..

I Can Really challenge myself … and still

have fun with it.

I Can Do better than that dude over there.

I Can Make it to that goal. Just. Keep. Going.

I Can

I Can Answer the call to

compete.

YOU Can Join The OPEN.

&

Athlete’s Community & Culture March, 2013 Issue 9

part of a supportive community

Have a blast with

friends & be

Over 70,000 people worldwide will participate

Registration Registration Registration is open.is open.is open.

March 6March 6March 6———April 7, 2013April 7, 2013April 7, 2013

Contents CrossFit Open: Registration 2

Words from Felber 4

Team Member Bio: Erdem 5

Bod Pod 5

Coach’s Tip: Mental Toughness 6

StrongMan Highlights 7

Welcome On-Ramp Grads 8

Member Transformations 11

Why I Coach: Dan Bell 12

Upcoming Events 14

Q & A on The Open 15

Private Skills Sessions at CFA 15

Nosh on This 16

Coolest & Newest: Project Hydrate Coconut Water 17

What We Saw Last Month 18

A Little Something to think about…

“if you are not going to push yourself, then who will?”

- anon.

The Team

Founder Josh Felber

Coaches Jamie Grigas Jason Elrod Nate Napolitano Cindy Virdo Dustin Shaffer JP Lytle Hannah Whitman Aaron Whisman Eric Wiilson

Media Coordinator Katie Middendorf

Intern Coaches Emre Erdem Holly Waters-Williams Ryan Snyder

Contact us @ 330.664.9671 or crossfitakron@gmail.com. For more information on CrossFit Akron, go to www.crossfitakron.com

Registration Registration Registration is open.is open.is open.

Words ONWARD CrossFit Athletes!

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.

So says Abraham Lincoln.

I agree. We need time to make our visions, our dreams, a reality.

Our growth as a box and a community, our footprint of sharing and giving, the intensity of our

support for each other and the small victories has grown exponentially over the past two and a

half years. It is shadowed only by our commitment to you, our Athletes, as Coaches and Staff.

It is an honor and a privilege to share the journey of making your visions, goals and dreams a

reality with you. It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens with hard work, dedication, commitment

and consistency. But it will happen. We. Are. On. The. Right. Path. Together.

I speak for our entire team when I say that we realize the trust you place in us to train and trans-

form your body and mind: nutritionally, physically, mentally. We help you find ways to achieve

your goals whatever they may be-however they may

evolve. Remember in the end, though, we give you the

tools and support. It is you who makes it all happen.

That’s HUGE. We get it.

It’s why we are committed to providing the very best to

our athletes … to be ten times better for you than any

other resource to which you could possibly reach out.

That’s CFA.

The highest skilled, qualified, full time coaches in the region.

Specialized programming to meet your specific needs.

The equipment and facility beyond others that enables you to pursue your fitness, strength,

wellness, weight, time or whatever numbers you are reaching for right now.

Nutritional guidance, goals mentoring, specialized workshops, and industry experts.

Soon to add chiropractic and mobility support for our athletes as well.

Now is the time to keep pushing yourself. Great things are coming. There is no tragedy in not

reaching a goal. The real tragedy is in having no goal to reach. So embrace each day as it

comes, one at a time. Set small goals, take steps each day towards you vision and dreams.

They can be real. We will give you the strength of 10 x 10 more.

Yours in Good Health,

Coach Felber

TEAMTEAMTEAM---MEMBER BIO:MEMBER BIO:MEMBER BIO: Emre Erdem Intern Coach Born in Durham, NC, while my father was completing his PhD. I

moved to Ankara/Turkey at the age of 3 once my father complet-ed his studies.

I came back to States 25 years later with my brother and we have

been living in Akron for the past 2 years. He is also here for his

PhD and is a new athlete at Crossfit Akron. I, on the other hand, am a semester away from completing my Master’s degree in Exer-

cise Physiology at the University of Akron and am an intern coach at Crossfit Akron.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Baskent University Ankara/Turkey and worked as a journalist in a local TV station before coming to the States. I have al-

ways had interest in sports. I played handball in junior high, played soccer (JP, set up a match man…) in the University and am interested in martial arts.

