I’ll admit right off the bat that I wasn’t only in San Diego to checkout awesome CrossFit gyms/boxes. I was actually there for a mastermind and bootcamp put on by my real estate and internet marketing mentors The FortuneBuilders. To read about The FortuneBuilders event click here. Now back to the CrossFit adventure! Knowing that I was going to be in San Diego for a week I contacted a few local CrossFit boxes that I was interested in working out at. I was staying with a good friend up near Valley Center, CA so I contacted CrossFit Valley Center via email explaining that I was a CrossFit coach from Seattle and I’d be in the area for the week. One of the owners of the box (Dan) actually called me personally and invited me to train at the box. I couldn’t believe he’d actually pick up the phone and invite me to train at his gym! It turns out that the guys at CrossFit Valley Center know what it’s all about, and are just great human beings. Their box is nice and roomy with all the CrossFit equipment that you could need. I worked out at CrossFit Valley Center two times during my stay and would HIGHLY recommend it as your CrossFit home base if you’re in the area.
Next on my list was CrossFit Invictus in the Gas Lamp area of San Diego which was only a few blocks from my conference. When I emailed Invictus they promptly responded to me saying that they would love to have me stop by to workout, and that they’re first drop-in was free. They also mentioned that they were holding a CrossFit Open event on Friday night with food, drinks, and cheering fans that anyone could participate in. I was stoked about that because I knew I’d be at the conference on Friday, and Invictus would be a good place to get my CrossFit Open workout done, especially with a cheering crowd! My first workout at Invictus was nothing short of phenomenal! The coach clearly knew his stuff and I was able to improve my push jerk in the short hour that I was at the box. The gym was also fully loaded with every piece of CrossFit equipment that you would ever need to become a competitive CrossFit athlete.
A few days later Friday rolled around and I was walking back into Invictus for the CrossFit Open workout 12.3. From the moment that I walked into the box it was packed with high level athletes, and I quickly learned why CrossFit Invictus had been so successful at the CrossFit Games. Their level of intensity and focus was like nothing I’d seen before in the CrossFit world. Not to mention the people were nice! I signed up on the board to do my Open workout during the fifth and final round of the competition. I spent time studying the other top athletes, and how they attacked the workout at hand. When it was my turn I found my place near the back of the box and went through the movements a couple of times to get my muscles warmed up and ready for the beat down. The workout was 18 minutes of: 15 box jumps, 12 push presses, and 9 toes to bar for as many rounds as you could get. Before I knew it the owner of Invictus was yelling 3-2-1, and we were off! There were 10 people per round throwing down at the same time, and the energy was amazing. I started out slow and consistent knowing that 18 minutes was a long time, and I had a goal of getting eight rounds. Unfortunately from my workout position I couldn’t see the clock to gauge how I was doing based on time, but I couldn’t do anything about that, and I kept moving. The air in San Diego was much dryer than what I was used to and my mouth turned into a cotton ball! I couldn’t spit if I wanted to, and there was no water in sight. It was all part of the challenge. It was a number of rounds before I started slowing down, and the thing that got me was the toes to bar. I became too tired to keep a good rhythm, and slowed down to only doing 3-4 reps at a time. I could feel my body failing, but I know that the body will push much harder than the mind wants you to think, so I just kept pushing. I could feel the energy raising as the time wound down, and I heard people calling out “two minutes left”, and finally “one minute left”. I made it through one last round doing only one rep of the toes to bar at a time in order to finish my final nine reps. I knew that there wasn’t much time left, and hurried back to the box, but right as I started to jump the timer sounded and we were finished. I really had no idea how I did until my judge informed me that I completed exactly nine rounds. I was excited that I surpassed my goal of eight rounds, and thanked my judge for supporting me throughout the workout. I left CrossFit Invictus that night feeling high on life, and excited to share my story with you all! You have to check them out if you’re in the Gas Lamp/downtown area!
At the Invictus event I posted a Facebook update with a picture and one of my Facebook friends commented saying that I should visit his CrossFit box called Outlier. They were doing a group workout the next day at 10am that sounded like it would be fun. I planned out my day to drive into the conference and stop at Outlier CrossFit which was on my way. The CrossFit gods were definitely favoring me on this trip! I made it to the box by 10am and was surprised to see that the box was PACKED with people. It turns out that their Saturday workouts were free to the public to come and try out CrossFit. Again the coaches and owners were awesome and very knowledgeable! We went through a warm up before getting into teams of four for the workout. The workout consisted of several bodyweight exercises that took us about 20 minutes to complete. I was stoked that one of the owners/coaches taught me a trick for doing double unders more efficiently! Constant improvement! Never stop learning! After completing the workout I stayed after to watch some of Outlier CrossFit‘s athletes complete the CrossFit Open workout, and it was apparent that they had some top level athletes! If you’re in the Mission Valley area I would highly recommend hooking up with the guys and gals at Outlier CrossFit! They will get you in rocking shape!
I was able to train at CrossFit Invictus one more time before my CrossFit adventure ended. What a trip full of AWESOME learning from my friends and mentors at the FortuneBuilders, and AWESOME CrossFit at CrossFit Valley Center, CrossFit Invictus, and Outlier CrossFit! If you have any questions about these boxes/gyms drop me a line and I’ll hook you up!
Now get outside (or into a CrossFit box) and have fun by working hard! 🙂
