crossfitexile

Today I Saw My Gym's Culture

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

As I write this, the date is September 11th, 2024. The 23rd Anniversary of a massive, direction changing day for the world, the country, and countless people on this earth's lives. Everyone who was alive that day has an experience tied to it and we will never forget. As is the custom in a CrossFit Gym on a military specific holiday or a day with national significance, we had a workout to honor the firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11. My noon class was sparse today (four people: Brooke, Brian, Delana, and Stan). A few of my regulars texted me their reasons for not signing up, but the workout wasn't super sexy so I would have understood even if I hadn't received genuinely acceptable reasons for their absence.

Teams of 2, For Time:

343/275 Calorie Echo Bike
Starting at 0:00 and every 3:00 after, perform 11 synchronized burpees.
Time cap is 33:00.

If you've been a member of mine for a decent amount of time and experienced a Hero or Memorial workout, you've heard me say it. "This doesn't suck, it's not the worst, and I do not want to hear you dishonor a workout named in the memory of the deceased. Lean into it, use it. It is supposed to be hard and difficult. The moments of discomfort you are going through pale in comparison for the inspiration for the workout." So, I said it again today. When I was done, a hand went up. The hand belonged to Stan, who is 68 years old and works his tale off every day he is in the gym. He is always positive and always encouraging. He shared that a grand niece passed away a few years ago and today is her birthday so it has always been a hard day for him since. He almost didn't come but wanted knew that every day can be hard and he needed to work out.

Workout starts, we are maybe 3-4 intervals in. I am standing near Stan and his teammate, Delana. I see the burpees starting to add up and slow everyone down. Stan stays on his hands and knees as Delana finishes a rep.

Delana: Come on we can do this.

Stan: I'm tapping out, you keep going.

Delana: Nope, we are in this together.

Stan gets up and finishes the eleven reps and D jumps on the bike. I walked over (full of pride in both of them) and ask Stan what he needs to keep going, she's going to pull him through this thing like it or not. We settle on a 12" box to do a modified, incline burpee to a plank.

The workout ends and nobody finished. I am so stinking proud of the room, I turn the music down and tell them they did everything I could have wanted. They never stopped, they never complained, they helped each other. Brooke and Brian share with the rest of the room what I already knew. Prior to class, the pair (two very dedicated afternoon members) had told me they were at the noon class because they had spent the morning with their 10-year old dog who it had come time let pass after getting a year more than they expected. They needed to work out and not be sad all day. I know what I do matters to people and is important. Sure, I want to help people lose weight and live better. But some days you guys just need the workout.

The group stayed together after the workout ended, after the hour had ended, and we just talked. We all shared stories of beloved pets that had come and gone. We threw the ball for Mickey. It was a shining moment of lots of things I wish for the gym and one of the coolest classes I have coached in a long time. Just four people, and a reminder why I am here.

Anatomy of (Our) Whiteboard

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

We like to do things a little differently! Here is what we are thinking and how you can maximize your hour.

General Warm Up

The general warm up is designed to get you moving and get class started. We have a couple of specific protocols that we use (Banded 7's for the shoulders and Hip Halos for the lower body) to kick things off depending on the specifics of the workout. From there it will usually be 2 to 3 sets of a faster paced set of movements to get the blood pumping. These 10 minutes are so critical to helping ensure you are prepared for the workout.

Don't worry about adding weights to bars or upgrading your dumbbells and kettlebells, that only slows class down. Let's just power through the GWU focussing on form and technique.
When you are done with the GWU, you can start working on your own individual stretches. We will move into some specific drills and coaching once it looks like everyone is done.

Specific Warm Up

Now we are going to start adding complexity and making the final push towards the workout of the day. This will generally be a layering approach with easier skills building towards higher ones. For example, kip swings to knee raises, to toes to space, to toes to bar. We can give very broad cues and work with people participating in class across all skill levels. We will do the same thing with weightlifting and cardio movements incorporating group sessions, drills, and building exercises. We will finally do a short version of the workout utilizing the same movements and weights you plan to use when we say 'GO!'

Don't skip this! This is the coach's chance to evaluate what you want to do is best for the day and your chance to make sure if feels like a good idea.
We will usually call for a bathroom break after the SWU and call out things you might forget heading into the workout (whiteboards, etc.).

Workout of the Day

We will always explain what the workout is and how you can succeed in it! Workouts could be for time, as many rounds/reps as possible (AMRAP), for weight, and sometimes, they're just for completion credit.

Make sure you are listening. The coach is trying to communicate tips for everyone here. If you aren't done getting set up, we won't start without you. There are still a few more minutes.
Pay attention to the stimulus!

Stimulus

We write the stimulus in red because it's that important! We know you probably aren't trying to reach the CrossFit Games, but the stimulus will give you some guidance on how to scale so you get the most out of the workout. Trying to do too many reps or too much weight can lead to injury and lack of results in your fitness.

Fun Fact! The Rx or prescribed versions of the workouts are written with the gym fire-breathers in mind. We expect them to do the workout completely as written AND reach the stimulus.
We don't care if you Rx or not, your life will not change in any drastic way for doing so. Come in to have fun and challenge yourself daily but you can do that in ways other than Rx.
When in doubt... Ask! The whole point of having a staffed class is to have someone there to help.

Intermediate & Beginner

These are just recommendations. You have more options than Rx, Intermediate, and Beginner, but we ran out of whiteboard. Remember, CrossFit is "infinitely scalable" so you can pick and choose things to modify in order to hit the stimulus and actually enjoy your workout!

Intermediate will USUALLY offer percentage based scaling for weights as well as volume (number of reps and distances) in the ballpark of 20-30%. Just enough to put you over the top and in the stimulus zone!
Beginner will usually avoid the more complex movements or ones that might significantly slow someone down who is new to this style of working out.

Conclusion

I hope this helps! As always, remember we are here to help you succeed and make it the best hour of your day.

Turn a Useful Website Into a Useful App

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Firstly, there are lots of apps out there that will make your life easier in the gym. If you have one, use it. The Train app even does some of these things already. I want to share a hack I have found so I am not wading through dozens of App Store trying to find "the one". When you find a website that is useful to you but doesn't have an app, you can turn that website into an app and access it quickly from your home screen! This applies to everything in your life as well, not just the links I am going to share!

Apple iOS

In Safari, go to the website you want to create the shortcut for.
Find and tap the share button.
Select 'Add to Homescreen'.
You can change the name to anything you like. I would suggest something obvious so you can find it later.
Enjoy your new "App".

Android Chrome

In Chrome, go to the website you want to create the shortcut for.
Find and tap the three dots next to the web address bar.
Select 'Add to Home Screen'.
You will be prompted to place it manually or 'Add Automatically'.

Android Firefox

In Firefox, go to the website you want to create the shortcut for.
Highlight the website's address in the address bar.
Select 'Add Page Shortcut' from the options provided.
You will be prompted to place it manually or 'Add Automatically'.

Websites I Use This For

BarbellMath . A very simple, easy to use site to figure out how much weight is on your bar. You can tell it your 1RM and get percentages as well as between 45 and 35 pound bars.

TimeCalculator . This is useful for intervals workouts to figure out how long it took you to complete individual rounds. If you put the finish time in the top set of boxes and subtract the start time, the difference is your round time.