Is Sandman just naturally a gifted athlete?  Someone asked me that the other day.  It’s not the first time.  The answer is no.  Neither is Hardrock, nor Silk, nor Motor, nor The Touch.  What separates them from the average is that they put in the work.  Not just group classes.  Along the road to competition, they discovered that fun as group classes are, they are not enough to develop your skills.  All of our Empower competitors put in time outside group classes to hone their skills working with lifting coaches, gymnastics coaches, conditioning coaches and nutrition coaches.  These guys have their training and nutrition dialed in. Sandman earned his way to the top of the leaderboard through diligent, disciplined, consistent hard work and dedication!

CrossFit may have popularized group fitness but, believe it or not, CrossFit did not begin as group classes.  CrossFit founder Greg Glassman started out training personal training clients.  Then he paired a couple clients together who had similar fitness levels.  Then invited another.  By the time he was running what you would recognize as a CrossFit group class some of his early athletes like Nicole Carroll, Annie Sakamoto and Greg Amundson had already benefited from hundreds of hours of one-on-one coaching so when the class sizes grew, they already had an amazing foundation in how to move correctly and were coaches in their own right.

This was what the rest of us saw when we first discovered CrossFit and ignorant as we were, we all rushed out to start CrossFit group classes of our own without truly appreciating the foundation for excellence underlying the original CrossFit crew’s inspiring levels of fitness.

Fast forward to today and most of the top CrossFit gyms have recognized our error and for the sake of their business and for the benefit of their members, have adopted a hybrid membership format that combines personal training with group classes.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love CrossFit group classes and try to train in the group class setting every chance I get.  But, fun as the group format is, it does not provide the best environment to optimize athletic progress.  A year or so ago we began offering the hybrid option and have enjoyed the success hybrid members enjoy in the gym.  Their personal training sessions provide our coaching team the opportunity to personalize their training, address their areas of weakness, offer nutrition advice, monitor their body composition and help them set achievable goals. 

One of our biggest pain points is members on the old group class only membership model.  Our team recognizes that we have done these members a disservice by grandfathering in this membership option.  Many of the old school members are perpetually stalled in their progress or suffer repeated training injuries stemming from unaddressed weaknesses, imbalances or movement errors that could easily be addressed with regularly scheduled personal training sessions.

Personal training provides your coach the opportunity to personalize the programming to address your specific needs in a way that we never can in the group class format.  As fun as group classes are, personal training is the best way to accelerate your athletic progress.  The cost of course can be prohibitive.  That is why many gyms have begun adopting the OPEX model of semi-private training popularized by the original CrossFit Games champion James “OPT” Fitzgerald.

A perfect format for athletes with a solid foundation in CrossFit’s basic movements, semi-private training offers the benefits of personalized coaching at a discounted rate.  In this model, your coach creates a personalized training plan for you and then supervises you and between 3 to 5 other athletes as you each work through your individual training plans.  The coach will circulate and offer adjustments and corrections where needed as each of you completes your own unique workout.

Motor, Savitar and Shades are among our Empower coaches offering semi-private training.  A few athletes have already taken them up on it. If you feel like your training has stalled or you are looking to reach the next level on your fitness journey, consider switching to a hybrid membership or even switching to a semi-private training plan.  

To illustrate the point, here’s an abbreviated list detailing the extra effort beyond group classes that has gone into my own personal CrossFit athletic journey:

General CrossFit Training
CrossFit Level I Certification Golden, Colorado, June 1 2008
CrossFit Level 2 Trainer Certificate, CrossFit Belltown, Seattle, August 2014 CrossFit Level 3 Trainer Certificate, Vancouver, June 2019
CrossFit Coaching Apprenticeship Graduate CrossFit Vancouver, May 2009 - March 2012 Coached by Kelly Frankson and Andrew Swartz
CrossFit Anatomy Online Course 2019
CrossFit Spot the Flaw Online Course 2019
CrossFit Dumbbells Online Course 1 April 2020
Sport Science, CrossFit Vancouver, Professor Tony Leyland 2010 

Conditioning
CrossFit Running Certification, CrossFit Vancouver, Brian MacKenzie August 2009
Sprinting, CrossFit Empower, Michaela Colluney 2014
CrossFit Running Online Course 2019

Gymnastics
Gymnastics Certification, CrossFit Vancouver, Jeff Tucker Oct 24-25 2009
Gymnastics, CrossFit Empower, Jennifer Dober 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
Gymnastics, Phoenix Gymnastics, 2011
Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, CrossFit Vancouver 2011

Powerlifting
CrossFit Barbell Certification, Redmond, Washington, Mark Rippetoe Nov 7-8 2009
Powerlifting, CrossFit Empower, Joel Klassen 2014
Powerlifting, CrossFit Empower, Craig Bearss 2018
Barbell Rehab Method, 2024

Olympic Lifting
Olympic Lifting, CrossFit Empower, Christine Girard 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017
Olympic Lifting, CrossFit Vancouver, Charles Staley 2010
Olympic Lifting – Clean & Jerk, CrossFit Vancouver, Kelly Frankson, 2009 Olympic Lifting – Snatch, CrossFit Vancouver, Kelly Frankson,2009

Rowing
Rowing, CrossFit Empower, William Dean 2018
Rowing, CrossFit Empower Patti Lawson 2015
Rowing, CrossFit Vancouver, Emily Beers 2011

Nutrition
Paleo Solution Seminar, Robb Wolf 2011
Nutrition, CrossFit Vancouver, Kelly Frankson 2009

Other
Competitive Swimming, Vancouver, Lucien Zucchi 2016
Swimming, UBC Pool, Spice 2020
Skipping, CrossFit Empower, Jen Dillinger 2015
AKC certified Kettlebell Coach, Valery Fedorenko Apr 2008

Monday

Warm Up
10 Full Body Rocks
25ft Samson Lunges
10 DB Pullovers
25ft Samson Lunges
10 Beat Swing
25ft Samson Lunges
10 Bar Levers

Tech
Bar MU

WOD
16 min AMRAP
400m Run
6 Burpees
6 Bar MU
10 DB Walking Lunges