Caleb Williams, 359lb Clean & Jerk at 152lb Bodyweight
PLEASE READ:
Every once in a while, when it’s important enough, I spew my thoughts onto the keyboard for the entire gym (and world) to see. Sometimes it seams that I’m saying the same thing over and over again.
I truly believe you could put CrossFit Wylie’s community, coaching, and methodology up against any of the thousands of CrossFit gyms in the world and we would stand out for excellence. However, there is always room for improvement. The coaching staff is always trying to improve for our members, we only ask the same from you. Here are some key areas we can always be improving on.
A) We are a community and a group of training partners. If you see someone new, introduce yourself. Bring a positive attitude to the group that benefits everyone or don’t show up. If you bring in a bad attitude, we simply don’t need you.
B) Some of you are far too competitive. It’s fine to go hard and be competitive, but the moment you sacrifice your technique and safe positions to go faster, you are losing at life. It’s like making someone toast, but burning down the house in the process. You must be diligent in your technique and foundations. We will continue to take this more serious as coaches, even if it means stopping the entire classes workout, because of poor technique. Lastly, if I’ve heard you brag or boast about any workouts recently, see item C below, and then sign up for the Club Championship or stfu.
Sidenote: Zero tolerance policy for intent cheating. If you hear no-rep, do an extra one, or two for that matter because they were probably all bad.
C) Stop “Cherry Picking” – Besides blatant cheating, this is my biggest pet peeve. Cherry Pickers come in different shapes and sizes. They are awesome at gymnastic skills but won’t show up for a heavy workout, which just makes them smaller and weaker. They are awesome at heavy stuff but won’t show up for a pullup/running workout, which just makes them bigger and slower. Or they could just hate one specific movement like double unders or burpees, and chose to skip those workouts.
Strong people, I mean mentally strong people. The people you enjoy training with and being around. Those people look forward to working on the most difficult things. They work on their weakness until they become strengths. These people seam to have this mentality in and out of the gym. That’s why they are awesome people and generally really successful in life. They attack there weaknesses like a hungry caged animal. It’s awesome to witness.
Be mentally strong and stop skipping the stuff you need to work on the most. So what if you have to scale something. This isn’t the middle school playground. Grow up.
D) No excuses. Don’t complain about what you can’t change, and change what you can.
E) MOST IMPORTANTLY: Mobility Work is Mandatory. We will start prescribing specific mobility work for the end of every class. This will only take 4-10 minutes and must be done in addition to whatever mobility work the coaches have prescribed for you individually. If you have to leave early, cut your workout early and make time for the mobility work. It is more important. This is the biggest change we will be making and the most important. No one likes it but you have to fix your joint issues.
No bull$hit. No complaining. No excuses. No fakery.
Honesty. Hard Work. Shared Sacrifice. Fun.
Let’s have a great week of slamming bars, killing PRs, and being generally awesome.
WOD
1a) Deadlift 3×4 w/ perfect position and movement
Rest 20 seconds
1b) Pushups 3X10 w/ perfect position and movement
Rest 2 minutes
2) Four rounds of:
ME Pullups in 30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
ME Kettlbell Swings in 30 seconds (53/35 lb)
Rest 30 seconds
ME Abmat Situps in 30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
3) Low Back Smash, Single Lacrosse Ball, 2-3 min each side
Test/Retest: Squat
Competition Training
1) Front Squat: 5X1 – 3 second pause, drive up with no bounce.
Sit into absolute bottom before driving up. Rest as needed. Do not let the drive up slow to more than 2 seconds.
2) Take 15 minutes to build to today’s 1-RM Snatch
Then: 5×1 – drop sets at 80% or less of today’s max for tech work
3) Back Squat
*Set 1 – 5 reps @ 65-70%
*Set 2 – 3 reps @ 75-80%
*Set 3 – 1 rep @ 85-90%
Rest 2-3 minutes between sets
Then: Every two minutes, for 10 minutes (5 sets):
Back Squat x 1 rep @ 95%
Don’t worry, you’ll get to re-test your back squat later this week.
Good stuff. Thanks Chris!
Sent from my iPhone
Yeah buddy! See you in the gym!
