Results for “Go South”

Welcome to weird.

That’s how Santa Cruz, California, is known.

For more than a decade, the sleepy Northern California beach town of 63,000 has used the same branding campaign to encompass its idiosyncrasies: “Keep Santa Cruz Weird.”

The city is a mere 30 miles south of Silicon Valley, home to the likes of Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Intel, Netflix and Tesla. But it couldn’t be more different.

As the San Jose Mercury-News once described, Santa Cruz’s branding “seems… Continue Reading

A guide to the best healthy eats, shops, bars and outside-the-gym workout spots in sunny San Diego.

San Diego has the highest concentration of CrossFit boxes in any metro area, so finding a CrossFit affiliate in the Southern California city is easy. But at some point we need to leave the gym—or so we’re told. If you find yourself in the sunny city just 18 miles from the Mexican border, we’ve got a… Continue Reading

Dr. Eugene Fine and Thomas Seyfriend talk about the links between sugar and cancer.

This year, 1,685,210 people in the United States will get cancer; 595,690 will die from it.

It’s the second-leading cause of death after heart disease, responsible for nearly 1 in 4 deaths in the U.S., and researchers have spent lifetimes studying its countless mutations in search of a cause, pointing their fingers mostly at genetics and physical, chemical and biological carcinogens.

But mounting… Continue Reading

Food-industry watchdogs: “Exercise is medicine” just a platitude designed to distance Big Soda from chronic disease.

At first blush, it seems like a harmless statement: “Exercise is medicine.” Exercise, after all, is good.

“It’s plainly true,” said Gary Ruskin, co-founder and co-director of U.S. Right to Know, a whistleblower nonprofit targeting the food industry. “Physical and mental health indicators are improved through exercise. In general, it’s a great thing.”

Exercise Is Medicine (EIM)… Continue Reading

After struggling with her health for years—surviving cancer and developing Type 2 diabetes—Patti Goldenson decided to turn her life around. Since joining CrossFit South Bay in Torrance, California, she’s lost 135 lb. and no longer needs to take diabetes medication.

Goldenson’s journey began after she broke her back at work. While she was in recovery, her physical therapist, Ron Satow, invited her to a contest at his gym. He was surprised when… Continue Reading

In this video shot at various Southern and Northern California affiliates in November, CrossFit Inc. Founder and CEO Greg Glassman talks about Big Soda and California Senate legislation that would require a health-warning label on sugary beverages. SB 203 was introduced in February but failed to make it out of committee, and Glassman is calling for a renewed push in the winter legislative session.

Glassman says sugar is a toxin and sugary beverages should include a warning label “very much like… Continue Reading

CrossFit Founder on health-warning label for sugary beverages in California: “We know sugar is poison.”

A health-warning label on sugary beverages in California is the first step in addressing chronic-disease epidemics, public-health advocates said.

“Putting a skull and crossbones on a Coke can is the beginning of the end for sugary drinks. And it should be,” said Harold Goldstein, executive director of the California Center for Public Health… Continue Reading

CrossFit Downey owner Oscar Ramos works to shatter cultural ties to Big Soda and educate his mostly Hispanic membership on the dangers of sugary beverages.

As a child, Oscar Ramos was not allowed to go outside to play unless he drank his entire “fat bottle” of lime-flavored Gatorade.

A 32-ounce bottle of the so-called thirst quencher contains 56 grams of sugar, or about 14 teaspoons—more than double the 6-teaspoon daily limit the World Health Organization… Continue Reading

Many athletes earned the label by coming to a crossroads in life and deciding to take a path leading away from old habits. CrossFit affiliates are there to support those choices with a community founded on fitness, friendship and healthy food.

For Annie Kolatsis, CrossFit Mother City in Cape Town, South Africa, provided the backup when she made her decision to move past an “allergy” to exercise. Kolatsis said she… Continue Reading

The brawl between Northern California and Southern California commenced May 21 at the Del Mar Arena in Del Mar, California.

In the women’s competition, eight previous Games competitors were fighting for return spots alongside 32 hungry athletes hoping to get their first shot. Eyes were on Rebecca Voigt, who was aiming to set a record by qualifying for her eighth consecutive Games, and Lindsey Valenzuela, who wanted to reclaim a spot at the StubHub Center… Continue Reading

Nick Evans and Matt Healey like to have fun.

