Programming and Coaching at CrossFit Wash Park- What sets us apart? 

This is Ethan’s full time job (and has been for 6+ years) and he writes the programming to fit the needs of the community; we don't simply take programming from elsewhere and pass it along to our athletes without understanding the intent and focus of the day or how it fits in the bigger picture of our programming needs and goals.  As such, based on what we deem the highest priority components within a given week, we work with our athletes to help them choose what they should do each day even if it differs from what the majority of the class is doing.

In addition to Ethan, Brittney is also a full time coach, meaning 85%+ of our classes are coached by those with no other career distractions. In addition, we have a few part time staff as well who are handpicked from within our community.  So you will be in great hands no matter who is running the class when you come in! We do NOT run a glorified open gym where the workout is read to you off the board and then you're essentially left on your own.

Teaching quality movement and helping improve the quality of life of our athletes is our priority! In the current market, basically every gym claims to have "quality coaching and community" so we want you to experience a gym that actually delivers on this. Having said that, we highly encourage you to check out your options before joining our gym!

As part of programming General Physical Preparedness (GPP), we build in time to learn/develop/practice skills every week - gymnastics and olympic lifting in particular - so for our community we don't need to offer "extra" classes dedicated to those endeavors - for example ~30-40% of our athletes can do muscle-ups despite our community not having any particular focus on being "competitive" CrossFitters; this is something we drill on a regular basis because it is part of a well-rounded program.  That said, in addition to our regular membership, we do offer time-specific/goal oriented programs to meet the needs of those with a particular goal/desire (eg personalized accessory work, competition focus, or multi-week olympic lifting programming with specific 1RM targets). These are not required or utilized by ~90% of our athletes, but something we do provide for ~10% of our community.

We look forward to answering any other questions you may have, but can’t wait for you you to come in and experience CFWP for yourself!

Strength

As a gym that focuses on both strength AND conditioning, we lift. A lot. Typically 5 days a week we incorporate a strength training session, often paired with a gymnastics skill, prior to the workout (i.e. timed, high-intensity) portion of the class, known as the WOD (workout of the day). Our strength sessions are established in cycles, in which during a given period of time (e.g. 8 weeks, 3 months, etc) we are focused on building strength on a certain set of lifts and then test (i.e. see growth/progress) at the end of the cycle. In addition to the fun aspect of lifting heavy things, we view it as an essential part of developing long term health (e.g. increasing bone density). 

Conditioning

WODs are our conditioning sessions.  Most of our WODs are in the 10-20 minute range, which we vary from day to day depending on the loads and movements involved. In our experience, this is the time frame in which most athletes can work at a high level of intensity AND still maintain proper technique. Occasionally we go for extremely short and intense WODs in the 3-7 minute range, and even less occasionally work in the 25+ minute time frame. We believe that "going long" (i.e. WODs over 20 minutes) with enormous rep counts on a regular basis is not only unnecessary to increase strength and fitness levels, but adds considerable injury risk as movement tends to fall apart as the body fatigues. We don't avoid these types of workouts entirely, but just remain well aware of diminishing returns during WODs.

Competitors/Specialized Training

Additionally, with a growing number of CFWP athletes entering CrossFit competitions, obstacle course races such as the Tough Mudder, and/or specializing in specific areas (powerlifting, Olympic lifting, etc), we will tailor programming specifically for individuals to best prepare them for any specific short term goal.  We typically modify and add WODs and lifting sessions for our advanced CrossFit athletes as their competitions draw near.