Free Intro Class

Free Intro Classes Thursdays at 1 and Saturdays at 12.

Reserve a spot here!

Location & Contact Info

Balance Gym - Thomas Circle
1111 14th Street, NW 
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 908.246.7840
Main Gym Phone: 202.216.9000 
E-mail: danielle@balancegym.com

CrossFit Foundations


E-mail Danielle at danielle@balancegym.com for pre-registration and availability. Purchasing online will not guarantee you a spot until you are confirmed. 

JANUARY: 
Sunday- 1-4pm: 1/5
Sunday- 1-4pm: 1/12

Sunday- 1-4pm: 1/26

FEBRUARY: 
Sunday- 1-4pm: 2/2

 

 

Quote of the Week

"If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse."

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Balance Gym 
Thomas Circle | Kalorama | Glover Park

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Beat the Streets - Sept. 28 at 10 AM
Monday
Dec302013

Monday, January 6, 2014

MASTER'S REPRESENTING IN UPCOMING COMPETITION- NorCal Master's January 18th and 19th. Vince Lopez and Michael Lorenzen will be taking on this competition soon and will be traveling up to Northern California! They are also participating in the Capital Affiliate League, which starts next week!  

WOD for Monday

1.) Back Squats

2X5, 1X5+

2.) Push Press

2X5, 1X5+ (aim for at least 8 reps for this set)

3.) 3 sets for time: 

20 Wall Balls (Unbroken)

15 Chest to Bar Pull-ups

Post weight/reps and time to comments.

Monday
Dec302013

Saturday, January 4, 2014

REMINDER TODAY AT REEBOK FIT HUB-GEORGETOWN- (Classes at CF Balance are as scheduled still!)

Join Coach Danielle, Jeff & Jimmy at Reebok's FitHub on Saturday, January 4th at 9:30 am for a workout and private shopping event for Balance Members! Participants will receive 20% any purchases, so you can get those Nanos you've had your eye. Enjoy some tasty treats provided by Custom Fit Meals after the workout to keep your strength up while you shop. This is a FREE event, so register now before all the slots at gone! See you there! 

Upcoming 30 Day Paleo Challenge for CF Balance members!  

Cost is $40.  Measurements will be taken by Nicky Hoberman and either: 

January 12th-Sunday from 11-1pm -or-

January 13th-Monday from 6-7pm

Seminar will be held Tuesday, January 14th from 6-7pm.  This isn't required by strongly encouraged.  It will be led by the owner of Custom Fit Meals, Scott Dean.  In light of the Open and Affiliate League we will also be addressing specific performance dietary needs and how foods and timing will affect our performance!

The purpose of the challenge is to make improvements in your body measurements, explore new recipes and dietary modifications (as educated through our Seminar provided), creating personal goals, and ultimately have a positive impact on your performance in workouts.

WOD for Saturday

20 minute AMRAP:

3 Rope Climbs

5 Burpees

6 Pistols (Can scale to lunges/bulgarian split squats with leg up on a box)

7 Box Overs

8 Sit-ups with Plate Overhead

Post rounds to comments.

Sunday
Dec292013

Friday, January 3, 2014

REMINDER TOMMORROW AT REEBOK FIT HUB-GEORGETOWN- Register on mindbody.

Join Coach Danielle, Jeff & Jimmy at Reebok's FitHub on Saturday, January 4th at 9:30 am for a workout and private shopping event for Balance Members! Participants will receive 20% any purchases, so you can get those Nanos you've had your eye. Enjoy some tasty treats provided by Custom Fit Meals after the workout to keep your strength up while you shop. This is a FREE event, so register now before all the slots at gone! See you there! 

Upcoming 30 Day Paleo Challenge for CF Balance members!  Cost is $40.  Measurements will be taken by Nicky Hoberman and either: 

January 12th-Sunday from 11-1pm -or-

January 13th-Monday from 6-7pm

Seminar will be held Tuesday, January 14th from 6-7pm.  This isn't required by strongly encouraged.  It will be led by the owner of Custom Fit Meals, Scott Dean.  In light of the Open and Affiliate League we will also be addressing specific performance dietary needs and how foods and timing will affect our performance!

The purpose of the challenge is to make improvements in your body measurements, explore new recipes and dietary modifications (as educated through our Seminar provided), creating personal goals, and ultimately have a positive impact on your performance in workouts.

You may register on mindbody.  We will be posting more information regarding the seminar date.

"SMALL DAILY IMPROVEMENTS ARE THE KEY TO STAGGERING LONG-TERM RESULTS!"

GOAL SETTING CONTINUED...Executing.....

In terms of identifying specific and measurable goals, it will be helpful to break down a goal into major and minor objectives in reaching these goals.  The major things are the larger perspective that we may sometimes overlook.  Whereas minor objectives are more specific.  For example, "I want my back squat to hit over 300."

Major things to consider: PROGRAMMING Are your regularly hitting the programmed strength days?  Perhaps you need to change up your schedule or commit to doing the lifts on your own if you miss these days.  Have you hit a plateau and approached a coach with your concerns and sought out additional work? Are you putting in the effort in your workouts and entirely focused on your worksets and recording your weights?

Minor to tighten up (not that these are minor to goal but in terms of more specific): Addressing mobility issues regularly, diet (addressing protein needs and supplementation), sleep, appropriate rest days

The above is just an example, but this may help to create more concrete paths to your goals and consider other things to help reach your goals or obstacles you may not necessarily identify immediately that may inhibit you or have been affecting you from hitting your goal.