That fun includes lifting in Speedos, handstand-walking across the street and dancing—lots of dancing.

The two coach at CrossFit Cronulla in Cronulla, Australia, a beachside suburb in southern Sydney.

The affiliate started in 2011 in Evans’ mother’s garage. Within a few months, it was growing so rapidly Healy and Evans asked their parents to co-sign a loan to obtain a larger space about five minutes from the ocean.

“We… Continue Reading

The 2015 East Regional brought Canada East and North East athletes together in a battle for the coveted spots in the CrossFit Games. Heading into the weekend, two athletes were regarded as “sure things” to stand atop the podium at the end of the weekend.

“You never want to say a guy is a sure thing,” said “CrossFit Games Update” host Sean Woodland, “but Mat Fraser’s about as close as you’re gonna get to that.”

Fraser gave defending champion Rich Froning Jr. a run for his money at… Continue Reading

The competition floor at the 2015 South Regional was reminiscent of the CrossFit Games, with many big names in the field. The biggest story was perhaps 2014 Games champ Camille Leblanc-Bazinet’s move from Canada to Colorado, putting her in the South.

Another transplant on the women’s side, three-time Games qualifier Margaux Alvarez, moved from Northern California to Texas earlier this year. All eyes were on the two women as Alvarez ended Day 1 in first before giving way to… Continue Reading

Aptos, California, is located just south of Santa Cruz, where the first CrossFit gym was opened by CrossFit Inc. Founder and CEO Greg Glassman. A quiet beach community, Aptos was once one of just a few towns on the coastline of Santa Cruz County that wasn’t home to a CrossFit affiliate. That changed in January when Level 1 Seminar Staff member and longtime CrossFit athlete Zac Pine made his dream come true and opened CrossFit Aptos… Continue Reading

The 2015 Atlantic Regional was a matchup of champions not to be missed: 2014 South East Regional champ Emily Bridgers faced 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games winner Samantha Briggs, while fellow 2014 South East winner Noah Ohlsen stared down four-time Mid Atlantic Regional champ Ben Smith.

Day 1 opened with two Hero workouts: Randy and Tommy V. As expected, Briggs, known as “The Engine,” set the bar high as she cruised through… Continue Reading

With frivolous licensure threatening the fitness community, Brittney Saline investigates how regulation has failed many other industries.

Isis Brantley began African braiding as a child, practicing skills learned from her mother on neighbors in a small, impoverished community in southern Dallas, Texas. She has made her living braiding since 25, and in 1995, at 36, she opened her own salon.

Then she got arrested.

The date was Oct. 13, 1997, a Monday. Two women… Continue Reading

Affiliate owners explain how the publication of shoddy science affects their businesses and the CrossFit brand.

It was just one short paragraph, but those five sentences have become the basis of two lawsuits.

The peer-reviewed study “CrossFit-Based High Intensity Power Training Improves Maximal Aerobic Fitness and Body Composition” was published November 2013 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, the official journal of the National… Continue Reading

On Episode 377 of CrossFit Radio, host Justin Judkins interviewed two athletes who were at the top of the regional leaderboards in the CrossFit Games Open. Carleen Mathews placed first in the North West, and Christian Lucero was No. 1 in the South West. This episode was webcast on April 15, 2015.

2:18 Best in the North West, Carleen Mathews was also 17th worldwide, putting her in very elite company. The owner of… Continue Reading

Members of the CrossFit community explain how they cope and heal after losing a coach or member.

At Kitsap CrossFit, Moani Daniel was known as reserved but friendly, a hard worker who never complained about anything—not even workouts with her least favorite component: running.

Fellow member Lauriel Luther was seen as a powerful athlete and a positive person. Luther had competed in the 2010 CrossFit Games South West Regional and was always focused on… Continue Reading

In this three-part series, get to know Coach Mike Burgener, who runs the CrossFit Weightlifting Trainer Course and coached the American Women’s Junior National Team for about a decade beginning in the mid-’90s. He’s also the man behind Mike’s Gym, a two-car garage in Bonsall, California, that serves as a USA Weightlifting Regional Training Center.

In Episode 2, we learn where Burgener’s coaching career took him after he met and married his wife.

“I was invited… Continue Reading