linear, and without an understanding
of the variables involved success is left to chance.
The goal of this course is to provide a simple toolkit for CrossFit trainers to meet the chal-
lenge of coaching Masters athletes. CrossFit is a powerful tool to change people’s lives for
the better, and when applied well to a Masters athlete the effects are profound.
RE-DEFINING THE MASTERS ATHLETE

The picture of aging that is painted for us is that we hit the peak of our physical capacity
in our 20’s, start to decline noticeably in our mid to late 30’s, gain weight and become
sedentary in our 40’s, show signs of illness in our 50’s, lose independence in our 60’s,
finally becoming frail and decrepit in our 70’s if we happen to live that long. It is expected
that we will become ill and incapacitated as we get older, and we are told that age is a
major risk factor for the common diseases like coronary artery disease and diabetes. There
is a pervasive theme in the older medical literature that age-based decline is predictable
and inevitable. It is a bleak picture that unfortunately does become a reality for a large
number of people.
An Alternative View of Aging

There is an alternate view emerging in the more recent research that is significantly more
optimistic. There are biological and physiological changes that occur with aging but they
are not necessarily as limiting, nor as predictable as previously thought. Research into an
older athletic population as opposed to a sedentary population suggests that lifestyle
and exercise is a significant factor in successful aging (Langer, 2015). A high level of
fitness as we age attenuates a lot of the negative effects often associated with aging and
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leads to a significantly better quality of life in later years. In trained individuals, balance is
better and fall risk is lower (Rogers et al., 2013) which is a major factor in maintaining inde-
pendence. Major medical risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart dis-
ease, stroke and cancer are reduced (Reimers et al., 2012). Those that achieve a high level
of fitness and continue training achieve greater life overall life expectancy. An interesting
study into longevity of athletes found that Olympic Medallists that maintain fitness live on
average 8% longer than an untrained population, which equates to 2.8 years of extra life
(Bauman et al., 2012). For the non-elite, regular exercise across the lifespan reduces overall
mortality from all causes by 40-60% (Chugh et al., 2016). The benefits of physical training
for the older adult are profound. Age does not have to be synonymous with decline in
function or disease.
The findings in the recent research are consistent with the empirical data provided by
CrossFit community. Regardless of starting age, work capacity across broad time and
modal domains can be improved. The CrossFit Games provides compelling evidence that
despite getting older Masters athletes get stronger and fitter. The age-fitness paradigm
is changing as a result of better data and as CrossFit trainers we have every reason to
be optimistic when training Masters athletes. A life well lived is built on a foundation of
lifelong training. However, training a Masters athlete is not easy and the trainer can face
some significant challenges.
The complexity and challenge of training a Masters athlete arises because no two ath-
letes are the same. Grouping everyone over 40 years of age into the same category is not
particularly helpful as situational and lifestyle factors create a lot variability. Age by itself
is a poor way to define a Masters athlete, rather, we need to define a Masters athlete by
assessing four key variables that interact, and that when understood allow the trainer to
make effective coaching decisions specific to the individual. The complexities of training
Masters athletes can be made manageable simply by having a better way to classify them.
THE MASTERS QUADRANT

The four key variables that interact are Competitive Orientation, Age, Fitness Level and
Injury State, forming the foundation for the Masters Quadrant which precisely defines a
specific Masters athlete. By assessing the interaction of these four variables we can define
an Archetype for the athlete. The archetype is a simple and consistent way for the trainer
to categorize the Masters athlete. Each Archetype has specific needs that once under-
stood allow the trainer to adapt the training program and coaching style to maximise
effectiveness. Competitive Orientation and Age provide us with important information
regarding the optimal coaching interaction whereas Fitness Level and Injury State pro-
vide important information on how the program should be scaled. The combination of
the four identify 16 different archetypes that the trainer may encounter.
Assessing these four variables is consistent with what a good trainer will do with every
athlete, regardless of age, i.e., they are not specific to a Masters athlete. However, making
the assessment explicit and thinking in terms of archetypes is particularly useful for a
younger trainer that may not know where to start when faced with a Masters athlete.
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COMPETITIVE ORIENTATION FITNESS LEVEL

§§ Motivated by competition or general §§ As Prescribed (Rx)?
wellness? §§ Active or inactive?
§§ Performance focus or social interaction? §§ History of exercise?
§§ Likes to win? §§ Played sports?
AGE INJURY STATE

§§ How old is the athlete? §§ Any medical condition that is limiting?
§§ 40-54 years? §§ Current injury?
§§ 55+ years? §§ Underlying disease state?
§§ Any history of injury or disease?
Competitive Orientation
We identify competitive orientation by asking the question “what is your reason for
training?”. Based on the answer we can separate Masters athletes into either a Competitor
group or a Wellness group. Competitors are interested in competition and are motivated
by better performance results. The Wellness group are interested in regaining health and
fitness or maintaining quality of life. They are motivated by what they can do in the real
world and their level of health. The two groups have very different goals and therefore
require a different training approach. This distinction is more significant in the Masters
population than the general population. Where there is overlap, i.e. the individual states
that both are equally important, one goal will still take precedence over the other and will
be the primary driver of training behavior.
Age
We use chronological age to separate the Masters athletes into either an Early Masters
or Late Masters group. 55 years of age is used as an arbitrary point to separate the two
groups, and it works well in practice. Any athlete younger than 55 years is categorized
as an Early Masters. The athletes in this group tend to still have active family and work
responsibilities, and their lifestyle factors can be very similar to athletes younger than 40
years. In is not uncommon for Early Masters to consider themselves as “un-aged” and as
such still identify as a younger athlete, i.e. be in a state of denial, particularly for those in
the 40-44 year age bracket.
We categorize any athletes older than 55 years as Late Masters. Athletes in this group tend
to be at a stage of life that is distinctly different to the Early Masters group. They may be
semi-retired or retired, have grown up families, and the physiological and psychological
effects of aging are more noticeable beyond 55 years. The Late Master may also have
substantially more time for training and access to greater resources. For the competitive
Master, separating the groups at 55 years also aligns with the greater scaling typical in the
Open and Games, so this categorization is also helpful in terms of programming.
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Fitness Level
We can divide the Masters into Fit and Unfit groups based on their current level of con-
ditioning. Rather than thinking in terms of CrossFit’s definition of Fitness we are more
interested in simply determining whether they are deconditioned, to help estimate the
degree to which the program needs to be scaled and graduated. For someone presenting
to the gym for the first time, the key questions are; (1) “Are they currently exercising?”, (2)
“Do they have an active lifestyle?” (3) “Have they remained active during their life?” and (4)
“do they play sports?”. For an existing CrossFit athlete, the key questions include (5) “How
long have they been training?”, (6) “Are they returning from a break in training?” and (7)
“What workouts and movements can they perform as prescribed (Rx)?”
The starting level of fitness makes a big difference to degree to which the program
needs to be modified. The effects of being deconditioned have an amplified effect for
the Masters athlete. This means that as a general principle an older adult that is unfit
will need the program scaled to a greater degree, and will take longer to get fit, when
compared to a younger adult with the same degree of conditioning. This is an import-
ant thing for the coach to understand, and needs to be made explicit for younger
coaches that do not have first-hand experience training older deconditioned adults.
The unfit Masters athlete has a greater risk of injury if the training is not effectively scaled
and is more likely to give up on the program in the early stages as it can very quickly feel
overwhelming.
Compliance and progress are best, and risk factors are lowest, for a fit Masters athlete
with previous training history. There is a related dimension to fitness, which is the training
history of the athlete. For our purposes we include training history into our assessment
because those that have an extensive athletic or sporting history progress quicker and
have fewer problems beginning training. It is worth noting though that an unfit athlete
with previous sporting history or a lot of prior fitness can easily give up on the program
through frustration and unrealistic expectations (based on what they could do previously).
Injury State
The individual’s injury state is an important differentiator. We divide Masters into
Uninjured and Injured groups. We classify an athlete as uninjured if they have no physical
limitations. This is significant because uninjured athletes can be exposed to the full variety
of the program without compromise or modification. We classify an athlete as injured if
there is a medical condition that limits one or more aspects of the program. For an injured
athlete we need to understand the limitations and modify the program to accommodate
the injury state. Injury changes the risk profile of a Masters athlete (i.e. makes it higher risk)
and therefore needs to be carefully managed. We need to ensure that training does not
make the injury worse, and if possible, resolving the injury should be our highest priority.
An injured athlete may have an acute injury that will resolve in the short-term, a chronic
injury that will take time to resolve, or may have a disease or illness that may not resolve.
Even though these three are very different, from a practical perspective the trainer can
treat them all the same providing there is a clear understanding of what the limitations are
at any point in time. For the purpose of our assessment it is the limitation that is signifi-
cant not the condition. It is important for the trainer to remain objective and optimistic at
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all times irrespective of the nature of the injury state and work relentlessly to restore full
function.
An athlete that is diseased is a particular challenge for the trainer because the medical
condition may not resolve, or worse, may get more limiting with time due to the pro-
gression of the disease. There may be significant psychological and emotional factors as
a result of the disease, as well as side-effects of medication and contraindications due to
drug-related interactions with physical activity (Schetz et. al., 2015). For the diseased client
the trainer must walk a fine line between motivating the athlete to maintain as much
physical capacity as possible whilst not setting unrealistic expectations.
Injury state is not specific to Masters athletes, but applies to all athletes. We highlight it
as a specific variable to be considered to ensure that the trainer understands that when
faced with an injured Masters athlete a more conservative approach is required than
when dealing with a younger athlete.
In general, Masters athletes are already at a heightened risk of overuse injuries compared
to younger athletes due to changes in tissue quality with age (Langer, 2015). Injured
Masters have an even greater risk of developing secondary over-use injuries due their
limitations resulting in higher volume and frequency in the program for movements that
they can do, i.e. there is less variety compared to uninjured Masters. The trainer needs to
take this into consideration when modifying the program for an injured athlete.
It should also be noted that Masters athletes are at a heightened risk of re-injury. As
Langer (2015) notes “Fifty-two percent of the injured subjects … reported their current
diagnosis as an exacerbation of a previous problem. This raises an interesting consider-
ation: older adults, probably more so than younger adults, not only have to be cautious of
new injuries but also of their previous injuries”
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Using The Masters Quadrant Training Guide |
USING THE MASTERS QUADRANT TO GUIDE COACHING
ASSESSING THE MASTERS ATHLETE

Once we have classified the Masters athlete according to Competitive Orientation, Age,
Fitness and Injury State we can use the Master’s Quadrant as an assessment tool to iden-
tify the coaching priorities and risk factors for the archetype that defines the athlete. The
four variables in the Masters Quadrant gives us 16 permutations, i.e. 16 different arche-
types that have different coaching needs. Understanding the archetype allows the trainer
to adapt the program to the specific athlete without relying on just age as the guide. Two
athlete of the same age are likely to have very different needs and limitations and the
Masters Quadrant allows the trainer to cater for that.
Competitive
Age Fitness Level Injury State
Orientation
Competitor Early Fit Uninjured

Competitor Early Fit Injured
Competitor Early Unfit Uninjured
Competitor Early Unfit Injured
Competitor Late Fit Uninjured

Competitor Late Fit Injured
Competitor Late Unfit Uninjured
Competitor Late Unfit Injured
Wellness Early Fit Uninjured

Wellness Early Fit Injured
Wellness Early Unfit Uninjured
Wellness Early Unfit Injured
Wellness Late Fit Uninjured

Wellness Late Fit Injured
Wellness Late Unfit Uninjured
Wellness Late Unfit Injured
We can view the 16 archetypes as four main groups: Early Competitors, Late Competitors,
Early Wellness and Late Wellness. Within each group the specific variations are around
Fitness and Injury State.
KEY PRINCIPLES
The priorities in the Masters Quadrant are based on the following key principles:
• Resolving injury for an injured athlete, or maximizing functionality for a diseased

athlete, takes highest priority over anything else. Competitive goals should be put on
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Using The Masters Quadrant Training Guide |
hold until the athlete is uninjured. It should be obvious that competition places an
injured athlete at considerable risk
• Late Masters should have loads reduced and in some cases movements modified. The
CrossFit Games scaling provides a good guide for appropriate loads and movements
• An unfit early Masters athlete should be treated the same as a fit late Masters athlete,
i.e. being deconditioned effectively moves an athlete up into the higher age group in
terms of capacity
• Wellness athletes need a broad stimulus in order to achieve a broad fitness adaptation
bearing in mind that the goal is increased work capacity across broad time and modal
domains. It is a mistake to train a wellness athlete like a competitor
• Programming for competitors should be biased towards the skills that are most
commonly tested in competition, i.e. the stimulus needs to be narrower and targeted
It is important to understand that archetypes are not rigid. Over time the athlete may
change quadrants and the trainer needs to adapt accordingly. Athletes will move from
early to late age categories, competitive orientation may change back and forth, injuries
and illness can occur and also be resolved, and the athlete will move from unfit to fit with
training, but also a break in training can result in a fit athlete regressing to an unfit state. In
this regard, the Masters Quadrant is “fuzzy logic”, i.e. it is not a rigid model with set rules,
but rather a guide to point the trainer in the right direction when training a client for the
for first time, or when progress stalls. Whenever there is a change in situational factors the
Masters Quadrant can be used to re-assess where an athlete is at and adjust the program
accordingly. By making these re-assessments and adjustments the trainer is enabling the
athlete to continue training regardless of changes that occur with aging.
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Using The Masters Quadrant
Training Guide |
COMPETITIVE ORIENTATION FACTORS
Quadrant Wellness Competitor
Key Considerations §§ Goal is general health and wellbeing §§ Goal is improved competition ranking
§§ Social interaction is important and focus is on the leaderboard
§§ Key theme is quality of life §§ Being challenged is important
§§ May be overly concerned about safety §§ Key theme is winning (or beating
personal records) therefore improved
§§ Focus is personal improvement performance on repeated workouts is a
§§ Novelty of workouts is a motivator motivator
§§ May ignore safety seeking better
performance
Risk Factors §§ No specific risk categories §§ Risk of injury correlated with training
volume
§§ Competitive environment can lead to
risk taking
Coaching Priorities §§ Program consistent with what is §§ Programming biased towards

taught on the L1 for General Physical competition skills
Preparedness §§ Set goals relative to performance
§§ Crossfit.com is good guide, include a standards set by games data
lot of benchmarks, named and hero §§ Target younger age categories for
workouts to ensure broad stimulus and future performance goals
measureability of progress
§§ Variety is key
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Training Guide |
AGE FACTORS
Quadrant Early (40-54yrs) Late (55+ yrs)
Key Considerations §§ Mostly should be coached similar to a §§ A late Masters is prone to under-
younger adult reaching or under-estimating ability,
§§ An early Masters is prone to over- i.e. may have a false negative belief
reaching or over-estimating ability, i.e about their capacity
may have a false positive belief about §§ Learning Neurological skills may take
their capacity longer and require more frequent
§§ May be impatient or easily frustrated practice
§§ Look for “cherry picking” §§ Strength is harder to develop and may

be lost quicker with detraining
§§ Look for avoidance behaviours
Risk Factors §§ No specific risk factors §§ Reduced ability to handle Rx volume

and load
§§ More prone to injuries (particularly
over-use)
§§ Reduced mobility may make specific
movement patterns risky
Coaching Priorities §§ Work towards Rx §§ Overall volume and loads should be

