The Rules!

BE ON TIME CrossFit incorporates a lot of technical movements, so it’s important that you’re on time to participate in the warm-up movements to ensure your body is ready for the specific Workout of the Day. You’re always welcome to arrive 15-20 mins early and do your own preparation or work on a specific mobility.

LET COACHES COACH We love our team environment and the community atmosphere where members look out for each other. While support is great, giving technical advice and coaching is not. We have experienced coaches who know what they are talking about and it’s their job to inform, instruct and coach technique.

LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR Many people enter the gym with predisposed ideas of what weights they should be lifting or try to match somebody else. Our aim is to ensure you’re perfecting the movement first, and then increase the intensity. We ask all members to respect our judgment – we are not trying to hold you back, we just want you to progress in the safest and efficient way.

NEVER CHEAT There is no honor in cheating. What joy can be in a victory you did not earn?

SUPPORT OTHER MEMBERS The best sessions are when everyone supports one another. It’s amazing how well people respond when another member is encouraging them when they need it most. We train as individuals but workout as a team.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW, ASK This is especially important for any new members. If there is something you are unsure about, then please ask, no matter how silly you think the question is. We would much rather you ask, so we can address any issues and not risk any injury.

HAVE FUN While we do take our training seriously, we want everyone to have some fun in the process. We enjoy a laugh as much as you, and we encourage a bit of banter, especially during warm-up and cool-down periods.

PLEASE PUT YOUR EQUIPMENT AWAY Our members view FGCF as their own gym and treat it as such. That means putting any equipment back after use, wiping down their sweat and cleaning their chalk marks.

REPORT ANY INJURIES Everyone gets a little niggle at some point, so if you do have an injury we want to know about it, however minor it may seem. That way we can help design a specific rehab program, or refer you to the relevant health professional. It also allows us to adjust your session so that we’re not putting additional strain on your injury.

RESPECT OUR EQUIPMENT Never drop, throw or slam empty bars, kettle bells, or dumbbells to the ground.

RESPECT OTHER MEMBERS It is ok to express yourself during a hard workout. Feel free to grunt, yell, swear, and celebrate. At the same time remember that there can be such a thing as too loud, angry, gross, or rude.

BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN FITNESS Scaling back a workout when necessary is intelligent, not weak. You can not get fitter by staring at a bar that is too heavy.

NEVER QUIT Give your best at every workout. (Everyone’s best is different). Show up, work hard and have fun!!

BE THE TYPE OF ATHLETE THAT: 1. Fully commits to whatever the WOD is for any day. 2. Completes an extra couple of double-unders, pull-ups or wall balls when they have lost count or think they may have missed a couple of full reps. 3. Works up to the buzzer, even if it means they will only get 20 meters of the next 200 m run because there are only 10 seconds left. 4. Never ever would consider lying, not even 1 single rep when the coach asks “how many did you get” before writing the score on the whiteboard.

DO and DON'Ts

CrossFit Terminology 101

The following Training terminology guide will come in helpful when interpreting your workouts.

MetCon: Metabolic Conditioning workout: Utilizing circuits, complexes and, at times, very specific and timed groups of exercises, MetCon may consist of bodyweight moves, equipment from kettlebells to medicine balls and other forms of familiar activities such as sprints. The take-home message here is that it doesn’t have to consist of 45 minutes of low-intensity treadmill walking or long sessions on the recumbent bike.

1RM: Your 1RM is your max lift for one rep.

AHAP: as heavy as possible.

AMRAP: As many rounds as possible.

BP: Bench press Box: Another name for a gym.

BS: Back squat.

BW: Body weight.

CLN: Clean C&J: Clean and jerk.

DL: Deadlift.

DU: Double under. Jumping rope with double passes under a single jump.

EMOM: Every minute on the minute For Time: Timed workout, perform as quickly as possible and record score.

FS: Front squat.

HSPU: Hand stand push up. Kick up into a handstand (use wall for balance, if needed) bend arms until nose touches floor and push back up.

KB: Kettlebell.

KBS: Kettlebell swing.

MU: Muscle ups. Hanging from rings you do a combination pull-up and dip so you end in an upright support.

OH: Overhead.

OHS: Overhead squat. Full-depth squat performed while arms are locked out in a wide grip press position above (and usually behind) the head..

PC: Power clean.

PR: Personal record.

PP: Push press.

PU: Pull-ups or push ups depending on the context in the WOD.

Rep: Repetition. One performance of an exercise.

Rx'd: As prescribed, without any adjustments.

SDHP: Sumo deadlift high pull.

Set: A number of repetitions. e.g., 34 sets of 8 reps, often seen as 4x8, means you do 8 reps, rest, repeat, rest, repeat, rest, repeat.

SN: Snatch.

SQ: Squat.

T2B: Toes to bar. Hang from bar. Bending only at waist raise your toes to touch the bar, slowly lower them and repeat.

Tabata: A form of interval training comprised of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off repeated for 8 rounds.

TGU: Turkish get-up.

WO: Workout.

WOD: Workout of the day.

SA: Single Arm.

RNDS: Rounds.

DB and BB: Dumbbell and Barbell.

