SugarWOD RSVP and Check-In

As a reminder our members can view workouts, log results, interact with our gym community and manage their class reservations all in SugarWOD.

To reserve a class:

  • From the Schedule tab in the Schedule view, tap on the “+” button on the class (use the calendar at the top to go to a future date) > confirm your reservation by selecting Reserve Spot. 
  • Note: the “+” button will be disabled if the reservation window hasn’t opened or if it has closed, and if all spots are taken, including waitlist spots. It will also be disabled if the member has any blocking alerts on their account, such as an unpaid bill or unsigned document. Blocking alerts will need to be resolved through the Zen Planner Member App.

To check in for a class:

  • When the check in window for a class is open, you will see a check in button in the class card for that reservation. This action can be taken from the Schedule or the Reservations tab.

To cancel a reservation:

  • Navigate to the Reservations tab at the top of the page, tap on the “+” button of the class you want to remove, Cancel Reservation. This can also be done on the schedule tab by scrolling to the class you reserved and taking the same action.

Power of the CrossFit Community

The power of the CrossFit community goes a long way for many people.

The sense of community at Fern Creek CrossFit is unique; everyone knows one another, there is always someone to help with technique, you compare WOD results, discuss competitions etc.  This doesn’t happen in regular gyms, no one speaks to one another except to occasional ask “are you using this?” At FCCF you know names, life stories … you know the people, they are yours. But why is this community so important?

Social Support

The community at Fern Creek CrossFit always provides support. How often have you encouraged others that haven’t finished the WOD yet or even been cheered on yourself? Often people stay behind after they have finished their workout just to provide moral and verbal support to another Athlete.

The importance of social support is that it provides motivation. When we’re tired and are struggling to complete a workout we begin to doubt our ability to finish, having people encourage us gives us the belief that we can do it!

Without that encouragement, most probably wouldn’t put so much effort in.  CrossFitters always come together when facing tough workouts, we push each other to perform better and faster than ever before.

The support of the CrossFit community even affects us physiologically, changing the hormones in our bodies. Research at Oxford University found that working out in a group resulted in a greater release of endorphins than when working out alone, even when the same amount of work was done. Endorphins are chemicals in the brain that create a sense of excitement, exhilaration and happiness. The release of endorphins is what causes that high you feel when you finish a workout; sometimes known as a “runners high”.

Social Liberation – Power of the CrossFit Community

The Fern Creek CrossFit community is also special because it is full of like-minded people who think it is acceptable to give an all-out effort and train as hard as you want. In a traditional gym, if you carry out a 2k row with 20 air squats EMOM, you would get a lot of funny looks as you jump on and off the rower. Especially when you collapse to the floor afterwards trying to gulp in the air for 5 minutes after you complete your workout!

At Fern Creek CrossFit the community welcomes and encourages you to really test your ability to go all out! We can scream and grunt as we lift heavy weights, we can fall to the floor in a sweaty heap after using the Assault Bike, we can cry with frustration, even laugh at disasters.

This is a special environment filled with incredible people who think it’s ok to do what you want and will even try and help you achieve your goals.

Life Lessons from CrossFit

For the past 8 years I’ve been doing CrossFit.

Cool story, huh?

In the beginning, I wasn’t completely sure I could stick with it. So, eight years in, I feel like I’ve been committed enough to “own it” now.

I never wanted to be one of “those CrossFit people” who are constantly posting about and talking about how they do CrossFit. But on this side of my CrossFit experience, I can see why “those CrossFit people” are always posting about and talking it. The truth is, I love it! It’s one the most physically challenging thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. And the reality is, the more you do it, the more you realize that the rewards are about so much more than just the physical and athletic development.

So, for fun, here are some life lessons I’ve learned (or have been reminded of) through CrossFit.

Just Show Up

This has been my motto from day one. When my scheduled allowed, my preferred CrossFit class time was 11:30 AM. Now days, I settle in to 6:30 AM, with Coaching at 5:30 AM. I hate when my alarm goes off at 4:30 AM. And every time it does, a voice inside my head is doing its best to coax me back into bed: “You can take the day off. You’ll go tomorrow. Go back to sleep.” I have to mentally tell myself, “Just show up.” I know that if I can just get there, I won’t regret it.

This is the same with most things in life. We always have a voice inside our head trying to talk us out of the things that matter, and yet, we also have the power to fight that voice off. We may not always be motivated by the end result of something because it seems so far off, but if we tell ourselves to “just show up,” we’ve already taken a major step toward that goal—whatever it is.

