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January Committed Club!

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Commitment = Results.

Mallory is a frequent member of the Committed Club!

 

Congratulations to our January Committed Club Members.  These people attended (and signed into!) 20 or more classes during the month of January.  They showed a solid commitment to CrossFit and, more importantly, to their own personal goals. Keep up the good work!

Harbor East:

Elliott Lolley 23

Bari Rosenstein 21

Jorge Maciel 20

Federal Hill:

Michael Ruth 26

Fernando Elizalde 25

Ross Moody 21

Shana Conneely 21

Sean Costigan 21

Jamaal Shaban 20

Keith Locklear 20

Mallory Beck 20

Next time you see them around the gym, give them a high five (or a hug, hugs are great too)!

We do our best to make sure we give credit to everyone who has reached the 20 classes each month.  If you think you should have made the club and don’t see your name, PLEASE reach out and we will right our wrongs!

Athlete Spotlight – Battle of Baltimore Competitors

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Derek looking strong on his front squats.

 

This past weekend Industry Athletics hosted the Battle of Baltimore at CrossFit Federal Hill. We had 40 teams of 3 athletes, giving us 120 athletes to host. 15 of those teams were made of athletes from either CrossFit Federal Hill or Harbor East.

A huge shout out to those that competed but a special shout out to our athletes that put in the time and effort to compete. Saturday was truly a test of skill from the last year. Our 45 athletes made competing look easy. They truly pushed themselves to the their limit. For some this was their first competition, really learning how far they can push themselves.
Awesome work athletes! Keep up all the hard work!

Check In For Charity

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Be sure to check into CrossFit Federal Hill or CrossFit Harbor East on FaceBook every time you come to the gym during the month of February.  For every check in, CFH and CFHE will donate $0.25 to BARCS.  Both gyms have voted for this charity so all of our money will go towards helping the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter.  Read more about their cause here! 

 

Coach Carey Lifts Big in the Baltimore Open

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Harbor East’s Coach Carey competed in the Baltimore Open this past weekend and hit a competition Clean and Jerk PR at 231#!  Her total of 188kg was also a competition PR total, her best comp total prior to that being 182kg in September. Her best total ever in training is 190kg!  Congrats Carey, we’re lucky to have such a strong athlete on our team!

St. Frances Athletes Coming to CFH!

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Ben Eaton is one of our inspiring members at CrossFit Federal Hill.  He is a football coach at Gilman and St. Frances.  Take some time to read about his story and about the story of the kids he is inspiring to better themselves.  Two of those very students will be joining us here at CFH to train to keep up, and hopefully, improve their fitness during the off season.  Familiarize yourself with their story and make them feel welcome when you see them around the gym!

Joachim Bangda

Shane Lee

Coaching is my passion. Coaching has changed my life. My father was a coach and the people who have impacted my life the most have been coaches. There’s an inherent power, authority and influence a coach carries when in the presence of his athletes. There is also a heavy burden and responsibility. Coaching can be transactional and self-serving, or it can be transformational and selfless. Throughout my life and athletic career I encountered men that lived their lives as the latter.

Upon graduation and the conclusion of my athletic career, I had the fortune to return home (to employment!) and the opportunity to volunteer as a coach at my alma mater, Gilman School, as an assistant coach with the varsity football team. During my time at Gilman, I had the opportunity to learn and grow under two of the most influential and respected coaches in high school football; Biff Poggi and Joe Erhmann. We won many games and championships; however, it was the lessons we learned off the field that made us successful. Coach Poggi and Coach Erhmann challenged us to question our views on “masculinity” and “what it meant to be a man”. We were charged with being men who valued and sought substantive relationships and to live our lives to serve others. Their story and method has been published Season of Life: A Football Star, a boy, a journey to manhood by Jeffrey Marx and has been a New York Times Best Seller. Nevertheless, when I returned home post grad they were still present, coaching the same as when I left for college 4 years prior.

Today, the mission is the same but at a new location, St Frances Academy. St Frances is located in the heart of downtown Baltimore in the shadow of the city’s jail. Despite the location, St Frances carries a rich tradition as the oldest continuously operating, predominately African-American Catholic High School in the world, with it’s origins dating back to 1828 – with a primary mission of serving disenfranchised young people – the enslaved, the orphaned, the segregated and the poor. Gilman School is on the opposite end of the spectrum with endowment assets worth $62 million and a yearly tuition price of $26,000 a year. The coaching staff at Gilman, including myself, decided to bring our resources and relationships to St Frances to use the vehicle of football to influence and change the lives of the student-athletes at St Frances Academy in 2016.

