Another way to staying fit

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Gross
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Tired of the same old exercise routine day-in-and-day out? Ready for something more rejuvenating? Consider joining the Airmen and civilians that take part in the CrossFit classes that take place during the week inside Elmendorf's Hangar 5.

Mrs. Richelle Kemper, who's one of the main volunteers of the program, described CrossFit as fast-paced body movements and weighted workouts that vary every day to involve a full range of muscles.

For the past three months people have been attending the rigorous sessions inside Hangar 5. Formal classes are offered Mondays and Thursdays at 5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon and standard workout times for Saturdays and Sundays are at 1 p.m.

However, members who can't attend these formal training sessions still have access to gym during anytime they want to work out. Mrs. Kemper also said they're working on their affiliation with CrossFit to be recognized as an official CrossFIt gym.

"I think it's an amazing program," said Mrs. Kemper. "We teach all the Olympic lifts here."

The workouts are challenging, and each one is named after someone who inspired it.
For example, MURPH consists of a one-mile run to start the workout then 100 pull ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats and finishes with a one-mile run.

To put it in more common terms of what this means, she said, typically when someone goes to the gym they ask a person how much they bench to have an idea of their muscular strength. In this case someone would ask what's your MURPH, and the person would respond with a time in which it took to finish all the tasks.

To make this program successful, Mrs. Kemper said, many people have been very generous. She mentioned Col. William Routt, 3rd Operations Group commander, has been a supporter behind the program, and the 3rd Civil Engineer Squadron even built the gym a nice pull up bar system.

"CrossFit is not for the faint of heart. It is for those looking to get to the next level of fitness," said Colonel Routt. "Many of us use to live by the aerobic day followed by the lifting day philosophy. Since we found the CrossFit method, we are in much better overall fitness. "

Colonel Routt also mentioned the competitive side CrossFit brings out. He said with each workout you try to better your previous score or time, and try to beat those around you. Also, mediocrity is nothing to settle for, never settle for less than your full potential said the colonel.

Airman 1st Class Angela Gonzalez, from the 3rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, who's one of about 50 current members, said she really enjoys the program better than anything else she's done so far.

"I've been doing weight lifting for eight years, and this is a lot harder than anything I've done so far," said Airman Gonzalez. "This is a good class for beginners to (those that are) advanced."

She said she enjoys doing a new type of workout every time she goes to the gym.
Colonel Routt said he feels very strongly with having this program as part of the installations.

"Having CrossFit at Elmendorf and Fort Richardson is very important," said Colonel Routt. "As a service, we are finding ourselves more and more having difficulty maintaining a fitness level needed to serve our country. This officer believes that CrossFit and the methods it teaches far better prepares one for any and all contingencies. Having the CrossFit gym here affords us the opportunity to perform many of the tasks that we would not be able to in the Elmendorf fitness center. We don't mind shoe scuff marks on the walls from hand stand pushups. If you need to drop the barbell when trying for that last rep during a clean and jerk, that's okay in our gym, because we have bumper plates and don't mind the loud noise. Don't get us wrong, we like the fitness center and all that it offers. But, like Rocky Balboa did to prepare for Clubber Lang, our gym gets us away from "the Gucci," and brings us back to what we believe works best. Our motto is, "don't bring it weak," and you are welcome to join us."

So if you are up to the challenge, and looking for a new way of working out, contact Colonel Routt at 552-3003, Lt. Col. David Piffarerio at 551-9002, Maj. Bryan Kemper at 551-1136, Maj. Nathan Thompson at 551-1919, Lt. Sloan Green at 551-5248 or Mrs. Kemper at 907-854-9787 to find out how to access the gym and be a part of the group.