Ben Wise
United States
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Articles by Ben Wise
Beyond Adoption: Leading the Responsible AI Evolution
Where is your organization on its generative artificial intelligence (AI) implementation journey? When visiting with CEOs, AI experts, and change leaders, I hear the entire gamut. Some organizations have created full governance and approval processes for AI tool selection, while others have created change management strategies and teams to implement Copilot or ChatGPT.
Closing the Gap: Elevating Corporate Impact in Humanitarian Response
As natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, climate impacts and other crises become more frequent and severe, humanitarian organizations are facing an urgent funding and resource gap. Many corporate actors and corporate foundations are already stepping up to support relief efforts, primarily through financial donations and in-kind contributions. However, the scale and complexity of today’s crises mean that these efforts, while impactful, are no longer enough.
Six Trends Shaping the Future of Health Equity
Across the United States, people separated by a short drive or a subway stop may have life expectancy gaps of up to 20 years. This is not inevitable; it is not the result of “poor decisions,” “bad genes,” or even poverty. This is the result of discrimination, racism, unfair laws, and policies that influence social determinants of health—access to jobs, education, lending, housing, and more.
The Best Coaching Cues (Podcast)
Morning Chalk Up Community The Best Coaching Cues (Podcast) Learn what makes a cue effective as part of athlete feedback, how to use internal vs. external cues as a coach, and the cues our coaches use in common CrossFit movements. VIDEO Other Discussion Points • What is the difference between Cues vs. Feedback? • The cues we use most for common CrossFit movements. What makes an effective cue? (1) It’s short. (2) The athlete understands what you mean. (3) It reminds them of focus on the right thing.
Master Every CrossFit Movement with these Resources
Back when I had a lot more time on my hands, I put together a library of resources for all the commonly tested movements in CrossFit competitions, as a resource for my remote athletes. I thought some Morning Chalk Up readers could benefit from them...
How to Involve Skill Practice at Your CrossFit Affiliate
Morning Chalk Up Community How to Involve Skill Practice at Your CrossFit Affiliate In our classes at Lumber Capital Athletics we regularly give our members time to practice new skills. Acquiring their first handstand push-up or muscle-up is a big deal and will help the athlete complete more workouts “as prescribed,” which is something lots of people are continually working towards.
What Should An Active Recovery Day Look Like for CrossFit Classes?
Morning Chalk Up Community What Should An Active Recovery Day Look Like for CrossFit Classes? When strategic and calculated, a recovery day can provide a host of benefits.
Maximize Your Fitness Through Tension Manipulation
Morning Chalk Up Community Maximize Your Fitness Through Tension Manipulation Limitations of Systems CrossFit is concurrent training. You are getting pulled in multiple directions as an athlete because you are training for many adaptations. It’s less about an “interference effect” and more about limitations on systems. The more polarized the adaptations you seek are relative to a particular system the harder it will be to hold both concurrently.
How To: Program A Competition Simulation
Morning Chalk Up Community How To: Program A Competition Simulation 3 Things to Consider... (1) Who is a simulation best for / inappropriate for? • best for athletes with a higher training age where practicing game day hygiene / rhythms will benefit them more than continuing with their traditional training cycle. (2) When is the best timing for a simulation?
Youth Sports Training: Creating a Strong Foundation
Morning Chalk Up Community Youth Sports Training: Creating a Strong Foundation Finding the coach and facility is critical for all gym-goers, but I would argue that there’s no one it’s more important for than the young athlete. This is because altering the training trajectory for a child will have the most significant impact on their health and sports performance down the road. This is why teaching sound movement and prioritizing quality over loading is critical.
The Fun Factor: CrossFit Class Programming
Morning Chalk Up Community The Fun Factor: CrossFit Class Programming As I write our CrossFit class programming each week, there are three things I attempt to juggle: effectiveness, health & safety, and having fun. In my experience -to a large degree- these factors rely on each other. If one suffers, it pulls the other two down. Let’s dig in… (1) Effectiveness People come to us to get fitness gains. Continually elevating the level of our members' strength & capacity is priority number one.
CrossFit Programming Explanation [Video Series]
Morning Chalk Up Community CrossFit Programming Explanation [Video Series] Sports Sets Sports Sets are a way to dramatically increase an athletes training volume in CrossFit movements without the quality of the movements suffering or slowing. VIDEO Aerobic Intervals Aerobic Intervals are a great way to build quality, high turnover sport-specific work without the power drop-off and fatigue associated with the typical MetCon.
Programming for Tactical Games Athletes
Morning Chalk Up Community Programming for Tactical Games Athletes The Tactical Games are rapidly growing, especially amongst the CrossFit community. This should be a surprise to no one, considering CrossFit’s rich history with training military & law enforcement personnel. And especially in those two demographics, the carryover of Tactical Games training as “functional” fitness is second to none. Yet with the growth of any new fitness testing body comes some unique challenges.
Accessory Programming to Improve Your Fitness & Keep Your Joints Healthy
Morning Chalk Up Community Accessory Programming to Improve Your Fitness & Keep Your Joints Healthy One of the most common questions I get from the athletes who regularly attend our classes is… “How do I put additional work on my weak points without getting too fatigued or wind up in joint pain?” Rarely is the answer just adding in more CrossFit MetCons.
If You’re Not Sweaty, You’re Not Ready.
Morning Chalk Up Community If You’re Not Sweaty, You’re Not Ready. It’s 2008 and 15 year old Ben is sitting at Track Practice. It’s the infamous part of the track season in Pennsylvania, March, where the odds of practice being canceled due to snow is greater than rain. The coaches sat us down and were giving us a long spiel about how to perform at your best in our meets. Even to an ultra-competitive performance junkie it was pretty dry.
