CrossFit Reliability and Validity Dependent on Coaches
You walk in to your box at your regularly scheduled WOD class. Your “CrossFit Coach” goes over the WOD. The CrossFit Coach you see every day explains your movement standards before any WOD is executed. You begin your normal pre-WOD rituals. You strap-up, wrap-up, warm-up mobility, skill or strength session. Then, it’s WOD time. Each moment of the WOD, your coach is giving your feedback to keep mechanically safe, efficient, and effective, and occasionally giving you the infamous “NO REP”. By the end of the WOD, you see your time or reps and think, “That was good…” or “What happened?” or “That sucked…” Your coach brags on how good you were during your cool-down and post WOD mobility, or gives you insightful criticism to increase your potential. You log your time in your journal, or app, and look forward to tomorrows WOD.
Now, imagine the same scenario. However, right before the WOD begins, your Coach disappears and you are doing the WOD without being “NO REPPED” or given biomechanical feedback. The resulting WOD score could be totally different. The movement standards given to you by your coach were unimportant and therefore unreliable, nor valid.
The accountability of the Coach to be involved during all WOD class hours is highly important. Any statistician would concur that the validity and reliability of any test is dependent on testing procedures, protocol of each test, equipment, and much more. Experienced CrossFitters would validate that each score can come down to the equipment placement prior to your WOD. Goode & Hatt (1952) define reliability as “the extent to which repetition of the study would result in the same data and conclusions”. Ok, you get the point? Fran, Isabel, Grace, Cindy, Mary, Hero WOD’s, and your daily Box WOD are tests. These test are dependent on one person. Your CrossFit Coach holds you accountable to “Good Reps” vs. “No Reps” for this reason. Executing a clean without passing your elbows in clear sight past the bar in the front rack at the top position should be a standard “No Rep” for the purpose of reliable data for your benefit.
You risk statistical failure without a great CrossFit Coach guiding most reps. If you are not getting the attention you need, find the right box for sake of reliability and validity.