This reflection captures the lessons, challenges, and victories I’ve experienced during my first term as a StrongFirst Certified Team Leader. I share them in the service of the teachers and students who are carrying our school forward.
Why I Love StrongFirst
This was my response:
- It is defined. We know exactly who we are. No existential crisis here.
- It has massive utility. Three tools, one system, multiple applications.
- It is elegant. StrongFirst is sophisticated, ingenious, and peerless. (This one sounds better when voiced with gusto. Dramatic pauses. Eye contact. It really sets the tone.)
- It is easy to adopt and hard to master. As anyone who has experienced a StrongFirst cert weekend can attest.
- It is succinct yet profound. This is best exemplified by one of our hard style maxims: an inch wide and a mile deep.
- If you identify as a minimalist, then StrongFirst is a dream come true.
- Anyone can become a strength coach or a fitness trainer, but not every trainer is cut out to be an SFG instructor. (At least one person cries every single time, and according to Dr. Chang, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, that’s how you know it was good.)
Leading Before the Title
Before I became a Team Leader, I led as if I already carried the title. Before it was official, my mission was to be a herald of hard style. To talk the talk and walk the walk, because as we all know, it is the only honest way to lead.
I invested in the community through workshops, certifications, and outreach that tested both my mental endurance and marketing skills. I went wherever doors opened. I even did a workshop in Wyoming, the least populous state in the country. This wasn’t about money or ego; it was because, in my mind, those eager students deserved a StrongFirst presence there. (Thanks, Maggie Jones, SFG II, for hosting and trusting!)
Then came the Los Angeles trilogy. L.A. embraced me like a churro dipped in caramel. Ara, soon to be Dr. Ara, opened his doors with no strings attached, and the Iron Revival crew filled the room. It was sold out! A bodyweight workshop that felt like a celebration of everything we stand for: simplicity, skill, strength, and community. If I had never taught another workshop in my life, that could have been enough to feel proud. That energy carried through Bodyweight 201 and 301 workshops. These more advanced classes were smaller, but the intensity never dipped. We honored ourselves, hard style, and StrongFirst. It was beautiful.
Mentored by Legends
My first Team Leader gig—leading a team of up to sixteen students—at an official certification was in Utah, with none other than hard style legends Zar Horton and Andrea U-Shi Chang, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructors. I have learned a great deal from all the StrongFirst Certified Masters I have assisted, but Masters Z & Chang hold a special place in my heart for their unwavering commitment to evolving with the times— which, given our changing demographics and increasing competition, has never been more relevant.
Hard Roads and Hard Style
Even in sunny Southern California, it’s not always rainbows and sunshine. During my inaugural term as Team Leader, I experienced deaths in the family, a loss of my gym, the end of several friendships, and financial hardship. Rigor, discipline, and my strength practice have always carried me through. Some mindlessly utter, “Strength has a greater purpose.” Others live that way.
A Guide to Your Strength Journey
Let strength be your base.
Don’t hop from program to program. Like StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor Toshner said, “When you are on a little bit of this program, and a little bit of that program, you are on no program at all.”
Commit to one at a time. From personal experience, both as a practitioner and as a coach, eight weeks is a good goal to shoot for, with the most dramatic results coming from twelve-week blocks.
If you want to be fancy, plan a year in advance. The way I do it is I regularly switch from bodyweight (SFB) skills to kettlebell (SFG 1 and SFG II) skills, and to barbell (SFL) skills. That has pretty much been my jam since 2006.
In twenty years, I have had the opportunity to add elements, and so will you. For example, during my SFB bodyweight phase, the core moves are one-arm pushups, pistols, and pullups. However, I also incorporate dragon flags, front levers, handstand pushups, hand-balancing, jumping rope, sprinting, and hiking.
During the SFL barbell phase, the core moves are bench press, back squat, and deadlift. However, I may also incorporate Zercher squats, front squats, or good mornings.
I train one modality—kettlebell, barbell, or bodyweight—for three months, then switch to another. In the last three months of the year, I work on whatever needs the most work, or some combination of the three. Below is a sample of three months of my kettlebell training.
Our StrongFirst curriculum can inform your exercise selection. Just focus on strength as a skill and technical proficiency. Ultimately, you’ll be training the skill of strength, but simply changing the tool.
After Your First Cert
Serving as Team Leader has given me insight into students’ mindsets after successfully completing their SFG I requirements. A common question on Sunday is, What’s next? They are so excited about what they have just experienced that they want to jump right into the next step. My advice is always to go home and take a few days off from training to reflect and unpack. After that much-needed rest, resume training with a renewed focus.
Practice your new movement vocabulary until you are as fluent in it as in your native language. If you are a coach, try to accumulate as many hours as possible teaching the skills. That is where so much of your growth will occur, and where surprising insights will be found. I have always found great value for my personal practice in teaching others, and I am certain you will, too.
I love being a coach, and it informs how I approach the gig; fully committed to each and every rep.
Your Master Plan
The strength game, like life, requires discipline and demands commitment. To be truly effective, one must continuously educate oneself. This is true even for the hard-living types training solo at home, but it is especially true for those who lead others: coaches, instructors, and trainers.
Next, you should rank the remaining StrongFirst certifications from hardest to easiest. I recommend you knock out the hardest first. Give yourself a minimum of six months to train for that certification. If you need eight or twelve months, you have my full support! The value is in what we learn and experience along the way, not in the end result.
Once you successfully complete the cert, repeat the process. Come home, rest, train, unpack, assimilate, and share. Then on to the next one. One certification each year is a reasonable goal to shoot for. It also allows for a more rewarding experience: you will enjoy each certification because you’ll be well-prepared and ready for the challenge.
After completing your four-year bachelor’s degree in strength training, you are ready for your graduate-level courses. Plan StrongTM, Built Strong, Strong EnduranceTM… Embracing hard style has been the most influential decision I made as a young coach, and I hope you find similar meaning in this great community, too.
I look forward to sharing the certification floor with you. Thank you for allowing me to serve, and for letting me share this reflection with our StrongFirst community.