Monday, August 1, 2016

Adaptive Athletes and First Crossfit Experience


I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I showed up for an Adaptive Athlete Workshop. First of all, the workshop was held at a Crossfit gym. This marked the first time I ever stepped foot into a legitimate Crossfit facility. Second, this was, as the title implies, an adaptive athlete workshop. Along with Crossfit, here was something else about which I knew next to nothing about.


For those you who don’t know, an adaptive athlete is any athlete who has a disability, whether that’s a missing limb, a congenital/acquired condition, or anything that prevents them from training in a “traditional” sense. I say “traditional” because having a disability doesn’t really exclude them from participating in athletic activities. More on that later.

The workshop started off with a discussion about what adaptive training is and some considerations that apply when working with a group of people who have disABILITIES. One of the biggest takeaways I gleaned from the whole experience was to avoid asking myself why something cannot be accomplished, and to ask instead how it can be accomplished. The possibilities are endless. The only thing that keeps you from finding a solution that will make an exercise work for someone is a lack of creativity. Any client who comes to a facility like the one where I attended the workshop is more than ready to put the work in that’s required; it is up to you as a coach to provide the knowhow and make sure it’s safe.

After the talk we got into the workout, aka the workout of the day (WOD). Never have I ever completed a WOD before! To top it off, the rule when completing the WOD was to perform it as if you had a disability. In this case, that meant performing the exercise either with one arm or without the use of your legs. You got to perform the exercises with a partner and the workload was split 50/50. The WOD consisted of:

400 Meter Run
100 Seated Wall Balls
80 Dumb Bell Single Arm Snatches
400 Meter Run
60 Single Arm Burpees
40 kcal Erg/Row (No Leg Drive)
400 Meter Run
10 Single Arm Clean and Jerks

To say the least, the WOD was very challenging. Putting myself in someone else’s shoes and performing the exercises with restrictions was incredibly awkward and demanding of my body. The hardest was definitely the clean a jerks at the end, performed with a barbell. This experience gave me a whole new appreciation for adaptive athletics. If you ever get the experience to do so, give it a try. Getting to experience this opened up my eyes to all the opportunities we can offer clients who may not be able to train in a “traditional” sense. There are many ways to accomplish a task and make an action doable. It just takes a little collaboration and creativity, and some determination to get the job done. I got to meet some awesome people, got a challenging workout, and had a great learning experience! 

Ryan Goodell, CSCS


For consultation/personal training/coaching inquiries email: ryangoodell@weightsandstuff.com

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