I am now CrossFit Level I and CrossFit Kids certified and teach at Ramstein Air Force Base on Tuesdays and Thursdays plus privately to clients at my home gym. My clients bring their small children and infants, and we keep them in a segregated area on one corner of the room with a box of toys to keep them entertained. Infants I take turns holding if they get restless during our 30 minute exercise sessions. So far my classes have proven a wonderful option for military spouses who crave the challenge of a workout but can’t afford or do not want to consider day care for their children. Unfortunately, because I work for Air Force Services and they are required to make a profit, military spouses have to pay a nominal fee for each class (around $4.40 – I charge slightly more for private sessions). There are 8 women currently enrolled in my class (men are also welcome). I am paid $28 each week. Please read testimonials from women and children who’ve benefited from mine and other trainers’ Military Family Fitness classes on my Military Family Fitness Facebook Group. These are services which military families need desperately for free.
Normally, folks who are new to CrossFit have to attend a fundamentals class where they learn how to do a “proper” squat, overhead squat, front squat, shoulder press, push press, push jerk, deadlift, sumo deadlift highpull, and medicine ball clean (these are the 9 fundamental CrossFit movements). I incorporate these fundamental movements into many of our workouts. I cover each skill briefly before introducing the Workout of the Day (WOD), but for your own safety will recommend you stay after class (for free training) should you need further practice with any of them. Every one of these movements is done initially with absolutely no weight – everyone starts out the same way. Instead of mimicking the CrossFit site which introduces intense movements and then offers participants the chance to scale lower, I’ve learned that its both safer and more motivational for my target audience to introduce basic movements and then offer participants the opportunity to scale upward and get more intense.
If you are a latecomer to my class don’t be discouraged if everyone else is lifting more weight than you – progress is rapid and noticeable. Give it 4 weeks.
CrossFit has a reputation among some with whom you’ll talk for being extreme. The workouts posted on the http://www.crossfit.com homepage really are directed at elite athletes, and if you are not elite and attempt to finish the workout as prescribed, you could get hurt. The vast majority of people scale the workouts down. CrossFit has an affiliate called BrandX which provides official scaled workouts of the CrossFit WOD on their website each day.
Some misconceptions surrounding CrossFit are that you HAVE to lift heavy weights, you HAVE to feel physically sick at the end of your workouts, and the biggest one is that you have to be fit before starting CrossFit. All of it is nonsense – anyone can do CrossFit! Heavy weights to one individual will not be heavy to another, intensity is completely relative, & each individual will have a different measure of perceived effort through which they will be able to push themselves. My husband can still push himself through strength-focused workouts harder than I (could be he just knows how to make it look hard).
You are extremely fortunate if you are part of the Kaiserslautern Military Community, because Europe’s very first CrossFit affiliate is CrossFit Ramstein – it’s NONPROFIT and they workout nearly on a daily basis at Ramstein’s North Gym – times are posted on their website. I encourage all my clients to attend their FREE training sessions any time they can manage childcare. They also have a Ramstein CrossFit community Facebook groupsite. You will find the CrossFit community as a whole is full of really awesome people with whom you’ll want to hang out.
I will post our daily workouts online for all of my clients who are unable to attend my exercise sessions. During class please ask for scaling if I fail to give it to you, and from home search the BrandX site for common adaptions. http://www.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums Please listen to your own body – everyone has strong days and weak days. Please never hesitate to ask me questions whether or not you are currently my client!
Military Family, Food, & Fitness Fenestrations 
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