CrossFit has changed my perspective towards sports. I worked out as an endurance athlete at different gyms for the past 5 years and then I came across Crossfit Akron.

That was a definite changing point in my life and here I am.

WOD – “War of the Day”

I consider our workouts at Crossfit Akron, as the title above. This mindset helps me

achieve my goals and strive for new ones. I consider the workouts as my personal war, give everything I have, never give up and never lie down at the end of the

WOD :) “No guts no glory!” I’m more than happy to help in any way I can and hope to see you soon…

Another tool provided by CFA to measure your fitness and progress. Plan to hop in the Pod every 90 days to track your muscle and bodyfat. Accurate, private and quick. No pinchers here!

Body composition through Air Displacement Plethysmography for research, clinical and sport applications

Gold Standard accuracy using whole-body

densitometric principles

Excellent test-to-test repeatability

Fat and fat-free measurements

Fast test time (2 minutes inside BOD POD and about 5 minutes total test time)

Safe, non-invasive, and ideally suited for frequent testing

Flexibility in testing special populations, including young children.

Call or ask at The Box the next time you’re in.

Coach’s Tip:Coach’s Tip:Coach’s Tip:

Mental Toughness is one of the most

important things in a workout.

What does it mean to be mentally strong? I believe

it's the ability to have a plan and stick with it on matter

how impossible it might seem. In life or in a WOD. Ob-

stacles come up and we think it might be impossible to

overcome them, but that's when we need to focus on the

task before us and ignore all the distraction around us.

It's not just going to happen over night it's something

we need to work on everyday. Here are some tips that I

found to help.

Start off at the right level. A beginner needs to ex-

perience success, not failure. Therefore, use proper

scaling. Set up yourself and others for success. No

one gets better by constantly failing. It won’t help to get injured either.

Push the limit. Always try to better yourself by setting realistic challenges.

Commit to your workout. Plan your workout, prepare and then do it. Quitting is not an op-

tion unless there’s a risk of injury. Every time you succeed to follow your plans, you’ll get

tougher. Every time you quit or change your plans, you’ll get mentally weaker and more

prone to quitting and changing plans.

Train yourself at observing thoughts and feelings. Learn to recognize your normal thought

patterns during strenuous exercise. If you normally get thoughts trying to

negotiate a change in your workouts ...“Maybe three laps is enough today,

I have to save some energy for tomorrow” … try to recognize those

thoughts, but don’t buy into them. Thoughts are just thoughts—no more,

no less. If you work on this you will see a drastic change in your

workout.

Try it out next time your working out and you want to drop the bar or you

don't think you can do one more burpee. Pprove yourself wrong and keep

on going. Overcoming tough situations builds confidence in yourself

knowing you can accomplish anything you never thought you could.

Its your workout Don't be worried about what your neighbor is doing.

Do your best and you will see the results.

- Coach Hannah Whitman Coach WhITMAN

CFA COACH, LCFA COACH, LCFA COACH, L1 1 1 CertifiedCertifiedCertified

Strongman ThrowdownStrongman ThrowdownStrongman Throwdown CONGRATSCONGRATSCONGRATS

Jamie Jamie Jamie & & & JPJPJP For winning your divisionsFor winning your divisionsFor winning your divisions!!!

And Janine And Janine And Janine for Tying for firstfor Tying for firstfor Tying for first!!!

Kudos to all participating athletes. Thanks to the Kudos to all participating athletes. Thanks to the Kudos to all participating athletes. Thanks to the

community who came out to show support and to Rob community who came out to show support and to Rob community who came out to show support and to Rob

Orlando and Hybrid Athletics for the Orlando and Hybrid Athletics for the Orlando and Hybrid Athletics for the CHALLENGECHALLENGECHALLENGE!!!

Want local exposure to hundreds of passionate athletes focused on their

health and well being?

Contact Katie@crossfitakron.com for details.

