Leland CrossFit is co-o*'ned b)'

Jared ancl Taryn Zeller and Mattheu'

Kane. Kane is the head coach and

firll-tirne studcnt at UNCW. Despite

liecping busy r.r,ith his duties at the gym
ancl classes, he finds time to work out

alnrost

tlo

hours a day in order to stay

in shape for competitions. I met up rvith

}rim at the neu.facility, located in

u.arehouse off Poole Road by tlie

\\'ateltbrd

Brrsiness Center, to learn

rnore abont lris background and passion

tbr CrossFit. I also vyanted to try

orhout to see.just u'hat it is about

CrossFit that has everyone going so

cfazl'o|er tt.
I{ane is a fbrrner scout sniper lor the

in lhen

United States Marine Corps. While

aren't any gYrns to s'ork

stationed in Afghanistan, he and his

1ou're Jeplored. so it s 1p t(r )('1 t,I Llr)

rvhater er ).ou can s'ith n'hat vou har e."

fbllou soldiers had to create their

u urkorLts Lrsing

sbatever objects

o'nr

u ere

style r.r'orkout before he

and sticks.

kneri uhat CrossFit rr'a..

opcratiunal fitlress," he says. "There

Abo.'e, Loi:r': r 'cs.,! rt .s ,.' a

u;arehcL:se-:tyle builcling cfi Poote
i,ctd bv l1;a t,'.':,ip' for'd Bus'::e:q :.;.i.i-

What he l'as doing rr'as a CrossFit-

available to tl)em, inclLrding sandbags

"\\'e needed a \\ra)'to maintain

or-rt

er en

realll'

\\'lror lre riar disclralg.d ll'urrr tlr.

Marines in 2012, Kane retLrnred to his
FALL

201,1

65

.:-a:.:::.a:

,.a--..

cir ilian life and began u'orking out at a

commercial gym, but boredom u'ith the

same old style of rvorkouts led him to
seek out a CrossFit gym ln

Wilmington. CrossFit's focus

on

routines tl'rat translate to real-life

functional movernent appealed to him.

"When you do something like this,"
Kane says, demonstrating a bicep curl,
"there's no pr:actical application for

tlrat. When arc yolt e\ er going t() usc

that mor ement?" CrossFit exercises

like 'qrrats and deadlills mimic motions

tl'rat people do on a daily basis.
A t;'pical Crosstrit workout is
anything but typical. Ttiis style of
principle of

sorhout is based

upor-r the

constantly

functional

"'aried

movernents. Varied routines help keep

the body lrom becoming too

accustomed to a certain u,orkout,

ll'rich

is the key to bigger strength and

corr

rlition--''^D
in q b-___"'
ur i n s

Like

lot ofpeople, I had heard of

CrossFit befure visiting the neu'Leland

ob

N ORTH BRUNSWICK AAAGAZI NE

facility, but I was too intimidated by all of

its muscle-bound enthusiasts to

try it

myself Despite the fact that CrossF it is

rr

Despite the earl;'hour, it is hot

the preferred workout style ofelite

athletes, champion martial artists and

ith an enormous .\merican flag along

itli a chalkboard that lists the

"woD'" or "riorkout of the day"

and

humid inside the warehouse. even with

going

many military special operation units,

several large industrial-sized fans

Kane insists that CrossFit is designed to

full blast. Men and women go through

be scalable to any person's level ofhtness.

their warm-up routines, seemingly

"Ninety percent ofour clients have

unbothered by the heat. "I've never

never tried CrossFit before coming

worked out in an air-conditioned gym,"

here, and 50 percent have never even

Kane says. "People come here to sweat."

worked out before," he says.

Berov,r,

Matthew Kane,

former

Marine and now a student at UNCW,

is co-owner and head coach at
Leland CrossFit.

Petite, muscular women haul the large

Inside the gym, instead of row after

wooden boxes that are almost as big as

row of fitness equipment, there are

they are from the side ofthe room over

large black mats in the center of

to the mats. They begin to jump from a

mostly empty room with a network of

standing position on top ofthe boxes

pull-up bars that have rings and

support straps dangling from them. A

an exercise called a "box jump."

To begin the official warm-up, one of

few large medicine balls rest near the

Kane's trainers, Jonathan Poole, has us

entrance to the warehouse, along with

do a <l,oo-meter run, some kettlebell

huge wooden boxes and silver

swings and a series of about lo

kettlebells. The side wall is covered

deadlifts in which we

lift a larse

FALL 2014

67

:-5.,'.==

clumbbell off the ground four times per

lninute. Aftcr the last set, dripping

l'itlr

su eat, I turn to Poole and ask,

"Does this mean \\'e're done?"

"Doue

rr

grin. "Nori'

ith rvarmups,"

he says 'ul-ith a

rve do the actual 'nlorkout."

Toda.r"s uorkout is called "3RFT"

uhich stands lbr "Three Rounds for

Tirrre. Despite beirrg

a group exercise.

CrossFit is also very much an

lrrdir itlrral sl)ort. Participants arc
encorrraged to tirne themseh'es and

tr)'

to beat their "PR" or personal record.

Orrr'.ct'tion
chalkboard
-^ --- o{'tlre
'..'b"' " ' large

is

set aside so participants can u'rite dou,n

thejr individLral goals Some are pretty

vagLre:

"Squat" or "Pull-Lrp," but some

list things like, "Lose 15 pounds" or

"Don't tal) in Grayson's puke." The
latter, I am told, is an inside.joke. I ask
Poole if'arrt'one has ever thror,r'n up

cluring a sorkout "Not here," he sa;'s,

''bLrt I'r e .eelt it ltap|en at otller places."

It is clear that people

r.r

ho do CrossFit

afe serious about getting in shape.

Evert'one in m1'class seems to push
thernseh es to their physical limits. We do

somerlri'rp
.-"'""-"5

called

roes ro

bar" in uhiclr

se hang on the pull-up bars and try to

Thrs page: At CrergFjt the warkout is

drfferent every day The Workout of the
Day is posieei cn the chalkboerC, and all

of leveis of pErt;.ipant: compiete tie

rvcrkcut ic the best cf iheif abilities
FALL 201,+

Iift our toes

up toward our heads

some

ofus more successful than others. Next

are more kettlebell swings followed by
box jumps and another 4,Oo-meter run.

When that is over, we repeat the process

two more times. In total, the workout
takes about an hour. and everyone is

flushed and sweaty at the end ofit.

Arriane Murray has been working

out at Leland CrossFit since just a few
weeks after the gym opened. Initially,

like me, Murray felt intimidated, but

now she considers herself"addicted" to
CrossFit.

"l

go almost every day," she

"I can't not go."

Murray lost loo pounds prior to
joining Leland CrossFit. She credits
says.

the gym for helping her tone up and

claims working out there has
"completely changed her body." She is
fan of the gym's website app, which
allows her to log on to see what that
day's WOD

will

be. She likes knowing

ahead,,of time,:,w.h4tr.s.he can expect

lor

that everlin$'s, orkout. "It's not your

This page: Instead of traditional gym equipment, CrossFit focuses on body-weight
exercises and features like ropes, pull-up bars, rings, medicine balls and kettle bells.

nOrmal

w.or

ut,',.She says, "Every day

is dlfferent diia

ltt

always something

intereating ;nd::fun."

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NORTH BRUNSWICK MAGAZINE