In Rochester, MN, Home of the Mayo Clinic, Med City, we call it. We still have a lot of work to do to improve our health and fitness.  You have decided to focus on your health, or maybe you have been focused for some time. Many of you don’t know where to start, or if you are on the journey already, perhaps you need a reset or a new focus. This post should help you do that.   Here are five easy things you can do to make meaningful lifestyle changes. Look at it as a kickstart, not a challenge. You are beginning a journey, not a contest.  Lifestyle Change #1: Healthier Food Choices Oh! Food is the first one! Come on, man… Yep sorry. This isn’t as difficult as you think. I am not asking you to stop eating the things you love, just asking you to move slowly...Read more

The Open is upon us.   The open is a yearly assessment of where we are and how we are doing in our health and fitness.   The open has looked different over the years, with different formats, different scoring, and various event types. It has also looked different in our gym, from full-blown Friday Night Lights to doing the workouts during classes.  This year it is changing again. We will be hosting one of the three weeks of the open, the other two weeks will be at the other CrossFit gyms in Rochester. Saturdays in the gray gym or open gym will be the other option in completing your open workouts. My thought process on the open is always the same. Where am I this year compared to last? How have I improved, and where do I still need work? The open scoring makes it difficult to measure this stuff because...Read more

The vast majority of people who don’t exercise think it is not for them. They may not have a good Gym experience in school, or maybe their families didn’t do much physical activity.   Movement of some form is required for all of us. Our bodies are made to move. We know this because things go wrong if we don’t move, and things get better when we do.   But how do you start? Here are 5 ways.  Walk! The easiest movement. No equipment required, no membership required. Add a friend, and you have a multifaceted health treatment plan. Mental and Physical. No one tells you to do this, though, because they can’t make any money from it.  Stretch. Find a simple stretching routine to start your day with. Youtube is full of them. Make it a goal to stretch daily upon waking. This is an easy way to add movement to...Read more

Sarcopenia is the enemy. Attacking is the only option. There is no peace or negotiation. You must attack.  At middle age, we start to lose up to 3% of our muscle mass per year. Think about that for a second. That is bad, really bad.   Sarcopenia means lack of flesh. It starts to affect most people over 50 years old and some sooner. Those with poor muscle mass to begin with are obviously at higher risk.     Losing muscle mass is a big deal. It contributes to frailty, inabilities to perform daily living activities, and is responsible for shortened lifespans compared to ordinary muscle masses.    I have listed several links below if you want to dive into Sarcopenia more. But let’s get into how to fight it.  Join a functional fitness gym. Find one that enjoys working with people in their 40s and up. Getting the skills, habits, and...Read more

Many of us have individual goals above and beyond general physical fitness and health. Our group classes are excellent at getting you to these goals. Some people want and require more guidance. For these people, we created the ID program.Read more