CrossFit Judges Course – My Experience

The Book of Judges seriously implies that legitimate central authority is preferable to the rule of “judges” (probably worse if they are/were decentralized) running the show:

In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6).

Thankfully, assessing CrossFit workouts doesn’t have quite as high of stakes as running pre-monarchy Israel.

Also, the CrossFit Judges Course probably does a better job of prepping judges for the tasks at hand than anything Samson ever took (although, to be fair, he probably would have been a much better athlete than judge).

That completely relevant intro aside, today I want to discuss my experience with the course while also sprinkling in some background bits to provide context as to why I think it’s actually pretty necessary.

If you’re interested in assisting your training partners with their CrossFit Open workouts, this is a no-brainer course. Even if you’re just interested in learning a bit more about the “CrossFit Ecosystem”, there is pretty good value in taking it (especially if you’re newer to CrossFit).

Ultimately, a system of decentralized judges, like those who will take this course, are necessary for the CrossFit Open to function in a relatively coherent and fair manner. If you like the thought of people who are actually the fittest making it to higher levels of competition, you can thank the people who take this course seriously.

Let’s take a look

Information

It’s hard to imagine that a lot (possibly even “most”) of the information in the CrossFit Judges Course would come as “news” for most of the people who have done CrossFit for a bit. Besides discussing the importance of judging in the competitive CrossFit environment, the course mainly breaks down the main areas of consideration when assessing different CrossFit movements.

Specifically, squatting, pressing pulling, and hanging movements are explored in decent (and by this, I mean ~10-12 minutes each) detail as well as the points of performance for each of the main movements for each of the most common exercises associated with each of these areas.

Again, if you’ve done CrossFit for a bit (especially in an affiliate and/or a place where standards are appropriately kept/maintained) things like “the arms have to straighten out” and “the hips must come to full extension” should come as a surprise. However, for those who don’t have as much experience (or someone to relay it to them), this information can be extremely valuable.

Not only can new and/or inexperienced lifters get a quick crash course on many of the most common CrossFit movements, but also the exact standards that must be met for repetitions to be considered as legit.

To me, this information is much more valuable than the “importance of judges” content which is almost entirely intuitive. The only really important information in this section is the “Video Submission” area which lays out exactly what needs to be present for video submission to be considered as “good videos” (as well as what constitutes a “needs review” video and an “invalid video”).

Everyone definitely needs to pay attention to that last portion, although if you’re a decently experienced CrossFitter, this is the only portion that you’ll probably really need to pay attention to (although, to be honest, it doesn’t really provide that many “best practices” for filming submissions…that’s in the Advanced Judges Course).

In contrast, I would argue that if you’re new to CrossFit, the movement information in the Judges Course is excellent value for only $10 (especially since you maintain access to the course) and even if you have no interest in judging, is a great way to get a lot of exercise information and content in one, consolidated place.

Information: 80* (70 for experienced CrossFitters; 90 for new CrossFitters)

Structure

Having by now done a lot of these online fitness courses, I’m starting to find that they all pretty much employ the same structure:

• A main course overview/progress page
• Individual unit (“module”) pages
• 3-6 Subsections within each module
• Module quizzes (which require a 100 percent passing score before progressing)

“Progress” is perfectly linear, even if the information doesn’t exactly build upon itself i.e. practically, you don’t have to know about “pulling” movement standards before being able to comprehend “hanging” standards.

It’s also obvious that some of the same programming software (and probably the same programmers/course designers) are involved in each project. A lot of the visuals look almost exactly the same:

I don’t mind this and, for what it is (a $10 online course) the information is clearly presented and is easy to access.

Each module contains enough information to make it sufficiently substantive, but not so much that I ever felt like there would be too much content to cover for each quiz.

…yeah, about the quizzes…these aren’t so bad and involve a mix of:

• True/False questions
• Multiple choice questions
• “Select all that apply” questions
• “Watch the video and count the number of no reps” questions

Each quiz has between 4 and 7 questions (except for the final which is substantially longer) and you must score 100 percent to pass. However, if you miss a question, you have unlimited retakes and the questions and answers are the same (although the answers are presented in a different order).