Chris…a lot of us have discussed these rants you’ve been having. At the end of the day, you are berating you customers. This Napoleon Syndrome has you believing that you are the best in the world, however not one person (including you) made it to regionals…and that’s ok. I am speaking on behalf on many when i cover these sections in your rant.
A: Bad attitude. You should see how your attitude changes when your ‘cool’ buddies from New Braunfels show up. You are definitely ruder to us girls,
B: Stopping the whole class for a few that might have bad form?!! Speaking of analogies…it’s like making a whole team run windsprints because someone missed a grounder or jumped offsides. Crossfit workouts are only team workouts on Saturday. Also, if people cheat (and I’m sure 99.9% at the gym are honest), they are only cheating themselves. Let them cheat (take their money) and focus on those who need your expertise. It would only matter if there was a cash pot for each daily WOD. STFU…really? You are unknowingly motivating someone to get certified and open a gym across the street. (example…CVS and Walgreens).
C: Cherry Picking? It does happen, but probably due to the vast amount of past injuries people have. Mobility won’t solve injured (not pain) knees, backs, shoulders, etc. Nobody wants to take 3-6 mo off for surgery to fix an injury just to do ass to floor squats, etc. They do what they can to the limit of what they can handle. If it will further injure us, we don’t show that day. It’s easier to skip than come in, explain our issue, get accused of excuses, and then get pressured into doing an exercise that will be a further healing setback for us. People also have lives outside of Crossfit…hard to imagine, right?! At the end of the day, if people want to pay and not show, it’s good biz for you. Kind of like 24 hr fitness…everyone signs up Jan 2 and comes once.
Please…knock the stuff off, and be the coach who just opened his doors to business like you were months ago. People are taking notice
Chris…a lot of us have discussed these rants you’ve been having. At the end of the day, you are berating you customers. This Napoleon Syndrome has you believing that you are the best in the world, however not one person (including you) made it to regionals…and that’s ok. I am speaking on behalf on many when i cover these sections in your rant.
Jane: It’s actually the clear awareness that I and everyone else can improve that drives these types of posts. We see opportunity for improvement in our caching and our members performance, so should you. I realize many people may take these broad recommendations as personal. However, we receive many comments from members stating that they love the attention to detail and focus on improved movement, technique, and mobility. So which members are right? As for the games, who cares? I have never assumed or said I was good enough to go to the games. To the contrary I have stated plenty of times, I’m not good enough and too old to make it to the games. I have however assisted in training many Games Finalists, Regionals athletes, and National level weightlifters.
A: Bad attitude. You should see how your attitude changes when your ‘cool’ buddies from New Braunfels show up. You are definitely ruder to us girls.
You may be right about being happy when friends are in town. Who doesn’t like seeing old friends?! As for treating ladies different, I respectably disagree as I try my best to treat everyone fairly and give everyone the respect and attention they deserve. But your opinion is noted, and I will do my best in the future.
B: Stopping the whole class for a few that might have bad form?!! Speaking of analogies…it’s like making a whole team run windsprints because someone missed a grounder or jumped offsides. Crossfit workouts are only team workouts on Saturday.
Typically the entire class will have the same errors in movement or technique, sometimes to a dangerous level. Why not show people what it looks like and help them improve. The goal is not to PR every daily workout but to move better and improve daily. Does stopping one workout to show everyone something sound so bad if everyone will improve from it?
Also, if people cheat (and I’m sure 99.9% at the gym are honest), they are only cheating themselves. Let them cheat (take their money) and focus on those who need your expertise. It would only matter if there was a cash pot for each daily WOD. STFU…really?
I agree they are cheating themselves, but people work their butts off to get 1 real pullup, or their PR on a lift or workout. I’m not going to stand for someone belittling those accomplishments by claiming that they can do more just to see their name higher on the whiteboard.
You are unknowingly motivating someone to get certified and open a gym across the street. (example…CVS and Walgreens).
In three years there will be a CrossFit gym on every corner. What I am doing will not change that fact. If someone really thinks they can take beat our combined experience in coaching, business, and sports medicine, so be it.
