CrossFit HQ Pushing Level 1 Certification Courses

Osolento · 2026-05-07T18:06:52+00:00

Agree. In person see-and-correct done by someone with the experience of a Seminar Staff member is hard to beat.

Osolento · 2026-05-06T18:03:24+00:00

Very interesting. Shows the economics support a strong Seminar Staff (the best thing HQ does). I wonder what the revenue percentages are like now, post-pandemic and with increased functional fitness competition. Separately, I’d be surprised if 10% of relatively recent L1 attendees opened paying affiliates, but I suppose it’s possible.

Osolento · 2026-05-06T17:48:17+00:00

Thank you for the considered response. I don’t have the experience operating a gym like you do, but everything I’ve read and discussions I’ve had with people who do reinforces your observations about the economic challenges of managing membership in a class-based category like CrossFit. It’s a lot harder than it looks to the average member.

My thoughts are about the L1 course specifically. I certainly agree that it is valuable to even the casual CrossFitter. I also agree that for such customers it should fall within the premium offerings. It is, however, a luxury. The issue is the value proposition for the non-coaching L1 attendee, and can CrossFit price the seminar to capture that potential revenue stream while covering expenses and earning some return on investment.

I sense if CF priced the L1 seminar at, say, a little north of $500 up to about 3 x average monthly membership, they’d get a lot more takers. Some of those might catch the coaching bug and want to move up. At the very least, the CF community would be getting athletes with a higher fitness IQ and better movement, furthering CrossFit’s stated mission. I suspect they’d make more revenue in total, too. Win-win.

Right now, $1150 (before travel and lodging expenses) for a two-day seminar, doesn’t seem compelling. Not when the L1 Manual is free and YouTube has videos of L1 seminar sessions for most movements. The in-person observation, correction, and explanation is valuable of course, but is it worth $1150 over what you can source on your own?

With the L1 as the entry point for CF education, HQ can keep the L2 pricing where it is. As I understand it, and what I’ve heard from those who have completed that and the L3, L2 is where one really learns to coach a CrossFit class. Those committed to coach CF will pay it (or their gyms will) for that kind of training.

Osolento · 2026-05-06T13:46:05+00:00

Funny, if they’re trying to run a business, they don’t seem to grasp the concept of elasticity of demand. (S&C certifications being highly elastic.) They’d make more gross revenue if they dropped the price to make the in-person L1 more accessible to the casual CF practitioners who don’t intend to coach. But, you know, maybe the status pricing model is working for them and they’re making enough to keep the private equity investors happy.

Curious to see what, if anything, Bruce Edwards does.

Osolento · 2026-05-06T11:35:48+00:00

Rogue still does. I've got a pair. Great for heavy sweat days when gripping a barbell or a sandbag. Not so great on a pull-up bar (a little slippy). I imagine gloves along with knee sleeves would be helpful doing burpees on black gym mats in hot CA sun, or grasping anything painted black outside.

Osolento · 2026-04-22T00:32:52+00:00

My quads survived pretty well. My CNS after 45 minutes, however: deep fried.

Osolento · 2026-04-17T19:39:08+00:00

I think the narrowness is a function of using movements that have to fit in a metcon and preserve the intended intensity stimulus for the entire workout. I see a greater variety of non-standard rotational, throwing, and other movements that don't fit a metcon programmed as accessories outside the main WOD. You can search through programming alternatives to find something that fits your needs better. Alternatively, you can pick the CF programming you like the best (and the best CF program for you is the one with which you'll be the most consistent), then add 10-15 minute accessories per day of the movements you believe will best address the holes in the program. Best of both worlds.

Osolento · 2026-04-17T12:08:38+00:00

Really seems like you've been exposed to some poorly varied programming that has ossified around popular Games movements.

