CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course for Healthcare Professionals

The first CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course for Healthcare Professionals (HCP-L1) was launched at CrossFit 1904 in San Diego, California, on Nov. 12 and 13. The HCP-L1 is a private course open to all licensed healthcare providers and healthcare administrators. In San Diego, the participants were emergency-room doctors, neurologists, psychologists, nurses, physical therapists, chiropractors, athletic trainers, an acupuncturist, and an ear, nose, and throat doctor.

The HCP-L1 allows healthcare professionals (HCPs) to interact and go through the course with like-minded professionals and provides opportunities for HCPs to connect, network, and potentially work together to bridge the gap between fitness and healthcare. Dr. Felicia Mix, an HCP-L1 participant and resident physician, came to the HCP-L1 to network with other healthcare professionals and to get ideas of what her practice might look like if she were to have it in a CrossFit affiliate. This is one of the goals of CrossFit Health — to find ways to bring more HCPs into the community and connect them to CrossFit coaches and CrossFit affiliates. To truly solve the chronic-disease crisis, we will have to work as functioning health teams — teams of health professionals focused on patients achieving their highest level of functionality. The HCP-L1 is the starting point of this process — educating healthcare professionals about the efficacy of CrossFit for improving fitness and health.

Like participants at the traditional Level 1 Certificate Course, healthcare professionals at the HCP-L1 are provided an introduction to CrossFit’s methodology and foundational movements via lectures, movement sessions, and workouts. They were taught how to apply CrossFit for personal use and in training others. Glaiza Marquez, a registered nurse in Salinas, California, explains how CrossFit has improved her life, stating, “I love CrossFit because it made me the strongest version of me.” This is an adaptation that can be transferred from within the affiliate into everyday life. CrossFit’s founder, Greg Glassman, always said some of the greatest adaptations to CrossFit are the ones that happen between the ears. These results are extremely important when battling healthcare-professional burnout, a condition steadily on the rise following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though these healthcare professionals may never coach in a CrossFit affiliate, the HCP-L1 will give them a better understanding of the methodology when discussing it with their patients. Dr. Denise Palke, a family practitioner, said she came to the HCP-L1 with hopes of incorporating CrossFit methodology into her practice — getting people moving in functional ways to live the life they want to live. This can be accomplished by applying CrossFit’s principles of fitness and nutrition to the principles of health care. This is exactly why Dr. Sheri Anselmi came to the HCP-L1 — to learn more about lifestyle medicine, which she describes as fitness, movement, nutrition, sleep, and stress management. As a psychologist, Dr. Anselmi explains that we all like to be in our comfort zones, and CrossFit teaches us to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, knowing it will produce results — both physical and psychological. CrossFit can help develop a growth mindset, in which we learn from the challenges we take on in the gym and develop a sense of achievement and resilience.

At the end of the HCP-L1, each healthcare professional walked away with a CrossFit Level 1 Certificate and 14 CME or CEU credits, but the learning doesn’t end there. CrossFit Health will be following each cohort of HCPs with the intention of continuing education on how to connect with CrossFit coaches and affiliates and use CrossFit as a standard of care in healthcare. The hope is that we can learn from each other and continue to find ways to bridge the gap between fitness and healthcare.

Upcoming courses:

• Columbus, Ohio, December 3-4, 2022
• Sao Paolo, Brazil April 15-16, 2023