My new Merrells!!!
I arrived in Guatemala City last night and will be in Central America for the next month or so. So, whilst I’ll be visiting boxes when I can (there aren’t as many where I am going), it’s going to be a little harder while I am on my intrepid journey and then backpacking in South America. My posts will probably be more about how I can continue my CrossFit training ‘anywhere’, using the resources I have at my disposal. I have an 18kg pack, a skipping rope, a new pair of Merrell trainers and me!! Oh, and a lacrosse ball and a rubber band for stretching and rolling out. There will no doubt be hills, steps, benches, boxes, jungle gyms, and all sorts of other things that I can use to put a WOD together!! I thinks it’s time to get inventive….
So, this will be the last post on CrossFit boxes in the USA for a while. The final three that I visited in San Francisco were: United Barbell CrossFit SOMA, Potrero Hill CrossFit and San Francisco CrossFit.
United Barbell – CrossFit SOMA – Mon 6 Aug, 8 am
Where: (300 Brannan St, San Francisco). United Barbell (UB) CrossFit SOMA is located in the business district / downtown part of the city and is just about to have it’s “2nd brithday”. It is a relatively small space and is actually co-owned by a Kiwi, Olivia. I found this out when I arrived and checked in with Trent. I had been expecting to pay a drop-in fee based on what the website said, but when I arrived and got chatting to Coach Trent and he found out what I was doing and the I was a L1 qualified coach he waived the fee which was awesome!
WOD: James was the coach for the 8am class of around 6 members and we got straight into a structured warm up an 800 m run around the block, weighted lunges and situp, down dog and cobra, ohs, good morning, and Over Head Squat (OHS). The WOD itself was 21-15-9 of Burpee pull-up and OHS. RX’d was 95 lbs but that is around my 1RM for an OHS so I scaled back to 65 lbs (30 kg).
What I Liked: This box is in a pretty central location, and it seems like there is a really good bunch of experienced coaches. James was certainly very knowledgeable and took a well structured class. I also like the website and the daily blog with interesting information, articles and links to other sites. UB also run specialist oly lifting classes and program an extra 3 x strength WOD’s each week that members can come in and work on. According to the website they have a athletes who are competing nationally in olympic weightlifting which is pretty cool.
Not So good: Things do seem a little cramped within the box. There wasn’t much room for people to stretch before and after class without being in the way and stuff was stored everywhere. This could be an issue with larger classes and you’d have to get pretty smart with use of equipment and programming.
Potrero Hill CrossFit is inside a “globo” gym which makes it kind of unique…..
CrossFit Potrero Hill (CFPH) – Mon 6 Aug, 12 pm
Where: (290 De Haro Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-5124). The Talmage family own and operate World Gym where CFPH is located. Owner of CFPH, Joe Talmadge (JT), has been in the fitness business his entire life although he is a insurance broker by day!! He has brought together a skilled group of coaches an continues to expand and improve the space allocated within the gym. According to Coach Victor the CrossFit part of the business is now the most profitable within the gym!!
WOD: Coach Victor took the 12 pm class and supervised a ‘self-take’ warm up of rowing, skipping, roll-throughs, air squats, wall-balls and kettle-bell swings. We then got into a demo of the strength work which was 5×5 zercher squat.First time doing this for me and really forces you to keep the midline tight and chest up! I worked up to 115lbs. The WOD was a chipper of: 30-25-20-15-10-5 Wall-balls (14lb to 10ft)5-10-15-20-25-30 Kettle-bell Swings (16kg). Good blow out and I finished in 12:10.
What I Liked: I liked Victor’s friendly coaching style and attention to detail explaining points of performance. A law enforcement officer by day, Victor has only recently completed the level 1 and has been coaching only a few months. He has aspirations to compete at regionals next year. I liked that he started the class with everyone introducing themselves and stating their short term and long term Crossfit goals. I was a bit stumped actually and had to think about it. If I has to say it again I would have said: Short Term – focus on performance improvement by dialing in nutrition. Long Term – maintain current strength whilst traveling and improve bodyweight and gymnastics capacity / skills.
Not So good: This box is a bit as hoc and messy. More attention to detail with appearances would improve the feel and make it appear more professional / organised. Given the big growth that Victor was talking about at this box I think they will soon run out of space and may have I claim some more of the ‘machines’!! Good Luck!!
CrossFit San Francisco – Tue 7 Aug, 7 am
Where: (610 Old Mason Street,The Presidio, San Francisco, CA 94129). Kelly Starrett and his wife Juliet are the well-known owners of CrossFit San Francisco. Also known as “KStar”, Kelly is a highly renowned Doctor of performance based physical therapy, consultant, trainer, u-tube sensation, author of the popular Mobility WOD blog, and instructor at CrossFit HQ mobility seminars. To top it all off he is also writing a book – a busy man!! The box itself is basically situated in a car park in a scenic part of the San Francisco waterfront beside the Presidio and overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a fairly unambiguous home to such a well-known trainer, and is also home to Carl Paoli (of Naka Athletics) and Brian MacKenzie (of CrossFit Endurance fame). Both are obviously CrossFit rock-stars in their own right. In the car-park there are a bunch of old shipping containers that house KStar’s office, and store oly bars, weights, gear and equipment. There is a large pull-up rig out-side and underneath a tented structured there is some matting and gymnastics equipment which is used for gymnastics, smaller classes and olympic lifting. This is officially the home of the “supple leopard”!
WOD: After signing the obligatory waiver, the warm up consisted of a short run, squat mobility exercises (knees out people!!!) and a warm up for the squat clean including weighted dead lift, back squat, front squat, and shoulder press. The WOD itself was 15 mins OTMEM (on the minute every minute) of 2 x squat cleans with max double under attempts in the remaining time. The clean was meant to be heavy so given my max is round 60kg I went with 90lbs / 41 kg. In hindsight could have gone a bit heavier but was happy with my form during the WOD. I averaged 10-15 DU’s between rounds, however the purpose was to practice switching the nervous system between two very different modalities.
What I Liked: I loved KStar’s positive energy, outgoing and engaging style and interaction with the class. He is not afraid to point out weaknesses in form (invariably knees not wide enough or toes out) and the way in which he does this allows, encourages and pushes members to do exactly as he asks and ‘get there’. He is obviously very knowledgable and there is a definite focus on form and technique which I like. Despite the 7 am class being large with around 30 or so members, KStar was able to control the group well and provide adequate supervision and oversight. Impressive.
Not so good: For me, I guess I am spoilt by having visited some pretty nice boxes on my visits so far. The main point with SFCF is that it is obviously an outdoor box and things seem pretty ad hoc, being in containers and porta-loos etc. Given the colder climate in San Francisco, it probably make it harder to WOD in the rain / cold etc. Having said that however, this box is obviously very popular and attracts some top elite athletes across a range of disciplines. And To me that means it is NOT all about the location and the ‘peripherals’ – the success of a box is more dependent upon the people and the quality of the training. That said, KStar announced that they had just secured space in a large warehouse in the Presidio and plans were afoot to move into the new facility. Can’t wait to see it! Oh, and I was lucky enough to meet Kelly while I was getting my caffeine fix at Starbucks… he came over to chat and was super nice!! 😉
kiwicrossfitodyssey 