Christian Pedersen

James, originally from Auckland came down to Dunedin, like many other young people, to get a taste of Uni life in the south. He has always been into sports especially rugby, so he got signed up to Varsity where he played colts first and later Premier grade. Last year during the rugby season he was introduced to weight lifting and started training with Joe.

When they started training again this year, Joe told him to come down to try CrossFit with us. He was keen to get fitter and also get more work done with the olympic lifts so it was the perfect place for him. He has a busy schedule at uni so he has been going to whatever classes he can, mostly mornings. James also joins in when a few of us train mid morning or early afternoon. He has been great value for the couple months he has been here. He is really keen to learn as much as possible but he isn’t the most patient guy so if he can’t quite get an exercise, he can show his frustration but the good thing is he will keep working on something until he gets it. He got his first muscle up a few weeks back and don’t think I have seen a person so happy from getting one before, good work by the way mate.

He is very competitive so the first thing he does when he comes into class is always read the white board to find out what the best score is before he does the wod. James has a lot of drive so it will be great to see him improve over the next long while. Great to have you down here training hard, keep your head cool and I am sure you can get some real fitness under your belt.

Christian

Monday 15/5/17

Skill: 10 min EMOM

Odd: 5-10 Strict HSPU

Even: 5-10 Strict Pull ups

WOD:

21-15-9

Alt DB Snatches 22.5/15kg

Burpees

-2 min Rest-

21-15-9

DB Push Press 22.5/15kg (each arm)

Air Squats

V-ups

CrossFit is about a lot of things: Community, hard work, be prepared for anything etc but when it comes down to it the most important thing is Health. Staying healthy through life and being able to take care of yourself in any situation you are presented with in life.

Here is where CrossFit will help you. First you need to find out where you fit in on the Sickness-Wellness-Fitness Continuum. 

An example of this is. Ask yourself one question. If you got sick or injured today would you be able to take care of yourself. I.E. have the upper body strength to use crutches, have the ability to get of the ground, out of bed have the lower body strength to walk any distance, core strength to keep doing work around the house. Pretty much not be bedridden. Or even god forbid being able to train while still having a minor injury I.E. do upper body specific stuff if you have a minor lower limb injury. It is not unheard of you know.

The main reason for doing CrossFit would be to be able to help yourself in any situation, long or short period of time. Our program reflects this by making all our members perform a wide variety of exercises and movements to help this. If we neglect anything we would do a disservice to anyone who walk through our doors.

Another example is: If you don’t start CrossFit will you eventually suffer from a chronic disease? Coronary heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes etc. If that is the case you need crossFit to bring you out of a road to sickness and back to wellness or even fitness in the future.

This is a very basic but hopefully helpful explanation of why the CrossFit program is programmed the way it is. We need to make sure you stay on the road between wellness and fitness and the best way of doing this is doing compound lift, body weight exercises, carries, biking, running, rowing and use a variety of odd objects.

Christian

Saturday 13/5/17

WOD: Partner Wod

3 Rounds for Time

100 Double Unders each

50 Wall Balls 9/6kg

30 Burpees

15 power Cleans 60/40kg

I hope everyone is enjoying the programming with all the front squats. It has been some long sets but it will benefit you greatly when it comes to the clean & Jerk and Wods with lifting as well. With these big sets comes a responsibility from us to warm you up completely before doing these sets but I would also urge you to keep mobilizing when you are not at the gym.

I went through a big spiel in yesterdays classes about the importance of ankle mobility and flexibility of the achilles tendon and calf muscles. If you are able to move your knees forward you are able to sit more upright in the squat which will help holding the weight up especially in the Front and Overhead Squats. So before you blame tight shoulders on a less than perfect Front or Overhead squats make sure you are not bent over looking into the ground at the bottom of your squat. After having identified this you can move on to other parts of the body to keep improving your squat position like hips, thoracic back then chest and shoulders and so on. And No… I did not say “Just have flexible calves and you can squat right”. I said, have a structured plan and you will get a better squat by starting at the bottom (base) and work your way up until your whole body is mobile and able to hold light and heavy weight in the right positions. We are giving you plenty of stretches during classes and we want you to use them outside class as well if you feel you need a more upright squat.

We still have plenty of weeks of front squatting left so make sure you keep working on your muscles and tendons to improve your squat position. Get Upright.

