1. Me in one of the shirts I got.
I was in Drexel Hill, PA to visit my boyfriend's family for a few days. While here I decided to check out CrossFit Delaware Valley in Broomall, PA since it was the closest CrossFit box to where I was staying and because they did not have a drop-in fee for visiting CrossFitters (unlike some other CrossFit gyms in the area). This was my first time visiting a different box.
CrossFit Delaware Valley is a BIG box. I had the pleasure to meet a few of their trainers: Zach, Tom, Larry, and Rob!
Some things I really liked here:
- Large whiteboardS (I want to emphasis plural here) of top times for the hero and girls workouts, top five girls/guys max weight for movements, and WODs and times for the week (my favorite).
- Classes are small and will be capped if too many people show up. There are no more than 12 people in a class. It is very clear how much they value high quality training and safety.
- Their use of ZenPlanner.
- The community. I felt like and was treated like a member of the gym. Everyone was extremely friendly. A few people, including the owner, Rob Miller, offered to give me a ride to/from the gym so I could get a WOD in.
- Free class for visiting CrossFitters!
- A communal refrigerator, which is crucial for the HUMID east coast summers!
Some things that could use improvement:
- A cold water fountain! I had to "borrow" water from the refrigerator (Sorry, to whoever I stole water from). I brought 2 water bottles almost everyday and somehow that was not enough. =/
- More fans. This is probably just me, but despite the different class times (9:30am, 10am, 11am, 7pm) I experimented with, I could not find an 'optimal' time to workout without suffering a ton from the humidity. Every movement was harder to do when my body was slippery and completely drenched in sweat before the WOD even began. +1 on the hardcore factor to the members who deal with this daily! I guess I am just spoiled from the perfect weather in CA.
- How they scale movements. On Saturday, the WOD had ring dips in it. We were told to do push ups (or proper push up scaling) if we could not do ring dips. Personally, I feel like the scaling should have been along the lines of ring dips with a band, regular dips, or regular dips with a band. How is one to get a ring dip if he/she is going to sub it with push ups all the time? They had more than enough rings and stands for everyone so equipment shortage was not an issue.
- "Women's Rx." Also on Saturday, while doing the box jumps on a 20" box during the WOD, I was interrupted to be told that 'the Rx box jump height for women is 16"' and that I should switch boxes. One, the most common box height for workouts via main site is 20". Two, even if the "Women's Rx" fox box jumps was 16", why should I 'scale down' when some of my sets were unbroken? I have a lot more to say on this subject which will be saved for a future blog post.
- Cheering from the trainers during a WOD. Although I did something different for Wednesday's WOD, the rest of the class did 4 400m sprints with some rest in between each sprint. Instead of cheering the students on during the sprints, or talking to students while they were on their break, the trainer started warming up with back squats for his workout that he planned to do after class. This was a little awkward.
The WODs we did:
| DAY | WOD |
| Saturday | D'n'D: Once for Time: 56 Pull-Ups, 63 Box Jumps 24"/20", 49 Wall Ball Shots 20#/14#, 25 Burpees, 10 Ring Dips. In between each round 400m run |
| Sunday | Open Gym. Heavy back squats: 3x5; A couple guys and I did a WOD I missed at CFSC. 5 rounds for time: 5 Burpee Pull-Ups, 15 Squat Clean Thrusters 75#/55# |
| Tuesday | Cindy: 5 Pull-Ups, 10 Pushups, 15 Squats |
| Wednesday | Push Press: 3 'Drop Sets' of 3 reps & 2 drops; Then I did Monday's WOD at CFSC: 5 rounds for time: 7 Toes-to-Bar, 7 Ring Dips; 5 rounds for time: 7 Push Jerks 135#/95#, 7 Lunges with the Bar |
Some pictures:
2. Entrance to CFDV
3. Lots of open space! I believe the Tuesday 7pm On-Ramp class is doing a WOD in this picture.
4. My favorite whiteboard at CFDV. WOD and times for the week.
5. Some of the trainers: Larry, Rob, Tom and I after Cindy. I especially like the 'Pick Up Heavy Shit' shirt.
Overall, a good experience. They definitely have a lot of equipment, and a variety of them. As for how they scale movements and 'Women's Rx,' that only seemed to be the case on Saturday.
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