Half a Level 1 Coach!

Today was Day One of my Level One Crossfit Certification. I'm halfway there, barring any issues with my test tomorrow!

It was a great day of learning and meeting a lot of nice, like-minded, motivated Crossfitters. Surprisingly (at least to me), there were a lot of people who do follow the main site WODs at their own gyms and don't belong to an affiliate. I thought it was really cool that they decided to come to a cert just to get the skills and basics. I also met a big crew from Crossfit Progression, my buddy Matt's box in Rochester. There were also two other people from CF St. Paul that I recognized and chatted with during our breaks.

The format of the cert is really similar to the kids cert: lecture, WOD, lecture, WOD...lather rinse repeat. Except that the WODs aren't really WODs, but mini-breakout sessions where we get to practice whatever movements we just heard a lecture on. There are 6 instructors and we're broken down into groups of 8-10 people, each with a different instructor. They break down the movement and watch us do it in a circle. Then a person gets called into the middle to demonstrate, and we all gather around to watch and correct the form. That way, it's a win-win situation where we get to practice looking for faults, figuring out what cue to give to correct it, and also get corrected on our own form.

Today, I got called into the middle for overhead squats. Rough because I have trouble keeping my chest up in an air squat, and holding a PVC pipe overhead doesn't make things easier. BUT...I also got called into the middle of the circle to execute my superb deadlift form!

We ended the day with a team WOD. Each team of 4-5 people had to do 50 reps (per person) of thrusters and push-ups. It wasn't that each person had to do 50 reps each, but rather that we had to complete 200 thrusters and 200 push-ups if we had 4 people cumulatively. I opted for the 25# dumbbells because a 33# barbell seemed too light, but 63# seemed like pushing it. I ended up only being able to get about 6-8 thrusters in a row, and I did the push-ups from my knees, but my team still finished in about 8:45. Afterward, I tried a few thrusters on the 63# barbell and had no issue with the squat, but definitely had some problems getting it pressed overhead...something to work on if I want to get to an RXd Fran!

I'm really glad I went to this cert and super excited to finish it up tomorrow. I realized today that Crossfit is a place that I finally feel free to be myself and where me being energetic, enthusiastic, and outgoing is not only appreciated, but is respected and viewed as a strength. Anyone who knows me knows that I struggle deeply with people not respecting me because I come off as dimwitted or bimbo-ish, in large part due to my extraversion. I get the feeling often in graduate school that professors or even other students don't give me enough credit because I'm loud and "crazy." But in Crossfit, that kind of attitude and personality is rewarded...and it's refreshing to be around people who value my positivity.