Late Thursday afternoon Lindsey and I jumped in the car andzipped down to visit one of the longest running affiliates: CrossFit SanJose. I was already a bit bummed outbecause waking up in the morning I was more sore than I can remember. It felt like I had pitched 15 innings withboth arms with a weighted baseball and there was no way in a million years Iwould be able to get a workout in. Itwas all for the better anyway because the workout was insane volume on theshoulders! I apologies to CrossFit SanJose as this was the only visit in all my visits that I did not workout;but, it lead to me being able to get some pretty great footage of all the greatathletes!
I was welcomed with smiles not only from the couple coacheswho were there at the time, but by the TONS of athletes who were there aswell. Let me try to put this inperspective for everyone: The gym isactually pretty small in comparison to most CrossFit boxes. I would instantly place it in the “classic”category if I had walked in there during a down time. But they pack in the athletes in expertfashion. I counted a good 15 or sopeople in the class when I walked in, and there were a solid 12+ in the classwhile I was there, and another massive group prepping for class after that, impressive!
The place jumps out at you right off the bat with theirincredible pull up rig just inside the roll-up doorway. The thing is an absolute tank and has allthese different heights, even high enough to get a couple sets of rings hangingwith plenty of headroom! They have somuch equipment stuffed in there its incredible that they have so much openspace. There is a home-made med ballstand hidden behind the pull up rig, stacks of plates, bars, squat racks andmore along the right wall. Then thereare tumbling mats, rowers along the back wall. Man, the more I think about it the more I am amazed at how well theyutilized the space. And they really hadeverything and more! They also hadropes, climbing ladders, KB’s, DB’s, yeah, shoot, they had it all!
The class was run very efficiently. They did a handful of agility ladderexercises which I really liked, then went through some progressions for boththe clean and the jerk, working slowly up to some decently weighted attempts. Then they all got themselves ready for theworkout.
10,000#/8,000#
Ground to overhead anyhow for time
This basically meant you have to pick a weight and get itover your head enough to equal that total number, pretty cool! I am not even about to attempt to write outwhat the weights and reps would be here, but if you have a calculator, you canfigure it out. But I am not going tolie, it looked tough as all hell! Theyhad a 17 minute cap on this one just to make sure the next class could getstarted on time, and a lot of the athletes were not able to make it under thattime. But it was an all out effort ofhoisting heavy weight for an extended amount of time. I am so going to have to try that one at somepoint!
After the athletes caught their breath I was able to talk toa few of them, as well as a couple of the coaches. It was pretty clear from all of them thatCrossFit San Jose was a pretty tight community. They are the self-prescribed “Bad News Bears” of the San Jose areaCrossFit’s. What that means for all younon-film-watchers out there is that they are a group of people you would notnecessarily expect to be super dedicated fitness buffs, but they certainlyare. And that really shone true as Iwatched them all in there. There weredefinitely a handful of beasts, or “fiebreathers”, but for the most part, itwas just a bunch of average Joe’s working their asses off. I have to admit, it is really motivatingwatching a group of people who are NOT muscle-bound beasts workout like crazy!
Another interesting thing about CrossFit San Jose is theownership. It is co-owned by 5 differentpeople, all who have jobs outside of the gym as well. Crazy. Personally, I cannot imagine how that works out, but it seems to begoing pretty damn well. All in all, thisparticular affiliate clearly has a following that has been growing for a longwhile up to this point; and they clearly have no intention of slowingdown. It was incredible to hear how somany people had an intense loyalty to their program and that is something thatI find is a going theme with CrossFit. It breeds connectivity amongst athletes, coaches and friends andfamily. It makes working out fun!
Again, I really wish I could have joined the group for aworkout, I guess I’ll have to head back there in the near future to see whatthat is like! All the same, it was ablast to hang out with everyone, and inspiring to see the hard work and thehuge-family-like feel of the place!
I was welcomed with smiles not only from the couple coacheswho were there at the time, but by the TONS of athletes who were there aswell. Let me try to put this inperspective for everyone: The gym isactually pretty small in comparison to most CrossFit boxes. I would instantly place it in the “classic”category if I had walked in there during a down time. But they pack in the athletes in expertfashion. I counted a good 15 or sopeople in the class when I walked in, and there were a solid 12+ in the classwhile I was there, and another massive group prepping for class after that, impressive!
The place jumps out at you right off the bat with theirincredible pull up rig just inside the roll-up doorway. The thing is an absolute tank and has allthese different heights, even high enough to get a couple sets of rings hangingwith plenty of headroom! They have somuch equipment stuffed in there its incredible that they have so much openspace. There is a home-made med ballstand hidden behind the pull up rig, stacks of plates, bars, squat racks andmore along the right wall. Then thereare tumbling mats, rowers along the back wall. Man, the more I think about it the more I am amazed at how well theyutilized the space. And they really hadeverything and more! They also hadropes, climbing ladders, KB’s, DB’s, yeah, shoot, they had it all!
The class was run very efficiently. They did a handful of agility ladderexercises which I really liked, then went through some progressions for boththe clean and the jerk, working slowly up to some decently weighted attempts. Then they all got themselves ready for theworkout.
10,000#/8,000#
Ground to overhead anyhow for time
This basically meant you have to pick a weight and get itover your head enough to equal that total number, pretty cool! I am not even about to attempt to write outwhat the weights and reps would be here, but if you have a calculator, you canfigure it out. But I am not going tolie, it looked tough as all hell! Theyhad a 17 minute cap on this one just to make sure the next class could getstarted on time, and a lot of the athletes were not able to make it under thattime. But it was an all out effort ofhoisting heavy weight for an extended amount of time. I am so going to have to try that one at somepoint!
After the athletes caught their breath I was able to talk toa few of them, as well as a couple of the coaches. It was pretty clear from all of them thatCrossFit San Jose was a pretty tight community. They are the self-prescribed “Bad News Bears” of the San Jose areaCrossFit’s. What that means for all younon-film-watchers out there is that they are a group of people you would notnecessarily expect to be super dedicated fitness buffs, but they certainlyare. And that really shone true as Iwatched them all in there. There weredefinitely a handful of beasts, or “fiebreathers”, but for the most part, itwas just a bunch of average Joe’s working their asses off. I have to admit, it is really motivatingwatching a group of people who are NOT muscle-bound beasts workout like crazy!
Another interesting thing about CrossFit San Jose is theownership. It is co-owned by 5 differentpeople, all who have jobs outside of the gym as well. Crazy. Personally, I cannot imagine how that works out, but it seems to begoing pretty damn well. All in all, thisparticular affiliate clearly has a following that has been growing for a longwhile up to this point; and they clearly have no intention of slowingdown. It was incredible to hear how somany people had an intense loyalty to their program and that is something thatI find is a going theme with CrossFit. It breeds connectivity amongst athletes, coaches and friends andfamily. It makes working out fun!
Again, I really wish I could have joined the group for aworkout, I guess I’ll have to head back there in the near future to see whatthat is like! All the same, it was ablast to hang out with everyone, and inspiring to see the hard work and thehuge-family-like feel of the place!
CrossFit San Jose
1190 Dell Ave., Unit C
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 899-9469
Jason@crossfitsj.com
Two more posts to come soon for my visits! After a few more visits in the Sacramentoarea, I’ll be back to my regular posts. Be sure to check out the updates to the Courage Games 2011!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
1190 Dell Ave., Unit C
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 899-9469
Jason@crossfitsj.com
Two more posts to come soon for my visits! After a few more visits in the Sacramentoarea, I’ll be back to my regular posts. Be sure to check out the updates to the Courage Games 2011!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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