The Evolution of Connect.....

This fantastic time-lapse video from Sean and Dean at Site-eye Time-Lapse Films shows our first week at the new Connect headquarters.

A massive thanks to our whole community for pulling together and getting us set up over the course of a single weekend. We couldn't have done it without you all!

Get in touch to find our more about how you can become part of Connect and really change the way you think about health, training and fitness. Our dedicated coaches will work with you to reach your goals no matter what they might be.

The first week at Unit 5.

Olympic Lifting Competition and Open Evening - Monday 16th Dec, 7-9pm

Our Olympic Lifting class have been going through a 10 week programme and we are currently on week seven. After five or so weeks of build up we are now at a pretty heavy part of the programme. There have already been some great results and progressions and I am very excited to see how everyone has done by the end of the 10 weeks.

This brings me on to how and when we are going to test our results.

I would like to run the test session at the end of the programme in the format of a mini competition. This will mean that we will have two platforms running; one for female lifters and one for male lifters. Each lifter will have three attempts to lift their heaviest Snatch and three attempts at the Clean & Jerk. One lifter will be on the platform at a time on a rising bar. This means that the bar will be set up at the lightest opening weight and the weight on the bar will then keep going up as lifters choose their weights. The weight on the bar can NOT be decreased. All lifters will have 30 mins to warm up to their start weights and must submit their start weights and bodyweight to me at the beginning of the session.

As the last week of the programme is just before Xmas we are going to be running the competition on Monday 16th December from 7pm - 9pm. Then everyone can enjoy their Christmas knowing they can Snatch and C&J like Milko!

This competition is open to all of our members. However due to the time available we can only have 20 lifters in total. If you would like to get involved please put your name on the board at the box.

We are also running this as an open evening at Connect. This is a good opportunity for people to come along and see the box, meet the coaches and learn what it is that is making Connect so popular. There is no need to book a space, just turn up during the evening where you can speak to us about CrossFit or Olympic lifting and learn how you can get involved.

Olympic Lifting is growing rapidly in popularity and we are now the biggest place in the South East where you can get into this sport. We have well qualified and experienced coaches and are happy to teach anybody the lifts from complete beginners upwards. We have four dedicated lifting platforms and a large range of Olympic barbells and bumper plates.

With the help of British Weightlifting we are developing Connect into a hub of South East talent and will be offering more and more opportunities to get involved over the next few months. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and this blog for future details.

Good luck Guys and Girls!

Take a look at Coach Holly performing an instructional video of the two Olympic Lifts on our YouTube channel here.

The Dream Comes True....

Its been a whirlwind three months since I last updated this blog and what a three months it has been! If you scroll back down the page you will see we last blogged about a new 'extra' unit (Unit 6) we took over as an overspill from our original Unit 9. This was only ever going to be an interim option until we found exactly the right place to relocate Connect too but we didnt realise quite how soon we would be moving again!

After a very well timed sea kayak at the end of summer Connect coaches Barney and George were dragging the kayaks up the beach and noticed that this big unit right on the beach was being cleared out. Upon closer inspection they found out that indeed the previous occupants had moved out and the unit was ready to be put back on the market.

An empty Unit 5 - Space!

Just got the keys

The last of the paint had only just dried in Unit 6 and we were already working our way to securing Connects future home. At first, Unit 5 looked enormous. At 5100sq ft we were slightly worried that we might not be able to fill the thing. Remember, we were graduating up from a measly 700sq ft that had been our home for the previous two and a half years! It was quite some jump. But we hadn't rushed this. One of the best pieces of advice anyone gave us was to stay put until we were absolutely bursting at the seems and couldn't fit another member in. This was definitely the case with us by October 2013 and in fact we had to stop taking on members for two months over this summer because we were at total capacity.

So we went for it. 

In one spectacular weekend at the end of October we completely changed Unit 5 from an empty warehouse into a stunning functional fitness facility. Flip it, lets say fully furnished functional fitness facility! With the help of our incredibly supportive members it took two days to clean, paint, carry, transport, arrange and fix everything in place. By the end of the Sunday night it looked like it had been our home forever.

Chris H dragging those heavy ass mats out of Unit 9

Equipment and people everywhere!

