Athlete's Community & Culture, CrossFit Akron

I Can

have fun

Really challenge myself ‌ and still

with it.

&

I Can better

Do than that dude over there.

At h l e t e ’ s Community & C u lt u r e March, 2013

I Cangoal Make it to that Just. Keep. Going.

Issue 9

YOU Can I Can The .

Have a blast with

part of a

friends & be supportive community

Join

OPEN.

I Can Answer the call to

compete.

Over 70,000

people

worldwide will participate

Registration is open.

March 6 6— —April 7, 2013

Contents

The Team

CrossFit Open: Registration

2

Founder

Words from Felber

4

Josh Felber

Team Member Bio: Erdem

5

Bod Pod

5

Coach’s Tip: Mental Toughness

6

StrongMan Highlights

7

Welcome On-Ramp Grads

8

Member Transformations

11

Why I Coach: Dan Bell

12

Upcoming Events

14

Q & A on The Open

15

Private Skills Sessions at CFA

15

Katie Middendorf

Nosh on This

16

Intern Coaches

Coolest & Newest: Project Hydrate Coconut Water 17

Coaches Jamie Grigas Jason Elrod Nate Napolitano Cindy Virdo Dustin Shaffer JP Lytle Hannah Whitman Aaron Whisman Eric Wiilson

Media Coordinator

Emre Erdem Holly Waters-Williams Ryan Snyder

What We Saw Last Month

18

A Little Something to think about…

“if you are not going to push yourself, then who will?”

- anon.

Contact us @ 330.664.9671 or crossfitakron@gmail.com. For more information on CrossFit Akron, go to www.crossfitakron.com

Words ONWARD CrossFit Athletes!

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.

So says Abraham Lincoln.

I agree. We need time to make our visions, our dreams, a reality.

Our growth as a box and a community, our footprint of sharing and giving, the intensity of our support for each other and the small victories has grown exponentially over the past two and a half years. It is shadowed only by our commitment to you, our Athletes, as Coaches and Staff.

It is an honor and a privilege to share the journey of making your visions, goals and dreams a reality with you. It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens with hard work, dedication, commitment and consistency. But it will happen. We. Are. On. The. Right. Path. Together.

I speak for our entire team when I say that we realize the trust you place in us to train and transform your body and mind: nutritionally, physically, mentally. We help you find ways to achieve your goals whatever they may be-however they may evolve. Remember in the end, though, we give you the tools and support. It is you who makes it all happen.

That’s HUGE. We get it.

It’s why we are committed to providing the very best to our athletes … to be ten times better for you than any other resource to which you could possibly reach out.

That’s CFA.     

The highest skilled, qualified, full time coaches in the region.

Specialized programming to meet your specific needs.

The equipment and facility beyond others that enables you to pursue your fitness, strength, wellness, weight, time or whatever numbers you are reaching for right now.

Nutritional guidance, goals mentoring, specialized workshops, and industry experts.

Soon to add chiropractic and mobility support for our athletes as well.

Now is the time to keep pushing yourself. Great things are coming. There is no tragedy in not reaching a goal. The real tragedy is in having no goal to reach. So embrace each day as it comes, one at a time. Set small goals, take steps each day towards you vision and dreams.

They can be real. We will give you the strength of 10 x 10 more.

Yours in Good Health, Coach Felber

TEAM TEAM--MEMBER BIO: Emre Erdem Intern Coach Born in Durham, NC, while my father was completing his PhD. I moved to Ankara/Turkey at the age of 3 once my father completed his studies.

I came back to States 25 years later with my brother and we have been living in Akron for the past 2 years. He is also here for his PhD and is a new athlete at Crossfit Akron. I, on the other hand, am a semester away from completing my Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology at the University of Akron and am an intern coach at Crossfit Akron.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Baskent University Ankara/Turkey and worked as a journalist in a local TV station before coming to the States. I have always had interest in sports. I played handball in junior high, played soccer (JP, set up a match man…) in the University and am interested in martial arts.

