I've known about this forum for years and often recommended it but never actually stopped in to say hello - but this seems like a good opportunity: Are any of you people CrossFiters? For more intormation, see www.crossfit.com
I've been involved since last March or April, and I'm very impressed. If there were any other CF nutcases around, it would be amusing to get together sometime and see who can pass out fastest!
BTW - and just for the record - while I think CF's approach to fitness is phenomenal, I don't identify myself with whatever political views and/or military enthusiasm are commonly connected with CF. OTOH, I have found CF people and their forum users enormously friendly and generous to newbies.
Finally, someone in Switzerland who knows about CrossFit!! Warms my heart
I'm a CrossFit trainer and Affiliate owner in Canada. My wife is Swiss, and we're moving there this Fall. My plan is to start training a few clients in the park etc and then opening a full CrossFit Gym (probably around Winterthur).
Have you found anyone else who enjoys our "unique" brand of fitness? I'm coming for a wedding in August and would love to get together and do some WODs.
I had a knee injury last summer and had to lay off for a very long time, but I've just started again. By the time August comes round I should even be back to doing a lot of the WODs as rx'd. I've exchanged forum messages (not here, on the CF boards) with a couple people at least vaguely in the area, but nothing has worked out so far.
BTW, do you have a source for bumper plates?
I'm looking forward to meeting up!
I think I had this in my original post, but: for readers who are curious about cf: http://www.crossfit.com
Where are you located? My in-laws are near Schaffhausen,but when we move over we'll hopefully be around Winterthur.
I was hoping to find someone over there who knows where to get bumpers from. I know there is a CF gym in Ramstien, but it's on a military base so they may have brought the stuff over.
If I can't find a source in Europe I'll probably buy them here and bring them. I have to move my entire household; what's another few hundred kilos
Do you think the Swiss will take to CrossFit? I really want to start off doing some one-one training in parks etc and then move into a permanent space. I've done the L1 trainer cert, kettlebell cert, and I'm a Fitness Kickboxing coach. By the fall I'll also have my running and endurance cert and L2 trainer cert done.
Please keep in touch through PM's or on this board (just started today and already found a CrossFitter!). We'll definately hook up when I come over.
I follow some of the CrossFit programs, but prefer to spend my time outdoors, away from the gyms. Not sure how quickly it will take off over here, may take some time (and patience). I have started with some Bootcamp style classes and this is coming along ok. Some people are a bit intimidated by the name and the concept. Luckily I started with a group of mainly Norwegians, who are pretty hard core and they love it. The concept is growing, but like most things here, it travels slowly by word of mouth. You also don't have as many ex Military members who enjoy this sort of workout. Not so sure the Swiss Military produces as many gym junkies as in the US, UK or Aus - but I could be wrong.
Good luck with the move and getting set up over here.
I hear what you are saying about CrossFit's "hard core" reputation. It's hard even here to overcome the stigma attached to it.
However, it has evolved quite a bit over the past few years. Every CrossFit gym has it's own style and personality, and yes, some cater to the "Navy Seal" types. More and more though, gyms are popping up that appeal to the average guy/ girl who wants an effective and fun way to get fit.
For example, my gym is located right next to our Provincial Police Headquarters (2000+ employees). Despite that, of my 40 clients, 3 are police officers. The rest are grandparents, teenagers, housewives, working professionals and sports enthusiasts. I work with diabetics, people with knee and hip surgery, people who have never set foot in the gym; and 70% of them are female.
As my wife is Swiss, I know about thier passion for getting outdoors, and I'll likely start off in local parks. I already do that here and the group loves it. In the end I think it comes down to the idividual trainer. If I can make CrossFit fun and "do-able" for everyone (as I've done here) I think it'll catch on
Sorry for the long post. Get a CrossFitter started.....
James seems to have disappeared, and all of his posts are gone! I hope he's OK. Although: after struggling to shoulder press 35kg this afternoon, I'm not so sure about hanging out with anyone even remotely into CF-ing. It looks like I'm going to have to settle for being an embarrassment for a while ...
Where are you, Kathy?
BTW, some guy started a CF blog in German-speaking Switzerland back in early 2008, but he never did anything with it ...
Very strange. Not sure what has happened there. He might come back, maybe we weren't hard core enough
I have just been out in the park doing hills, pushups, dips and other fun stuff. Don't need a 35kg weight - have my own body weight, which is certainly enough
I don't want to go too much OT, but while several enthusiasts are gathered, can I ask a question? I moved to Zürich recently and joined Activ Fitness. The club is very organized about giving people an introductory training session and a suggested training regime. And the suggested approach for weight machines is unusual (to me) - do a single set of repetitions at a demanding weight, at extremely slow speed, to exhaustion. Choosing a weight such that 8-10 reps = exhaustion.