YBF: You'll Be Fine :)

Coach's Top favorite Gear and Accessories

Over the year of practicing the sport of CrossFit and other different types of training, I found out a few things that I bought that were a waist of money as far as accessories and tools that I thought I needed them at that time.

A lot of things we use have been around for decades, like Olympic lifting shoes, knee sleeves and weightlifting belts, while some other items are more sport specific and could significantly effect your performance.

Below are the top Items I have in my gym bag and I usually recommend to my Athletes to take their game to the next level.

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Speed Rope

Speed ropes and not just your regular school yard jump ropes. They will help you with those ever elusive double-unders. These speed ropes are designed to spin quickly with little force, but be careful with this speed spinning: they really leave a mark if you miss a jump. Don’t worry, it’s good motivation to no mess up. Speed ropes are small and perfect to take with you literally anywhere! You can do an entire WOD with just your rope and an open space.

Gloves/Grips/Tape

As a new crossfitter I tore up my hands every time I did more than 10 pull-ups. If you have ever ripped your hands you know how bad it hurts and how long it takes to recover. I started taping my hands or using my hand grips before doing pull-ups and as my hands got stronger and good calluses developed I no longer needed the tape to protect my hands. Now I keep the tape and my gloves in my bag at all times.

Weight Belt

Want to increase your back squat, dead lift, or snatch? A weightlifting belt can help. We’ve all heard our coaches say to take a deep breath and tighten our core before we lift. A weight belt helps by giving you something to apply pressure to in-turn keeping your core tight. It took me a few days of lifting to feel comfortable using my belt and now I can’t PR without it.

Knee Sleeves/Knee Wraps

Like with the wrist wraps, also knee sleeves come in elastic or non-elastic form. The neoprene sleeves are stretchy and slide on under or over your pants. The non-elastic wraps tie on and go over your pants or on bare legs if wearing shorts. I have the neoprene ones and can’t squat without them. The added compression provides supports and allows me to squat both heavy and/or high volume without suffering from over-use pain.

Wrist Wraps

These are great if you have weak wrists like I do. You can get elastic and non-elastic wrist wraps which are great for push-ups, handstand push-ups and jerks. Most elastic wraps have a thumb strap that helps you keep the wrap in place. You can choose to use it or not, in either way it won’t affect the effectiveness of the wrap. Toss these in your gym bag before you head to the box.

Foam Roller/ Lacrosse Balls

If you have not experienced the glorious pain of a good foam rolling session I suggest you put that on your to-do list. Most boxes have at least one of these devils of delight laying around. Next time you see a foam roller give it a try, and then get your own. These come in 2 lengths, full sized and 1/2 sized. I have a full sized one in my living room and roll out almost every night while watching my favorite TV shows. The 1/2 sized ones fit in your gym bag better so you can take it with you. Foam rolling is great for mobility, release nuts, tightness, and it helps recovery before or after your workout.

Lacrosse Balls

PAIN RELIEF, ENERGY BOOST TRIGGER POINT MASSAGE BALLS FASCIA RELEASE: Remain healthy, active and full of energy. Free yourself from myofascial pain that stops you from living your day in full. Enhance your flexibility by increasing your blood flow with these trigger point therapy balls.

Whats with the CrossFit shoes?

We often get the question why does everyone wear those shoes? Do CrossFit shoes really make that much of a difference? Well here is no definitive shoe but there is one reoccurring theme you will likely hear from fellow athletes at your Box is that you should invest in a pair of CrossFit Shoes.

It’s really quite simple, running shoes are designed for those who want to run on a road and CrossFit is certainly not about purely running on roads. Running shoes create instability, primarily laterally, in the ankles. Running in a straight line for miles is a linear activity and that’s when a well-designed “Running” shoe makes sense. CrossFit is definitely not a linear activity! We zig, we zag, jump, sprint, crawl, climb and lift heavy stuff.

It’s true CrossFit involves lifting heavy weights often above your head. Weightlifting is a very specialized sport and requires specific shoes. It is not preferable to do a WOD (Workout of the Day) that involves box jumps, T2B (Toe to bar) or DU (Double Under’s) purely wearing your Oly shoes.  Oly shoes can become very heavy quickly. They do have Hybrid Lifting shoes but again although the construction of the shoe is lighter they are not ideal for a long AMRAP they are more of a specialized shoe. You really want a all-around good lightweight flat shoe.

Stylish shoes with Big cushy heels encourage athletes to put their weight forward, not back into their heels, and what do you always hear your coaches yelling? “Weight in the heels!”. Most importantly you don’t need be doing Olympic lifts on a soft unstable base – think overhead squats while standing on Spongey wet grass not ideal for Overhead Squats is it? That is the effect that you would get from wearing a running shoe that has a large spongey heal its going to make you unstable and put your weight forward. Hope this helps to clarify why you see some of the more experienced athletes in your box wearing those colorful shoes. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask your coaches what might be the best fit for what your trying to achieve! TAKE UP TU 70% OFF AT THE REEBOK STORE. Katy Mills Mall. Katy, TX.

Final Words

Things do take time and the body will adjust, albeit up to a certain point so the correct use of equipment will help you reach your potential When it comes down to it, you must ask yourself… does your training outfit match? ;)