We’ve been fortunate to realize great success in our first two years, winning the league championship back-to-back seasons and most recently finishing as the third ranked team in the nation according to USA Today. With that said, the most rewarding accomplishment as a staff is seeing our student-athlete’s capitalize on the opportunity and exposure to open doors to improve their lives. In 2016 the St Frances football team had 11 seniors graduate to continue their academic and athletic career in college, the current senior class is set to break that mark with 14 this season.

Shane Lee and Joachim Bangda are two student athletes who will continue this trend at St Frances. Both young men are current juniors who have excelled on and off the field.

Shane maintains a + 3.5 GPA and is widely considered the top middle linebacker prospect in the country. Shane holds 20+ scholarship offers from programs including Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Clemson and Maryland amongst others

Joachim maintains a  + 3.5 GPA and is considered one of the nation’s best running back prospects with scholarship offers from Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan State, UCLA and Wisconsin amongst others.

Shane and Joe are tireless workers and are consistently searching for ways to improve themselves both academically and athletically. With the hopes of better preparing themselves for next season, they approached me with the idea of training together. My immediate thoughts turned to CrossFit Federal Hill. Shane and Joe will be joining our community and I cannot wait to have them learn from our knowledgeable coaches, be pushed by our community and improve as athletes!

Written By: Benjamin Eaton

Athlete Spotlight – Amber Haske

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Check out Amber’s inspiring story!  Definitely a good read for anyone you know who is hesitant about giving CrossFit a try…
What made you decide to give CrossFit a try?
 
I decided to give CrossFit a try because I had just moved to Baltimore and I was really trying to get my life back together and headed in the right direction after a really rough year or two. I used to be very into fitness, after the year I had a feeling as though I had lost myself a little I decided that I needed to get back into what I loved doing and putting myself first. I really wanted to try something new and make more friends along the way. CFH is just a 3 minute walk from my house so it gave me no excuses for not showing up.
 
How have your feelings towards CrossFit changed from when you first started to now?
 
Getting in the door was definitely the toughest step. My feelings toward CrossFit have immensely changed from when I started to now. I was so scared people were going to look at me for how skinny I was and how little I could do. I remember talking to Geo for weeks before I made the decision to take 10, 30 minute personal training session. I decided to go with the personal training sessions first since I had no idea what I was doing and I don’t think there is anyone that wants to be looked at less than me. I thank Blair and Alexa for being so sweet and kind to me during our training sessions when I probably looked like a baby giraffe learning to walk.
After completing the 10 sessions I was still scared out of my mind to join the classes. Marissa was such a sweetheart and emailed me offering to do the WODs with me so I didn’t feel alone. I eventually decided to join the foundations class just so I could get a refresher on the movements to really hit them home and have a little stepping stone into “Class Life”. Foundations was awesome, seeing other people just as interested to learn and new to all of this as well.
Finally, I made it to the big scary classes… I realized that no one was looking at me. No one was judging me. If they were looking at me it was to give a friendly hello or words of encouragement. All the coaches learned my name and greeted me whenever they saw me. I realized I had been so scared of this image/scenario that I painted in my head. I absolutely love CrossFit now and do not fear it one bit.
 
How has CrossFit impacted your life?
 
CrossFit has impacted my life in a big way. It has provided me with the friends and support that I have always wanted. It has really helped me feel good about myself again after I had let outside stressors and toxic relationships get the best of me. I had essentially let myself wither away.
 
I know a lot of people come to gyms to lose weight, but for me, I was fighting an opposite battle. I had set a goal to gain 10lbs just before I walked in the door. CrossFit became place for me where I could let all frustrations and anxiety out that I couldn’t control instead of letting them eat away at me. The people there are so welcoming and friendly and make you feel so good deep down.
 
It’s amazing what happiness can do for your life. CrossFit Federal Hill is what I consider my happy place. I am thankfully up 30lbs from where I was a year ago. I thank CrossFit for supplying me with an outlet for my problems, along with an amazing community where I have found some of the most amazing friends.
 
What advice would you give to someone who is hesitant about trying CrossFit?
 
I don’t think there was anyone as scared of joining as me when I first started. I can promise all your fears are just things you’ve created in your head that you can overcome. You will absolutely love everyone here. No one is judging you for anything and only want to see you succeed! Get in the door and have fun. I am always open to more and new friends so you can talk to me if you’re worried. I usually go to the 7:30PM classes and, speaking out of total bias, we are a fun and friendly class and welcoming to all new members!