C: Cherry Picking? It does happen, but probably due to the vast amount of past injuries people have. Mobility won’t solve injured (not pain) knees, backs, shoulders, etc. Nobody wants to take 3-6 mo off for surgery to fix an injury just to do ass to floor squats, etc. They do what they can to the limit of what they can handle. If it will further injure us, we don’t show that day. It’s easier to skip than come in, explain our issue, get accused of excuses, and then get pressured into doing an exercise that will be a further healing setback for us.
Did you know the resting state of the human body is pain free? What does that mean? It means pain (not sore muscles) is the first sign of poor movement and poor joint position. Both of which, proper mobility will help immensely. Of course people have to deal with past injuries all of the time and we regularly modify movements and entire workouts to help people get the most out of each workout without causing unneeded additional loading to sensitive areas. Come in, explain your issue, let us show you the best way to help the issue long term, then show you a short term substitution to get you through the workout. We do it literally every day, with satisfied members.The excuses I was referring to, for example, was someone complaining that they didn’t finish first because they were drunk the night before. True story.
People also have lives outside of Crossfit…hard to imagine, right?! At the end of the day, if people want to pay and not show, it’s good biz for you. Kind of like 24 hr fitness…everyone signs up Jan 2 and comes once.
True and false. The best members for us come every day, reaches short term and long term goals. Then tells their friends and family about us. We want our members there with us. The members can come more often, learn quicker, advance quicker, and are generally less expensive for us because we don’t have to be as hands on with them. But of course we love our busy members too. That’s why over half of our members have 3X/week memberships. They just do the best they can, and it’s great to see. Typically if someone doesn’t show up for a month, I’ll email them and then cancel their membership if they can’t use it. I’ve even refunded memberships in some situations. We want people to be happy, come or go. Part of that happiness is making sure everyone is getting the most out of their experience. Sometimes that means telling it like it is. If it doesn’t apply to you, ignore it. Lastly, lighten up. A dozen other people found it funny and true.
Just for the record…I just signed up and not one person said a word to me my first two days at the gym. It was extremely intimidating.
John, that seams to be an exception and not the norm, but I’m sure you will get know everyone. Keep at it!
I must say, you handled that very professionally Chris..
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. It’s impossible to please everyone, but we try our hardest.
Just wanted to say that i have seen worse rants than what Chris has come up with and i do not think they are out of line at all. I think everyone has an ego that doesn’t always get checked at the door, students and coaches both. You can work fear and ego into everything, say a pullup. Fear – Using a band because you can’t do many without it and your WOD time will be bad if you don’t
Ego – Not using the band because you don’t need it, and you are the last one done with the WOD
i did martial arts for 10 years and man, talk about belittling people, that’s what us ADULT students were exposed to everyday, figured it was part of the training. I was not there for his rants i was there for the experience and learning. I learned a lot and respected his teaching but not the way he treated people. I also got to hit him while sparring, so it worked out…which is what is going to happen to Brandon if he keeps no rep-ing me, lol..jk
You have to learn to not take everything so personal and get the substance of what you are here to do. Not everyone is a competitor nor do they want to be but there is a reason behind Chris’ comments so listen and when you feel like its personal step back and check yourself. In my opinion, our coaches want us to show up everyday and do it right. If you are not here there is an excuse, it doesn’t matter what it is. Most of us still have bad form, it is because we have not done the movements 1000 times, so what, do them when you can and get better. Every day you come to class you get better…period.
Me…
I’m still going to get a drink during the middle of the WOD.
I am going to walk sometimes during my run.
I’m still going to bend over when i am tired even when i am told to stand up and breathe each time.
I’m still going to take a break if i need to during the WOD to catch my breath if i need to.
I’m still going to take a rest day or 3.
I think constructive criticism is fair but all in all the Coaches are doing just fine…in my opinion.
Thanks Damon. I guess where I go wrong is that I assume everyone knows where I am coming from and that while I want to get the point across I’m also trying to be a little humorous. I guess not everyone has thick enough skin to find the humor and truth in a little ass-ripping.
when did you get a sense of humor?
P.S. Stop walking… 🙂
I rarely walk