New Athlete Packet Please take full advantage of all Rushmore CrossFit has to offer you. This packet will help you get started and integrated into the Rushmore CrossFit Community. Welcome to RCF.2 What is CrossFit? 2 Getting Started.3 RCF Mission.4 RCF Rules to Live By.4 Setting Goals...4 Safety 5 Nutrition 6 1
Online Resources...7 2
Welcome to Rushmore CrossFit Improving Your Fitness & Building a Community Congratulations on taking the first step towards a healthier lifestyle. Rushmore CrossFit is not just a gym. It is a community and lifestyle. Use this packet to help understand our training philosophy and transition you into your new commitment. We are here to help you, if you have questions ask! What is CrossFit? CrossFit methodology is constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements. The program focuses on broad, general, and inclusive fitness. CrossFit is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect program for any committed individual regardless of experience. We focus on 3 stages 1. Mechanics Proper form is a must! We want to ensure each person can perform movements safely and effectively. 2. Consistency Performing movements with proper form repetitively 3. Intensity Increasing the difficulty of the movement by adding weight or increasing speed CrossFit training is based on the following hierarchy. Excellence is built from the bottom to the top: 3
Getting Started On Ramp Course Our three day course is required for all new CrossFitters. During the three days you will learn the CrossFit foundation movements and exercises and build your fitness. Each course will include a warm up, a review and drill of movements, and workout at the end. Each class is approximately an hour long. Class Structure Each class will have at least one CrossFit Trainer on staff. Class starts promptly at the scheduled time, be sure to arrive early enough to change and be ready class. Class will begin with a guided warm up, then we will move to a strength or skill movement, and finally we will do the workout of the day (WOD), and end with a cool down phase. Classes will typically run the full hour. Warming Up Proper warm up is essential to preventing injuries. We recommend showing up to class a few minutes early to work on mobility and/or foam rolling troublesome areas so that you are ready for the group warm up at class time. It is important to never skip a warm up prior to performing an intense CrossFit workout. Your safety is our top priority, so if you have any questions about the warm up always ask a coach. 4
Scaling CrossFit can be scaled for everyone! Many new CrossFit athletes will not be able to start doing the workouts as prescribed (RX), and that s okay! Mechanics of a skill is the first element to learning CrossFit. Once the mechanics are learned correctly, then it is important to then work on consistency of being able to perform the skill well. Finally, you will increase intensity of the skill by performing the workout RX. If there is a skill that you can t do properly in the Workout of the Day (WOD), be sure to ask a trainer to scale the workout for you. If you are working out with any injuries, or if any movement is painful, please ask the trainer for a scaled move. Using TRIIB TRIIB is our web based athlete/gym management system.triib will track your workouts and help us to see progress and areas we need to improve upon. Upon membership registration a TRIIB account will be created and you will receive an email with login information. There is also a TRIIB App for Smartphone users. While we do not require you to make class reservations it is strongly recommended to reserve before class. If you do not reserve prior to class, you can sign in from the gyms kiosk. Be sure to register for text alerts through TRIIB. If the gym is closed for any reason we will send it out via text and a post to the Rushmore CrossFit Facebook page. Rushmore CrossFit Mission Our mission is to help improve people s lives. Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain muscle, improve your quality of life, or train for a sport, race or competition, we are here to help you reach your goal. Rushmore CrossFit Rules to Live By 1. We train as an individual, but workout as a community. We support, cheer, assist, push and motivate one another. The last one to finish gets the biggest cheers! Do not put your equipment or leave until your teammates are finished. 2. Put your equipment away! If you sweat, bleed, or cry on it, sanitize it1 3. Do not drop kettlebells or unloaded barbells. 4. Be responsible for your own fitness. Scale when necessary. Scaling is not a sign of weakness. 5
