Last weekend (April 23-26th) I joined Jeff Tucker in Saskatoon, SK to assist in a CF Gymnastics cert. I am always so grateful to be given the chance to help out and provide fellow CrossFitters with my knowledge of 'gymnastics' to better assist their training. Each cert is completely different. The strengths and weaknesses of each participant pretty much dictate how in depth we have to go with certain skills and if we can throw in some more advanced elements. The group of people in Saskatoon were rock stars! Each and every participant had a good strength base and understanding of the concepts we were presenting, which allowed us to spend a little more time on the front and back levers, planche and planche progressions, and EROM Handstand Pushups.The hosts of CF Saskatoon were amazing; offering Tucker and I rides to and from the hotel and the gym, bringing us lunch to the cert while I busted my butt in workouts during the break, and pretty much offering anything they could to make our stay the best possible. Thanks to Ian and Chad for that!
On the second day we shot a couple of videos for the CrossFit Journal and CrossFit.com. During the warmup for Day 2 we led the participants through the progressions for planche. We covered ALOT of material... basic frog stand, advanced frog stand, tuck planche, tuck planche on paralettes, and moving into the straddled planche. Then during the lunch break we grabbed a couple of the Saskatoon girls and covered muscle up progressions and ring dip depth for a second video. Keep checking back on those two websites for these videos! I'm pretty pumped to see how they turned out.
I managed to sneak in a workout during the lunch breaks... "Barbara" on Day One. That one has to be my least favorite workout. Give me "Angie", "Cindy", "Chelsea", etc any day over "Barbara". Round times were as follows: 2:40, 3:29, 3:56, 3:58, 3:59 for a total working time of 18:02 (PR). Pushups are what killed me! Maybe it's in my head but I am finding ring pushups easier than standard pushups these days or maybe it was just the fact that I save time on the pullups by doing those unbroken each time, thus making the pushups more difficult.Other than the workouts themselves, I did ALOT of demoing over the course of the weekend. This stuff is not easy even for a gymnast. Each and every skill presented in the CF Gymnastics Cert requires concentration and effort each and every time. I compare hitting the perfect tucked back lever to fighting for a 5 pound PR on the deadlift. Eye popping, breath holding, muscle shaking effort! Pretty proud of the nice flat backed back lever I hit with Tucker in the picture.
Always sad to have the weekend come to a close. The people are always so great and I only get the chance to hang out and visit with Tucker when he comes up North to Canada, which is usually only once every 3 months. And with Regionals and Games coming up we are both busy with preparing for those... as an athlete and a host.
Interesting Fact of the Day: It takes seven seconds for food to move from the mouth to the stomach!
April 29, 2010 at 1:31 PM
Thanks for everything at the cert, I had a fantastic time! As did my fellow CFers from CFR. It was my 2nd time taking this cert and I still learned so much. I think it would be a good cert to take once a year, especially for those of us (which is most of us) who do not have a background in gymnastics. Thanks again!