On this beautiful past Saturday July 19th, I was fortunate enough to be asked to join the amazing CrossFit folks at Crow Hill Cross Fit in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Now being honest, for some time I have avoided a Crossfit class as I was always concerned about the appearance of it's "cult" like attitude or that fitness magazines would discuss injurious related to Crossfit. When I received an email this past week from the owner Dan to come join his class and have an intro to the hype, I was able to feel from the energy this was something special.
And indeed it was. From the first moment I walked in, there was a special sense of camaraderie that I myself have yearned for from various attempts at gyms and leagues. I thought it was special that Dan knew all of the names of my fellow classmates at 12pm and was aware of what each person was striving for in their personal goals. How often do you have that personalized attention and support?! After Dan gave a short tour, I was introduced to my instructor for the day, Robin.
Robin showed us a board of today's goals.
Now being honest, for some time I have avoided a Crossfit class as I was always concerned about the appearance of it's "cult" like attitude or that fitness magazines would discuss injurious related to Crossfit. When I received an email this past week from the owner Dan to come join his class and have an intro to the hype, I was able to feel from the energy this was something special.
And indeed it was. From the first moment I walked in, there was a special sense of camaraderie that I myself have yearned for from various attempts at gyms and leagues. I thought it was special that Dan knew all of the names of my fellow classmates at 12pm and was aware of what each person was striving for in their personal goals. How often do you have that personalized attention and support?! After Dan gave a short tour, I was introduced to my instructor for the day, Robin.
Robin showed us a board of today's goals.
Robin gave us ten minutes to do the "warm up" which was all the exercises from the samson stretch to the pulls up. I could barely make it through three cycles. After this, I realized that's my normal work out! And we were just getting started. What was amazing in terms of moving forward and concerned about injury was that Robin made it crystal clear that form is the most important and that if she appreciated that anyone was losing form increasing their risk for injury that she would stop you and lower the weight. But she made it super clear it was not a weakness, but a humility of one at risk for injury. Loved the support.
We then moved onto the deadliest and overhead squats. This is where is really kicked into high gear. By minute 40, I was becoming extremely nauseous and needed to take a break. Being awesome, Dan provided his new friend a coconut water for hydration. But I never felt a failure or below my peers. It was complete support and never felt devalued while others were amazingly pushing more and making gains. No sense of hierarchy that I wasn't "good enough" to be part of the squad.
We then moved onto the deadliest and overhead squats. This is where is really kicked into high gear. By minute 40, I was becoming extremely nauseous and needed to take a break. Being awesome, Dan provided his new friend a coconut water for hydration. But I never felt a failure or below my peers. It was complete support and never felt devalued while others were amazingly pushing more and making gains. No sense of hierarchy that I wasn't "good enough" to be part of the squad.
Dan killing it with an overhead squat
Crossfit and more specifically Dan's team was so inspiring that after my nausea passed, I felt motivated to try a few more reps and push it a little further before the hour ended. And the compliments and praise came for trying a little harder and seeing where I could take this. When it ended, everyone appeared to have had an amazing work out, really pleased with their performance, and for anyone who did do above their max rep or weight, an applause was provided.
I had a chance to speak to Dan about his inspiration to own a Crossfit gym and dedicate himself to fitness he stated:
"When I started coaching that's when I really started to see the power of it - seeing normal people accomplishing things they never DREAMED of doing just a few months previous. It could be something advanced, like getting 5 unbroken muscle-ups, or it could be something as "basic" as being able to jump on a 12" box, but seeing someone's face the moment they've realized they've accomplished their goal is a feeling that can't be replicated anywhere.
That to me is the power and appeal of CF. That's why people post all about their workouts on facebook and stuff. Because it starts to become a part of their lifestyle. They start to believe in themselves. Someone who's goal was to "come to CF 3x/week" at the beginning, starts to believe they can do things, and they change their goal to "two handstand pushups". They can actually SEE themselves doing something that a while ago seemed impossible.
Getting to be a part of that community of support and encouragement is the reason that when my alarm goes off at 4:30am Monday morning, I hop out of bed, excited to go to work. There's nothing better!"
I can summarize inspiration any better. Overall, I felt Crossfit is an amazing workout, a great sense of team, and great sense of community. I would highly recommend it to anyone at this point and am truly a believer. If you are ever in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, go check this guys out!
http://www.crowhillcrossfit.com
https://twitter.com/CHCrossFit
I had a chance to speak to Dan about his inspiration to own a Crossfit gym and dedicate himself to fitness he stated:
"When I started coaching that's when I really started to see the power of it - seeing normal people accomplishing things they never DREAMED of doing just a few months previous. It could be something advanced, like getting 5 unbroken muscle-ups, or it could be something as "basic" as being able to jump on a 12" box, but seeing someone's face the moment they've realized they've accomplished their goal is a feeling that can't be replicated anywhere.
That to me is the power and appeal of CF. That's why people post all about their workouts on facebook and stuff. Because it starts to become a part of their lifestyle. They start to believe in themselves. Someone who's goal was to "come to CF 3x/week" at the beginning, starts to believe they can do things, and they change their goal to "two handstand pushups". They can actually SEE themselves doing something that a while ago seemed impossible.
Getting to be a part of that community of support and encouragement is the reason that when my alarm goes off at 4:30am Monday morning, I hop out of bed, excited to go to work. There's nothing better!"
I can summarize inspiration any better. Overall, I felt Crossfit is an amazing workout, a great sense of team, and great sense of community. I would highly recommend it to anyone at this point and am truly a believer. If you are ever in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, go check this guys out!
http://www.crowhillcrossfit.com
https://twitter.com/CHCrossFit
Dan and Robin
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