Author Archives: jeremy

New Beginnings at 56 years old

Ted Coen started at Crossfit Kinnick in January 2011 and in 12 months has lost nearly 40lbs and 10% body fat! He has accomplished some great things but more importantly he feels great and looks amazing! Oh and he just got his first muscle ups!!! Not bad for 56 years young!! Here’s to many more years Ted!!  Thank you for being an inspiration!

Posted in Testimonial Blog

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New Year, New Attitude

Head Trainer Jake Mannion has this to say about the New Year.

The new year is here, and as much as you, our clients, work to make and fulfill resolutions, we’re doing the same as your coaches and trainers. Our resolution? Well, it’s the perfect time to re-evaluate our standards, and that is exactly what we’re doing. Starting now you’ll see a reinvigorated attitude towards movement standards. It isn’t to be mean and tedious; it’s to make you guys better. Attention to detail goes a long way to getting you where you want to be as an athlete. Remember, the goal isn’t today or tomorrow, but rather what your numbers and body will look like six months to a year from now.

A perfect example of our new attitude was on show with last week’s Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 workout. The emphasis was on neutral spine. Sure you can pull more weight with a rounded back, but the bad far outweighs the good. First, you can injure yourself. Enough said. Second, a rounded back hardly works the muscles of the posterior chain, the hamstrings and the glutes. So while your deadlift numbers look like they’re getting pretty big, you may still lack the hamstring and glute strength to match. Bottom line, rounded back deadlifts aren’t deadlifts, so lets take them out of the equation completely.

The response from our clients has, so far, been amazing. Special shout out to Brent Langrehr who I personally witnessed go back down from around 305 to 275 to work on keeping his chest up and his back tight. The outcome was a much more controlled set of lifts and, more importantly, reinforced good habits. Sure, his numbers were lower than they could have been, but the sacrifice is being made for greater gains in the future. Anyone remember the 20 Min. AMRAP WOD from about two weeks ago (400m run, 21 155#/105# Deadlifts)? Most of us ended up with sore backs regardless of form, but those who focused on proper form were able to last much longer, thus achieving better scores. There’s a method to our madness people!

You’ll definitely be seeing this new attitude towards movement on display all year long, and not only for deadlift. We need to clean up our snatch and clean technique, as well as a bunch of other movements. It’s this attention to detail that will continue to make us one of the best gyms around. Lets have a great year.

Posted in Gym Blog

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The S.M.A.R.T. Way to Reach Your Goals

Here is a great read by Crossfit Kinnick Trainer Nick Robles on how to set yourself up for success!!

I have never been one for New Years Resolutions (Why wait until January 1st to change your life when you can start today?) but since we are at the beginning of 2012 lets talk about the best way to set and achieve goals in the coming months. I found this list of most popular New Year’s Resolutions and not surprisingly, half are health-realted.

“Eat healthy food”
“Get fit”
“Lose weight”

Many of us may even have similar goals for 2012, but how do we set ourselves up to achieve them? It’s pretty common knowledge that New Year’s resolutions are not known for their longevity but, if we put some thought into accomplishing what we want, this will be a huge year for all of us at Crossfit Kinnick and we have all the tools to make it one.

First lets look at the first step: setting realistic and achievable goals. Saying “I want to get fit” gives us no set path to get there and no measurable result to determine success. When setting goals we want to make sure they are S.M.A.R.T:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

With this in mind we can set goals that focus not on the end result but the daily efforts we have to put in to achieve it. Instead of saying “I want to drop 15% body fat and do more workouts prescribed,” we should approach it as “I am going to eliminate grains from my diet for month and work on a movement I struggle with for 10 minutes before class, 3 times a week.” Setting short term goals makes it easier to not only complete your plan but check in on your progress. After that you can reassess and set new ones!

Once you have a goal you want to achieve, make a serious plan for success. Don’t be afraid to use the tools we have at Crossfit Kinnick! Beyond the Whiteboard and your trainers especially. Want to improve your nutrition? Do some research on zone, talk to any one of our trainers, assess what you eat now versus what you want to eat on a cleaner diet, and start logging your meals. Want to be able to handle more weight in workouts? Again, talk to one of us and we can fill you in on how to start extra strength work. Want to eliminate a weakness that always gets to you in workouts? We can show you progressions or stretches that will help you improve.

A huge part of this is tracking your progress and sticking to it. I guarantee that doing things like logging your meals, ALWAYS posting your workouts, actually looking at your improvements, and posting your extra work will not only motivate you when you see gains but allow you to constantly know where you are at. Knowing your own achievements and recognizing them is essential. I know nothing motivates me more than knowing the work I’m putting in produces tangible results. Lets use Beyond the Whiteboard for everything we can, its an amazing resource!