§§ Find the balance between striving for scaled to approximately 70% of Rx
improvement and not over-reaching §§ Extra rest day per week protects
against over-use
§§ Incorporate odd objects to add
neurological challenge and real world
applicability
§§ Incorporate more partner WODs to
promote social interaction
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Training Guide |
FITNESS FACTORS
Quadrant Fit Unfit (deconditioned)
Key Considerations §§ Can be exposed to the full program §§ An unfit individual must be introduced
without limitation to the program gradually
§§ If they are fit but new to CrossFit §§ Work on initially establishing consistent
scale heavily and introduce intensity training habits before increasing the
gradually challenge
§§ May be impatient with technique work §§ The older the client the slower the start
§§ May over-reach
§§ May resist rest days
Risk Factors §§ Fit athletes are strong enough to hurt §§ Extreme soreness
themselves §§ Heightened injury risk particularly if
§§ May seek high volume at the expense mechanics are unsound
of intensity §§ Very easily demotivated
Coaching Priorities §§ Find the appropriate level of intensity §§ Follow the charter of Mechanics,
and motivate them accordingly Consistency then Intensity
§§ Ensure the athlete is exposed to a broad §§ Err on the side of less work
stimulus §§ Reclaiming the ability to perform
§§ Set goals that are related to intensity functional movements is the highest
§§ Watch for attempts to bias the “comfort priority
zone” §§ “Check in” daily
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Training Guide |
INJURY STATE FACTORS
Quadrant Uninjured Injured (or Diseased)
Key Considerations §§ Can be exposed to the full program §§ The program will need to be modified
without limitation to cater for the injury
§§ If diseased or chronically ill a clear
understanding of the symptoms and
contra-indications is required
Risk Factors §§ No specific risk factors §§ At risk of developing secondary over-

use injuries as a result of limited variety
in the program (due to movement
substitution leading to higher
repetition)
§§ Risk of re-injury is high
§§ For diseased clients, over-exertion may
result in the disease progressing
Coaching Priorities §§ Ensure that the athlete remains §§ Resolving the injury is the highest
uninjured through ongoing priority
technique development and sensible §§ If a competitor, place competitive goals
programming on hold until injury is resolved
§§ If chronic, refer to medical professional
§§ Set appropriate expectations regarding
timeframes
§§ Be conservative, do not make the
condition worse or inhibit recovery
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The Effects of Aging Training Guide |
THE EFFECTS OF AGING

The main premise of this course is that although we can’t stop getting older we can min-
imize the degree to which age-based changes limit our lives. Understanding the aging
process is the first step in learning what is possible for an older athlete. The trainer needs
to be well equipped with accurate information to promote successful aging and challenge
self-imposed limitations that the older client may place upon themselves. The trainer also
plays key role in breaking down societal prejudices in relation to Masters athletes and
physical training, and deep knowledge is essential to be successful in doing so.
If we look to the research on aging there is general agreement on the types of changes
that occur but less certainty about the timing and extent of the changes. We know that to
some extent the changes will happen to all of us, but not everyone is affected to the same
degree. Some people remain fit, healthy and functional well into old age whereas others
descend into decrepitude during middle age. What is clear, is that we share a common
goal which is to defy the aging process and push the changes associated with aging
as far as possible in the future. There is concord in the research that maximizing fitness
throughout the lifespan is the best defense against the effects of aging. This also makes
intuitive sense. The more work capacity that we have prior to middle age, the greater the
hedge we have against loss of capacity. The less initial work capacity we have, the more
obvious age based changes will be.
The Physiological effects of aging

•
Hormonal changes (testosterone, estrogen etc., menopause)
• Immune system changes (reduced function, inflammatory response)

• Musculoskeletal changes (mobility, osteoarthritic etc)
• Reduced stamina and cardiovascular respiratory endurance
• Reduced elasticity of skin and blood vessels
• Reduced capacity to recover from injury or illness decreases
The Psychological and Neurological effects of aging
•
Sensory-perceptual changes (hearing, taste, eyesight, thirst)
• Neurological capacity impaired (coordination, accuracy, agility, balance)

• Neurobiological changes (reduced neuroplasticity and ability to learn skills)
• Cognitive Changes (Increased problem solving skills, therefore over-thinking)
• Personality Changes (Seeking greater purpose to life)
• Social Changes (Family, Career)
The degree to which these changes result in functional decline is more a result of life-
style factors than age. It is most likely that the effects of aging are accelerated and ampli-
fied by poor lifestyle and/or inactivity. Individuals that have remained active, have good
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nutrition and avoid known risk factors (like smoking and alcohol) delay and minimize
the effects of aging. When we consider Masters Games athletes, the positive effects of
continued training are pronounced, therefore there is a strong argument for a healthy
and active lifestyle to delay and offset the effects of aging. The medical literature will
change over time with the inclusion of an ever growing CrossFit population that is health-
ier and fitter than their non-training peers.
What does this mean for the trainer? In an untrained or poor lifestyle client the trainer
needs to be sensitive to the above age-related changes and anticipate possible issues cre-
ated by those changes. However, in the trained client the changes will be less pronounced
and should be largely ignored unless there is an obvious limitation. Once again, it means
that age alone is a poor guide for the trainer and we should not assume functional
decline, but we must remain on the lookout for it.
COMMON MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE AGING ATHLETE

Myths and misconceptions about aging occur because of a sampling bias. Research into
the effects of aging is often based on a sedentary or diseased population and draws
conclusions that do not necessarily apply to a healthy and fit population. The trainer has
a responsibility to debunk the myths around aging and remove self-imposed obstacles to
fitness. We explore some of the commonly held myths below.
Myth #1: Older athletes cannot get stronger or improve their physical capacity
It is a common belief that with age you get weaker and lose capacity. It is implied that
older athletes cannot get stronger or improve their capacity. In the CrossFit Masters
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community, we have substantial empirical data that shows not only can strength and fit-
ness levels be maintained as you age, but also athletes can and do get stronger and fitter
as they age if training is maintained.
The research into Masters “athletes” is limited. Most research investigates a sedentary
population and draws the incorrect conclusion that strength and muscle mass declines
with age. Where Masters athletes have been studied, the research is often confounded
by a focus on endurance athletes that have not undertaken continued strength training.
However, if the research controls for a sedentary or endurance population and investi-
gates an athletic population that undertakes resistance training, the findings support the
notion that strength and muscle mass do not decline with age, but rather with inactivity
(Wroblewski et. al., 2011).
Beyond the research, and more usefully, the CrossFit Games provide us compelling
empirical data that is now longitudinal and presents a very different picture to the general
research view. We can show improvements in strength and physical capacity in athletes
that have competed in multiple age categories as we follow their competitive career. In
2011, Matt Swift lifted 245lbs (112kg) in the Thruster event at the Regionals aged 41 and
in 2015 at age 46 lifted 275lbs (125kg) in the Thruster event at the Games. That is a 10%
improvement despite being 5 years older and up an age category. As a similar com-
parison, Amanda Allen at age 40 lifted 150lbs (68kg) in the Thruster event at the 2011
Regionals and in 2015 lifted 165lbs (75kg) in the Thruster event at the Games at age 45.
That is a 10% improvement as well. This is real data that shows categorically that strength
and physical capacity can improve with training despite getting older. They are not iso-
lated data points, but rather represent a trend across Masters athletes competing in the
CrossFit Open, Masters Qualifiers and Games events longitudinally. The data is compelling.
When we look at data that takes into account athletes that train properly and continu-
ously, not only can older athletes improve their capacity, they can improve it significantly.
Myth #2: Older athletes should not train at intensity

Older adults are often told that low intensity training is most appropriate and to avoid
strenuous activity. A common piece of advice is “everything in moderation”. The miscon-
ception that older adults should not train with intensity seems to be based on a mis-
guided belief that intensity places the athlete at risk, more so than a younger athlete.
Intensity is important within our program because it is the independent variable most
commonly associated with maximizing the rate of return on favourable adaptation.
Another way of saying this is that intensity is the pathway to results, and that is true
independent of age. What makes intensity a safe prescription for an older adult is apply-
ing relative to the individual. Relative Intensity is defined as working to the boundary of
physical and psychological tolerance and not beyond. Relative Intensity administered
according to our charter of mechanics first, then consistency, then intensity mitigates
risk for an older athlete that is in good health.
Health conditions may alter and increase the risk profile but the same conditions pose
similar risk for a younger athlete in relation to intensity, i.e. it is the condition not the age
that creates the increased risk. Responsible training requires the training program to
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be modified to take into account any known contraindications associated with medical
conditions or disease states.
Strenuous exercise is associated with a transient elevation of the risk of sudden cardiac
death where there is underlying coronary artery disease. Any client with a heart condition,
or symptoms of a heart condition, should be referred to a suitably qualified medical pro-
fessional before undertaking training and the trainer should prescribe intensity in accor-
dance with the specific guidance provided. The guidance of prescribing relative intensity
is still the best guidance, even with a diseased client.
It is important to note that regular training also substantially reduces the risk of coronary
artery disease (Chugh et. al. , 2015). Regular strenuous exercise is safer than irregular
strenuous exercise. Where there is an irregular training pattern it is sensible to reduce
intensity until a regular training pattern is re-established. This is entirely consistent with
our charter of mechanic, consistency then intensity.
Injury rates in the Masters population are correlated more so with over-use than inten-
sity (Langer, 2015), and injury rates in trained Masters population are actually low and do
not increase with age (Ganse et.al., 2012). Intensity plays an important role in reducing
injury risk by the associated reduction in volume that is occurs with a relatively high
intensity training program. It is actually extremes of endurance exercise and prolonged
(or chronic) training that adversely affect the health of older athletes (Eijsvogels et. al,
2016). Providing it is appropriately prescribed, regular training with intensity is most
appropriate for older athletes (Fournier, 2012), promotes better bone density and lean
muscle mass (Gast et. al. 2013), and may minimize a decline in anaerobic work capacity as
we age (Reaburn & Dascombe, 2009)
Myth #3: Older athletes need a segmented program that is simpler and has reduced skill
demand (i.e. avoid complex gymnastics and weightlifting)
Older adults are often told by medical practitioners that the most appropriate form of
exercise is walking. Although this may be a good start for someone who has lived their life
on the couch there is no evidence to support the myth that older adults need simplified
exercise program.
CrossFit is unique in its ability to train the neurological components of fitness; coordina-
tion, accuracy, agility and balance. This is achieved by incorporating complex motor pat-
terns in the form of gymnastics and Olympic weightlifting. The benefits of neurological
cannot be overstated and the requirement to train these components does not diminish
with age, on the contrary, it becomes more essential. It is the case that older athletes, par-
ticularly late masters in the 55+ bracket, find neurological skills more challenging to learn,
but that is also precisely the reason that they need to be included in the program. The
teaching of complex skills may have to be adapted but they can and should be learned.
Everybody can learn gymnastics with appropriate scaling and everybody can learn the
Olympic lifts with appropriate loads. The CrossFit program does not need to be reduced
or segmented for an older athlete, it just needs to be appropriately scaled. Any limitation
in teaching a Masters athlete complex movements lies in the skill of the trainer, not in the
capacity of the client.
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Myth #4: Older athletes can’t train hard because they have diminished ability to recover
It is a common assumption by coaches and athletes alike that it is harder to recover as
you get older and therefore older athletes need less work and more recovery time. By
recovery, we mean the ability to return to a pre-exertion state within a training session, as
well as the ability to overcome the effects of fatigue between training sessions. In simple
terms, be ready to go again without performance being impaired.
The literature is inconclusive. Where there has been continuity of training, recovery only
diminishes in much later life (70 years+) consistent with decline in VO2max, but in sed-
entary masters the diminished recovery is significant and much earlier, suggesting that
lifestyle factors are more of a contributor to diminished recovery than age alone. Lifestyle
factors that inhibit recovery such as limited training time, work demands, poor sleep,
stress, inadequate nutrition, social commitments and alcohol etc. are probably more
prominent in the Masters population, and particularly so for the early Masters.
For most Masters, is very likely that the physiology can handle much more than their
lifestyle allows.
The key point is that it is convenient for Masters athletes to blame poor recovery on their
age but before accepting that ensure that they are doing the things that athletes need to
do in order to maximize recovery, e.g. sleep, proper nutrition, de-stress, active recovery
techniques etc. The trainer needs to address the negative feedback loop that the recovery
myth creates. The belief that age inhibits recovery leads to a lack of focus on recovery
which in turn leads to poor recovery.
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There are age-based biological changes that can inhibit recovery at a metabolic level
(Doering et. al., 2015), but we should ignore them as a perceived limiter. Masters athletes
can work hard, but to do so they need to do everything right with recovery strategies.
Whereas a younger athlete can make possibly tolerate a poor lifestyle and still recover, an
older athlete cannot.
Acknowledging the changes with age should only factor in to smart decisions when
programming and coaching, i.e. use less volume and higher quality work. From a coaching
perspective it is very important that you ensure that your athlete is doing everything
that they need to do to recover BEFORE you fall into the trap of blaming age for poor or
reduced recovery capacity.
Training attenuates the negative effects of sedentary aging

We accept some changes are inevitable, but we push them into the future with effective
and continuous training. We have an increasing amount of empirical data that suggests
that the limiting effects of aging can be delayed through CrossFit training. In the Level 1
course we discuss our definition of health as work capacity across broad time and modal
domains measured throughout life. CrossFit, defined as constantly varied functional
movements at high intensity creates a hedge, i.e. through training we elevate health
markers to well above average, so that with age they also decline at a slower rate and
remain to well above average at each point on the age continuum.
This is a “fountain of youth” effect and Masters athletes in general show a youthfulness
that does not match their age. The effect of training attenuating the negative effects of
aging is also well supported by research. Compared to their non-training peers, Masters
athletes display increased testosterone, lower blood pressure, increased cardiovascular
respiratory endurance (Hayes et. al., 2013), increased strength, greater muscle mass,
greater bone density (Powell, 2005), better mobility and balance, better spinal function
(Wright, 2012) and better brain function (Zhao et. al., 2016)
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Changing the Paradigm

CrossFit is changing the paradigm of what is possible for the older athlete and there is
no downside to being optimistic in our belief about the level of capacity that can be
developed by an older athlete. Apart from the data that we have gathered from the
CrossFit Games, we also have empirical data from long-term CrossFit athletes that have
trained continuously for 10 years and are now Masters age. Athletes like Nicole Carroll,
Annie Sakamoto, Lisa Ray, Jacinto Bonilla and Andy Hendel are powerful role models that
defy age. We surveyed 10 athletes in the community that had trained CrossFit continuously
for longer than 10 years, and are now Masters. The ages ranged from 40-58 years and all
but one train 4-5 sessions a week. 7 of the 10 report that they are still getting strength
PR’s (the other 3 said strength varied with frequency of training) and all had dramatically
improved Fran times. All said that they expected to do CrossFit for the rest of their life and
only 1 of the 10 thought they had peaked as an athlete (90% thought they hadn’t hit their
peak!). 6 of the 10 had achieved a PR for both a strength and a benchmark workout in the
last 12 months, whereas 9 out of 10 had achieved either a strength or a benchmark PR in
the last 12 months. That is significant, 60% had recently improved in both strength and
conditioning and 90% had recently improved in either strength or conditioning. 5 out of 10
said they were confident they could complete a marathon in less than 4 ½ hours without
any extra specific training and another 4 said they weren’t sure but they would give it a go.
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Only 1 wouldn’t attempt a marathon for fear on injury. This data is profound. It would be an
impressive sample if the average age was 20, but this is a group with an average age of 46.
Interestingly, 80% said that their primary motivator was wellness.
Use it or Lose it!

