Lessons on Learning from CrossFit

I’ve been doing CrossFit since 2019. Besides it being a form of exercise I really enjoy, it also has some valuable lessons on learning.

Here are 4 lessons on learning from CrossFit -

1/ Focussed Time to Push 🎯

Most CrossFit workouts look something like this -

• Warm-up: Getting ready

• Skill Work: Learning a new skill or strength work

• WOD (Workout of the day): Combination of exercises you already know

• Cool Down: Stretching and recover

What I love about this format is that in both the Skill Work and the WOD you’re pushing yourself in different ways.

• In the Skill Work, you’re focussing on learning something new or pushing yourself to lift more.

• In the WOD, you’re applying what you already know in the given constraints.

Both put together still take up only about 50% of the workout time. The rest is actually focussed on making sure you can do your best in that time where you’re pushing yourself.

Most learning experiences don’t focus on priming the learners. Learning something new and applying what you already know is also quite siloed.

But what if our learning looked like this? What if in each class you prep, learn AND apply - all at once?

2/ Different Journeys 🛣

All CrossFit workouts are composed of the same set of exercises in different combinations. Moreover, for each exercise, there are variations based on the level of the athlete.

A handstand for a beginner starts somewhere else and for an athlete ends up with a lot more.

So even if the WOD is the same, everyone can picks their own scale. You could be level 1 in one exercise but level 5 in another one!

Formal learning is largely standardised. No two people are the same, but everybody is expected to know the same thing. What if we were to challenge that? What if instead of picking a standardised level for all subjects, you create your own journey for each?

3/ Different Scales 🏁

CrossFit workouts are of different kinds:

• AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible): How much of a certain exercise you can do in a given time

• EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute): Every minute you switch the exercise and move to the next one

• For x Reps: Doing a certain number of reps, without any pressure of time

• For PR: Doing exercise to reach your PR, without any pressure of time

With kind of workout you’re actually focussing on different things - it could be time and it could be strength or endurance & more!

What if our assessments were like this? What if instead of only focussing on how much we can do in a given amount of time, we measure other things as well? How difficult a question a learner can answer? How a learner can apply in a different context? How well does a learner teach someone else?

4/ Personalised Benchmark 🚩

CrossFit has this concept of a PR or a Personal Record. Now a PR can be for -

• Maximum weight deadlifted

• Maximum number of burpees done in a minute

• Fastest 1km run & many more!

PRs are not goals but milestones. Each PR is celebrated in an athletes journey because they mark growth in some form or the other. There is no standardised PR - PRs are unique for every athlete.

What would be the PR equivalent in the learning context? How do we shift from learners meeting a standardised benchmark to them doing their personal best?

I’m probably leaving this article with more questions than answers but hey, that’s what learning is about right? What are some questions/ ideas that this has sparked for you? Are there any other lessons you can think of? Write to me, I’d love to hear from you!