Competency and Efficacy: The CrossFit Preferred Course

“My competency is determined by my efficacy,” Greg Glassman writes in the January 2006 CrossFit Journal article “Professional Training.” In order to be committed to “unrivaled efficacy,” he says:

I’ve often had to develop new tools and methods. This cannot be done without study and experimentation; consequently a lot of my work is done not in the gym but in books and scientific literature and in communication with other trainers and coaches.

The professional CrossFit trainer, in other words, is on a perpetual course of self-improvement. This is as true for the professional trainer as it is for the CrossFit affiliate, athlete, and enthusiast.

With this principle in mind, over the years CrossFit has endorsed and provisioned subject-matter expert (SME) courses and specialty courses through CrossFit Training. These courses gave CrossFit coaches, athletes, and enthusiasts a spectrum of CrossFit-endorsed professional development courses to cultivate their efficacy.

As CrossFit has grown into a worldwide fitness and health community with millions of adherents, CrossFit, Inc. now looks to broadly expand the scope and reach of CrossFit-endorsed professional development courses. To this end, CrossFit will begin offering CrossFit Preferred Courses.

The CrossFit Preferred Course Program will replace our current specialty and SME course model in order to better recognize and grow a global network of quality courses across disciplines relevant to CrossFit affiliates, trainers, athletes, and enthusiasts. These courses are designed to broaden, deepen, and challenge participants’ knowledge of CrossFit-related training areas. All CrossFit Preferred Courses will be conducted by subject-area experts among a community of peers and in the spirit of continual self-improvement.

A listing on our CrossFit Preferred Course page, as well as a course that displays the CrossFit Preferred Course badge and other identifying characteristics, signifies that CrossFit, Inc. endorses the course as meeting qualitative standards on content, professionalism, and customer service. All CrossFit Preferred Course offerings award continuing education units for the purpose of meeting professional development requirements.

For subject-matter providers who feel their teaching has relevance, our hope is that this program offers them ease and opportunity to contribute their talents to the vibrant, global, and growing CrossFit community.

For CrossFit trainers and affiliates, our hope is that they will enjoy the ability to enhance their continuing education and increase their value to those under their care.

For CrossFit athletes and enthusiasts, our hope is that as the cadre of CrossFit Preferred Courses grows, they will see more opportunities to learn a new skill or shore up an existing skill set.

The CrossFit Preferred Course Program is consistent with the long-term intention of CrossFit, Inc. to continually provide more opportunities for the CrossFit community. Each course offers participants a wonderful chance to improve their competency in the pursuit of unrivaled efficacy.

To learn more about available Preferred Courses or becoming a CrossFit Preferred Course provider, visit the continuing education page at CrossFit.com.