Tips, news & views
Are you bored at the gym?Let's face it, the gym is always the most exciting place to be and truth be told, more people don't get the results they desire. So, why waste your time at the gym? The CrossFit Victoria Fitness Intensive is a structured, varied, scalable, intense series of group workouts held over a period of six weeks. It's held outdoors (although we have indoor facilities if it rains), no weight machines, no treadmills, no mirrors, just proven fitness training methods. "It's better than going to a gym. Training with a group of people makes you push a bit harder." - Garry, East Melbourne It's suitable for everyone, no matter the level of experience, physical condition or ability. We will scale the workouts so that you get the most benefit possible. We will have you doing things you didn't think you could and you will see results. "I am doing 200% more exercise than I otherwise would and am pushing myself much harder as part of a group than I would just heading out solo or even with a friend." - Heather, South Yarra The next intensive stars on May 7 and places are filling fast. Read on for more information or register now.
There's a lot of conjecture about whether the '300' workout is CrossFit or not. I think the answer is pretty obvious, but I'd like you to decide for yourself. Here's the '300' workout:
- 25 Pull-up
- 50 Deadlift, 135lb
- 50 Push-up
- 50 Box Jump, 24inch box
- 50 Floor Wiper, 135lb (one-count)
- 50 KB Clean and Press, 36lb (KB must touch floor between reps)
- 25 Pull-up
- 300 reps total
Here's CrossFit's Filthy Fifty:
- 50 Box jump, 24 inch box
- 50 Jumping pull-ups
- 50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
- Walking Lunge, 50 steps
- 50 Knees to elbows
- 50 Push press, 45 pounds
- 50 Back extensions
- 50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
- 50 Burpees
- 50 Double unders
- 500 reps total
Both are absolute killer workouts. Do you see any similarities? We are interested in hearing what you think.
Hey, we've finally found the time to produce our first video clip of our regular Sunday morning group classes. And here it is:
We'd love to hear what you think!
With the release of the movie ' 300' being imminent, we thought we'd tell you how the actors achieved their amazing physiques and athletic prowess. One word: CrossFit. Take a look at this video of the training that the actors undertook. It doesn't take a seasoned CrossFitter to recognise that the workouts are CrossFit. Some of the exercises presented in the video are ring push-ups, kipping pull-ups, tyre flips and kettlebell swings. Take a look at our workouts and you'll find these exercises regularly represented. The actors worked hard for their results, participating in high intensity, constantly varied workouts that elicit an amazing metabolic impact. There a only a handful of CrossFit trainers in Australia, if you want to train like a Spartan contact one!
One of the most common questions we get asked is "What should I eat?". The answer is very simple. The problem is the question. Most people really want to ask "Can I keeping eating what I like and still get fit and lose weight?". Let's assume that you really do want to know how to eat heathily. Here are some simple points: - Eat lots of vegetables
- Eat lean meat, fruit, nuts and seeds
- Avoid sugar
- Drink lots of water
- Don't drink a lot of caffeine-based drinks or alcohol
- If you can't pronounce the ingredients then don't eat it
- Eat organic and free range foods where available
That's just about everything you need to know to eat correctly. Everything else you may read is based upon these basics. Don't go crazy worrying about calories and proportions and all that stuff if you are still eating junk.
 Pukie The Clown is one of the favourite characters at CrossFit, but we fear that he is somewhat misunderstood. So, who is Pukie and what does he stand for? Pukie is a symbol. A character that shows character. Pukie shows you that you can push yourself just that little bit further. You can keep going until you find your limit. If you find your limit then you might just meet Pukie. Pukie's not such a bad guy, sure you may feel less than excited to meet him at first, but any meeting with Pukie makes you stronger. He's just that kind of guy. We don't want you to be scared of Pukie. We do want you to know that he's just around the corner waiting to meet you if you want to push hard enough. If you don't want to meet him that's up to you but we promise that once you've met him you're perspective will change greatly and you'll learn a whole lot about yourself. The rest - as always - is up to you.