Finally, lets talk about the most important tool we have…each other! Don’t be afraid to share goals or buddy up to achieve them. Accountability goes a long way in sticking with something that is hard to achieve. Don’t be afraid to set big goals and chase them down, 2011 was an incredible year for us all so imagine what 2012 has in store!!

Posted in Gym Blog

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First Pull-up @ 59 years old!

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Congratulations are in order!  If you have been to the 5pm or 6pm classes you can’t help but notice the bubbly personality in the video above!  If you don’t know her name its Teri Cappuccio and she is 59 years young.  She has been with us for 6 months and just got her first kipping pull ups. In 59 years of life she has never been able to complete one.  Simply amazing Teri!  She started off on ring rows like many of our clients do.  She progressed to thick bands on the pull up bar and steadily worked her way to smaller bands.  If she can do it so can you!  Its real simple.  Just continue to work hard in the warm up and before you know it the progression will take you to the same place Teri is right now.  The beauty of Crossfit is that we can make it work for all fitness levels and all walks of life.  Be sure to tell Teri congrats on her accomplishment.  Great work Teri!  We are all so very proud of you and proud to be your trainers!  Keep it up.

Posted in Testimonial Blog

16 Responses to First Pull-up @ 59 years old!

  1. Heather says:

    Congratulations Teri! I did my first one that same night but when Jeremy went to video tape me I lost my mind and couldn’t do one…I guess I have a bad case of camera shyness!! Way to go!!

  2. Erik says:

    Congrats from Los Angeles. Very motivating!

  3. Karen W says:

    Congratulations Teri (and Heather). It’s a fantastic achievement and you should be rightly proud of yourselves!

  4. Autumn- says:

    You are a rock star! Very exciting. Congrats Teri.

  5. JoAnn says:

    As one youngster to another (I’m 60!) you are my role model! I hope to get my first pull-up within the next 6 months! Congrats to you!

  6. Foose says:

    Awesome! We shared the link on our boards way to go.

  7. What a cute lady I love her! and such an inspiratation. Congrats to Teri and Heather. Lydia from San Diego.

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  9. Ash says:

    Awesome!!! Great job!!

  10. C musgrave says:

    This is a great example of dedication and grit! Nice work Teri!! Very inspiring.
    Part of what I like about CF is that there are Teri’s, in gyms big and small all over just poring there heart into there work. Keep it up!!

  11. Terri says:

    Congratulatons Teri from North Carolina :)

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  13. john says:

    GREAT Job. So Super Awsome.

  14. Jaimie says:

    Teri, you are fabulous!

  15. Janice says:

    Congratulations Terri! I am 56 and have been crossfitting just over 2 years but have yet to get an unassissted pull up. You give me hope!

Mike & Val O’brien – Morning Zone Prep

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Hey everyone!  We are back with an awesome video from Mike & Val.  They have been with Crossfit Kinnick since the beginning in the garage in 2007!  How time flies!  Needless to say they have been on The Zone for quite a while.  They have both seen amazing results.  Since starting the zone challenge Val has lost over 2% body fat.  She is under 20%.  For women you typically want to be between 15-20% depending on your body type and so forth.  Mike on the other hand hangs out around 13-14%.  For Mike he is more interested in gaining lean mass/muscle.  Since starting the Zone challenge he has put on over 5#s of muscle!  Great work you guys!

As I am sure you guys noticed they seem to work as a team with getting ready in the morning.  Not that they are helping each other get their food ready its more that they are both Zoning which makes life much easier.  So encourage your whole family to Zone with you.

Mike & Val work for Edison so they catch the train in the morning and get back just in time to hit a wod at the box.  They pack and prepare all their food in the morning so they can successfully stay in the Zone throughout the day.  Notice how they use simple foods like leftovers, turkey deli meat, packaged fruit cups, and thin bread slices.  They also have veggies and other great stuff as well.  Take some of their tips and use them when you are getting prepared for your day in the morning.  It doesn’t take much time and you will love the results of the little time you put into it in the morning.  Good luck my friends and be sure to thanks Mike & Val for opening their beautiful home to us so early in the morning.

Posted in Nutrition Blog

3 Responses to Mike & Val O’brien – Morning Zone Prep

  1. George says:

    Great video!

  2. veronica says:

    LOVE all the family and their diet zone videos! Keep them coming!

  3. Cyndy says:

    You make it look easy! Thanks! Good job!