Jami Tikkanen – The Winningest CrossFit Coach, Developing a Framework, and the Importance of a Human-First Approach

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Jami Tikkanen
The Winningest CrossFit Coach, Developing a Framework, and the Importance of a Human-First Approach

Jami Tikkanen is the Founder and head coach of The Training Plan, an online program for athletes in functional fitness. Jami’s mission is to teach athletes to train with a purpose, and learn to overcome their obstacles to reach their potential.

He is an Osteopath, a Fellow of Applied Functional Science with the Gray Institute, a Z-Health Master Practitioner and one of the few Certified CrossFit Level 4 Coaches.

Jami has been working with elite level CrossFit athletes since 2010 and is coach to Annie Thorisdottir (Fittest Woman on Earth 2011, 2012), Björgvin Gudmundsson (2-time 3rd Fittest Man on Earth) and other CrossFit Games athletes (most recently Katrin Davidsdottir and Team CF Reykjavik). In 2013, Jami was selected as coach for Team Europe at the first ever CrossFit Invitational against Team USA.

For more info about Jami, check out his website, The Training Plan, and follow them on Instagram.

Athletes, Essayists, and Norwegian Spirits mentioned in the episode: 

04:46  Rumor has it that Jami is the winningest CrossFit Coach in CF Games history
05:30  If an athlete isn’t successful, more often than not, the coach is the first to go
06:35  Jami has worked with Annie Thorisdottir since 2010 which is almost unheard of
08:09  Kelly feels that Jami is one of the best coaches on the planet
09:03  The interpersonal relationship and trust is the keystone of the coach-athlete dynamic
10:00  Jami was on the Finnish National Judo Team and having received high level coaching helped shape him as a coach
11:15  Annie Thorisdottir had a child recently and Jami had to learn to balance Annie’s goals with her priority of motherhood; Stacy Sims
12:45  Jami’s coaching had to respect Annie’s physiology and the emotional and mental challenges of pregnancy and birth
17:11  Jami studied how to talk and coach more expressively with more intonation and smiling
19:30  Jami went to work at Euro Disney in Paris to get more fluent in French
19:55  While in Paris, Jami started training at a martial arts school and through the school he found an opportunity to study Chinese medicine and ended up completing a three year degree
21:15  Jami developed a basic framework for coaching and he evaluates all new information in terms of how it fits into the framework
22:24  If he could go back Jami go back to 2010, he would have used many more training methodologies rather than training his athletes solely with CrossFit
24:56 Minimum viable program; The Pragmatic Programmer, by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas; Nassim Taleb
26:54 There are a limited number of movements that typically show up in the CrossFit Games that form a model for the sport, and beyond that your athletes must be as adaptable as possible to deal with the unknowns
28:50 Something special is happening in Iceland; Katrin Davidsdottir
30:50 Jami’s is currently coaching: Björgvin Gudmundsson (2-time 3rd Fittest Man on Earth), Katrin Davidsdottir (Fittest Woman on Earth 2015, 2016), Annie Thorisdottir (Fittest Woman on Earth 2011, 2012), Khan Porter (6x CrossFit Games Athlete), Tola Morakinyo (3x CrossFit Games Athlete), Lauren Fisher (7x CrossFit Games Athlete)
33:38 The competitive cauldron; Rachel Balkovec
34:30 Jami’s athletes are super supportive of each other, but when it’s go time, they compete HARD
35:05 The post-covid training energy is “all in”
36:15 The pro-inflammation tour; Athletic Greens
39:40 Back in the day Jami got Kelly to test some early HRV tech which required Kelly lay down and do nothing each morning right about the time Juliet was getting their 4 and 6 year olds ready for school – which Juliet shut down after 2 days with a hearty “oh hell no”
40:44 Technology is just adjunct to interacting and communicating with the human; Whoop
43:20 Jami has a continuous pursuit of understanding the role of the brain in human performance
46:45 Jami runs through how he preps and keeps healthy leading up to the Games
48:50 Jami’s nutrition strategies
50:36 Jami is really looking forward the Games; Team CrossFit Mayhem Freedom
51:25 Aquavit
51:40 Jami takes a major adventure trip each year – this year might be pack rafting…in Alaska OR get dropped from a helicopter somewhere in Norway and make his way back; Joe De Sena
53:10 Jami’s Socials

Full Transcript

Sponsors

This episode of The Ready State Podcast is sponsored by Momentous, the largest supplier of nutritional support to college, pro-sports teams, and the military in the world. Micronutrient and functional nutritional support isn’t a gimmick, it’s a performance advantage. And now Momentous has collaborated with Dr. Andrew Huberman to develop a suite of supplements that optimize health in the areas of sleep, focus, physical performance, hormone support, and longevity. Dr. Huberman is one of our favorite thinkers around neuroscience and research-backed protocols that are simple and actionable. Each of the new products has been carefully developed and selected to pair with the protocols Dr. Huberman recommends for foundational health and optimal physical & mental performance. Check it out and use code “TRS” for 20% OFF your first purchase.