In this interview, Athena Perez and Dr. Amy West sit down with Mike Giardina to discuss their new one-day course: “Working With Larger Bodies.” Perez explains how her own experiences led to her development of the course, stemming from witnessing some common gaps in coaching when larger-bodied athletes were in the class. Her intention is to provide visibility to the experiences of these types of athletes for more effective communication and coaching. Though the course is directed at coaches, it has also become validating for larger-bodied athletes.
The course helps coaches develop an awareness of obesity, digging into its roots and common causes. It provides activities designed to help coaches understand firsthand what movement feels like in a larger body, which will help with cueing movement.
The course also sheds some light on the lived experience and social climate associated with being a larger-bodied athlete — what attitudes and experiences people bring into the affiliate compared to their experiences outside the gym. This provides insight into the mindset of the larger-bodied athlete. Movement is a big part of the course. The movement section digs into movements that lie outside of CrossFit’s nine foundational movements. The goal is to give coaches a better understanding of how different types of larger-bodied athletes experience the points of performance of these movements while also providing ways to properly assess movement.
For more information on the “Working With Larger Bodies” course, click here.
Working With Larger-Bodied Athletes