ATC (Coach’s Prep Course)

WEEK THREE GOALS

  1. Observe two sessions. One speciality and one group session. With the ‘CFI-6/012 Coaching Evaluation Form’ from the Procedures Book observe and note the required behaviors for future discussion.

  2. Before each session create a warm-up for the workout. Compare your warm-up with the one you observe. Be prepared, you may take the warm-up in either of the sessions you observe.

  3. Read the article ‘A Better Warmup’

  4. Read the article ‘Skill Based Warm-ups for Groups’.

  5. Watch the video ‘An Immature Squat: Achieving the Best Position Possible’.

  6. Read the ‘CFI-8/006 Gymnastics Fundamentals Script’.

  7. Read the ‘Gymnastics Fundamentals Homework’.

  8. Complete the Gymnastics Workshop.

MECHANICS, CONSISTENCY, AND INTENSITY

Progression within health and fitness requires all three of the above. Failure to adhere to this results in, poor form, poor movement patterns, and a higher risk of potential injury and long-term impact on fitness.

Do not add weight to a back squat if a client cannot squat below parallel. Do not do kipping pull ups if the client cannot complete strict pull-ups or the gymnastic progressions of toes to bar and knees to elbows. Use the ‘Gymnastics Road Map’ of progressions to ensure scaling is applied correctly for bodyweight movements.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD WARM-UP?

The warm-up is a preparation, mentally and physically, for the session. Sometimes it’s important to create an atmosphere of fun and play, others focus and detail. How the warm-up is presented, and executed, is vital in maximising the outcome of the session for each participant.

Timely: Your warm-up must consider the timing of the rest of the pieces in session that day. If you have a 30:00 AMRAP planned for the day, then a 20:00 general warm-up will likely leave you with little time to explain and set up the workout properly.

Relevant: Spend time on movements that will build into the main piece for the day. This means spending time on singles jumps before hopping into double-unders and doing beat swings before kipping pull ups. A good place to start is breaking every movement down into a progression and building from the simple up to the more complex, or from general to specific.

Dynamic Movement: Try to stick with dynamic movements for your warm-ups, using static pieces as a post workout. Throw in groiners instead of couch stretch and inch worms instead of forward fold holds. This will allow athletes to get warm and increase mobility all at the same time.

Keep Moving: This concept applies throughout the class, try to keep your class moving most of the time rather than standing around and getting stiff between pieces. This often means explaining one movement at a time and giving athletes the chance to try that movement before moving on. This will keep your class flowing and give you the opportunity to see everyone’s movement more clearly and notice who will need help with what.

Get them Warm: You may have heard the phrase “our warm-up is their workout” uttered around CrossFit gyms due to the intense nature of some warm-ups. This is intentional. We want athletes to be a little sweaty and to experience an elevated heart rate during the warm-up. This is the best way to prepare for a high intensity workout. No athlete will perform to their full potential if they are going into a workout cold.

GYMNASTICS WORKSHOP

The ‘CrossFit Gymnastic Level 1 Training Guide’ is a fantastic way to start to understand how important a strong foundation in the basic bodyweight moments is. In addition, one of the best books on applying gymnastic progression within a training environment is ‘Free+Style’. Consistency in applying scaling and progressions across every coach is vital in reenforcing safety and good technique across time.