CrossFit has changed my perspective towards sports. I worked out as an endurance athlete at different gyms for the past 5 years and then I came across Crossfit Akron.

That was a definite changing point in my life and here I am.

WOD – “War of the Day” I consider our workouts at Crossfit Akron, as the title above. This mindset helps me achieve my goals and strive for new ones. I consider the workouts as my personal war, give everything I have, never give up and never lie down at the end of the WOD :) “No guts no glory!” I’m more than happy to help in any way I can and hope to see you soon…

Body composition through Air Displacement Plethysmography for research, clinical and sport applications  Gold Standard accuracy using whole-body  densitometric principles  Excellent test-to-test repeatability  Fat and fat-free measurements  Fast test time (2 minutes inside BOD POD and about 5 minutes total test time)  Safe, non-invasive, and ideally suited for frequent testing  Flexibility in testing special populations, including young children.

Call or ask at The Box the next time you’re in.

Another tool provided by CFA to measure your fitness and progress.

Plan to hop in the Pod every 90 days to track your muscle and bodyfat.

Accurate, private and quick.

No pinchers here!

Coach’s Tip: Mental Toughness is one of the most important things in a workout.

What does it mean to be mentally strong? I believe it's the ability to have a plan and stick with it on matter how impossible it might seem. In life or in a WOD. Obstacles come up and we think it might be impossible to overcome them, but that's when we need to focus on the task before us and ignore all the distraction around us.

It's not just going to happen over night it's something we need to work on everyday. Here are some tips that I found to help. 

 



Start off at the right level. A beginner needs to experience success, not failure. Therefore, use proper scaling. Set up yourself and others for success. No one gets better by constantly failing. It won’t help to get injured either.

Push the limit. Always try to better yourself by setting realistic challenges.

Commit to your workout. Plan your workout, prepare and then do it. Quitting is not an option unless there’s a risk of injury. Every time you succeed to follow your plans, you’ll get tougher. Every time you quit or change your plans, you’ll get mentally weaker and more prone to quitting and changing plans.

Train yourself at observing thoughts and feelings. Learn to recognize your normal thought patterns during strenuous exercise. If you normally get thoughts trying to negotiate a change in your workouts ...“Maybe three laps is enough today, I have to save some energy for tomorrow” … try to recognize those thoughts, but don’t buy into them. Thoughts are just thoughts—no more, no less. If you work on this you will see a drastic change in your workout.

Try it out next time your working out and you want to drop the bar or you don't think you can do one more burpee. Pprove yourself wrong and keep on going. Overcoming tough situations builds confidence in yourself knowing you can accomplish anything you never thought you could.

Its your workout Don't be worried about what your neighbor is doing.

Do your best and you will see the results.

Coach WhITMAN CFA COACH, L L11 Certified

- Coach Hannah Whitman

Strongman Throwdown CONGRATS Jamie & JP For winning your divisions!

And Janine for Tying for first first!!

Kudos to all participating athletes. Thanks to the community who came out to show support and to Rob Orlando and Hybrid Athletics for the CHALLENGE CHALLENGE!!

Want local exposure to hundreds of passionate athletes focused on their health and well being?

Contact Katie@crossfitakron.com for details.

Welcome OnRamp grads! New fac

Bryan Oden

Myra Mark

BrittNiE Go-

Brittany Page

Alise Campbell

Christina Vaughn

James Summitrall

Nade Danals

Susan Rogers

Fiona Williams

Che Thomas

ces you’ll be seeing around the

box:

Arisca DrooG

Baron Rodgers

LeAndrea Bennis

Lindsey Kanis

Melissa Smith

Miles hlivko

Baron Rodgers

Signe Lavdina

Alex petroski

Sierra Baxter

April Burr

Jesse Riddle

Welcome North OnRamp Grads!

