By Hamish McInerney and Michael Craw
(November 16, 2021)

Coaching CrossFit and Aging Populations (4- Part Article Series)

Building a diverse community is an essential part of running a successful CrossFit affiliate. The broader your community is, the more likely new prospective members will find connections and feel as though they belong in your space, so the number of people you can positively influence increases. Creating an engaging atmosphere for older athletes is an important element of nurturing this diversity.

Meeting the Needs of the Athlete

Meeting the needs of older clients can be a challenge, but the benefits these individuals gain from their training deliver some of the greatest quality of life improvements. The first step to ensuring aging populations feel supported and valued in affiliate environments is creating a community culture that values effort and application over workout scores and leader boards. In my experience, older athletes are often some of the most diligent when it comes to executing quality movement and technique, which is something that should be celebrated. These athletes generally also show great appreciation towards being cued and take the time to apply any advised corrections in exercise. This then creates a positive cycle of ongoing community support as the coach feels that they are being heard and adding value to the athlete, which makes coaches more likely to give cues in the future.

Be Ready to Modify the Training

It is the responsibility of all coaches to have the knowledge and skill to modify training programs to suit any athlete, including older athletes when building an inclusive CrossFit community. When coaching older clients, it’s critical that the coach is aware of any factors affecting performance, such as restricted mobility, slower recovery times between sessions, and lack of confidence. With this information, our coaching team can then efficiently modify workouts to be more suitable and achievable, which in turn will give the athlete more self-confidence going forward, and more confidence as their coach.

Building a diverse and resilient culture relies on the ability to offer exceptional service to everyone who wants to be involved in the CrossFit Colossus community. An element of this is writing programs with a large scope for modification and having skilled coaches with the ability to address limitations for different populations. However, nothing is more important in the pursuit of diversity than the leaders of the community showing relentless levels of care and support towards every person that walks through their doors, regardless of fitness background, disability, gender, or age.

Creating a Culture of Fun

Being fun and inclusive as a coach in the CrossFit box is at the core of the CrossFit community. Being fun means… no poverty of spirit! Being inclusive means always being positive, being a listener, learning intuitively, and engaging intelligently to understand their hopes and aspirations as CrossFit athletes. The potential energy in my CrossFit community is its capacity for reciprocity with one another. In my experience as an owner/ operator and coach, classes have had a mixed-gender and varied-age demographic. The younger people often talk about how inspired they are when they work out with people much older. Those of us under 40 get to see our future when we reach 60 or 70+. I think that we are encouraged by what we will be able to do later in life.

I make it my business to promote genuine connections in my CrossFit box! Everyone encourages everyone. No cliques, all-inclusive, and it works. CrossFit founder Greg Glassman, when asked what the core competency of a CrossFit box is (as it relates to aging populations) said, “to offer a uniquely attractive opportunity to make other people better through unremitting commitment to make the world a better place”. So, my CrossFit box is a home-like environment, where genuine friendship and respect, and love for what we do are the dominant energy-mix. It’s a sanctuary from the vexing problems of chronic disease, sedentary behavior, and corruption of the health sciences, and therein lies the fun in our community.  

Coaching CrossFit and Aging Populations 4- Part Article Series:

Part 1: The Magic is in the Movement
Part 2: The Art is in the Programming
Part 3: The Science is in the Explanation
Part 4: The Fun is in the Community