Early Friday morning I took a drive out across the Bay Bridge (first time for me!) and to Lamorinda CrossFit. Located a little before you hit Walnut Creek, Lamorinda hides itself in typical CrossFit fashion; if it weren’t for the pull up bar I spotted in the roll up doorway, I would have been driving back and forth for a few more minutes! Strolling in it felt like I was entering into an over-sized garage gym. Smaller than your classic warehouse, but a good deal larger than your typical garage, it had the best of both. The high ceilings and floor space were enough to fit a decent sized class in there, but the smaller overall square footage gave it that “homey” feeling to it. And what added to that comfortable feeling was the welcoming and super down to earth personalities of two of the three owners (the third was not around at the time) Luca and Anni.
Both coaches were real chill and nice. They were unassuming (what I mean by that is they were not muscle-bound beast by any means) and I think that fed into the feel of the gym that much more. It seemed like a quieter, family style gym and everyone was wonderfully comfortable with that representation. Anni’s young daughter supplied the entertainment for the time we were all there, running around, finding water bottles amazingly entertaining and showing us all how to foam roll after our workout. The group that came in was great, a mother a daughter tam, and a couple fun, overly raunchy guys who seemed to be having the time of their lives. The banter going on throughout the workout made it hard not to enjoy yourself and I got the feeling this feeling was something of a commonality at this place.
A little on the gyms set up. You walk in and are met with a string of pull p bars along the wall to your left. To your right is a little alcove with what looks like a workbench but acts as the front desk. There are some more pull up bars attached along the ledge of the alcove and above that you can see a bit of an office of sorts overlooking the gym. When you pass through the narrow floor space to the end of the pull up rig, the floor opens up a little and there is a solid workout space with all your needed equipment (racks, bars, DB’s, PVC, plates and more). Again, not the biggest space in the world, but it’s about as usable as you would need.
The workout:
TABATA (20 seconds on 10 seconds off for 8 rounds. 1 minute rest between exercises)
Push ups
Front Squats 55#
KB swings 35#
Jumping pull ups
After the weeks work, and all the deadlifting my back was pretty tight. But this workout in all was perfect, hard enough o challenge me to push (TABATAs in general are going to be tough, you just go all out no matter what!) but not demanding enough to kill me. The KB swings got me more than I expected and by the 4th round I was just using my upper body. Thank god the weight was a bit lighter on those or I would have been in the 5-8 rep range! If I remember correctly I got 11, 14, 12 and 14 for my scores (not sure if that’s right but it’s close I’m sure of it!). It was a fun one for sure, and rolling things out afterward felt like heaven!
I had a fun visit to Lamorinda, I felt welcomed and like part of the family. With their solid growth since they’ve been open I have no doubt that they will continue to do very well given their focus. As mentioned before with my visits, if you chose to open in a specific area, you better have an understanding of your demographics and appeal to that group. Lamorinda does so very well and because of that, I can tell they will continue to expand in an organic and exciting way!
Both coaches were real chill and nice. They were unassuming (what I mean by that is they were not muscle-bound beast by any means) and I think that fed into the feel of the gym that much more. It seemed like a quieter, family style gym and everyone was wonderfully comfortable with that representation. Anni’s young daughter supplied the entertainment for the time we were all there, running around, finding water bottles amazingly entertaining and showing us all how to foam roll after our workout. The group that came in was great, a mother a daughter tam, and a couple fun, overly raunchy guys who seemed to be having the time of their lives. The banter going on throughout the workout made it hard not to enjoy yourself and I got the feeling this feeling was something of a commonality at this place.
A little on the gyms set up. You walk in and are met with a string of pull p bars along the wall to your left. To your right is a little alcove with what looks like a workbench but acts as the front desk. There are some more pull up bars attached along the ledge of the alcove and above that you can see a bit of an office of sorts overlooking the gym. When you pass through the narrow floor space to the end of the pull up rig, the floor opens up a little and there is a solid workout space with all your needed equipment (racks, bars, DB’s, PVC, plates and more). Again, not the biggest space in the world, but it’s about as usable as you would need.
The workout:
TABATA (20 seconds on 10 seconds off for 8 rounds. 1 minute rest between exercises)
Push ups
Front Squats 55#
KB swings 35#
Jumping pull ups
After the weeks work, and all the deadlifting my back was pretty tight. But this workout in all was perfect, hard enough o challenge me to push (TABATAs in general are going to be tough, you just go all out no matter what!) but not demanding enough to kill me. The KB swings got me more than I expected and by the 4th round I was just using my upper body. Thank god the weight was a bit lighter on those or I would have been in the 5-8 rep range! If I remember correctly I got 11, 14, 12 and 14 for my scores (not sure if that’s right but it’s close I’m sure of it!). It was a fun one for sure, and rolling things out afterward felt like heaven!
I had a fun visit to Lamorinda, I felt welcomed and like part of the family. With their solid growth since they’ve been open I have no doubt that they will continue to do very well given their focus. As mentioned before with my visits, if you chose to open in a specific area, you better have an understanding of your demographics and appeal to that group. Lamorinda does so very well and because of that, I can tell they will continue to expand in an organic and exciting way!
Lamorinda CrossFit
1031 Blackwood Lane
Lafayette, CA 94549
(925) 284-XFIT
Anni@lamorindacrossfit.com
Dave@lamorindacrossfit.com
Luca@lamorindacrossfit.com
My posts for visits to San Carlos CrossFit and CrossFit Marin are in the works! A busy week to come!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
1031 Blackwood Lane
Lafayette, CA 94549
(925) 284-XFIT
Anni@lamorindacrossfit.com
Dave@lamorindacrossfit.com
Luca@lamorindacrossfit.com
My posts for visits to San Carlos CrossFit and CrossFit Marin are in the works! A busy week to come!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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