We recently went to visit Kaiser CrossFit, located Northeast of Charlotte off of 485. I (Erin) was feeling a little nervous because this was my first time ever taking a CrossFit class. I’m not sure why I was anxious, but I had always heard about CrossFit and had watched the CrossFit games on TV, so I envisioned walking into a room of elite, extremely fit people who weren’t going to talk to me because I was much weaker than them. I was clearly misunderstood.
There was another class in session when we walked into Kaiser CrossFit, and it was refreshing to see people of all ages and levels participating, literally. There was a young guy who was there for his first class and there was also a 62-year old badass woman who was training to compete in the CrossFit games. If you haven’t read our previous SweatNET article about Lee Monk, go do it now! I felt relieved instantly.
Christopher and Sami Singer, the owners of Kaiser, greeted us when we walked in. Kaiser CrossFit is truly accepting and inclusive of every single person that walks through their door. Once the other class was finished, we started our class with a group warm-up – but not your typical jumping jacks and high knees type of warm-up. Instead, our warm-up was ultimate frisbee. I won’t lie, I think I had a cheesy smile on my face the entire time.
After our warm-up came the real warm-up (squats, lunges, inchworms, etc.) followed by testing out our max back squat. Chris helped to guide us through our max squats and ensured that everyone was moving properly. If it’s your first time ever doing a squat with the barbell, he takes the time to help! After that came the real fun: 4 rounds of push presses, kipping pull ups (or dips and rows if you couldn’t do those like most of us), and box jumps within a 12 minute timeframe. After our workout, we went upstairs to stretch for 5 minutes.
If you’re new to CrossFit or you’re a seasoned CrossFitter, try Kaiser CrossFit out. They help you feel at ease and you can’t help but smile during a class. Everyone there is extremely encouraging and kind, and you can tell they treat their members like family.
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