Here are some of the people you are likely to meet around the gym.  All of them encourage you to e-mail them with any questions you may have about CrossFit Central CT and look forward to seeing you soon! continue reading »

We’ve heard time and time again that people look at our site, do research on CrossFit, and decide they want to try it — and then wait weeks, even months, before actually picking up the phone and making the call.  Some of them are intimidated by the workouts, some are nervous about sweating in front of strangers, but all of the people that do come say that they just didn’t know what to expect, and that if they had, they would have joined sooner.  So, I’ve asked a person who recently became a member to describe his first day for you.

I’m one of the people who waited months before coming in.  Actually, almost a year.  I knew about CrossFit, a friend of mine did it and told me all about it, but I was honestly just afraid of showing up and not being able to do it and people wondering why I even bothered.

My first day I arrived for my appointment and met Tom the tall guy with the shaved head and glasses, and he was really friendly and showed me around.  There will probably be people working out, or recovering from working out, and they will be friendly too.  There’s a mix of ages, men and women, and people of all sizes.  There were one or two new people who joined the same week as me and I think they were scared too, but as far as I know they’re all still doing it and everybody’s gotten a lot better.

Tom talked about rhabdomyolysis, or “rhabdo,” a problem with your kidneys that can result from doing too much too quickly.  This is one reason that all people start slowly, no matter how fit they are before they come.  I will admit that it was frustrating to feel like I wasn’t working as hard as everyone else at first, but everyone’s gone through the first weeks, and anyway, they have their own workout to worry about!

As there are a lot of specialized movements in the workouts, he showed me how to do these using a length of plastic pipe instead of a barbell.  Trust me — having that practice has definitely made the lifts a lot less intimidating.  I did a short workout with some jumping jacks and push-ups and these lifts with the plastic pipe, and I have to admit, I was breathing hard and was a little sore the next day.  I watched the people doing the full workouts and was frankly terrified — I couldn’t have done them with a gun to my head.  Seven weeks later, I’m doing nearly all the workouts with no modifications and am honestly so frustrated that I waited this long to try CrossFit.

Oh, and what to wear — you should wear basically what you would wear to play company softball, if that makes any sense.  I wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt and either my tennis shoes or an old pair of Sambas that are a size too big for some reason.  Some people wear weightlifting shoes, I think I’ve spotted some wrestling shoes, and one guy wears those Five Fingers.  I think Tom works out barefoot.  Nobody really cares what you are wearing, but running shoes make it harder to do some of the weightlifting because of the thick heel.  You will sweat through whatever it is you wear, so those dri-fit clothes don’t really do much.

I think that’s it, but if you have any questions you can definitely ask Tom.  He’s so nice that I don’t even hate him after all the pullups and pushups and box jumps and squats he’s made me do.  That’s saying a lot.

What is CrossFit?

CrossFit is what we consider to be the truth about fitness. When you strip away all the bells, whistles, flash and flair of the mainstream fitness culture, what are you left with? We believe the answer is the truth about fitness. Just like in life, the ones that succeed are the ones that are willing to roll up their sleeves and go to work until the job is done. To us at CrossFit Central CT that is what it is all about, there is no substitute for hard work. We provide the opportunity to discover the truth about fitness as well as the truth about yourself. Do you have what it takes? Can you handle the truth? All you need is the desire and willingness to make a better life for yourself. If you make that commitment to us and to yourself we will do everything possible to help you optimize your potential.

How do we do this?

We use CrossFit as our primary training protocol:
“CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program built on constantly varied, if not randomized, functional movements executed at high intensity.” Coach Greg Glassman

We teach absolute “newbies” as well as elite athletes how to implement functional exercises, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, metabolic conditioning, kettlebell training, plyometrics and medicine ball training. You will work hard relative to your current level of fitness but you will do so in a group of your peers, all striving for the same thing: the Truth. We have no mirrors, no machines and no egos in our gym, though we do ask that you bring your top game. We accept no excuses!

What can I expect?

a. Optimized physical competence in each of 10 recognized fitness domains:

1. Endurance Cardiovascular & Respiratory
2. Stamina
3. Strength
4. Flexibility
5. Power
6. Speed
7. Coordination
8. Agility
9. Balance
10. Accuracy

b. Coaching: Our classes are group personal training sessions led by highly qualified coaches.

c. Scalability: Because of the universal scalability of CrossFit anyone can participate in our workouts. We will make sure the workout is scaled to your ever improving abilities and skill set.

d. Tough Love: You will be challenged daily. If you are honest with us, and yourself that you are giving it everything you’ve got (and we will do our part to be sure that you do) you will leave each day a stronger person both physically and mentally.

This text is reprinted from the main CrossFit site at http://www.crossfit.com.

CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.

The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen.

Thousands of athletes worldwide have followed our workouts posted daily on this site and distinguished themselves in combat, the streets, the ring, stadiums, gyms and homes.

We also publish the CrossFit Journal, designed to support the CrossFit community detailing the theory, techniques, and practice d by our coaches in our gym, in essence bringing your garage or gym into ours, making you a part of the CrossFit family.