Picture
I woke up bright and early, still feeling broken downcompletely to take on a double workout with the athletes at CrossFit EastBay.  I was actually really excited forthis visit for two reasons: first, they were doing a couple workouts that fitperfectly with my hopes to recover from such a crazy tough workout.  Second, I was really excited to visit theOakland/Berkeley area of the Bay Area, an area I had yet to visit since movingout here!

The day started off with a visit to a track up in thehills.  I got there a bit early and waspretty impressed with the amount of people getting after it up there.  Right when I was getting worried that I wasat the wrong location, or that I had missed the cancellation notice, a noticeda group of definite CrossFitters walking on in. The high socks were the give-a-way.

The group was small but they were all clearly ready to getafter it and I was in some serious need to a good track workout.  It was exactly what I needed to get thingsloosened up in my body a bit, and looking at this group, I knew I would be pushedvery hard!  Head trainer Maximus welcomedme to the group and I chatted with a few of them as we got ourselves warmed up.

The Workout:
1x1600
1x800
2x400
3x200
4x100

We had a set rest between all sets as well and just likethat, we were off.  I ended up runningabout a step in front of a beast of an athlete and that helped SO much to pushme that much harder.  I got a prettyslow, but very comfortable 6:45 on the 1600, then 3:01, 3:12, 1:12, 1:18, :34, :34, :35, :15, :18, :17, :16 respectively.  I was so spent after this,but it was that sort of spent that makes you walk away feeling real good.  All of us were gasping for air, but we allhad this sweet buzzing energy about us. And the best part: we were headed back to the gym to get after workoutnumber two!

Unfortunately, only ONE of the track folks (not countingwith myself and coach Max) actually showed up for the workout.  Oh well, we had four others there and itended up being the perfect number for what we had in store.  But before that, I have to go into thisgym.  It was awesome!

You pull up to this massive freestanding building (lookslike it was an old paper mill or something) with this huge brick smoke stacktowering into the sky.  There’s a hugefront archway, and to get in you go through what seems like a tiny little doorhidden the elaborate front.  Duck on intothe front desk area and you are met with a classic welcome: a big front desk, abunch of snacks, sports drinks, and water for sale, along with shirts, climbinggear and a few other odds and ends.  Thenyou look out into the gym floor and you see to your left a good 20 yards ofbouldering wall (differently angled climbing wall only getting about 15 feethigh).  To the right is just a huge flatclimbing wall, but what blows your mind is what’s behind that wall.  Towering to the probably 50-foot ceilings isthe biggest indoor climbing space I have ever seen.  Back in Maryland I used to head to a placecalled Earth Treks, and I thought that place was big.  This place seems so much bigger for somereason and it was pretty humbling to just stand there looking up at all theholds.

To get to the CrossFit, you got to walk past all thebouldering area and head to the back where a normal space would keep all theirstorage.  Wedged into an L-shaped, smallarea is everything you’d expect from a CrossFit box: pull up bars along thewalls, bars, plates, KB’s, rowers, bands and a few other odds and ends.  It’s not packed with equipment by any means,but for the space that’s available, it has everything you’d need.  Max welcomed me back once again and I wasintroduced to another coach, Ynez.  Agood group warm p and we were back at it for workout number two.

The Workout:
1 mile run
50 burpees
50 KB swings 1.5 pood
Rest until the clock hits 20 minutes
Starting at 185#, each athlete performs 1 deadlift, add 10#repeat, add 10# repeat.  Continue goingaround until everyone fails.

This was fun.  Itwasn’t super tough, but just enough to push the body a little harder.  And, after the track work, that mile feltlike 3!  I finished the first part injust over 13 minutes, but soon realized I had used a 44# KB rather than theprescribed 53#!  I banged out a quick 20extra reps just for the hell of it.  Thedeadlift relay was a pretty fun one.  Weall took our reps and as we got into the 300# range, people started to findtheir wall.  Max stuck with it through355# and then it was all me.  This iswhen it started to get tough, I basically had to pull the weight, then stepback while a couple people added weight, then go and get another repagain.  Surprisingly, I was able to getall the way up to 465#.   I went for475#, but the second the weight left the ground I knew the form would bebrutal, so I stopped there.  Was veryhappy with that.

I hung for a little longer getting some interviews and justtalking with the athletes.  The communityhere seemed really closely connected.  Ithink the space they worked out of added to that tight-nit feel; I also couldfeel that having that climbing space right next to the gym added a whole new,awesome dynamic all around.  I amsurprised you don’t see more of that really. CrossFit mixed into the same spot with Martial Arts is a little morecommon, but it seems that climbing and other extreme sports and CrossFit wouldgo hand in hand.

Either way, I had a great time with Max and crew and Ireally do hope to get back out there. Perhaps I can get a little bouldering in before a good workout!  I also have a cousin who lives up in Berkeley,so I have even more of an excuse to get up there. I highly recommend checking the place out, it really is breathtaking!
CrossFit East Bay
520 20th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
510-910-2919
info@crossfiteastbay.com

One final post in the Bay Area for my CrossFit CommunityMonth is coming up soon!  I’m excited toget out to Sacramento to hang with my buddy Blair Morrison and check out a fewaffiliates out there this weekend!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage
Add Comment
 
UA-19993505-2