Press it! ..and a Secret Santa Crossfit Party

Grace took me to a xmas party thrown by the owner of her Horsepower Crossfit gym in Studio City on Saturday.  I was looking forward to talking to a large group of people who do Crossfit!  I really only wanted to know a few things - what do they like/dislike most about Crossfit?...and what experience with kettlebells have you had at Crossfit?

I talked to about 6-7 Crossfitters and was surprised at the different answers I got. As far as what they like most about Crossfit,  3 people said they liked the variety, 2 people said they liked the wallballs and 2 people said they liked training with a group of like-minded friends.   The wallballs do look like fun but I dont think my neighbors would appreciate it!  When it came to what they did not like about Crossfit -   2 people said they disliked any exercise they had to modify to peform.  I think they call this RXing an exercise, like when you use rubberbands to help your pullups or drop your knees for pushups.  1 person said she hated double-unders.  I just nodded my head since I did not know what they are.  Oh, with a jump rope, I get it.  1 guy said he hated running the most. 

I asked about kettlebells and got answers that I pretty much expected.  Yes, we definitely use the kettlbells.  No, there is nothing really memorable about training with them other than the fact that all of the exercises are rigorous and demanding.  Seriously, that about sums up what I could squeeze out of people when it came to kettlebells.  As far as most people knew I may as well have asked them if they like training with dumbells.  I do not see this changing much in the future btw.  I think Pavel has taken kettlbells as far as they can go and they will always be sort of an niche method of training.   Regardless, I am addicted to training kettlbells and believe they have brought me very far in a short period of time. 

Of course I was prepared to answer the inevitable question, how come you dont train Crossfit?  My basic answer was, "I prefer to train myself and am focusing on kettlbells at the moment."  If pressed I explained that I had a lifetime of classroom training behind me and had nothing against training with a group.  Believe me, I remember what extra energy you get when you get that group energy going!  I tend toward specialization and Crossfit will readily admit that they are generalists.  It is a fantastic school of training and I am lucky to be able to watch Grace progress with them.

They had a Secret Santa at the party and somehow I luckboxed myself into a 25 lb kettlbell!  Even better, Santa left a receipt taped to the bottom of the bell and I was able to trade it in for a 40 lb bell which is what I really needed!  I hope you like the miniature samurai sword set I gave you!  Cmon, this is a good Secret Santa gift.  As a jew my thoughts on secret santa are this - you should give something that you would enjoy receiving yourself but would not actually spend money on.  Miniature samurai sword FTW.

Weds is press day.  I did 10 sets of 5 reps, mostly with the pair of 40 lb bells.   There is more info on my training in the details of this clip.

Set 5/10 - 40 lb bells