So I've only been going to CrossFit for a month now,twice a week. I've really been wanting to go more often to really feel the benefits, but I am supplementing workouts at the gym with my own CrossFit style workouts! After a month I've been wondering if going twice a week has really changed anything, SO... I went to my school's gym today and did **20** lbs heavier on the shoulder press machine! While it was just one machine, it gave me to reassurance/confidence/excitement to go harder at class every day (and by the way, I fully attribute that 20lbs to my training at CFLA!)

- Niki Marek, Student, UCLA

My kids attend classes and love every minute. It is all play to them and at the same time they are getting healthy exercise and absorbing life skills and values like teamwork, etc. - Alex B.

Our kids, eight and ten, have been going for six months now and they LOVE it. This is a real workout/conditioning class and they are super proud of their accomplishments. This is a great addition to any sport that your kids may already be doing. They are the strongest they have ever been and they look forward to going....In addition they learn about healthy eating. - Jackie T.

My daughter has been going to CFLAKids for nearly two months and she loves it. I love it for her. She is, in general, very athletic and coming here fosters her desire to be competitive, which is important to me. Girls should be able to let this side thrive, if they want it.. The classes make her stronger and faster and more able to enjoy the other sports she's involved in. And since the classes are fun, she doesn't even realize that! As a girl athlete, this is a place where she can just be her sporty self without an asterisk or over-mention of how strong she is or how tomboy -- or whatever else we often hear. At CFLAKids, my daughter can be exactly who she is. Her coaches encourage her to do her best, as they do with every kid who is in class, from beginners to the more advanced. CF encourages my daughter's confidence without making her a poor sport. CFLAKids not only offers an intense and fun workout each class, but they also spend part of the class going over concepts important not just to athleticism, but to life: Sportsmanship, doing your best, cheering on your classmates so they can do their best as well. They ask the kids what these concepts mean to them. The program reminds me of a martial arts program because they emphasize that true health and fitness is not just about a strong body, but a strong mind that is fair, thoughtful, independent and determined. After the workout part of class, the kids then play a game that is active and fun. CFLAKids stresses that physical activity should be associated with fun, especially for kids. If we could only remember that as adults! The well-rounded balance of the CFLAKids program as well as the safe and nurturing environment has us hooked. I'm so glad I got my daughter involved. The benefits far exceed my expectations. Most importantly, she can't wait to go to CF every week. - Danette R.

I wanted to THANK YOU all for the past few months of training me...

I played golf for the first time in the past 6 months...it was perhaps the most consistent round of golf I've played, EVER, and I've NOT practiced once in the past number of months...

I'm confident my improvement is because of CrossFit:

- I was in much better control of my body and swing
- I was not fatigued once, my endurance was simply great
- my hand-eye coordination just simply felt more on target

overall, simply felt so much better playing and it made the experience so much more enjoyable...

Thank You all for everything...

Omid

Thanks guys - I can honestly say I am in the best shape that I have been in since I was in college (maybe high school)! And still a ways to go. Thanks again.

Anthony Guagliano

Just wanted to share with you my thoughts on how CrossFit helped me overcome one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced: The California Bar Exam.

At the beginning of the year I set to study for the CA bar exam, which as you know it is one of the most difficult bars in the country. Even though I went to law school, I vowed at the time of graduation that I would never be a lawyer and thus I worked for a long time in jobs that were not necessarily associated with the practice of law.

To make my story short, in December I deceided I had to close a cycle in my life and start a new one and decided to study for the bar. The decision was scary as I had not studied anything in seven years, but it felt similar to when I started at CrossFit LA more than a year ago, or when you start a workout that seems impossible. I have learned that in those instances you need to trust that no matter what "you are never going to drown in your own sweat".

I never knew that an intellectual challenge like this would be so similar in many ways to the daily challenges in our workouts. Sitting for hours on end, wanting to do activities different than read about "torts", "contracts" or "evidence" reminded me about those instances when you are doing what seem to be endless pullups and you just want to stop; however, you envision the end and with discipline you pull through. Studying so hard also reminded me of how we learn to pace ourselves in our workouts, and how I have learned that in order to do 100 pushups you should do 10 sets of 10 and little rests in between.

The exam was last week and although I was nervous, I felt similar to when we face one of the challenges such as the Smoker or the Cindy: I knew I was prepared, and that I would give it my best. Needless to say, doing the exam was "crossfit for the legal mind". It was about endurance, skill, giving it your best, and always being focused on the task at hand.

I don't know if I passed or not, but I do know I gave it my all. And I do think that crossfit had to do with it. So thank you and all your staff for all your hard work and for the enthusiasm and positive energy you guys put in to teach us something great every week.

Nicholas Ospina

Crossfit has dramatically changed the way I look at fitness. As a Firefighter, I need to be fit enough to deal with any type of physical situation, and just running and doing weights was not adequate. Crossfit is an incredibly creative and effective program for any individual who has chosen Firefighting for a career. My favorite quote is, "strive to blur distinctions between cardio and strength training. Nature has no regard for this distinction." Crossfit is an exciting and challenging experience!
3,2,1, Go...

Michael Velazquez
Fire Crew Supervisor
Air & Wildland Divison
Los Angeles County Fire Dept.

I was extremely fortunate to find my way to CrossFit LA about 9 months before a
major mid-life career change brought me to the rigorous
Los Angeles Fire Department Drill tower training academy. Thanks to my regularly
self-administered CrossFit floggings, I was able to began the
successfully complete that journey while in the best shape of my life.
There is good reason as to why CF is the chosen workout regiment for
many fire departments and armed forces units. It just works.

Try it and you will see. You might come to CFLA for the great
instructors who offer diverse and creative workouts. You might come
because you enjoy the "task at hand", to complete the workouts every
day, to feel the satisfaction of "getting 'er done". You will come
because the results will be there. Your times will improve, your form
will improve, you will even be better at the work, sports or
activities you do outside of CF. But all that said, you will stay for
the camaraderie. You will stay for the constructive pushes from the
coaches, for the verbal encouragement of your friends working with
you, and for the high fives from the stranger passing you on that
last run. That is what will keep you at CFLA every day, no matter what
"evil" gets put on that board. Enjoy every minute of it.

Roger Sackaroff
Firefighter
Los Angeles Fire Department

Just wanted to update you on life after one year of consistently training
with Crossfit LA. Of course that brings good news and bad news...

First the good... my strength, endurance and general physical well-being has
improved so much that I'm unrecognizable from the guy who walked in your
a year ago. In addition, I've been living with back pain for almost 20 years and
for the last six months, I've been without any pain at all!

Of course with all this exercise and huffing and puffing came one bit of bad
news: I've paid my tailor over $1,000 in alterations for my suits and pants!

Charlie