Lisa’s Level I Certification Report

Lisa, AJ, and Aaron attended their CrossFit Level I certification at CrossFit One World in Union City, CA on January 30-31, 2010.

Here is Lisa’s report:

I was surprisingly nervous going into this certification. But not for the reasons you would think. I wasn’t nervous about doing Fran or Fight Gone Bad.. I KNEW, going in, we were going to do one of those and/or some other type of tortuous Crossfit medley. I wasn’t nervous about leaving home, or Noah with our friends. I wasn’t even nervous about money.. No, I was nervous about being BORED of all things! Which made me even MORE nervous, because I knew if anyone knew that, I would punished even more!
In my defense, I had never been to anything like this, and the only thing I could compare it to, before hand, was a re-certification class for my EMT. They did the best they could to make them as fun as possible, but the reality was, they were boring. It was a boring subject, with boring teachers, because not much changed at the basic EMT level, and so, even though they tried to jazz it up with stories, and snacks, you were bored.

I was PLEASENTLY surprised by the morning’s first lecture. As Todd Widman spoke, I was feverishly writing down notes, and laughing hysterically as he went through a mountain of material in a miniscule amount of time. That first hour went by rather quickly, and soon we were outside in the BEAUTIFUL California sunshine working on our first 3, of the 9 basic movements on which the foundation of Crossfit’s weightlifting program is built upon. The Air Squat, Front Squat, and the Overhead Squat.

We were broken out into 6 groups, and AJ, Aaron, and I were each in a different group. Ok, little nerve racking at first, but I came around pretty quickly.. Funny how I’m so social, but get shy and nervous when thrust into a new group of people I have never met before. Weird. Anyway..moving on..
Jason was our first teacher of the day. I had no idea who he was.. which I think helped me a lot. I had no reason to be nervous, or impressed by just his name. I later found out he was Jason Khalipa, the winner of the 2008 Crossfit games! Oh geez! Anyway, he went over the squats with us. I was impressed by his knowledge, and a little surprised by his “potty mouth” but learned a TON just the same.. I remember thinking at the end of our squat series, “Wow that sun is nice.. I’m so warm…”

“NOW that you’re all WARMED up..” came a booming voice from out of no where.. Uh oh.. first work out of the day.. here we go… “Tabata Squats.. Scored by your lowest round”. Ok, I think .. I will do as many as I can in the first round and try to keep as close to that number as possible. “3..2..1.. Go!” …“aaaaaand REST” Alright! I did 15! 15! Solid, good formed squats.. all I need to do is keep that up.. “3..2..1..Go!” Another 15! Awesome! Round 3.. SAME! I’m getting excited! I’m proud of myself! I’m thinking I can do this! Man my legs are tight! .. “3..2..1..GO!” Dang.. 13.. that’s ok.. I can do this.. “LAST ROUND!” Oh my gosh.. My legs are so tight.. I am sweating in this stupid hot California Sun.. I can’t believe I have to.. “3..2..1.. GO!” .. “aaaannd DONE!”.. YAY! It’s over! I did it! Never went below 13! I was so proud of myself! My score was in the middle of the pack! I felt so good about myself! What an accomplishment..
Back for another lecture..

Second lecture was done by Josh Everett (Ty’s Man Crush!) He went over 3 more moves, Push Press, Shoulder Press, and Push Jerk. ..And then we were back outside to work on those 3 movements.. This time we had Austin and another trainer who was training to be a coach. I got a lot of good pointers on how to help others do the moves accurately. This whole day I became more in tuned to what my body is doing when I am lifting, and how to ensure I am doing it correctly. I learned SO much!
Inside one more time for yet another lecture. This time given by Adrian. He spoke to us about What is Fitness? Now I could REALLY relate to what he was speaking about. Having a medical background , his knowledge of the physiology of the human body and what happens when you work out, eat, sleep, etc was amazing. I was again feverishly taking notes.. Fascinated by the knowledge and accuracy of what he was saying.. Things were making sense left and right.. I felt inspired! I want to take on the world and spread the news of Crossfit to EVERYONE I meet! I am SO fired up! .. And hungry.. LUNCH TIME! Yummy!

