First, with all that extra traffic from the main site and I didn’t pick up any new twitter followers? Don’t you know that twitter is the new facebook and I need social media validation!?!? Plus I’m clearly hilarious, not as hilarious as Epic or Drywall, but funny nonetheless. But whatever. . . . . . . . . . . on to the post.
In part 1 I spoke about what I have seen firsthand at globo-gyms that many people did not get to see as an employee (6 plus years behind the scenes). I made fun of shitty trainers, shitty group-exers, and shitty strength coaches. Why? Just because it was fun? Yes. I kid, I kid, not just because it was fun.
Regular folks pick trainers based on how the trainer looks and how many “certs” they have. If they get hurt or don’t see results they blame ONE trainer. If someone gets hurt at a CrossFit box, or doing a CrossFit workout, they do not blame just the coach, or that affiliate, but condemn ALL THINGS CROSSFIT. All CrossFit gyms are not the same and are definitely not equal. Some of you got what I was trying to say. Others of you, oye, reread the shit and try to understand.
The real title of this post should have been Putting It All Together.
Certs
Certs are awesome. The more knowledge you can ABSORB the better. See absorb. Not memorize. You need to be able to apply knowledge. PT certs are great, if you can use that knowledge to teach people how to move. Coaching certs are great too. But just having a piece of paper doesn’t automatically make you a better coach. Just because you were around Chuck, Boz, and EC didn’t mean you got their eye through osmosis.
You need to be able to apply shit. Don’t they say at the Level 1 that you should live in couplets and triplets? Not 45 min. chippers every day jackass. If you program that slop, read here, read here, read here, read here, read here. If you went to the USAW do you understand when and why to program snatch balance for your athlete? What about stuff from the hang or blocks? You are Westside certified but don’t know some people need to do deficit deadlifts and others need to do rackpulls?
Seminars
Here is a plan: go to a cheaper seminar so you have a decent knowledge base before you drop $400-1200 on a cert. Want to go to the CF Oly cert or USAW? Check out Wilkes Weightlifting or something comparable in whatever part of the country you are in.
Check out seminars that are not necessarily CF specific like this one. These dudes might know a little bit about making people into beasts even though they aren’t CrossFit coaches.
If you don’t want to go to a seminar find a former raw powerlifter, strongman, or oly lifter in your area. Use google to find local weightlifting teams. Or horror of horrors; drive an hour or so to go be around a coach that knows more than you. Go be a fucking sponge around those that are better than you, not a know-it-all-my-shit-don’t-stink jackass.
Find a real gym that produces the results YOU are after and want to see in YOUR athletes.
Soak up knowledge.
Experience
This is the kicker. You should know of Gladwell’s 10,000 hr. rule. This is when you can consider yourself an expert. The more hours you have applying your QUALITY certs, seminars, and knowledge to train folks, the better you are. Knowing how to modify EVERYTHING you program so anyone can do CrossFit. Working around, not through injuries. Scaling weight and reps correctly. I don’t expect Bill McLevel1stein to be able to get that shit right, but I bet Dutch Lowy can.
You should be able to take athletes from regular joe to 200, 300, 400, 500+ deadlift. Most people have NEVER done a pullup, get them there. But remember it’s not just about your firebreathers, after all you are just a middle-school gym teacher.
To sum it all up, teach well, not lazily. You are more than a stop watch holder. Never stop learning, never stop applying your knowledge.
Programming
You cannot learn this at any cert or any seminar. This takes time and the ability to apply knowledge. Push/Pull, Oly lifts, physical shit (prowler, sledgehammer, weighted carries), bodyweight movements are all in the toolbox for you to use.
The the biggest key I think for people to understand and many boxes miss: you should KNOW how long you want a met-con to take and KNOW what you want it to accomplish. Don’t wait for times to come up on the whiteboard and say “Oh, yea it looks like 7 minutes is fast.” If you smash people with three 45min chippers in a week don’t expect them to pull on DL PR that weekend hoss.
As Glassman originally said, “The magic is in the movements, the science is in the explanation, the art is in the programming.”
All “CrossFits” can draw from the same movements. But some suck at teaching them, so those movements are off-limits (hopefully) to them. All “CrossFits” should be able to explain all the movements and explain nutrition. But many “coaches” teach a clean when the people can’t get set on deadlift. All “CrossFits” do programming. But many cannot decide what they want to happen with their programming. Are you trying to make people strong? Do you just want them conditioned? Is your programming hurting people? Is your programming increasing their fitness or just destroying them every day?
