Day Two

Jakob: My first trip to start my on ramp was interesting, I didn't know what to expect, what the people would be like, how hard it would be, all that stuff, it was all really good. After my first Crossfit Session, when I left the building, I was anxious to get right back, that first workout was fun and I felt pumped by it. Yesterday, the day after, I woke up feeling sore, when I went to the batting cages, I WAS sore! But it was what I call a good soreness, I could really feel the Crossfit workout, especially in my torso. Finally, 6:30 rolled around and I was at Crossfit New Haven for my second workout. My team of workout people were friendly and energetic, and I was into doing this again. A few new things were added, the hardest was practicing the technique for the dead-lift. We did reps without any weight, just the bar, but you can really feel it, and I can imagine what the weight will bring to the lifts. We ran more, and did a lot of reps with new techniques that I am not familiar with. I am happy I decided to try this, it seems like something that will be a positive for me. Overall, the first two sessions have left me excited about this program. The Crossfit New Haven is a really neat looking place, and the people here are nice, I feel very comfortable here already. I look forward to a full three times full week next week.

At the suggestion of "Crazy Cousin - Crossfit Draper - Cody" I am going to research this whole "Paleo" diet that the Crossfit World encourages, so I will have an entry over the weekend, that tells you what I have found. I have a real ketchup fear, as in losing ketchup which is an important part of my diet! Crossfit Carla tells me I can get around this with organic ketchup, so there is hope. Plus I have not committed to this Paleo/Caveman food chain thing just yet.

JRLC25

In the beginning...

Well, everything has a beginning, this is Jakob's. This is an attempt to utilize the platforms of social media,  blogging, tweeting and Facebook, to create a space in which we can follow, learn and watch my oldest son, Jakob on a journey. Jakob began to train at the Cross Fit New Haven facility last night. He is enrolled in what the CrossFit world refers to as their "On Ramp" program, which as the name implies, is designed to bring an individual up to speed and therefore, able to train in this (CrossFit World) particular or peculiar way. The intent here is to be able to follow Jakob as he progresses through the process that began last night, and perhaps convey, what my extraordinary son sees, finds and feels as he embarks into the Cross Fit world at the age of 14.

Jakob's baseline.  Jakob currently does some "core" training with Erin Pac, an Olympic medalist (Vancover 2008), within the off season baseball program he attends at the NBS Community facility in Milford. The workouts Erin Pac puts them through on Tuesday nights are athletically subtle, but strenuous. The work leaves all the participants not winded, but exhausted. The strength and endurance she has been training into the legs, hips and body is clearly evident when you watch the progression of the kids drill seven weeks out.

Jakob's Cross Fit New Haven start.  Jakob has a cousin in Utah who, somewhere along the line, became a devotee of this new Cross Fit training world. Almost like an alien abduction, Cousin Cody began Cross Fit Training and has been a disciple and an  unabashed advocate of all things related to Cross Fit ever since. So, it was from the far reaches of Cross Fit Draper, Utah, that Jakob and I began to try to figure out what the hell had gotten into Cody. As I said, Jakob was already familiar with the intensity and concepts within Core Training, and he and I poked around the web and the State of Connecticut to see what was up with Cross Fit. We settled upon the Cross Fit New Haven franchise, located in the old Robby Len factory on State Street in New Haven, as our Cross Fit Petri Dish. This will be our story, Jakob as the trainee, the rest of us as observers. We hope we all learn something along the way.