Hello!

Apparently my sickness has decided not to leave me quite yet and is manifesting itself in all sorts of tissue piles around the house.  It’s really more of an annoyance, so I will keep on keepin on. I spent last night with a box of tissues, eggnog tea, and Love Actually. Maybe this sickness isn’t half bad.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Atlas Performance.  I was recommended to try them out by someone at Sweat on State, so since I had been eyeing it on my ClassPass roster, I signed up. I took their MetCon class, which according to the description on ClassPass is:

• MetCon is a true embodiment of Atlas as a whole, fusing together the longer, endurance style structure of the fitness side, while incorporating the format and metabolic conditioning of CrossFit workouts.
• Perfect for fitness athletes that are curious about CrossFit, but aren’t ready to commit to Elements quite yet. Also, an option for the fitness athletes that want to ramp up the intensity of their workouts.
• A great alternative for CrossFit athletes that need to take a day off from heavy loads, but still want a workout that will leave them writhing on the ground like only a true MetCon can.

What caught my eye was that this class is for people who are curious about CrossFit but haven’t made it their mantra like many people do.  I also have no idea what Elements is (and still don’t), so I knew this class was probably for me.  I always love a class with increased intensity and I liked that it was described as an alternative to CrossFit with less heavy loads.

I was impressed by the size of Atlas when I arrived.  There are basically two gyms (boxes?) here: the one on the left is for CrossFit and the one on the right is for CrossFit fearers like me.  Granted, I love the idea of CrossFit but I know my body and I know I would seriously injure it. These CrossFit-style workouts minus the Olympic lifting are perfect.

Here is an unartistic shot of where you enter the right side.

The workout was intense and I was sore for 2 days afterwards.  In typical CrossFit fashion, there was a WOD (workout of the day):

To decipher:

5 rounds

• 5 hang power cleans (45/35 = the recommended weight for men and women, respectively. I used 20 lbs)
• 10 pull ups
• 30 air squats
• 14 min cap to do these 5 rounds

EMOM (every minute on the minute) for 10 min

• 6 dumbbell thrusters (45/35, still did 20 lbs)
• 6 burpees

AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) for 12 min

• 20 kettlebell swings (55/35)
• 20 wall balls (20/14, I did 8 lbs)
• 20 push ups

The first section was manageable and we were all done well before the 14 min cap.  The second round required a lot of people to decrease to 4 thrusters and 4 burpees because we weren’t getting enough rest before the next minute started.  The last round definitely took it out of me between the wall balls and follow up push ups.  We were able to rest when needed, so I broke those two down into 2 sets of 10 with a short rest in between.

I loved this workout.  It was a perfect blend of cardio and strength and I was able to learn a couple new terms and exercises.  I am definitely planning on taking another class here before the month is up!

Questions:

• Do you like CrossFit? WTF is Elements?
• What are some of your workouts lately?
• What movie should I watch tonight to combat my sickness?