What's your WHY for 2018?

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To help you decide what your why is, we recommend reading this blog post by James Hawken, Head Coach at CrossFit Glevum...

Everyone has a reason for first walking through the doors of the gym. Whether that drive was to live a healthier lifestyle, improve body composition, learn and improve new skills or to become fitter and stronger etc. But what is it now that helps to keep you focused in the long term?

Most of us at some stage, suffer with mental barriers and set-backs in training; some days you feel great and are excited to get going, and others not so much. When you start to lose that motivation it is easy to create excuses not to go.

We believe it certainly helps to have a specific target to be working towards at all times. Is there something you would like to achieve, if you knew how, and if you worked hard for it?

Seeing people get results, and leave with a smile on their face is a part of why we all became coaches here at Glevum. In the past, we have posted ideas and suggestions on how to set goals and we want to provide some additional help to in making goals clear and action steps around them.

What we have found to be most effective is called S.M.A.R.T. Goal Setting. Specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, relevant and timely.

First, lets start off by creating a goal, for example – getting your first pull up by August 1st 2016. Then we can break down each portion and add action steps to get you there by defining the who, what, why, where, how & when.

Specific – The “Who” and “What”

You need to find a specific area of improvement and answer some specific details about this bit. In the above example, the goal is getting your first pull-up. So one of the first action steps would be to write down the stage you are currently at. E.g. I can perform 5 banded pull ups, but not a single unassisted pull up.

Once you have created your goal, you can then add more details to it. Some action steps towards that first pull up, might be changing some eating habits, taking on some specific strength training, and/or coming to the gym four days a week. This can and will look different for everyone, based on what the goal is.

Measurable – The “How” Part 1

We want to be able to measure what it is we are looking to achieve from this goal. We are all big on numbers and data and being able to show progress, which is why we track our workouts using SugarWOD, complete benchmark workouts regularly, and test RM’s in our lifts. This allows us to see if what we are doing is having a positive impact or not. The same can be said here for measuring your goal. In the example above, the measurement is being able to do a pull up or not by August 2016…

Attainable – The “How” Part 2

How will you make your goal achievable? Let’s say you want to lose weight or gain some muscle; there are things that you are going to need to start doing in order to make this goal happen. You may find that you need to reach out for some additional resources as well as support from people. If you are looking to lose weight, perhaps some things you will need to start doing is food prep a couple of times a week, stop eating out and make sure your entire family is onboard with you. If your goal is to build some muscle, perhaps you will need more protein intake and even look at weight gain & a strength program to compliment your hard work. In order to make your goal attainable, you will need to find both the time and resources that will help you reach it.

Relevant – The “Why”

In our opinion, this is perhaps the most important step! – you have to be clear “why” you wish to accomplish your goal. Without this “why”, you will find it extremely hard to be motivated and committed enough to stick to it. Your “why” has to be clear and it’s important you spend some time defining it and what it means to you. We like to encourage you to share your goal with as many people as possible, this will in time help you stay accountable to it.

Timely – The “When”

This allows you to put a target date for when you want to have achieved your goal. Once you are able to do this, you can create a timeline working backwards with smaller sub- goals to reach along the way to help you stay on track!

"The best decision I have made for some time"

We asked one of our newest members about their experience over the first classes, including their Fundamentals course. Here's what Sam had to say!

 

 

"I have always been a keen sportsman, participating in many different things over the years but at the grand old age of 40, I was looking for something new. I wanted something that would inspire me to get off the sofa on the dark evenings, to go and meet new people in a new town and most importantly, to get me back to a level of fitness I was happy with.

 

After a quick call to Ryan the Owner and Head Coach of CrossFit Harrogate, I was determined to join.

 

On meeting Ryan, I was very quickly made to feel extremely comfortable, given an overview of CrossFit, what it entails and then it was down to business.

