“One way we could get to the store is by worming,” says Flowmaster Chuck Carswell as he delivers a lecture on technique to a group of young people at CrossFit South Philly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 27, 2021.
The lecture was just one part of a two-day Scholarship Level 1 Certificate Course at the Philadelphia gym, held in partnership with Steve’s Club and the Green Beret Project. The course is sponsored by The CrossFit Scholarship Program, which seeks to spark meaningful healthcare changes in underrepresented and underserved communities by providing free access to the CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course.
Laughter ricochets around the gym as an attendee demonstrates four reps of the “worm,” scooting across the floor on his stomach.
“Knee pads would be important to that, for sure,” Carswell jokes.
The joke was meant to illustrate an important tenet of CrossFit: Technique matters.
Carswell defines technique as the “movements or positions used to accomplish a task.”
“What good technique does … (is) it helps us minimize the energy expenditure (while) maximizing the task accomplishment,” he says, contrasting walking to the store with worming there. “What poor technique does is it helps us be grossly inefficient and certainly maybe even take more time to be able to make that happen.”
Just as the Level 1 Certificate Course does, the Scholarship Level 1 Certificate Course teaches the fundamentals of the CrossFit methodology. However, it’s also an opportunity for young people in underserved communities to learn life lessons from positive role models they might not otherwise have access to.
After the class agrees that walking would be a far more efficient way to get to the store — while saving some skin — Carswell brings the lesson home.
“When we start looking at the practice of these movements that we’re gonna be doing with you guys over the course of the two days, the idea is to make these things as smooth as possible so you don’t waste energy or waste time with the movements,” he says.
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