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CrossFit Roots Winter 2011 Class Survey.

Front squats/burpees
10-8-6-4-2
2-4-6-8-10

A Balance of Patience, Focus, Drive, and Fury

This weekend’s Olympic Weightlifting Meet was a huge success.  The volunteers, crowd, and competitors were all an integral part to the meet but the real kudos goes to Ryan and his development of the Oly program over the past 15 months.

Almost two years ago Ryan came to the garage to do an Oly clinic for our members.  I tried to talk it up and was embarassed when there were just four of us in attendance.  No matter, Ryan was fantastic and it was obvious that the dinky garage set-up didn’t phase him in the least.  The clinic ended with Ryan doing one-armed barbell snatches.  It was awesome.

In October 2009 we brought on Ryan at Roots.  We started with one Olympic Weightlifting class a week.  Attendance was spotty and we struggled to get athletes to add Oly to their workout repertoire.  We preached the fact that Olympic Weightlifting would transfer into an athlete’s performance in CrossFit workouts and that it is an amazing sport all by itself, but we were still slow to attract numbers.  Olympic Weightlifting doesn’t carry the initial instant gratification that a Metcon can.  It can be frustrating, hard, and slow – at first, and this is the point where many athletes choose to stop. But like so many things in life, the hard things are the ones that deliver the most satisfaction.

In the beginning, I was nervous that Olympic Weightlifting just wouldn’t take with our athletes. Now, I realize that was silly as Ryan is an addictive force of a person and coach. His ability to make the sport approachable to all drew people in bit by bit.  Soon the secret was out that this Oly coach Ryan not only ran a great class, was witty, and fun, but that this Oly stuff was freakin’ awesome!

A coach with Ryan’s insane level of expertise and experience combined with a warm personality and an ability to make a sport approachable and challenging to anyone who is interested, is uncommon.  Ryan exhibits a beautiful balance of patience, focus, drive, and fury (for attacking heavy weights, that is) both as a coach and an athlete.

Ryan contributed tremendously to Roots over the past year.  In the world of platforms and heavy metal, Ryan expanded the Oly program from 0 to 38 athletes, sent 3 athletes to compete at the USAW Olympic Weightlifting/CrossFit competition, and added Oly and Strength classes to the schedule.  Most importantly, he found a way to share his passion and love for Olympic Weightlifting to everyone who stepped on to the platform.

Thank you Ryan.