 

The Fundamentals Course is a very well thought out, informative introduction; spanning over 6 sessions that will give you the confidence and correct technique to get you ready for your 1st proper day at CrossFit. Ryan has clearly been doing CrossFit for many years and his guidance of the many different techniques and moves was impressive. I personally finished the course raring to go!

 

Day 1 at CrossFit Harrogate was great, everyone was so welcoming and the existing members would go out of their way to come and introduce themselves. You are very quickly made to feel comfortable and there is constant help on hand to guide you through the movements and WODs.

 

I'm into my 4th week now and I'm hooked, CrossFit has been one of the best decisions I have made for some time and I've started to see the results already. My mind is clearer, my body is slowly coming back to life and the other amazing thing is, the social aspect is fantastic!"

 

 

If you're interested in starting CrossFit, follow these 3 steps...
 

1. Book a 30 minute FREE taster session (optional).

2. Complete our Fundamentals Course by either signing up to one of our group courses (Starting Monday 27th February) or booking one-to-one Private Fundamental training sessions with Head Coach Ryan.

3. Once you have successfully completed your fundamentals training we will give you two weeks of membership absolutely FREE.

For more information:

Email: Info@crossfitharrogate.com

Call: 07772822617

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The Team Open 2017 T-Shirts

Here are Team Briggs T-Shirts!
Yours will be in your team colour, male & female designs available.

We've gone back to basics with the popular soft Tri-Blend material (same as 24in24) in Charcoal Black.

You have until Sunday 12th @ 12am to secure your T-Shirt, you'll need to either put your name on the list at the box, let your Team Captain or Ryan know what size you would like. 

Back your Team and grab a T-Shirt!

The Teams

Here are the teams for our very first The Team Open 2017!

Your captains are: Chris Pang (TEAM FRONING), Scott Mackintosh (TEAM FRASER), Jude Smith (TEAM BRIGGS) and Aimee Cutino (TEAM DAVIDSDOTTIR).

If I've missed you off, I'm very sorry! Let me know and I'll add you to a team. Visuals of the T-Shirts will be out very soon, these will have your team's colour in the logo along with your team name on the back!

What next? Well, your captain will be contacting you to make sure you're up for the challenge! There's less than 3 weeks to go before the first workout. If there's something you want to work on, speak to the coach in your team and get yourself down here on Thursdays and Sundays to work on it!

The following weeks Finisher Workouts will have some popular Open movements in them. Tuesdays are now our Benchmark Workout days. These are programmed to allow you to get a benchmark time recorded and then repeat it in the coming months to track your progress. Tomorrow you'll be taking on Jackie!

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The Team Open 2017

For anyone who hasn't heard of 'The Open' it is a worldwide CrossFit Competition that begins each year with 5 workouts over 5 weeks. All entrants post their workout times and the best go through to Regionals and then California for the CrossFit Games, culminating in one Male and one Female being crowned The Fittest On Earth. Anyone can enter and all the workouts are scalable. Most of us don't stand a chance of progressing through to Regionals but it's really good fun and gives you a World Ranking that you can try and improve on each year.

 

This year we intend to make it even more fun by having a Team Competition running alongside 'The Open' utilising the 5 workouts posted by Dave Castro (The CrossFit Games Director).


Here’s where it gets interesting. You’ve all been split into 4 teams named after past winners of 'The CrossFit Games'…FRONING, BRIGGS, DAVIDSDOTTIR and FRASER. We will be posting the team lists in the Box very shortly, each team has a Captain so all you have to do is find your team and your Captain and away you go.

As a team you will need to earn as many points as possible to win. Points will be awarded for:

• Completing the workouts - Rx or Scaled

• Finishing in the Top 3

• Best Form

• Most Spirited Performance

Or anything else we may spot that deserves bonus points for your team

 

There will be a 6th workout, taking place on Saturday morning 1st April with a social in the evening. The winners will be crowned The Team Open 2017 Champions!

