Barbells and Bacon

Potomac CrossFit – WOD Demo 02172011 from Potomac Crossfit on Vimeo.

I think coaches get these confused all the time.

1: A really good runner walks into your gym. He has a 16:00 5K (really fast) and just wants to round out his athleticism. He wants to keep competing in running events, and plans to use Crossfit to try something different for a bit. After 6 months, if his 5K is 19:30 minutes (much slower), and his goals haven’t changed… you’ve failed as a coach. His goal wasn’t to be a “Games Competitor” it was to be a more well rounded runner.

2: A young woman walks into your gym wanting to get ready to attend a military academy in the fall. That is the only reason she is coming to your gym. She needs to work on her pullups and her pushups. If she isn’t better at pullups and pushups by the time you are done with her, you’ve failed as a coach. Who cares if she can do toes to bar? Unless it contributes to her ultimate goal?

3: A guy walks into your gym wanting to qualify for a Crossfit regional competition. In this case, you can and need to pull out all the stops and movements. He needs to be good at everything in order to do well.

—–

With athletes #1 and #2, Crossfit is the means to an end. Those ends are being a better runner and being more prepared for a military academy. With athlete #3, Crossfit is the actually goal.

* Keep in mind, I’m completely not addressing a coaches’ role in choosing the right goal. A girl might think she wants to be a good 5K runner, but a good coach can read between the lines of what she is really telling you, and know that her goal is really to lose some weight.

——-

This is the true joy in life … being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one …being a force of nature, instead of being a selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy…I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can…I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch, which I’ve got to hold up for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. – George Bernard Shaw

VW Darth Vader Commercial

—–

As a group who constantly thinks about what they put in their mouth, or the way they move, there is a clear loss of innocence among our growing exercise/health community. Read on for how Twain so perfectly describes a similar loss in  Life on the Mississippi:

Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had lost something, too. I had lost something which could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone out of the majestic river! I still keep in mind a certain wonderful sunset which I witnessed when steamboating was new to me. A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood; in the middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came floating, black and conspicuous; in one place a long, slanting mark lay sparkling upon the water; in another the surface was broken by boiling, tumbling rings, that were as many-tinted as an opal; where the ruddy flush was faintest, was a smooth spot that was covered with graceful circles and radiating lines, ever so delicately traced; the shore on our left was densely wooded, and the sombre shadow that fell from this forest was broken in one place by a long, ruffled trail that shone like silver; and high above the forest wall a clean-stemmed dead tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the unobstructed splendor that was flowing from the sun. There were graceful curves, reflected images, woody heights, soft distances; and over the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily, enriching it, every passing moment, with new marvels of coloring.

I stood like one bewitched. I drank it in, in a speechless rapture. The world was new to me, and I had never seen anything like this at home. But as I have said, a day came when I began to cease from noting the glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the river’s face; another day came when I ceased altogether to note them. Then, if that sunset scene had been repeated, I should have looked upon it without rapture, and should have commented upon it, inwardly, after this fashion: This sun means that we are going to have wind to-morrow; that floating log means that the river is rising, small thanks to it; that slanting mark on the water refers to a bluff reef which is going to kill somebody’s steamboat one of these nights, if it keeps on stretching out like that; those tumbling “boils” show a dissolving bar and a changing channel there; the lines and circles in the slick water over yonder are a warning that that troublesome place is shoaling up dangerously; that silver streak in the shadow of the forest is the “break” from a new snag, and he has located himself in the very best place he could have found to fish for steamboats; that tall dead tree, with a single living branch, is not going to last long, and then how is a body ever going to get through this blind place at night without the friendly old landmark?

No, the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat. Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beauty’s cheek mean to a doctor but a “break” that ripples above some deadly disease? Are not all her visible charms sown thick with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or does n’t he simply view her professionally, and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself? And does n’t he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade? 

Throwdown – PCF v. Outlaw from Potomac Crossfit on Vimeo.

—–

BLUF: As a community, we generally suck at addressing our athlete’s needs on both ends of the bell curve.

—–

First, the good news. Our current blend of nutrition, strength training, mobility work, and smart conditioning works very well – most of the time. There are few people who wouldn’t benefit from our current prescription. What we do is getting results, and the market (by way of continuing demand), is rewarding our success. While our methods work for most people, I see two fairly significant groups that aren’t thriving.

