CrossFit training is more than just moving fast or lifting heavy—it’s about moving well. Whether you’re a new athlete or an experienced coach, understanding these elements can dramatically improve your training and coaching effectiveness.
The Foundation: Core Points of Performance
Line of Action
Maintaining a proper line of action means the bar or load travels in a straight path over the mid-foot. This maximizes efficiency and balance while minimizing unnecessary energy leaks. Whether in a squat, snatch, or press, keeping the line of action vertical is fundamental to successful movement execution. When the bar drifts forward or backward, athletes must compensate with additional muscle activation, reducing both power output and movement efficiency.
Core to Extremity
CrossFit emphasizes generating power from the core first, then extending through the extremities. Strong trunk engagement sets the stage for more powerful hip and arm extension, whether you’re swinging a kettlebell or driving out of a clean. This principle ensures that the body’s largest, most powerful muscle groups initiate movement, while the smaller extremities serve as the final link in the kinetic chain. Reversing this sequence—using arms to initiate what should be a core-driven movement—compromises both safety and performance.
Balance Over the Mid-Foot
Athletes should keep their weight balanced over the mid-foot to ensure stability and control. Shifting too far forward or backward can compromise strength, reduce power output, and increase the risk of injury. The mid-foot represents the optimal balance point where athletes can generate maximum force while maintaining stability throughout the movement.
Full Range of Motion
Performing each movement through a full range of motion ensures complete development of strength and mobility. Cutting depth in a squat or shortening a pull-up reduces training effectiveness and hides potential mobility limitations. Full range of motion also ensures that strength is developed at all joint angles, creating more resilient and capable athletes.
Active Shoulders
Proper shoulder position protects the joint and creates a stronger base for overhead movements. Athletes should maintain active shoulders—shrugging slightly up in a press or pull-up—rather than letting them collapse. This active engagement creates a stable platform for force transfer and protects the shoulder joint from impingement and injury.
Neutral Spine
A neutral spine is critical in virtually every movement. This preserves the natural curve of the back and protects the spine from injury while maximizing force transfer. Whether squatting, deadlifting, or pressing, maintaining the spine’s natural curvature ensures optimal biomechanics and reduces the risk of injury.
Proper Grip and Hand Position
The correct grip ensures safe and effective force application. A strong, balanced grip supports stability and control across movements like the deadlift, snatch, or pull-up. Hand position affects everything from force transfer to joint alignment, making it a critical component of movement quality.
Knees Tracking Toes
In squats and similar lower-body movements, keeping the knees tracking in line with the toes supports knee health and optimal hip engagement. This alignment ensures proper force distribution through the kinetic chain and prevents unnecessary stress on the knee joint.
Elbow and Wrist Position
Maintaining proper elbow and wrist position helps prevent collapse or poor force transfer, especially in front rack or overhead positions. These joints serve as critical links in the kinetic chain, and their positioning directly impacts the athlete’s ability to maintain stability and transfer force effectively.
The Teaching Revolution: Start and End Positions
While all these points are essential, teaching the start and end positions is often the most effective coaching strategy. This approach provides athletes with clear, measurable targets that guide their movement execution.
The Start Position: Setting the Foundation
A proper start position sets the stage for success. It ensures the athlete is braced, balanced, and ready to move efficiently. Key elements of effective start position coaching include:
Weight in the mid-foot – Establishing proper balance from the beginning creates a stable foundation for force generation.
Strong core engagement – Pre-tensioning the core creates the stability necessary for safe, powerful movement.
Eyes forward, chest up – Proper head and chest position supports spinal alignment and prepares the athlete for optimal movement mechanics.
If an athlete can consistently achieve a solid start position, they are more likely to move safely and powerfully through the lift or skill. This is because the start position determines the quality of everything that follows.
The Receiving or End Position: The Target
Equally important is the receiving or end position. Whether catching a clean, standing tall in a press, or hitting the bottom of a squat, the end position serves as a checkpoint of correctness. This position represents the athlete’s destination—the target they’re working toward throughout the movement.
When athletes have a clear understanding of their end position, they can self-correct during the movement, making adjustments to ensure they arrive at the right place. This is particularly powerful in complex movements where multiple position transitions must occur in sequence.
The Magic of Position Understanding
If athletes understand where they need to finish and have the strength and mobility to get there, they are more likely to perform the correct sequence of movements to arrive at that position. In essence, they “connect the dots” between start and finish. This understanding transforms movement from a series of mechanical steps into an intuitive flow from one position to the next.
Why These Positions Matter
Reduced Error
Clear landmarks help athletes self-correct during movement execution. When athletes know exactly where they should be at the beginning and end of a movement, they can identify and address deviations in real-time.
Improved Sequencing
Knowing the destination encourages a proper path. Athletes who understand their target position naturally develop better movement sequencing as they learn the most efficient way to get from start to finish.
Injury Prevention
Strong, safe positions protect joints and the spine. When athletes consistently achieve proper start and end positions, they’re far less likely to experience injury-causing breakdowns in movement mechanics.
The Strength and Mobility Connection
Understanding proper positions is only half the equation. Athletes must also possess the physical capacity to achieve and maintain these positions. This means addressing both strength and mobility limitations that prevent proper position execution.
An athlete might intellectually understand that they need to maintain a neutral spine and engaged core in the start position of a deadlift, but if they lack the hip mobility to hinge properly or the core strength to maintain position under load, they’ll be unable to execute correctly. As coaches, we must assess whether position errors stem from lack of understanding or lack of physical capacity.
This recognition leads to a more comprehensive approach to skill development—one that addresses technical understanding, strength development, and mobility work as interconnected components of movement quality.
Practical Application for Coaches
Assessment First
Before teaching any movement, assess your athlete’s current capacity. Can they achieve the start position unloaded? Can they maintain it under light load? Do they understand what the end position should look like? These assessments inform your teaching approach and help you identify whether you need to focus on education, strength development, mobility work, or some combination of all three.
Build from the Ground Up
Start with the foundations—proper start and end positions—before adding complexity. Master the positions statically before attempting them dynamically. This approach builds confidence and competence simultaneously, creating athletes who understand their movements rather than simply mimicking them.
Progressive Loading
Once athletes can achieve proper positions, gradually add load while maintaining position quality. This progressive approach ensures that strength development occurs within the context of proper movement patterns.
Final Thoughts
A successful lift or movement isn’t an accident—it’s the result of careful preparation and execution. By mastering the start and end positions, athletes gain a roadmap for every rep. Combine this roadmap with the key points of performance, and you’ll build a foundation that supports longevity, strength, and overall athleticism.
As coaches and athletes, our mission is not only to perform more reps or lift heavier weights but to do so with impeccable technique. When in doubt, come back to the basics: strong start, solid finish, and everything else falls into place.
The beauty of this approach lies in its simplicity and effectiveness. Rather than overwhelming athletes with complex technical cues, we provide them with clear targets and the physical capacity to hit those targets consistently. This creates independent, confident athletes who understand not just what to do, but why they’re doing it.
Remember: if an athlete knows and has the strength and mobility to get into proper starting and ending positions, they can more likely perform the exercises correctly. If the athlete has a firm understanding of the start position and the end position, they will more likely perform the right sequence of movements to arrive at the end position from the start position. This is the foundation of effective coaching and successful training.
References
- CrossFit Level 2 Manual
- Kelly Starrett’s Supply Leopard