 

You don’t need to have entered The Open, so there is no cost to taking part. What you may want to do is purchase your team's T-shirt so that you can wear it with pride as you play your part in driving your team to victory!

 

More information will be revealed next week!

CrossFit Harrogate's Day Out

Here's one of our morning superstars Ruth Fisher talking about her first competition outside of the box!
 


As one of the older members of the gym (50 is creeping up over the horizon!) and definitely not one of the ‘elite’ athletes at our box, I don’t count myself as a ‘competitor’. So when Ryan utters those immortal words “We’re organising a friendly competition with CrossFit Skipton and we need people to sign up – come on, it’ll be fun!”. 'Fun' and 'competition' are not two words I would generally put together myself but somehow I found myself with a great partner (thanks Sally), a team name and arriving at a freezing cold CrossFit Skipton to nervously await my fate!

There were three WODs to complete – and scaling was allowed – and none of them were anything out of the ordinary or especially different to what we do day to day at CrossFit Harrogate. Our coaches were great at settling the nerves and provided lots of support and guidance on what our strategy should be for each of the WODs.

After the results were collated, our partnership came last BUT we both achieved PBs for our Hang Squat Cleans, we absolutely worked as hard as we could and we had a great time. The support you get from everyone who is there was just amazing. It’s also great to cheer everyone else on, spend time with people you already know from the gym, get to know others who you never see otherwise as they train at different times to you, take an opportunity to help out with judging and generally just have a great day with lots of like-minded people.

 

 

Whenever Ruth walks through the doors she brings such a positive attitude, along with a beaming smile. It's very infectious!

Keep up the hard work Ruth, good luck in The Open this year.

'It Takes Two Fundamentals' 25% Off

‘It Takes Two’ is our couples or friends Fundamentals Course. During January 2017 we’re offering 25% off this course!

You’ll go through all the movements used in our CrossFit Classes, including Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Rowing and Mobility. These are broken down and taught in a safe and controlled environment. 
 

CrossFit can be daunting
 

“I'd probably have never joined as I'd have been too scared; put off by the weights and worried about not being good enough. Having said that, I would now come regardless of whether Greg came or not but it's nice to have a common interest with some scope to meet new people.” Elly Cadman (Member for 9 months) Greg Cadman (19 months)

 

Setting a good example
 

“It’s a plus that we both go and enjoy it together and it’s a great thing for our children to see us doing and hopefully motivates them to see exercise as fun. We've both made great friends and the results achieved have been amazing.” Ashleigh Dunn (24 months) Stuart Dunn (15 months)

 

The common theme in all of their answers…

Meeting like-minded people
 

“We both joined CrossFit Harrogate as we were new to the area and knew it would be a good way to get to know people as well as the added bonus of getting fit.” Aimee Humphreys (9 months) Greg Traill (9 months)

“Joining CrossFit Harrogate was quite honestly the best thing we've done in ages! We've made such lovely friends (much more like family) and I for one am the fittest I've ever been. We love training together and pushing each other.” Aimee Cutino (12 months) Nino Cutino (12 months)

 

Take your fitness to the next level this year!

How are YOU starting 2017?

"I am healthier, fitter, leaner and so much stronger physically and mentally than I was before I started."

This is the answer Anne Harvey gave to the question 'How has CrossFit changed your life?'
She started her 2016 off by completing her Fundamentals here at CrossFit Harrogate. Let's see how she's doing eleven months on...
 

First of all how did you find out about CrossFit?

"A friend suggested I watch The CrossFit Games on YouTube, I became immediately hooked and was totally inspired by The Games athletes.  I then found CrossFit Harrogate and booked in for the Private Fundamentals course with Ryan, best fitness decision I’ve ever made."

 

What had you been doing before you found CrossFit?

"Two years ago I was getting ready for back surgery, my third disk surgery in 20 years.  I was overweight, weak and incredibly unfit.  Once cleared for exercise, I started a programme of recuperation and was advised to strengthen my whole body. I tried running, swimming, personal training, hot yoga, circuits, netball and slogging it out in a standard gym.  Nothing really stuck.  

