One of the biggest challenges coaches face isn’t designing the perfect program—it’s getting athletes to actually follow it. You can have the most scientifically sound plan in the world, but if your athletes aren’t committed, it doesn’t matter. Buy-in is everything, and it’s the cornerstone of adherence and long-term progress.

Great programming falls flat if the athlete’s mindset is fragile. The job isn’t just writing sets and reps—it’s shaping how an athlete thinks, decides, and responds under stress. Below is a value-packed, coach-first guide you can plug straight into training this week.

If your goal is better results in mixed-modal sports like CrossFit and HYROX, both Zone 2 work and HIIT matter—just for different reasons.

If you want to get better at CrossFit, it’s not about chasing trends or random WODs—it’s about strategic, consistent, and purposeful training. At Conquer Athlete, we help athletes build strength, skill, and endurance to reach measurable results.

As Masters athletes, the challenge of pursuing new CrossFit goals isn’t just physical—it starts in the mind. Years of training, competition, and experience have built resilience, but old patterns and self-limiting beliefs can hold you back. Resetting your mindset is the key to unlocking higher levels of performance and achieving new milestones in CrossFit.

Most athletes think the gap between them and a champion is capacity. That’s partially true, but It’s also execution under pressure, the ability to deliver your plan when the room gets loud, the clock gets short, and the bar feels heavier than it did in training. Competition is just an amplifier; it turns your habits into headlines. Champions build habits that hold.

Here’s what they do differently, and how you can start doing it today.

Coaches, let’s get clear: your job isn’t to worship a template—it’s to get results for the human in front of you. That means you don’t need to follow a traditional outline to the letter. You do need to understand the principles that make any method work. Principles are the operating system; methods are the apps. If you don’t know the OS, you’re just guessing which app will open the file.

Read more about the non-negotiables I expect every coach on my staff to know.

“Dear aspiring CrossFit Athlete, I remember my first time walking into a box—raw plywood walls, chalk in the air, and barbells rattling against the floor. I felt equal parts inspired and overwhelmed. Two decades later I’ve coached podium finishers, military operators, and weekend warriors, and one truth keeps surfacing: longevity beats flashes of brilliance every single time. The sport rewards consistency, humility, and deliberate progression. It punishes ego, impatience, and sloppy recovery. Consider this letter your roadmap for the seasons ahead.” Click to read more from Conquer Head Coach Jason Leydon.

When the lights hit, the music spikes, and your heart rate is already sitting 15 beats above baseline before the clock even starts—grit is what keeps you together. Not talent. Not hype. Grit. The willingness to stay present, keep pushing with intent, and solve problems when your lungs, legs, and ego are screaming to bail.

This isn’t motivational fluff. Grit is a skill set: a cluster of behaviors and mindsets you train, rehearse, and execute under pressure. Here’s how to build it and call on it when it matters most.

Older athletes face lowered anabolic hormones, slower collagen repair, and higher baseline stress. They therefore need an even sharper focus on sleep hygiene, protein timing, mobility maintenance, and parasympathetic activation through practices such as breathwork or meditation. Proper recovery converts training from joint-grinding punishment into forward momentum and longevity.

When it comes to athletic performance, training gets most of the spotlight—but make no mistake, your nutrition is the foundation that supports every rep, every sprint, every recovery. You can have the best training plan in the world, but if your fueling strategy is off, you're leaving performance on the table. Over the years of coaching elite CrossFit Games athletes, pros, and everyday competitors, one thing has remained constant: those who eat with purpose, perform with power.

Read more about the key points I emphasize when coaching athletes on how to optimize their food for performance.

In my 20+ years of coaching, I’ve worked with some of the most elite individuals across sport and life—CrossFit Games athletes, military special operations, professional athletes, and high-level business performers. I’ve also worked with everyday people who operate at an extremely high standard, and you start to notice something after a while:

High performers move differently—not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally.

It’s not about talent. Not genetics. Not even just work ethic. It’s about character. The traits that are ingrained deep in their DNA—traits that show up when it’s hard, when no one is watching, and when the stakes are high.

Here are the 10 character traits I see time and time again in high performers.

Maybe, you already possess the skills AND conditioning you need to be successful. However, you may have too many energy leaks that contribute toward your overall fatigue and expenditure – which prohibits you from expressing your true abilities.

When you’re in your 20’s (or even younger), some things may not be as important for you to focus on, but as age, volume, and priorities change, it’s vital to take a look at the whole picture if you hope to continue down the path of progress.

The following elements all have a huge impact on your training, your improvement, and your longevity.

Welcome to a deeper dive into the world of sports nutrition, where we magnify the crucial yet often underestimated role of micronutrients. In this edition, we delve into essential vitamins and minerals that power athletic performance, how can implementation optimize fitness,  and draw lessons from real athlete case studies on overcoming common deficiencies.

To maximize your athletic potential, long-term thinking has to be part of your mindset.

A big portion of that includes training smart, training consistently, and avoiding injuries.

For better or worse, the typical CrossFit athlete is focused on performance. How do I get a faster time or more reps? And in some instances, that can be a hindrance toward progression.

Recent studies have brought leucine to the forefront of nutritional science, particularly regarding its role in post-exercise recovery. Research from the University of Toronto and associated institutions has demonstrated that leucine-enriched essential amino acids are instrumental in enhancing recovery from muscle damage incurred during exercise. This benefit is distinct from the traditional mechanisms of protein synthesis, offering a unique avenue for muscle repair.

CrossFit athletes, known for their rigorous training encompassing high-intensity cardio, weightlifting, and plyometrics, face unique recovery challenges. Leucine, an essential amino acid, emerges as a key factor in post-exercise recovery. Studies, including those from the University of Toronto, highlight that leucine-enriched essential amino acids are effective in repairing muscle damage after intense workouts—a common scenario in CrossFit. Leucine's collaboration with insulin in enhancing muscle protein synthesis is particularly beneficial for CrossFit athletes, who often engage in diverse and demanding exercises.

As you age, especially in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, you learn quite a few things. First, despite your age, you can still train extremely hard. Second, if you opt to do that with high frequency, you’re also looking at time away from the mat due to injury. So how do you find the balance?

All of it simply comes down to training smarter, not harder. With that in mind, here’s my take on training jiu-jitsu for the masters athlete.