Things are taking shape

And you know what? We filled the space easily. How did we ever fit all this equipment in one and then briefly two 700sq ft units? It seemed crazy.

Classes kicked off on the following Monday and it didn't take long to feel like home. The individual space that everyone had was amazing and after spending too long having to programme WODs (workouts of the day) taking into account the space requirements of the small box, our devilish minds were finally set free to programme as we wished!

A dream come true

Sometime during that first week myself and Holly looked up and saw the box operating at full pace. A multitude of lessons were happening side by side from WOD classes to Olympic Lifting classes to Barbell Clubs and our amazing team of coaches were in the thick of it teaching people how to move better, lift better and become fitter and healthier. We cast our mind back to February 2011 when we stood in lil' old Unit 9 and had our first class with 5 people worried that no-one else might join up. Its been incredibly hard work and stupidly long hours to get where we are today but what a trip.

Day 1 of CrossFit Connect - February 2011 - Unit 9

October 2013. Fully furnished Unit 5. Come and play.....

We are now proud owners of one of the biggest CrossFit boxes in the UK, have one of the most extensive timetables of classes in the country and have funding from British Weightlifting to develop the box into a centre of excellence for Olympic lifters in the South East.

It really is a dream come true. 

We cant thank our members, friends and family enough for their help and support over the last few years as we wouldn't be anywhere without you guys.

If you would like to come down and check us out then don't hesitate to get in touch. We are a friendly bunch and have some of the best qualified coaches around. Whilst we take our coaching and programming seriously we still know how to have fun and create a great atmosphere. We run free taster classes on Saturdays and are now taking bookings for our next Intro Course that will be starting in January. This is obviously going to be a busy one so come on down and book your spot now.

Happy training...

www.crossfitconnect.co.uk

* Big thanks to Nerijus at RXdPhotography for the great professional shots of the box. Follow him on Twitter @RXdPhotography or Facebook - RX'd Photography

Renovations In Full Flow...

An update on the new Unit................

Over the last two weeks we have been locked away in Unit 6 converting it into a CrossFit haven. What started out as a tired old unit with badly fitted offices is now a playground of functional fitness!

With the help of the Connect team behind us (its amazing what your members can do when asked and who they know to help out!) we have stormed through the refit with the aim of starting new classes when the kids go back to school in September. We have been eager to open our memberships up again after being forced to cap them in July and we have had no shortage of enquiries in the meantime. With the help of the CrossFit Games and numerous articles in magazines (including the EasyJet in-flight mag!) peoples interest is really beginning to peak in regards to 'The Sport of Fitness'.

So with the opening only a few short weeks away and our waiting list already able to fill our Intro Courses three times over, now is the time to get in touch and get your name down on the list to join!

To give you a little sneak preview of what we have been up to check out some of the photos below.....

Before the work begun

The coaches getting in on some DIY

The leg workout of the day....kicking walls down.

Barney giving the thumbs up to say he has done a risk assessment!

Errmmm.....are you sure??

The walls demolished

Now the construction can begin

Once the demolition and building was complete we ordered the mats in, cut them to shape, painted the walls, put the pull up rig in and finished our office. Its all starting to look pretty sweet. The new equipment is starting to arrive too. 300kg of Olympic bumper plates and bars came first and loads more toys will be on their way soon.

Painting and laying the floor.

Mmmm...new toys!

The rig is attached to the wall.

What this means for all you guys and girls that want to come down and train with us is that we will soon be opening up our memberships again.

Our first taster sessions will be held on Saturday 31st August at 9am, 10am, 11am and 12pm. We only take 10 people on our taster sessions to ensure a high level of coaching so these places will go fast. If you think you would like to come down and have a free session with us then get in touch. We will of course be giving priority to those people who got in touch with us first but drop us an email and we will tell you when the next sessions will be if our first classes are already filled up.

Our group Intro Courses will be starting from Monday 9th September and we will be having three Intro Groups starting at the same time to accommodate everyone. Again, you may still be able to get on these but priority will go to those on our waiting list first. Hurry up and get your email too us and we'll add you to the list.

Its going to be one hell of a busy time for us at Connect in September but we cant wait to get going and get a whole load of new people training with us at the box. Or should I now say box-es! :)

For those who have been waiting, thanks for your patience whilst we have been getting this sorted! For our existing members we hope you enjoy your new playground.

