Barbell Club for those that don't know is just a fancy name for our 2 classes each week that are focused around weightlifting. It is also the home of Melbourne West 3018 Weightlifting club where Phillip Christou supports aspiring weightlifters onto the competition platforms around Victoria.
Who is Phillip Christou?
Phillip Christou is a world class weightlifter, who won Bronze at the Commonwealth Games and has lifted for Australia on many occasions. Phil exudes a level of class, enthusiasm and passion for weightlifting above that of anyone we have ever known and he shares it with our Barbell Club and Melbourne West Weightlifters.
Why is Weightlifting important in CrossFit?
A number of reasons, but more simply, the more weight you can efficiently move the more work you can get done in less time, equally better performances and reflecting better fitness. Further to the point, the stronger you are, the easier it becomes to move light and heavy loads, making your performance, output and outcomes better again. Whilst weightlifting as a sport has body weight categories, in CrossFit we don't, so there is still a need for optimum nutrition and reducing body fat levels to those that support performance in CrossFit and in Weightlifting.
Just to be clear... What is Weightlifting?
Its not just the act of lifting weights. It is specifically the major olympic lifts:
- Snatch
- Clean and jerk
What do these lifts develop in us as people who enjoy CrossFit?
The development of the Snatch and Clean and Jerk will require loads of work on fundamental squatting, pulling and pressing strength which will make the entire body stronger, more powerful and able to get through workouts faster with less effort. The development of the Snatch and Clean and Jerk, will improve speed, coordination, accuracy, agility and balance along with all the 10 general physical skills.
Can anyone do it?
Yes anyone can do it, to a point. A lot of gyms get their CrossFit coaches to coach a Barbell Class, or have their weightlifting coach bombarded with 15+ athletes... which is a high energy time, but isn't a premium experience.
We offer a different experience to that with Phil. We are keeping our classes to a minimum of 8 people so that Phil can see more of every athletes lifts and provide more immediate on the spot support and feedback to speed up progress.
How do I start?
You need to contact us to begin and once we have had a chat about your history and goals, you will be welcome to try Phil Barbell Club for FREE provide we have room. Casual drop ins to this class were $30 and have been cut to $25 over the Autumn period and CrossFit unlimited members and 2/wk members can attend barbell club once weekly for an additional $15 on their ongoing membership until it fills up.
Who do you advise to do Barbell Club?
Every member of CrossFit anywhere in the world will benefit from doing these classes with Phil. To have access to this man in our backyard is an extraordinary gift to simply be in his company and share a laugh, to add in world class coaching is even better.
I normally do 5-6 CrossFit Classes in each week, how will I fit in Barbell Club?
Depending on your strength level and your ability to recover you may be able to add on the 1-2 Barbell club class each week without dropping any CrossFit classes. However the stronger you are the more powerful you are and the more work you can get done in less time. What we find is that the more experienced, capable and strong members get, the more recovery time they need because they can push harder, lift heavier and put more positive training stress on their body that they need to recover from. Newbies might have a personal best snatch of of 30kg and Clean and Jerk 60kg as a female within their first 12-24months and bounce back fine, once your Snatch is 60kg, your Clean and jerk is 85kg and you're Squatting 100kg+ you may find that backing up to 4 CrossFit workouts and 1-2 Barbell Club sessions weekly is the perfect amount for you to keep experiencing progress in Phils classes and in your CrossFit classes.
More is not always better, more positive stress, requires more recovery. The recovery is when we get strong from the positive stress. If there's no recovery, we could consider the stress having a negative effect.
Trust that helps.
To sign up to barbell club, contact us today.