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Tony Blauer’s goal at the CrossFit Defense Trainer and Athlete courses is to give people the tools to keep themselves safe.
“There is no skill more relevant than to be able to protect yourself or your family,” Blauer says. “That is it.”
At the Trainer Course, students learn how to teach CrossFit Defense to others.
“I want to teach it to others, hopefully get more confident in real-life situations. Rather than just being in a box and being physically fit, I want to be mentally prepared, as well,” says CrossFit trainer and schoolteacher Lacey Van Der Marel.
Blauer explains the course is a personal-defense system specific to the CrossFit athlete, and he uses common CrossFit movements to help athletes learn self-defense tactics. For practical application, Blauer has the students break into groups to teach each other what they’ve just learned.
“Instead of being the athlete, we’re the teacher,” Van Der Marel says. “So we’re going around in a circle right now and going over each movement and giving them cues so we’re able to teach that in front of people.”
When the two-day course is complete, Van Der Marel says she feels prepared to help herself and others.
“What I was most surprised at was how I was able to relate everything I already know from CrossFit I was able to implement that and use that,” she says. “The best thing is that anyone can do it.”
She adds: “It was 100-percent practical.”
Video by Jeremy Podlog
14min 54 sec
Additional reading: “Never too Young to Survive” by Emily Beers, published March 1, 2013.