At one point I had 3 subscriptions: HIIT, strength and classes all at separate gyms.  Joining CrossFit Harrogate meant I could do everything I wanted to in one place and joining also saved me a lot of money!"

 

What has CrossFit done for you in the last 11 months?

"Oh my god, where do I start?  I’ve smashed all my times for running, rowing and lifting.  I’ve competed in two CrossFit Competitions, did 24 workouts in 24 hours for charity and used my fitness to complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks (always a goal of mine)."

 

How has CrossFit changed your life?

"CrossFit has made such an impact in my life. I’ve learnt you get out what you put in and you can do anything you set your mind to, nothing is impossible.  The part I didn’t expect was how fantastic The Community is, everyone is so friendly and really look out for each other."
 

 

If you're interested in starting CrossFit, follow these 3 steps...
 

1. Book a 30 minute FREE taster session (optional).

2. Complete our Fundamentals Course by either signing up to one of our group courses or booking one-to-one Private Fundamental training sessions with Head Coach Ryan.

3. Once you have successfully completed your fundamentals training we will give you two weeks of membership absolutely FREE.

 

For more information:

Email: Info@crossfitharrogate.com

Call: 07772822617

Competition Time

Rob doing the unthinkable, CURLS!

Rob doing the unthinkable, CURLS!

Want to be in with a chance to win a FREE CrossFit Harrogate T-shirt?



Follow these 3 easy steps...
 

  1. Put the Elf or Santa hat on.
  2. Snap a picture or video of yourself in the gym, this can be as creative as you wish!
  3. 'Check in' at CrossFit Harrogate either on Facebook or Instagram using the picture or video!



You have until Christmas Eve to get your picture/video into us.

We have a Male & Female T-shirt/vest up for grabs!

The coaching team will then decide the winning two!

3...2...1... GET POSING
 

Need a challenge?

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As a lot of you know we've organised an inter box competition with CrossFit Skipton, we've already got 15 pairs which is fantastic! If you're wanting to compete but can't find a partner then let me know and I can pair you up. I've got a couple of people wanting to compete but need partners.

For those that haven't competed before, this is the perfect way to see what competitive CrossFit is all about. There's been a lot of members competing for the first time this year...if you're not sure about it, speak to them, I'm sure they'll only have positive opinions on competing.

One thing it will do is focus your mind, your training will become more purposeful and you'll begin to see more progress...who doesn't want that?! Use the Thursday sessions to work on weaknesses with your team mate, talk to the coaches about what you can do to improve certain movements.

Getting To Know The Team

Our new coach, Cheryl gives us an insight into her CrossFit journey and tells us a little more about herself.

 

Q. How did you find out about CrossFit?

A. "I was working in the Middle East and training regularly with a group of friends who had mentioned that they were going to try CrossFit.  I was intrigued, so looked into it further and decided to go to Dublin and do the Fundamentals course.  This then meant we could take CrossFit to Iraq and spread the word!"

 

Q. Can you remember your first CrossFit Workout?

A. ‘Judy’

200m Run

15-12-9

Squats

Ring Rows

Press ups

200m Run

 

Q. Have you ever entered a Fitness competition?

A. "Working away limited me to training for and entering competitions, but that is all about to change, as I have entered the CrossFit Form Masters competition in Leeds, which takes place this weekend…"

 

Q. Do you have any favourite movements?
 

A. "Handstand Push Ups and Burpees
 

I’ve always loved gymnastics (not that I am an expert!) and I think Burpees are a fantastic full body workout."

 

Q. What about your Least Favourite Movement?

A. "Pull Ups

They frustrate me!  They are the one movement that I have to do consistently in order to maintain them and unfortunately I don’t, so my aim is to do a pull up every time I pass a bar!"

