Jacked Athlete Podcast Achilles Tendons and CrossFit: Injury Prevention Strategies with Brent Fikowski
Nov 17, 2025
Brent Fikowski, an elite CrossFit competitor with 12 years in the sport, shares invaluable insights on Achilles health and injury prevention. He discusses the prevalence of Achilles injuries, especially related to rebounding box jumps, and emphasizes the need for proper warm-up routines. Brent highlights the often-neglected importance of calf training and structured loading practices to maintain tendon resilience. Additionally, he covers effective strategies for scaling plyometrics safely and the long-term benefits of consistent loading for tendon adaptation.
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Rebounding Movements Stress The Achilles
- Rebounding box jumps and backward-to-forward jumps disproportionately stress the Achilles and cause many ruptures in CrossFit.
- Fatigue, heavy deadlifts, or prior work can increase rupture risk during these rebounding movements.
Calves Often Get Overlooked
- Calves are rarely trained directly in many strength programs despite constant loading during running and jumping.
- Neglecting targeted calf strength may leave parts of the Achilles underprepared and vulnerable.
Do Single‑Leg Slow Heavy Calf Raises
- Do single-leg, standing calf raises off a step to reach deep dorsiflexion and isolate each Achilles.
- Start with ~3x15 reps per side, progress to 3x10 then 3x5 while increasing load over months.