Okay, it's only early days at present but we're pretty excited so we're gonna let the cat out of the bag. We are in the process of organising a fundraiser with the other Australian CrossFit affiliates. This is going to be BIG! We will be getting as many people together as possible and putting them through their paces with a day of Fight Gone Bad ( RealMedia video). While we push ourselves to the limit we will be raising funds for a worthy children's charity. We are hoping to have events in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Townsville all on the one day.  If you want to participate or you can help with organising the event, please contact us as soon as possible.
Well, it seems our regulars forgot that we were back on for this Sunday. Perhaps the Grand Prix had something to do with it, who knows? Anyhow, it was a lovely morning for a workout and the Johnson brothers, Andrew and Cam, took full advantage by putting in a cracking effort. We even named the workout after them, see daily workouts for all the details.  We hope to see more of you next weekend!
 We need a new quote for the back of the next batch of tees. If you submit an idea that we print, you get a freebie. It's that easy. Submit your ideas by clicking on the 'comments' link below (you need a Google account, but signing up is quick and painless.) Thanks in advance, Adam. PS - That's Fiona from CrossFit North Queensland upside down in Melbourne.
We at CrossFit Victoria have never shied away from the fact that we exercise hard and we expect our athletes to exercise hard as well. That said, we make sure that everyone is safe and appraised of the potential risks involved in high intensity exercise prior to moving a muscle. If you read through this site or any of our other literature you will know that we ensure all workouts are appropriately scaled to individual capabilities.  In the interests of ongoing honesty and the free sharing of information we want to present an article about Rhabdomyolysis. It's a rather long word for sure but it's also something that you should be aware of if you participate in high intensity exercise. The details of Rhabdomyolysis are covered in the article so we won't go into it here. Please read the article in its entirety before you draw any conclusions. As we said earlier, we've never been anything but honest about our workouts. They are tough and there is risk involved, but the greater risk brings greater rewards and can be contained with a little commonsense and an understanding of your abilities. As my uncle used to say "Don't get your abilities confused with your ambitions". Here's the article - Killer Workouts. Please post your thoughts to comments.
Lately, I've been writing a lot about the characteristics of success fitness trainees. So far, I've detailed accountability and consistency; today we are discussing persistance. Last week, I noticed a sign at my martial arts school that read: "The different between a black belt and a white belt is that the black belt never gave up." (I could be paraphrasing just a bit.) This sign got me thinking. We could pretty much say the same about all lengthy endeavours. High paid executives have stuck to their guns for many years and reap the rewards of huge salries; sports stars train for years to achieve Olympic gold. For the rest of us aiming to achieve lasting health and fitness persistance has a place too. If we choose to give up at the first sign of difficulty then we will never reach our goals. If we always choose the easy path then chances of us reaching our goals are very slim indeed. Achieving anything worthwhile takes consistency, accountability, determination and persistance. Stay on track and the results will come. Maybe not today or tomorrow but your persistance will pay off. 
Don't forget that we publish daily workouts! We'd love to hear about your experiences with these, so feel free to leave comments.
It's human nature to try and find the easy way, to cut corners, to do as little work as possible to get something done. Let's make something perfectly clear: your health & fitness will not accept anything less than your complete attention. If you want to achieve lasting health & fitness you have to work at it. Every single day! One reason people fail to achieve their health & fitness goals - and in fact many other goals - is lack of accountability. If there is no penalty to failing to achieve your goals then sometimes the motivation just isn't there. Think about it: if you continue to miss deadlines at work, you place your job in jeopardy. That's a fair motivator. Do you think that your health is any different? If you are having trouble sticking to your guns then it's time to get some help. Find yourself someone who will make you accountable, perhaps your partner, a friend or family member or maybe a professional. Empower this person to give you a swift kick in the pants - literally if required - if you fail to hit your targets or start to stray from your plan. This is just one way of being accountable for your actions. It may work for you.