New faces you’ll be seeing around the box:

Angie Hawkins

Alise Campbell Julia Provenzano

88888888888888 Dr. Scott Hamler came to CrossFit as an avid runner but was looking to improve his over all strength and lower his running times running times. Running since college, he transformed his body.

Scott thought he wasfor in a long time and it was getting stale. He knew he needed to do But he’d been running great shape whenand he thought that he’d give CrossFit a try. Little did he know how something different, cameJudy Parkand then Jared Embick much oftoaCFAN— difference it would make.Megan Gillespie he took it to a He WHOLE started On Ramp on July 30, 2012 and hasn't looked back.

NEW LEVEL.

Not only does he have a new 5k PR, but his strength has gone through the roof. Both his snatch and clean are now triple digits! His body has been completely transformed, once again, through his hard work and the addition of a Paleo diet.

Scott is a true testimony to the ability of CrossFit to help us evolve and bring out the best Corbin Sweat athlete in all of us.

Evan Fullerton TJ Mighton

Hannah James

Laura Grguric

Kevin Parsons

the

Athlete Transformations

This year, for our empowerment series, we set out to find a way to highlight athletes who found the fundamentals of CrossFit as skills they developed both in and outside of the box. They too have seen tremendous physical transformation and are now better, stronger, faster in everything they do.

Christina D’Angela

Outside of the box, Christina is a Marketing Specialist and travels regularly for her career. She’s acquiring quite a collection of Tees from Boxes around the country.

Prior to starting at CFA, my health was not a top priority for me. I smoked and had other habits that contributed to poor health. While I considered myself thin and toned, I wasn't CrossFit "fit." I did yoga regularly but I was bored and craving a "community" that I didn't think existed outside of team sports. Almost instantly, I was addicted to CrossFit.

I was bored and craving a “community” that I didn’t think existed outside of team sports.

I discovered what my body was capable of at CFA and developed a new found appreciation for it. CrossFit made me realize that my health is a top priority and I reevaluated those poor health choices I was making.

The greatest accomplishment I've made, which is a direct result of CrossFit, is finally quitting smoking. I will celebrate my one year anniversary as a Non-Smoker in March 2013. I feel great!

I feel like CrossFit has empowered me to break out of the "status quo" and explore opportunities, both personally and professionally, that I wouldn't have had the confidence to do before.

A pivotal moment at CrossFit for me, when I finally felt "strong," was when I completed the 31 Heroes WOD with my partner Kelly Green. I remember we were terrified to try it but finished 6 rounds in 31 grueling minutes; It was an absolute blast! I can't wait to do the 31 Heroes WOD again this year and RX it!

My CrossFit goals are to continually improve the proficiency of my Pull-Ups (Top Priority!), Ring Dips, and HSPUs and ultimately achieve a Muscle Up this year. Doing the Tough Mudder is also on my Bucket List (the electric shock, not so much).

One of the greatest characteristics of CrossFit is undoubtedly the Community. I travel across the country every week for work and I try to go to a new box at least once while I'm out of town. The ability to walk into an affiliate in a strange city and be embraced by a group of like minded and encouraging individual is something you will absolutely only find in the CrossFit community. My training at CFA gave me the confidence to do that.

I couldn't be happier that Josh, Jason and Jamie introduced CrossFit and this great community to me; I couldn't imagine life without it!

WOD & friendship

Christina dialed her life in in at CFA and is focused.

Rock it!

Featured Sponsor: Dan Bell is a USAW Advanced Level Certified Coach. He heads up Rubber City Weightlifting out of the CrossFit Akron box and offers coaching to CrossFit Akron Athletes. Deeper in spirit than the very squats he teaches, Dan shares with us why he is passionate about his career choice.

————————————Old coaches tend to get philosophical.

Over time we find that what we thought was important at the beginning of our careers has become less so, and things we paid no attention to at all become a vital part of what we do, even who we are.

