Certified CrossFit Trainer, oh my!

WARNING: Long train ride (with WiFi) back to Chicago = Long blog post.

I had the wonderful opportunity, back in December, to participate in the CrossFit Level One Certification course at River North CrossFit in Chicago. What that means in laymen's terms is that I'm a certified CrossFit coach, which is really cool.

Over the weekend me and a group of CrossFit enthusiasts were further educated on CrossFit's methodology and theories, foundational movements and technique, programming (writing workouts), and nutrition.

The whole crew at RNCF. 

What was really special about the weekend was the small breakout sessions, which included personal instruction on:

• air squats
• front squats
• over head squats
• shoulder press
• push press
• push jerk
• dead lifts
• sumo dead lift high pulls
• medicine ball cleans 

Our coaches for the weekend were extremely knowledgeable and very successful athletes, and it was an honor to get to work so closely with them.

Did I mention that I PRed my Fran time at the Certification? Fran, for those of you who may be unaware is an infamously grueling workout that consists of:

Fran: 

21 Thrusters (65)

21 Pull Ups

15 Thrusters (65)

15 Pull Ups

9 Thrusters (65)

9 Pull Ups

TIME: 3:44

Laurie, Lindsey, and me after dominating Fran. 

So, instead of keeping all this knowledge to myself (that would be selfish!) I decided Ito impart my wisdom unto you.

So here are a few blurbs and bits from the CrossFit Level One Cert Course.  Eat your heart out.

What is CrossFit?
CrossFit is constantly varied, functional movements performed at high intensity.

• constantly varied - general physical preparedness
• functional movements - natural movements of the body
• high intensity - the independent variable most commonly associated with max rate of return for favorable adaptations

What is Fitness?

Fitness is work capacity across broad time and modal domains, which includes the following: 

1. Ten General Physical Skills:

• Cardiovascular/Respiratory endurance
• Stamina
• Strength
• Flexibility
• Power
• Speed
• Coordination
• Agility
• Balance
• Accuracy 

2. 'Hopper': being familiar with unfamiliar tasks. You have to be ready for anything and everything. 

3. Metabolic Pathways:

4. Sickness - Wellness - Fitness Continuum: Being 'Well' is NOT good enough. Strive for fitness. 

Hierarchy of Development





Nutrition

Eat meat and veggies, seeds and nuts, some fruit, little starch, and NO sugar.

Keep intake to levels that support exercise but NOT body fat.



Congratulations if you made it to the end of this post!



Cheers to WiFi on Amtrak!