Photo By Staff Sgt. Shawn Casey | Members of Multinational Battle Group-East finish a CrossFit KFOR fitness class at the...... read more read more
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CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - CrossFit is a fitness program that combines weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells and other equipment into full body workouts. These workouts can be intense since they are all against the clock.
A few people stand by a caged area in a large open room, empty except for a pull up frame, a few rowers and an old squat rack on the far side. The people by the cage laugh over the loud rock music as other athletes start to trickle into the Northside Fitness Center on Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.
Mike Nicholson, the KBR (Kellogg, Brown, and Root) maintenance calibration supervisor and evening class instructor at CrossFit KFOR (Kosovo Force), calls everyone together and starts the warm up with stretches, inchworm crawls and high knee pulls across the wide-open floor. After the light warm up, Nicholson calls the group together again and yells out the instructions for the workout of the day (WOD), in front of a large whiteboard. Nicholson has a new group here at CrossFit KFOR and he makes sure each athlete understands his instructions before he starts the clock.
“We get a bunch of new athletes in as units rotate out for KFOR, so we scale the workout back for them, “ said Nicholson. “We progressively make it hard for them throughout the rotation.”
CrossFit is a fitness program that combines weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells and other equipment into full body workouts. These workouts can be intense since they are all against the clock. Nicholson makes sure the new athletes practice good form in the technical movements before intensity is added to prevent injuries.
“We started working on Olympic lifting technique and that’s been a big help especially with the Olympic lifting coach we have here,“ said Nicholson.
Staff Sgt. Rob Cortes, the logistics sergeant with the 1st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 150th Aviation Regiment, Multinational Battle Group- East, out of the New Jersey National Guard, meets with his group of athletes at 5:30 a.m.
Cortes likes the community aspect of CrossFit KFOR.
“Being in a deployed environment sometimes people can become isolated,” said Cortes. “It gives you something to do that’s positive. It boosts moral and competition. We push each other. I’ve met some great athletes and I wouldn’t have developed this type of relationship with them without Crossfit.”
Completing a WOD is no easy task. The hard work creates bonds.
“People tend to come together through struggle,” said Nicholson. “We get together and sweat together, and not just Americans. We’ve had Germans, Croatians, Polish, and Ukrainians come through.“
That community helped pitch in and build CrossFit KFOR to the level it is today.
“The equipment is all donated,” said Nicholson. “People have pitched in money for barbells and kettlebells or someone brings in some jump ropes and we appreciate it.”
Sgt. Raquel Wynter, an avionics section sergeant with 1-150th AHB and a native of Union City, New Jersey, said she was a little intimidated when she started at CrossFit KFOR a few months ago.
“I saw the weightlifting coach moving a lot of weight really fast and I was terrified, “ said Wynter. “He eased us into it, and I realized it was something I could do.”
Wynter says she’s noticed changes in only a few months.
“I’ve lost a lot of weight; I can do more push-ups and sit-ups, and I’m working on doing pull-ups,” said Wynter.
Nicholson says there is still room to build the KFOR CrossFit community.
“Anyone can come give it a try no matter what you’re fitness level is,” said Nicholson. “We got plenty of room for everybody.”
CrossFit KFOR holds classes at 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and an advance class at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Northside Fitness Center on Camp Bondsteel.
| Date Taken: | 01.31.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.18.2015 08:37 |
| Story ID: | 154710 |
| Location: | CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ |
| Web Views: | 317 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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