A StrongFirst certification is not a participation trophy

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Subject: A StrongFirst certification is not a participation trophy

Jose Luís Cortina, StrongFirst Certified Team Leader and the author
of today’s message to StrongFirst certified instructors.

The day you pass is the day your real work begins. The certificate on your wall is a permission to represent a training system—and it comes with responsibility.

A StrongFirst instructor certification is a standard. Not a participation program. Not a weekend crash course where everyone gets a certificate for showing up. A standard that demands you show up prepared, pass rigorous testing, and then—here's the part most people miss—keep training at or above that level.

Your certification loses its meaning the moment you stop training as you have earned it.

Here’s what keeping up to the standard means:

1. Train the lifts regularly. E.g., if you have certified as an SFG I, swings, presses, squats, cleans, and snatches should be on your weekly menu. If you can't demonstrate the techniques you teach with consistent quality, you are not respecting the badge you hold.

2. Progress on your lifts. You don't have to become the next Sinister, but you ought to be stronger and more skilled than you were on certification day. Stagnation is regression in disguise.

3. Remain a student of strength. The school evolves: coaching methods improve and new techniques are introduced. If you're teaching the same way you did 2-3 years ago...you lost purpose.

4. You represent more than yourself. Every time you coach, post, or demonstrate a technique, people associate your quality with our school. Never lower the bar. A lack of effort doesn't just hurt the slacker; it degrades the reputation of everyone who has earned the same instructor certificate and of the entire school.

Holding the shield has a profound meaning: representing every one of us.

You either meet the standards, or you admit you're no longer there. Both are honest. Only one is respectable.

How to maintain your standard: Grease the Groove

Maintaining certification-level strength/skill doesn't require elaborate programs or two-hour sessions.

Select 2-3 exercises.
Choose a weight you can handle for 6-8 reps max and perform only 3-5 reps per set.
Do 3-5 sets total, resting as much as you need between sets.
Do this 1-3 times per week.

You don't need a perfect program. You need consistent practice.

Stay strong.

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Subject: A StrongFirst certification is not a participation trophy