After lunch Jason taught us the Deadlift, the Sumo Deadlift High Pull and the Medicine Ball Clean. Austin was used as an example, and there were PLENTY of hilarious, albeit inappropriate, innuendos between the two of them to keep us laughing the entire time! It was fun, but educational. Of course, as I’m sure you’ve now guessed, it was BACK outside to do the last practical. This is the part I was dreading! Up until now, I had not been “pulled into the mush pot” to be used as an example of what NOT to do.. But this is the Deadlift.. and as we ALL know, the Deadlift is my LEAST favorite lift. For so many reasons. I knew my time was coming. And of course it did. BUT the criticism was not as bad as I had anticipated. Jolie was our teacher, but she was very sick, so another Crossfit god took over, but I never caught his name. He pulled me into the middle of the circle and informed me, and the rest of the class, that I was doing a 2 step Deadlift. He quickly gave me some pointers about making it a more fluid motion and after 2 tries, I had it down! I can’t wait to Deadlift again! I’m gonna go HUGE! Or, well, at least correctly.

End of the day, and I’m sore and tired and we are quickly informed that we are doing are last work out of the day!! Yeah.. no. We did Fran as a group. 5 people to a group. Each group must do a total of 250 Thrusters and 250 pull ups any way possible. And you cannot put the bar down. IF you do, your group is penalized with an additional 50 Thrusters. We all scramble to find a group. AJ, Aaron and I are together at last! With 2 others and we start. Our group finished in 17:40. I ended up doing a total of 40 thrusters and at LEAST 50 pull ups. The guys in our group really carried us through! It was fun, but we were exhausted. Time for Dinner and Jacuzzi!

Day 2.

Oh my gosh. I think I’m gonna die. My legs hurt SO badly. I try to get out of bed and not let AJ know how much I’m hurting, but he yelps in pain as soon as he gets up, which makes me feel SO much better! We rush downstairs to get some breakfast in us and get to the gym. How am I going to do this today? I think. I eat some eggs and some fruit, an English muffin, and 800 mg of Advil and wash it down with ½ liter of water. Ready, set, GO!

Same format this day, only our first outside work is RE doing our Deadlift forms and Push Jerks. Apparently, our class struggled with that the day before. Good news: Our group was great! Yeah us!

Just before lunch and after our Nutrition lecture, we do another group workout of Kettle bell swings, push ups, 400m run, and rest. I am still leery of the Kettle bell because of my back, so they substitute.. SQUATS! These people are trying to kill me I swear. We get through it, and do pretty well! I never quit. I never stopped. I pushed through the pain and exhaustion. I am proud. The trainers comment on my good form, my tenacity and heart. I think that’s good. Sort of. Looking back, I think it’s great, but I was so exhausted I couldn’t appreciate the compliment.

Lunch. Ugh.. I could puke.

More lecture, and then off to learn Muscle up progressions, Rowing Techniques, The Snatch Progression, and Pull ups. Its 4:45 and we get one more lecture. I’m getting nervous because my body is so done. I know fight gone bad is coming, and I am trying to convince myself that I can get through it. It’s only 18 minutes. I can do ANYTHING for 18 minutes. The last section of lecture is of course funny and educational. It’s shorter this time. The clock tics minute by minute. I am watching as we get closer to 5. They said we would be done by 5:30.. it’s coming, I know it’s coming.. I can do this, I can do this.

“alright you guys have been SO amazing! Thank you for letting us come here! Thank you for being such a good group and being to receptive to what we said and did. Freddy has a WHOLE cooler of beer left if you would like to hang around and have a beer and talk to us trainers for another ½ hour or 45 minutes. For those of you who have to hit the road or catch a plane, have a safe trip home! And your certificates are over on the table by the front door”.

………….. wait……………. WHAT? We’re Done? I did IT!??!?! NO fight gone bad!?!! No Fran by myself??!?!? NO other tortuous workout that I didn’t know if I could get through but was going to do anyways because I am a crossfitter and that’s what we DO? Push to our LIMITS?? Oh my gosh! I’m so relieved I want to cry! (it was probably the exhaustion). What a GREAT weekend! I am SO sore, but so enlightened and on fire! I get in the car with a new found confidence, that this is more than just a “workout routine” or a fad. This is a lifestyle, more than I ever even realized. This is a lifestyle that *I* want to live. From start to finish. It is something I believe in, am good at, and feel good doing, and I really DO want to share it with the world! I am SO thankful for the experience, and the opportunity.
These constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity are amazing. And I am now able to share these with everyone I know. Bring it On! Watch out Globo Gym.. HERE I COME!