That was going to be my mic drop closing statement at this weekend's Masters Workshop...... but I forgot amid the driving rain on the roof, and post workout buzz in the air. It was a great day. Awesome to see so many people bringing in a beginners mind.... (from actual beginners, to Games level athletes)... to hear us preach on that most boring of topics - the basics, and how focusing on them, will allow us to experience and enjoy exceptional movement quality and capacity for the bulk of our life,

With the exploding popularity of CrossFit we have more people than ever, interested in trying this new 'fad' training program out....

It is also quite common for people to want to bypass our privately coached Fundamental classes and jump straight into regular training because they either a) did some cleans when they used to play rugby in high school, or b) are 'pretty fit' already, or c) I just don't get it, the gym down the road said I could jump straight in and go nuts......

This is not the road to mastery. No matter how good you are, you can always do more work on the basics. And over the years, we've actually made it harder than ever to get into our classes, by requiring all our new members to spend a significant amount of time on developing and reinforcing the basics.

Is this more expensive? Yes.

Does it mean we only get people who are coachable, want to be here, and will be a fantastic addition to our community? Definitely.

Does it mean faster learning, better progress, and injury prevention? Absolutely.

Do we as coaches get to better know the strengths and challenges our new members face? Yep.

Do our veteran members get a class coaching environment that doesn't have to cater to the rank novice, meaning you continue to get the attention you deserve? This is a biggie, and heck yes you do.

I often compare our CrossFit gyms to a dojo. You are training with us to achieve your black belt in fitness. To the outsider looking in, that might seem hilarious, but those of you who have been doing this for even a short while, now know what it takes to truly master movement in all the realms of gymnastic, weightlifting and monostructural.

Action hero Steven Seagal - might make crappy movies, but he dedicated his life to the mastery of aikido, becoming the first foreigner to operate an aikido school in Japan....

And just like in a dojo, there is a lot of emphasis on consistent practice of the basics on the road to the more complex movements and heavier weights.

All respected black belts take pride in regular practice of their white belt drills and forms. In fact, they consider mastery of the basics to be as essential part of attaining true mastery of the black belt level movements and mastery of themselves.

You should be doing the same. Even if you feel like you've got the basics down, it's great to take the time to refocus on the 'white belt' moves.

PERFECT air squats, PERFECT pushups, PERFECT pullups, and eventually you'll have PERFECT muscle ups, overhead squats and snatches too.

NB: A reminder about our beginner CrossFit program, Fundamentals, it starts with at LEAST two weeks of PRIVATE training. Graduation from Fundamentals to our group coaching schedule occurs when the athlete understands our training program and class structure, they can perform all basic movements and understanding how to optimise movements for their ability.

This ensures that everyone can learn at their own pace, and make the best possible progress in their first few months of training.

If as a veteran member, you are feeling a little FOMO about this, I can understand! Plus if some of these newbies are catching up to you and maybe even passing you by, it might be tough to take!!

But worry not. If you're interested in spending some one on one time with a coach, we can make that happen. Whether it's to finally dial in that snatch or pullup technique, to get a better idea of how to optimise the strength piece in class and the technique to build to a max lift, or to learn some more advanced gymnastic skill, we can help.

Let's do this forever.....