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Each month Overland Park CrossFit recognizes a member who exemplifies our values and motivates others in the gym to push themselves with encouraging words. February’s Athlete of the Month is Bethanie White. Bethanie was chosen because of her consistency in the gym and positive attitude. It’s inspirational for other members to see someone’s hard work paying off! Learn more below about Bethanie!

1. What were your thoughts after your first CrossFit workout?

A mixture of “Am I Dying?” and “I can’t wait to come back tomorrow!”

2. What has been your favorite workout?

3. What is your favorite cheat meal?

Spaghetti and grilled cheese

4. Where do you work?     

Blue Dart Ventures in online marketing

5. What do you like to do outside of work?

I love home remodeling. I constantly have a project I am working on or I go stir crazy.

6. What advice would you give a newbie just starting at OPCF?

Show up often and just keep going – sometimes that is the hardest part.

7. What is your favorite lift?

The snatch. I am horrible at it, but that’s why I love it – it’s my nemesis. And just so darn sexy once you get it down 🙂

8. What’s your biggest “GOAT”?

Ring Muscle-Ups – 4 years in and still can’t nail one.

9. What changes have you seen in yourself since starting at OPCF?  

Other than physically I have eaten better and taken care of myself outside of the gym more than I have in the past.

10. What is your biggest improvement or proudest accomplishment thus far?

I hit a 100# snatch after only being able to hit about 70# prior to that because of form. The coaches here are so good!

11. What is something you have always wanted to do but haven’t yet?

Sky diving or going cage diving with sharks.

Overland Park CrossFit is very much symbolic of what the sport represents which is continually evolving to be the best version you.  In the past couple weeks, Overland Park CrossFit has continued to change with new renovations which we believe will to help us accommodate our growing community and their needs.  We are excited to share this new space with our members and hope to see lots of new PRs to break the space.

With the new renovations, we thought it would be fun to take a look back as many of our members might not remember the “good old days”.  We thought we would use this as a time to take a trip down memory lane and also thank all the members that made where we are today possible, especially the ones that have used their “functional fitness” to help.

To the OG’s (Original Gangsters) that started with the park WODs, these first pictures might look a little familiar. OPCF took over our current building from a gymnastics facility, hence the crazy colors and mirrors.  Before that, it was a place called “Wacky Banana”.  Could you imagine if we were called “Wacky Banana CrossFit”? As you can see from the pictures below, there was a lot of work that was needed to make this into a CrossFit gym. We actually went 2 months without a rig, so no pull ups or squats racks.  Lots of body weight movements, which we all know can sometimes be worse!

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After a few months of hard work, we ended up with what you see below. A fully matted gym with our trusty wall-mounted rig. You actually might recognize the rig from our recent remodel ;). We used the wall mounted rig for a little over 3 years, until we got the rig you all know and love today, Ruby.

When we got Ruby, we didn’t get rid of our first rig. How can you just forget about your first?  Instead we held onto it, honestly not knowing when/if we would ever need or want to use it again.  Luckily our hording tendencies paid off and with our recent renovations, we actually brought it back to life!  We now have almost twice as many squat racks and a great place to do all our goat and accessory work. If you haven’t seen it, you need to get back to the gym or if you are not an OPCF member, you might just become one if you come check out this space.

We are excited about the new changes at OPCF and after looking back at where we started, we’ve said it once, but we’ll say it again to all our members… THANK YOU! Thank you for your help in building OPCF into the best community and gym around!

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend at work verses your free time?  If you haven’t, maybe stop reading, and don’t do the math, because you might have a mid-life crisis or quit your job and never come back.  The reason for this, is I’m about to tell you that almost half of your waking hours each week are spent at your job.   In general, people spend 40 hours at work (the lucky ones) and 50-60 hours using their free time on evenings/weekends.

For active people, this can be a jarring number when you think about how immobile you are throughout the day, especially if you sit at a desk for your job.  Sure most days you might be able to squeeze in a workout, but do feel that you are just offsetting the damage that you are doing all day by sitting verses actually improving your health?  What if I told you there are ways to take back your work hours?  No, I don’t know how to not have a job and get paid (if someone knows, let me know) but it’s just about finding the time, whether that be 5 minutes or 15 minutes during each day and taking them back from the man!  Below are a few ideas of how to be more active during the workday.

