“Success is the ability to move from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm’ Winston Churchill Injury in sport and fitness can be a huge obstacle for an individual to overcome. The physical effects of injury are obvious whilst the psychological effects are longer lasting, more difficult to quantify and harder to tackle. The […]

“I’d love to do it, I’m just not fit enough”. The amount of times I have heard this, or a variation of it, when talking to someone who is interested in doing CrossFit but is convinced they are not ready for it. “I’m going to get fit in my <insert gym name here> and then […]

In CrossFit circles Spring heralds the start of competition season and specifically The Open. CFN has enjoyed significant success on the individual and team competition scene, with two trips to The CrossFit Games™ Regionals and multiple wins and podiums at UK and European competitions. We are renowned not only for our competitive strength but also […]

When I was a kid my sport of choice was Rugby, this didn’t always please my mum who sat through my dance rehearsals every Saturday morning. Sunday mornings were my favorite. We would drive to a field where I would run around for hours on end, throwing, chasing, tackling, getting covered in bruises & dirt. […]

Chia seeds, they’re tiny little nutrient packed things aren’t they? The only time I’d seen and heard the word chia was when it was in front of latte, ‘Chia Latte’. It was a few years ago now, but oh my gosh, it tasted amazing. Nothing to do with the added sugars, froffy milk, and festive […]

Eating too much is bad, or is it? If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. We know that, right? But what if that “weight” is actually muscle?  We are aware that to build muscle mass (and get stronger) you need to be in a slight calorie SURPLUS, however when you’re dieting […]

I was performing double unders recently when Laura Clarke commented to me that she was surprised I had listed them amongst my favourite CrossFit movements on my coaching bio. This assumption was presumably reached because she knew my double under journey. Let me momentarily take you back a few years to 2013. I had achieved […]

At the start of 2018 my path crossed with a leading UK supplement company and it has become a catalyst for my evolving thoughts towards the Fitness Industry. Now the Fitness Industry is not small, and there are many different spheres that all fall under this umbrella; Globo gyms, boutique gyms, personal training, specialist training, […]

History CrossFit Nottingham has applied several programmes and programmers over the last 6 years, some internal and some external. There is a recent change of programmers back to myself (Head Coach, Andy Ward), as of April 1st. For this reason I thought I would provide you with some information on the CFN programming going forward, […]

Saying you’re too unfit to do CrossFit is like saying you’re to dirty to wash… Perhaps you’ve heard of CrossFit but always thought “I’m too old to do that,” or “I’m not fit enough to do that”. Today I want to challenge that idea. Perhaps you’ve never done any sport or exercise before, or maybe […]

The Open is the biggest CrossFit competition in the world, it is comprised of five workouts over five weeks, and this year it starts with 18.1. Open workouts are identified by their year and the order in which they appear. While the purpose of the Open is to find the fittest athletes in each region, […]

With the CrossFit Opens fast approaching, we thought it’d be great to revisit some of our members Open experiences from last year. The awesome thing about the Open is that anyone can participate and complete the weekly workouts. No matter who you are or your level you can join the fun of our Open Friday […]

Basics, why bother? What’s the most important part of my training and coaching? What do I make sure I do above all else? Basics. Foundation exercises. Building blocks of correct efficient technique. A complex skill is just a collection of simpler, less technical skills either strung together back to back or performed in unison. So […]

When I was younger my idols were superheroes. I have always had a fascination with them and have always dreamt of becoming one. But the chances of me being able to swim depths of 1000m talk to fish, have super human strength and be Aquaman are… well, let’s be honest low, to pretty much hopeless.  […]

I thought I would share this document I wrote for the staff here at CFN, it underpins our vision for our community, and environment within the gym. You might find it interesting, and I hope it will further promote the theory, to you as members. Background I first came across the broken windows theory via […]

We watch our peers push through some gnarly WODs. We cheer them at competitions, witness them smash personal bests and see them dig into that pain cave. This is inspiring. We are audience to endless social media posts of athletes en route to The Games. This is inspiring. In May 2017 I came across an […]

Overtraining syndrome is common in nearly every sport and fitness activity. Overtraining happens when an athlete performs more training than his or her body can recover from, to the point where performance declines. … They believe that the harder they train, the better they become  despite evidence to the contrary. CrossFit has many different elements […]

Crossfit is defined as “constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity” and it provides a fantastic programme and environment for people to reach their potential and learn new skills. This is where, for many, the frustrations can lie. Being constantly varied in nature, there can be an overwhelming number of things to learn and […]