Optimum Performance Training

04/24/2026

I wanted to post this after having a chat with one of our clients earlier this week. She was telling me how much she enjoys coming to our gym. She was saying how appreciative she was to have a space like this, to work hard around other people, to know that her coach is a real person that cares about her.

AI cannot and will not replace human to human relationship. As a coach, you need to lean further in to this.

The machine will provide advice, but it will never be your friend. It will never care about you in any meaningful sense. It can’t care, because it doesn’t know what caring is. It’s a machine, it’s not a human being.

—Michael

04/20/2026

RANGE

This is concept we cover extensively during our Fitness Coach Mastery seminar.

10 Sets - Fast:
1 LLRC - 15ft
5 kHSPU
10 Zeus Double Unders
1 Min Rest

After watching perform a few sets, I instructed her to alternate between a few variations of the handstand push-up. There were a couple hiccups along the way as she adjusted to the new environment, but that struggle is exactly what you’re looking for. That is when the learning might occur.

How easily can an individual perform variations (small — large spectrum) of the same general movement and still achieve the same outcome? As you adjust the task constraints, can the individual still create a successful outcome?

The best performers “repeat outcomes, not movements” -

What is meant by that quote is that even if you had the best weightlifter in the world perform 20 snatches at 80% of their 1RM, none of the reps will actually be identical. There will be slight variations, imperceptible to the human eye, on each rep. This is an intrinsic fact of human movement. The difference between the elite and the novice, is not movement variability per se, it’s the inability to repeat the outcomes. That being a successful lift.

What we are talking about here though is more about prescribing new experiences. Allowing the individual to experience a familiar movement in slightly different ways each time. Not only might this novelty improve enjoyment of training and reduce staleness, you are also providing that individual with a new and relevant experience.

Some of your people may not actually like changes like this to their training. However, if would like to be great competitors, they not only have to get over that hurdle. They have to embrace it.

When you go to a new place to compete, by definition, every scenario is going to be different. If you struggle to adapt to the challenges of competing in person, this is a concept that may help you in your day to day.

—Michael

03/30/2026

03/16/2026

I think we first started dishing out this test in 2016? I can’t remember exactly but I think it was around then.

Anyway, at the time I remember thinking I didn’t really like using Fran or Diane individually to assess performance at a level like the “Regionals” (aka - Semifinals). Just from my perspective, I didn’t think they showed me what I wanted to see in an assessment. Honestly, the tests weren’t long enough at that point.

So, what I wanted to do was to create significant amounts of fatigue in all main movements, pressing, hinging, pulling, and squatting. By doing this, you will also elicit a very large cardiac output, as you are involving all main muscle groups. Not that Diane or Fran can’t do that on their own, but, I wanted the test to be a bit longer, and I didn’t want to just double the reps for each of those events. So, I decided to combine them.

Combining the events allows for spreading the fatigue around the body, thereby generally permitting the individual to keep a high rate of work with a limited bottleneck. The bottleneck will be created by fatigue (I don’t want to keep doing) as opposed to an inability to perform the movement anymore (ie - back to back to back LLRCs). If these movements create a bottleneck for you or your athlete, then the test is a bit too hard for them.

I’ve watched people perform this workout both in person and from video recordings many many times. Really good scores are in the low seven minutes and faster. What’s your score?

I think I did this test one time, and I was around 10-11 minutes or so. I died!

Thruster - 95lb/65lb
Deadlift - 225lb/155lb

—Michael

02/10/2026

Intro to Program Design Seminar Clip

In this clip, I am introducing the philosophy for wha the seminar is organized and delivered the way it is.

Registration for this 4 week seminar will begin next Tuesday, February 17th. Look for registration link in your email.

Sign up here if you are not on our Coaches Email List -
https://optimumperformancecalgary.com/fitness-coach-mentoring/

02/03/2026

This is probably the first tester I ever designed and began giving to clients. This was back in 2010 or 2011. Of course, I did it first.

