Skill: Thruster – 15 minutes to work on the thruster As many rounds as possible in 12min of: 18 Thrusters (95/65) 12 Burpees over Bar 6 Chest to Bar pull-ups The thruster is a huge piece of the CrossFit puzzle. Being efficient with it can make or break your workout. Today we will spend some time optimizing what I call the “launch” portion of the thruster. If this is your first time trying them, this will be a great way to learn the movement in detail.Read more

I was having lunch today with my friend John, who was excited to hear about CrossFit Thermal. He had some basic questions about how CrossFit worked and specifically about Thermal. One of his questions was, “well can I come in and just do whatever I want?” When I said, “No” he stared at me puzzled for moment as if to say, “Why won’t you let me do whatever I want if I am paying you?” Of course I answered his question and explained everything from coaching to community, but as I was driving back to the box, I wondered how many more people had some 101 style CrossFit questions. As I was thinking about what to do, I got an email from a member that read something like “uh the workout looks….interesting”. I could tell that she had some questions too. I sat down and thought to myself, I really...Read more

I’ve heard people say “I’m never going to compete in the Olympic Games, why should I bother using Olympic movements when I work out?” There is no question that Olympic lifters are the strongest athletes on the planet. So by borrowing some of their techniques, and filtering these lifts systematically into our program, we can also get stronger, faster and become more accurate. There are 2 Olympic lifts; the snatch, and the clean and jerk. First, practicing the Olympic lifts teaches us how to “explode”, or propel ourselves in a desired direction. For example, if you are playing an on field sport and you suddenly want to change direction to make a play or be in a better position, it helps us react explosively. These movements will help you reposition yourself as quickly as possible and therefore increase your sport specific skills. In addition to being able to generate this...Read more

At CrossFit Thermal, we realize everyone can’t be at the box every single day. Some days are rest days, others are filled with work or with family obligations. We feel that having the opportunity to make up missed workouts is a valuable thing! So every Sunday, you will have the opportunity to chose the workout that most fits your needs and that you couldn’t attend earlier in the week. If you missed out on something that you would have really enjoyed, or saw something challenging that you wanted to tackle, this is your chance. At the 9 and 10 am sessions, you’ll be coached through a full warm-up and through the workout of your choice. If you’re not sure which one to choose, we will be here to help you out!Read more

I came across a fascinating post on NYTimes.com the other day (“Exercise as Potent Medicine”, NYTimes Blog Post) . It was really buried on the website but the title caught my eye – “Exercise as Potent Medicine”. The quick summary is that a recently published study compared – i) how well various drugs succeeded in reducing deaths among people who were diagnosed with several common and serious conditions (such as heart disease and diabetes), versus – ii) people who didn’t take drugs and just exercised. The outcome of the study was that the results consistently showed that drugs and exercise produced almost EXACTLY the same results. As with most medical studies, this emphasized the need for further study and larger sample sets but even on a small scale, but the finding is pretty powerful. We at Crossfit Thermal have been preaching the benefits of exercise as being a life changing...Read more