Overall, course CrossFit Judges Course is structured in a way that is straightforward and easy to follow while the quizzes are more than fair (in my opinion, they require you to pay just enough attention to ensure that you aren’t just rapidly clicking through the course).

I experienced one technical glitch (this seems like the best section to discuss it) where after I completed a module, it didn’t register that I had on the main course page. As such, I had to repeat it again (which was another 5 or 6 minutes out of my day), but otherwise, no issues.

Structure: 95

Knowledge Required

This section is kinda similar to the “Information” section above where the amount of “knowledge” you already have is pretty much the direct inverse to the amount of “information” the course will present to you…and vice versa.

That being said, you don’t need any pre-existing knowledge to participate in this course and will actually probably get more overall value you from it if you’re on the lower side. However, I think that that having a “base” level (no, I won’t define this) of knowledge of what CrossFit is, what the movements are, and “judging” things helps.

It is interesting that CrossFit does give a crash course in just about every movement that has been in the Open so far (while also pointing out some less orthodox ones) to ensure that even people brand new to the sport could hypothetically judge workouts after completing the course.

…and to be honest, these movement breakdowns are pretty good. Concise, but more than sufficient. It’s obvious that CrossFit is trying to assume as little as possible here.

I wouldn’t want to go in completely cold, but you don’t have to know much to be able to participate in this course.

Knowledge Required: 90

Interest Piquing

As I’ve alluded to a few times already, I can’t imagine that there are that many people who get excited about taking a judge’s course.

I mean, it’s like learning how to be a certified hall monitor (or worse, a professional rat).

However, as I’ve mentioned a few times now, the CrossFit Judge’s Course is actually kind of interesting and is likely even more interesting for those who have little-to-no experience with formal CrossFit “education”.

Besides this, though…I mean…how interesting can someone make content that more or less comes down to stating “counting and assessing repetitions is really important. You should do it correctly!!11!!”?

Most of the video clips included are these classic, but aged videos from the CrossFit main site that most people have seen hundreds of times before:

You know…these ones:

Also, there aren’t any engaging graphics and even the little “games” are about as basic as they come.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but how someone rates the overall “engagedness” of this course likely boils down to:

• How much previous experience with formal CrossFit information they have
• How much they care to learn about the proper standards for different CrossFit movements

If you already know what’s up and/or you don’t really nerd out on movement standards, you’ll find this…not so interesting (at least compared to someone who doesn’t know what’s up and who does nerd out on it).

Interest Piquing: 70

Price

I get that there are people who are going to look at a course like this that charges any price and will think that it’s a total rip-off.

To this I say…you’re wrong. Like, objectively wrong.

On a basic level, consider the time and effort it takes to create this course (and to update it every year). Sure, CrossFit could just put it out for free and maybe they even come out ahead by charging $10 for it, but, at the end of the day, they put some work into it; it makes sense to charge and objectively nominal fee for it.

Second, in CrossFit’s largely decentralized ecosystem, imagine how the Games season would work if

• There wasn’t a standard judging…standard that was enforced and that all athletes were expected to live up to
• CrossFit had to employ personnel to review every video submission for score accuracy

I can assure you that if we didn’t have the latter, all things “CrossFit” would be a lot more expensive. What’s even worse, though, is that if we didn’t have the former…well…we;d get a lot more workouts that look like the defending CrossFit Foundations Division world champion’s.

To look beyond the pure judging aspects of the course, as I’ve said numerous times now, I would argue that outside of the completely free CrossFit Level 1 Training Guide, the CrossFit Judge’s Course is the best value source of information you can find.

If you’re a newb, download the Training Guide and watch the videos in this course (reading will help, too) and you’ll be more (book) knowledgeable than people who have been training CrossFit for ~6-12 months (assuming they haven’t taken the course or read).

