Youth Fitness & Development Programs
Empower Your Young Athlete
Give your child, middle-schooler, or teenager the confidence to tackle whatever the world throws at them through fitness and development.
Our Empower Youth Fitness Programs in Vancouver are designed to develop strong, adaptable, resilient athletes with superior physical literacy. These programs are designed to meet the neurological and physiological needs of the each respective age group. Because these functional fitness movements are scalable, the athletes can safely train at their level.
Whether your child is just starting their fitness journey, is playing sports at a recreational level or is an experienced elite athlete, our programs will help them excel.
In the gym your young athlete will develop self-awareness, discipline, focus and perseverance that will help them overcome obstacles outside the gym. We want to help create a passion for fitness that your child will carry with them throughout their lives.
Group Classes, Small Group Training, and 1:1 Coaching for Youth
Choose from any of the following programs or call for a custom option
For athletes aged 8-12
Junior Varsity
Ages: 8-12
Prerequisites: None
Start date: September 2
The Junior Varsity group learns all the foundational movements of CrossFit. This includes weight lifting, gymnastics and metabolic conditioning. The PVC pipe is an excellent tool for teaching complex movements like clean and jerks without load until the athlete is ready to handle a barbell. If you stop by during class time you might see us playing games like shoulder tap cone grab or tabata hot potato hollow holds. These games help develop the smaller stabilizing muscles as well as make it fun so the kids work hard without realizing it!
Prerequisites: none at this time. All youth athletes welcome. Athletes who have participated in Junior Varsity can graduate to Varsity level when they age up.
For athletes aged 13-17
Varsity
Ages: 13-17
Prerequisites: Prior assessment
Start date: September 2025
Our Varsity program includes all weight lifting movements, gymnastics and metabolic conditioning. All weights are scaled appropriately to the correct stimulus and intensity for the athlete. We work on injury prevention and strong core conditioning in addition to providing a positive, confidence-building environment.
Prerequisites: Coach assessment and approval to ensure you can transition to Varsity classes safely and easily. One-to-one coaching sessions are available if needed to set you up for success in this program.
Register now, and we'll arrange for an assessment at a time convenient for you prior to joining class.
For young athletes on an alternative education path
Homeschool PE
Ages: 9-17
Prerequisites: None
Start date: September 10
Homeschool PE is a CrossFit-based program that incorporates cardio, strength training, and gymnastics movements for complete body conditioning. All weights are scaled appropriately to the correct stimulus and intensity for the athlete.
We work on injury prevention and strong core conditioning in addition to providing a positive confidence-building environment. Best of all, we have fun doing it, by incorporating partner workouts and games.
For teams between seasons
Team Training
Ages: 9-18
Prerequisites: None
Start date: Let's talk!
Empower offers dryland training for teams that are coming off the ice, out of the pool or are in between seasons. Bring your team in for strength and conditioning sessions and set them up for success when they return to sport.
Talk to us to set up a training program for your team.
For all athletes aged 8-17
Youth Personal Training
Ages: 8-17
Prerequisites: None
Start date: Let's talk!
Our Youth Personal Training program is custom built to support the needs of your athlete. These custom programmed sessions can be built to support youth athletes in specific sports with a focus on strengthening, injury prevention, and injury recovery.
Personal training can be done 1:1 or in small groups (1:2, 1:3, 1:4, etc.) so kids can train with their friends.
Whether the group class time doesn’t fit your schedule, your athlete works better one-on-one, or your elite athlete is looking for more specific training, we are here to help meet those needs.
Our Coaches Talk About How We Empower Youth Athletes
Empower Weekly WOD: Week Beginning August 18th 2025
Monday, August 18th 2025 Make Up Day
See last week’s menu
Tuesday, August 19th 2025
50-40-30-20-10 Alt DB Snatch @45/70#
5-4-3-2-1 Rope Climbs
Love this couplet. Rope Climbs are one of my favourite things in CrossFit and though I have low regard for the benefits of light dumbbell snatches, the heavy dumbbell snatch is a great upper back developer.
That said, 150 reps at 70lbs is a bit heavy for me so, here’s what I did: I performed the first 50 reps at 55lbs, then 40 at 60lbs, 30 at 65 lbs, 20 at 70lbs and 10 at 75lbs. It was a great way to develop my capacity with heavier loads without overdoing the volume.