• Park at the back of the parking lot. If you are like the rest of us, you are probably already late.  What’s 5 more minutes?

• Take the stairs. Have to dress up for work and think I’m crazy? I took 7 flights of stairs, every day, for 4 years after college in heels.  It can be done, and yes I got lazy and started taking the elevator with the “rest of them”.  Let’s go back to the stairs together.

• Start a health challenge at work. Rather than spend your time complaining about your boss, why not talk about ways to get healthy with your co-workers while taking a walk.

• Go to the meeting instead of dialing in. Yes, I know, technology is a beautiful thing, but IT’S KILLING US.

• Exercise at your desk or in a meeting without people knowing. Flex or tighten your abs and glutes for 30 seconds and repeat 5 to 10 times.  Multitasking on a whole new level.

Do you hear rowing is in the workout and immediately think “this is going to be bad”, or worse yet, “I’m going to skip that one”? Instead of skipping a WOD, why not learn some tips to help alleviate that fear, get you through rowing WODs, and possibly, dare I say, “enjoy” them. Learning simple concepts like the appropriate foot position, damper setting, and pace to shoot for can all improve your success on the rower.

Foot Position

During a WOD, do you get on a rower after someone else and leave the foot position where the last athlete left it? Did you know your foot position on the rower should be relative to your height? The taller you are, the lower your feet need to be to the ground. If your foot position is too high, your legs will limit your stroke length at the flywheel. If your feet are too low, your leg drive won’t be optimal. Once you find a position that is good for you, setup on this every time you jump on a rower and create consistency.

Damper Setting

As you pull on the rower handle, it pulls the fan (flywheel) inside the rower. The damper will control the amount of air that is pulled into the fan on each stroke. A low damper setting will allow less air into the fan, which makes it easier to spin. The converse is true if you increase the damper setting, more air is allowed in the fan, which makes it harder to spin the fan. The more air that the fan takes in, the quicker the fan will spin down. Think of it like rowing a boat on the water. The heavier boat correlates to a higher damper setting. It takes more powerful strokes to get the heavy boat moving quickly whereas a light boat would require quicker strokes with less force. Again, this is something that you will want to play around with to get comfortable with and it will depend on the workout. A lower damper setting will hurt the lungs more and a higher damper setting will tax the muscles more. Think about what other movements you are doing in the WOD and experiment.

Rowing Pace

Now that you have a good feel for how to setup on a rower, you want to find what a good pace is for you. This is probably the most important thing to get right when there is rowing in a workout. A rower can turn into a torture device pretty quick if you pick a pace that is too fast. A good way to find a pace that is good for you is to row 500 meters as fast as you can, while keeping the pace on the rower within a 5 second window. If you try it one day and start your 500m at 1:50 and end at 2:15, don’t count this. Come back another time, start your pace at 1:55 and see if you can complete the 500m without going over a 2:00 pace. Once you find a pace that will push you in a 500m and maintain a 5 second window, you can use this as your baseline pace. It will depend on the workout that you are doing, but if the workout has a shorter row, say 250m, try and stick with your baseline pace. If the workout calls for a longer row, you will want to slow down your pace. Again, this will take a little trial and error before you find something that works for you on short and long workouts. Either way, if you have other movements in the workout and you push too hard in the row, it will take much longer to recover before you can jump back on the other movements. Try slowing your pace by 5 or 10 seconds to feel the difference in your recovery and see if you can get back to the other movements quicker.

Rowing is a trial and error exercise to a see what works for you, but once you get the foot position, damper setting, and pace figured out, you will hopefully feel more comfortable when a rowing workout is announced. You might even come to enjoy them. Good luck testing!

Each month Overland Park CrossFit recognizes a member who exemplifies our values and motivates others in the gym to push themselves with encouraging words. January’s Athlete of the Month is Louis Palma. We consider ourselves lucky to have a hard working, consistent, and positive athlete like Louis represent OPCF! Learn more below about Louis!