5. Do not cheat reps. Do every rep with solid technique. No one cares about your score, everyone cares if you cheated. Use a whiteboard to keep track of your reps. 6. Chalk is a privilege! Do not abuse it by using too much. 7. Personal Records will be celebrated! Ring the bell put your name on the whiteboard! Be Proud 8. Keep the gym awesome. Introduce yourself to new members, make new friends, and build the community. 9. Brag about your accomplishments! Share your testimonial on our Facebook page. You are getting into the best shape of your life! Have fun! Setting Goals Setting goals is just as important in life as it is in the gym. It will serve as great motivation. Start with where you want to be in the long term and what time frame you want to take to get there, then breakdown that into smaller short term goals. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time framed. Write them down. Keep in mind that weight is not always the best indicator of your accomplishments. CrossFit programming is designed to increase your lean muscle mass and decrease your body fat which may make the scale go up as your waist gets smaller. If you need help setting goals, ask any coach for help. Safety Rhabdomyolysis (Rhabdo) is a rare but serious health condition sometimes caused by working out at very high intensity. CrossFit workouts, just like all high intensity workouts, have the potential to cause rhabdo under the right circumstances. Rhabdo is very, very rare. But even though it s very rare, it s also very serious. If you feel terrible after a workout, then the next day extreme swelling and soreness starts, and then you start peeing brown urine you have rhabdo. This is not normal muscle soreness. CrossFit will make you sore sometimes very sore. Rhabdo will make you incapacitated, or close to it. Go to the ER immediately. This is no joke. It can be fatal if not treated. Rhabdo happens when your muscles break down to the point that muscle tissue enters your bloodstream. Your kidneys can t handle 6
this. They freak out and eventually shut down. This is how rhabdo can be fatal kidney failure. What are the Symptoms of Rhabdo? extreme muscle pain and soreness swelling difficulty moving the affected muscles weakness in the affected muscles dark urine (brown, cola colored) What should I do to prevent rhabdo? Gradually build up volume and intensity in your workouts, especially after a long break from exercise. Your first workout after a break in training should get your heart rate up and allow you to do some work, but it shouldn t be crushing. Even if you have been exercising regularly, jumping to a much higher intensity too suddenly can be dangerous. This doesn t mean that you should not work out at high intensity. This means that you should ramp up your intensity slowly, over several weeks or even months. Don t fear putting weight on the bar. Lifting heavy weight forces you to stop and prevents rhabdo. Rhabdo comes from performing way too many reps at a light to medium load. Listen to your coach. Your coach is your co pilot for training. When you press the gas pedal to the floor with reckless abandon, your coach is there to prevent a catastrophic crash. He can t ultimately control the vehicle. You re the pilot. But he will exert as much influence as you will allow. Give your coach information. Your coach doesn t live in your shirt pocket. He doesn t know that you drank a thimble of water over the past two days and ran a half marathon for fun after yesterday s deadlifts. 7
Hydrate before, during, and after your workout. Does that mean you should visit the water fountain during short metcons? Sometimes, If you hydrate adequately before your workout, then you probably don t have to visit the water fountain during a 10 minute effort. If you didn t hydrate well prior to beginning your workout, then you should indeed visit the water fountain as much as needed. Even if you and your coach does everything right, sometimes the perfect storm of circumstances can conspire against you. That s why it s important that you know the warning signs, symptoms, and what to do if you think you have rhabdo. Nutrition Nutrition is going to be key in the health and fitness journey. Fueling your body with the right nutrients will make you increase your stamina in your workouts. We recommend a you eat vegetables, especially greens, lean meats, nuts and seeds, little starch, and no sugar. That's about as simple as we can get. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. If you follow these simple guidelines you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition. The Zone Diet and Paleo diet are also commonly associated with CrossFit, they are a great way to base your guidelines for eating properly. If you have any nutrition questions please ask! We have several coaches with extensive knowledge in this area. Some great online resources for these diet plans are: http://www.crossfit.com/cf info/start diet.html http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/cfjissue21_may04.pdf http://nomnompaleo.com/paleo101 If you have any questions regarding nutrition, talk to a coach and we can steer you in the right direction. 8
Online Resources Rushmore CrossFit Website: www.rushmorecrossfit.com Rushmore CrossFit TRIIB site: www.rushmore crossfit.triib.com CrossFit Mainsite: www.crossfit.com Rushmore CrossFit Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/rushmorecrossfit Be sure to Like & Follow our Facebook page to stay up to date on any announcements and use the Check In option too! 9