Wow – what a great weekend.
I learned:
- a ton about CrossFit
- what fitness is and how it’s defined
- the importance of technique
- the super-importance of proper nutrition
- how to progressively teach all important functional movements
- spot and correct errors in those movements
- and of course, how to correctly perform them.
- There’s nothing like getting your technique picked apart all day long, even when your head is swimming during a WOD like Fight Gone Bad.
As for the people, it was an all star cast instructor wise and attendee wise. While Coach Greg Glassman, Coach Mark Rippetoe and Coach Burgener weren’t there — the quality of the information or instruction weren’t diminished at all. Tony Budding, Nicole Carroll and Dave Castro along with Adrian from CrossFit San Francisco did a great job with the lectures and movement classes. Pat from CrossFit Virginia Beach was excellent as were Brian “Tosh” Contosh, Jimi, Freddy Camacho from CrossFit One World, Lisa Ray from CrossFit Flagstaff, EC and all the rest. One other highlight was screaming and cheering on ‘Tosh as he set a new house record for Grace (Clean and Jerk 135lbs 30x for time) with 2:05. Talk about moving large loads long distance and quickly! Holy Crap!
On the attendee side we had Jason MacDonald from the UFC and John Welbourn from the Kansas City Chiefs in attendance. Jason was in my training group and was fun to have around and just BS a little with here and there. It was also somewhat ironic to critique his push press and push jerk movements (not opening hip enough, too big of a dip, weight forward at extension etc etc — same crap the rest of us were struggling with in pursuit of perfect form) knowing that while his hip might not be opening here, if he were kicking me in the head it would open up just fine. I think Jason scored over 300 on Fight Gone Bad (very very good score) as did three or four other people at the cert. I also watched him row 500 meters in 1:27 at the end of two activity full days. Who knows what he could pull fresh? “The Athlete” indeed! Also I have to say thanks to my workout partners Dan Fuhr and Stuart from Kansas that pushed me through the two WODs.
Here’s a link to the group shot from the cert. Jason MacDonald and John Welbourn are in the front row, sitting. So, I’m CrossFit Level I certified now. Next up is the CSCS exam, a CPR course and then probably the NSCA CPT exam along with CrossFit Basic Barbell and Olympic Lifting certifications. Somewhere along the way I’ll start actually training clients / athletes. That is the whole point of all of this after all. One thing I know is I want to avoid being a “pinsetter” at all costs. That’s not my bag.
What I want to do is pursue excellence as a trainer by treating my clients as athletes. I want to invest in them. Sure, becoming a better CrossFit performer is important to me, but it’s so much more important to have clients become fitter and better performers in their own lives — to share their success and hard work. How awesome will it be to actually help someone get their first pullup? To help give someone their life back with fitness – say the ability to pick up a grandchild or make it up flights of stairs? I’m really looking forward to it.