You can now view our latest Blitz article in PDF format. (NOTE: the file is about 7.5Mb)
One often important aspect of success in any endeavour is consistency. We often know what to do, how to do it, when to do it and why. And we often actually do it every once in a while. But just as often we don't make a habit of it and don't do it consistently. What it is doesn't really matter, the theory still remains the same; if you don't do that something consistently then you are failing to gain the full benefit of whatevet it is. It may be an exercise. It may be a dietary habit. It can be anything you deem important enough to practice in order to improve. Approaching your endeavours in a consistent manner builds confidence. If you know things are going to happen the same way over and over then you can be confident of the outcome. Whether we are talking about lifting, running or non-exercise activities consistency will bring about results. Thanks to Peter at the VWA for inspiring this article.
Please note that there will be no Sunday training this coming weekend due to the Labour Day long weekend. Also, as Monday is a public holiday, the intensive class will not run.
Is there such a thing as too old? Some would say you're never too old. Others think they are old when they reach 30. We don't think that you are ever too old to make an effort regarding your own health and fitness. We have clients ranging from 20 years of age to 64 years of age. We dare you to tell any of them that they are too old. Some people thought that Randy Couture was too old when he recently made his UFC comeback at age 43. In his comeback fight he defeated the reigning heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (13 years his junior, with a 30cm reach advantage and over 20kg more weight). We dare you to tell Randy that he's too old. So, is your age just another excuse for you to do nothing? If so, it's a poor excuse. The latter years of our lives need not be time for us to simply fade out. We don't have to succumb to a frail existance simply because the years are adding up. If you are getting older, now is the time to make a few changes if your life. Get up, move around, try something new, think about what you eat and drink. Do more for yourself. In the end, it's up to you. If you so desire, you can take proactive steps that will make your life much more enjoyable as you grow older. (And you young ones should be starting now.) It's never to early and it's never too late.
I've got a confession to make. Today I saw some that caused tears to well up in my eyes (it's not something that happens that often). Why? Pure inspiration. Have you heard of Team Hoyt? They are a father and son team that has competed in over 200 triathlons (six at Ironman distance), over 60 marathons and they've also ridden across the USA. In fact, they've completed over 900 events together. Oh yeah, Rick - the son - was born with cerebral palsy and can neither walk nor talk. His dad Dick pushes (running and cycling), carries (transitioning) and pulls (swimming) his son through each event. If you want some inspiration, I recommend you sit down and watch this video. Now, take some time to think about your own situation. Have you been putting off your training? Is procrastination getting the better of you? I'm going to ask you again: what's your excuse? Get up, get outside, go for a run or get someone to push you along. Yours in health & fitness, Adam Stanecki.
 Thanks to our dedicated athletes who joined in for our Sunday session this week. All money raised is being forwarded to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (and we are throwing in a little extra. The workout was a variation on Fight Gone Bad (albeit a little less intense). Four rounds of (each for 60 sec): - Kettlebell swings
- Plank
- Lunges
- Jumping pull ups
Each round was followed by 60 secounds of rest. Sounds easy; it's not. 
 Our latest article titled "Are you CrossFit?" has just been published in Blitz Martial Arts Magazine. The article introduces the CrossFit methodology to the Australian martial arts community and explains its benefits and applications. A huge thanks to Don Stevenson of CrossFit Sydney for kindly supplying a few photos for the article. Thanks also to our athletes who appeared in some of our workout pics. If you buy and copy or read a friend's, please tell us what you think.
With the 6am group fitness intensive all but booked out, we are looking at running an additional session at 7am. All of the other details remain the same (well, we may have a later commencement date). So, who is interested in participating in a 7am group? It's first come, first served. More intensive info here.Call 1300 13 41 10 now if you want a piece of the action.
Tomorrow is Charity Day in the Park. Donations of $5 from each participant are going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. So, come down and make a difference to a child who truly needs to have a wish come true.
Maybe you read it already. Maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about. The CrossFit Journal is the premier web-distributed health & fitness journal. If you want to learn more about elite health & fitness, then do yourself a favour a purchase yourself a subscription. If you don't believe me then click on the image below and get yourself a FREE issue. 
If you've been um-ing and ah-ing about whether or not to join in on our six week intensive it's time to make a decision. There are only two spots left and we will run it without you if you don't call us soon. So, pick up the phone and call 1300 13 41 10 now. It's time you did something for yourself!
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