Crossfit Cleveland News - January 16, 2008

As I approached 40 I was hovering around 30 pounds overweight. Up five pounds, down five, up ten , down eight..... you know the drill. My suits hardly fit and I had no strength or stamina left from my younger days. My fitness level was close to non-existent. I could still hit a golf ball a long way, but you didn't see me walking too far from the cart! One day I stepped on the scale and it went north of 210. If I was 6'1" tall like my brother, that might not have been so bad, but I was 5'10".

At that point, I had an unusual but powerful reason to drop weight. I had built a pretty expensive closet full of suits and custom made shirts, most of which no longer fit. I wore a suit 3 or 4 times a week at the time so it was quite a problem. I simply could not afford to replace my clothes. That was a big enough reason for me.

I got together with four drinking buddies and we decided to get back in shape. It worked, and we had a lot of fun doing it. More on that next week.


Why it's hard to keep the weight off

Many people struggle to keep the pounds off after they lose them. I think the big reason for this is that they don't necessarily feel better after losing the weight.

If you went on a typical diet of restricting calories without increasing physical activity to any significant degree, you probably didn't have any noticeable benefit after losing the weight. You probably still huffed and puffed after climbing a flight of stairs and struggled carrying out the trash cans.

What I'm prescribing is to focus more on getting fit, and doing something that will cause you to feel better and be able to do things you can not do now. If you have weight to lose, it will come off in the process.

Don't just reduce calories and remain inactive. It won't last. Cut down on what you know you should not eat and get moving, get stronger and build stamina while you are at it. You'll start to feel better and this feeling of satisfaction will help you to stick to the new routine. As you lose fat and build muscle, you'll continue to feel even better. At each 10 pound increment, you can decide if you want to continue to lose more or if you like it where you are. I don't want to oversimplify things, but it is really that simple.

I can't promise that you'll lose any weight if you work out with us, but I can guarantee you that you will get stronger, faster and increase your physical work capacity. It's not easy, but you can do it. Our job is to teach you how and push you to do it.


Saturdays are getting busy

We had a huge crowd last Saturday, mostly between 9:15 and 10:00am. Come earlier or later to avoid the crowds, or come right at 9:30 and join the party! We're open from 8:00am - 11:00am on Saturdays. See below for weekday hours, or check our website.

New Rower on order

If you haven't had a chance to use our Concept 2 Rowing machines yet, please ask us for a lesson. Rowing is a great total body workout. It's also a great way to warmup - 4 to 5 minutes of rowing will get you ready for just about any workout we do. Paul ordered another unit today so we'll soon have a total of three machines. We'll add more in the coming months.


New video in the making

I'll be shooting lots of video this Saturday. It will include some of our more unusual exercises and routines that set us apart from the training most people get at traditional health clubs. Stop by.


Jason's first Muscle-Up caught on video!

In case you missed this last week, here is Jason getting his first muscle-up last saturday, it's posted on our website here. You can also get to it directly on YouTube. A muscle-up is like doing the biggest, hardest pullup you've ever done immediately followed by the deepest dip you can image, on gymnastic rings. Congrats Jason!

Sean and I are competing to see who gets on the board first. No money has been discussed yet. He's got the edge at the moment so get odds on me if you're betting!


KettleBell Basics Part 2 - video clip , secend in the series

This video was posted on the main CrossFit site last Sunday.. Jeff Martone received his training directly from Pavel T. and is one of CrossFit's expert Kettlebell instructors. You will start to see KBs show up everywhere now that they are becoming popular, mainly due to CrossFit. They even sell them at Target!


This week - Free Basic Class starts at 9:30am SHARP this week.

We're having another free Basic Training group workout this Saturday morning at 9:30am 'on the dot.' The Saturday crowd has been growing so we need to get started right on time to be able to accomodate everyone.
You'll learn the basic exercises that we use in our CrossFit workouts. We'll teach you proper form and technique while we warm up, then we'll give you a workout scaled to your fitness level. We're located at 17140 Madison Avenue in Lakewood. We're on the north east corner of Mckinley and Madison, two minutes off the McKinley/I-90 exit.

If you've been to our free workouts and want something a little more challenging, you may want to check out our other classes available six days a week. We're open from 8:00am - 11:00am Saturday, M-W-F mornings 5:30am-7:00am and T-W-Th evenings 5:30pm-7:00pm. We have additional details on our CrossFit Cleveland website

Membership packages

We have several ways you can join and attend group workouts. We don't have any contracts or require any term commitments. Rates are based on the frequency of your workouts, the more often you want to train, the less it costs per workout. See our Rates Page for more details. You can pay online or stop in and pay by cash or check.

Special Introductory Self-Defense Course

Master Chris Price of Four Gates Hapkido is offering an introductory course on the basics of karate and street defense at CrossFit Cleveland starting this month. We have flyers at the facility with more details. Email me if you are interested and I will forward you a copy.

Copy of weekly newsletter on our website

Starting this week, a copy of our weekly email will be available on our website. I've made a newsletter archive page here, or you can find the link on our CrossFit Cleveland home page.

Mailing List

If someone forwarded this message to you, click here to join the CrossFit Cleveland mailing list so you can receive future messages directly. You can unsubscribe at any time.

We hope to see you soon.


Bill Russell
440-527-0527