CLASSES

CoreFitness has always offered a free introductory class every week, open to the public. This class occurs after our normal classes have ended on Sundays at 2:15pm and is a great way to introduce interested people to both CrossFit and the general culture of our gym, before they sign up for Foundations. From what I can tell, it seems that most affiliates offer a class like this, so you probably agree that it’s a critical space to create given the kinds of gyms we run and the buy-in for most Foundations programs (usually a significant monetary and time investment). Particular affiliates and CrossFit in general won’t be right for everyone, so it’s important to let people test the proverbial waters to assess whether your gym is a good fit. While many of our participants in Foundations take the plunge without attending our “Teaser” class, it’s still a service to the CrossFit-Curious who may one day become integral members of our communities. The total length of CoreFitness’s intro class is one-and-a-half hours and we cap it at 20 people, who have to RSVP ahead of time. On average, 10-15 people actually show up but the cap is intentionally set beyond what we expect. In today’s article, I’ll walk through the basic programming (with approximated time stamps on each section), and address the intentions of our class and offer some thoughts about how we run it. My hope is that you will steal some of our programming and share with the ITA community what’s worked best for you.

Adaptations are a part of life. Our survivability relies on our ability to adapt to change. To achieve new levels of performance, we have to adapt to the constantly varied functional movements we use every day—in the gym and in life. What happens when this normal adaptation of movement changes due to injury or permanent wound? The adaptive athlete is one who needs to adjust to his or her conditions of movement because of often-permanent physical or mental injury, deformity or neurological disorder. The CrossFit gym is an ideal setting in which to identify and fix movement faults so athletes can move optimally in their lives. At some point, every CrossFit trainer has had to make adjustments to an injured athlete's workout. But how do you know if you made the right changes to optimize the athlete's movement? Do you need to scale or adapt? Was the athlete's issue structural or functional? Was the culprit the ankle, knee, hip or spine? Was it a flexibility or stability issue? How do we make sure injured and adaptive athletes get the right coaching and remain integrated in our community? In the Adaptive Athlete Course, participants will develop a foundational knowledge of the "how and why" of optimal movement, they will explore methods to help athletes avoid injury and heal faster, and they will leave equipped with the specific skills necessary to optimize the adaptive-athlete experience. The course switches between short lecture and practical application of core concepts (including assessment tools, key adaptations, flexibility and stability rules and drills) and programming. Participants will also get to experience what it's like to have an adaptive need in a workout. Course instructor Dr. Theresa Larson, DPT, is a leader in successfully integrating injured, adaptive and wounded warrior athletes back into their CrossFit communities. An expert in movement and flexibility, she's trained thousands of CrossFit trainers and leads an adaptive strength program in San Diego for those with visible and invisible wounds.

This course is open to anyone interested in maximizing personal performance and acquiring the skills to be a proficient kettlebell instructor. Participants learn how to effectively teach kettlebell exercises, quickly assess and correct common errors, and safely conduct kettlebell training. Exercises reviewed at the course include the swing, Turkish get-up, clean, overhead press, and snatch, as well as multiple variations of these movements. Mobility drills are demonstrated and practiced before each training session, followed by a short stretching routine at the end of each day. Completion of this course will enable participants to enhance their own CrossFit programming and performance.