1. What were your thoughts after your first CrossFit workout?

Holy sh*t I’m not in shape.

2. What has been your favorite workout?

 

3. What is your favorite cheat meal?

Chips. I love chips.  Man, do I love chips.

4. Where do you work?     

TD Ameritrade.  I manage mobile trading. 

5. What do you like to do outside of work?

Spend time with my family.  I have a 4 year old (Wesley), and a 3 year old (Lucy).  They are the best things ever.  My wife is pretty great too.  I love movies and TV as well.  I’m working on becoming a professional screenwriter as well.

6. What advice would you give a newbie just starting at OPCF?

Scale everything.  Learn proper form, then increase weight and reps.  Seen too many people blow themselves up.  Start slow.  No need to go 6 days a week in your first month.

7. What is your favorite lift?

Snatch.  When you do it right, which is rare for me, it’s effortless and a thing of beauty.

8. What’s your biggest “GOAT”?

Pistols and hspu’s.  My knees hate pistols and hspu’s are just awful.  Maybe because I’m too lanky.  All I know is I hope I never see myself do a hspu.  Its got to look ridiculous.

9. What changes have you seen in yourself since starting at OPCF?  

Going back to my answer on question 1.  I’m now in shape!

10. What is your biggest improvement or proudest accomplishment thus far?

My proudest accomplishment is that after 7 years I’m still able to do CrossFit and hit a PR or two every now and then.  I love CrossFit.  I hope to do it forever.

11. What is something you have always wanted to do but haven’t yet?

185 snatch.  I’m getting it this year… hopefully before Vince.

Living in middle of the U.S. we get to experience all the seasons.  How lucky are we?  Well, maybe we’ll ask again during those perfect two weeks before and after summer!  Regardless, right now it’s January, and its football season which means two things, cold weather and the Chiefs made the playoffs.  Everyone (minus those few who root for others) in Kansas City are excited and most likely already knows where they’ll be watching the game this weekend if they aren’t the lucky few in a suite at Arrowhead.  Yes, I said suite as the rest of you that will be in the freezing rain are what we call “die hard” fans!  Power to you!

If you are like the majority of us and have a watch party to go to, I’m sure you are looking forward to watching the game with friends and family but also looking forward to all the good food that comes along with it.  But my question to you is, why does socializing always have to mean crushing your diet to the point where you have to say “I’ll start again Monday”?  What if I told you I found the perfect chili recipe to go with cold weather and a Chiefs win?  Not to mention, it’s also very easy to make.

So put on your Chiefs gear, and bring something to they party that not only tastes good, but is good for you.

Turkey Chili Ingredients:

• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• White or Yellow Onion
• Garlic
• Ground Turkey
• Petite Diced Tomatoes
• Tri-Bean Blend
• Jalapeño
• Paprika
• Black Pepper
• Dried Oregano
• Chili Powder

Get the full recipe and instructions here.  Added bonus, along with the recipe, the macro breakdown is also provided and it’s a great balance of a high protein, low carbohydrate, and low fat meal.

GO CHIEFS!

source: www.tigerfitness.com

As we begin another year, many of us take this time to reflect on the prior year and make goals for the upcoming year.  Maybe you have already made your goals for 2017.  Maybe you have already forgotten about or broke your goals.  This is ok, but I am challenging you to go back and look at your goals, if you have broken them, and make them SMARTer.  If you didn’t make any goals, now is the perfect time.

S – Specific

In order to be a goal, it needs to be something that is specific.  As CrossFitters, there are many movements/exercises that we might not be proficient at.  Instead of saying, “I want to be better at CrossFit”, choose one movement or skill and make that part of your goal.

M – Measurable

In order for you to know if you reached your goal, it needs to be something that you can measure.  Saying, “I want to lose weight”, is not something that is measurable and is much harder to follow.  Instead, make your goal something like “I want to lose 5 pounds.”

A – Achievable

One of the issues that many people make when setting goals is to make something that is not achievable.  They want to go from the bottom to the top overnight and this becomes very frustrating or difficult and results in dismissing goals.  It is a great idea to have a large goal, but it is more achievable to make smaller goals for each day, each month, or each quarter and build up to your final goal.

