Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Crossfit Mercer




Portions of the blog were taken from a press release submitted by CrossFit Mercer

Press Contact:         Dolph Geurds
609-498-5221
cfmdolph.geurds@gmail.com

Truck tires flying in Trenton
The grand opening of New Jersey’s largest CrossFit gym brings function fitness to county residents.

TRENTON: Flipping truck tires, swinging kettle bells and hitting handstands – you’ve seen these workout regiments on NBC’s The Biggest Loser and HBO’s Hard Knocks but now television’s top training techniques have arrived in Mercer County.

CrossFit Mercer is a 10,000 square foot functional fitness facility in Hamilton, New Jersey.  CrossFit Mercer is owned and operated by Dolph Geurds, a CrossFit Olympic, kettle bell and rowing certified trainer who has helped hundreds of individuals meet their physical development goals throughout his training career.


Just a few kettle bells???


Lounge Area
About CrossFit:
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.

Dolph from CrossFit Mercer was a vendor at the 6th annual Trenton Spiritwalk where he showcased some of the equipment used in his workouts.  However his son Hayden stole the show as he put the crowd through a brief but vigorous 10min workout which included squats, true pushups and lunges.  Dolph donated 5 free 1 month memberships that were given as prizes to members of the 200+ Trenton Spiritwalk crowd. 



R
L-R Melvin Ford, Dolph and Hayden Geurds



Future CrossFit instructor?  No doubt!

Dolph has lots more on his agenda for fitness in Mercer County; he mentioned a non-profit he is starting with a focus on defeating childhood obesity in the inner city!  Stay tuned, I think I see something brewing in the City of Trenton.


Dolph answering my questions....all of them!



















Well everyone I’ve been converted!  Let me explain, anyone who knows me or my media “guy” David Byers will attest that rarely will we commit to something or someone without doing the homework.  In addition to that I consider myself to be in good physical shape.  I do traditional weight training, walk several miles a week and ride a bike, in addition to yoga.  Several months ago when I met Dolph Guerds I found him and the Crossfit movement intriguing.  I had a few meetings with Dolph, the athletes who train at his “box”, spent lots of time searching the web, watching videos and hearing pros and cons.  On Saturday 5/28 I did my first Crossfit workout.  To see things from the perspective of a woman visit http://bariatricjourneybyvanessa.blogspot.com

While travelling to our workout we had mixed feelings about what to expect after watching videos online.  Based upon that we joked about who would “puke” first.  We arrived for the 9:30am class expecting the traditional group exercise class, people waiting around to get started.  Not here!  The 8-10 people ranged from high school and college athletes to a retired military serviceman and everything in between including a stay at home mom Charlotte, who is a regular.





Dolph had us sign a waiver, showed us the nicely decorated bathrooms/locker room, childcare room with an attendant that looks as good as a nursery school with all of the normal items.

Now to the workout; I am familiar with some of the exercises, true pushup’s, pull-ups, cleans, deads, squats etc.  So I asked Dolph “what is the workout for the day?”  He politely showed us the scaled down workout for beginners on the whiteboard.

¼ mile run
50 pushups
25 pull-ups
75 squats
¼ mile run






Dolph mentioned we could breakdown the groups into smaller sets.  We started out the bay door for our first run.  When we returned, over to the mat area we went to begin with squats and pushups.  Modifications can be done on the exercises if you do not have the form or ability.
Fast forward to the end, I have not sweated like that since running 5 on 5 games at the Ewing JCC.  I will end like the Soprano’s and leave you completely confused just to encourage you to see for yourself what Crossfit is.  Please do not be intimidated by the videos and the buff pictures online.  Dolph and his crew of Certified Crossfit Trainers will make accommodations for all types of participants including kids, Seniors, special needs and of course men and women who consider themselves to be in shape.

So do yourself a favor, go to Crossfit Mercer introduce yourself to Dolph Guerds, Kym Gandy-Jinks or any of the other Certified Trainers and check this out!  As I mentioned earlier, I am converted. 

As always, thank you for visiting the blog, and make sure you mention to Dolph that you heard about CrossFit Mercer from Trenton 350!

* Some pictures are courtesy of David Byers, Ewing NJ.







  

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Trenton Cycling Revolution's 15th Annual Bike Tour THE RIDE!

Trenton Cycling Revolution
THE RIDE!
June 2011


On Saturday May 21, 2011 Trenton Cycling Revolution TCR held its 15th annual bike tour of Historic Trenton NJ. 

Jacque Howard and TCR Chair Dan Fatton
Trenton Cycling Revolution Chair, Dan Fatton does a wonderful job leading the charge and being the point person for the organization.  Dan handles the meetings in an orderly, timely manner with very clear objectives. 

Each member takes biking seriously and is a true promoter.  See the website for a current list of members. 

The weather was a gorgeous 80 degrees with a slight breeze.  See the below link at www.runkeeper.com  for the route.  BTW you can download the Runkeeper app on your mobile device for free.  I would rate the app 8 out of 10 mainly because it is free and I haven’t had any major issues.


Trish Long and TCR Chair Dan Fatton

Trish did a nice job with the permits and setting up the route.  Helen, the organizations Secretary keeps precise notes and transferred that ability as a ride marshall.  David Byers, Alex Justino, Jim Simon and Jacque Howard along with several others in the organization participated.  Get well soon Matt!




The ride started towards Mercer Hospital and then to the DNR canal.  This portion of the ride was absolutely gorgeous!  It’s amazing how close, but far away you can be in a city. 




Don Pilsbury


Trenton Police escorted the ride, thank you to the Women and Men of the Police Force







The midway point included a stop at Artworks.  Volunteers from the Boys and Girls Club helped with refreshments and the riders had a chance to see the latest exhibit as well as hear some live music.






L-R; Jacque Howard, Vanessa Howard, Lisa Kasabach, Pete Kasabach and TCR Chair Dan Fatton



As we returned to Cadwalader Park we were met by several vendors including Trenton Social www.trentonsocial.com who provided lemonade and the site of the after ride lunch.



Thank you to Knapps for providing free service before and during the ride.

Trenton Social provided refreshments and a luncheon after the ride, thanks TC!
Jason shown above is one of the members of the Social Staff.




Alex Justino


David Byers

As always, thank you for visiting!

* All pictures on this blog were courtesy of David Byers Ewing NJ.  Documentation by Alex Justino can be found on the TCR website.