Coaching Helps

One of the major elements of CrossFit is the coaching. At Fern Creek CrossFit, we have some wonderful coaches who are chalk full of valuable information. I also may be a little bias. Even as a Coach, If I’m not in a particularly good mood for some reason, it’s easy for me to ignore what the coaches are telling me, or to even get offended that they’d suggest I’m doing something incorrectly! But every time I open myself up to their wisdom, I see results. The truth is, coaching helps.

The same is true in life. As much as we’d like to think we can do things our own way, it often takes an outside observer to point out areas for potential growth and to suggest practical steps of development. If we aren’t open to coaching, we find ourselves ignoring the wisdom of those who have gone before us, and we get offended when they offer help. However, the moment we invite someone to speak into our lives, we allow our potential to be taken to new levels.

Community is Key

What brings someone to CrossFit is the workout; what keeps someone in CrossFit is the community. When most people show up at Fern Creek CrossFit, they have no idea what they are getting into. Most show up in regular clothes during a class, just to ask about what CrossFit is, and how they might go about signing up. Little do they know that all these people they are staring at in awe will soon become their teammates and biggest cheerleaders. I’ll never forget my first time one of the “pros” asked my name, welcomed me to class, and then encouraged me in my workout. From that point forward, I’ve found myself finishing workouts and lifting amounts of weight that I could never do on my own.

This point is very pertinent in life. While many different elements of life might bring someone to a particular spot, it’s always the community that keeps them coming back. The same is true in most aspects of life. Unless we surround ourselves with people who will constantly cheer for us and encourage us, we will never reach our greatest potential.

Excuses are Limitless

I can always think of an excuse to not go to CrossFit—the trick is listening to that excuse or not. “It’s too early.” “I’m sore.” “I’m tired.” “I’ve got a full day today.” “I’m just going to make this an ‘easy week.’” “I skipped a couple days already, so what’s one more?” This part of CrossFit is mental. I’ve learned that I must exercise my mental strength to get past these excuses, as much as I exercise my physical strength. And those are just the excuses to show up! There are even more excuses once I’m in class. “There’s no way I can lift that much.” “I’m not going to be able to finish this WOD.” “There are only 30 seconds left, so I might as well stop now.” Again, the difference is made when my mental strength allows me to ignore these negative thoughts in my head.

Life is full of excuses as well. Whatever your situation, you can always talk yourself out of it. Particularly as we give in to the temptation to constantly compare ourselves to others, we make excuses about why we don’t “measure up.” STOP DOING THAT! You can be great! You just have to get past the mental battle that is holding you back.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Keep Failing Until You Do

In CrossFit, I fail a lot. But honestly, I probably don’t fail enough. Failing isn’t fun, so I often stop just short of failing. The problem with this method is that I’ve probably missed some PR’s because I didn’t try “just a little more weight,” or “just one more rep.” On the other hand, when I have allowed myself to fail, I’ve recognized the things that I need to work on, and I’ve been able to improve as a result, leading to success at bigger, higher, and faster levels.

I wonder how much potential we eliminate in life by being afraid to fail? I bet it’s a lot! Instead, by viewing failure as an opportunity to learn, we keep pushing the envelope past what we know we are able to do, into the realm of surprising ourselves by what we are capable of doing. When we give ourselves permission to fail—or maybe even when we pursue the point of failure because we know it’ll help us grow—we find ourselves surpassing expectations, sometimes the expectations of others, and sometimes our own.

Humility

Prior to doing CrossFit, I had never worked out seriously or regularly in my life. In fact, that was one of my biggest excuses to overcome before starting: “I’m going to be so much weaker than everyone else there.” And you know what? That was true! I was so much weaker than everyone there. The key word is “was,” because once I humbled myself and gave in to that reality, I opened myself up to growth. Was it humbling? Yes! At times, I’d even try to set up my bar in the furthest corner of the box so no one could see how much weight I wasn’t lifting. CrossFit also has a natural way of reminding you that you are human. The moment I begin to think, “This is going to be easy,” I’m re-humbled by the challenge. But again, through humility I’ve grown.

Life can be humbling as well, right? There are experiences in life that level the playing field, reminding us that we are ultimately not in control. We can do our best to pretend we are tougher than those challenges, relying on our own “pretend strength” to fight through them (which never leads to growth), OR we can humble ourselves, ask for help when we need it, admit our faults and areas of weakness, and start the intentional process of growth—whether personal or professional.

The Perceived Problem is Not Always the Real Problem

One major thing that I’ve learned about physical fitness is that nutritional fitness is 80% of the challenge. While I might think to myself, “Wow, I’m just feeling weak today. My muscles must be fatigued,” the truth is, it’s probably my nutrition! The perceived problem is not always the real problem.

