Category — People and Community

Ninotchka has been training at CFSR for over a year, but some of you that only come in the evenings may not know her. And even if you do train right next to her, did you know that she’s a medal-winning figure skater? Wow. Here’s what she shared with us:

“I am a professional Figure Skater who has performed and competed for over three decades. My career has been highlighted by skating in the internationally acclaimed Snoopy on Ice shows. I have earned hundreds of medals but the most thrilling was my three gold medals and bronze won at Adult National Figure Skating Championships. I competed and won my first national title at the age of 36. I mention this because I believe we can become better athletes as we get older. Performance is at the heart of why I skate; it combines physical endurance, skill, and joy for me. I believe the courage required to perform well helps me be a stronger person. I do not plan on ever hanging up my skates.

I came to CrossFit Santa Rosa a little over a year ago. I wanted a change in my workouts after several years of stressful but rewarding changes in her life. I couldn’t be happier with the experience. I have met many wonderful people! And it has combined many of the athletics I have practiced during my 42 years of life.

CrossFit Santa Rosa is awesome because it is a one-stop shop. It has helped my skating so much. It has made me faster and stronger. I have noticed a huge difference in my shoulder flexibility. It’s a relief to come into the gym and have the workout laid out for me. I am able to achieve to the results I want in an efficient manner.

CrossFit is often defined as functional training which does not begin to describe the joy I derive from 60 minutes in the box. I can climb ropes, leap tall boxes, do mighty pull-ups, power lift like Hercules, throw in a handstand and be a member of the crew. CrossFit Santa Rosa is cross action, a wide range of play, where I find fun, strength, courage and a sense of wellbeing.

Don’t be surprised if you see me hopping a fence, climbing a tree, or turning a cartwheel around town. Please feel free to join me. If you see me carrying 6 bags of groceries, feel free to carry them for me. If you’ve been going to CFSR, I know you can!”

Thank you, Ninotchka! It is great to see your continuing progress!

We are so proud of Meghan Reeves for all the hard work she’s done to achieve her goal of passing the fire academy test! Meghan came to us with this specific goal, and we designed a combination of private and group training to get her where she needed to be to pass this test.

Here’s her story in her own words:

“I trained on my own for a year before going to the fire academy.  I ran, lifted weights, stretched and threw a 24-foot ladder around.  I trained but, lacking expertise, I didn’t train the right way and I wasn’t strong enough to beat the drill time limits at academy. ‘You have heart and know the drills, but you need to take a year off and gain 20 pounds of muscle then try again.’ That’s what the Captains told me when I mustered out of academy after five weeks and just two days before graduation. So, at the urging of a co-worker (Spittler!) I joined an On Ramp class at CrossFit Santa Rosa.

The difference was astounding!  After six months of regular CrossFit followed by six weeks of one-on-one strength training (Shane!) I went back to fire academy and smoked it!  There is no substitute for expertise, and I thank the coaches at CrossFit Santa Rosa for utilizing theirs to make me a better cadet and help me graduate.”

Fantastic work, Meghan. Congratulations!

Chad and Cherylin welcomed their baby into the world a month ago, on November 30th, 2011. Cherylin continued to CrossFit well into the last weeks of her pregnancy, so this is a CrossFit baby! Congratulations you two, and happy birthday. Enjoy your little bundle!

If you’ve been training at CFSR for a year or more and didn’t make it to Saturday’s holiday potluck, please contact Joanna or Brittany. We have an anniversary gift for you!

Congratulations to all who completed the CrossFit Total, and thanks to everyone who stayed or came out for the potluck. Here are some pics from the day. What’s a CFT at CFSR without an impressive back squat from Manspeaker? And beer is totally paleo, didn’t cha know? See more pics on our facebook page.

Also, please note our holiday hours to your left in “Upcoming Events”. We are closed on Christmas Eve but open for a special New Year’s Day workout on Sunday!

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This Saturday, December 17th, our workout of the day will be the CrossFit Total, followed by a potluck and social gathering.

What is the CrossFit Total?
The CrossFit Total (CFT) was developed by Mark Rippetoe, the brilliant (and comedic) strength coach. In a December 2006 CrossFit Journal article (click here for a free download) he wrote, “The CrossFit Total is the sum of the best of three attempts at the squat, the press, and the deadlift, the three most effective lifts in existence for developing and testing functional strength.”

“After a warm-up, the squat will be performed first. Some squatting with the empty bar should have been included in the general warm-up so that the knees, hips, back, and shoulders are not too terribly surprised. Anyone in a position to attempt a legitimate CrossFit Total should be familiar enough with their capabilities on the lifts to have a fairly good idea of just what might be possible for a one-rep max (1RM). This number is what you warm up intending to do.”