At the time, the standard for the Burpee was chest and thighs to the floor at the bottom, arms over overhead + feed off the ground and a vertical body at the top at the top.

Back in those days, we rarely used anything besides metres and time for rowing. We didn’t really use calories very much.

What I was trying to do for this design was to sort of equal it out a little bit between tall people and shorter people. I assumed the tall people might be about 3-5 seconds faster every 500 m and I assume assumed the shorter people might be 3-5 seconds faster over 15 Burpee’s. Obviously these were estimates, but that was the initial intention.

After that, I decided to keep it around once I was able to witness several people performance in person. I really liked tracking their round paces, establishing their repeatability over all 10 rounds, noticing their rowing pace throughout, etc. It was a good test. It still is a good test.

I think my best time is somewhere in the 27 minute range. I basically rowed 2:00/500m then hammered the burpees each round. Well that’s how I did it.

Many times, I shortened it to 5 rounds for certain testing scenarios, especially with more beginner clients. I don’t use this test as much anymore, but I do see others use it. Which makes me happy.

—Michael

01/31/2026

The is the name of an article I wrote for our bi-monthly Coach’s Email List. It took me quite a while to actually write this piece, because it took me quite a while to properly form the ideas in my head before writing them down.

He is a short excerpt from the article, near the end, “It appears to me CrossFit HQ has been frozen in time. Again, from their perspective, history seems to have ended. However, everyone outside their castle understands this is indeed not the case”.

The article is based on my own observations with regards to the trajectory of CrossFit, the idea. I frame my argument in the context of Francis Fukuyama‘s argument for “The End of History“ while also including Frederick Nietzsche’s portrayal of The Last Man, from his famous work “Thus Spake Zarathustra”.

I hope you will give it a read. And if you do, I hope you enjoy some parts of it. As always, I am open to your feedback and critiques.

https://optimumperformancecalgary.com/the-end-of-fitness-and-the-last-man/

—Michael

01/16/2026

I first designed this test in 2011. I designed it for myself to do. At the time, my love for competing in CrossFit was at its peak. So, I sought out different ways of testing myself. As a result of being the guinea pig, I would then put this test onto my clients.

I often remark to individuals, as I did this past week to a client of Scott’s at our gym, that this is one of the few “mixed” tests that has not changed. A lot of the tests I designed back then I no longer use. I don’t see them as being very useful anymore. Or, I changed them quite substantially. But, this test, we have left it as is. As I feel it still holds up towards its intended purpose.

The benchmark used to be for men to achieve under 30 minutes and for women to achieve under 32 minutes.

The load used for the thruster is 75 pounds for men and 55 pounds for women. And the standard on the Burpee is to simply stand tall at the top, feet hip width apart, no jump required.

—Michael

12/24/2025

Fitness Coach Mastery

The seminar is named as such for a simple reason. Myself, as well as any attendee, are on the path of mastery. Meaning, we are working to improve our craft. This is not to say that I have “figured it out “. Because, that is certainly not the case. I have by no means “figured it out“. I am like the people in this picture, I have strengths and weaknesses too.

This seminar, which will likely be the last one I create, has been a work of extreme love and passion. It allowed me to discuss topics, to develop my ideas, and to lay them out in a more expensive format.

It took me many years to even get to the point of starting development of the seminar. I have spent an incredible amount of time (for me) working on it.

The process for finalizing it would be something like this… after we would get our children to sleep, I would basically spend 2 hours per night, 4 to 5 days per week for several months working to put the information and slides together.

That said, like I would tell any individual pursuing a goal in Fitness, the outcome cannot be your only purpose. The purpose must be in the act itself. I am not content because of the outcome of my efforts, I am content because of experiencing what went into it. That experience is mine alone.

The group of coaches pictured here were an absolutely fantastic collection of individuals. Wonderful ideas, great ability and generous with their time. I cannot thank them enough for all their attention and participation over the last 7 weeks.

My plan is to offer this seminar once per year. Maybe I’ll see you at the next one.

—Michael