This is definitely the same in life. We often diagnose the problems we see based on just that—the things we can see. More often than not, there is something that lies deeper beneath the surface that is causing our perceived problem. The trick is being able to think abstractly and introspectively as we try to determine what is really going on. Often, it takes an objective third-party, like a therapist or counselor, to draw those answers out.

Don’t Worry About What Other People Think

This circles back to a couple previous points about humility, excuses, and community. Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to working out for those of us who haven’t done much of it in the past is the intimidation factor. When I first walked into CrossFit and saw all of those athletes doing hand-stand-pushups, pull-ups, box jumps, and throwing weighted barbells above their heads, my first thought was, “They are going to laugh at me.” As childish as this sounds, you have to understand, I was really weak when I started. I absolutely had to decide not to care what other people thought, or else I would have never given CrossFit a chance. Of course no one ever did laugh at me, but this temptation to care what others “might” be thinking (even though my mind paints it inaccurately toward the negative) is something I have to remind myself to ignore on a regular basis.

In life, I’ve found that the people who might struggle with this the most are also those who have some of the kindest hearts. It’s this same innate desire to please others that creates a person of compassion, but also a person who may tend to create false ideas in their own minds of what other people may be thinking. Sometimes we just need to throw those thoughts to the wayside and say to ourselves, “Even if they are thinking negative things about me, I’m not going to let their thoughts hold me back from my potential.” Depending on your personality, this is sometimes easier said than done.

So there you have it. I do CrossFit, and I’m proud of it.

Coach Erick

Consistency or Intensity: What’s more important?

Consistency or Intensity…which is going to get you to your goals faster?!

Especially this time of year where workouts can be harder to squeeze in between Holiday obligations, what will get you the most bang-for-your-buck for your fitness?

Right now, everyone can likely fall into one of the these three categories:

  1. You are consistent but lack intensity
  2. You have intensity but are NOT consistent
  3. You are consistent AND have intensity

One of them will produce results (but oftentimes much slower than we’d like), one of them will produce results quickly followed by the majority of us quitting because it isn’t sustainable, and one of them will produce results that are ideal for both our short and long term lifestyles.  Each one offers its own positives so let’s start out by acknowledging that doing any of the above is a good place to start!

But let’s break them down:

High Consistency, Low Intensity…

You show up 5 days a week, Monday-Friday.  You complete the workout at a “slow & steady wins the race” pace regardless to workout format (from a 20:00 AMRAP to 3 sets of 4:00 AMRAPs).  You dab some sweat off your brow and carry on with your day.

This consistency is great.  Showing up can be the hardest part so the act of getting in 5 days a week is a big success and will certainly help you see progress in the long run.

Yup, low intensity with high consistency will help you get fitter but it is going to take a while.

High Intensity, Low Consistency…

So if the prior means a long road for progress, this must mean instant results, right?!  Kind of…

Approaching your workouts with High Intensity will help you see faster results.  The science behind interval training supports a faster change in aerobic and anaerobic capacity, calories burned and overall cardiovascular fitness.

However, without consistency (showing up to class 1-2x per week and going 100% all out), your progress may be stunted by injury before anything else.

Giving 100% effort is tough and can make you feel more sore, leading to you needing a handful of days to recover before you feel like you can come in and do it again.  We don’t really recommend this strategy especially because random bouts of going all-out can increase your chance of injury.

So if we had to pick one over the other, High Consistency and Low Intensity is a better place to be than random consistency and High Intensity.

If you need a starting place, Consistency is where you need to begin…then we can work on Intensity.

Consistency and Intensity, in harmony…

Like we just mentioned, establishing a consistent routine is the best place to start.  Whether you are a super newbie or have been a member for a while, showing up consistently just makes you better.  Consistency can look differently for each person depending on your workout experience.  Anywhere from 3 days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) to 5 days a week can produce positive results.

Once you get the consistency down, we can add in intensity.

Generally, we don’t recommend coming more than 3-days in a row.  This is to help you continue giving your best intensity every session!

By day 3, your body is probably pretty sore, your nervous system is a fatigued and your overall energy levels certainly feel less than they did on Day 1.  So why push it directly into a 4th and 5th day?  Instead, taking a day off to rest and recover and then getting back to it the following day will help you feel better and keep your intensity higher!

Why do we even need Intensity?

