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 25th 2025
Monday, August 25th 2025
OHS
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
If you’ve got the mobility, today is a strength day. Go heavy. If you struggle with mobility then forget about load, today is your opportunity to concentrate on developing better range of motion in the OHS. Starting seated on a low box (12”) with a PVC pipe or light barbell overhead is a great way to develop mobility in this lift.
The Overhead Squat was the bane of my existence when I started CrossFit as I lacked the shoulder mobility to hold much more than 95lbs overhead while descending into a deep squat. My judo career had been plagued with a series of shoulder injuries and I still have a torn labrum in the right shoulder that has never been repaired. My physio told me that without surgery it would never be the same again. One of many expert pronouncements over the years that have proven false.
I remember doing benchmark workout Nancy and the coach yelling at me that I should try to get at least 5 OHS in a row, but I couldn’t. It was brutal! Leon was just as bad when he was starting out. But we worked on it and over time our shoulder mobility improved (and wouldn’t you know it, as our overhead mobility improved so did our shoulder health).
At the peak of my strength in 2016, I completed the above workout as follows: 220-225-230-235-240-245-250lbs. Not bad for a guy who came to CrossFit with two bad shoulders and couldn’t even do a PVC pipe shoulder pass through due to my limited shoulder mobility. It was proof that with focus and a bit of effort, you can overcome your weaknesses.
These days the OHS is one of my favourite lifts. I’m not as strong as I once was but I still managed to work my way up to 190lbs on this one. If you want strong, healthy shoulders, you need to get your arms overhead every day, not just days when you go to the gym.
Here’s Weightlifting coach Greg Everett on developing your overhead strength:
Tuesday, August 26th 2025: Make Up Day
See previous three days’ workouts
Wednesday, August 27th 2025
5 min AMRAP
5 Deadlift @185/275lbs
7 Push Press @75/115lbs
With 2 barbells per athlete, I recommend running this one in 2-3 heats for large classes. The loads should be challenging but you should be able to complete the movements in unbroken sets. I played it as an EMOM completed one round every minute. The rest between rounds got shorter and I finished the fifth round with only about 20 seconds remaining. I felt no need to attempt any more deadlifts. Short. Intense. Programming perfection.
Thursday, August 28th 2025
5 Rounds:
20 Box Jumps @24/30”
20 GHD Sit Ups
20 Hip Extensions
So, obviously we won’t all be able to get on the GHDs every round of this workout. Even if we have some folks start on the GHD and others on the box jumps, we are going to require some substitutes. The V-Up is a good alternative to the GHD Sit Up and a Barbell Good Morning (no plates) is a reasonable alternative for the Hip Extensions. Please keep the barbells on the lifting platform in order to avoid any accidents.
Friday, August 29th 2025
5 Rounds:
350m Run
50m Lunge
Simple. Brutal. Run ¾ of the way around the block, lunge the last quarter. Five times. Wear knee pads, you do not want your knees contacting the sidewalk. Do not run/lunge on the grass as there are doggy minefields waiting for unsuspecting victims.
Not running? Try a 200m Farmer’s carry @35/50lbs followed by 50 lunges.
Saturday, August 30th 2025: Empower Team WOD
Come in and discover what Coach Salsa has cooked up for you:)
Sunday, August 31st 2025
Angie
100 Pull Ups
100 Push Ups
100 Sit Ups
100 Squats
I recommend imposing a 10-minute time cap on the pull ups and another 10-minute time cap on the push ups. You can approach each segment like a 10-min AMRAP to maximize reps, or like an EMOM holding to a specific set size every minute for 10 rounds with an emphasis on quality.
You should be able to get through the sit ups and air squats.
Empower Angie Archive:
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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