Fundamentals Course

The fundamentals course is for anyone wanting to get a better understanding of the theories, movements and exercises used in our program, whether to join one of our Small Group Training sessions or to continue training by oneself with the help of the Workouts of the Day (WOD). It will prepare you mentally, in terms of understanding what and why we do what wedo and to prepare your body physically to perform the movements and to work at the intensities required for best results.

Aspects covered include:

Importance of Nutrition

Nutrition is foundational to your health, mentally and physically, and is required for optimum performance, be it athletic or just day to day functioning

Balance Nutrition: Principles for Incorporation

Everyone eats good, right? Wrong. It’s a perception that can lead to over-training, injury and frustration with the program. We will explain what balanced eating (40-30-30) looks like for YOU; Not in theory or ideally, but decipher the food that YOU eat daily. We’re advocates of The Zone Diet, by Dr. Barry Sears. Not because we like it, benefit monetarily from it or think it’s great, but because IT WORKS!

Anatomy & Physiology

This is an opportunity for us to go over basic terminology that assists with the learning comprehension of the various movements.

Squat

This is the first of the foundational movements we cover. Your ability to squat tells us a great deal about your athletic capacity. It is the foundational movement of running, jumping, throwing and punching. It also have a tremendous neuroendocrine effect

Deadlift

One of the most feared, improperly preformed and misunderstood exercises. This is the foundation to more technical lifts and is the starting position for the two most powerful movements: the clean and snatch.

Shoulder Press/Push Press

Although a seemingly simple movement, it is vital to stress the importance of core to extremity muscle recruitment. This is needed for powerful punchers, throwers, jumpers, sprinters and Olympic lifters.

Overhead Squat

Core strength is the level by which you keep the mid-line stabilized. There are few movements that rival  the OHS for core development. It also allows us to test shoulder flexibility,  your ability to handle load overhead and communicate the differences between an “active” and “passive” shoulder and how they both affect performance.

Push Jerk

The final movement in the overhead series is also the most “complex.” The ability to quickly reverse direction in the vertical plane is the culprit. Powerful extension followed by an immediate retraction of the hip is what makes the push jerk and the clean challenging to learn. We have a simple system that mitigates the difficulties in learning this movement.

Ball Clean

The ball clean allows us to manage an impossible feat. That is, teach the newcomer how to  perform the Olympic lifts within 20min. It's a wonderful replacement that retains all benefits of working under the bar while removing its disadvantages.

Pull-up

This is a great opportunity to discuss, teach and practice various pull-ups and their respective substitutions.