Welcome OnRamp grads! New faces you’ll be seeing around the box:

Brittany Page Alise Campbell

Christina Vaughn James Summitrall Bryan Oden

Nade Danals Fiona Williams Myra Mark

Susan Rogers Che Thomas BrittNiE Go-

Welcome OnRamp grads! New faces you’ll be seeing around the box:

Baron Rodgers Arisca DrooG April Burr

Lindsey Kanis LeAndrea Bennis Jesse Riddle

Baron Rodgers Miles hlivko Melissa Smith

Sierra Baxter Alex petroski Signe Lavdina

88888888888888

Dr. Scott Hamler came to CrossFit as an avid runner but was looking to improve his over

all strength and lower his running times running times. Running since college, he trans-

formed his body.

But he’d been running for a long time and it was getting stale. He knew he needed to do

something different, and thought that he’d give CrossFit a try. Little did he know how

much of a difference it would make.

He started On Ramp on July 30, 2012 and hasn't looked back.

Not only does he have a new 5k PR, but his strength has gone through the roof. Both his

snatch and clean are now triple digits! His body has been completely transformed, once

again, through his hard work and the addition of a Paleo diet.

Scott is a true testimony to the ability of CrossFit to help us evolve and bring out the best

athlete in all of us.

Scott thought he was in great shape when he

came to CFAN—and then he took it to a

WHOLE NEW LEVEL.

Welcome North OnRamp Grads!

New faces you’ll be seeing around the box:

Angie Hawkins Alise Campbell

Megan Gillespie Jared Embick Judy Park

Evan Fullerton TJ Mighton Corbin Sweat

Laura Grguric Kevin Parsons Hannah James

Julia Provenzano

Athlete TransformationsAthlete TransformationsAthlete Transformations

Christina D’Angela Outside of the box, Christina is a Marketing Specialist and

travels regularly for her career. She’s acquiring quite a collection of Tees from Boxes around the country. Prior to starting at CFA, my health was not a top priority for me. I smoked and had other habits that contributed to poor health. While I considered my-self thin and toned, I wasn't CrossFit "fit." I did yoga regularly but I was bored and craving a "community" that I didn't think existed outside of team sports. Almost instantly, I was addicted to CrossFit.

I discovered what my body was capable of at CFA and developed a new found appreciation for it. CrossFit made me realize that my health is a top priority and I reevaluated those poor health choices I was making. The greatest accomplishment I've made, which is a direct result of CrossFit, is finally quitting smoking. I will celebrate my one year anniversary as a Non-Smoker in March 2013. I feel great!

I feel like CrossFit has empowered me to break out of the "status quo" and explore opportunities, both person-ally and professionally, that I wouldn't have had the confidence to do before.

A pivotal moment at CrossFit for me, when I finally felt "strong," was when I completed the 31 Heroes WOD with my partner Kelly Green. I remember we were terrified to try it but finished 6 rounds in 31 grueling minutes; It was an absolute blast! I can't wait to do the 31 Heroes WOD again this year and RX it!

My CrossFit goals are to continually improve the proficiency of my Pull-Ups (Top Priori-ty!), Ring Dips, and HSPUs and ultimately achieve a Muscle Up this year. Doing the Tough Mudder is also on my Bucket List (the electric shock, not so much).

One of the greatest characteristics of CrossFit is undoubtedly the Community. I travel across the country eve-ry week for work and I try to go to a new box at least once while I'm out of town. The ability to walk into an af-filiate in a strange city and be embraced by a group of like minded and encouraging individual is something

you will absolutely only find in the CrossFit community. My training at CFA gave me the confidence to do that. I couldn't be happier that Josh, Jason and Jamie introduced CrossFit and this great community to me; I couldn't imag-ine life without it!

I was bored and craving a “community” that I didn’t

think existed outside of team sports.

WOD & friendship

Christina dialed her life in in at CFA and is focused.

