- New PR:
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Saturday was the grand opening of Crossfit RTP, which is a new gym where
a few of my friends will be coaching. I rode my bike down there (about 9
miles) to check out the space, and play with their equipment.
They have a cool space, a small staff of knowledgeable coaches, and some
great toys. First, and most excitingly to me, they have jerk boxes! For
those who don't know, jerk boxes are essentially a pair of platforms that
you can put a barbell on to raise it up off the ground while you stand in
between them. They are adjustable in height, and let you practice the jerk
without having to clean the weight off the ground. My home gym, Crossfit
Durham, is going to be getting some soon, but this was the first time I've
gotten to use them.
They also have a Concept 2 Slide, which is a little slide that you put the
rowers on top of so that when you pull, rather than moving your body back
and forth, you are moving the rower, while your body stays in place.
Supposedly, it makes it more like being on the water. It was pretty fun to
play with. Probably not an essential piece of equipment unless you're
planning on getting into actual on-water rowing, but cool nonetheless. One
benefit is that it encourages good form by making an uneven recovery bounce
everything around, so it's a good form-checking tool.
They do have one squat rack that is a little bit dodgy. It's got this weird
platform underneath it that you stand on while you're racking the weight,
but have to step off to squat. It's also got rack pins that are too long,
so if you put the weight down too far out, it could potentially tip over.
Finally, it's got these two upright handles that serve no readily apparent
purpose, but get in the way of putting the pins in at most heights that
would be useful for shorter folks.
Plans are in motion to DIY that sucker into a far more useful state. I
think angle grinding off the handles and removing the platform shouldn't be
too hard. The over-long pins is a problem still in search of a solution,
but in the meantime, they have plenty of other squat space in the gym.
While I was there, I squatted 285 lbs for 3 sets of 5, then jerked up to 185
lbs + 5 kg, as Liz Selbst insists I should write it (or 196 lbs), which was
a PR, and then tried for 201 lbs three times. I got it overhead a couple
times, but had to press it out at the end. I wasn't trying to hit a PR, as
I haven't been doing too well with my jerks lately, but everything felt
good, so I just kept adding weight. Then I rowed 500m on the C2 using the
slide in 1m48s, which is decent, but not a record for me. The first hundred
meters or so were slow because I was trying to figure out the slide.
I'm looking forward to seeing this place grow. I'm sure they're going to
have great programming and great coaching.
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