I commonly get the question about who my seminar is for. Let me expand on this for a bit as well as give some background on why i am doing what i’m doing.
The first thing i want everyone to know is that i will do whatever it takes to make the Crossfit community better. Ya’ll have always supported me so i wanted to give back to ya’ll.
About a year ago i graduated from college and hit the road for just under 4 months. On the road i visited many Crossfit gyms. Some good, some bad. I was always asked what do you think? How is our gym? I came from a garage gym with limited space and equipment so it seemed that every gym i saw was very well equipped. I honestly believe that so long as you have a pullup bar, bumpers and a decent olympic bar you are set. Anything beyond that is a luxury.
Anyway, if something was missing in the gym we would talk about it but i always held my tongue when i saw bad training or poor programming. I still don’t think it is my place to walk into a gym and judge clients or trainers. I have my opinions of effective programming and frankly at some gyms i just didn’t see it. Funny enough, this was reflected in the athletes. I took offense to this and really thought long and hard about how i could educate people on what the really successful (performance based) gyms were doing. There were some striking similarities in the “good” gyms. Their programming was spot on and it reflected in the results their clients got, the intensity shown during workouts and the community that had developed. The other gyms, most of which were severely deficient in any quality programming, had decent communities and marginal results but limited legit athletes and no developmental program. I’ll be honest here, Crossfit done poorly is better than anything else on the market. The results of a poor crossfit will be blunted and only serve to get people to a certain point before they become stagnant.
In my seminar i try to simplify everything. I have gotten great responses from both beginners and advanced crossfitters. I feel like it is a great introduction into the foundations of crossfit both for both coaches and athletes. It will take your training to a higher level whether you are coaching others, working out in a box, or training in your garage with your buddies. Having a better understanding of what good programming looks like will allow you to not only start to think on your own but also take responsibility for your own training.
In my opinion this seminar is a must for anyone interested in their own or others development as crossfitters.
I would love it if people that have attended would put their thoughts in the comments. I want to set up a testimonial page where people that are on the fence can go to hear from ya’ll. If you haven’t made it to a seminar yet, let me know why you would or wouldn’t attend. Lastly, post what you want to hear more about both on the blog and in the seminar.
Thanks for all your support!!
A good friend and member of my affiliate and I attended Dutch’s seminar in S. Brooklyn. I felt that as a whole our athletes were making nice progress, getting stronger and setting Pr’s. But my goal for my affiliate and the athletes that train there is excellence. I always knew that by concept, but solidly identifying and defining what constitutes an excellent affiliate can be a painful, frustrating process. How can you know for sure that you are going the right direction? You need to have some feedback and guidance. That’s where Dutch fits perfectly. Dutch knows his stuff and has walked the walk for years-listening to him talk the talk was a very real, and tangible way to understanding the things that an affiliate should be doing to BE excellent. As good as some of our intentions are when we start out -it is only through the benefit of experience and time that we learn where the improvements that will save us many headaches need to be made. That is exactly what Dutch brings to a well delivered seminar-time and experience, not to mention he’s been to more affiliates than anybody. It’s pretty basic-along the way he’s come to understand a lot about what makes a good affiliate great. You take it in, ask questions,get solid intelligent answers, go home to your clients, and tighten up all the loose bolts. That’s what we did and because of it we are that much closer and confident in our pursuit of the goal of CrossFitters and Affiliate owners everywhere- Excellence!
Thank you Mark!
Dutch gave us the first run of his seminar right when we were opening up shop, I can’t imagine going through our first 4 months without the insight and knowledge we gained from Dutch. Like Mark said, Dutch’s seminar deals in excellence, excellence from your clients and excellence from your box. Its our job as trainers, and members of the CrossFit community to offer hands down the best product to our clients. Dutch puts you an a position to do just that.
Also a post taking a really good WOD (most likely from Max) and breaking it down why its good, etc. And maybe do the same with a shitty one. I think that’d be interesting.
Great idea wes.
I’m on it.
It has been a little over a week since I attended Dutch’s Seminar.
I have changed how I program workouts. I had explained to my athletes what we are doing and what we are trying to accomplish. So far everyone has really liked the changes. I think these changes are going to accelerate their progress even more than what we were doing before.
I have also seen personal improvements in my training. I feel more confident, allowing me to be more productive for my clients. (This feels strange as this was a small part of the seminar.) I also feel that when I sign up for my level 2 seminar, that I am more prepared than I would have been just walking in without going to Dutch’s Seminar.
I told my Athletes that if what I learned did not maintain or accelerate our progress, we could move back to what we were doing.
I don’t think that will happen. I think these changes will be here to stay. As I keep on this path, I will get better at it. And my athletes will be better for it.
As for the Level 2 Certification, I will tell you when I go. But I feel if I was told that I needed to be ready soon, I could do it. I honestly didn’t feel that way before Dutch’s Seminar.
Ways to improve: A Part II
I got a lot out of this seminar, I would be interested in other ways to improve.