The reality is that it really is a case of “use it or lose it”, and in most cases, start using it
again and you get it back. A key factor in successful aging is being active, and the continu-
ity of training across the lifespan. We need to avoid sedentary aging at all costs in order
to avoid the negative effects of inactivity. This applies to all ages, but is especially import-
ant for an older adult.
There are substantial benefits to living the life of an athlete. Masters athletes with a his-
tory of training live longer and have a higher quality of life in later years. It is clear that the
more capacity you develop in earlier life the larger the hedge you have against lost capac-
ity in later life. This concept is an extension of the Sickness-Wellness-Fitness continuum
and consistent with what we teach on the CrossFit Level 1 Trainer course.
It is important that the trainer does everything possible to keep a Masters athlete training,
despite illness or injury (never stop training!) as well as motivating sedentary masters to
start training. Older adults that return to training in later life can regain significant
capacity. As noted by Langer (2015) “studies show that even individuals who have
previously been sedentary can significantly decrease their risk of serious illness and risk of
disability by starting a fitness program later in life.”
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It is easy to make false assumptions about the inevitability of decline with an older athlete,
but when we look past the effects of being inactive or having a poor lifestyle we see
significantly less effects of aging. We will all age, but how we age is a function of the
choices we make and the degree to which we continue to develop work capacity. As
trainers, we have the power to dramatically improve the quality of life of Masters athletes
through CrossFit.
The conclusion is obvious, be as fit as possible at every stage of life.
IMPLEMENTING AN EFFECTIVE MASTER’S PROGRAM WITHIN THE AFFILIATE

There are a lot of different ways to implement an effective Master’s program within an
affiliate environment. Just like the affiliate model itself, there is no right or wrong way
and we encourage variety and autonomy. Some affiliates treat Masters the same as any
other member. For example, at CrossFit Brisbane in Australia, Masters athletes train in the
general group classes and they only time that they are differentiated is during the Open
competition each year where the age categorization makes it obvious. Other Affiliates
have special classes and programming exclusive to Masters. An example of this is the
“Silvers Program” at CrossFit Innervate in Singapore. What is important is that the model
implemented matches the needs of both the affiliate and the members.
The simplest implementation is integrating the Masters athlete into the normal group
environment. This requires the gym to have an inclusive culture and for the trainers to be
skilled and effective at making ad-hoc scaling decisions. Most of the needs of a Masters
athlete can be accommodated through day to day scaling, and integrating into normal
classes is probably the most practical approach for a gym with a small number of older
athletes. The downside of this approach is that it can be demotivating and make the older
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athlete feel like they are an imposition. If this were there case it would be evidenced by
lower retention rates for Masters athletes compared to younger athletes.
The most effective implementation from the client’s perspective is likely one that caters
for the specific needs of the Masters by adjusting the class structure and programming to
suit. This could be through special classes on the timetable, special coaching or opportu-
nities for Masters to train together. The more the program and environment is modified to
cater for specific needs the more likely the affiliate is to grow a thriving Masters contin-
gent. To some extent, it is a case of “if you build it they will come”. Of course, you have to
want them to come in the first place.
Programming, Class Structure, Environment and Social Dynamic may all need to be
adjusted to build an environment that successfully supports the Masters athlete.
General class considerations

There are some general considerations when training Masters in a group or class
environment:
• Older athletes take longer to warm-up so will often require more time to be allocated
to body preparation and mobility prior to the class commencing, as well as more
gradual and lengthy warm-ups before the workout starts. It takes longer to get to
starting weights, and the warm-up sets will need to be more incremental in smaller
steps.
• Allocating more practice time for learning and revising skills is important. This can be
achieved through a greater number of repetitions and more frequent programming
of complex skills in warm-ups.
• The trainer should allow for hearing and eyesight decline. Don’t make assumptions
that your instructions are being heard or seen. It is common for Masters athletes
to have difficulty reading a whiteboard at distance. Low light and high noise
environments are particularly challenging with declines in hearing and eyesight.
• For some late Masters the sound of dropping barbells can cause ear drum pain and
softer matting may be required
• Consideration should be given to lowering music volume and using age-relevant

content
• It is not uncommon for late Masters to forget the names of exercises and need to be
reminded frequently. Workout instructions may need to be more comprehensive.
Be guided by the archetypes at your gym

Over time the trainer will encounter each of the archetypes in their gym and a key concept
is that as a coaching tool the Masters Quadrant provides a way to adapt to different ath-
letes and different stages for the same athlete over time. However, it is also likely that each
gym will have a particular bias towards a certain archetype. Some gyms may tend towards
a lot of late wellness Masters whereas others might be very good with early Masters com-
petitors. A lot of this is a reflection of the culture and demographics at the gym. Use the
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archetype bias to guide the decisions you make regarding how to implement a Masters
program. Match the culture of your gym and the bias of your programming to the arche-
types in your gym and you will have a recipe for ongoing success with Masters athletes.
Competitive orientation is probably the only archetype that needs to be accommodated

at the programming and/or class level because it is difficult to write programming that
caters for the needs of both the competitor and wellness Masters without compromising
the needs of both groups. If you have a lot of Masters athletes that are competitors, con-
sider running offering separate competition programming (i.e. separate the two compet-
itive orientation groups) with specific programming and classes. The other variables (Age,
Health and Fitness) can be accommodated on an individual level within the normal class
structure and programming.
Special classes and programming specific to masters

A key question is whether Masters should train in classes separate to younger adults. As
stated above, there is a strong argument for a separate program for Masters competitors
versus wellness clients. Serious competition training should be considered as a specializa-
tion within CrossFit. But, is there a valid argument for having separate classes and pro-
gramming for Masters in general?
Let’s consider the advantages and disadvantages of separate Masters classes and
programming.
Advantages:
•
Can promote a better social experience with a more relevant peer group
• Allows the environment to be tailored for a masters group

• Workouts can be programmed as Rx for Masters
• The class structure and format can be adjusted to suit an older athlete
• Can remove a lot of anxiety about fitting in
• Classes can move at a slower pace
• Can minimise over-reaching trying to match younger athletes
Disadvantages
•
Can promote the view that Masters are not normal
• Makes it hard to create friendships across different ages

• Can result in under-reaching due to a more relaxed group dynamic
• Setting Masters Rx can be a limiter
• Separating younger athletes eliminates mentoring opportunities
• Creates a lot more work for the coach
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Probably more important than class structure though is that the trainers have specific
skills for coaching masters and understand the challenges faced by a Masters athlete. The
right trainer will make any class structure work.
Managing Risk Factors associated with an older athlete

There are increased risk factors for Masters athletes that need to be managed by the
trainer. Some health issues are statistically more likely for 40+ athletes and significantly
increase in likelihood in the 55+ category. For example, incidence of sudden death from
cardiac arrest is significantly higher in people older than 35. The most common cause
is underlying Coronary Artery Disease which is more prevalent in people older than 50
(Chugh, 2015). Most sports-related sudden deaths from cardiac issues occur in middle age
(Marijon et. al., 2015). The risk is very real, although the general consensus in the medical
literature is that the benefits of exercise significantly outweigh the risks, and the risk is
highest in individuals that do not habitually train. A responsible trainer should recog-
nize the heightened risks and take any symptoms seriously. Warning signs should never
be ignored. It is also further support for our recommendation for careful application
of relative intensity and graduated introduction for deconditioned clients, because the
trainer cannot know whether there is an underlying medical condition. There is also a
greater likelihood of an older client being medicated and medication can produce unex-
pected side effects with physical exertion (Schetz et. al., 2015), and there is an increased
fall/trip risk in the elderly and fear of failing is a major psychological inhibitor to activity.
Some risks and health conditions are specific to the older female athlete. Menopause
creates a myriad of issues that vary in impact between individuals. Exercise is crucial to
minimize the symptoms of menopause (Mayo Clinic, 2016) but it can be difficult to stay
motivated during this transition and it is likely that there will be a transient decline in
performance until symptoms settle. Hot flashes are a common symptom and the trainer
needs to be sensitive to the impact that this has on the ability to cope with intensity. Older
female athletes that have had children may encounter pelvic floor issues that result in uri-
nary exertional incontinence when jumping, and in more serious cases the risk of vaginal
prolapse when undertaking load bearing exercises. Avoidance behaviour in relation to
jumping and running may indicate to the trainer that there is an underlying pelvic floor
issue that needs to be addressed. These issues should not be “normalized” and the trainer
has an important role in educating the client as to the risks and referring to an appropri-
ately qualified medical practitioner. Post-menopausal clients may also have reduced bone
density which places them at specific risk of stress fractures. This risk can be managed by
being conservative with loads and training volume. Where a medical condition is iden-
tified it is imperative that the client seeks appropriate medical care and that the trainer
operates within the guidance provided by the practitioner.
None of these issues are necessarily impediments to training providing the trainer is sen-
sitive and supportive, and adjusts the program accordingly. This does present a challenge
for a younger trainer that is unlikely to have any relevant first hand life experience and
may be oblivious to what the client is experiencing. The affiliate owner needs to under-
stand that an older athlete may be unwilling to confide in a younger trainer.
There is a heightened injury risk for a deconditioned athlete of any age, but significantly
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so for an older deconditioned athlete. Regular training and fitness decreases injury risk
(Tayrose et. al., 2015). It generally also takes does take longer to recover if injured making
the impact of injury greater. For some injuries, the older athlete is unable to recover at all.
For example, partial-tear rotator cuff injuries rarely heal in an older athlete (Tokish, 2014).
The trainer should work to avoid injury at all costs because a single injury may impact
the athlete’s ability to continue training. Whereas a young adult will readily “bounce
back” from injury, an older athlete will require significant hands-on management from the
trainer to recover from an injury. Due to the cost of injury, the trainer should always err on
the side of caution when there is any indication of injury state, i.e. where a younger athlete
may be able to train through pain, tightness or fatigue it is simply too risky to do so with
an older athlete. The Masters athlete will often be willing to take risks, but the trainer
has an important role in knowing when to rest.
Key information for the trainer in relation to managing risks:

•
Decreased mobility can expose the athlete to greater risk in certain movements
(e.g. Snatch) so therefore poor mobility should be a warning sign
• Rotator cuff injuries are very common and often idiopathic. Err on the side of less
overhead volume
• Achilles injuries are very common and risk of injuries to the feet increase with age
• Generally, risk increases as health and fitness decrease. Training in itself is the best
protection against risk factors providing it is implemented appropriately. The
importance of ongoing exercise is universally supported in the research.
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• The risk factors are best managed by introducing load and volume more gradually
than a younger athlete; ensuring consistent and regular training (irregular training
is a specific risk factor for cardiac risk factors) and avoiding any contraindicated
movements
• Mechanics, Consistency and Intensity is an effective charter for managing risks, with
the knowledge that intensity is more gradually applied than for a younger athlete.
Creating the right social dynamic

The social dynamic is a key factor in keeping masters motivated and engaged. To the
Masters athlete the social experience of training increases in importance with age
and there is a general shift away from an achievement focus to an enjoyment focus.
Celebrating success of the group becomes more important than celebrating individual
success and Masters athletes often feel a need to contribute back to the affiliate beyond
just paying fees, and you need to let them. It is important to promote social involvement
but to do that effectively social events need to be Masters friendly, i.e. venue and format
suitable for an older adult.
Bias practice time

When faced with challenges and new skills Masters often need to “try in private” and the
class schedule needs to allow for this. It is common for neurological skills to take a lot
longer to develop and providing private practice time can alleviate anxiety and stress.
Masters athletes may avoid skills that they are not good at and the trainer may need to
“schedule” practice of skills that are being avoided. Neurological skills can also be perish-
able for older athletes and lack of practice time can lead to loss of skill. This is not the case
for younger athletes. Each class should involve a period of dedicated practice as well as
the trainer actively encouraging the athlete to practice in their own time by setting home-
work between classes.
Typical Masters modifications

It is a reality, particularly for the late Masters athlete and/or the injured Masters athlete,
that some movements need to be avoided entirely and should be excluded from the
program. In these cases, movement substitution can be an effective way to preserve the
intended stimulus.
Examples of common limitations and movement substitution

•
Seriously limited ROM overhead -> replace Snatch with Split Snatch
• Rotator cuff tear that won’t resolve -> replace Kipping Pullups with Strict Ring Pull-up
• Knee and lower back pathology -> replace Back Squat with Box Squat using Safety Bar
• Kyphosis and hip issues -> replace Deadlift with Trap bar deadlift off blocks
• Lower leg and Achilles issues -> replace Box Jumps with Step ups and avoid Skipping
• Torn Bicep tendon -> change pull-up grip to underhand and avoid ring dips
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list but rather an example of how even the most
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deconditioned or physically limited athlete can continue to participate in the program

using clever substitutions.
The trainer should periodically re-assess whether substituted movements can be reintro-
duced to the program. The goal remains having the client undertake the full program if
possible with appropriate scaling, but both parties need to accept that in the case of unre-
solvable pathology or injury, reintroduction of some movements may never be possible.
Each case should be assessed on an individual basis. The trainer should be optimistic and
pragmatic in equal doses.
Implementation Ideas
•
Create a Masters group that comes together for weekly workouts and socializes
afterwards
• Host Masters only competitions

