CrossFit Vancouver School

Crossfit Vancouver is a world class vocational school for developing Crossfit coaches, and helping those coaches build successful businesses of their own.

We have a variety of programs intended to develop coaches so they can impact the community at large.

We offer Crossfit Level I, and Level II apprenticeship coaching programs (read below for program descriptions)

We are a center for coaching certifications: Crossfit Level I, Crossfit Level II, Gymnastics, Pose Running, Olympic Weight Lifting, nutrition (See "Certification" section for dates)

Continuing Education Programs: We offer ongoing workshops & seminars in many areas of Crossfit to keep you sharp and up to date in the latest in fitness and health. (see "Workshops" section for dates)

If you wish to contact us to inquire about any of the above mentioned programs............

Please us for further details and information.

Students are trained by an instructor and observed by a Level I apprentice or trained by a level II apprentice and coached by an instructor.

A level II apprentice has a least one year of Crossfit experience and a level I Crossfit Certification.

CrossFit and CrossFit Vancouver have been evolving so rapidly it is hard to keep up. A lot of people questioned why we would we want to give away all of our information and set up competitors all over the lower mainland.

The answer is.....we were doing that anyway. In fact we were so good at what we did that former clients of ours now own 18 CrossFit affiliates in the lower mainland. If you throw in all the people from out of town who we have significantly (I have the testimonials) contributed to, that number jumps up to over 50 CrossFit locations across North America. We have had significant contracts to train the military including a program that saw us train the Officers and NCOs of two local regiments and we have ongoing training of officers from the RCMP and the VPD. Those facts alone would probably put us in the BC Vocational School hall of fame, and we were not even trying to do it.

Overview

If you are looking to start your own CrossFit facility, work for an established gym, train your troops, police, or fire departments, train sports teams or brush up on your coaching skills before completing any of the CrossFit.com certifications, the CrossFit Vancouver Apprentice Program will get you the results you need.

CrossFit Vancouver has evolved to become the top vocational training school for apprentice coaches in Canada. The apprenticeship and business mentorship programs are designed to develop well-rounded coaches by providing guidance and instruction in the following areas:

- Technical skills
- Programming for both individuals and groups
- Interpersonal skills and human relationships
- Community and business development

Objectives

The objectives of the CrossFit Apprentice Coaching Program are to teach individuals how to:

- Become professionals in the field of personal and group fitness
- Lead, design and manage quality health and fitness programs and facilities
- Learn the techniques and business practices of CrossFit service delivery and community development
- Build essential abilities for life – communication, critical thinking, problem solving and route cause analysis, planning and teamwork

Outcomes

CrossFit Vancouver Apprentice Program graduates demonstrate a commitment to the values and benefits of world class health and fitness; have developed a comprehensive understanding of health and fitness related delivery systems and facilities; and can successfully apply program leadership and planning processes within those systems.

The Program

This program combines a strong foundation in the concepts and theory of CrossFit Programming with leadership, communications, and business skills development tailored to a health and fitness practitioner.

Practical experience is emphasized throughout the program, both in the workshops and during the supervised practicum components. Each student will have the opportunity to develop their personal niches and to directly apply their knowledge under controlled conditions.

Individuals will learn how to effectively lead, instruct, facilitate, motivate, and supervise within the health and fitness field. They will learn how to design, implement and market quality programs, services and special events for diverse participants.

With experience and on-going professional development, graduates can build a career in health and fitness or put this leadership skill set to use in another field.


Level 1 Apprentice Coach

Learning how to safely and effectively execute CrossFit movements, eat a proper diet, and attaining health and performance is what the Level I apprentice program is all about.
You need to get fit yourself before you can begin to coach others in the process. The progression goes as follows:

1. Mechanics
2. Consistency
3. Intensity
4. Results

We start you off like we would any other new student to CrossFit; you will learn the fundamentals of human movement, nutrition and performance through 15 personal training sessions. Once completed you enter group classes where you further your understanding of CrossFit and continue with your personal fitness development. To round out your knowledge and attain a Level I diploma, you will attend seven workshops each concentrating on the finer points of the CrossFit method.

Our graduates not only finish at the top of their class at Level I certifications they are ready to begin coaching clients safely and effectively upon completion.

Level 2 Apprentice Coach

Level II CrossFit certification is now widely recognized as a stamp of an excellent fitness coach. The Level 2 Certification is a performance test. You will be tested and evaluated on your ability to teach CrossFit's 9 Foundational Movements to a small group of students of multiple levels. Over 60% of the applicants to the CrossFit Level II certification fail; therefore, the need to develop your skills as a coach are essential.

Our CrossFit Level II apprenticeship will prepare you for this certification, but more than that it will prepare you for a career as a fitness coach. We have never had anyone who has completed our program fail the CrossFit Level II certification exam. The reason why is the hands on experience our apprentices gain from training students from raw recruits into CrossFit veterans. This process of transformation occurs because our apprentices learn how to coach the movements, execute proper programming, and demand the best from their students to gain results that are powerful and life changing.

The Level II apprenticeship will teach you how to bring a client who is in questionable health and a state of poor performance into a fire breathing CrossFitter, safely and effectively and prepare you for an outstanding career as a CrossFit trainer.

Out of Town Apprenticeship

You want to become a CrossFit trainer, but you live far from Vancouver and the time demands of the conventional apprenticeship programs are not feasible for you. We have programs that can be modified to meet your specific needs.

