Paul B. Weber

When Rene and I started working together, she was 6 months post-op on her rotator cuff.

Her goals were:

“Would love to be ready for the Open in 2026.”
“Shoulder feeling normal and strong without pain doing movements like ring MU, strict HSPU, OHS.”

We took it slow. We chose exercises we were confident in, and often spent 6 weeks on an exercise before moving on.

Rene faithfully completed every rep, sent video, and the one time something felt off, she let me know and we changed the exercise.

This was her first muscle up post-surgery. I still feel an overwhelming wave of joy when I see her reaction.

Rene’s ideal future is:

“Training without shoulder pain. Staying healthy and qualifying for the CF Games. Training in a healthy way, respecting the body, and hitting a goal I have always had in this sport - while having fun along the way.”

This year, she didn’t just complete the Open — she advanced to Quarters, then qualified for the Magic City Semifinal, where she finished 2 spots from qualifying for her first CrossFit Games.

She’s well on her way. The best is yet to come.

Rene Brechtel

Athletes care about leanness insofar as it serves performance.

At a certain body fat %, leanness and performance will diverge.

Hormones go sideways, metabolism and immunity downregulate, your ability to stay consistent in training eventually suffers.

It takes experimentation with each individual (within their sport’s “high performance range”) to find their race/competition weight.

Below for reference is what the data says on body composition in athletes:

Male Body Fat %
Bodybuilder (on stage) - ~4%
Marathon Runner - 6-9%
Road Cyclist - 6-10%
100m Sprinter - 7-10%
XC Skier - ~11%
CrossFit Athlete - 11.8% ±2.4
Triathlete - 11.9%
Olympic Weightlifter - ~12.5%
Bodybuilder (offseason) - ~13%
Powerlifter (lightweight) - 12-16%

Female Body Fat %
Bodybuilder (on stage) - ~10%
Marathon Runner - 12-16%
Road Cyclist - 12-16%
100m Sprinter - 12-16%
XC Skier - ~14.2%
CrossFit Athlete - 15.5% ±2.3
Powerlifter (lightweight) - 18-22%
Olympic Weightlifter - ~18-22%
Triathlete - ~20%
Bodybuilder (offseason) - ~21%

Here’s what the data says on the leanest athletes:

Male Body Fat %
100m Sprinters - 7-10%
Road Cyclists - 6-10%
Marathon Runners - 6-9%
Bodybuilder on stage - ~4%

Female Body Fat %
100m Sprinters - 12-16%
Road Cyclists - 12-16%
Marathon Runners - 12-16%
Bodybuilder on stage - ~10%

At a certain leanness you get too much hormonal suppression, adaptive thermogenesis (slowed metabolism), and impaired recovery to perform - even in sports where leanness is rewarded.

Stage lean bodybuilders define how much fat is essential to survive.

Sprinters, cyclists and marathoners define how much fat is essential to perform.

The high performance range for CrossFit athletes tops out around 15% body fat for males and 22% for females.

Thankfully CrossFit and hybrid fitness races don’t seem to require leanness to the point of health degradation. At least so far in practice.

Some body fat supports metabolic health - which you need because these sports are a lot of work.

Some body fat also supports hormonal health - which you need enough of to express some force.

The combination of needing both lands hybrid athletes somewhere between the marathoners, road cyclists, and 100m sprinters on one end, and the weightlifters and powerlifters on the other.

This means that most CrossFitters and hybrid athletes can stay in the high performance range indefinitely.

So if you’re above the top end of the range, the competition actually isn’t the reason to diet.

Instead it’s to learn the skills that will keep you in the high performance range indefinitely.

For athletes inside the range, there may be an argument for body fat manipulation leading into a competition. But in my experience that is when training load is at its peak. So the challenge is more about eating enough to support the training, and that has to be kept as the main intention. If some leaning out happens, fine, but I prefer to keep supporting the training as the main intention with nutrition leading into competition.

I see a lot of CrossFitters’ food logs. Here’s the most common mistake:

2-4g/kg carbs

They almost always are exceeding their needs for protein (1g/lb and often more). But they’re undereating calories.

First we get the intentions clear - this is about performance, not being as lean as possible for its own sake.

Then we get them eating more carbs. Immediately they feel better. Their sleep may improve, their desire to train may go up, etc.

Then they start training more (by adding easy conditioning) and now they’re on their way to improving performance.

Really the key is showing them through their experience that more sacrifice does not always lead to better performance.

Train hard, recover hard.

Had a blast in Dallas last weekend. It’s always exciting to be with clients in person.

Because of the format I had 6 athletes across 3 divisions - which made it unique and fun.

There were PRs, highlights and lessons learned. I left inspired by my athletes’ effort. This sport is extremely demanding and the athletes who stay consistent in it are doing something truly exceptional.

Back to the grind.






Sophia Kennedy

Just because somebody trains a lot and looks great, doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing with their nutrition.

I went through years of depletion, then swung the opposite way and relied too much on sugars, back and forth.

Fad diets and day in the life videos still lead people astray.

Here are some of the big ones I wish I knew a long time ago:

1. Deprivation (hunger, leanness) is followed by indulgence. More sacrifice is not always better.

2. Consistently meeting your energy needs is essential to health and performance.

3. Carbs help most people meet their energy needs more easily than fat or protein.

4. Some amount of fat and protein is essential.

5. Not all of your diet has to be whole foods. Many processed foods empty the stomach more quickly than the whole food from which they’re derived. This is an advantage the closer you are to training.

6. Eat often enough to fuel training and balance blood sugar.

7. Supplements matter significantly less than your diet.