We look forward to meeting all the new faces soon.

A new Box...A new Era...

Connect has grown at a steady pace since opening its doors just over two years ago and we have built up a strong core of dedicated members and friends. We have a wide range of people that now train with us from triathletes to Sunday runners and from previously sedentary coach potatoes to professional level sports men and women. Its a great mix and its been fantastic to train and coach you all to become fitter, faster and stronger.

The July Box Throwdown pose-off!

However, in July this year we had to take the hard decision to cap our membership due to high number of people that wanted to train with us. Classes were becoming overbooked and wait listed and we didn't want to just keep joining people up if it meant members not being able to come to class when they wanted.

At just a shade over 700sq ft we have to be one of the smallest boxes in the UK but with sensible programming and 11.5 hours of classes every weekday also one of the hardest working and successful. We love what we do and this rubs off onto our members who quite often become close friends too.

The team behind Connect have been searching for new premises now for 10 months or so with no luck for one reason or another, be it location, size, cost or a landlord that wasn't agreeable to what we wanted to do. It has been a very frustrating time.

But, at last, we have some good news!!!

We are happy to announce we have just got the keys for an expansion of Connect. Although not what initially we had in mind when we thought about moving, a 4000sq ft empty, shining unit would have been nice, it is going to provide a great stop gap for now until we do find a 4000sq ft empty, shining unit!

We have taken on another unit three doors down from where we are now at Hove Enterprise Centre. Having pondered the situation for some time we came to the conclusion that our waterside location on Hove seafront is so nice and our complete lack of other options as autumn quickly approaches is so complete that we would have been silly to turn it down.

So with a slight bit of renovation Connect will shortly be twice the size it is now. Plus we get an office which is actually one of the things I'm most excited about strangely enough!

Although I dance like this already...so no change there then.

Our new unit will allow us to run our speciality classes such as Olympic Lifting, Barbell Club and Mobility class along with new Intro courses and Beginners classes. This will free up much needed space on our timetable and allow the old unit a free run of 4 hours of WOD classes every night. The peak time WOD classes will also now be able to hold more people as we can spread the class across both units.

And another thing we are planning on doing is having a rig constructed that will hold more ropes for climbing. Anyone see the CrossFit Games last week? We need to practice those!

So, whilst we will still be continuing the search for a proper big new home next year, for now this will allow us to carry on having fun and games at the location that we all love.

Outside the box and in the sunshine at a recent competition at Connect. We are glad to be staying here.

If you are interested in joining up at Connect and becoming involved in CrossFit then give us a call or drop us a line and we will add you to our waiting list. We will then be in touch shortly as to how you can get booked onto one of our upcoming Intro courses as soon as the new box is refurbed.

A big thanks to all our existing members who have stuck with us whilst we have been trying to find more space. You guys rock!

Success Stories

With all the training that goes on down at the box and the high frequency we see our members every week its sometimes easy to forget the journey that some of them have been on.

We see them training hard and following our dietary advice, we programme our sessions to hit their fitness from all sides and we are always around to offer support via email, Facebook and in person at the box whenever they need it.

We have been doing this CrossFit thing for over 3 years now but you know what? It still amazes me when one of our members shows us old photos of themselves before they joined up. It shouldn't amaze me because I know what we do and the advice we give is the best advice they can listen too and follow and I know the CrossFit methodology irrefutably works. I've seen it with so many people over the years. But I still get that buzz of excitement when I see that absolute change in one of our guys or girls. I guess its why we do this job and why I wouldn't want to do anything else. 

Neil Farley joined us in August of last year (2012) after continual harassment from most of his friends and family who were already training with us! You know how it is if you do CrossFit. WODs, training and AMRAPs become your sole topic of conversation that you get to bore all your acquaintances with!

So he finally gave in and came down to check us out himself......

Neil at 98kg.

This 'before' photo was taken a few years earlier when Neil had decided enough was enough and had signed up for a 10km run. At this point he weighed 98kg. We cant take all of the credit for his weight loss as at this point he had started running and cycling to work. He says he joined a gym but like most big-chain gym memberships it hardly got used as he got bored and had no direction or guidance in the right way to train.

