How to Start CrossFit!
THE SHORT VERSION!
- Come in for a chat
- Four 1-on-1 Lessons
- Your First Main Class!
The noticably longer version:
Come in for a chat
We do this first. No workout, no burpees, no sneaky test to see where you're at. You roll up and we talk about you. What you've done before, what went right, what went wrong. How's your food? Sleep? What condition is your body in? Weird knees? Dodgy back? Absolute human prototype perfect in every way?
Then what do you WANT? What you'd like to be able to do that you currently can't.
Then we'll look at the variables. The classes, the times, what it costs, do you and this gym fit together? Free twenty minute chat, no obligations.
If the plan involves us, great. But if you can only do class between 10pm and 4am and you've got space for a home gym? Easy, we'll talk about that.
Bring questions.
Four x One Hour Lessons
Each lesson with your coach, usually just the two of you but if you've joined with your partner/mate we can combine.
Lesson One
The first lesson is a listen-and-learn for you and a look-and-see for us. From the moment you walk in the door we're trying to get a gauge on you but once you start moving under instruction we got you 100%.
First lesson is a warm up then bodyweight basics under heavy instruction. Sure, you've likely done some version of a squat, burpee, etc, in the past but we want you to be doing them in a way that is most valuable, most worth your time.
Lessons 2,3,4
Lessons 2,3,4 are again tailored to work with the level of fitness you've arrived with and to start upping that level right away! If we figure that your squats need the help (them being a basis to a LOT of things we want to do to grow your overall strength and fitness) then we'll spend extra time there. Or it could be a body part, like tight shoulders, or a theme like pacing.
Gymnastics
We'll also lean hard into gymnastics. Have you seen how ripped gymnasts are?? Learning to control and move your own body through space is one a lot of us assume we can just do! But it's got many finer details we need to give time to. Again, it's worth a mention that this is about meeting you at your level. If you've not worked out in 30 years we're not going to fast-forward to handstands on day 2!!!!
Weightlifting
Another big foundation area is Olympic Weightlifting. Weightlifting of all kinds builds our muscles but also gives us tools to use those muscles in the safest way to produce the most strength AND power (it's a speed thing!) Olympic Weightlifting is 3 movements. Snatch (Lift ground to overhead), Clean (lift ground to shoulder), and Jerk (lift shoulder to overhead). And those parts in the brackets tell you why they're important. Lifting and moving stuff is important stuff!
The MORE
The other large part is EVERYTHING ELSE! Running, rowing, skipping, carrying, pacing (oh man is this a skill!!).
Completing The Lessons
There's also the EXTREMELY EXCITING admin side. Tracking your results to see precise progress over time beyond "yeah, I guess I feel stronger?".
There is a lot going into these four lessons. At the end of them it's really just the beginning. You've already learned so much and now the BIG learning will happen. That's why we call our classes .... wait for it .... CLASSES. It's a lesson. It's learning. It's "how do I learn to be better, everyday".
If you forgot every single movement and mechanical piece from your Intro Lessons just walk out with "I feel ready to LEARN".
Your First Main Class!
Scary? Probably 😅
At the end of your 4th Intro Lesson your Coach will have you open up the booking app for classes and book your first class.
This will be exciting! Exciting can, and should, be a little scary.
You'll arrive 15 or so minutes before that first class, if it's a Coach you don't know already no worry, they'll come find you, have a quick chat with you about the day's workout, suggest an extra warm up piece for you to do between now and the class starting. Then you start meeting people before your class. Fingers crossed they'll be some of the nice ones....
Everyone remembers that first class. They were all walking in with nerves, even if they didn't show, even if they could already do a 100kg deadlift and 5 pull ups! There are always nerves.
Then the class starts! Coach is at the front, explaining the workout to everyone, talking scaling options, talking movement points of performance, some of these you'll already know from Intro, some will be new!
Then the warm up starts, Coach taking you all through it together. This is it! You're moving in your first CrossFit class! YOU ARE A CROSSFIT PERSON NOW! Then there's those few minutes between end of the warm up and start of the workout, you're not exactly sure what weight you should use so Coach comes over, talks to you about weights, your movements, you're all set! Coach goes on to have a similar discussion with someone that's been there 6 months, another person 6 years, that is Coach's job, to Coach everyone, regardless of their experience.
Then it starts! First workout inside first class! It's happening! You're doing the thing you saw online! And are you worried about people watching you do it wrong? Those thoughts are GONE. You're too busy DOING to worry about anything else! And it's been 90 seconds and you have gone out WAY too fast, full of excitement! Excellent. We're learning.