Congrats Nicole!

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A huge shout-out to CFH athlete and CFHE’s Coach Nicole!  On top of having a full-time job, coaching CrossFit, and working on her own fitness, she recently earned her Masters Degree in Exercise Science.  Congratulations Nicole!  Next time you see her in the gym, or just walking down the street, be sure to give her a shout out!

CrossFit Harbor East PRs!

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Shout out to all of the CrossFit Harbor East athletes working hard on their fitness and crushing their personal bests!  Check out some of the amazing accomplishments happening in the gym.  Be sure to write down your PRs, big or small, they are worth acknowledging and giving yourself credit for.

Big congrats to Bari for crushing 4 PRs in her lifts!  Keep up the strong work Bari!

Scott Burkholder – Performance Mindset

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Scott Burkholder Portraits 20170422Scott Burkholder{source}{iptcyear2} Copyright{iptcyear4} Sean Scheidt Photography, all rights reservedhttp://www.seanscheidt.com

Scott is a member at CrossFit Harbor East.  He wrote a great blog article about his first CrossFit experience.  An interesting read about his journey from being an avid mountain biker to stepping through those doors we all know and love.  Take a few minutes out of your day to read about his experience!

Performance Mindset

Athlete Spotlight – Geo and Allie

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In lieu of the 5 year anniversary party tomorrow, 1/20, we wanted to give a special athlete spotlight to Geo and Allie Rockwell. Great coaches are hard to come by but great owners are even harder. Yet, Industry Athletics has the best around. As athletes we really hit the jackpot on this one. Geo and Allie have been all of our greatest supporters since the day CrossFit Federal Hill opened. Not only have they been our supporters, they have been our best athletes as well.
2017 was a very busy year for them between the birth of Bodhi and the reopening of CrossFit Harbor East, the Rockwell’s have never missed a beat with us. They have continuously juggled family, fitness and business without ever letting one drop.
I know that I speak for all of us, athletes and coaches, at Industry Athletics in saying we are thankful for you and blessed to be part of your family.

“It is difficult to overstate the impact CFH and the Rockwell’s have had on the past 5 years of my life.  I am a dramatically different person than I was in December of 2012 and I believe much of that progress is from the consistent encouragement, leadership and friendship I get at CFH.  Geo and Allie have created a community that strives for excellence and does so in the most supportive and welcoming way possible.  To be part of that is to be part of something special and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”  -John Pickering, CFH Coach and First Member 

“When I moved to Baltimore 4 years ago, I thought I would never find a box like the one I’d left in Philly.  And I was right; I found one that was better. It was clear that the owner cared about his members and was constantly trying to improve the gym.  That was as true in 2013 as it is today. Geo pushes us to become better coaches and athletes every day. I couldn’t be more grateful of his support in my pursuits to bring Olympic Weightlifting to CFH, as well as him sitting through my workouts in the Open, pushing me not to give up on that heavy snatch or last muscle up. Every day I feel thankful that I get to come workout at CFH, that I get to coach such wonderful members in an awesome environment and that I get to be a part of this very special community. None of this would be possible without the constant
dedication, mentorship and leadership from Geo.” -Marissa Martinez, CFH Coach
“When I started my CrossFit journey almost 5 years ago, I would have been shocked if you told me that I’d be doing this 5 years later.  What started as a way to improve my fitness has morphed into something so much more.  As a Baltimore transplant, I feel so much more connected to the community and the folks that live around me and that is solely attributed to the sense of community and belonging that Geo has created at CFH.  Here’s to 50 more years!”  -Ross Moody, CFH Member
“I’ve been CrossFitting at CFHE now for over 5 years. The spark was dwindling and just as I was starting to lose my love for it, Geo stepped in.  He ignited a fire back into the entire box and the community at Harbor East. I’m once again excited to go daily and falling in love with CrossFit all over again. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to take over at the perfect time and am so excited to see the gym grow to be even better than it once was.” -Joy Lipinski, CFHE Member
“When I moved to Baltimore, I was really worried about the box I was going to work out in, how far it would be from the house, would it have the intensity I needed, would the coaches be knowledgeable…and from the moment I walked in to Industry Athletics at Federal Hill, I knew it would be ok.  Geo has built probably one of the top 10 boxes in the country through his method and his dedication.  Personally, Geo’s programming made me realize how much I had been lying to myself about my strength, health, fitness, and dedication.  Everyday I am thankful for CrossFit Harbor East and the community inside of it.” – Mariano Wecer, CFHE Member

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