When I was just starting out as a coach, I thought knowing the nuances of the sport I love and teaching those skills was the entirety of my job. Turns out that’s about ten percent of it.

The rest? Convincing people to try weightlifting, finding ever more effective ways to communicate, keeping people training and improving through the pressures of school, work, financial and rela-

tionship troubles; that takes up a lot of coaching time. Helping athletes overcome the roadblocks to progress that they have constructed themselves is a huge chunk of the job. We all have baggage that we drag to the gym with us. We all have demons nipping at our heels, trying to drag us back or pull us down.

I think it’s a good coach’s task to help an athlete transcend their own shortcomings and improve not only in their sport, but in their lives.

As a young coach, I wanted to be viewed as an expert. I invested a lot of time learning and making sure people knew that I knew stuff. I needed that validation. I needed to be respected. It was mostly about me. Over the years and with much experience, I’ve come around to making it about the athlete and their needs, their success. I’m much more secure in what I know and

how I teach, so I need less ego stroking. Now I just want to be with athletes trying to get better as weightlifters, and watching them grow and mature as athCoach Dan Bell letes and as people.

When you strip away the layers of Pittsburgh Barbell. They love the sport, emotional expression, you find that there but they love their athletes more. It is as are really only two root emotions. All important to them to be at one of their other emotions grow from these: love athlete’s weddings or graduations as it and fear. As a young coach I had to be an is to coach them at Nationals. expert out of fear of not gaining the respect of other coaches and When I was just starting Pay attention my own athletes, of being seen as out as a coach, I thought to your coachless. Over time I’ve let that go. knowing the nuances of es at your next This may sound overly sentithe sport I love and WOD. You’ll mental, but I really coach out of teaching those skills was see the intensilove. I love the people I work the entirety of my job. with. I love knowing them as peo- Turns out that’s about ten ty, of course, and passion ple as well as athletes. I find my percent of it. success and validation in their sucfor CrossFit, cess and growth. but if you look a little deeper, I think you’ll see affection as well. They I think all good coaches come around to are ahead of you on the path, but they this view. I think of people like John are growing, too.

Thrush of Calpians Weightlifting in Washington state and Regis Becker of

chiropractic

massage

All insurances accepted. $25 for CFA Athletes

mobility

Coming to CrossFit Akron April 1, 2013

Upcoming Events CrossFit Football Camp 2/4—3/19.

CrossFit Endurance Workshops Prep for the race season. Call The Box for Details The Arnold Fitness Expo March 1-3.

On Friday Coach Dustin Shaffer will be competing in the Olympic Weight Lifting event around 5 p.m. and on Saturday coaches Jamie, JP, and Jason will be doing the team competition. If you would like more information about the Arnold Classic click the link above. Join some friends and head down!

CrossFit Open March 6—April 7. Registration is open. Get it done.

WODS will be on Saturdays and possibly Thurs. Evenings.

USAW Women’s Certification CrossFit Open March 9-10.

Rock Tape Clinic April 27, Noon—4p $40. Registration will open next month.

Memorial Day Murph May 25 at CrossFit Akron. More details to come.

Grace Race May 27. Get out and run for a great cause. Link TBA

Check out our weekly ad in stores or online.

We have great coupons and even more savings HERE.

Q & A on the open.

What is the Open?

The Crossfit Open is the start of the road to the 2012 Crossfit Games. The Open consists of 5 workouts over 5 weeks from February 22 – March 25. The Open is for EVERYONE! Even if you have no desire to compete or are brand new to Crossfit – EVERYONE is able to participate in these weekly workouts. It’s an opportunity for you to gain an appreciation for your strengths, weaknesses and mental toughness.

Oh, I’m not ready for that.