Action Feeds Motivation.
Morning Chalk Up Community So often the hardest part of anything is getting started. And this is largely still true for me after 15 years of fitness without taking off more than 10 days at any point. Most days at least a small part of me wants to skip my training. Maybe just one more snooze or another 15 minutes before I set aside my work. Then the window I’ve allotted myself to train slips away. So often the hardest part is getting started.
Great Athletes Take Great Responsibility
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How Our CrossFit Affiliate Implemented Nasal Breathing Into Our Workouts
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A Deep Dive On Affiliate Programming
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The Body Listens to the Mind
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This Should Get Your Blood Pumping.
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Pegboard Points of Performance
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Improve Your Olympic Weightlifting Technique in 3 Steps (Video)
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Addressing Respiratory Limitations in the CrossFit Athlete (Podcast)
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Do I need to be doing extra work outside of class?
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When Do I Know I’m Ready to Rx a CrossFit Workout?
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The 5 Best Exercises for Forearm & Hand Strength
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CrossFit Competitions: Am I Good Enough to Enter?
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Things a College Athlete Should Know Before Starting Competitive CrossFit
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How to Optimize Post-Workout Recovery While Losing Weight
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How Much Volume Do I Need? [CrossFit Programming]
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30 Stretches, Sorted by Joint
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5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started CrossFit
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Training CrossFit Athletes with Heart Rate
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Thinking About Turning Competitive? Here’s 6 Things Your Should Know.
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Building Squat Strength With No Knee Pain
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Troubleshoot Your Squat (Video)
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Weightlifter to CrossFit Athlete: What Advantages Do They Have?
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Play 10 Questions with a Remote CrossFit Coach
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Time as a Training Variable
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Assault Bike Training (Video Series)
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Should I Workout When I’m Sick or Injured?
This is a question that I've heard a lot, and it's even one I ask myself. If you're looking for a simple "yes" or "no" answer, you've come to the wrong place. I don't give blind prescriptions; there's plenty of people in the fitness market doing that already. However, what I do hope to give you is a model of how to think about sickness, injury and the recovery process, which will allow you to answer this question yourself.
Programming Perspective: I Wrote the Same Workout 7 Different Ways
I wrote x5: 5 Snatch 65%, 15 Calorie Row and 60 Double Unders seven different ways, with each having a slightly different feel and intention. This is probably my favorite way to write intervals for an athlete when I don’t know their capacity super well. Because the rest is fixed, it doesn’t matter if the athlete gets the work done in 1:45 or 2:17, their recovery period will always be the same. I would write this for an athlete if I’m slightly unsure if they will “blow up” on the double unders.
What Should I do on Recovery Days?
I’ve found that many athletes don’t know what to do on their active recovery days, so they err in one of two ways… One, they don’t have a specific workout or game plan in mind when they go to the gym so 20 minutes later they end up going full send in a workout that was supposed to be easy. Or two, since they don’t know what to do, they opt to do nothing and their active recovery day turns into a complete rest day (or more like a “lounge on the couch day”). Obviously, neither is ideal.
Using Cluster Sets to Develop Strength & Capacity
Morning Chalk Up Community Using Cluster Sets to Develop Strength & Capacity What are Cluster Sets? Let’s take a look at a cluster set that I’ve written probably a few dozen times in programs over the last few years… Snatch (5 x 1.1.1) 74% *rest 5s b/w clusters, rest 2min b/w sets In other words, you would perform a rep of Snatch, drop & reset for about 5s, another Rep, drop and rest about 5s, and then perform your last rep. Rest 2 minutes and repeat 4 more times. Why Not Just Do a Triple?
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Morning Chalk Up Community The Lessons Building Endurance Requires Doing More Progressing Volume & Intensity Transitions are Key Blood Flow & Cardiac Output Interactions Fueling & Hydration Can Derail Performance Adaptation is System Optimization (1) Building Endurance Requires Doing More There was a movement in the early 2000s where endurance athletes did low-volume interval work combined with drills to build performance.
How Important is Muscle Mass for CrossFit Performance?
Morning Chalk Up Community How Important is Muscle Mass for CrossFit Performance? Form Follows Function Louis H. Sullivan coined this clever catch phrase not only to demonstrate an excellent example of alliteration, but as a means of articulating an architectural truth. To sum up the idea behind form follows function: the shape of a structure should primarily relate to its purpose. I believe we can take this truth and apply it to another structure: the athlete’s physique.
Does Having Good Mobility Prevent Injury?
Morning Chalk Up Community Does Having Good Mobility Prevent Injury? Show Me The Data The Truth: Multiple studies have shown inconclusive and often insignificant results of stretching programs' effectiveness in reducing the incidence of injury. …no scientifically based prescription for stretching exercises exists and no conclusive statements can be made about the relationship of stretching and athletic injuries.
Building Gymnastics Density & Functional Volume for the CrossFit Athlete
Morning Chalk Up Community Building Gymnastics Density & Functional Volume for the CrossFit Athlete What is the best way for me to train to master gymnastics biased tests in CrossFit?“ That’s a question I’ve gotten from many athletes, in some form, and a question that I’ve spent loads of time trying to figure out myself. And while there’s never a one-size fits all approach to training, there are principles and themes that I have identified and distilled into a (hopefully) easy-to-digest format.
Manipulating Patterns for High-Interference MetCons
Morning Chalk Up Community Manipulating Patterns for High-Interference MetCons 3 Part Case Study Let’s take a look at three tests from past the CrossFit seasons, one from the Open, one from Quarterfinals, and one from the Games. Each has high movement interference. In other words, the same muscle groups are being used in multiple movements, presenting a bottleneck for many athletes due to muscular fatigue or failure.
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