CrossFit Unveils Massive New Daily Program With the Goal of Benefitting Affiliate Owners
CrossFit Home Office announced on Tuesday, June 29, a new program designed to benefit affiliates in good standing. The CrossFit Affiliate Programming (CAP) will provide “daily programming, class planning, and coaching development tools” distributed through written materials, graphics, and videos. The service will roll out worldwide on July 6 in English, expanding to other languages in Q4.
One big thing: This is CrossFit’s first foray into providing direct coaching support and programming for the more than 12,000 affiliate gyms worldwide.
- In the 21 years since it was founded, companies like NCFIT, CompTrain, and Mayhem Athlete have filled this gap, offering full-service mobile-app daily programming solutions to CrossFit affiliates and disaffiliated functional fitness gyms.
- Others are emerging like PRVN to service affiliates, led by Shane Orr, husband and coach of four-time CrossFit Games athlete Tia-Clair Toomey.
The details: The CAP is a creation of three former individual and team athletes — Austin Malleolo, James Hobart, and Spencer Hendel — who have a combined 24 appearances at the CrossFit Games. This trio has trained more than 20,000 coaches while working as part of the CrossFit Seminar Staff. Now they will provide this service on a much larger scale.
- Affiliates in good standing can sign up for the CAP free of charge through December 31, 2021. There will be a price for the service starting January 1, 2022. CrossFit Home Office has not yet finalized the total cost, but will announce it during the trial period.
The perks: Subscribers will have access to all of the daily content, as well as access to staff at CrossFit Home Office who can provide assistance if needed.
- Exclusive daily class plans and coaching videos from CrossFit’s Seminar Staff.
- Related daily At Home/Travel workouts available solely to affiliate members.
- Pre-loading into leading platforms such as SugarWOD, with others to follow.
- Dedicated support from CrossFit team members via email and phone.
- Monthly focus areas and options to help members target their weaknesses.
- Updates and enhancements based on affiliate feedback to support CAP‘s continuous improvement.
“Daily coach development is what will set CAP apart,” said Nicole Carroll, CrossFit’s General Manager of Training and Education, in a press release. “CAP’s daily video instruction by leading Seminar Staffers will focus on education for coaches, who in turn will improve the experience and outcomes for their members.”
CrossFit CEO Eric Roza explained in the press release that CAP will help the affiliate owners and coaches save “nearly 20 hours per month” of programming time. They will also have the opportunity to share their misery, so to speak, with other CrossFit enthusiasts around the world. They can compare times on workouts and discuss how they approached each portion of the programming.
Nothing is mandatory: CrossFit Home Office made it clear in the press release that CAP is an optional service for the affiliates in good standing. They are not required to sign up, and they continue to follow their own programs if they want. However, newer affiliate owners could benefit from working with veterans that have several years of programming experience.
- “I appreciate the ‘tools over rules’ philosophy,” said CrossFit Magnify’s Cody Anderson. “Always good to have options out there, and I think a lot of gyms could probably benefit from something like that. That’s always been the double-edged sword of CrossFit, low barrier to entry allowing pretty much anyone with a free weekend and couple thousand dollars to start their own gym, which is great for getting it out there, but I think it’s also the reason CrossFit developed a reputation early on of getting people injured.”
- “Someone with only an L1 and no coaching experience probably shouldn’t be opening their own gym right off the bat. I could see this being part of the solution that helps bring a little more consistency in the quality of coaching and programming across the board to affiliates as a whole.”
Anderson jokingly noted that he is a “control freak” and said CrossFit Magnify will most likely continue to follow its current programming. Additionally, he has a weightlifting program that he ensures doesn’t overlap with the standard CrossFit classes.
- “But for a lot of affiliates out there whose owners are stretched thin, I think [CAP] could be a really great option and resource to take advantage of,” Anderson added.
What happens to CrossFit.com’s WOD? With daily programming becoming available for affiliate owners around the world, there are questions about what will happen to the classic website. Will CrossFit remove the daily WODs while focusing on CAP?
- The answer is no. Andrew Weinstein, CrossFit’s Head of Communications and Public Policy, confirmed that the daily WODs will remain available on the main site and that it will align with CAP during the rollout period. However, those that sign up for the service will have the added content and instructional videos.
Similar to Anderson, CrossFit Trivium owner Nate Dodd anticipates that he will stick with the programming that he uses on a daily basis. Trivium works with CrossFit Games athlete Will Moorad, who has an existing relationship with the box’s members, to develop cycles lasting 8-12 weeks. They can use this time frame to measure progress.
- “I do feel like this can be a great benefit for newer boxes starting out,” Dodd said. “Too often, an overeager owner or an overeager coach without much experience in actual programming just sets out to do it on their own. Too many times I’ve seen CrossFit workouts or days that are programmed, simply because they are hard.”
- “There’s no real rhyme or reason, it’s just 30 minutes of stuff that makes no sense thrown together and done as fast as you can. Good programming takes thought, takes intention, and should have a purpose. The ‘let’s do whatever and make it hard’ days should be over.”
As a veteran affiliate owner, Dodd sees CAP as a big step in the right direction. However, he would like to see CrossFit continue making moves to benefit new gym owners. He specifically mentioned other educational opportunities.
- “It would be great to see them offer business courses/training partnerships that can further help a young affiliate owner,” Dodd said. “There’s also a lot of young affiliates out there that may be great at building a community and programming awesome workouts but are just terrible at running a business.”
- “CrossFit being able to point them in the right direction for resources to a trusted partner or an offering of their own would be very helpful.”
The bottom line: CrossFit appears to be on a mission to improve life for its affiliate owners around the world, especially those that may be newer to running a box after securing their L1. Whether they take advantage remains to be seen, but they will have the option starting July 6 and moving toward 2022.
Get the Newsletter
For a daily digest of all things CrossFit. Community, Competitions, Athletes, Tips, Recipes, Deals and more.
"*" indicates required fields