Sign up and be a part of our team! Don't say to yourself, "I can't do that, I'm not ready." It's not all about the competition. Think about the CrossFit Open as a 5-weeklong-benchmark WOD! You participate this year. You see how you do compared to the thousands of people in our region. You have a ton of fun with our CrossFit Paladin teammates. Then, you participate again next year and see how much better you do! While others try to "recruit" and make "all star teams," we want to have fun with our very own CrossFit Akron athletes. This is a lot of fun and we hope you'll join our team!

I don’t want to go to California!

No one says you have to! Just be a part of the CFA

community. You’ll love it. We know it.

I can’t be there on Saturdays.

No problem. Just have one of the coaches count your WOD for you. You can fit it in during the week at the Box.

I don’t look like those people on ESPN, so I can’t.

Refer to points 2 and 3. No worries.

Private Skills Sessions

at

CFA

For many people, our CrossFit group classes will satisfy the need for superior fitness levels. Yet the group classes are not the ideal solution to every person and situation.

Whether you feel that you need a quick “jump-start” before you begin group classes, have specific goals, play a sport, or just feel the need for more personalized instruction, private skills sessions may be the best option.

Private Skills Session are great for those who…    

Need or want more individual attention Want to focus more specifically on one area of fitness Need to refine specific movements Nutrition Re-focus

Call the Box or ask the next time you’re in. Let us know what you’re looking for and if you’d like a specific coach.

We’ll help you make it happen.

NOSH

ON

The culinary stylings of CFA’er Ken Rocco.

THIS.

I take a very practical approach to cooking. I like to use as many fresh healthy foods as I can and cook several meals at once for the week. I divide them up and can even freeze some if I wish. I'm not a big fan of almond and coconut flour so most of my morning meals are eggs. I use a system of two.

This dish has eight eggs, eight slices of turkey bacon, can of diced tomatoes with jalapeños and a diced avocado. All mixed up with a little almond milk. Baked at 400 for 40 min or until set. Cut into 4 servings.

The egg dish is very versatile. You can put almost anything to eggs and bake it. I've used all kinds of veggies and meats! Not sure what to call it … other than GOOD. These McCormick Gourmet packets are a great healthy-semi-homemade approach to a weekly cook-up. The recipe is right on the packet. The bourbon spiced pork dish does have some brown sugar in it, but its amazing with the sweet potatoes and Fuji apples.

The bruschetta chicken is made with shredded broccoli instead of spaghetti.

All three dishes are prepared and baked in the oven all at once!

Bon appetite!

Try it. Take a Pic. Post it. Let us know what you think! Share other recipes! We wanna see what you have cookin’!

Post them on FB or send them to katie@crossfitakron.com

Developed by a small family of athletes, trainers, seals, olympians and coaches Project Hydrate is a 100% natural, coconut water infused and electrolyte enhanced sports drink with only 2 grams of sugar per bottle, loads of potassium, and no high fructose corn syrup syrup.

 



100% NATURAL CONTAINS NO HIGHFRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. LOADS OF POTASSIUM, SODIUM, AND A VAST ASSORTMENT OF ESSENTIAL VITAMINS AND NUTRIENTS

PROJECT HYDRATE WILL REPLENISH YOUR BODY WITH THE GOODS – NOT THE GARBAGE.

Project Hydrate Athlete: Phil Kniep For Phil Kniep, CrossFit is much more than a way to stay in optimal shape. It’s a sport that takes his body to the edge of its limits.

What the 28-year-old Lincoln, Nebraska resident loves is constantly training for the unknown. “You’re pushing yourself – not just physically, but mentally – to finish these workouts,” says Kniep, a top CrossFit athlete whose accomplishments include winning first place at the 2011 North Central Regional Reebok CrossFit Games. “I’m a very competitive person and this sport brings that element out of a person.

You’re always wanting to beat your old score – every single day.”

Thoughts? Ideas?

We’d love to hear them.

We appreciate your input, suggestions and ideas! So please be sure to share them with us. If it’s related to the newsletter, shoot Katie an email at katie@crossfitakron.com

What we saw last month...