#1: The beginner/The injured/The fresh out of foundations: I think our attrition rate with athletes like this is much too high.  Putting a fairly new athlete into the chaos of a group WOD can cause serious issues. Same thing applies to someone with an injury. In a class of 20 intermediate athletes, these people aren’t going to get the attention they need. I think what happens now is that a significant portion of your beginners are unceremoniously leaving. As it currently stands, getting people through to “intermediate” status is just a numbers game.

#2: The advanced athlete: Unlike #1, I think there isn’t a super high attrition rate with these athletes. If they have been training with you long enough to get to “advanced” status, then they probably aren’t going away – unless you really abuse them. Even if they aren’t leaving, it doesn’t mean you are meeting their needs and challenging them as athletes. For example, in speaking with athletes/coaches/owners around the country, it’s clear that a lot of athletes are just….bored. You can only do “Cindy” so many times over the years until you need to change things up a bit. (As a quick aside, I’ve noticed a lot of these athletes end up becoming coaches, but that’s a Band-Aid solution)

——

I’ve had literally hundreds of conversations on this topic over the years. My question to you, how do you address these two groups of athletes? Before you post, consider the following points:

- You don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Totally restructuring how your gym operates, for the sake of a small minority, is unwise. Trying to shift a gym like PCF from an “open class model” to a “closed class model”, unless done very very intelligently, would cause a massive revolt.

- In the end, a gym is a business. The changes you recommend have to make financial sense. Writing a “customized” program for each athlete and letting them “do their own thing in the back” might be a short term solution, but it has no sustainability. This is of course, unless the athlete is willing to compensate the coach/gym accordingly (which most aren’t)

- My sad realization: With the exploding demand of Crossfit, the changes needed might not even be worth it. For every injured or advanced athlete that you have to go to extreme heights to cater to, there are 15 people standing outside waiting to start Foundations. Instead of (customized program, special equipment, extra owner attention, extra coach attention, extra space demands) just (replace the athlete). I don’t like this approach, but I know for a fact that it is happening all over the place right now.

Would it be so wrong to say “Crossfit gyms, by and large, are designed for middle of the bell curve athletes. If you are below or above a certain point, we just can’t satisfy your needs”. At least we would be managing expectation at that point.

What is the best part about posting your thoughts to comments? If I like it, we can start implementing it ASAP. If you are normally just a reader, use this post as an opportunity to help me solve this problem. I’m looking for comments from both ends of the spectrum – and from owners, coaches, and athletes.

10. People won’t show up if they don’t have to pay for it. “Free Stretching Classes” will be packed during week 1, less so by week 2, and almost empty by week 3.

9. It’s ok to work on stuff outside of the “WOD” – in fact it should be encouraged. So you are bad at dips? Why not do them more than once every 6 weeks?

8.  Athletes make decisions all day at their jobs. When they come to the gym, the overwhelming majority want to be told what to do. This is a gym, not an episode of “choose your own adventure”.

7.  Almost everybody dislikes practicing gymnastics beyond the basic stuff. This isn’t a condemnation of planches, ring work, or cartwheels….it’s just a statement of fact.

6.  Unless given better options from a smart coach, people’s default goal is to do things RX’d. In most cases, this is a really crappy goal.

5.  When a class is bigger than 15 people, a coach spends more time doing logistics than actually coaching.

4.  If you start seeing a lot of “Tabatas” in programming, your coach is getting lazy. Tabata l-sits? Can you not think of a better work/rest ratio? Seriously?

3.   Ignorance in athletes is not blameworthy. Ignorance in coaches is – particularly if coupled with arrogance. If you are in a position of authority, it is your responsibility to educate yourself.

2.  Watch what the coaches do. For the most part, they’ll be the canary in the coal mine regarding your “general” programming. Have all the coaches  been doing extra strength work? Taking extra rest days? Consistently modifying what is programmed? I’ll bet your athletes want to do the same thing – they just can’t do anything about it.

1.  Athletes are TERRIBLE judges of a program’s effectiveness. Left to their own devices, people will program or request to be programmed the same 10 workouts day after day. “WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DO FILTHY FIFTY AGAIN???” Please don’t listen to them.

Bonus: As often as is possible, coaches/owners need to actually do a group workout class. While you are doing this class, stay quiet and let the main coach do their thing – just be an athlete. This is great for building a sense of community at a gym.