Christian

Friday 12/5/17

Skill: 10 min EMOM

Odd: 5-10 Strict HSPU or Push Ups (on feet w/ elevated hands)

Even: 10-30 Ring L-Sit Hold

WOD: 50-40-30-20-10

Meter Double KB Front Rack Walk 24/16kg

Step ups

As you all know we have a couple of teams going to Nationals in October and since that could be a costly affair we have decided to help the teams out by running a few fundraiser events during the year.  The first one will be SATURDAY, JUNE 10TH. Book that date now!!!

We will run our Annual Partner Competition (1 male & 1 female) All Levels are welcome. This is an inclusive competition just like lasts years version. It would be great to see some of the podium teams from last year making a run at it again:) It will be a small $10 per person for entering the comp and remember all funds go towards helping the Nationals teams out. We will also have a couple of exciting things happening for the spectators, to win memberships and other cool stuff.

We will finish this great day off with a BBQ at the gym where you get an awesome opportunity to meet all the other members from the other classes and make some new friends.

Make sure you set this date now SATURDAY JUNE 10th. There will be a lot more details coming out in the following days and weeks so stay tuned on our Website, Facebook and Instagram.

Christian

Wednesday 10/5/17

Strength: Strict Press

3 x 8 @ 75-80%

Strength WOD: 12 min EMOM

2 Cleans – 1 Split Jerk

Accessory Work: 3 rounds of

10 Hollow Rocks

10 Arch Rocks

20 sec Handstand Hold

We have just reached 90 members which is absolutely amazing. So cool to see this place grow bigger and better. I am sure you are not all coming in to talk to me, so a huge thank you to our community for being so cool that so many people want to come in and train here. You make the place what it is and I enjoy turning up every day and join in on the banter. You are obviously pretty awesome humans:) Keep doing what you are doing and I am sure we can take this place pretty far.

Reminder: We are having a tasting evening with Arbonne products tonight with Lizz Carrington after the 5.30pm class free to all members so come in and and try them out. All completely natural, free of gluten, diary and animal products. It is a way of including healthier supplements to your diet if you lead a busy life style or finding it hard to eat solid food right after training. There will be various products and flavours for you to try out and of course a chance to ask Lizz some questions about the products. We will also have some books and brochures available for you to read about what exactly is in the products.

Christian

Tuesday 9/5/17

WOD: 4 Rounds for Time

400m Run

40 reverse Lunges

30 Burpees

20 Alt. DB Snatches 22.5/15kg

10 TTB

caption: That is a few summers ago, but still remember one of the first ever boot camps I ran back when I was a fresh faced PT starting out at world fitness.

There were a few late apparel orders for T-Shirts and Hoodies but all is sorted now so shouldn’t take too long. It will be right in time for the cold weather to arrive.

Reminding everyone that we have our Arbonne tasting evening tomorrow (Tuesday) for the 5.30pm class onwards. You don’t have to participate in the class to come in and try the various products of course, but it is for members only. Come in and hang out for a bit it will be low key but very informative and heaps of fun. The Tuesday Wod will of course cater to a big group of people because of the evening event.

For everyone who are doing Masters League well done on completing the first wod it was a tough one. They have had some issues with their website so if you are thinking of redoing it, make sure you still give yourself plenty of time to register your score. I wouldn’t recommend you do too much leader-boarding on this one.

Christian

Monday 8/5/17

Strength: Front Squats

3 x 8 @ 75-80%

WOD: For Time

27-21-15-9

KB Swings 24/16kg

Air Squats

Sit Ups

The goal is to go unbroken. Bring the Intensity.

Rach is an absolute trooper when it comes to CrossFit classes. She never misses a lunch time class and she runs from ANZ in town to make it for 12.10pm every day. She was the first person I asked to be part of the team and she agreed straight away. I had the pleasure of competing with her in a team at the Mount Team Comp a few years back. Rach did extremely well back then and with the huge improvements she has made in her fitness over the last few years it will be awesome to see how she will go this year.

Juggling work, family and training I’m sure is not easy but she has made a commitment to make it work and it is awesome to see what a bit of persistence can do to your wellbeing. Rach could definitely be a role model for all young mothers out there trying to find balance in life. It seems she has found a great formula for it and it shows in her positive attitude.

It is a pleasure having you around the gym spreading good vibes at the lunch time classes and making everybody feel happy. Keep doing what you are doing it is obviously working.

Christian

Thursday 4/5/17

Strength: Strict Overhead press

3 x 8 @ 70-75% of 1RM

WOD: 3 Rounds for Time

800m Run

20 Overhead Squats 40/30kg

30 Sit ups