The trainer told me that the Activ approach is based on new theory from recent research at ETH (no specifics but I could probably ask for more detail). What do you think to this approach?
What's the CrossFit demographic when people get together? I used to be aerobically fit but right now I'm very out-of-it. Don't want to humiliate myself if there is a meet sometime and everyone else is out of a Jet Li movie.
From what I've heard about Activ Fitness, and from some talks with employees, I'd say they're what CF-ers would call a standard "big box" fitness place. A lot of machines, isolation work, etc. The two guys I've talked to seemed perfectly nice, but they definitely weren't going to be able to coach Olympic lifts (which is what I happened to be looking for).
How does it stack up? Well, your stereotypically rabid CF type would say say you might as well lie on the sofa and eat potato chips as go to someplace like AF. Your stereotypically rabid *anti*-CF type would say that CF will destroy every joint in your body.
Me, I'm not too sure about the fitness philosophy issues, but I find CF a lot more *fun* than the slow, machine-centered style of working out. I like the constant change and challenge, I like the race element, too. But CF does involve activities (like Olympic lifts and kipping pullups) that are harder on things like knees, backs and shoulders and are - potentially - more dangerous. A number of men (as in *male,* too much testosterone, etc.) have also gone completely berserk on their first CF workout and induced a potentially life-threatening condition called rhabdomyolysis.
But if you can be sane about it, give it a try! It's fun! While there are plenty of internet-celebrity-CF-gods who look only vaguely like human beings, I look more like a skinny, 37-year-old-vicar (actually, that's what I am), who can, currently, hardly stand flat footed and lift 35kg off his shoulders. How much less intimidating does it get??
Yes the slow lumbering approach goes against the grain for me too, that's why I was asking. However I would not say that a gym like Activ is a waste of time. I do interval training on the rowing machines, interspersing high-intensity sprints with rests. Ditto on the spin-type bikes that allow one to stand on the pedals for high effort intervals. The weight-training area is always over-crowded as far as I can see (why are there no spacious well-equipped gyms in Zürich!?) but if I could get to the weights, I do think that low-rep high-weights are known to cause a release of growth hormone, with beneficial health effects.
I had to google for 'kipping pullups'. I guess CF has been passing me by, where did it all come from? I really enjoy pull-ups, when I am fitter than I am now, that is.
Cool! I used to live in Basel, not much chance of visiting you now, though.
I'm seem to recall conversing with a guy a year or so back on the CF boards. He lived in or around Basel, and we were talking about maybe pooling together to buy OLY bars from a place in Germany. The thing fizzled out, but I wonder if he's involved with your gym.
I'm starting make some progress towards getting my body back into usable shape. Got my shoulder press back up to 50kg yesterday ... still whimpy, but at least there's hope. I'm going to take another month to rebuild some strength, then I take up the WODs again.
Peace,
Mike
One thing: the other guy got banned for having a commercial user name. I assume the problem was related to using CF in his user name. You might want to check that out.
I am a little sceptical of this been a fad as I understand what you are doing quick bursts of power and 20 minute gym sessions, but that is against the grain of recomended exercise levels. It seems you will be putting large amounts of stress onto your heart and muscles in a short period of time which I goes against all I know in coaching.
Sure we teach interval training and speed work for longer distance runners, but we warm our body up first and the idea is to gradually increase the stress put on you, where as in your sessions they are very gung ho and it doesn't look so right to me. Don't you have to be at a high fitness level already to join your classes or how do you accomodate new starters into a group without intimidating them first?
Hopefully, Ramon will be back with an allowed username. (I don't quite get why this is so bad, but whatever ... ) In the meantime, a couple comments:
1) If you do CF right, it takes more than 20 minutes. The CF warm up is something of a workout on its own, and it takes me a good 20 minutes to complete, if I do the whole thing 3 times - and that's not counting the amount of time between warm out rounds, getting material set up and so on. And a lot of the workouts take longer.
2) That said, CF is intense. That's what I like about it! Doing many of the front page workouts as prescribed requires a pretty high level of strength.
3) However, it is also scalable. You can dial any of the workouts back to a level that works for whatever level of fitness you bring. A website know as Crossfit Brand-X is well known for publishing a scaled back version of each day's WOD. ( http://www.crossfitbrandx.com/index..../viewforum/16/ )
4) However, people who fall in love with CF do tend to be the types who don't mind living with sore muscles and pushing to their physical limits on a fairly regular basis. It doesn't work for everybody.
Sounds a bit like the MILON (sp?) circle training I am currently doing at Migros Fitness Stockerhof or Milandia. 17 minutes or so for one round after a 10 min warmup. 1 round and I am toast. 2 rounds and I am dead. Feels like a good use of time though.