By the time he joined us he had already done a fantastic job of getting his weight down to 89kg but felt as though he needed more of a push as he wasn't seeing any more progress.

As well as training consistently with us at least 3 times a week, Neil also joined up to our regular Paleo challenges run by Plan P. These 30-day events are an introduction to the Paleo way of eating for our members. Provided is a full two-week recipe meal plan created by coach and chef extrodinaire Barney Gehlcken (who runs the kitchen at the fantastic Noble House Pub in Hove, East Sussex) and full shopping lists of things to buy and things not to buy. We also weigh and measure everybody in at the beginning so that we know exactly what progress they make during the 30 days.

It most definitely isn't easy, with the hardest part being 7-10 days in when the body is craving sugar and headaches and mood swings are common. However, after about 14 days the body starts to switch energy sources and you start to feel amazing. For more info on Plan P or the Paleo diet click on the links.

Neil had a fantastic success with his paleo and has kept it up ever since. It really does change the way you think about food and what you put into your mouth. Yes, of course there are still times for treats but on the whole most of our members who try it out end up sticking with it for the majority of their meals.

Neil at a sprightly 72.5kg this week.

Neil lost an impressive 5.5kg in weight and 3 inches from his waistline whilst on the challenge, taking him down to where he is at today......a fantastic 72.5kg.

The change from last August has been amazing to witness and be a part of and now Neil is fully in tune with the CrossFit way of life. He trains hard, takes our advice on board and is feeling a whole load better for it. Oh and yes, he does now talk about CrossFit all the time too.

If you would like more information on CrossFit, Paleo or Plan P and how we could help you out just give us a call or drop us a line. We're ready to help.

Lets see those photos again. Great work Neil, fantastic job!

Pound For Pound Competition - CrossFit Northampton

CrossFit Northampton...and this is only half of it!

On Saturday 15th June 2013 three intrepid CrossFitters from CrossFit Connect and two much loved spectators (thanks for the support Simon and Cerise!) took to the road to visit CrossFit Northampton, or Unit 22 as it is now known, to take part in the Pound For Pound CrossFit competition.

What set this comp apart from the many others that are now popping up on the CrossFit calender was the fact that all the WODs (or workouts) were to be completed using percentages of the athletes bodyweight. Whereas in a normal competition all the competitors use the same weight despite their size this battle would see the lighter guys perhaps having an advantage as they would have to lift less. Would it be a smaller guy that would come out on top as the strongest 'pound for pound' athlete?

First off I have to say i got massive box jealousy as soon as i walked into Unit 22. What a box! A beautiful 4000sq ft of CrossFit heaven! A 12 station rig custom built down one side of the unit, offices and reception at one end and more wall bars, racks and even a custom built solid set of parallel bars on the other side. So much space! Outside the unit was an empty car park with tyres stacked up ready to be flipped and not really anyone to be overlooked by (aside from a few houses whose gardens backed onto the space). It really was a playground. It made our box at Connect look like a store cupboard. A lovely store cupboard, but still.....

Weighing in having not eaten breakfast (but after consuming far too much dessert the previous night!) myself and Barney were both amazed to weigh in at a shade under 80kg. We looked on jealously at Dean as he skipped off the scales at a nimble 63kg.

The competition kicked off at 9am with 68 guys and around 10 girls taking part. We think the lack of women at this event was down to the fact that the percentages of bodyweight were the same for men and women. And these worked out pretty damn heavy for the ladies. Perhaps at the event in the future we may see these scaled more to make it more achievable for the regular woman CrossFitter, say 70% bodyweight for men and 60% for women. Just a thought?

The WODs ran smoothly and on time and the BBQ was fired up for bacon rolls for breakfast and then a great BBQ for lunch at very good prices. The judging was spot on, the effort put in by every athlete was great to watch and we saw a few new PBs from a lot of people especially in the muscle ups and snatches.

The WODs were as follows:

WOD 1:
For time: 3x rounds of 12-9-6 reps (75% Bodyweight)
Deadlift
Hang Cleans
Shoulder To Overhead

Dean on his STOHs

WOD 2:
For time: 3x rounds of 15 x Bodyweight back squats and 5 x Muscle Ups

Muscle ups are a favourite of mine so i liked this WOD the best.

