Workout of the Day:
Power Cleans
2-2-2-2-2
and then,
Seven rounds for time of:
7 Kettlebell Swings (heavy)
7 Deadlifts (use 2-RM Power Clean weight)
7 Pull-Ups 
(This workout should be quick! Transition as quickly as possible for best time.)

Me and Coach Mike Boyle at the Perform Better Functional Training Summit

Just One of the Reasons Why I Love Coaching
Written by C.J. Martin

A lot of professions boast that the ever-changing nature of their industry requires intellectual rigor and life-long learning. That’s true of darn-near every profession. Stagnation is mediocrity, if not incompetence. But that is perhaps more true in the fitness and performance industry than anywhere else. Research, equipment, and training methods change almost weekly in this industry. But the amazing thing about this industry is that the changes are open for discussion in public forums, and the information underlying training principles is generally available to those who seek it. 

This past weekend several of the Invictus coaches had a chance to listen to some of the most respected coaches in the fitness world. The seminars were great and gave us a lot to consider and weave in to our program. This was no surprise. What was surprising was that we weren’t joined by more coaches from the industry, or more specifically, from the CrossFit community.

Now, I understand that CrossFit’s methodologies do not always align with those of many of the presenters at the Perform Better Summit, but on the whole, we’re looking for similar things – increasing work capacity, reducing injury/illness, training movements not muscles, etc…. The presenters have a lot to offer, even if we wouldn’t agree on the most effective or efficient way to help our athletes achieve their goals, it’s nearly certain that we would agree on more than we would disagree about. And we don’t have to agree on everything. We’re looking for what would fit nicely into our program to complement and supplement what we do. If we learn and implement anything at the Summit, it is worthwhile. But if we had stayed away from the Summit on the belief that what we do is so different than what other fitness professionals do, we would be cheating our athletes. 

Our goal at CrossFit Invictus is to learn as much as possible, filter the information, implement what works, and deliver to our community the best product we’re capable of delivering. This means that your coaches exercise independent thought (oh, the horror), and it’s part of what makes coaching so fun.

In addition to the great content provided at the seminar, the headliner presenters all confirmed three of the CrossFit Invictus founding principles:
(1) The gym owner must surround himself with coaches who are much smarter than he is. Check.
(2) The gym community must be free of ego; it gets in the way of high-quality movement, alienates members, and just generally sucks to be around.
(3) Even skinny, bald, White guys can be fitness coaches (see above – me with Mike Boyle, a great coach and a gracious man).