Getting Stronger in CrossFit: Why Most Athletes Struggle

Stimulus Matters Podcast Episode 19 – Summary & Key Takeaways

In Episode 19 of the Stimulus Matters Podcast, Kyle Ruth and Ryne Sullivan explore one of the most common frustrations among athletes: “I’ve tried everything and I still can’t get stronger.” But as this episode reveals, most haven’t actually done what’s required to build real, sustainable strength—especially in the context of CrossFit.

This episode breaks down how to assess strength limitations, why so many CrossFitters spin their wheels on progress, and how to build strength when you’re also training endurance and mixed modal conditioning. It’s a deep dive that balances physiology, programming, and practical takeaways for both athletes and coaches.

Most Athletes Haven’t Truly Trained for Strength

The first myth Kyle and Ryne tackle is the belief that people have “tried everything.” In reality, most athletes who say this have:

• Followed random class programming
• Added extra lifts without a structured cycle
• Spent too much time on Olympic weightlifting
• Neglected base strength protocols altogether

And that’s not “doing everything.” That’s avoiding the real work: foundational strength building.

Kyle shares how many endurance-biased athletes struggle with back squats, deadlifts, and pressing—but instead of building those with progressive overload, they jump straight to more snatches and cleans, missing the strength base needed to progress. Often, their clean is within just a few pounds of their front squat.

Your Bias Dictates Your Response to Concurrent Training

Ryne highlights a major issue in hybrid training: adaptation bias. If you’re naturally endurance-oriented, and you do both strength and endurance in the same week, your body will adapt to what it’s best at—which means your strength progress gets blunted.

That’s why programming needs to account for:

• The athlete’s training history
• Their bias (strength vs. endurance)
• Their responsiveness to different types of work

For strength development, you must tip the scales. That doesn’t mean removing all conditioning. But if you don’t reduce volume elsewhere, the strength signal gets lost in the noise.

Assessing Athletes for Strength Gaps and Programming Needs

So how do you actually assess whether someone needs a strength phase? Kyle and Ryne look at:

• Gaps between squat clean and front squat
• Relative strength to bodyweight
• Movement patterns (bilateral vs. unilateral)
• History of structured strength training

Most athletes haven’t run a true strength progression. A few have tried Hatch or Wendler, but even then, often with poor recovery or mismatched intensity. Others have glaring unilateral imbalances that go unaddressed in bilateral-only programs.

That’s why Kyle often starts athletes on simple but proven structures like Wendler 5/3/1 hybrids or rear-foot elevated split squats to improve balance and movement control before adding more volume.

Why Hatch Cycles Still Work—But Not for Everyone

Both coaches agree that the Hatch squat cycle remains a valuable tool for building strength—when used correctly. Kyle’s run dozens of modified Hatch cycles, including:

• BFR (blood flow restriction) Hatch for injury rehab
• Hatch paired with power-only Olympic lifts
• Modified percentages for recovery-limited athletes

But Hatch isn’t for everyone. Ryne points out that high-tension, high-power athletes may struggle neurologically under Hatch’s heavy volume. These athletes often need shorter, more focused blocks with lower absolute loads and longer rest between exposures.

As always, context is king.

Coaching Nuance: How to Individualize Strength Progressions

No two athletes are the same—and good coaching accounts for that. Kyle outlines a three-phase structure he often uses:

1. Assessment & History Review – Movement screen, training background, movement bias
2. Foundational Phase – Unilateral work, tempo control, and positional strength
3. Progressive Loading Phase – Wendler-style builds, eventually moving into Hatch or conjugate-style work

But the real nuance comes from knowing when not to push. Many CrossFit athletes already train 6–7 days per week, and simply don’t have the adaptive bandwidth for another cycle. In those cases, Kyle recommends cutting back on training volume, not just adding more training.

CrossFitters Don’t Need to Maximize Gym Time—They Need to Maximize Adaptation

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Episode 19 is this: being busy isn’t the same as making progress.

Many athletes overtrain because they mistake work for adaptation. But real strength development takes:

• Focused, progressive loading
• Adequate rest and nutrition
• Reduced interference from competing modalities

You don’t need to do more. You need to do enough of the right thing and let your body adapt.

Final Thoughts: Building Strength That Transfers to the Sport

In CrossFit, strength is one of the biggest performance limiters—especially once you reach Semifinals or Games levels. It’s also one of the slowest qualities to build. If you want to close the gap on heavier barbell events, odd-object workouts, or high-rep Olympic lifts, you have to put in months of intentional work.

Episode 19 of Stimulus Matters delivers the framework you need to start:

• Assess your training history and movement imbalances
• Understand your adaptation bias
• Run structured, appropriate strength progressions
• Know when to push—and when to back off

Listen to the full episode for programming insights, real client examples, and coach-to-coach discussion on how to truly build strength in a concurrent training world.