Growth

I want to post about growth and CFCV as I have several times in the past. The focus however is not membership growth although that whole subject still  baffles me, but growth in the fitness of the membership and staff of CFCV.

The issue comes up because Mark and I have been talking over the past couple of days as we often do about CFCV, training and the goings on around us (from a training point of view). And as usual, Mark asked a couple of hard questions that I think all of our members deserve some insight in to.

Why do people come to CFCV?

From my perspective there are a couple of different reasons. There are some with definite goals either fitness or aesthetic focused and there are some that just want to do something different in their workouts. I believe that we can deliver to both sets of customer although aesthetics are really a result of a better fitness level. As far as something different, constantly varied functional movements practiced at high intensity qualifies as something different.

But there was a better question which I am going to paraphrase as, What is the broad base goal of CFCV?

I think its better to explain my vision; I now believe and that's where the growth thing comes in, that fitness is but a component of wellness. I heard that at the level I cert 3 or so years ago but like other things I heard, I didn't get it. But, fitness is just a small piece of the big picture that includes nutrition, control of sickness/homeostasis,  physical and mental well being. My vision is to provide the tools that will assist the members of CFCV in at least the fitness part of the equation and maybe some insight of where they might find some tools for the other domains of wellness. I don't claim to be an expert or even authority at anything, but have put a great deal of resources into trying to be better at what I am doing. With that said, I am committed to continue to learn and grow to better deliver my vision.

So then we talked about the Dutch Lowy challenges, weightlifting and an article Dutch wrote in the Performance Menu this month that has to do with teaching complex movements.

The question came up whether or not CFCV members understood why we're doing the challenges. And I guess the answer really is no. I should explain;

More learning here, complex movements deliver the most bang for the buck (read power/intensity) than any other. As such they also improve the 10 domains of fitness as described by the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman. Those are Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy.

The complex movements include the olympic lifts, thrusters, wall balls and a host of others. As I see it, Dutch is on a personal mission to help CrossFit affiliates deliver on the 10 domains of fitness. I am assuming that in my case and some of the others he is providing trainers a goal to attain each month through challenging them to program the workouts with improvement in the complex move as a goal. I also believe that through conventional CrossFit programming during the month, we can additionally target those 10 domains. Besides that they are just downright fun as well as challenging.

This is not to say that there is anything whatsoever wrong with the mainsite programming as it is also targeted to improve the 10 domains of fitness, obviously.

So back to the growth thing. Since the early days in the garage there have been a good many folks improve in the 10 domains of fitness as well as other components of wellness. And we have had a great deal of fun in my opinion. We will continue with some of the great kettlebell workouts, deck of cards workouts and other favorites because as Mark says, they are some member's niches. That is a good thing, so we will absolutely continue.

I guess that is pretty much what is on my mind regarding the growth thing and why things have changed. I also believe we are all better for it, I know the improvements in the 10 domains of fitness in the majority of our members is measurable and consistent and that is the point as I see it.

So if you have comments, observations, suggestions or concerns either post them in the comments or e-mail me directly, please.

Comments

[Nicole Gesselman]

Lifting is not my fav and I know not alot of peeps favs either. Or they would be at a regular gym. U do a very good job in mixing it up. The challenges are very hard. But rewarding in the end. People come to u because they trust u and like the way u kick there a... It is achievement. U should be very proud!Its crazy how many woman take this challenge and not men?? Aren't they supposly the creators????

[Ron]

Thanks for the comment Nicole, I get excited when there are comments cuz they're rare. I like to think our form is lifting is different than at "regular" gyms. Sure lifting is lifting but is it?????? I also appreciate the kudos. As far as the guy thing, yeah it was created by a guy but my experience is that women and girls are the majority members and therefore competitors, just look at our white boards.

[Stacey]

What I love about the CFCV trainers (Ron and Claudia) is their openness to learning, and interest in their own growth as trainers. I find that exciting because I know things here will never become stale, and that the people "in charge" are as interested as I am in always looking for the best/better way to do things. That willingness to change and adapt is inspiring. As they say "Change is the only constant".

[Ron]

Stacey, its people like you who keep us interested in learning. We strive to be the best we can be and know there's alot to learn, just wish there was more time to do it.

[claudia]

Stacey, thanks for the shout out. Because of members like you all, it is inspiring to watch you grow and realize we are all in this together....to achieve growth in our fitness, knowledge and just to function better at life.

I am very happy to see the changes in all of you, but I do want to send a shout out to Stacey, Cindy, Michelle, Anna, Dana and Gayle,and Kathy..... I would like to list everyone but I am farily certain someone will get left out!

I will be taking a couple of days off, as my shoulder is really not happy lately. But I will be back.......