Dan Asks: Hi! Love the performance menu and look forward to reading it each month. I am originally a crossfitter that have obtained certs and stuff, and am a student of your Oly class held in Chico a couple of years ago. Anyway the reason I’m writing is being a “trainer” for the past three years it has become obvious that there is a difference of someone who holds a cert and one that is actually a trainer.

I am 40 year old, Fire Captain and Part Owner of a recently opened crossfit gym. That being said what would you suggest outside of attending college again, of increasing my education in a systematic way as a trainer? I do not want to be a trainer that just has a one size fits all approach, but I feel I need education in the following areas: Body Types and how to approach training; Clueing in on injury prone motions (have seemed to hurt a lot of my clients when I first started, way too many pull ups); Helping clients state observable and obtainable goals

If you could address this for a trainer that does have time to go back to school but is passionate about seeing their clients progress uninjured, and obtaining measurable goals.

Greg Says: Definitely don’t go back to college. The best way to learn more about these things is to interact with other more experienced trainers and coaches to find out what they do. These are the guys who often have the classroom education, but have since spent years in the gym experimenting and finding out what actually works and what doesn’t. Sometimes theory falls apart completely in practice, and sometimes it holds up well. You won’t know until you implement it. Some coaches and gyms offer internships or mentorship programs, some less formal than others—this would be ideal. But since you’re not a kid fresh out of college with no job or responsibilities, this is likely not a practical option for you. However, I would still contact local coaches you respect and see if they’d be willing to let you shadow them occasionally, or even set up private sessions for you to ask questions and discuss various practices rather than actually train—I’ve done this quite a few times and if other coaches have the time, many are open to doing the same as long as they don’t feel you’re a competitor.

The internet also offers a ridiculous amount of help in this area. Particularly with the current trend of posting just about everything you do online, you can find out what many coaches and programs are doing without having to actually be there. Granted, most smarter coaches won’t disclose everything, but you can still get a lot of good ideas.

Try setting aside a certain amount of time each week for continuing education—whether that’s reading new books, websites or speaking with other trainers.

Shane Asks: I don't know if there is even an answer to this question. I just started running a dedicated oly lift class once a week at our box. Membership and time constraints just don't allow me to run a class any more often than that. I feel completely confident and in my element running a class for either beginners or for intermediate/more advanced athletes. The situation is that I will have both showing up to the same class. Can you give me any advice on how to run a class where some people have no business lifting more than PVC or an unloaded barbell, yet others should be working with full training loads and doing more advanced weighted skills and drills? I'm thinking the only answer is to run separate classes, but I would really appreciate your feedback and advice if you feel there is another way to go. Thanks! Hope to see you in June at your seminar!

Greg Says: This is a tough situation, but one that you’ll always have to deal with. In a given training session at Catalyst, I may have a couple national championship level lifters, some lifters not at national level yet, and a lifter who can barely overhead squat below parallel.

In your situation, you’ll need to prioritize your attention to those who need it most, i.e. the least experienced lifters. For the more advanced lifters, you should be able to write a program that keeps them busy and working independently while you actually coach the newer athletes. During this time, obviously you’ll need to actually interact with the more advanced lifters, but this can be done concisely because they should know what you’re talking about when you give them a cue.

I would suggest having a plan for maybe three levels of experience each day you come in—if someone at one of those levels shows up, you know what you’re doing; if they don’t, it doesn’t matter. The hardest way to do it is to come up with a plan on the fly based on who happens to show up to class. The advanced guys may be on a long-term program, while with the beginners you may just choose a series of drills to work on in each session. But if you actually have a plan going into it, you can get everyone started and keep them moving. This also frees you up a bit to adjust what the beginners are doing since they’ll probably need some flexibility built into their training.