• Have a separate Masters record board or scoreboard
• Create a Masters blog and provide training information relevant for an older adult
• Run Masters only classes
• Employ coaches that specialize in Masters and make them the “go to” person for your
Masters clients
• Have a Masters competition squad that regularly trains together to practice

competition skills
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• Run Masters friendly social events

• Create Masters merchandise for your gym
• Run skills clinics specifically for Masters
• Write up Masters versions of the WOD with specific scaling similar to the open
The number of Master athletes that you train will probably be the most significant factor
in determining how you implement a program in your affiliate. There are many ways to
approach it but making the program accessible is the primary factor for success.
UNDERSTANDING THE MASTERS MINDSET

Mindset Training is an effective tool used by elite athletes to improve performance. In
essence it is about creating a mindset that supports success or positive outcomes. It
involves using mental skills to achieve a positive attitude and outlook, which then corre-
sponds to improved training and competition performance. An athlete with an effective
mindset thinks “I can and I will”.
Although typically associated with elite competitors, it is applicable and essential for all
Masters archetypes. Masters benefit greatly from mindset training, and the degree to
which the trainer develops mental skills is correlated to the degree of long term success
that they achieve with older clients. We argue that mindset training is even more import-
ant for an older athlete compared to someone younger because there are more psycho-
logical factors associated with age that the Masters athlete needs to deal with. A poor
mindset dramatically affects confidence and program adherence.
Trainer Skills
The trainer needs to develop effective coaching skills in four key areas:
Identifying Negative Self-talk

All athletes have an internal dialogue called self-talk. The trainer must be competent
in assessing whether or not the athlete’s self-talk is progressing them towards their
goal, or taking them further away from it, i.e. helping (positive) or hindering (nega-
tive). Simple checks include “does what you think make you feel the way you want to
feel?” and “does it help you to take the best action?” If it doesn’t, the trainer must be
skilled at creating and teaching a better mental dialogue.
Thought Stopping
Thought Stopping is a technique that trainers can teach their athletes to assist them
in breaking a negative self-talk cycle. It involves teaching the athlete to recognize
when their internal dialogue is negative self-talk and then using mental or physical
cues as a trigger to change the script.
Goal Setting
Setting relevant goals with appropriate time frames and clear milestones is an integral
part of building a strong mental game. The trainer plays an important and hands on
role in guiding the goal setting process.
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Anxiety Management
Managing anxiety in a Masters athlete requires the trainer to have experience in the
issues with which the Master’s athlete’s must contend. The trainer must be able to
clarify risk and reward, and adapt the program and the goals to the athlete’s risk pro-
file. Anxiety is discussed further below.
The anxious athlete

Masters may have higher anxiety levels than younger athletes, partly due to the fact
that there are more things to worry about (such as injury) and partly because they are a
minority group in the gym.
Some of the common anxieties are a heightened fear of injury, being overly concerned
about being a burden on the trainers and/or other clients, and being worried about not
fitting in or standing out from the group. They also have all of the usual anxieties that
athletes have in relation to worrying about poor performance and workout discomfort.
The challenging thing for the trainer is that to some extent the underlying fears of a
Masters athlete are real. There is a higher risk and consequence of injury, they do require
more time to be invested by the trainer and they initially do often stand out when first
joining the group. The trainer needs to acknowledge the concerns without being dis-
missive, and then provide the athlete with relaxation techniques to manage the anxiety
created by the concerns.
Failure to address anxiety can lead to avoidance behaviours and a self-limiting mindset,
particularly if anxiety about injury is not resolved. In some cases, it can lead to reckless-
ness through “acting out”. For example, if an older athlete is anxious about being a burden
that may not disclose injuries, or if they are worried about not fitting in they may over-
reach on weights to try to be the same as younger athletes.
A skilful trainer will look for sources of anxiety and address them before they become
limiting.
Self-limiting beliefs
Masters can be self-limiting due to errant beliefs about their physical capacity. Negative
Self-talk can be very loud for the Masters athlete but also very well disguised, i.e. they may
be very skilful at saying what the trainer wants to hear but internally thinking something
very different. It is not uncommon for late Masters to believe that they cannot improve
because they are too old. Likewise, you will often hear an early Masters say that it is not
possible to compete when you have family, life or work commitments. Both of those
things are self-imposed believes that inhibit progress.
This links back to the trainer’s skill at dealing with negative self-talk. What a Masters ath-
lete is saying to themselves must be identified and addressed if the athlete is to progress
in areas that do not come easily (e.g. Neurological skills).
There is often a “confirmation bias” where the athlete is more likely recognize evidence
that supports the negative beliefs that they hold and ignore evidence to the contrary.
There is also a feedback loop where the athlete doesn’t practice things that they believe
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they can’t do and therefore they remain unable to do them, which in turn then gets used
as evidence that they are not good at them. This occurs for athletes of all ages but it is very
common with Masters athletes.
Rigid thinking
A Masters athlete is likely to be more “set in their ways” compared to a younger athlete.
We refer to this as rigid thinking and in the training environment it presents as an unwill-
ingness to try new things. Often the older athlete will draw on significant prior experience
to form strong opinions about their own ability and potential. This can lead to conserva-
tism and reduced expectations. The trainer needs to understand how current attitude and
mindset is supported by previous experience, and provide new positive experiences that
challenge any self-limiting thinking.
Master’s athletes are also more likely to use vicarious experiences from their cohort to
support their beliefs. Said more simply, they will use other people of the same stage of life
as evidence of what is possible. This can be positive or negative depending on who they
use as role models. So it is important that they are exposed to similar aged role models
with greater physical capacity.
Previous negative experiences (injuries, failures, embarrassment etc.), either their own,
or those of others at the same stage of life, may limit the degree to which they apply
themselves.
Attitude to intensity
We have previously discussed the misconception that for a Masters athlete intensity
should be avoided. Barring specific health issues, all Masters athletes need to train with
relative intensity to unlock the full benefits of the program. Settling for “maintenance
training” is often an emotionally and socially safe approach for a Master’s athlete but not
in their best interests. Avoiding intensity is a trap for both the trainer and the athlete.
Intensity is still the most important variable in the program, but understand that the
trainer has a more difficult job in “selling” it to a Masters athlete because of the common
response of “I shouldn’t be pushing hard at my age”. This has to be overcome, because
an “Rx” mindset where the athlete strives to complete workouts as prescribed (no matter
how long it takes to get there or if they ever achieve it) and with the best possible per-
formance (trying to beat previous scores) is the pathway to continued success, regardless
of age. Being explicit with Mechanics-Consistency-Intensity as the charter for applying
intensity builds confidence because it guarantees that the athlete is kept safe and within
the boundaries of current capacity.
It is important to note that a younger trainer may often be prejudiced and not realize it,
i.e. may just “go through the motions” with an older athlete and not demand best effort.
Dealing with setbacks

Setbacks and injuries can have a more damaging impact on the Masters athlete ability
to continue training compared to a younger athlete. Any disruption in training requires
immediate attention and a plan delivered by the trainer to regain confidence and capacity
as soon as practical. A Masters athlete that suffers a setback will likely put on a brave face,
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but there will be a lot of doubt under the surface, particular if it is a repeat injury.
Injuries are critical times that can dramatically de-motivate a Masters athlete. There is
a critical window of opportunity following the setback where if the athlete is given
an effective plan motivation levels will be maintained. Missing the window can lead to
self-deselection from the program. It is very easy for an older athlete to give up if they
feel like they will not resolve their injury. The feeling of having to start all over again can
be overwhelming. The trainer’s encouragement and support is crucial to helping an older
athlete overcome a setback. It is vital that they remain connected to the group as much
as possible, the longer they are isolated from the group setting the more likely they are
to give up. Factor this in to any management plan and try to keep the training routine as
normal as possible. For example, performing their rehabilitation program in the class is
significantly better than doing it in their own time. The social connection of the group is a
powerful offset to any setback.
Role of the trainer in creating a positive attitude

The trainer tips the balance in creating a positive attitude and mindset training should be
a natural part of all coaching interactions. The trainer has an important role in resetting
expectations regarding what is possible, and the stoicism, optimism and positivity
brought to the table by the trainer is critical in keeping a Masters athlete striving for
improvement and progressing through setbacks.
Mindset training should be part of each training day and the trainer should check in
frequently with a Masters athlete, ideally at every training session. At every opportunity,
an effective trainer will be encouraging, motivating, challenging thinking and resetting
expectations. The trainer also needs to be prepared to revisit the same problems over
and over again, which is a normal pattern for a Masters athlete, and very similar to train-
ing kids.
Negative mental attitude is amplified by aging

A negative mental attitude interacts with age-related changes in a powerful way to under-
mine performance. The effect is that age-related physical decline in performance is
multiplied by mindset decline. It is possible for a Masters athlete to continue to maximize
performance within the physiology they have maintained. However, if they adjust their
mindset to accept age-related decline (i.e. believe they are declining) this can accelerate
the decline dramatically. This is why the trainer MUST coach mindset in the aging athlete.
A negative, and not uncommon mental attitude of “I believe I can’t because I am getting
older” places significant limitations on what is possible, and the effect is exponential. Elite
Sport Psychologist and CrossFit trainer Wendy Swift explains the potential impact of this
multiplier effect using a numerical factor model as follows:
“On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being best possible and 5 being worst possible, if the athlete has
a physiological decline factor of 2 (average decline with age), but mindset factor of 1 (pos-
itive mental attitude) the net effect is that their performance will decline at a rate of 2x1=
2. If the same athlete has a mindset factor of 5 (negative mental attitude) their perfor-
mance will decline at a rate of 2x5=10, or 5 times more dramatically. Compare to an athlete
that has a physiological decline of 4 (accelerated decline because they are diseased) but
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a mindset factor of 1 (positive mental attitude) their relative performance will decline at a
rate of 4x1=4.”
This numerical model is just for illustration, in reality it is not that simple nor predictable.
However the concept is important to understand, for a Masters athlete a negative mental
attitude can be an accelerator of negative aging effects if left unchecked.
Self-awareness and the Masters athlete

The trainer will encounter Masters athletes that have poor self-awareness as a result of
being in denial or delusion about their age and level of aging. It is important that the ath-
lete has an honest and accurate understanding of their current physical state in order to
scale effectively, but that can be hard to achieve, especially for early Masters that may be
living in the past and not willing to accept that they are older. This can also be significant
for anyone with prior sporting experience or fitness that is returning to training after an
extended break. Such athletes may have a false belief about their ability.
Masters athletes that have a false positive belief about themselves and their capacity are
more likely to be injured from over-reaching. Masters athletes with false negative belief
about themselves and their capacity are less likely to progress from under-reaching. It is
the role of the trainer to ensure that the athlete has true beliefs about their potential and
physical capacity, therefore creating a foundation for success with the program.
FALSE POSITIVE BELIEF TRUE POSITIVE BELIEF

§§ Believe they are better than they are §§ Believe they have good capacity and they
§§ Make reckless scaling decisions do
§§ Set goals that are out of reach §§ Set big goals but they are realistic
§§ Perceive themselves as “un-aged” §§ Know they have aged but are not limited
by any self-limiting belief
FALSE NEGATIVE BELIEF TRUE NEGATIVE BELIEF

§§ Believe they are worse than they are §§ Believe they have limitations and they do
§§ Over-scale and under-reach §§ Are realistic about their limitations and
§§ Do not set goals, content with scale well
maintenance training §§ Have come to terms with the fact that they
§§ Make limited progress, belief they are “too have aged
old” to get better
In regards to Masters mindset, the major takeaway is that the trainer plays an important
role in allaying the fears of a Masters athlete and creating a mental platform for
success, based on true beliefs. To effectively coach older adults, the trainer should
engage on a more “cerebral” level and include mindset training to create a positive mental
attitude. A greater awareness of the typical thought processes of a Masters athlete will set
the trainer up for greater long-term success.
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COACHING AND PROGRAMMING FOR WELLNESS
Constantly varied functional movements at high intensity

Programming for a Masters wellness athlete is very similar to the programming we use for
a younger athlete. Both require constantly varied functional movements at high inten-
sity. Both are training for life’s demands, and both require a broad and inclusive fitness.
Specific programming is not necessarily any more effective than scaling crossfit.com style
programming on an ad-hoc basis. If there are a large number of Masters athletes, provid-
ing “Masters friendly” programming that is pre-scaled for the group may be more efficient
than dealing with scaling on an individual basis.
General considerations for Wellness Programming

•
Increased variety lends itself to higher enjoyment levels, particularly in the late
Masters group
• Skill development requires greater frequency of practice in an older athlete, add

regular skills practice to warmups
• Movement substitution may be required for an injured or diseased, i.e. some

movements may never be achievable or in the athlete’s best interest. Don’t be a slave
to the program, make sensible adjustments
• More frequent strength training can be effective in offsetting age related loss of lean
body mass
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• Using odd objects and variations in equipment can increase neurological challenge
without increasing technical demands
• Training should be an enjoyable social experience

Biasing Neurological Skills
Neurological skills can be a challenge for Masters athletes. Biasing the program to include
more demands on coordination, accuracy, agility and balance can be of great benefit.
Every session should include a challenge to neurological skills. Do not avoid complex
movements despite the fact that they can be very difficult to teach to an older athlete.
Complex skills are an essential part of the program, just ensure that they are correctly
scaled.
Masters athletes may push back on complex movements or get frustrated. The trainer
needs to find ways to motivate them. The neurological skill development must be
non-negotiable. You wouldn’t allow a kid to avoid the things that are good for them and
neither should you allow an older adult do the same. The trainer must set the program
and not budge. Include everything and scale to ability.
Assign appropriate loads and movement complexity

As a general guide, early Masters should work towards Rx weights as posted on crossfit.
com. Late masters should typically be scaled to 70-80% of standard Rx loads. This should
be thought of as a continuum and adjusted accordingly based on individual capacity. The
over-arching principle is that scaling chosen should be to make the workout accessible,
not to make it easy. The prescription, Rx or otherwise, should never be a limiter.
Setting a separate “Masters Rx” prescription for the workouts that are programmed for
your gym can be very motivating to the Masters athlete, allowing them to compare scores
with their peers. However, a word of caution, it is a slippery slope once you start defining
scaled versions of workouts as Rx for a particular population. It is easy for the trainer to
make the mistake of under-estimating what the older adult can achieve physically. Setting
Rx is also setting an upper boundary, i.e. it becomes a limiter. It is always better to have a
harder prescription that can be scaled down than an easy prescription that undermines
development.
Manage the repetition budget

