Back when the long season of rock climbing and road biking was winding down, I found myself thinking of the cold weather, short days and dearth of fresh vegetables that lay ahead. It was December of 2009 and I was no longer inspired by my fitness regimen that included rowing and weight lifting in the privacy of my home. My wife had recently told me about a local gym called GunxCrossFit that had small classes and was run by a man who had a different approach to fitness. I was skeptical of gyms; they struck me as crowded, dirty, boring and time consuming. I needed a change, so I tagged along with my wife to a class at GunxCrossFit.
Peter Nathan’s GunxCrossFit, located on Albany Post Road in Gardiner, is the anti-gym. His facility is housed in a barn, which is appropriate for the activities that are performed there. CrossFit is an international organization started by Gregg Glassman, who developed a philosophy of training based on data. He has compiled statistical information on the safety, efficacy and efficiency of exercise routines for the past 25 years, resulting in a prescription for fitness that he has summarized as “constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement.” He achieves this through weight training and power lifting (squats, push-press, bench press), gymnastics (pull-ups, handstands, pushups), various jumping exercises and rowing. All of the workouts that CrossFit trainers develop and put into practice are scalable—they can be modified for all fitness levels from Olympic athletes to couch potatoes.
Participants around the world share information about this “sport of fitness” via the Internet. Routines are developed, tested and modified by students and trainers. Peter, the owner of GunxCrossFit and the primary instructor, has been coaching athletes and non-athletes for 25 years. He has an M.A. in Physical Education from NYU and an M.Ed. in applied Physiology from Columbia University. He is a gifted teacher who provides individual attention to his students. The workouts consist of a warm-up such as jumping rope or rowing and stretching. Students then practice a weight lifting skill such as squats or dead lifts and then begin the workout of the day (WOD). The WOD is often timed and usually consists of three to five sets of three exercises that take between five to twenty minutes to complete. The routines are intense, exhausting and rejuvenating. For more information visit www.gunxcrossfit.type
pad.com/gunxcrossfit or call Peter Nathan at 908 433-9155.