WOD for Friday

Front Squats

2X5, 1X5+

Floor Press

2X5, 1X5+

Complete 3 sets of the following: 

6-8 Strict Pull-ups

Rest 30 Seconds

20-25 Push-ups Unbroken (scale to complete unbroken)

Rest 30 Seconds

10-12 Romanian Deadlifts

Rest 60 Seconds

Post weight/reps to comments.

Sunday
Dec292013

Thursday, January 2, 2014

GOAL SETTING CONTINUED....Circumstance versus Commitment: 

Commitment is categorized by integrity with your words.  It is the follow through.  We use circumstances to justify why we can not accomplish our goals.  This are otherwise known as excuses.  For example, "I want to lose 10 lbs."  Here are things we can do to support reaching this goal (commit to it): 30 day challenge, food log for a week, commit to custom fit meals for a month, surround yourself by positive people, do not drink 3 days a week and limit to 3 drinks per week.  Circumstances which are excuses may include: I don't want to give up drinking, stress, don't have time to cook, finances, social outings this month and not a good time.

Try to identify circumstances and attack head on with things you can do to commit.  Instead of saying I will not eat this above....make it a positive, "I will stick to this...."  

Attitude is a little thing that will make a big difference.

WOD for Thursday

BENCHMARK DAY!  We will be running this in heats.  Each person will have a partner counting reps and holding one another to the standards!  Gone worse is completely heavy prescribed.  Gone Bad is regular loading or anything scaled. Please specify on the comments and whiteboard for scores.

"Fight Gone Bad or Gone Worse"- 

3 rounds of the following: 

60 Seconds Wall Balls (30/20lbs) (20/14lbs)

60 Seconds Power Cleans (135/95lbs) (95/65lbs)

60 Seconds Box Jumps (30/24in) (24/20in)

60 Seconds Push Press (95/65lbs) (75/55lbs)

60 Seconds Row

-Rest 60 Seconds-

Post total reps to comments.

Sunday
Dec292013

Wednesday, January 1, 2014- HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE- All classes except the 12pm are canceled today.  The gym will be open for those seeking to train until 8pm.  We will have a crew training from 10-12pm if you are looking to train, otherwise join the 12pm!

"Fitness is earned, not given." You have to want it and get into attack mode.  Bad ass Sam pictured above.

GOAL SETTING!  HAPPY 2014!  Happy New Year's CF Balance!  We all train for one larger purpose health and overall fitness.  What does fitness represent? How about the following: Fitness is a reflection of one's dedication, commitment, discipline, self-respect, dignity, work ethics, persistance, patience, passion!  When I see a client come into CrossFit for the first time and a year later come to me with a new physique, excitment with performance gains, and an increased confidence....that person is my inspiration.  This is why I love being in the gym and my role!  Seeing all of you soo committed and achieving results is a reflection of all these characteristics above.  Let's get motivated and redefine our goals once again with a New Year!

1.) Creating a Vision-Start out with creating a vision of yourself and think of where you want to see yourself in terms of overall training and think about the following: what do you want to get out, expect, how do you want to feel?  Craft this without overthinking any specifics and work from there....

2.) Consider Motivation-"Motivation is essential to living a productive life. It gives you a sense of purpose and brings your personal vision, values and life goals into focus. Motivation drives you to pick up the pieces after a failure and try again and again until you succeed. It is the inner spark that ignites your passion and gives you energy to accomplish whatever you set your mind to do." -Athea DeBrule

When mapping out your goals, ask yourself, "What motivates you?"  "Why are you here i.e. purpose?" (Your goal may be to change body fat composition, health purposes, lose weight, get stronger, look and feel more better, get ready for upcoming rugby season, etc.)  Your sense of purpose is a foundation to begin specifying your goals and also on which to build your motivation. 

3.) When breaking down your goals, I suggest creating 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year goals.  When brainstorming about my fitness goals I find it easier to separate to categorize generally as "training," which is more encompassing.  You can categorize as skills, rest/recover, and fitness.  This way you can be more specific.  

For instance, in brainstorming skills here are some examples: double-unders, handstand push-ups, muscle-ups, pull-ups, etc.  "I want a muscle-up."  Then you can start looking to identify how you will get it.  (May be integrating 3X10 Negative Pull-ups, transition work, ring support based on level).  If you are not getting to CrossFit twice a week then your first approach would be to look at the larger picture of getting to CrossFit more consistently.

Rest/recovery: This can include commitment to active recovery days and aerobic work, mobility, yoga classes, improvements in diet, supplementation, hydration, sleep, and lifestyle factors.

Fitness: This is more specific in addressing areas you want to improve such as in strength work, different energy systems we hammer daily, larger goals such as committing to GoRuck, local CrossFit competition, or other races.  This can include weight loss, performance in sport, etc.

4.) Create S.M.A.R.T goals:

Specific- who, what, when, where, why, how

Measurable- must be easily quantifiable

Attainable- not too far from reach

Relevant- something that will benefit you

Timely- date to be completed

If you are at a loss, start looking at CrossFit's 10 general physical skills (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy).  For example, you may find that you have great difficulty racking bar in a front squat and would like to improve wrist flexibility.  Be specific and ask yourself how you would accomplish this.  Also, keep a list in your workout logs of movements and skills that interest you in gym (may be strengths, weaknesses, movements you find fun, challenging, and rewarding, etc). 

Once you create your goals, use your coaches as resources.  

More to be posted on goal setting....

-CF Balance Coaches

WOD for Wednesday

For 7 minutes every minute on the minute complete: 2 Hang Snatches (aim for 75-80% of Max)

Complete the following for time: 

100 Double-unders

50 Ab Mat Sit-ups

40 OH Walking Lunges (45/25lbs)

30 Push-ups

200m Run

Post time to comments.