Crossfit Legacy LLC

Really?

Just get the work done?  Regardless of technique?

At what cost?

As an affiliate owner, I have the distinct honor of training people in Crossfit every day. It is fun, challenging, rewarding, taxing, and fun.

For those people who have been Crossfitting a while, these athletes begin to understand what their bodies are capable of.  They can tolerate heavy loads, deal with burning lungs, and even recover uninjured from the occasional bad lift or poor form.

This week I have had to scale back some loads for folks because of bad form with heavier loads.  I could tell they were unhappy about it, but as a Crossfit trainer/athlete….it is IMPERATIVE that we check our egos at the door.

As a trainer, I video my heavy lifts and max effort moves, even the occasional METCON.  Why?  I need to get better, and the only way to do that is to be critical of myself.    How can I as a trainer and coach require my athletes to maintain a rigid spine, vertical forearms, or active shoulders if I don’t hold myself to the same standards.

I listened to a quote for Mark Rippetoe this morning.  He said that “Technique”  is the best demonstration of strength.

Notice, he did not say, lifting/pushing/pulling a PR with ugly form is the best demonstration of strength.

No!

It is technique!

There is A LOT of discussion going on in the Crossfit Community about “Best practices” and quality control in the community.

I truly believe that a good coach/trainer will practice what he/she preaches and demonstrate  in their own training that they take form/technique and intensity seriously.  It is not enough to tell an athletes to do it.  Can you demonstrate it when you are pushing your body to the max?   Because, if you can’t, then I question your dedication to being the best coach/trainer your can be.

Now, we must also examine intensity too. I believe it was Coach Glassman who said, “Be impressed with intensity, not volume!”

Are technique and intensity at odds? No. I listened at my first level one cert and heard them say that they can be co-dependent.  If your technique is perfect all the time, your loads are not heavy enough or you are not pushing yourself hard enough.

If you your technique is bad all the time time, your loads are to heavy or your pushing to hard.

I want your technique to be great most of the time with the occasional correction needed secondary to fatigue or pure drive.

So, is technique the best demonstration of strength?    How about intensity?

How bout…..consistent technique applied at a high intensity is the best demonstration of strength.

Now, the challenge as a trainer/coach is can you coach it?   Does it matter to you?    Does it matter to your athletes? It sure does, because if they miss a lift because of the “just get it done attitude”, they might be off work, or lose $$, employment or whatever.

The goal is to TEACH our athletes how to to work at very high intensity with adequate and consistent technique. That first begins in our training and we MUST be willing to check our egos at the door so that we can be the best we can be for our athletes.

If you are an affiliate owner/coach and you only write the WOD on the board, say 3,2,1 GO, and forget that you are first a Coach, then your athletes are getting cheated and you need to give them their money back!  Our job does not stop with programming or taking cool pictures while people are working out.

As an affiliate owner/coach, our job is to ensure that our athletes/clients get better EVERY single time they step in the door of our gyms. That starts with our attitude, enthusiasm for them, and our willingness to take intensity and technique seriously—first for ourselves and equally important, FOR THEM.

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