12/20/12 – “Angie”

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1) Tomorrow will be Coach Kyle’s last day of instruction at CrossFit 101 as he makes his final transition towards heading up CrossFit Barbera. Kyle started with us in the summer of 2011 and officially came on to our staff in January of 2012. It has been a pleasure to see Kyle progress from the shy athlete that he was to being the confident and competent coach that has been a solid part of our 101 staff.

We look forward to seeing Kyle progress his Barbera community and wish him the very best as he takes on the journey of being a CrossFit affiliate. Please join us tomorrow in doing “Angie”, which was Coach Kyle’s first spicy taste of CrossFit.

2) Tonight, coincidentally, I am able to announce that Edwin has earned his position within our staff as an Assistant Coach. Edwin went through his Level 1 CrossFit Trainer seminar last week and we received confirmation that he passed his L1 test on Sunday. To us, the L1 really is just a piece of paper and is just an indoctrination towards the CrossFit trainer community.

Edwin, like all of our coaches, had to first prove himself as a positive role model in our community to just get a chance to go through our Coaches Selection Course. Edwin has trained as a 101 student since Jan of 2011 and has been in our selection process for the past six months. Those six months have included shadowing classes, getting trained on coaching fundamentals, supporting our On Rampers and community events, grunt work, and transitioning into lead roles.

We invest an incredible amount of time and resources in continuously building up our coaches. So, one of the ways we ensure we have the right candidates is putting them through something we call a Hell weekend, which our current class of candidates will have the opportunity to experience real soon. Hell weekend is something that all of our coaches, including myself, can fall back on as a base for our experiences. For those that make it through, we know we will have a decent candidate to build upon.

Getting a “black shirt” is just the very beginning of what we consider a coach’s development. Edwin is now challenged with at least another 6-12 months of developing his skills before he proves and earns our title as a full coach. Why do students commit towards going through such a long process? I can tell you for sure it’s not for monetary reasons because there’s not much there, especially for our first group of coaches who worked for us for free as we built up the gym.

I believe it’s an opportunity, and that’s all it is, an opportunity, to be part of something greater. I love our staff, but I love what our staff does more, and that’s sustainably changing lives for the better.

Kyle and Edwin, I thank you both for your past service and I look forward to seeing you both take on your new responsibilities. Current candidates, note that anyone can go to hell, let’s see if all of you can come back from it.

3) Term of the day: Pygmalion effect

Main Group Workout
Mobility:
Internal shoulder rotation smash

Work:
“Angie”
100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats

Results:
122012 Angie