Allowing the Cream to Rise to the Top

The idea that “the cream will rise to the top” in the laissez-faire CrossFit affiliate model may be scuttled ... READ MORE »

10 Tips for Surviving Your First BJJ Class

Don’t be overwhelmed. Beginner classes everywhere go through the same sequence. Here's what to expect.

I remember my first Brazilian jiu jitsu class at Titans Fitness Academy. I was so nervous. I had heard so much about what a competitive team they were and how hard they rolled. I was intimidated.

 

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The Coach’s Responsibility

As coaches, it’s sometimes hard to draw the line between friend, therapist and CrossFit coach. While our main goal ... READ MORE »

Turning Admin Into “Adminimal”

Affiliate owners describe creative ways to offload work so they can focus on the big picture at their gyms.

When you open a CrossFit affiliate, you quickly learn you’re more than a coach, and if you try to tackle every job that comes your way, you might not find time to sleep, let alone time to train your clients and develop coaches and your business.

Imagine this very common scenario:

You wake up at 5 a.m. and send a dozen e-mails before scheduling a post to go up on your website in the evening. After that, you quickly edit a video of a client getting his first muscle-up, which you upload to your affiliate’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. A quick sip of coffee, and then it’s time to take a look at last week’s attendance report. Five clients who haven’t been there in two weeks need an e-mail. It’s payday tomorrow, so you sift through your reports for the month. Finally, it’s time to fill out the paperwork for your sign permit, which you’ll drop off at city hall on you way to coach your first client of the morning.

Exciting and fulfilling as all this can be, it can also be exhausting. If you let endless administrative duties take over your life as an affiliate owner, it can be incredibly distracting to your business. This is why many owners have found solutions to ease the headache. Some are hiring full-time administrative or facility managers, others are shifting certain duties onto coaches, and others still are relying heavily on technology to make their lives easier. No matter what they’re doing, these affiliate owners agree that shifting administration duties has freed them up to develop their clients, coaches and business.

Fitness Is Beautiful: Paul Anthony Smith (Featured Photographer)

Paul Anthony Smith aims to capture athletic beauty and emotional expression in his photos.

If you follow any high-profile CrossFit athletes on social media, you've probably already seen many of the stunning photos by Paul Anthony Smith. Recently we had the chance to talk to Paul about his journey as a photographer.

 

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Training With Games Athletes

I would assume that most people who are handed a one-week fall break from their job would most likely ... READ MORE »

SS Weekly Report November 3, 2014

The Starting Strength Weekly Report 2014-11-03: Topics from the Forums: “Starting Strength is definitely turning the tide”  and “Gyms and Motivation”. View report in browser View report archive var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};