R – Rewarding

Make goals that matter to you.  Ask yourself questions like “is this worthwhile?” and “will I be better when I reach the goal?”  Goals should be something that change how you feel, think, act, etc. for the better.

T – Time bound

Goals should have a start and an end.  With this being the beginning of the new year, the beginning can be now and the end can be the end of 2017, but it doesn’t have to be.  You can set goals for just one month or a few months, but each goal should have a beginning and end.

If you are setting goals for 2017, remember that it is easier to follow goals if they are SMART.  Don’t be afraid to break a large goal into smaller chunks.  If your goal is to get a muscle-up by June 1, make smaller goals between now and that date that you can achieve like a specific amount pullups, ring dips or transition work to do each week.

Now that you have your goals ready for the new year.  Write them down and put them in a place that you will see them and accomplish them.  Hope all of you have great 2017 and you accomplish your goals.

Growing up I was forced to play every sport until I reached high school and then at that point I could “decide” what I wanted to play and/or participate in.  I could never understand my parents reason for putting me in sports or activities that were clearly not for me.  Let’s be serious, running track as an overweight adolescent, probably not going to win any medals there.  But looking back, was it really about that or was it more about seeing what I was capable of?  Ok, so I got last in a race, but I also ran that race a minute faster than the year before, isn’t that a “win” as well?  Of course, if I also happened to beat someone, all the better for the ego booster!  But the fact is in “competing”, there is always something you can win at and/or gain.

In saying that, many of us that CrossFit, whether at Overland Park CrossFit, or some other box, are not participating in this sport/activity to compete at an elite level but more to put ourselves all too often into the “probably not going to win any medals” category.  But again, even if you don’t win a medal, can you still be better than you were at a workout than you were the year before, or maybe now you can climb a rope.  Isn’t that something to strive for?  Can’t that be enough of a win?  CrossFit is about becoming the best version of you and sometimes that means you might when a WOD and sometimes you might just beat “yourself” and both are something worth celebrating!

The beauty of CrossFit is that it continually gives you the opportunity to “compete” in whatever capacity you want, with yourself, with others, against the clock, etc..  We, at OPCF, believe in seeing what you are capable of and providing that opportunity to our members and the community in a fun and welcoming environment.  With that being said, OPCF is going to kick of the new year right by hosting The World Wide WOD, on January 7^th!  This fun event is done with your fellow OPCF community and other people within KC and around the globe.  You’ll complete 3 WODS (Helena, Karena and Grace) which are done each year at this event.  There are many scaling options for each WOD and if you have done this event in the past, you will be able to see how you did year over year.  If you happen to be the competitive type, there will also be one leaderboard populated during the event, and you will see how you stack up against the entire world.

Interested in joining us January 7^th for the World Wide WOD?  You can find more details and scaling options here.  Not a member of OPCF? No problem!  ANYONE is welcome to participate, and all fitness levels can participate.

Date/Time:  January 7^th at 12pm

Where:  Overland Park CrossFit

Register Here!

Remember, The World Wide WOD isn’t about the “medal” it’s about you finishing the WODs and giving everything you’ve got!

Each month Overland Park CrossFit recognizes a member who exemplifies our values and motivates others in the gym to push themselves with encouraging words. December’s Athlete of the Month is Lauren Tkachuck. Lauren is the epitome of what we look for in member.  She is consistent and works hard in the gym, but is also kind and welcoming! Learn more below about Lauren!

1. What were your thoughts after your first CrossFit workout?

What time tomorrow?

2. What has been your favorite workout?

Annie!

3. What is your favorite cheat meal?

A sweet treat of any kind. I’m in a constant battle with my sweet tooth.

4. Where do you work?     

I’m a dermatologist, currently with College Park Family Care Center.

5. What do you like to do outside of work?

Spend time with my hilarious husband and energetic toddlers.

6. What advice would you give a newbie just starting at OPCF?

Gotta stick with it for 6 weeks.

7. What is your favorite lift?

Don’t make me choose! I really love all lifts.

8. What’s your biggest “GOAT”?

Ring muscle up. It was my New Years resolution 4 years ago….3 pregnancies later I still haven’t gotten one yet!.