Rock it!

the

This year, for our empower-ment series, we set out to find a

way to highlight athletes who found the fundamentals of

CrossFit as skills they developed both in and outside of the box. They too have seen tremendous phys-ical transformation and are now better, stronger, faster in everything they do.

tionship troubles; that

takes up a lot of

coaching time. Help-

ing athletes overcome

the roadblocks to pro-

gress that they have

constructed themselves is a huge

chunk of the job. We all have baggage

that we drag to the gym with us. We

all have demons nipping at our heels,

trying to drag us back or pull us down.

I think it’s a good coach’s task to help

an athlete transcend their own short-

comings and improve not only in their

sport, but in their lives.

As a young coach, I wanted to be

viewed as an expert. I invested a lot of

time learning and making sure people

knew that I knew stuff. I needed that

validation. I needed to be respected. It

was mostly about me. Over the years

and with much experience, I’ve come

around to making it about the athlete

and their needs, their success. I’m

much more secure in what I know and

Featured Sponsor:

Dan Bell is a USAW Advanced Level

Certified Coach. He heads up Rubber

City Weightlifting out of the CrossFit

Akron box and offers coaching to

CrossFit Akron Athletes. Deeper in

spirit than the very squats he teaches,

Dan shares with us why he is passion-

ate about his career choice.

————————————-

Old coaches tend to get philosophical.

Over time we find that what we thought

was important at the beginning of our ca-

reers has become less so, and things we

paid no attention to at all become a vital

part of what we do, even who we are.

When I was just starting out as a coach, I

thought knowing the nuances of the sport

I love and teaching those skills was the

entirety of my job. Turns out that’s about

ten percent of it.

The rest? Convincing people to try

weightlifting, finding ever more effective

ways to communicate, keeping people

training and improving through the pres-

sures of school, work, financial and rela-

how I teach, so I

need less ego strok-

ing. Now I just want

to be with athletes

trying to get better

as weightlifters, and

watching them grow

and mature as ath-

letes and as people.

When you strip

away the layers of

emotional expression, you find that there

are really only two root emotions. All

other emotions grow from these: love

and fear. As a young coach I had to be an

expert out of fear of not gaining

the respect of other coaches and

my own athletes, of being seen as

less. Over time I’ve let that go.

This may sound overly senti-

mental, but I really coach out of

love. I love the people I work

with. I love knowing them as peo-

ple as well as athletes. I find my

success and validation in their suc-

cess and growth.

I think all good coaches come around to

this view. I think of people like John

Thrush of Calpians Weightlifting in

Washington state and Regis Becker of

Pittsburgh Barbell. They love the sport,

but they love their athletes more. It is as

important to them to be at one of their

athlete’s weddings or graduations as it

is to coach them at Nationals.

Pay attention

to your coach-

es at your next

WOD. You’ll

see the intensi-

ty, of course,

and passion

for CrossFit,

but if you look a little deeper, I

think you’ll see affection as well. They

are ahead of you on the path, but they

are growing, too.

Coach Dan Bell

When I was just starting out as a coach, I thought knowing the nuances of

the sport I love and teaching those skills was

the entirety of my job. Turns out that’s about ten

percent of it.

Coming to CrossFit Akron April 1, 2013

All insurances

accepted. $25 for CFA Athletes

chiro-

practic

massage

mobility

Upcoming EventsUpcoming EventsUpcoming Events CrossFit Football Camp 2/4—3/19. CrossFit Endurance Workshops Prep for the race season. Call The Box for Details The Arnold Fitness Expo

March 1-3. On Friday Coach Dustin Shaffer will be competing in the Olympic Weight Lifting event around 5 p.m. and on Saturday coaches Jamie, JP, and Jason will be doing the team competition. If you would like more information about the Arnold Classic click the link above. Join some friends and head down!

CrossFit Open

March 6—April 7. Registration is open. Get it done. WODS will be on Saturdays and possibly Thurs. Evenings.

USAW Women’s Certification CrossFit Open March 9-10.

Rock Tape Clinic April 27, Noon—4p $40. Registration will open next month.

Memorial Day Murph

May 25 at CrossFit Akron. More details to come. Grace Race May 27. Get out and run for a great cause. Link TBA

Check out our weekly

ad in stores or online.

