Over the past few years, we’ve seen an enormous amount of improvement in regards to peoples long-term health and fitness, thereby fulfilling our mission statement:
“Our mission is to improve our members everyday lives outside of the gym through advancements in their health and fitness. Rooted in moral and ethical standards, we are a family oriented community with energetic and supportive coaches that ensure your goals are achieved.”
One thing, however, that I don’t think gets enough attention is the sheer ability of our members that has increased leaps and bounds over that time.
When we first launched our Advanced Class a few years ago, it was fairly informal in terms of who could attend, but the ‘goal’ of that class was always very transparent – it was designed to offer a much more robust workout environment, not just from a “man, that WOD was rough” perspective, but also the level of coaching that people could expect to receive (https://crossfitforglory.com/nine-oclock-or-pain-train-51013/).
In a nutshell, we coached (and still do) on a much higher level, conceptually speaking. Participants were expected to know the basics…and know them well. This allowed us to play around with the more subtle nuances of movements and the psychology of “competitive exercise”…the little things that make the difference between a 4 minute Fran time and a 2 minute Fran time. Or a 135 Snatch vs a 185 snatch. Or going from 0 muscle-ups to 5 in one class.
As CrossFit For Glory continues its growth, its no surprise that the ability levels continue to rise with it. As such, we need to be sure we continue to provide ample advancement for those seeking to further progress their abilities. For instance, if you’re looking to become more competitive, you should probably be coached by people who can take their athletes to that next level. (This is NOT to say that you need to have a desire to compete to come to this class.)
Having said all of that, we will be revamping our Saturday morning 10am class, call it “Advanced Class 2.0” if you wish.
Heres the cool thing – it is entirely up to YOU whether you can attend this class. There are a set of general guidelines you must agree with as well as a list of standards that you must meet. If you think you’ve got what it takes, just email me, and if I agree, you’ll receive an invite. The really cool thing is that each of you will now have concrete metrics that you know you’ll need to meet if attendance at that class is something you really desire. So if you fall short of some things currently, you know precisely what you should be working towards.
So here we go:
General Guidelines –
1. Minimum 3 months training at CFG to acclimate to the volume of work
2. Invitation by Head Coach
3. The ability to identify and execute our fundamental barbell and gymnastic movements
4. The ability to identify and execute the different positions for the snatch and clean (power, hang, lo-hang, ground, etc)
5. Be open to trying new movements and stepping way outside your comfort zone
6. Desire to do more volume and push harder than normal, in a team environment
7. Not whine about anything programmed
Standards –
Benchmark WODs – you need to be able to comfortably complete 12/15 as RX:
Angie
Barbara
Chelsea
Cindy
Diane
Elizabeth
Fran
Grace
Helen
Isabel
Jackie
Karen
Annie
Mary
Nancy
See description of the Benchmarks here: https://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html#WOD0
(What I mean by ‘comfortably’ is that you’re not turning a WOD that is designed to elicit a specific response in 4-7 minutes and turning it into a 20-minute workout just for the sake of clicking ‘RX’.)
The REAL FUN PART:
As a way to showcase what these classes are like, we will be opening up the 10am Advanced Class to EVERYONE for the remainder of 2015. So if you’ve always wanted to come out and play, now is the time.
Starting January 1st, everyone is starting from scratch and will need to meet the standards we’ve set forth.
Question, comments, concerns? Let us know!