For $10, that’s incredible.

Of course, you’ll also be able to better judge/assist your friends who participating in the Open (as well as any other type of workout that could benefit from judging) which can be invaluable.

Price: 100

Sign-up Process

Signing up for the CrossFit Judges Course isn’t all that hard, but there are a few steps involved (that all make perfect sense).

The big one involves setting up a CrossFit Games profile. That being said, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that if you’ve made it to the point of wanting to serve as an “officially” recognized judge that you probably already have one of these. If not, it only takes a few minutes to set up (and less than that if you leave yours pretty much blank).

From here, it’s easy as clicking on “Explore All Courses” in the “Course” tab on the main CrossFit.com website and scrolling down about 1/3 of the page to the “2025 Judges Course” graphic. From there, it’s as simple as entering credit card information and getting started.

All in all, if you already have a CrossFit Games profile, this is closer to a 100, but even if you don’t it’s still a really easy process.

Sign-up/Logistics: 95

Who is the CrossFit Judges Course really for?

There are pretty obvious groups who this course is definitely for and some that aren’t as obvious. Let’s clear things up, once and for all:

People who are required to complete it

The most obvious demographic is the..ya know…group who wants to be able to judge official CrossFit Open workouts. However, there are few groups of people who are required to have completed the course. According to the current CrossFit Games Rulebook, two groups must complete the CrossFit Judges Course:

• Individuals listed as the “CrossFit Games Affiliate Manager” for their respective boxes
• Individuals designed as an affiliate’s “Head Judge” during Semifinals season. This individual must hold a current CrossFit Level 1 Certificate and also have completed the Advanced Judges Course.

According to the same rulebook, judges not falling into one of the above groups are “encouraged to complete the Judges Course” in order to “develop, refine, or refresh judging skills prior to the Open”, but it isn’t mandatory.

You decide!

New CrossFitters who want to quickly learn official standards

If you want to be officially certified to coach “CrossFit”, you have to take the CrossFit Level 1 course. If you do go this route and opt for the in-person course (which you really should), you’re going to get a lot of hands-on work…and a lot of time sitting through lectures.

For literally 1/100th of the cost, with the Judges Course, you can get…maybe…1/20th of the information that is presented in the Level 1 course (combine it with reading the Training Guide and you’re closer to 1/5th…only the hands-on work being excluded), can work on your own schedule, and don’t have to travel anywhere.

For new CrossFitters who want to get it “right” from the beginning, I seriously doubt you’ll regret spending the $10.

Not for CrossFit know-it-alls

If you’ve been in the CrossFit space for a while, know what good and bad movements look like and have no interest in judging, you’re in the demographic that has the least to gain from taking the CrossFit Judges Course.

This isn’t to say you wouldn’t get anything out of it; it’s just that the course isn’t really for you (like it is for just about anybody else). Gamble $10 on it if you feel like it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Frequently Asked Questions

I’ve covered all of this, but for those who haven’t been paying attention, here are the questions (and answers) you care the most about:

The CrossFit Judges Course…why not?

When you look at the different CrossFit Education courses, I can understand that the Judges Course doesn’t look quite as interesting as some of the other offerings.

“Programming”, “Nutrition”, “Lesson Planning”…hell, even “Running” all sound more appealing than the “Judges Course” does (at least to me).

However, I would contend that they have done about as well as can be expected considering the subject matter, price tag, and/or budget allocated.

I wouldn’t expect anyone to get all excited about taking this course, but if it’s getting close to the Open and you’re on the fence about taking the course (or if you know you have to/should take the course, but aren’t really looking forward to it), I can assure you that it’s probably going to be better than you think.

If you’re new to CrossFit and are gung-ho about learning all things CrossFit, this is a “good and cheap” course for you (although you don’t have any excuse for crappy movement standards anymore) that I would highly recommend.

Worst case, it’s $10 and an hour of your time; you’ve spent more money on dumber things (I know I sure as hell have!)