CrossFit West Sac — Outside the Box –
Of the many reasons we hold CrossFit above all other exercise methodologies, the portable nature of the workouts is among the top of my list of why CrossFit is hands down a better approach to working out than joining a “health club” or popping a useless exercise DVD in at home. CrossFit can be done anywhere with minimal to no equipment and a little imagination. Basic knowledge of CrossFit programming can be applied in just about any setting to come up with superior workouts for individuals and large groups alike.
CFWS athletes who were with us in the garage days remember meeting at a local park in West Sacramento every Saturday morning for our WODs. Granted, we brought barbells and bumper plates, parallettes, rings, medicine balls and anything else I could fit in the Chevy Blazer, but the bottom line is: We did CrossFit with no walls surrounding us foregoing many of the standard pieces of exercise equipment that many people take for granted. What we missed in equipment options, we made up for with vast expanses of space and a little ingenuity.
Hmmm. How could this be used in a WOD?
More recently, CFWS has been commissioned for a portion of the strength and conditioning component of the Woodland Pioneer High School Football program. These WODs have been held almost exclusively outdoors with large groups of athletes all training together simultaneously. Who knew that combining suicide runs with walking lunges could be such a potent rubberizer of the lower extremities? Of course, these boys are getting way more fitness out of the WODs we are putting them through as compared to the traditional segmented strength training sessions they had become accustomed to in the past.
Another example of CrossFit Outside the Box can be found almost every time I go on vacation. I will usually sneak a kettle bell into the trunk of my car alongside a jump rope and a stop watch. With a little pre-WOD scouting, I will identify the ideal place for my outdoor CrossFit WODs. One of the more memorable WODs I have hit while on vacation entailed something like:
3 rounds for time
- 20 Burpees
- 30 Push-ups
- 40 KB swings
- 50 Double Unders
- 60 seconds of accumulated handstand holds
I found a perfect bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean near my hotel room in Santa Cruz, CA to perform my WOD; after a quick warm-up, I proceeded to set the WOD in motion. While the workout was definitely challenging, my overall WOD time was sacrificed for multiple conversations with passers by who invariably asked: “So what exactly are you training for?”
This is part of what I love about hitting CrossFit WODs outdoors. Onlookers are at first startled, then dumbfounded by our hectic pace and seemingly complete and utter resistance to fatigue. Our style of exercise is truly unknown to the general public. The fitness industry has be plagued by an antiquated body building model for achieving “fitness” to the point where the misinformation about what people think will get them the fitness results they are striving for has become a part of their common knowledge. This, of course, is a major problem. As Robb Wolf www.robwolf.com likes to point out, there is still a group of people out there who believe the earth is flat: http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/.
Theories are not always backed by scientific proof or even sound empirical evidence. Believing a segmented, body building based, standard health club workout will allow one to become fit is the equivalent of believing the earth is flat.
A call to arms is in order!
Being a hopeless romantic, I tend to believe that if we put the message out to enough people, we can play a part in changing the way people think about fitness, which will in-turn change the way people workout. It is easy to stay hidden in our cave, hitting workouts over the head with our caveman clubs and then talking about the psuedo-caveman foods we consume on a regular basis. In this setting, we are accepted as “normal” by one another. As much as I wish our society beholds the same values of hard work, personal accountability and deferred gratification as we CrossFitters, I am unsatisfactorily aware that this is not the case.
So how do we brutish CrossFitters change the world you ask? Simple. Let’s put CrossFit right in the collective face of the general public. Thats right! We’re bringing back the park WODs at CFWS. In order to get maximum exposure to as many different people as possible, we will be holding Saturday workouts in various local parks around town on the first Saturday of every month. A calendar of upcoming park WODs will be posted on our website on the “Outside the Box” page so you can plan accordingly. I am looking forward to making this happen on a regular basis, and hope to see maximal attendance from our CFWS athletes.
These WODs will also serve as FREE TRIAL WORKOUTS for anyone who wishes to join us. Bring a friend (or ten) and get them in on the suffering.
The WODs will follow suit in our trend of team based workouts, moving irregular objects over various distances/ obstacles for an extended period of time. Workouts will generally last one hour, though we may run a bit longer some weeks if I get a wild hare up my ass and decide to replicate the P.S.Y.C.H.O. WOD or something along those lines. Suggestions from CFWS athletes for WOD venues are encouraged. Submit all venue suggestions to info@crossfitwestsac.com with “Outside the Box — workout suggestion” in the title of the email.
The first Outside the Box WOD is scheduled for Saturday, August 7th at 8:00 AM. The WOD will be held at the Bridgeway Lakes Park in the Southport area of West Sacramento.
Click the link below for driving directions from CrossFit West Sacramento:
View Directions to 38.531516,-121.576697 in a larger map
All ensuing Workouts will be posted on our website under the Outside the Box tab. Please RSVP for your spot as well as any guests you will be bringing by utilizing our MindBody Online Scheduling System. Be sure to find the correct date for the class you wish to enroll in by clicking on the calendar on the top-left portion of the screen.
I am looking forward to this new and exciting addition to the program offerings at CFWS. Post any feedback you may have to the comments section of this blog. Keep hitting your WODs hard — it will pay to prepare for the unknown and unknowable workouts that I will most certainly come up with for the CFWS Outside the Box WODs.
See you all at the park!!
RL
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I think my neighbors’ mom fitness group meets at Bridgeway Lakes around 8am on Saturdays. I like a little competition.
I CANT WAIT!!! This couldn’t come at a more perfect time~Beez