Coach Rach here with the full scoop on a wonderful weekend of weightlifting and gymnastics training with the world-class coaches (and our friends) from Power Monkey.
We first met Coaches Mike Cerbus (Team USA National Weightlifting champ)
and Dave Durante (2008 Team USA Olympic Gymnastics) in 2015 at Power Monkey Camp in Tennesse.
We wanted to learn from the best before we opened Radix together later that year, and Camp was a great experience for us in our relationship together (awww) as well as professionally as coaches and business owners. That one immersive week solidified our dedication to CrossFit, both the community AND the methodology.
Mike and Dave came to present a seminar for our Grand Opening later that year and witnessed THE PROPOSAL that same day! Dan later went back to Camp to train with them again in 2018, and Mike returned to run a weightlifting seminar for our members a few months later. He’s been Dan’s personal coach for a few training cycles, including his 285 Snatch PR.
Now you (and my mom) might be wondering WHY I would take 2 days away from my 3 kids to spend 16 hours learning weightlifting and gymnastics when I’ve been coaching for 16 years and have already attended seminars taught by these coaches!
The reason? White Belt Mentality. This is something that Dan talks about a lot, and it’s the idea that you should always feel like you have something to learn from others, especially the leaders in your field, and that you’re never too advanced to practice and perfect the basics, the foundation, the fundamentals.
It’s easy as an athlete to get comfortable and complacent in your training.
We tend to focus on just doing the reps, getting in the workout, instead of trying to improve our form, maximize efficiency in the movement, or not try to progress to more advanced variations of an exercise.
As a coach, we’re usually working out on our own, no one watching or even programming for us, just doing a bit of this and that, falling on the same excuses of being tired, busy, sore etc.
Personally, I’ve been guilty of both, so I knew I needed to do this – for my training AND coaching.
I also needed it as a mom to feel like myself again, old me in a new body. Postpartum is forever, and so is any major injury or life transition. You might never get back to “where you were”, but you can still make progress from where you are.
I was so inspired an encouraged by the diverse group of people at the course, other gym owners as well as competitive and recreational athletes.
It was a great feeling to be the athlete instead of the coach, and have professional eyes on my movement patterns in this new body as I rebuild again for the next phase, and it makes me want to coach more so I can share the passion that I still have for this sport, 16 years later.
I was even more inspired by the fact that the gym that hosted the event is home to the founder of Wheel WOD, CrossFit’s Adaptive Athlete Division, so they had a whole rig set apart for Wheelchair-height rings, racks, and pull-up bars.
When you hear the stories of these regular people who suffered crippling injuries and have channelled their energy and recovery into CrossFit and Paralympic competitions, it makes you want to do better for yourself.
Life is always busy, stressful, sad, hard. But most of us will never have to deal with what some of these athletes have overcome, so it really puts things into perspective to make us grateful to be able to move just a little more.
I have learned and forgotten more about fitness training (and nutrition, too, TBH) than most people will be exposed to in a lifetime, and I would be doing that education, and all of YOU, a disservice by letting it slide.
Repetition of the basics is always helpful, but so is staying on top of new research in the field, and changing standards in the Sport. Watching others be coached, cued, and improve in their movements makes me a better teacher, too.
We will be implementing some of what was covered this past weekend in our classes with our coaches, as well as with our Personal Programming Team (keep an eye on your inbox, squad!).
If you are interested in a seminar-style group session or 1:1 session to go over weightlifting, gymnastics, mobility, or any other topic, please REPLY TO THIS EMAIL and we’ll make it happen!
We also do have a few spots opening up this month for personal training/programming over the summer, so if you don’t want to wait until September to make GAINZ, we’ll chat about all of the options available to you, including member discounts 😉
Coach Rach
P.S. We have something SUPER SPECIAL coming your way next week from our NEW EMAIL SYSTEM so please keep an eye on your inbox for a few updates!!