Clad in a sequined beret, a spaghetti-strap tank top, compression shorts and a pink boa, one member of CrossFit New Haven says you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously.

During the box’s October Barbells for Boobs event, the bearded man decided to “dress it up, booty short it up” all in pink.

“Too many competitions, too much seriousness—gotta bring it back to basics,” he says with a smile.

More than 100 people last year registered for the affiliate’s two-hour event, and co-owner Eric O’Brien says charity is important to the people at the box.

“Our members really get behind causes,” he says. “It’s just great the energy around—guys struggling, RXing it for the first time.”

And the encouragement is constant—regardless of whether the person finishes first or last.

“That’s the spirit of CrossFit—that’s what it’s all about,” O’Brien says.

Having worked for a nonprofit for many years, another member says the kind of energy at CrossFit New Haven is difficult to find elsewhere.

“When you have people who care so much about each other … ,” she starts. “If one person in this gym is sick, we all feel that and we all rally and do anything we can to support them.”

6min 50sec

Additional reading: CrossFit—and My 10-Year-Old—Helped Me Beat Leukemia by Rick Reifenberg, published Dec. 19, 2011.

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Mikki Lee Martin and Keegan Lee Martin explain how CrossFit Kids Preteen Class is a bridge between Kids and Teen/Advanced classes.

There is a natural division within the gaggle of children in our CrossFit Kids classes. They generally divide by friendships, which tend to be consistent with age. Given the very broad age range we suggest for a CrossFit Kids program (5 to 12), dividing into groups makes sense as it keeps friends together.

Often for the WOD, we end up with an A group and a B group, offering two versions of a workout to engage both age groups. This is repeated with the game, where two versions are offered, one of which is designed to challenge the older and often more capable kids. However, as our CrossFit Kids class grew in size, we began to see the need to divide the group more formally by age to optimize the time with both.

The Preteen Class (ages 10 to 12) acts as a bridge between the CrossFit Kids Class and the Teen/Advanced Class. Although many preteens are beginning to feel they no longer belong with younger kids, they are usually not ready for the emotional and social context of the Teen/Advanced Class. That bears repeating: for optimum success—and CrossFit is all about optimization—putting a child younger than 12 into the Teen Class should be done with extreme caution and definitely only after discussion with both the child and the parents. In addition to being socially and emotionally immature for the Teen/Advanced Class, many 10-12-year-olds are not yet physically prepared.

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