The basic idea is to do one - week intensive courses in Vancouver separated by 5-6 weeks back at your home facility. We compress the curricula for our level I and II apprenticeships into a program that gives you the knowledge you need in a short, intense, period of time, but still allows you take what you have learned and hone your trade and develop the necessary skills to become successful.

Business Mentorship Program.

You have your certifications, you are a good trainer, you love people.......Now what? Let us help you build your business.

We have learned much in the past five years, if I could go back and talk to myself in 2004 with what I know now, the heartache, wasted time, dollars and energy we could have saved is staggering. We did come out of it for the wiser and I guess there is an argument for learning things the hard way (you get to know absolute laws, conjecture and hypothesis are practically meaningless). We had a lot of help from the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman. He played a crucial role in the development of our business model and we were lucky enough to have his help and firm guidance in the early days as well as a close personal relationship today. He is my mentor, our Coach, and great friend.

With our experience, I believe that we can do a lot of good for fellow up and coming CrossFit Affiliates and in fact it is probably our duty to lend a hand for the entire community to become successful in the business realm. So we came up with two options for mentorship:

1) Two-day business workshops at CrossFit Vancouver - We spend two weekend days with you and go over every aspect of our business that has made us successful. We field questions all along the way and pry for solutions to your specific business issues. We also provide you with the systems and paperwork to support our business model.

2) One-on-one phone consultations: We provide you with our systems and paperwork and talk on the phone to guide you in achieving the success of your business. We start off with weekly consultations then slowly we wean down to every two weeks, then every month and eventually every quarter and so forth until you have a firm handle on your business.

Boiled down to its essence, everything mentioned above has been spawned by a commitment to excellence that borders on virtuosity. What is virtuosity? Here is an open letter to CrossFit trainers written by my mentor that describes it beautifully. He and his commitment to excellence have always been the guiding light behind all decisions made at CrossFit Vancouver. THANKS COACH.

In gymnastics, completing a routine without error will not get you a perfect score, not the 10.0, only a 9.7. To get the last three tenths of a point, you must demonstrate "risk, originality, and virtuosity" as well as make no mistakes in execution of the routine. Risk is simply executing a movement that is likely to be missed or botched; originality is a movement or combination of movements unique to the athlete - a move or sequence not seen before. Understandably, novice gymnasts love to demonstrate risk and originality, for both are dramatic, fun, and awe inspiring - especially among the athletes themselves, although audiences are less likely to be aware when either is demonstrated.

Virtuosity, though, is a different beast altogether. Virtuosity is defined in Gymnastics as "performing the common uncommonly well." Unlike risk and originality, virtuosity is elusive, supremely elusive. It is, however, readily recognized by audience as well as coach and athlete. But more importantly, more to my point, virtuosity is more than the requirement for that last tenth of a point; it is always the mark of true mastery (and of genius and beauty). There is a compelling tendency among novices developing any skill or art, whether learning to play the violin, write poetry, or compete in gymnastics, to quickly move past the fundamentals and on to more elaborate, more sophisticated movements, skills, or techniques. This compulsion is the novice's curse - the rush to originality and risk. The curse of the novice is manifested as excessive adornment, silly creativity, weak fundamentals and, ultimately, a marked lack of virtuosity and delayed mastery. If you have ever had the opportunity to be taught by the very best in any field you have likely been surprised at how simple, how fundamental, how basic the instruction was. The novice's curse afflicts learner and teacher alike.

Physical training is no different. What will inevitably doom a physical training program and dilute a coach's efficacy is a lack of commitment to fundamentals. We see this increasingly in both programming and supervising execution. Rarely now do we see prescribed the short, intense couplets or triplets that epitomize CrossFit programming. Rarely do trainers really nitpick the mechanics of fundamental movements.

I understand how this occurs. It is natural to want to teach people advanced and fancy movements. The urge to quickly move away from the basics and toward advanced movements arises out of the natural desire to entertain your client and impress him with your skills and knowledge. But make no mistake: it is a sucker's move.

Teaching a snatch where there is not yet an overhead squat, teaching an overhead squat where there is not yet an air squat, is a colossal mistake. This rush to advancement increases the chance of injury, delays advancement and progress, and blunts the client's rate of return on his efforts. In short, it retards his fitness. If you insist on basics, really insist on them, your clients will immediately recognize that you are a master trainer. They will not be bored; they will be awed. I promise this. They will quickly come to recognize the potency of fundamentals. They will also advance in every measurable way past those not blessed to have a teacher so grounded and committed to basics.

Training will improve, clients will advance faster, and you will appear more experienced and professional and garner more respect, if you simply recommit to the basics.

There is plenty of time within an hour session to warm up, practice a basic movement or skill or pursue a new PR or max lift, discuss and critique the athletes' efforts, and then pound out a tight little couplet or triplet utilizing these skills or just play.

Play is important. Tire flipping, basketball, relay races, tag, Hooverball, and the like are essential to good programming, but they are seasoning - like salt, pepper, and oregano. They are not main courses.

CrossFit trainers have the tools to be the best trainers on earth. I really believe that. But good enough never is, and we want that last tenth of a point, the whole 10.0. We want virtuosity!!

From: Fundamentals, Virtuosity, and Mastery
An Open Letter to CrossFit Trainers
CrossFit Journal August 2005
Greg Glassman