Masters athletes are more susceptible to overuse injuries. An effective way to prevent this
from occurring is to identify high risk movements (say pull-ups, overhead pressing and
box jumps for example) and assign a weekly “budget” of repetitions. The programming
is then written to never exceed the budget. For example, a weekly budget of 150-200
reps for pull-up is reasonable to minimize the risk of developing tennis elbow. If Fran is
programmed early in the week (45 reps) and Angie later in the week (100 reps), plus 3 sets
of 10 programmed in a warm-up mid-week (30), the athlete has completed 175 reps for
the week which is in the “safe” zone. If another pull-up workout was programmed, or if
they were doing pull-up practice every day in addition, the budget is exceeded and the
client is at greater risk of over-use injuries. Being dramatically under-budget is also not
ideal as it can set the client up for excessive soreness and muscle damage when they are
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next programmed due to a lack of conditioning. The budget is a very effective way for the
trainer to keep track of the overall volume programmed for high risk movements.
The diseased or terminal client

The diseased client is the exception to the rule, in that intensity may have to be reduced
and even removed from the program in order to not exacerbate symptoms. This is gener-
ally the case for illnesses that supress the immune system or where drug therapy interacts
with exercise in a negative way, but is a relevant consideration for all diseased clients. The
impact of training on wellbeing needs to be closely monitored and intensity racheted
down accordingly. It is outside the trainer’s scope of practice to make any recommenda-
tions in relation to the treatment of disease or drug therapies. Therefore it is imperative
that the trainer seeks direct guidance from the medical team in relation to any potential
contraindications to exercise. The trainer needs to understand that the highest priority for
the diseased client is finding the balance between maintaining functionality whilst not
accelerating the progression of the disease.
Continuity of training can have a hugely positive impact on mental health, particularly if
the client is terminal. The trainer needs to be flexible in the programming approach and
recognize that the scaling may change on a daily basis with the ups and downs of the
disease. In some situations, just turning up to the gym and socializing may be as much
as the client can handle. For the diseased client, any positive effect is valuable so modify
the program as much as required. Every case is different and needs to be evaluated on its
merits.
Sample Programming Template for Late Wellness Athlete

•
Train 3 days on and 1 day off
• Warm-up includes mobility, balance, skill practice and movement revision

• More frequent strength but less volume
• WOD scaled to approximately 70% of Rx
• Consider an extra rest day
• Include a lot of benchmarks, scaled hero WODs and partner WODS
• Incorporate odd objects
• Allow a lot of warm-up time
• Every training day needs a neurological challenge
Sample On-Ramp Program for the Late Unfit Wellness Uninjured Masters Athlete
The on-ramp program for a Masters athlete is similar in concept to a younger adult client.
However, it differs in that it takes longer (i.e. it is more graduated); the complex skills are
broken down even further into simpler steps that have higher repetition before pro-
gressing; strength training is undertaken each session; and there is a greater inclusion of
practice time for neurological skills.
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For a Masters athlete there needs to be a much slower introduction of dynamic skills,
noting that the more dynamic the movement the greater the risk of injury (and prob-
ably less the enjoyment factor), particularly if the client has a history of injury or is
deconditioned.
We present below general principles of responsible coaching and stress that should be
the foundation for the onramp program design:
• Slow before fast (e.g. overhead squat before snatch)

• Bodyweight before load (e.g. air squat before loaded front squat)
• Static before dynamic (e.g. push-up hold before push-up)
• Simple before complex (e.g. deadlift before kettlebell swing)
• Strength before speed (e.g. ring rows before jumping pull-ups)
• Balance before movement (e.g. balance on one leg before step-up)
• Positional control before increasing range of motion (ROM) (e.g. correct hip hinge
in hang position before working from the floor)
These principles should apply to everyone anyway, but with a Masters athlete there is a
strong argument for being more systematic and conservative in their application. If you
violate these principles with a younger athlete probably nothing is going to happen, but
break the rules regularly with a Masters athlete and you are likely to break them as well.
We present a 12 week, 3 day onramp program as an example of how to responsibly pre-

pare a late masters unfit wellness client for the group environment:
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The Effects of Aging
Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
WEEK 1 Teaching Point Teaching Point Teaching Point

Squat Tour of the gym, where Whiteboard/Brief – what How to record scores
things are happens at the start of
Pushup Warmup
a class
Warmup Row 3 mins
Fast pace walk/jog 300m Warmup Balancing on 1 leg –
Dynamic warmup: wrist Star jumps (practice spotted practice for 3
circles, shoulder circles, landing position first), mins
hip circles, bow and mountain climbers (step
Skills
bend, torso rotations leg in rather than jump),
Squat and pushup
etc. inchworms
revision/practice
Skills Skills
Strength
Squat Rowing technique,
Plank Hold (incline if
Ab mat sit-up stages of stroke (catch,
needed) 3x30 secs
drive, recover)
Workout Pushup, including how Workout
Airbike 1 min on/1 min to build strength using
off for 3 rounds 7 min AMRAP
slow lower and how to Row 200m
scale a workout with an 7 Squats
incline 7 Abmat Sit-ups
Strength/ Workout
5x3 quality pushups
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Press How to pack up after a Stretches you can do at What are benchmark
class. home; samson stretch, workouts
Pullup Jumping mechanics – hamstring stretch
Warmup
what we are looking for
Hip Extension Warmup Single skips with a rope
Warmup Bike 3 mins 2-3 mins
In place: Arm circles; coordinate
Skills
Bunny hops arms going different
Hip extension – start
Lunges – hold on to directions (one forward/
with a superman, prog-
wall if needed. Knee to one back)
ress if showing capacity
abmat Leg swings (holding
Broad jumps. onto wall), keep hips Workout
Focus on jumping straight Prowler push or sled
mechanics, landing in drag 3x100ft
Skills
good position
Pull-up: scaling options
Skills and how to build
Press strength
Workout Workout
Row 3x250m 5 rounds for time:
Rest as needed between 5 pushups
efforts 5 squats
5 ab mat sit-up
(increase to 10 reps if
able)
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Deadlift How to load a barbell: What is midline stability, Nutrition intro – explain
plate order, clips, remov- what does it look like the prescription.
Step Up (Box Jump) ing plates etc Emphasise eating real
Warmup food
GHD Situp Warmup Fast pace walk/jog 400m
Leg swings x 20 each Dynamic warmup: wrist Warmup
side circles, shoulder circles, Single skips with a rope
Inchworm x 5 hip circles, bow and 2-3 mins
Glute bridge x 10 bend, torso rotations, Active hang on bar or in
Broomstick good morn- lunges ring row position 20 secs
ings x 10 Kipping swing x 20 (with
Skills feet on box – open/close
Skills Step Up (Box Jump) shoulder)
Deadlift
Strength Skills
Strength/Workout Hip extension 3x10 (add GHD Situp (static hold
Press 5x5 load if competent) on GHD)*
Workout *scale to v-sits/h-sits if
Tabata mashup (4 each) needed
squat Strength
ab mat situp Pull-up 5x3 (work as
slow lower or banded
pullup or ring row if
necessary)
Workout
500m Row TT
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Front Squat How to safely bail on Lifting etiquette; where Post workout nutrition;
a front squat, practice not to stand when why it’s important to
Push Press doing this someone is lifting refuel after a workout
weight
Warmup Warmup
Samson stretch 30 sec Warmup 3 rounds:
each side Junk yard dog (scale Active hang on bar or in
Squat therapy height of jump) ring row position 20 secs
Front rack mobility Over unders (can be Pushup plus x 10
2 rounds done with a broomstick Hip extension x 10
Jumping pullups x 10 rather than a partner if
Skills
Pushups x 10 needed)
Thruster
Squat x 10
Skills
Strength
Skills Push Press
Plank Hold 3xME (incline
Front Squat
Workout if needed)
Strength/ Workout 4 rounds:
Workout
Deadlift 5x5 5 DB Press
Mini Nicole
7 Ab mat situps
10 min AMRAP
10 Box jumps
Run 200m
Max effort jumping
pull-up*
*emphasise stop before
failure
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

SDHP How to safely lose a bar What is crossfit.com and Open gym and practice
from overhead what kind of information time, what are the best
OH Squat can you find there things to practice out-
Warmup side of class
Skipping Dynamic warmup: wrist Warmup
circles, shoulder circles, Balance beam – walking Warmup
hip circles, bow and along a straight line Ankle mobility 2 mins
bend, torso rotations, (chalk), bend and pick each side
lunge and twist up objects as you go 3 rounds:
Push press progression Bear crawl length of gym Hollow hold 10-20 secs
Star jumps x 30 Squat hold 10-20 secs
Skills Active hang (bar or
SDHP Skills rings) 10-20 secs
OH Squat
Workout Mountain climbers x 10
Push Press Strength Skills
5x2 Front Squat Skipping – double
3x3 unders
Workout Strength
Diane Thruster
21-15-9 4x4
Deadlift
Push-ups Workout
Half Annie
25-20-15-10-5
Double Unders (or
singles)
Sit-ups
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Back Squat How to spot other lifters Shoes. Why do people Different priority work-
wear different shoes for outs, time vs task.
Push Jerk Warmup different workouts
Hip mobility – banded Warmup
Samson stretch, pigeon Warmup Junk yard dog (scale
stretch Banded shoulder dis- height of jump)
Squat therapy traction x 1 min per side Over unders (can be
2 rounds: done with a broomstick
Skills Pushup x 10 rather than a partner if
Back Squat Pullup x 10 needed)
Workout 1 legged squat to a box
Skills
Fran x 10
Push Jerk progression
21-15-9 Skills
Thruster Workout/Strength
Push Jerk progression
Pullup SDHP 5x3
Strength
OH Squat 5x3
Workout
500m row TT (retest)

MB Clean How to keep track of Rest days. Why are they How to clean up if you
reps in a workout important. bleed accidentally (ie
KB Swing shins on a deadlift)
Warmup Warmup
Length of gym floor: Dynamic warmup: wrist Warmup/Skills
Bunny hops circles, shoulder circles, Med Ball Clean
Lunges – deep as hip circles, bow and progression
possible bend, torso rotations
Strength
Broad jumps Broomstick warmup:
Warmup to a heavy set
(rest as needed Press x 5
of 2 OH squat
throughout) Push press x 5
Jerk lands x 5 Workout
Skills Push Jerk x 5 Mini Nancy
MB Clean progression
3 rounds for time
Skills
Strength Run 400m
KB Swing
Back Squat 5x5 15 OH Squats*
Strength/Workout *taken from the rack
Workout Push Jerk 7x2
Tabata Mash Up (4 each)
SDHP
Box Jumps (step up)
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Clean What is the difference Intensity. What is it, why Variance. It’s important
between Olympic is it important not to cherry pick. How
Rope Pull (Climb) Weightlifting and Power to work on weaknesses.
Warmup
Lifting movements
Jog 400m course Warmup
Warmup/Skills Partner med ball throw/
Skills
Med ball clean review catch
Clean progression with a Partner med ball situps
Strength/Strength broomstick: Review broomstick clean
Rope pull-to-stand Dip drive x 5 progression
(climb) Dip drive shrug x 5
Dip drive shrug + high Skills
Workout elbows x 5 Wall Ball
5 rounds for time of: High elbows + drop
10 Med Ball Clean Strength/Workout
under x 5
5 Push Jerk Hang Power Clean 7x2
Hang Clean x 5
Clean x 5
Workout
Helen
3RFT
Run 400m*
12 Pullups
21 KB Swings
*scale to 200m if needed
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Snatch Key positions in Olympic Mental state during Scaling. How we scale
weightlifting, the 3 pulls workouts, things to workouts, how we main-
Farmers Carry – what are they think about. How to stay tain the stimulus.
positive.
Warmup Warmup/skills
Junk yard dog (scale Warmup Broomstick clean
height of jump) Running drills: progression
Over unders (can be High knees
Strength
done with a broomstick Butt kicks
Hang Clean 5x3
rather than a partner if Karaoke
needed) Side steps Workout
Take off drills Karen
Skills
150 Wall Balls for time*
Snatch – Burgener Skills
*scale number as
Warm-up Farmers Carry
needed – talk through
Strength/Workout Strength the process
Back Squat 5x5 Rope Pull (climb)
5 climbs halfway up OR
10 rope pull-to-stand
Workout
800m Run TT
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Handstand (Progression) Breathing/bracing How to spot a bench CrossFit as a sport, what
during a “gassy” workout press is the Open
Burpee
Warmup Warmup Warmup
Dynamic warmup: wrist Burgener Warmup Hollow Body/Superman
circles, shoulder circles, Dead bugs
Skills
hip circles, bow and
Bench Press Skills
bend, torso rotations
Handstand (progression
Broomstick Clean & Jerk Strength – feet on box etc)
warmup Power Snatch 5x3
Strength/ Workout
Skills Workout 3 x 100m Farmer Carry
Burpee 4 rounds for time: Rest as needed between
10 Pull-ups
Strength efforts
10 Burpees
Clean & Jerk 2RM
Workout
Grace
30 reps for time
Clean & Jerk
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Split Jerk How to look after your Barbell cycling in a work- Trust your coaches.
hands out, how to regather Always ask for help if
Toes to bar (Hang Knee hook grip you’re unsure. Things
Raise) Warmup you should tell your
Handstand hold (or Warmup coach – injury/illness etc
progression with feet on Burgener Warmup
a box) Warmup
Skills
Shoulder taps in pushup Broomstick front squat
Toes to Bar (hanging
plank x 20 x 10
knee raise)
Pushup plus x 10 Broomstick push press
Pushup with t-rotation Strength x 10
x 10 Snatch – build up to a Broomstick thruster x 10
heavy set of 2 Pullups x 10
Skills
Split Jerk progression Workout Skills
Isabel Ring Support/Ring Dip
Strength/Workout
30 reps of power snatch and Scaling
Bench Press 5x5
for time
Strength
Split Jerk 5x2
Workout
Elizabeth
21-15-9
Clean
Ring dip (dip scaling)
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Training Guide |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Mobility: why it’s What a typical class will Fast transitions during a
important. What you be like. What to expect workout
can do at home/in open
Warmup Warmup
gym
Clean and jerk broom- Row 3 mins
Warmup stick progression Dynamic warmup: wrist
Balance beam retest – circles, shoulder circles,
Skills
walking along a straight hip circles, bow and
Muscle up progression
line (chalk), bend and bend, torso rotations
pick up objects as you Strength/ Workout Skills
go Clean & Split Jerk Movement review/set-
Bear crawl length of gym 5x2 ting up for the workout
Star jumps x 30
Workout
Skills
Fight Gone Bad
Thruster – efficient
** Graduate to groups
cycling
Strength
Deadlift
5x3
Workout
Jackie
For time:
Row 1000m
50 Thrusters
30 Pullups
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COACHING AND PROGRAMMING FOR COMPETITION
Photo Credit: Ross Forte

Competition has specific demands that are different to training for wellness. It is import-
ant that the training program for a Masters competitor be specific to the likely demands of
competition. It is not enough to simply be fit, to be successful in competition the Masters
athlete needs capacity relevant to what is tested and needs a specific skill base. In this
regard, competition training is a subset of the CrossFit program.
Coaching a Masters Competitor

Coaching a Masters competitor is significantly different to coaching a younger athlete.
The trainer needs to understand that there is going to be more variability across the years
and the Masters competitor is unlikely to have a steady incremental competitive career.
Rather, it will fluctuate around other things happening in the athlete’s life.
Younger athletes develop in a very linear fashion and have incremental improvement in
competitive results until they peak and then tend to step back from competing. Masters
athletes have life responsibilities that impact the ability to develop linearly over the years
and it is much more likely that there will be peaks and troughs in motivation and training
availability. The coach should not expect that each year will develop incrementally on
the previous one.
If you look at competition results from the CrossFit Games it is common to see athletes
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perform very well one year, not even do the Open the following year but then pop up
back on the scene the following year. A Masters coach needs to be sensitive to this and
factor the potential for variability into the long term planning and goal setting.
Common mistakes and pitfalls

•
Treating the Masters athlete like a younger competitor and copying what the elites
are doing
• Too much volume

• Focusing just on the physical and ignoring mental or competition skills
• Training for last year’s performance level
• Assuming that things won’t be tested because they are not deemed appropriate
• Not being honest about judging standards and allowing poor ROM in training
Quantifying the demands of competition
It is important to quantify the skills and capacity required and then train to meet those
requirements. Training should not be open-ended (although it often is for a Masters
athlete). There is a tendency to the Masters athlete to show high effort but low focus or
specificity. Quantifying the requirements allows training to be structured and targeted.
The Games provides a very useful dataset - use it!
Things that the trainer needs to consider:

•
What are the most commonly tested skills?
• How strong is strong enough?