“The first attempt would be a weight you know you can do for a heavy set of three. The second attempt would be a weight you know without any doubt that you could do for a single, having just done the first attempt. And the third attempt is the weight you want to do, based on your performance in the previous two attempts.”

“If you don’t have a damn good idea of what you can do for a heavy triple, you don’t need to be doing a CrossFit Total yet.”

So if you’re one of our newer members and haven’t yet trained these lifts for any substantial amount of time or through full training cycles, you are still welcome to come in and work out, but we’ll have you doing different rep schemes of the same lifts: back squat, press, deadlift. It will still be a great workout!

And of course, the CFT will be followed by…

A Paleo Potluck and Holiday Party
All members are invited! Dan, pictured below at last year’s gathering, has suggested that we also make this an ugly Christmas-sweater party. You game? It starts around 12 noon, or as soon as the CFT is completed.

Please bring a grain-free, dairy-free dish or drink to share. There is a sign-up sheet at the box. CFSR will provide paper plates and all that stuff, plus some door prizes. Please come out and join us! All members are welcome, and we hope to see a bunch of you.

Post any questions to comments.

Who can forget this?

Check ‘em out! (Click to enlarge.)

And mark your calendars! We will be doing the CrossFit Total on Saturday, December 17th, 10 am-12 noon. More info about that day to follow.

This past weekend Adrian, Shannon, and I (Joanna) competed at Level 10 CrossFit’s Fall Strength Challenge. This was a really well-organized and well-programmed event that I’m glad we got to be a part of. Thank you to the organizer of the event and owner of Level 10, Santos Reyes, and to all his members and volunteers who made everything run so smoothly. And a big thanks to our support crew of Mark, Lily, and Michelle! It was a long day for all of us, but we three finished with post-competition contented exhaustion. It was fun.

All of these photos and videos were taken with iPhones, so please forgive the quality:

Shannon swinging a heavy bell in workout #3.

Adrian pushing the sled in workout #1.

Joanna hopping over the wall in workout #1.

Here’s Adrian moving quickly through the first round of workout #3:

Joanna’s Drop Snatch at 155 lbs:

And even though Shannon was worried about these Front Squats beforehand, she rocked them! This was Shannon’s first CrossFit competition, and even though she was sick all week before the comp, she still managed to do a stellar job. Congratulations Shannon!

There were three workouts that all competitors completed. Then the top 18 men and top 12 women went on to complete two more final workouts. Here are the overall men’s and women’s placements from the day.  Adrian finished 22nd out of 47 men, Shannon finished 26th out of 32 women, and Joanna finished 11th. For some more videos from the event, you can check out our YouTube channel.

The close of our latest training cycle in Olympic Lifting class brought Snatch PRs for Allison and Ryan. Great work.

Nice job as usual, folks.

And introducing the new push sled, made by our own Dan Merz!  Do we call it the Danimal, the Danner, the Merzer, the Merz Machine? This should be fun, hehe.

We are very pleased to announce the addition of Ryan Parker to the CrossFit Santa Rosa coaching staff.

Ryan grew up just outside of Philadelphia and played team sports throughout his youth and Lacrosse into college.  After competing in his first mountain bike race, he was hooked on cycling. That passion for cycling eventually led him to Boulder, Colorado where he was able to test himself against some of the best cyclists in the country. It was during his time in Colorado that he also began racing triathlons, and went on to compete in every distance including ironman.

Ryan walked into a CrossFit gym almost three years ago and never looked back. He loves the ability to maintain such a high level of fitness while improving strength – a foreign concept for a die-hard endurance athlete! At the same time, he discovered the Paleo lifestyle and has since become a huge advocate, encouraging dozens of his friends and family members to try it. Although he doesn’t rule out the option of racing endurance events again, he will never return to his long slow distance training, and high-carb/grain-based nutrition.

Ryan has a degree in Psychology from Penn State University and works part-time with “at risk” youth. He has worked in the fitness industry for the past 10 years. After managing some of the larger chain-gyms and feeling disconnected from what it was he loved about fitness, he started his own training business. Whether coaching aspiring triathletes and cyclists, or working with someone who is trying to lose a lot of weight and exercising for the first time, Ryan has always valued the opportunity to work as an advocate for people’s health. These days, he is passionate about CrossFit and sees it as revolutionary, not just because it’s the best conditioning program out there, but because of the community it creates. He loves introducing new people to this training methodology, and believes that CrossFit has the power to drastically improve a person’s life.