Barney in full kipping flight

Deano getting his 5 linked muscle ups and a new personal best.

Barney on one of his 45 bodyweight squats. The legs are feeling this one today!

WOD 3:
(70% bodyweight)
1 minute max rep Snatch
30x double unders at the top of the next minute
1 minute max rep Snatch
30x double unders at the top of the next minute
1 minute max rep Snatch
Max rep double unders in the last minute

(Score was total number of Snatches)

Snatch action at 56kg - I got 31 reps in total

Barney with the same weight. Oh to weigh less than we did!

WOD 1 was tough but really only from a grip point of view. Those that could hang on to the bar the longest did the best. WOD 2 was very hard on the legs and then got a lot of people struggling with their muscle ups (a pull up and press out on the Olympic rings) and WOD 3 was real heavy and gassy.

The Connect crew applied themselves admirably with both Barney and Dean smashing out their muscle ups in much better style than they were perhaps expecting. Meanwhile myself and Barney were cursing Dean for only weighing 62kg when it came to the bodyweight back squats as we both loaded 80kg onto the bar. But, its all relative i guess! :)

After the first 3 WODs were done it was the top 24 that progressed into the Semi-finals and i was pleased to find myself in 13th position. Although I'm not sure my legs were happy that i had another WOD to do. Dean finished in 31st place and Barney in 36th. Competitions are funny things in that you always look back at the end and think "If only i hadn't put the bar down" or "I'm sure i could have gone quicker". At the time though its not so easy.

The Semi - Final WOD was a non-stop lung burner with:
1 x Deadlift
2x Chest to bar pull ups
3 x Burpee bar hops

7 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible)

And this is where being light helped a fair bit! The deadlifts were loaded up with 1.5 x bodyweight so the heavy guys were looking at 120-130kg whilst the lighter guys only 80-90kg. Although it was only one rep over the course of 20 rounds this adds up a touch i reckon.

I was super pleased with my score of 19.1 rounds and this lead me to finish in 8th place out of the 24. Only the top 6 qualified for the final so i just missed out. In fact, only by 2 reps in the end. That's what competitions can come down too so you have to remember mid-WOD that every rep truly does count. Something that's easier said than done though.

The final 6 men then had a 50% bodyweight Thruster/Sprint combo to deal with 20/15/10/5 style and Samuel Wisniewski was crowned the winner and the first one to leap back onto his starting box. Samuel weighed in at just over 60kgs as did most of the finalists so it was proven that the lighter guys came out on top in the end. Barry Mairs who did a grand job to make the final was at a big disadvantage having to Thruster 45+ kgs compared to Samuels 30kgs. That's a hell of a lot more weight over 50 reps!

The Final. A sprint / Thruster combo.

I would like to say a massive thanks to Unit 22 and everyone involved in organising the comp. It was a great day, ran smoothly, was well executed and it would be great to see it become a permanent fixture on the calendar of events. A big thank you to all the judges too for giving up their time to count those reps. These events couldn't happen without you guys too.


We will keep you all posted of any more upcoming comps and if you would like to get involved just shout. Although nerve wracking and tough, competitions really are the best way to push yourself and give a purpose to your training. Just ask Dean about his muscle ups.....I don't think he's stopped smiling yet.

No More Space!!

We have a tricky situation ahead of us right now as a business and a box.

Due to overwhelming interest in what we do at Connect thanks to a top quality coaching staff, friendly atmosphere and stunning results we deliver to people I'm afraid to say we will not be running an Intro Course in July due to high current membership numbers.

Rather than pack as many people into the box as possible we strive to maintain a high level of coaching and personal interaction which made the box so popular and successful in the first place and this means limiting our numbers for the time being. This is hard to do from a business point of view but to maintain our integrity and continue to over deliver in our coaching it is something that must be done.

We want to know each and every one of our members well and know what their goals and aspirations are, know what their strengths are and perhaps most importantly know what their weaknesses are. This is what sets us apart from a regular gym and will be why CrossFit and Connect itself will continue to take over from Globo-gyms as THE places to train in the coming years.

If you would like to join Connect then get in touch as this will still be possible via a private Intro Course. Then at the end of July we will assess numbers and perhaps re-open the group Intro Course once again.