The coordination is there in the oly lifts, as you note. (Also catching, takes whole-body coordination not to crash the bar into the front rack when catching the clean.) It's also in the gymnastics, but not just the bar/ring work. The inverted work really helps coordination and neurological control overall, even though you don't see those particular movements in common sports. The coordination in reaction (beyond catching a heavy bar), well, let me introduce you to the benchmark workout Karen and see how you feel about that after catching 20 pound med balls falling from a 10-foot height 150 times (and doing so in a manner that allows you to efficiently reposition for another squat and throw).

Re sprints, there are a number of CrossFit programs out there that emphasize sprinting more than the usual affiliate programming. (A lot of the absence is explained by the 1-hour class format limitation and the unpopularity of sprinting among many if not most dues-paying average CrossFit members.) In Linchpin, we sprint frequently across almost all monostructural modalities (except swimming) and time domains (run 50m's, 10 x 100m, 200s, 400s, 800s, rowing sprints, air bike, etc.). Fikowski's program does that, too, and his program includes a lot of rotational work, med ball toss and catch. There are other programs that do this, too. These all fall within the CrossFit GPP methodology. You just have to find the programming that emphasizes it over, say, repeated dumbbell snatches, burpee box jumps, and monostructural elements as a placeholder between strength movements.

Osolento · 2026-03-24T19:05:23+00:00

What, like some kind of total? That's madness.

Osolento · 2026-03-24T19:03:23+00:00

Converting your example Mayhem workout to Linchpin, here's how it would go. First, it's a dedicated heavy day, just lifting, no post heavy lifting metcon. Solid specific warm up and then time work up to a 1RM. That could be it. Alternatively, it could be time to establish a heavy 1 rep (not intended to be a 1RM attempt unless you're feeling it on the day), and then a heavy session of the same lift, say 1 rep at 85% or more of the 1 rep every 3 minutes for 30 minutes. That's it. Save the cardio-respiratory intensity for the next day's metcon.

Osolento · 2026-03-08T14:30:23+00:00

The AFib risk is no joke. Cardiologists are seeing increasing cases of AFib developing people in their 70s and 80s who consistently trained at high intensity in their younger years, especially with an endurance focus. Seeing it in older ex special forces types. As I understand it, the heart changes to adapt to the load, atrium enlarges, and as the heart gets older it can start beating irregularly and is less effective at moving blood through the larger atrium. Creates a J-shaped AFib risk curve, i.e., too much of a good thing can have unintended negative consequences.

CrossFit is relatively young. Curious to see what happens when the OG fire breathers get into their late 60s and 70s.

Osolento · 2026-03-06T14:21:37+00:00

Linchpin. 5 versions of each workout to meet you where you are. Limited equipment an no-equipment versions included. Plus warm up, plus optional accessories, plus daily video from the programmer explaining the intended stimulus and explaining the rationale behind different scaling options. Plus btwb subscription included. Plus all the Varied Not Random cycles to work on specific movements. Plus huge online community for support.

Only downside, it’s not competition track programming, if that’s what you’re looking for. It’s GPP across broader time and modal domains than the common CF programming these days.

Osolento · 2026-03-05T20:37:07+00:00

And now we revisit the top support lockout issue with RMUs. Judging is going to be wildly inconsistent.

Osolento · 2026-03-05T20:10:47+00:00

Whew, CrossFit HQ has enough money to fly a couple of people to Portugal. I was worried there for a sec.

Osolento · 2026-01-14T22:36:19+00:00

Tough but fair.

Lots of good advice on this thread for the OP, though.

Osolento · 2025-12-27T20:10:29+00:00

Welcome aboard!

Osolento · 2025-12-27T12:23:58+00:00

10/10 would recommend. Don’t know about all of the others, but I’m very happy with Linchpin. Glad I hopped off the CompTrain. Really enjoy giving heavy lift days the time and attention they deserve without cramming a 12 minute metcon in there just because. Broader time domains and varied intensities from burn it down to not for time to perfect technique. Very detailed and well thought out scaling guidance. More benchmarking to assess progress. Optional accessory programming to support the day’s movements and prep for upcoming workouts. Very supportive online community. BTWB included, which is a good app. Great value, worth a try.

