^^^ You don't need a squat cage or a spotter to do a Back Squat. Hopefully you at least had a standing rack or that would be hecka sketchy. Really all you need besides a bar (and weights) and a rack or cage is a knowledgeable coach who knows how to teach the movement and what is the proper weight to put on the bar for the client (which takes experience).
Fun fact: There are a score of ex L10 collegiate gymnasts who have placed very well in the CrossFitGames in past years. Annie Thorrisdottir was a gymnast (not high level, compulsory-ish) and polevaulter before CF and has won twice now. And now we are seeing a lot of CrossFitters cross into Weightlifting and doing very well at Nationals or the American Open.
Most Personal Training certifications are done through a written test or a weekend workshop. There are some others that take a lot more time but the general PT certs don't take a lot of time.
Ok, back to my thoughts on CF. Back in 2005 this happened at my gym.
http://journal.crossfit.com/2005/09/everymans-gymnastics-the-semin.tpl
Obviously, I was training with Roger at the time and so I actually ended up coaching at this one and we also did one more for CFHQ. Many of the big names at the time were there such as the Founder and the coaches that were frequently on the website everyday. 2007 starts and Roger creates his affiliate, the first in Marin and runs it out of the gym (they are there no longer). So I started playing around there or visiting or going to this or that CF gym or my buddies gyms (free drop-in often in trade for gymnastics/WL help).
I've got scores of friends on FB that I know through CF. It can be very hit and miss. I cringe sometimes at the poor Weightlifting technique when it gets sloppy because of the exertion factor or just crappy technique in the Olympic Lifts. Sometimes the weights aren't scaled right. Sometimes this is because clients don't listen or the coaches don't have the experience to know what is the appropriate weight on the bar or scaling progression or just push too hard or don't know how to rein back clients when they should.
If you do any research, you'll hear a lot of heated debate on the kipping pullup and headstand pushup or the use of the olympic lifts for high volume. Sometimes the crossfitters just don't have a good enough handle of the Olympic lifts so they just turn into a real pile of junk when you add exertion from throwing them together under metabolic stress or fatigue. Sometimes they push on and sometimes they don't have any sense themselves (especially if they train on their own).
Some of you may have heard of Justin Howell. He's the coach of the girls at Cal. He was coaching at Airborne down in San Jose and they happened to start a CF gym in their gym. So he got involved with it, having his girls do the conditioning.
Right as he got hired on at Cal, I asked him where he stood on it and he said he enjoyed learning about some of the elements but there was a lot of stuff he wasn't as interested in anymore. Developing strength, yes. Using a stop watch or circuits for conditioning, yes.
There are some other gyms that often have CF gyms share space in their gym or their gymnastics coaches train CF on the side (a lot of CF trainers are former gymnasts or current/former coaches). They also tend to walk into CF with way more experience and a coaching eye than many CF coaches who tend to learn as they go (unless they have a training background). I know Byer's sends their kids to a local coach and some do WL in the off-season.
It's fun ( some, most or none of the time depending ) and there are people to bond and train with. And sometimes they have hot fit bodies. Personally, it brought me back to Weightlifting though I don't really do CF anymore unless I let myself get suckered into a WOD at a friend's gym or a buddy asks me to. I do need to get around to doing more conditioning as I had been focusing on pure WL with maybe one conditioning day a week. I do have some plans to possibly compete in CF again because volunteer judging is giving me the bug to want to compete...and hot babes.
I've yet to ever go for a L1 though I've thought about it a few times when I was thinking of starting an affiliate or starting a WL club at an affiliate and to make some more money on the side. I won't do it unless I stand to profit from it and a lot of time it just hasn't fit in with my budget or time constraints with coaching.
From a gymnastics coach perspective, I don't really want to be seeing my competitive kids doing it without modification. Some of it can be used for their benefit but TBH, many kids do need to be focusing on good S&C programming vs random programming for what I call ADD Fitness.
I don't see the point of risking a gymnast toward missing a clean and spraining or mangling their wrist or tearing something in their elbow or shoulder with a snatch but I do see the possible benefits of havin them do snatch or clean pulls. Nothing wrong with using the squat, press (or bench or push press/jerk) or deadlift for developing strength and power. I'm not a huge fan of of the kipping anything for a gymnast.
Oh, so I guess I've done plenty of CF though I tend to suck at it these days as I need to cut weight and haven't focused on my conditioning level in 2+ years so I just muddle along and hack and wheeze after. I have friends who are in CF that do CF but most of my friends who were not in CF have pretty much hated trying it, lol. Then again, many of them are soft and fat.
.