• What workout performance is required to quality?
• How much gymnastics capacity is required?
• What other capacity is required?
• What are the demands on backing up and quick recovery?
• How fast does my athlete need to be able to cycle reps?
This is not an exhaustive list, merely indicative of the types of questions that the trainer
needs to consider in relation to preparing an athlete for competition.
Understanding the rate of improvement

When we look to more established sports like track and field there is a clear trend that
Masters performance improves progressively and continuously, with each age category
moving towards the performance of the younger categories. Where world records in the
open-age category start to stagnate, performance in Masters continues to improve (Akkari
et. al., 2015). CrossFit competition is following the same trend and the competitive Masters
athlete should always be chasing the performance of the younger categories. A simple
way of saying this is that each year, to remain competitive, a Masters athlete needs to be
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Training Guide |
able to match the performance from the previous year of the age category below them. It
is a reasonable for the trainer to assume that for the athlete to maintain ranking they need
to be at least 5% better than last year, and to improve their ranking they need to be 7-10%
better.
Comparison of results from Open Workout 14.2 and 15.2 for each age group, men and
women.
Scores for 1st place and 20th place in each age group were examined for 14.2 and 15.2.
The difference in scores between 2014 and 2015 for each category was calculated to give a
percentage increase. Note that figures were rounded to the nearest whole %.
Age Percentage increase from 14.2 to 15.2 for 1st Percentage increase from 14.2 to 15.2 for 20th
Group place place
Men Women Men Women
40-44yrs 9% 23% 6% 6%
45-49yrs 20% 22% 5% 32%
50-54yrs 23% 11% 28% 7%
55-59yrs 8% 30% 8% 12%
60+yrs 60%* 22% 7% 14%
*Pool of athletes was very small in 2014 for this age group, which may explain the huge increase in performance
Winning men’s scores for 15.2 for each age bracket, represented as a percentage of the
score for the same workout for the age bracket below in the previous year.
Age Group Score for 15.2 as a percentage of 14.2 scores for the earlier age group
Men 1st place Men 20th place Women 1st place Women 20th place
45-49yrs (as a % of 40-44) 130% 84% 95% 94%
50-54yrs (as a % of 45-49) 88% 92% 93% 97%
55-59yrs *n/a *n/a *n/a *n/a
60+yrs 78% 81% 89% 75%
(as a % of 55-59)
* Not calculated as the workout was significantly different for 55+ it was pointless to compare with scores from
50-54yrs
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Comparison of results from Open Workout 14.5 and 16.5 for each age group, men and
women.
Times for 1st place and 20th place in each age group were examined for 14.5 and 16.5. The
difference between 2014 times and 2016 was calculated to give a percentage increase.
Note that figures were rounded to the nearest whole %.
Age Percentage increase from 14.5 to 16.5 for 1st Percentage increase from 14.5 to 16.5 for 20th
Group place place
Men Women Men Women
40-44yrs 3% 5% 10% 7%
45-49yrs 4% 2% 7% 9%
50-54yrs 15% 4% 8% 8%
55-59yrs 5% 10% 9% 14%
60+yrs 11% 11% 12% 15%
The conclusions that we can draw from the analysis are:

•
Competitive scores (1st place and 20th place) improve one year to the next to the
order of 5-15% across all age groups
• The amount of improvement varies with the workout, it may be that more accessible
workouts (e.g. 15.2) show greater improvement than more challenging workouts (e.g.
16.5)
• Competitive scores in an age category are about 90% of the competitive scores of the
younger category the year before
• As a general guide the trainer should always be targeting the numbers of the younger
age bracket because this matches the progression from year to year, i.e. it could be
argued that the winning numbers from the 40-44 one year will become the winning
times for the 45-49 one to two years later. There is a continuous improvement of
times that creates a “drift up the categories” effect. This is a useful tool for the trainer
to be able to predict what will be required from the athlete in coming years.
• It also should also be noted that the first couple of years in a new age category may
present the best chance for winning. Like other sports with 5 year age brackets there
is a natural disadvantage being the oldest in an age category (Connick, 2015).
LEARNING FROM THE DATA

Early Masters (40-54 years)
The most commonly tested movements are the same as for younger athletes: double
unders, muscle ups, toes to bar, wall ball, thruster, chest to bar pull-ups, snatch, dead-
lift, box jumps and burpees. High skill movements that have been tested include muscle
ups and handstand push-ups
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Training Guide |
The load ranges for an early Masters athlete are:
Pulling Movements Squatting Movements Pushing Movements
Open Open Open
M 75lb-365lb (34kg-166kg) M 20lb-120lb (9kg-55kg) M 115lb-165lb (52kg-75kg)
W 55lb-225lb (25kg-102kg) W 14lb-90lb (6kg-40kg) W 75lb-110lb (34kg-50kg)
Qualifiers Qualifiers Qualifiers
M 135lb (61kg) – 1 rep max M 20lb-95lb (9kg-43kg) Push tested via handstand
Deadlift push-up
W 14lb-65lb (6kg-29kg)
W 95lb (43kg) – 1 rep max Games
Games
Deadlift
M 95lb (43kg) - 1RM Shoulder to
M 20lb (9kg) - 1RM thruster
Games OH
W 14lb (6kg) - 1RM thruster
M 100lb-535lb (45kg-243kg) W 65lb (29kg) – 1RM Shoulder to
OH
W 70lb-375lb (32kg-170kg)
Loads in standard movements used in the Open have stayed consistent (thruster, shoulder
to OH, snatch, OH squat, deadlift), however, load expectations have increased for Qualifier
and Games athletes in ladder-style workouts with incrementing loads (ie 16.2 vs 12.2).
For the Masters Qualifier loading expectations have been consistent for the past 3
years; for low-moderate rep snatch 135/95lb (61/43kg), for moderate rep cleans 155/105
(70/47kg), for moderate-high rep thrusters 95/65lb (43/29kg) and for moderate rep deadlift
225/155lb (102/70kg)
Loads in standard movements at the Games have stayed consistent (thruster, shoulder
to OH, snatch, OH squat, deadlift), however, in recent years there is an expectation that
the 50-54yr group are able to handle high skill gymnastics and loads similar to 40-44yrs,
whereas in the past this group was scaled more heavily. For instance, in 2011 muscle-ups
were scaled for this group. In 2016, this group did muscle-ups. Generally, for the early
Masters athletes the workouts at the Games are similar difficulty as Rx workouts on cross-
fit.com
Late Masters (55 years plus)

The most commonly tested movements are the same as younger athletes: double unders,
muscle-ups, toes to bar, wall ball, thruster, chest to bar pull-ups, snatch, deadlift,
box jumps, burpees. Double unders are tested often and can be considered a high skill
movement for this group. In addition, toes to bar, chin over the bar pull-up for men and
jumping chest to bar for women are movements that could be considered “differentia-
tors” for the late Masters.
The load ranges for a late Masters athlete are:
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Training Guide |
Pulling Movements Squatting Movements Pushing Movements
Open Open Open
M 65lb-205lb (29kg-93kg) M 20lb-110lb (9kg-50kg) M 95lb-135lb (43kg-61kg)
W 45lb-145lb (20kg-65kg) W 10lb-75lb (4kg-34kg) W 55lb-75lb (25kg-34kg)
Qualifiers Qualifiers Qualifiers
M 115lb (52kg) – 1 rep max M 14lb-75lb (6kg-34kg) Push tested via handstand
Deadlift push-up with 2 inch riser for
W 10lb-55lb (4kg-25kg) 55-59yrs and 4 inch riser for
W 55lb (25kg) – 1 rep max
Games 60+yrs
Deadlift
M 14lb (6kg) - 1RM thruster Games
Games
W 10lb (4kg) - 1RM thruster M 75lb (34kg) - 1RM Shoulder to
M 100lb-475lb (45kg-215kg) OH
W 70lb-345lb (32kg-156kg) W 55lb (25kg) – 1RM Shoulder to
OH
Loading/complexity has actually decreased for late Masters from the very early years of
the Open. In 2011, women 55+ had chin over the bar pull-ups whereas these are now
tested as jumping chest to bar. In particular, overhead movements have scaled down.
Whereas is 2011 the thruster weight for women was 55lb (25kg), it is now regularly 45lb
(20kg). This more than likely reflects a better understanding of Masters capabilities as the
sample size of athlete’s data being analyzed increases.
Loading expectations have been consistent for the past 3 years in the Masters Qualifiers
for late Masters. As for loading patterns at the Games for late Masters, in 2010 potentially
not enough data was available and the loading/complexity has actually decreased since
then.
With 2010 aside, we see that from 2011/2012 to 2016 complexity of gymnastics has
increased. Whereas men 55+ would once do chest to bar pull-ups instead of muscle ups,
they now do muscle ups. For women, whereas they once did chin over the bar pull-ups
in place of muscle ups, they now do ring dips. Loading on snatching movements has
increased by roughly 20%, loading on overhead movements has increased by roughly
20%. Loading for pulling movements has remained fairly consistent.
For late Masters the workouts are typically scaled to 70% percent of early Masters work-
outs, and in some cases men are scaled to 80%, but women to 70%. Generally, the work-
outs are scaled to 70% percent of Rx workouts on crossfit.com
Plan the competition year

Unlike training for wellness, competition training has a defined off-season, pre-season
and in-season and each phase has different training. The primary goal of competition
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programming and coaching is to have the athlete peak once or twice a year for the most
important competitions. In this regard, programming to be ready for a known event is
fundamentally different to programming for general physical preparedness (GPP).
The training year is given to us by the Games schedule and it is prudent to operate around
a similar annual structure.
Off-Season (Aug-Oct) Pre-Season (Nov-Jan) In-Season (Feb-July)
Recover mentally Build fitness Compete
Address body issues Develop speed Open
Build strength Test capacity Regionals
Broaden skill base Practice competition skills Games
Competition programming should be built around this structure regardless of whether

the athlete makes it to the Games. It is important for the athlete to get used to training
for a full competition year and make use of each phase regardless of whether they qualify
past Opens or Regionals.
• Off-season should be used to develop strength and address weaknesses

• Pre-season needs a focus on conditioning and speed
• In-season should be planned to optimise performance for the Open, Regionals and
Games
• Identify key competitions and place them on the calendar, ideally falling in the
competition phase
• Determine which competitions are practice and which are serious (both need to be
on the calendar)
• Learning to train through the “seasons” of the competitive year is a skill in itself that
should not be ignored
Set realistic expectations and train accordingly

The trainer must set expectations around training and performance that (a) are realistic
for the athlete’s aptitude and current capacity, (b) match the level of competition to the
athlete’s goals, and (c) are consistent with the degree to which the athlete wants to pri-
oritize competition against the other things in their life. Taking these things into account,
we can classify the Masters athlete into one of three different competitor types and adjust
training volume and program to match.
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Training Guide |
Recreational Competitor Serious Competitor Elite Competitor
Targeting local competitions for Targeting improved Open Targeting the Masters Games
fun ranking and future higher level
Concerned with trying to win or
competition
Not particularly concerned with podium at the Games, or working
the result Concerned with improvement towards that eventual goal
but not expecting to Qualify
No extra training to what is done Prioritizes training above any-
in the groups Some extra training but in the thing else
context of other priorities
As is the case for the archetype, the competitor type is not rigid and may change over
time. It is important for the trainer to understand the competitor types are all of equal
value and the elite competitor is not the preferred option over the other two. The compet-
itor type should be defined by the athlete’s goals not the trainer’s preference.
Focus on broad skill development

The best performers have no weaknesses, i.e. they have a broad skill set and are well
balanced. It could be argued that for a Masters athlete, eliminating weaknesses is more
important than further developing strengths. If we look to the Games results it is very
evident that at the Masters Qualifier level athletes drop out of contention if there is a
single poor workout. For the present time at least, Masters athletes tend to be less bal-
anced than younger athletes. For this reason, Master competition should include broad
skill development and have a strong focus on technique improvement. Specific weak-
nesses should be addressed by biasing the programming.
Strength Training
Increasing the frequency of strength training is important but we do not want increased
volume as it undermines recovery. Program a strength element for every training day to
be done prior to any metabolic conditioning. The athlete should be using loads that max-
imise speed on the bar and minimize missed lifts. As a general guide program 80% of the
typical volume used in a dedicated strength session. For example, if a typical dedicated
strength session is 7 sets of 3 (21 reps), it would be reduced down to 5 sets of 3 (15 reps) in
a combined program. Use of EMOM (Every minute on the minute) is also an effective way
of restricting volume as due to the reduced rest lighter loads are used.
Typical training day for an Elite Competitor

An example of a training protocol for an Elite competitor is as follows:-
[A] Skills based warm-up with low intensity but moderate volume gymnastics and
weightlifting movements that are commonly tested
[B] Strength work with limited volume at heaviest loads possible for the day
[C] Intensity piece or “workout”. This is the primary work piece for the day, timed
and with performance goals. This is also where 1RM testing would periodically be
programmed
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[D] Conditioning work being low intensity but high volume, targeting stamina and
muscular endurance of known weak areas
An example of a typical day following this protocol is:
[A] WARMUP
3 rounds for quality (not timed)
300m row
15 GHD Situps
15 KB Swing
15m Handstand Walk
[B] EMOM 10 minutes

Snatch x 2
[C] Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

5 chest-to-bar pull-ups
10 ring dips
95-lb. overhead squats, 15 reps
[D] 400m Farmers carry with bodyweight with as few breaks as possible
Targeting Weaknesses
Where an athlete has specific weaknesses, either in skills or capacity, the skills-based
warmup and the conditioning work can be manipulated to target the weakness until
resolved. For example, if the athlete does not have muscle-ups, transitions and skill prac-
tice can be frequently placed within part [A] of the program, and specific strength work
for the muscle-up (pull-ups and dips) can be added to part [D] of the program. Multiple
weaknesses can be targeted at the same time across the course of the training week using
this approach. Part A of the protocol is used to address skill limitations and part D is used
to address capacity limitations.
Intensity vs Volume
The following general guidelines apply when programming for a Masters competitor:
• At any one time, you can train high volume or high intensity, but you cannot train
both
• If volume is increased intensity should be reduced or risk burnout down the track
• There is a “lag” before the effects of excessive volume are felt
• It is difficult to assess how much volume is too much for a Masters athlete as there are
a lot of individual differences. Always err on the side of less volume. The effects of too
little volume are significantly easier to deal with than the effects of too much
• Intensity is where the results are. In the words of Greg Glassman “Impress me with
Intensity not volume”
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Training Guide |
Competition considerations
It is the responsibility of the trainer to adequately prepare the athlete for the experience
of competition, and for a Master athlete, particularly if they have never played high level
sport, the experience can be overwhelming. Performing in front of a crowd, cameras
and in the presence of impressive athletes is very different to the relative safety of doing
workouts at the box. Poor competition skills can result in an athlete dramatically under-
performing. The more competition experience the athlete can gain the better they will
perform to their potential.
• Disappointments are inevitable and losing is part of the process

• Masters athletes are drug tested and may be more susceptible to inadvertent positive
tests, due to medication and prescription drugs
• The athlete may have to compete at irregular times and with limited warmup
• Environmental conditions can impact performance
Ready for Competition?

