CrossFit Goal Setting Trainer Course

CrossFit Nor’Easter was proud to host Greg Amundson for his CrossFit Goal Setting Trainer Course. Greg started his CrossFit training in December 2001 at the original CrossFit Headquarters gym in Santa Cruz, California. As an athlete at the first CrossFit gym, Greg was coached and mentored by CrossFit Founder Coach” Greg Glassman and has been referred to as the original CrossFit “firebreather”.

Greg’s seminar focused on goal setting and positive self-talk as critical mental skills both inside the box and outside the box (no pun intended!). He argued that the mindset you develop in the box in setting and achieving goals you would have thought impossible prior to starting CrossFit can be applied just as successfully outside of the box in other areas of your life. Greg’s positive attitude and enthusiasm for the material he covered was inspiring, and although this synopsis does not do the course or Greg justice, here were the highlights:

Goal setting:

Just like each of the movements in CrossFit has specific ‘Points of Performance’ (hips fully open, chin over the bar, arms locked overhead, etc.), goal setting can be thought of as having the following specific ‘Points of Performance’:

  1.  The goal must be specific and concise (“I want to perform 25 kipping pullups in a single set” rather than “I want to be better at pullups”)
  2.  The goal must be expressed in the positive tense (“I want to do 10 double unders” rather than “I don’t want stop tripping up on my double unders”)
  3.  The goal must include a time frame that is challenging yet realistic and achievable (“I will achieve my goal by the end of this month”)
  4.  The goal must provide you with intense inspiration, motivation and direction (i.e., what do you want to do so much that you are willing to gladly put the effort into it to make it happen?)

Greg also had three ‘rules’ that he believed applied to goal setting:

  1.  What we focus our attention on will increase in our lives
  2.  Our thoughts and our words will be the primary factor in focusing our attention
  3.  We can learn to use our thoughts and our words to create goals

Goals are a way to keep your eyes focused on the direction you want to go, regardless of the direction you may be currently going. Greg believes that once you set a goal and commit to it, fate and providence will rise in your favor. He encouraged us to believe in ourselves and commit to our goals!

Positive self-talk:

Greg emphasized the power of positive self-talk in setting ourselves up for success as athletes and in other areas of our lives. He made the point that just as we need to eat healthy nutritious food to fuel our physical self, we need to feed our mind with healthy, positive thoughts. In particular, he discussed the use of mantras and triggers:

1. Mantras: specific phrases that have personal meaning that remind of us a previous success or previous positive experience (examples: “Yes, I can” or “Breathe and fire!”). According to Greg, the most effective times to use mantras or other positive affirmations are either in the 30 minutes prior to a workout, during the workout itself, or in the 10 minutes or so after a WOD when your mind is clear and receptive to positive thoughts.

2. Triggers: a particular physical motion that triggers you to move ahead (a fist pump, clapping your hands – any particular move that reminds you of a positive memory and serves as your cue to get back on the bar and get going).

Greg made the analogy that just as you would replace a bad rep on an exercise with a good one to have it count (like getting your chin over the bar for a pullup to count), if a negative thought creeps in or someone gives you negative words, you replace them with positive thoughts/words. He gave a great example of the negative effect it had on him when someone told him that the next miles in a long-distance run he was doing were going to the be hardest yet (bad rep!), and the positive effect it had on him when his wife jumped in and told him instead that the hardest part was behind him and that he was going to fly over the next miles (good rep!).

Greg shared some great stories about experiences he had had that showed the power of the mind to affect an athlete’s performance. If you get the chance, collar one of the people that attended the seminar and ask about ‘the big guy (“I know I will get hurt”) and the little guy (“I can do it”)’, ‘the 50 mile mark’, and ‘finding your direction in a spinout’. He encouraged us to develop the spirit of Kaizen – a japanese word from the samurai that means to try and be a little better each day than you were the day before.

After the course, there was a group WOD involving one of our favorites – burpees! After the group burpee WOD, Greg and a few of the hardier souls were seen to be doing L-sit rope climbs, handstand walks and even some pistols on top of kettlebells. A good time as had by all – highly recommended!

 

Special thanks to Steve for writing this up!