Connecticut College’s Athletic Center definitely sees its busiest activity after classes are over for the day, and students ranging from varsity athletes to those of us who enjoy a quick workout now and again make the trek across the bridge. We all understand how important it is to stay active and healthy, but making time in our schedules for doing so can be tough. Zumba and Spin classes are so popular that the students who swear by them now need to show up at least forty-five minutes early just to get a spot. So what other options are there? Student-organized clubs are cropping up based on a shared love of working out and staying in shape, with one of them being Conn’s very own version of CrossFit: ConnFit.
CrossFit is a fitness company founded in 2000, and is practiced both informally as an exercise regimen as well as competitively all over the world. CrossFit includes elements of interval training, cardio, gymnastics, calisthenics and weightlifting, among many others. The practice aims at improving an individual’s overall health, including their endurance, strength, power, flexibility and balance. Finding a CrossFit gym in our area is by no means difficult; New London, Groton, Old Saybrook and Uncasville all have one. But why bother going off campus (and paying for gym membership fees) when we have our own group right here?
Eavey Newton ’15 is this year’s club leader of ConnFit and has been an active member since last year. Before that, Newton played on the Women’s Club Rugby team but suffered an injury that made her look elsewhere for ways to work out and stay in shape. CrossFit, she said, was perfect for that because all of the exercises can be shaped to fit an individual’s specific needs. Whether you’re just starting to get into shape or are coming off an injury, “you can train around whatever,” Newton said.
The actual routine is flexible as well, and every day there is a different set of exercises to keep CrossFit fans excited. Newton makes up all the routines for ConnFit, which are loosely based off of CrossFit’s examples, and will occasionally throw in a benchmark workout. Newton explained that the benchmark workouts are the only consistent thing, saying, “You throw them in every few months to see how you’ve improved.” If after a benchmark workout you’re able to complete drills faster and without being as short of breath, you know your hard work has been paying off.
In beginning CrossFit, Newton stressed understanding the basics as fundamental in the process. You can’t deadlift 100 pounds if you don’t know how to deadlift at all. Many of these initial exercises teach you the importance of body weight training. According to Newton, it’s important to understand how to “use your body to train your body.” Though this process may seem slow, it will eventually pay off. Newton cited her own experience in starting at the beginning just lifting what she could, and has now added 100 additional pounds to that number. To encourage more students to join ConnFit, the group is slowly adding more equipment to the gym that will appeal to a wider variety of students looking to work out. The pull up bars near the basketball courts were purchased by the group, and Newton said that the group’s next purchase will be a 15 kilogram (or around 30 pound) lifting bar. Currently, the AC only has a 20 kilogram bar, which can be intimidatingly heavy for beginners.
In expanding the club through purchasing new equipment, Newton was especially excited to hopefully welcome more female members into the club. She hopes to “empower women through lifting,” and said that it’s one of the most “fun and empowering” ways to work out. As the leader of the club, Newton doesn’t believe she’s filling a man’s role in any way (the previous leaders of ConnFit were both men), instead believing that CrossFit (and, by extension ConnFit) is truly meant for everyone. Newton saw CrossFit physically pay off in her own life when she was abroad in Germany and couldn’t rely on anyone but herself to help move her belongings into her new apartment. When it comes time for all of us to move in at the beginning of the academic year, don’t we all sometimes wish that one particularly heavy bag felt just a little bit lighter?
ConnFit meets at the AC on Mondays from 7:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., and on Saturdays from 11:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m. •