We said that consistency in general is better than just intensity, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need intensity too!  Consistency will help you get those goals in the long run…your long-term, 1-year out goals can be reached through your consistent habits.  But sometimes it can be discouraging to stay the path and see the light at the end of the tunnel in the middle of that long-term timeline.

Intensity helps you take slightly bigger leaps to get you to that goal, shortening the timeline and keeping your motivation higher!  Sprinkling in Intensity throughout your consistent routine is the way to balance the two harmoniously.

If you are coming regularly on Mon, Wed and Fri, choose one of those days to be your High Intensity day.  That may mean scaling or modifying a workout to allow you to maintain a high-intensity stimulus.  Our coaches are pros in helping you figure out how to do that, so just ask them for help!

If you are a 3-on, 1-off, 2-on, 1-off routine person, 1 High Intensity day is also great and you can likely handle 2 days even.  You will be able to make the most of your High-Intensity days coming off of our rest days (so, Monday and Friday could be good days to get after it!).

So, get consistent, add intensity, and see your progress excel!

Official CrossFit Aerobic Capacity Course

Fern Creek CrossFit is proud to announce we will be hosting the CrossFit® Aerobic Capacity Course on Saturday September 24, 2022.

Join Chris Hinshaw as he details his proven training methodologies in this exclusive CrossFit® Specialty Course.

This CrossFit® Aerobic Capacity Course is appropriate for all coaches and athletes interested in learning simple and digestible solutions to build work capacity in all functional movements including weightlifting and gymnastics.

Participants will develop a thorough understanding of scientifically backed techniques to improve cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular stamina, and resistance to fatigue to maximize aerobic capacity.

To register, CROSSFIT SPECIALTY COURSE: AEROBIC CAPACITY, LOUISVILLE, KY, SEPTEMBER 24 (regfox.com)

Freedom, Independence, and Liberty

Contrary to the the title of this post, we are not discussing what you may think, instead we would like to introduce you to a new way of thinking when attacking your daily workouts.

This is our newly defined 3 tier workout levels. It is a simple system you can use to consistently “modify” workouts for how you feel that day. We are not looking to water-down workouts, but instead provide you daily options when it comes to loading, technical skills, and endurance.


The idea is to create simplicity and provide readily available levels/options that everyone can reliably go back to each class. Athletes may choose to move between the tiers as desired. We will create a stimulus for each workout while allowing everyone to do the workouts together, in the same class, as close to possible to the original stimulus.

We would encourage you to complete the workout as written in each tier, but also understand there may be additional needs to further modify the movements, loading, or repetitions in the chosen tier to accommodate other needs or concerns. Your Coach can assist you when the need arises to further modify one of the tier options.

Does this mean RX and Scale are going away? Not necessarily. First, our workout tracking software, SugarWod, does not support the multi tier system as cleanly as we would like. For tracking and historical data, only the Freedom track should be marked “RX” in SugarWod. For the time being, the other two tiers, Independence and Liberty, should still be marked as scaled.

There is a HUGE push in the community to change the way we look at RX versus scaled. As CrossFit continues to grow and age, we are seeing a shift in the general population of athletes. There are now more variables in the community and the method of tracking needs to improve to support the community. We all know various flaws in the RX versus scaled methodology. What we do not know is how to appropriately change it. Several options are being tested daily in CrossFit gyms across the world, we even saw some changes in the 2021 Open.

With the help and assistance of our Mayhem Affiliation, this is a start. Athletes will be able to see the additional tiers in SugarWod by clicking on the “Workout prep notes” link at the bottom of the workout description.

Freedom:

This tier is your typical “Rx’d” version of the workout. This is a great option for athletes who want to train all the typical skills we see in CrossFit and some of the heavier loads from time to time. The athletes that do this tier may want to train for the Open and/or other competitions.

Independence:


This option is tailored for the “Everyday Athletes” who want to lift and hit the metcon as close to Rx’d as possible, but without the full magnitude of load and skill. This is an excellent, consistent scale for Masters 45+ who want a consistent tier they can come to each workout.

Liberty:

This option will be our very basic workout for athletes just starting off or simply those that want to get a good sweat in. The focus will be on scaling movements, load, and/or equipment to make workouts as clean-cut as possible for athletes who just want to move without heavier loads and complex/skilled movements.

Example Scaling: “Amanda”

Freedom:
9-7-5
Squat Snatch (135/95)
Ring Muscle Ups

Independence:
9-7-5
Power Snatch (115/80)
Burpee Chest to Bar Pull-ups

Liberty:
18-14-10
Alternating Dumbbell Snatch (35/25)
9-7-5
Burpee Jumping Pull Up