The trainer plays an important role in determining whether the Masters athlete is ready
for competition. Unfortunately there is no objective checklist to determine competition
readiness, rather it is a subjective call considering the athletes training age, physical capac-
ity, skills and mental state. Some athletes will be overly-eager and will want to compete
before they are ready, others will be require encouragement to take the first step despite
being physically ready. The big question that the trainer needs to consider is whether a
competition focus is in the client’s best interests, that is, will it lead to positive outcomes?
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General considerations to determine competition readiness:-
• The athlete should have trained long enough to have developed a solid foundation in
all commonly tested movements for their age bracket
• They should be free from injury or specific risk factors

• They should have developed enough fitness to be able to cope with the volume of
typical competitions
• They should have an interest in competition and “being tested”

Running “mock” in-house competitions with re-runs of previous competition events from
the Open, Masters Regionals and Games is a great way for the trainer to test competition
readiness in a controlled environment.
PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES
There are many different ways to approach programming for a competitive Masters ath-
lete. The most effective programming template will be the one that is tailored to the ath-
lete’s individual situation. The following examples are provided to illustrate key principles.
Programming Example – 4 weeks leading into the 2015 CrossFit Masters Games
Matt Swift, 1st place in the 45-49 Years Division
This example is provided to demonstrate that Games competitors, or genuine potential
competitors, require significantly higher volume to prepare for the demands of high level
competition.
Key points:
• “Not for time” (NFT) warmups performed at low intensity were used to practice skills
and build general capacity in commonly tested movements
• There is significantly more push/drag/carry work than is required for a non-elite

competitor due to high likelihood of this type of work being tested in the Games
events. This type of work also has minimal eccentric loading which means that higher
volume could be incorporated with less impact on recovery
• The programming was planned around 4-5 days of work before resting to build
specific endurance for a 3 day event. This amount of work would not be sustainable
long-term
• Double sessions were used closer to the event to match the specific requirement of
multiple events in one day, but earlier in the preparation training was one session per
day
• There is high repetition of workout style which was a specific programming decision
to build specific speed in particular time domains and movement combinations
based on this athlete’s weaknesses
• This program would not necessarily work for a different athlete but it does
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Training Guide |
demonstrate the amount of work required to be competitive at the Games level in the
Early Masters categories
24/6/2015 25/6/2015 26/6/2015 27/6/2015 28/6/2015

A. Warmup A. Warmup A. Warmup CrossFit Rocks Pairs A. Warmup
3 RNFT 3 RNFT 3 RNFT Competition 3 RNFT
50 DU 300m Row 15 Cals AirDyne 200m Ski Erg
10 Pistols 15 Back Extensions 15 HSPU 15 Power Snatch,
10 GHD Situps 15 Box Jumps 15 GHD Situps 20kg
10 DB Sotts Press 7 Burpee Muscle 15 Toes to Bar
B. Bench Press
Ups 15 HSPU
B. Back Squat [7-5-3-1] x 2
10 x 2 B. EMOM 15 mins B. Every 90 sec for
B. Deadlift
Squat Clean 10 sets
C. For time: Thruster x 1
5x3 Snatch x 2
60 Calories Rowing
C. 21-15-9 reps for
50 Wall Balls C. For time: C. FT:
time of:
40 Chest to bar 400m Run Run 3klm
Deadlift 102kg
pull-ups 15 Clean & Jerks Row 2klm
Bar-Facing Burpees
30 Wall Balls 62kg Rope Climb, 15 reps
20 Chest to bar 3 Rope Climbs
D. 3 RFT:
pull-ups 400m Run
15m Yoke Carry,
10 Wall Balls 12 Clean & Jerks
200kg
62kg
D. 1600m Run Time 2 Rope Climbs 5 Burpees Over the
Trial 400m Run
Yoke
9 Clean & Jerks
62kg
1 Rope Climb
D. FT:
5 efforts of 70m
Sled Drag @60kg
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Training Guide |
29/6/2015 30/6/2015 1/7/2015 2/7/2015 3/7/2015

Rest Day A. General Warmup A. Warmup Session 1 A. Power Clean &
3 RNFT A. Warmup Power Jerk
B. Deadlift 50 Unbroken DU 3RNFT: EMOM 10 x 1
3 x 10 15 GHD Situps Row 300m
C. 12-9-6 reps for
C. “Hulk Hogan” 15 KB Swing, 24kg 5 Burpee Box
time of:
Every 2 minutes for 20 sec handstand Jumps
143kg deadlift
20 mins: hold (facing wall) 10 GHD Situps
Bar muscle-ups
3 Muscle ups 15 Kipping
B. Back Squat 7x3 Handstand
5 Power Cleans,
85kg C. For time: Push-Ups
7 Burpees Row 1000 meters 15 C2B Pullups
Score is the time of and then . . . B. 30 mins to find
your slowest round. Three rounds for max
time of: Power Snatch +
SESSION 2 10 Thrusters, 62kg
D. 5 RFT Snatch + OH Squat
15 Chest-to-Bar
15 Kipping HSPU Pull-Ups C. 21-15-9 of:
15 C2B Pull-ups Stone to Shoulder
E. For Time 52kg
400m Farmers Burpee C2B Pull
Carry, 2 x 32kg ups
40m Handstand D. 3 x 800m Run,
Walk every 5 mins
SESSION 2
E. FT 400 Meter
Sled Drag 60kg
while Holding a
20lb Medicine Ball
400 Meter Sled
Drag 20kg
200 Meter Reverse
Sled Drag 20kg
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Training Guide |
4/7/2015 5/7/2015 6/7/2015 7/7/2015 8/7/2015

A. Warmup Recovery Day A. Warmup SESSION 1 A. Warmup
3RFT Easy long swim 3RNFT A. Clean & Jerk 3RFT
AirDyne x 20 cals Double Unders x 60 10 x 1 Row x 250m
10 GHD Situps unbroken reps 15 GHD Situps
B. Three rounds for
10 Double KB 15 GHD Situps 15 Back Extensions
time of:
Snatch, 16kg 12 HSPU 75 Double Unders
10 Power Cleans,
10 Toes to Bar 7 Muscle Ups
62kg B. For time:
B.For time: B. Back Squat 20 Overhead Row 1000 meters
For time: 7x3 Walking Lunges, and then . . .
80 squats 62kg Three rounds for
C. Rack Hold @
70 push-ups 30 Toes to Bar time of:
200kg for time
60 one-legged Rest exactly 3 min- 21-15-9
(use jerk Blocks)
squats, alternating utes, and then . . . SDHP 52kg
50-calorie row D.Three rounds for Ring Dips
C. Three rounds for
40 single-arm time of: time of: SESSION 2
overhead squats, 10 Power Cleans, Run 800m D. For time:
15kg DB 62kg 30 Kettlebell 10 rounds
30 handstand 20 Front-Racked Swings, 32kg Swim 50 Meters
push-ups Walking Lunges 10-1 burpees
20 thrusters, 15kg 62kg SESSION 2
DB 30 Pull-Ups E. Swim
10 muscle-ups Rest exactly 3 min- 10 x 50m
utes, and then . . . 20 x 25m
Three rounds for
time of:
Row 750 Meters
30 Kettlebell
Swings 32kg
E. 3 x 800m run
every 5 mins
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Training Guide |
9/7/2015 10/7/2015 11/7/2015 12/7/2015 13/7/2015

SESSION 1 SESSION 1 Rest Day SESSION 1 A. Warmup
A. 3RNFT A. Warmup A. Warmup
B. Squat Clean
75 DU
B. Back Squat B. Power Snatch Thruster Ladder
15 GHD Situps
10 x 2 EMOM 10 x 1 Every 30 sec, for
15 Back Extensions
max
15 Strict HSPU B. 5 RFT C. For time: Starting at 70kg,
15 Pull-Ups 20 burpees
B. Snatch Increment in 5kg
15 HSPU 62kg hang squat
EMOM 10 x 1
400m Run snatches, 20 reps B. 5 Rounds for
C. “Ultimate SESSION 2 20 bar muscle-ups time:
Warrior” 62kg hang squat 15 Thrusters, 35kg
C. 3 RFT
21-15-9: snatches, 20 reps 15 Chest to bar
AirDyne 30 cals
Thrusters, 62kg 20 burpees Pull-ups
Tyre Flip, 10 reps
Bar Muscle ups
SESSION 2 C. For time:
D. 3 Rounds for
SESSION 2 D. 2000m Row 150 Double Unders
time:
E. Every 4 minutes, Time Trial 75 Toes to Bar
75 Double-unders
for 20 minutes (5 50 Pistols
200m Prowler Push,
sets), complete: 25 HSPU
empty
Row 500 Meters 10 Muscle Ups
Burpees over the
erg x 12 reps
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Training Guide |
14/7/2015 15/7/2015 16/7/2015 17/7/2015 18/7/2015

SESSION 1 Rest Day Last workout Travel Last training day
A. General Warmup before travelling pre-games
to LA
B. Deadlift 5x5 A. Power Snatch
B. Power Clean & 5x2
C. 3 Rounds for Push Jerk
time: EMOM x 15: 1 rep B. Clean & Jerk
30 Box Jump Overs 5x2
24” C. 3 Rounds for
C. 3 RFT
15 Power Cleans time:
400m Row
62kg 400m Run
20 Wall Ball
30 Calorie Row
D. For time 20 Burpees over 15 Burpees
1000m row rower 10 DB Snatch, 32kg
50 KB Swing, 32kg
10 Stone to
Shoulder, 52kg
SESSION 2
E. Conditioning
400m Log Carry
40 Burpees
300m Log Carry
30 Burpees
200m Log Carry
20 Burpees
100m Log Carry
10 Burpees
Sample training week for an early Masters competitor

Key Considerations:
•
Factor in weekend family commitments family
• Keep Sunday free if possible

• Saturday works well as a competition skills practice day that can be substituted with a
local competition in competition season
• 5 training days and 2 rest days a week works well and maximizes recovery
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Training Training Training Rest Day Training Train / comp Rest Day
Sample training week for a late Masters competitor

Key Considerations:
•
Keep the entire weekend free
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• During competition season, Saturday may be competition day

• Double day rest also helps prevent over-use by reducing volume
• 2 day on and 1 day off in a 4 day training week is a sustainable pattern that errs on the
side of less volume
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Training Training Rest Day Comp Training Rest / Comp Rest Day
practice
Ultimately, the best training schedule and protocol will be the one that works best for the
athlete. Be willing to trial different approaches to find the optimum approach to maximise
recovery, motivation and training effectiveness.
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TRAINING FOR QUALITY OF LIFE – THE STORY OF MICHAEL

