Yes, those words actually came out of my mouth, and I’ll say it again, I will NEVER go back to a CrossFit affiliate.
I know what you’re thinking:
Why?- What happened?
- How could you say that?
- You love CrossFit!
- You’ve been coaching for nearly a decade!
Before we dive into the conversation, allow me to preface with this:
- There are legitimate reasons for this statement.
- I do love CrossFit, but not all aspects.
- I’m never going to stop coaching.
- I said that I would never go back to an AFFILIATE.
CrossFit revolutionized group fitness, rejuvenated the weightlifting community, transformed the industry, and literally redefined fitness. CrossFit is an incredibly safe, effective, and fun training methodology. In terms of community, camaraderie, competition, and cultivating General Physical Preparedness, it is second to none.
If it were not for CrossFit, I would not be the fitness professional that I am today:
I would not have been blessed with WORLD-CLASS mentors- I would not have developed and refined my leadership, group management skills, presence, and attitude
- I would not have learned how to effectively teach, see, and correct movement
- I would not have learned to create efficient, effective, and safe training programs
- I would not have learned the intricacies and nuances of Olympic Weightlifting and calisthenics
HOWEVER, all that said, I will never go back to a CrossFit affiliate. Specifically, I will never be a member at an affiliate, and maybe I shouldn’t say never, but it would take quite a bit of convincing.
Here’s the deal. As much as I love CrossFit, appreciate the experiences which it has provided, and cherish the relationships that I’ve developed along the way, the truth is, there are A LOT of not so great affiliates out there.
To be clear, there are some INCREDIBLE affiliates in the CrossFit community, and without a doubt, some of the ABSOLUTE BEST coaches in the industry. Seriously, the most credible, knowledgable, skillful, and experienced coaches that I’ve met have been through CrossFit. In fact, they’re just AMAZING human beings.
Yet, as someone who has dropped into more than 40 CrossFit affiliates over the last decade, I say with confidence that those facilities and professionals are few and far between. Aside from the fact that most are dirty, disorganized, neglected, and poorly managed, the real issue that I have with affiliates is that the owners/coaches do not understand program design.
There are men and women across the globe running affiliates and writing programs that disregard essentially all concepts, methods, and principles of training. Rather than studying their craft, utilizing the evidence, and investing the time, energy, and effort to create efficient programs, these folks are asking their members to do workouts simply because it looks cools, their training partner died last week testing it out, or they saw it on their favorite CrossFit Games athlete’s Instagram.
THIS. IS. NOT. OKAY.
That is EXACTLY the reason why people burnout, suffer injuries, and discontinue CrossFit all together. There are simply too many “coaches” and not enough knowledgeable, credible, skillful, and experienced FITNESS PROFESSIONALS in the industry.
If the goal is to help people run, jump, skip, throw, and play well into their 70s, 80s, and 90s, there needs to be a method to the madness. Programs need to be planned, structured, purposeful, and evidence-based. Every aspect of the program needs to be considered: intensity, load, volume, frequency, recovery, etc. People need to understand why they’re being asked to do something: the benefit of the exercise, the stimulus of the session, the purpose of the phase, and/or the concept of the annual plan.
That is why, unless I am 100% blown away by the experience, the coach, the ownership, and the programming, I’ll never go back to a CrossFit affiliate.
I believe that YOU deserve the absolute best experience, coaching, and programming available. I believe YOU deserve to feel invigorated, not exhausted when you leave the gym. I believe YOU deserve to move toward, and ultimately, achieve your health and fitness goals. I believe YOU deserve more than what most affiliates are willing to give.
Are you receiving the ABSOLUTE BEST from your coach, affiliate, training facility, and programming?
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