For existing members that have been considering a full membership now would be a good time to do so as we may have to cap numbers completely until we find new premises.

A big thanks to all our members for making the box one of the best places to train in Brighton & Hove.

The search continues for a bigger box.....!

CrossFit, Injuries and How To Avoid Them.

I have posted this as an open letter to our members on our Facebook page but thought it would equally apply to other CrossFitters and boxes so my musings might interest some of you.......

CrossFit is a great, no, scrap that, the best way of building all round functional strength and fitness that I have ever come across in over 16 years of training and coaching. It covers all your bases from strength work to cardio endurance and sprint speed to flexibility and agility in the gymnastic elements. Some of you discover CrossFit, come to us and it completely changes your life. And although that sounds pretty corny and dramatic I don't use those words lightly. You have fun, you make friends, you learn things you thought you could never do and you change your body in fantastic ways to become healthier, fitter and stronger.

However, CrossFit can and indeed does in some peoples minds have a reputation for being dangerous. The fact that pushing yourself to your limits is what makes CrossFit so fun and effective is also what can make it dangerous if you repeatedly go BEYOND your limits and don't listen to what we have to say. Whilst at Connect we always encourage you to go for every rep and lift that little bit more each time we always do so when it is SAFE to do so. We are responsible as coaches in getting the best out of you and when we think you can do more we will tell you so.

Just as a little question for our members, how often do you hear us telling people to lift heavier and how often do you hear us telling people to take the weight down? It is without doubt a lot more often the latter.

This is because you can get carried away with your own ability sometimes. You constantly want to get better (and we admire that) and you equate that with lifting heavier weights in WODs and focus sessions. Many of you have come to us having no background in lifting whatsoever and expect that in 6 months you will be lifting what the coaches are lifting and doing everything RXd on the board. Bear in mind that all of your coaches have been lifting for YEARS before they found CrossFit and have had time to develop not just the muscular strength but the strength in the ligaments, tendons and supporting tissues to be able to deal with the volume and weight of some of the WODs. Whilst we genuinely encourage you all to shoot for completing the WODS at RXd weight and lifting heavy during the focus sessions we also want you to realise it might take you years to get there. There is no rush. Much better to take things slowly, with perfect form than to rush through things and in 6 months time end up with nasty injuries which will force you to have time off. Or not come back at all.

When people call CrossFit dangerous and stupid it genuinely upsets me. With any sport or past time there is always risk of injury. Just take football, rugby or even jogging. Way more people suffer injuries doing these than have ever been hurt doing CrossFit but you wouldn't call them dangerous things to do would you? The dangerous side of it comes when coaches fail to give advice or people fail to listen to it. We will never tell you to lift more than you are capable of and I want to see you guys listening to us when we tell you you are pushing it too much.

As our membership base grows at the box we have to learn more and more about every one of you and what you are capable of doing. This is our responsibility as box owners. However, you also have a responsibility as a member to be sensible about your abilities and also LISTEN to what we tell you. We aren't trying to hold you back. We are trying to perfect your form, make you stronger and save you from hurting yourself.

The two things that constantly come up in relation to injuries we have seen at the box are pull ups and lifting too much during a WOD. 

Kipping pull ups are an absolute no-no if you are using a band for assistance. If you cannot do at least 8 - 10 strict pull ups on your own you shouldn't even be considering kipping ones. They place too much strain on shoulders that aren't strong enough to deal with the forces involved in the swing and kip. PLEASE DO NOT kip if you are using a band. From right now. Period. Using a band for assistance is a great way of getting your pull ups but keep them strict, work on them consistently and you will get your strict ones before long. Use a bigger band if needed. Yes, your WOD times might go up but I'm sure you'd prefer a larger number in your diary and strong pain free shoulders than not being able to lift your arms over your head? Swinging all over the place on a band, trying to kip will not get you stronger for your pull ups. It will just hurt you.

As for weights in WODs only a very small handful of you can complete WODs at RXd weight at the moment. We don't want to see ugly, rounded backs in WODs as this is not a nice experience and we have a duty of care to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Ask us for our advice on what to lift if you need too and we will suggest the weights for you. This is what we do, what we have done for a long time and what you also pay us for. We are in no way trying to hold you back. Leave your ego at the door and lift what you can lift well with perfect form. You will still get gassed and have a good workout, trust me. Its just you will also eliminate the possibility of hurting yourself as well.