This is the story of Michael, a client at CrossFit Brisbane from 2009 until the end of 2015
when he passed away at 72 years of age due to complications from a degenerative lung
disease. Michael was physically fit his entire life, with his primary exercise being long
distance running prior to CrossFit. When he joined CrossFit Brisbane at 66 years of age, he
was in significantly better condition than most 40 years olds largely due to a very healthy
lifestyle and continued physical activity. He completed over 1000 CrossFit workouts at
CrossFit Brisbane.
Due to his high level of capacity when he first started, Michael was able to join the general
classes without any issues, and apart from limited range of motion overhead, there was
little to indicate that his age was a factor. For 3 years he continued to train in the groups
with great success and was “one of the boys”. Around the 3 year mark he had a break to
correct a cardiac issue to do with the electrical signalling in his heart which was a result of
a congenital issue. He successfully returned to training without any noticeable issues. At
around the 4 year mark Michael elected to have back surgery to fuse slipped discs in his
lower spine. This was a long standing injury from well before his CrossFit days that had
become progressively more limiting with age, to the point where he was in constant pain.
At 69 years of age, this was a major operation requiring significant recovery. It took 12
months to rehabilitate Michael from barely able to stand post-operation to being able to
deadlift 130kg using a trap bar from blocks. His medical specialist noted that his recovery
was exceptional and exceeded all expectations. This was attributed to Michael’s high
level of fitness for his age prior to the operation. Following the operation Michael elected
to not return to groups as he required modifications to a lot of movements and he felt
that training in a one-on-one setting would be more productive. From that time on all of
his training was either done as personal training sessions or in open gym under indirect
supervision. He was constantly concerned that he was a burden and required regular
reassurance.
Around the same time as the back operation Michael was diagnosed with Idiopathic
Pulmonary Fibrosis, a degenerative lung disease with a poor prognosis but slow progres-
sion. Initially this did not affect his training except for a noticeable increase in the amount
that he was puffing. It was painfully ironic that at the time that Michael started to be fully
recovered from his back injury and ready to train again his lung symptoms started to
worsen. It became clear that lung function was going to be a major factor that needed to
be managed. By 2014, Michael’s lung disease developed to the point that he had diffi-
culty catching his breath and his program had to be modified so that he was working at
a lower intensity with much bigger rest periods between efforts. At around this time, his
medical team had concerns that his blood oxygen saturation was dropping too low while
he was exercising and in order to monitor it he started wearing a finger pulse oximeter on
his finger during rest periods. The guideline that was provided was that his SpO2 (blood
oxygen saturation) was not allowed to drop below 90, and need to return to 95 before
being allowed to continue training. This guideline was proving hard to meet as he was
regularly dipping as low as 80 which put him at risk of ectopic heart beats and arrhythmia.
Managing the Sp02 levels became the highest priority and for the next 12 months the
program was continually modified and scaled back to keep his levels above 90. Work to
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rest ratios were adjusted and various exercises and workout styles had to be dropped all
together because of the oxygen cost. It was identified that he needed a work:rest ratio
of no higher than 1:5 to stay above 90. He was also unable to cope with any exercises in
combination, i.e. he could do push-ups, rest and then do pull-ups but he could not cope
with push-ups and pull-ups mixed together. The majority of his program became strength
based. Michael remained strong and during this period actually increased his capacity at
bodyweight movements. It was not unusual for him to complete 100 strict pullups and
200 push-ups unassisted during a session. However, the sessions took him a long time
because he would constantly have to stop for extended periods of time to bring his heart
rate down and Sp02 back up before continuing. Nonetheless, he remained determined
and looked for novel ways to keep working hard. He became the master of isometric holds
and could plank for well over 3 minutes without any difficulty. He also became very good
at farmers carry and his grip strength was impressive.
In 2015 the decision was made to bring his oxygen machine into the gym to wear when
resting to help maintain his Sp02 while he trained. His medical team were supportive of
his exercise regime because his level of strength and functionality, and therefore quality of
life was well beyond what should have been the case for someone at his stage of disease,
but they were also clear that training could only continue if Sp02 was maintained above
90 or else it would become counterproductive. As managing Sp02 became more and
more difficult Michael started wearing his oxygen mask while he trained and lying down
and semi-sleeping between efforts to recover. This presented a number of problems, the
primary one being that trainers would often trip over the cord, and to the amusement of
many, new people to the gym would often think he was dead when he was resting.
Photo Credit: Krista Martin Photography
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Towards the end of 2015, Michael’s lungs deteriorated to the point that the he was phys-
ically unable to come to the gym without being exhausted by the car trip. At this point
Michael started training at home on a very modified and basic program using stretch
bands. It was clear that the end was near, but nonetheless, he refused to stop training,
and a couple of days before his death he was still squatting and watching reruns of the
CrossFit Games which he loved with a passion. Despite being unable to breathe and in
considerable discomfort, Michael retained strength and capacity right up to his death,
avoiding palliative care. He remained adamant that CrossFit was instrumental in extend-
ing his life and maximizing his ability to enjoy his remaining time. Prior to his death
Michael became a proud grandparent, something that in the early days he feared he
would not live to do. Following his death, his medical team attributed an extra 4 years of
his life to his lifelong fitness and continued CrossFit training. Michael’s story is the epitome
of what CrossFit has to offer the Masters community and is testament to our key principle
to continue training no matter what.
EFFECTIVE SCALING
The importance of the trainer’s ability to effectively scale the program for a Masters ath-
lete cannot be overstated. The Masters Quadrant provides a general guide for the trainer
in relation to “big picture” coaching priorities, but it is the day to day decision making in
relation to scaling that creates success for the client. CrossFit Training provides an excel-
lent online scaling course (oc.crossfit.com/scaling) which is a foundation for developing
an understanding of what is required for effective scaling.
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The principles of scaling are universal and unchanged in relation to a Masters athlete.
However, it could be argued that a Masters athlete requires a more conservative approach
to scaling, i.e. if the trainer gets it wrong, it can have significantly greater negative impact
on an older athlete, particularly if they are in injured or unfit quadrant, compared to the
impact on a younger athlete. In a similar way to training a kid’s population, effective scal-
ing for Masters athletes requires greater care and preparation.
It is important to recognise that Masters athletes may require scaling indefinitely, and the
ability to provide variety of scaling options can be a critical factor in maintaining motiva-
tion. The availability of multiple scaling strategies can offset the frustration that is often
associated with slow progress in a Masters population.
Scaling recommendations:
•
If in doubt, err on the side of caution with less volume and lighter weights
• For shoulder impingement in hanging movements substitute rings instead of the bar
which allows a more neutral grip
• For shoulder impingement in overhead pressing movements substitute dumbbells

instead of a barbell which allows a more neutral grip
• If reducing ROM use targets and depth markers for movement consistency
• Loaded lunging can be an effective substitution if squatting is not possible
• Sled drag, sled push and farmers carry are effective ways to maintain hip strength if
squatting or deadlifting is not possible
The trainer should periodically re-assess the athlete to ensure that habitual over-scal-
ing does not occur. Unless injured, the general strategy should be to move the athlete
towards the full program but on a more gradual timeline than a younger athlete.
Make the athlete self-sufficient

It is critical to the ongoing motivation of the client that they have a method for managing
their own scaling on a daily basis in order to be self-sufficient and not feel like a burden
on the trainer. Providing a scaling and substitution table can be a very effective way to
achieve this. The table acts like a “cheat sheet” allowing the athlete to look at the daily
workout and then modify it accordingly based on the guidance in the table. Periodically
the trainer would review the athletes progress and update the table. This process can con-
tinue ad infinitum or until the athlete is performing workouts Rx and no longer requires
scaling.
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Training Guide |
An excerpt from a scaling and substitution table is presented below as an example.
Name: Joe Smith Trainer: Matt Swift
Date: 16/5/2016 Next Review: 16/6/2016
Movement / RXD Max Weekly Scaling Substitution(s)

Element Reps Rep
(movement, reps) Comments
in Budget
Workout
Air Squat 50 100
Strict Pull-up 10 20 Must be pain free
Kipping Pull-up - - No kipping until shoulder injury Substitute Strict Pull-up

resolved
Double Unders - - No jumping until Achilles heals Small box step ups
fully
Knees to Elbows 30 60 Attempt to go knees as high as

you can - Hanging knee raise
OR try for smaller numbers
Toes to Bar 30 60 Attempts
Reduce volume
Handstands 5 20 Feet on a box and walk to a pike ONLY try handstands with
position a coach present. Do not
attempt is shoulder pain.
Handstand Walk - - As above
Handstand 50 100 DB press - 12kg-15kg range Must be pain free

Push-Ups
Russian KB Swing 75 150 Start at 16kg. As you get better

progress to the prescribed
weight of 24kg
There are 2 x 20kg KB’s - grey.
Overhead KB Do not go overhead until Substitute with Russian

Swing shoulder injury resolved Swing
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Training Guide |
GHD Sit Up 30 60
AbMat Situp 100 200
Hip (Back) 50 100

Extension
Rope Climb - - Work on partial climbs (2 bites),

follow coach’s guidelines
If your lockout and descent is

solid, you may go higher once a
coach checks you
Pistol 40 80 Use a 20” box. Remember to

reach forward and sit back
Deadlift 60 120 Between 1 to 1 ½ times body

weight for strength day. Start at
the lower end of the range as
your max for the day.
40 - 60kg for WOD’s
Front squat 40 80 Strength days - 80kg
WODs - 40kg
Back squat 40 80 80kg- 100kg Go up if the coach

says OK.
Keep a record of your numbers,

Don’t exceed a PB by more than
5kg
Overhead squat - - Broomstick only until shoulder Back squat

injury resolved
Clean 45 90 Land in a power squat, then add

a full squat 40kg limit for first 4
weeks
25kg for WOD’s
Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.
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Recommended Reading Training Guide |
RECOMMENDED READING
OLDER, WISER, FITTER BY MARTY CEJ

Hotlink to Journal Article
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CROSSFIT AFTER 40 BY DR. ALLISON BELGER

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AGING, PERFORMANCE AND HEALTH BY LON KILGORE

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FITNESS: A CHOICE FOR THE AGES BY LON KILGORE

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“THE GIRLS” FOR GRANDMAS! BY GREG GLASSMAN

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SCALING CROSSFIT WORKOUTS BY JEREMY GORDON

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Appendix 1- References Training Guide |
APPENDIX 1 - REFERENCES
GENERAL MASTERS REFERENCES

Fitness: A Choice for the Ages By Lon Kilgore http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/
CFJ_2016_Aging-Kilgore51.pdf
Working With Masters By John Van Every http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/06/longev-

ityworkingmasters.tpl
Coaching the Elderly - Introduction By Jim Baker http://journal.crossfit.com/2008/10/

coaching-the-elderly---introduction.tpl
Preparing for Masters: Jacinto Bonilla By Jacinto Bonilla http://journal.crossfit.

com/2011/06/jacintobonilla.tpl
CrossFit After 40 By Dr. Allison Belger

http://journal.crossfit.com/2010/01/masters-athletes.tpl
Training for the Aged By Mark Rippetoe http://journal.crossfit.com/2007/06/training-

for-the-aged-by-mark.tpl
Aging, Performance and Health By Lon Kilgore http://journal.crossfit.com/2015/10/

aging-performance-and-health.tpl
Deliver Fitness, Not Diagnosis By Lon Kilgore http://journal.crossfit.com/2014/07/deliv-

er-fitness-not-diagnosis.tpl
The Myth of Adrenal Fatigue By Kamal Patel and Kurtis Frank http://journal.crossfit.
com/2015/08/the-myth-of-adrenal-fatigue.tpl
Discussion on the New Definition of Health By Greg Glassman http://journal.crossfit.

com/2009/08/discussion-on-the-new-definition-of-health.tpl
Pre-Participation Screening By Mike Ray, MD http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/06/

pre-participation-screening.tpl
Training Advancement and Adaptation By Mark Rippetoe http://journal.crossfit.

com/2007/01/training-advancement-and-adapt.tpl
A Brief Letter From a Representative of the Silent Masses By Aaron Carr http://journal.
crossfit.com/2011/06/a-brief-letter-from-a-representative-of-the-silent-masses.tpl
Programming at Longevity By John Van Every http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/06/lon-

gevityprogramming.tpl
Beyond the Physical By Tim Curdt http://journal.crossfit.com/2010/11/

beyond-the-physical.tpl
Training Silvers By Joey Powell http://journal.crossfit.com/2010/05/training-silvers.tpl
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SCALING
“The Girls” for Grandmas! By Greg Glassman http://journal.crossfit.com/2004/10/the-
girls-for-grandmas-by-greg.tpl
Scaling the Pull-Up With Ring Rows By Julie Barnes Maurer http://journal.crossfit.
com/2012/05/gymnasticcourse-ringrows.tpl
Scaling CrossFit Workouts By Jeremy Gordon, CF-L4 http://journal.crossfit.com/2015/10/

scaling-crossfit-workouts.tpl
Scaling: How Less Can Be More By Clea Weiss http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/06/scal-

ing-how-less-can-be-more.tpl
Scaling Down CrossFit Workouts with Rings By Tyler Hass - http://journal.crossfit.

com/2008/03/scaling-down-crossfit-workouts.tpl
STORIES FROM THE COMMUNITY

Tanya’s Nana By Tanya Wagner http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/05/tanyasnana.tpl
73-Year-Old on the CrossFit Games Open: “I’m Doing It This Year!”
By Elliot and Lindsay Schrock http://journal.crossfit.com/2016/02/nancy-crossfitba-

yarea.tpl
Less of Moore By Ali Adib http://journal.crossfit.com/2015/01/robinmoorefeature.tpl
“A Beautiful Thing” By Lisa Long http://journal.crossfit.com/2013/08/lisalong.tpl
Start Movin’ By Scott Olson http://journal.crossfit.com/2013/07/scottolson.tpl
Laurie Nelson Starts CrossFit in her 60s By Mike Anderson and Laurie Nelson http://jour-
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Constance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9RtihpHMcA
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Training Guide
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CROSSFIT SPECIALTY COURSE: MASTERS

USING THE MASTERS QUADRANT TO GUIDE COACHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

THE EFFECTS OF AGING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

TYPICAL MASTERS MODIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Photo Credit: Wendy Swift

Photo Credit: Wendy Swift

RE-DEFINING THE MASTERS ATHLETE

An Alternative View of Aging

THE MASTERS QUADRANT

COMPETITIVE ORIENTATION FITNESS LEVEL

AGE INJURY STATE

USING THE MASTERS QUADRANT TO GUIDE COACHING

ASSESSING THE MASTERS ATHLETE

Competitor Early Fit Uninjured

Competitor Late Fit Uninjured

Wellness Early Fit Uninjured

Wellness Late Fit Uninjured

• Resolving injury for an injured athlete, or maximizing functionality for a diseased

COMPETITIVE ORIENTATION FACTORS

Quadrant Wellness Competitor

§§ Key theme is quality of life §§ Being challenged is important

Coaching Priorities §§ Program consistent with what is §§ Programming biased towards

Quadrant Early (40-54yrs) Late (55+ yrs)

§§ Look for “cherry picking” §§ Strength is harder to develop and may

Risk Factors §§ No specific risk factors §§ Reduced ability to handle Rx volume

Coaching Priorities §§ Work towards Rx §§ Overall volume and loads should be

Quadrant Fit Unfit (deconditioned)

INJURY STATE FACTORS

Quadrant Uninjured Injured (or Diseased)

Risk Factors §§ No specific risk factors §§ At risk of developing secondary over-

THE EFFECTS OF AGING

The Physiological effects of aging

• Immune system changes (reduced function, inflammatory response)

• Neurological capacity impaired (coordination, accuracy, agility, balance)

Photo Credit: Wendy Swift

COMMON MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE AGING ATHLETE

Myth #2: Older athletes should not train at intensity

Training attenuates the negative effects of sedentary aging

Changing the Paradigm

Use it or Lose it!

The conclusion is obvious, be as fit as possible at every stage of life.

IMPLEMENTING AN EFFECTIVE MASTER’S PROGRAM WITHIN THE AFFILIATE

Photo Credit: Wendy Swift

General class considerations

• Consideration should be given to lowering music volume and using age-relevant

Be guided by the archetypes at your gym

Competitive orientation is probably the only archetype that needs to be accommodated

Special classes and programming specific to masters

• Allows the environment to be tailored for a masters group

• Makes it hard to create friendships across different ages

Managing Risk Factors associated with an older athlete

Key information for the trainer in relation to managing risks:

Creating the right social dynamic

Bias practice time

Typical Masters modifications

Examples of common limitations and movement substitution

deconditioned or physically limited athlete can continue to participate in the program

• Host Masters only competitions

• Have a Masters competition squad that regularly trains together to practice

• Run Masters friendly social events

UNDERSTANDING THE MASTERS MINDSET

Identifying Negative Self-talk

The anxious athlete

Dealing with setbacks

55-59yrs n/a n/a n/a n/a