9. What changes have you seen in yourself since starting at OPCF?  

I’ve made huge improvements in my Olympic lifting.

10. What is your biggest improvement or proudest accomplishment thus far?

I’m so thankful I have been able to CrossFit for over 5 years now, all the way through multiple pregnancies. I really believe CrossFit has helped me deliver healthy babies and recover quickly.

11. What is something you have always wanted to do but haven’t yet?

Travel somewhere in Europe!

How many times have you found yourself relapsing back into bad nutrition habits? You were doing so well, you felt great, you felt like you finally got the hang of this nutrition thing.  Then all of a sudden, that one donut or one bowl of Mac n’ cheese caused you to spiral down into a world of bad nutrition choices and feeling like getting back into healthy eating is impossible. How many times have you started a nutrition plan cold turkey and a week or even a few days later find it hard to stick with and just give up? You’re not alone! Even people with strong will power and discipline find themselves in these situations, after all we are human! The hardest part about getting out of these ruts is getting back into it. It’s important to set yourself up for success that will help you ease back into healthier habits and better choices. Over the years of learning the hard way, I’ve been able compile a few tips that have helped me ease back onto the bandwagon of healthy eating. Start with a few goals that are easy to achieve and keep building on that. Create that foundation that will lead to long lasting habits!

Start with water consumption

Often times when we relapse into bad nutrition habits, it gets harder and harder to remember to drink enough water. It’s easy to think that taking in other beverages like coffee, soft drinks or juices are a decent substitute for water. There’s that downward spiral again.  You start filling your day with more and more cups of coffee and less and less cups of water. It’s bad enough that most of us don’t drink the minimum required amount of water that our bodies need to function properly as it is. I have found it easier to start making better choices with this small achievable goal: drink at least 8 glasses of water a day for a week. Tailor the amount of water you take in to your lifestyle. Make sure it is an easy goal you know you can conquer. At the end of the week, you should feel like you accomplished a step in the right direction, now you’re ready for another challenge!

Add all the veggies

The hardest part of eating a balanced and healthy diet for me has always been consuming a good amount of vegetables. Especially since our meals these days have become less colorful and more neutral, looking like the color of processed carbs. When was the last time you had green, red and orange assorted vegetables on your plate? When was the last time you ate a vegetable other than the standard everyday green beans? Start another goal to include vegetables into every meal as your carb source. Be creative, think outside the usual and everyday veggies. I make my goal to have 50-75% of my meal plate to be compromised of vegetables for a week. Again, make this a goal you can achieve and tailor it to something you are able to accomplish for a specific amount of time. At the end of the week you should feel great about accomplishing your goal and you’ve created a foundation for a good habit.

Cut something out

That downward spiral of bad food choices always starts with that first donut. Then it’s easy to make that one harmless donut a habit of many donuts. A habit that you don’t need in your life. It’s time to condition yourself to cut that bad habit out and start the foundation to know that you don’t need that unnecessary calorie anymore, you can live without it. If it’s not a donut then I’m sure it’s something else. Something that you are incorporating into your everyday life that has become a unneeded habit. Let’s get rid of it! Pick that one thing that you want out of your life and challenge yourself to cut it out of your diet for a week. Whether it’s the trip to Starbucks everyday for that pumpkin spice latte or the daily Diet Coke with your lunch, rid yourself of that habit. Again make sure you set an achievable goal. If you need to wean yourself off of it gradually, set smaller goals with shorter timeframes until you get rid of that nasty habit for good!

Stay consistent

It feels good to set goals and feels even better when you achieve them. It’s hard when you hit set backs and road blocks. Make a commitment to yourself not to head down that out of control spiral. Whatever goal you set, if you do happen to relapse, its ok. You’re human. Make a promise to yourself to be consistent by making sure that one cheat meal or bad food choice does not set you back and prevent you from achieving your goal. It’s not the end of the world, get back into it and make sure it doesn’t prevent you from creating that foundation of being a better you. Make that next meal or next choice one that aligns with the goal that you set and don’t look back! If you do happen to make a bad choice, set a goal to make sure the next meal is back on track with your previous commitments.