What is your opinion on novice exercisers wanting to train at a Crossfit only facility?
This is in response to a comment made above:
Even though Calvin has some good points, I do see and agree with Eric’s point of view. I’ve known healthy, fit and experienced people who were injured at Crossfit classes. Any time you have a large number of participants executing a number of moves that require a lot of practice and training to do them correctly and at a fast pace in a competitive environment, you are setting yourself up for injuries. This is even more dangerous for novices or non-fit participants, and when you combine this with inexperienced trainers, then the potential for injury is exponential.
Yes, it’s a different type of training and the support and enthusiasm that participants get from others around them is remarkable, but those factors don’t diminish the fact that it’s not the safest method of training. It is more of a competition than a fitness class. Of course you can get injured by taking a different class or doing 1-on-1, but if there is no correction or proper supervision when performing moves at a very high intensity and speed, then there is a problem with the program instruction or design. As trainers, our first priority is to make sure our clients are performing exercises safely and in good form. If we can’t do that, then we’ve failed our clients. If clients knew how to perform exercises and progressions safely and effectively on their own, we wouldn’t have jobs. Anyone can come up with a bunch of exercises and throw them out there to challenge others to a competition to see who can do the most and the fastest. Are these people qualified to be called coaches or trainers?
If you want to strike a balance with a current client who expresses an interest in Crossfit and who you feel is not ready, be honest. Show your enthusiasm about their interest in Crossfit. Explain why in your professional opinion the client is not yet ready for Crossfit. Work with the client to develop a plan whereby the client needs to meet x/y/z goals to graduate to that level. Then, set your client free and know that you’ve done the right thing for both you and the client.
Again, I’m not criticizing every Crossfit gym or every Crossfit certified trainer. Quality of trainers varies greatly, even within each certification. I’m just suggesting that in my opinion, the level of difficulty of a Crossfit class can easily be above the ability of a coach, and is often above the ability of the participants Crossfit attracts.