The rope climb volume is low so it is a perfect day to practice this skill.
Have fun!
Wednesday, August 20th 2025
5 Rounds:
20 steps OH Lunges @135#
20 GHD Sit Ups
20 Hip Extensions
Talk about bottlenecks! Never mind how heavy the overhead lunge is, the movement takes up a lot of real estate. This is best done with stationary lunges on the lifting platform but be careful navigating the space with all those heavy bars overhead!
Double Kettlebell or Dumbbell overhead carry is a space-saving option. Because of the unstable load, you will need to go significantly lighter. This will make the movement more joint (ankle, knee, hip, spine) friendly while remaining subjectively challenging due to the increased need of core and shoulder stability.
With so many reps on the GHDs there is no way we can all get on it in a big class. V-Ups and good mornings are suitable alternatives if you find the GHD occupied.
I did this before sunrise in our back laneway. Having no barbell I performed overhead lunges holding a 25lb beer keg. Don’t be fooled by the light loading, the way the water sloshes about creates a great deal of instability challenging my midline nearly as much as the Rx’d load would.
For the GHD sit ups I laid out our tractor tire, hooked my feet in the far side and leaned back as far as I could. Even though I was only a bit past parallel, it totally cooked my core leaving me sore for days after. For those of you uncomfortable with full extension on the GHD sit up, I recommend going only to parallel as it seems almost as challenging and effective as the full range of motion.
I used good mornings in place of the hip extensions since the tractor tire does not provide the range of motion required to perform these correctly. The good morning is a weak substitute for the far superior hip extension.
Thursday, August 21st 2025
20 min AMRAP
400m Run
7 Ring Muscle Ups
Another classic couplet of running and gymnastics, this time in an AMRAP format.
If you have strong pull ups and ring dips, this is a great day to work on your muscle up transitions. Otherwise a pairing of pull ups and ring dips are a good substitute.
Friday, August 22nd 2025: Make Up Day
See previous workouts
Saturday, August 23rd 2025: Team Workout
Come try a team version of CrossFit Open WOD 15.5
Do you remember when the CrossFit Open used to be 5 weeks long? What a slog!
While the longer format was great for well-rounded athletes giving us more opportunities to set ourselves apart from the competition, it felt like a battle of attrition. It would take my body a month or more to recover from the five weeks of intensity. It was also hard by weeks four and five to maintain the enthusiasm that we started the competition with. While the current three week Open format does not let me express the full complement of skills that I have painstakingly trained, it is without question easier to manage.
Sunday, August 24th 2025
G.I. Jane
100 Burpee Pull Ups
This is where it all started for me. As an owner and instructor at Delta Kaigan Judo Dojo and a Judo competitor myself, I was always researching the training methods of professional fighters to find useful tips for my own training and for the Judo athletes I trained. One day in 2005 I opened a pro fighter’s training video to see two guys doing 100 burpee pull ups.
“Can I even do 100 burpees or 100 pull ups?” I wondered to myself.
Intrigued and more than a bit intimidated I followed the link to CrossFit Norcal, at the time owned by Robb Wolf, and from there, continued down the rabbit hole to CrossFit.com.
Incidentally, one of my earliest group class memories from CrossFit Vancouver circa 2008 was my first time doing G.I. Jane. About 25 burpees into the WOD, my hands were a bloody mess. Walking over to the coach, I showed him my torn flesh and asked what I should do.
“Tape it up and keep going,” he snapped.
“Oh,” I thought, “So that’s how we do it here.”
I threw on some tape and completed 75 more burpee pull ups. Bloody hands have never slowed me down since.
But that’s not what I want for you! Take care of your hands!
If you don’t have unassisted pull ups, use a lower pull up bar or our adjustable pull up bar so that you can perform a burpee into a jumping pull up. If you have unassisted pull ups, competition generally sets the pull up bar height between 6-12 inches above your reach.
Accomplish Personal Bests
"Empower has provided our son with a safe and supportive environment in which to test himself, accomplish personal bests and celebrate the results among peers."
-Chris H.
Incredibly Supportive Environment
"Empower has become a gym for our family. The coaches are so knowledgeable and can also scale weights/movements to your fitness level. Smaller group classes allow coaches to ensure all movements are performed safely. It is an incredibly supportive environment which makes Empower Youth unique."
-Carmine L.
Empower
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