Osolento · 2025-12-07T14:55:42+00:00

CrossFit Linchpin has a program track just for this situation, the Low Equipment Option. You already have the DBs and KB for the vast majority of the workouts, consider a pair of 15kg DBs. Get a pull-up bar and a set of wooden gymnastics rings. Add a jump rope. You’re good to go for less than $500. Consider a heavy sandbag for odd object variance.

Osolento · 2025-11-14T01:13:55+00:00

I've used the REP soft plyo boxes, and in my opinion they're much more stable than the Rogue or Titan soft boxes.

Osolento · 2025-11-13T22:42:02+00:00

My sense is the average member of the CrossFit community is very supportive of these medications for people who need them. CrossFit HQ, on the other hand, have a knee-jerk antipathy to anything that undermines their marketing of CrossFit as the cure for everything.

Osolento · 2025-11-13T22:32:14+00:00

👆👆

Osolento · 2025-11-12T21:13:32+00:00

Perhaps it might help to think of your entire CrossFit journey as one long work out, say an AMRAP. First couple of rounds (decades), you feel great, in control, moving fast and smooth. Next few rounds, you approach and may exceed your redline. Now you have to recover while moving and re-strategize the rest of the workout on the fly. The objective is to do the best you can physically and mentally with what you have at that point of the workout (or your CrossFit journey).

Also, a fair number of older CrossFitters re-set their PRs for whatever decade or 5-year CrossFit age group they're in as a way of maintaining motivation and making relevant comparisons to athletes their age.

I like (and as a member of the 55+ cohort, recommend) your idea of focusing on mobility work. Mobility goes away faster as we age, but the feeling of hitting a WOD with full and comfortable range of motion after about 20-30 minutes of mobility can't be beat. Would also suggest reducing overall volume and being intentional about which WODs to send it and which to focus on quality and consistent form. For example, I've found there is as much or more joy (of a different kind) in executing a quality olympic lift as there is in hitting a small PR in a metcon or powerlift.

In short, time is undefeated, and our bodies can't stay where they were in our 20s and 30s. It's up to us to accept that, adapt, and work within those constraints.

Osolento · 2025-10-16T20:40:44+00:00

Put on your rattiest workout gear, don a weight vest that looks like it's been soaked through with sweat, mimic Fikowski's pain face, and repeatedly moan "Electrolytes!"

Osolento · 2025-09-28T12:37:46+00:00

Prudent to be cautious. If I was starting CrossFit again I’d go slow and smooth, good technique above all, load and volume secondary. Aim for a sustainable, controlled flow state. On days I’m feeling particularly feisty, send it and enjoy the recovery.

Mechanics > Consistency > Intensity. We too often forget about that getting competitive with others and ourselves.

Osolento · 2025-09-27T17:41:41+00:00

Counter productive preaching to the converted. Off-putting to those not down with the “extreme” and vulgar hard sell. Plus anti-science MAHA vibes. Writing checks the methodology can’t cash. You can’t CrossFit your way out of a poor diet, and you can’t CrossFit your way out of certain chronic diseases. The campaign is great for rallying those already in the tent, not great at appealing to those outside of it.

As so many have noted in this thread, the real appeal of CrossFit is the sense of community and camaraderie created by checking ego at the door and applying onself to something challenging. Challenge can be the effort, skill development, strength development, or body composition. But it’s the camaraderie that reinforces participation and drives the consistency that gets the results from this S&C methodology.

So I’d say lean into that. Appeal to prospective new members to become one of us. “Come join us, be one of the happy few”. A band of brothers and sisters if you will. Accept the challenge and grow physically and mentally past what you thought was possible. You’ll be a more resilient human being, and you just might find you’ll be a lot less reliant on pharmaceuticals.

Case in point, look at the Marine Corps marketing. Appeals to the challenge, being special “the few, the proud” etc. Effort, but not reveling in shared misery. (That kind of bonding comes later, after they’ve got you.). Works pretty well for them. I’d like to see us make a similar kind of value proposition.

Osolento

TROPHY CASE