Bad vs Good. We dont want to see the one on the left!

I love CrossFit and I love coaching CrossFit and owning a box with such an amazing bunch of people for friends and members. However, I don't like seeing people get hurt unnecessarily and I want to make sure that we continue to develop a great team of coaches and a great reputation as a safe, effective and fun place to train. Please help us out on this front by being sensible in your training, being accountable for what you are doing, taking your rest days and not over-training. That way your CrossFit journey will last a very long time and your health and fitness will know no bounds........

The Gymnastic Workshop and Our Bodyweight Ninjas

The Olympic rings. If I had to pick one piece of  training equipment that had the most versatility and effectiveness it would be these. 

Our Gymnastics Workshop went ahead full steam last Saturday and it was a great day of bodyweight tekkers by all.

Sometimes the basic bodyweight principals and movements can be overlooked in favour of more advanced Barbell Lifts and the like but really being able to control and manipulate your own body in a variety of ways is where a good portion of your training focus should lie. Not only do Gymnastic skills give you added agility, flexibility and co-ordination they also build mahoosive amounts of strength!

Not bad musculature...and not a barbell in sight in his training.

Olympic gymnasts as a general rule do not lift weights. And look how muscular they are. Gymnastic training is based on an increasing progression of harder and harder movements using your own body as a lever to create increasing resistance ie more work. As a general rule, the more tucked you are in any position the easier it will be and the more stretched out you are the harder it will be. Look at the two examples below:

Tuck Lever

Full Front Lever.

The top photo, whilst still hard to hold for the beginner, will be a whole load easier than holding the full front lever like in the second photo. The more extended you are the harder it will be.

This is only one element that can be used in order to make bodyweight exercises as hard as you want them to be. Got your press ups? Try close grip ones. Got them? Try Lever Press ups (one hand on a ball, rolling it out to the side). Got pull ups? Try wide grip pull ups. Got them? Try uneven towel hanging pull ups. Whatever level you are at you are sure to find one stage of any exercise that you cant do and therefore can practice and make gains in.

Wrist mobility drills. And when you're ready, try doing press ups like this. Insanely hard.
(Please don't actually go straight into trying these, your are likely to break your wrist! If you want to  give them a go start on your knees first)

At our Workshop we started off gauging everyones levels in the six major bodyweight moves; Push ups, Pull ups, Pistols (or one legged squats), Handstands, Bridges and Hanging Leg Raises.

These are the bread and butter gymnastic movements and ones that you should all try and become as efficient as possible in. And the great thing about them? Aside from a pull up bar you need hardly any space or any equipment. Just the knowledge of how to progress from one small achievable step to the next.

Bridges...a fantastic back and shoulder exercise.

And this brings up an important point. You shouldn't rush this learning curve. Take your time to really perfect your reps and solidify the rep amounts you are aiming for. If you are gunning for 3 sets of 15 reps of full press ups (a pretty good rep range to aim for) before moving up to the next level don't just squeeze out an ugly 14th and 15th rep and then decide you are ready for close grip push ups. Take a few weeks to really nail those 3 sets of 15 perfectly. Then move on. Your progress will be much quicker and more assured and you wont become dejected when you move up a level and cant do any!

Along with the 6 foundational movements we also introduced Olympic ring work like ring supports, front and back levers, skin the cats and muscle ups and then some static floor progressions building up towards the seemingly gravity defying planches. 

A Full Planche. Yeah..these are gonna take some work.

The four hours flew by and we had some aching muscles by the end. All our attendees had gained a much greater understanding of the bodyweight progressions, how to programme them into their training themselves and how, with small manageable steps, even the most advanced moves can be attained if you have the desire and inclination to train hard and often.

Getting inverted! Front and Back Lever work.

Our next Gymnastics Workshop will be held on Sunday 9th June at CrossFit Connect. If we do get a lot of interest we may hold one sooner than this so keep checking our FaceBook page regularly or sign up for our Newsletter.

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Until then my bodyweight ninjas..............