We have great coupons

and even more savings

HERE.

Q & A on the open.

What is the Open? The Crossfit Open is the start of the road to the 2012 Crossfit Games. The

Open consists of 5 workouts over 5 weeks from February 22 – March 25. The Open is for EVERYONE! Even if you have no desire to compete or are brand new to Crossfit – EVERYONE is able to partici-pate in these weekly workouts. It’s an opportunity for you to gain an appreciation for your strengths, weaknesses and mental toughness.

Oh, I’m not ready for that. Sign up and be a part of our team! Don't say to yourself, "I can't do

that, I'm not ready." It's not all about the competition. Think about the CrossFit Open as a 5-week-long-benchmark WOD! You participate this year. You see how you do compared to the thousands of people in our region. You have a ton of fun with our CrossFit Paladin teammates. Then, you partici-pate again next year and see how much better you do! While others try to "recruit" and make "all star teams," we want to have fun with our very own CrossFit Akron athletes. This is a lot of fun and we hope you'll join our team!

I don’t want to go to California! No one says you have to! Just be a part of the CFA

community. You’ll love it. We know it.

I can’t be there on Saturdays. No problem. Just have one of the coaches count your WOD

for you. You can fit it in during the week at the Box.

I don’t look like those people on ESPN, so I can’t. Refer to points 2 and 3. No worries.

Private Skills Sessions at CFA

For many people, our CrossFit group classes will satisfy the need for superior fitness levels. Yet the group classes are not the ideal solution to every person and situation. Whether you feel that you need a quick “jump-start” before you begin group classes, have specific goals, play a sport, or just feel the need for more personalized instruc-tion, private skills sessions may be the best option.

Private Skills Session are great for those who…

Need or want more individual attention Want to focus more specifically on one area of

fitness Need to refine specific movements Nutrition Re-focus Call the Box or ask the next time you’re in. Let us know what you’re looking for and if you’d like a specific coach.

We’ll help you make it happen.

NNNOSHOSHOSH ONONON THISTHISTHIS... The culinary stylings of CFA’er Ken Rocco.

I take a very practical approach to cooking. I like to use as many fresh healthy foods as I can and cook several meals at once for the week. I divide them up and can even freeze some if I wish. I'm not a big fan of almond and coconut flour so most of my morning meals are eggs. I use a system of two.

This dish has eight eggs, eight slices of turkey bacon, can of diced to-matoes with jalapeños and a diced avocado. All mixed up with a little almond milk. Baked at 400 for 40 min or until set. Cut into 4 servings. The egg dish is very versatile. You can put almost anything to eggs and bake it. I've used all kinds of veggies and meats! Not sure what to call it … other than GOOD. These McCormick Gourmet packets are a great healthy-semi-homemade approach to a weekly cook-up. The recipe is right on the

packet. The bourbon spiced pork dish does have some brown sugar in it, but its amazing with the sweet potatoes and Fuji apples.

The bruschetta chicken is made with shredded broccoli instead of spaghetti.

All three dishes are prepared and baked in the oven all at once!

Bon appetite!

Try it. Take a Pic. Post it. Let us know what you think! Share other

recipes! We wanna see what you have cookin’!

Post them on FB or send them to katie@crossfitakron.com

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Project Hydrate Athlete: Phil Kniep For Phil Kniep, CrossFit is much

more than a way to stay in optimal shape. It’s a sport that takes his body to the edge of its limits.

What the 28-year-old Lincoln, Nebraska resident loves is constantly training for the unknown. “You’re pushing yourself – not just physically, but mentally – to finish these workouts,” says Kniep, a top CrossFit athlete whose accomplishments include winning first place at the 2011 North Central Regional Reebok CrossFit Games. “I’m a very competi-tive person and this sport brings that element out of a person. You’re always wanting to beat your old score – every single day.”

Thoughts? Ideas? We’d love to hear them.

We appreciate your input, suggestions and ideas! So please be sure to share

them with us. If it’s related to the newsletter, shoot Katie an email at katie@crossfitakron.com

What we saw last month...