We have finished up our first week of Virtual CrossFit classes. It has been so fun! I have loved reconnecting with a bunch of familiar faces, meeting some people for the first time, and coaching CrossFit again! We have a great committed crew already and look forward to more of you joining us!

So here are a few tips and trick to get the most our of your virtual CrossFit workouts.

1. DESIGNATE A SPACE FOR YOUR WORKOUTS: Space may be at a premium in your household but designating a space (even if it is just the corner of your apartment) to working out will ingrain the commitment to yourself and your health. It will also keep you on track. I suggest a minimum 6 - 8 square foot empty space, depending on your height, in addition to equipment space. You want enough room to lie down in all which ways without hitting anything, and you want all your equipment you have available to you in one place so it is easy to grab whatever you need for the WOD that day.

2. KEEP INVESTING IN EQUIPMENT: We can adjust the WOD to ANYTHING you have at home (even filling duffle bags with soup cans), but we highly suggest you slowly keep investing in growing your at-home options. That extra money you are saving each month from not eating out as much, or not having an in-person membership, put it aside. Save it up to buy another set of dumbbells, a kettlebell, a skipping rope or even find a used bike trainer or rower on kijiji. Trust me, it is exciting to grow your own private gym. It took me about 5 years to get to the space and equipment I have now but I am so thankful I invested in it and have my own private gym during this time!

3. USE THE BIGGEST SCREEN YOU HAVE AVAILABLE TO YOU: Use a laptop or cast your phone on your TV if you can. Not only is it easy to see and follow along with your coach, it will give you an illusion that you are actually with the other people, enhancing the social aspect of working out at home. When setting up your phone/laptop/webcam it is best to have a landscape orientation, sitting at a hip level or higher, and angled so that your coach can see your whole space/body. That way I can provide you with feedback on technique throughout the workout.

4. HAVE YOUR NOTEBOOK, MUSIC AND TIMER READY: It will be helpful for you to check the WOD blog each day to get an idea of the workout, and writing it down will be even better! That way you can jot down adjustments the coach gives you personally and make sure you know exactly what you are doing. Also, currently music does not work very well through the mindbody portal (I am looking at investing in a mixer), so if you want to pump out your own tunes during the metcon have it ready to hit play (we just get you to mute yourself for that portion). Lastly, sometimes you will need a timer to track certain aspects of the workout for yourself. It is handy to have a timer of any sort (phone/watch) to be able to quickly use for those circumstances.

5. STICK TO A SCHEDULE: Just like going to a in-person class, you need to set up a consistent schedule for yourself and commit to it. You no longer have the excuse of bad weather or the extra effort to drive to the gym. You literally have to walk into your at-home workout space and click a link sent to your email. So commit to the classes that work for your schedule and sign up each week in advance through your mindbody account (you’ll need to so you get the class link anyways). Once you are signed up, you are committed.

I hope this helps those that are already doing virtual classes with me, but also those that are considering it. It really has been a blast and looking forward to the week already. Cudos to those ladies above that have set up their space and working on their fitness with what they got!

If you have any questions about Virtual CrossFit classes please reach out to val@strongfityxe.com. Hope to see you (virtually) soon!

-Coach V