 

Q. What's your favourite Workout?

A. ‘Mary’

5 x Handstand Push Ups

10 x One legged squats

15 x Pull Ups

 

Q. And your least favourite workout?

A. ‘Murph’  

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Whilst wearing a 10kg weights vest

 

Q. What's your favourite meal?
A. "Salmon, Sweet Potato and Broccoli"

 

Q. How about favourite cheat meal?
A. "Pizza"

 

Q. What has been your most inspiring moment?

A. "When I completed the ‘Murph’ for the first time in under an hour.  There were only two of us and it was pouring with rain, so we were cold and very wet throughout, but it just added to the intensity.  We did it all outside and used rocks to count the rounds.  I couldn’t believe that I’d completed it.  It was definitely a case of mind over matter."

November Fundamentals

 

 

Anyone can do CrossFit!
Here at CrossFit Harrogate we welcome anyone who is ready to change their health and fitness lifestyle into a sustainable, enjoyable and social experience.

All the photos you see are CrossFit Harrogate members taking part in a one day local Fitness competition. For a lot of them this is their first ever competition!

 

 

 

To begin your journey:
 
1. Book a 30 minute FREE taster session (optional) or just pop in to any of our Open Gym sessions when we will have the time to show you around, discuss your options and, if you come equipped, have a workout. Open Gym session times can be found on the Timetable.


 
2. Complete our Fundamentals Course by either signing up to one of our group courses or booking one-to-one Private Fundamental training sessions with Head Coach Ryan - Next Group Fundamentals starts on Monday 7th November.


 
3. Once you have successfully completed your fundamentals training we will give you two weeks of membership absolutely FREE. This will enable you to attend as many of the group classes as you want, get to know our coaches and members and allow you to make a more informed decision about joining CrossFit Harrogate!

 

 

To find out more contact Ryan!

Mobile: 07772822617

Email: Ryan@crossfitharrogate.com

Coach Craig working through some kettlebell swings after burning 12 calories on the Assault Bike.

Coach Craig working through some kettlebell swings after burning 12 calories on the Assault Bike.

The 6 teams we took to Form Fitness Series!

The 6 teams we took to Form Fitness Series!

Our fantastic podium finishers 'CrossFit Harrogate Girls'

Our fantastic podium finishers 'CrossFit Harrogate Girls'

'Chalk Monkeys' & 'Form Over Function' celebrating their amazing efforts after 4 workouts in one day!

'Chalk Monkeys' & 'Form Over Function' celebrating their amazing efforts after 4 workouts in one day!

The Wait Is Over!

After many months looking at multiple designs, we’re very excited to show everyone our new logo.

We wanted something simple, easily recognisable and something you will all wear with pride. We hope you like it as much as we do!

This will gradually replace our current logo in the gym and on our website.

We know you’ve been itching for some new gear so T-Shirts, Vests and Hoodies are coming for you all to try on to make sure that you’re confident in the size you’re ordering.

Is your flexibility letting you down?

Remember, post workout stretching should be done straight after the WOD to aid recovery and decrease muscle soreness, not the day after when the muscles have become sore which will inhibit future training.  Spend 5-10 minutes after class working on problem areas and coupled with that, why not try out our latest class.
 

Introducing Yogalates, a fitness routine that combines Pilates exercises with stretching, therapy ball massage and breathing techniques.  The aim of the class is to provide awareness of the body, mind and breath.  Great for improving Flexibility, Core Strength and Concentration, this class will provide a good foundation for other everyday activities and exercises.

 

Starting this Saturday October 1st
 

These sessions are 60 minutes long and have a class limit of 10 people to maximise client-coach interaction.

Non Member - £11

Member - £8
 

To book onto Yogalates Classes you’ll need to sign up on TeamUp.  Alternatively, give Cheryl a ring on 07969154050


Yogalates Classes Timetable
 

Tuesday 6-7am

Thursday 6-7am

Saturday 10-11am