First, apologies for the long span between posts! We’ve been traveling and trying to keep our heads above water! All good stuff!
A couple of goodies for today:
Dave Werner’s Pullup Wall – A solution for the light industrial building
Constructing pullup bars is one of the first things an affiliate must tackle. If you are in a space that allows for attaching bars to the walls (cement block building) you are pretty good to go. Otherwise, you’re left constructing something and bolting it into the floor and ultimately chewing up some floor space.
Dave Werner of CrossFit Seattle has solved this problem. Check out this little video of his brilliant solution: a faux wall, much like a climbing wall, that allows for attaching the pullup bars in a light industrial space that doesn’t have cement walls.
CrossFit Seattle – Dave Werner’s Pullup Wall from CrossFit NorCal on Vimeo.
Dutch Lowy Training Seminar
We had the awesome good fortune of hanging with Dutch this last weekend in Chicago. Dutch presented his training seminar on Sunday following the nutrition cert on Saturday. What a great weekend! And many thanks to Rudy Tapalla at CrossFit Chicago for hosting us!
The information that Dutch presents is paramount in developing yourself as a solid CrossFit trainer. He dives into the nuances of programming to help you to truly understand the goals behind the CrossFit training methodology.
We have had clients travel to other affiliates and be put through workouts where it’s obvious that the power output/intensity that is the essence of CrossFit has been entirely missing in the programming. Consistently doing 30-40 minute WODs is NOT CrossFit. But, you may ask, “how can I put my clients through a 4 minute workout and have them feel like they got their monies worth?” If you are at all lost here you MUST attend his seminar.
Invest in yourself as a professional…and in the words of Kelly Starrett “Be Excellent!”
Great point about the prgramming mistake of ‘more-is-better’.
At my recent L1 cert, Adrian described it as the ‘any-asshole workout’, meaning anyone can come up with a workout that is hard but the best coaches focus on the simple couplet and triplet to maximize average power output (intensity). Intensity=results.
This has really impacted not only my programing but also the appoach I take in scaling workouts. I no longer just focus on scaling to make a workout do-able for a client, I now scale for the intent of producing the highest (relative) power output I can get from someone.
I’ve noticed a major impact in my own training as a result. When I first came on to CrossFit I did every workout as Rx’d even though I am clearly not at a level to be doing this. (pride?, stubborness?whatever) First Fran time for example: over 19 minutes. There are even more emberrasing examples.
Since the L1 though I have set myself DNF cut-off times. For instance if I can’t complete Fran in 10 minutes then I probably did not scale it propperly. Better to keep relative intensity high than go on a 1 rep partitioning marathon.-(my longest “CrossFit” workout was 1hour and 17minutes long, prior to my new revelation!)
Of course there are times to go heavier/longer etc… but the heart of the program is in the beauty and simplicity that IS the CrossFit prescription.
As a result I have been able to recover better and work more consistantly so the average power output is not only higher for the individual workout but is staying higher on a week-to-week average as well!
Sorry for the long comment but you brought up such a valuable point that I wanted to share.
Thanks for all you are doing here!
Nicki-
I have another question that perhaps could be a future post?
How do you handle incoming calls and emails? I know the topic of describing ‘what is CrossFit’ is a frequent one, but this is a very serious issue for me as a new business owner.
If I get too geeky and go in to the science explanation people just glaze over and I never hear back. (I think I talked someone OUT of training here the other day.)
If I talk about the fun we have I feel like I’m pitching some cheesy boot-camp like every other trainer in town.
If I talk about community…well, cultish koolaid drinking weirdo.
I’m uber-excited about what we are doing here but I don’t like to come across as sale-sy. I’ve done enough sales in my life- I don’t want to be that guy.
Here is an email I got yesterday. How would you respond?-
“Hello,
I am interested in your Benchmark classes and also would like some information on your Foundations 12 session program. Could you send me information regarding details of the programs, times, costs etc?”
Thank you!
Hey Cody!
Overeducating is definitely dicey…only 1-2% of folks are interested in neuroendocrine response, etc. When you go down that path it’s easy to unsell folks…obviously not what we’re after. I’ll tackle the topic of responding to inquiries more thoroughly soon! Thanks for the great comments!
Great post both on the climbing rig for a light industrial warehouse and the post about Dutch and his seminar.
I’m about to move into our first box and we have a similar challenge of light industrial walls. When you get the plans from Dave I’d love to get a copy of them!
Thanks,
-RobVDH
Nicki,
I would just like to say that my husband and I love your blog! It has been really helpful for us as fairly new CF affiliates. We have recently (within the last 5 months or so) grown large enough to warrant an additional trainer. The problem is, we don’t know how we should pay this person? My husband is currently the only trainer for all 5 of our class time slots, 6 days weekly. What are your thoughts on giving this person “new” classes or doing personal training and how do you establish a payment system that would make everyone happy? Thanks so much! Nicole
Hi Nicole,
We pay our trainers based on a stratified system that rewards those who actively bring in clients and are solid trainers. The main thing I will say is don’t give too much away too soon (unless the trainer is an experienced rockstar)…newer/green trainers need to be developed and once they earn their stripes they stand to make alot more money. I am covering this extensively in a book project I am working on
Nikki,
Love your blog! So timely for me as I move into a larger box. Looking forward to reading your next article, answer to everyone questions and book project.
Thanks to everyone else for such excellent questions.
Kim