Aloha from Lahaina Crossfit!

Just a little over a week ago Becca and I were lucky enough to get to take a vacation in beautiful Maui, Hawaii. Of course the week was filled with fun activities such as snorkeling and surfing (well, attempting to surf), and plenty of relaxing on the beach and watching one spectacular sunset after another. But of course, what would a vacation be without our usual dose of Crossfit? So we took a little trip (including a 15 minute walk to the bus stop, consider it our warm-up) down the road to Lahaina Crossfit and dropped in on their 8am Saturday WOD. We met head trainer Anthony Bianucci, who was very welcoming, and happy to have visitors from another Crossfit, as were all the other athletes there. Turns out there were a total of 5 different Crossfits represented that morning, including some local island affiliates, Crossfit Zone in British Columbia, and of course, Albany Crossfit. Lahaina Crossfit is a relatively new gym, having only opened its doors this June, so their facilities currently consist of one room, similar in size to the rooms at Albany Crossfit. However, despite what one might consider limited space, they definitely make the most of what they have, and lucky them, they are fortunate enough to have year-round access to the beautiful outdoors.

One of the interesting things about Lahaina Crossfit is that since they are still a growing community, their numbers can be somewhat unpredictable. So certain days, such as Saturday, Anthony doesn’t create a WOD until he sees how many people show up, at which point he can decided if it will be an individual or a group WOD. On the day we went our group was 12 strong, so Anthony worked us up a team warm-up followed by an individual WOD. So after some group dynamic stretching, we split into 3 teams and did the following warm-up: 10, 9, 8 …. 3, 2, 1 of jumping jacks, chest-to-floor pushups, and air squats. Once the entire team was done with the 10! series we were told to grab a sand bag and run up the hill to Star Noodle, which of course us non-locals had no idea what that meant, but it turned out to be a little restaurant just about a 600m (maybe 800?) run there and back. Once we were done with our “warm-up”, we set up our stations for the WOD: 7min AMRAP of 7 kettle bell swings and 7 burpees. They actually had a limited equipment selection so while some people grabbed KB’s, some grabbed dumbbells to do modified dumbbell swings. Becca grabbed a 35lb KB and I grabbed myself a 40lb KB, a little heavier than I usually go, but I was feeling up to a challenge. Anthony started the clock and 7 minutes later, we were gasping for air, drenched in sweat, and vying for space in front of the portable fans. It’s amazing what a little extra heat and humidity will do to you! Regardless, I felt pretty good afterwards, I managed to bust out 6 and ½ rounds, and Becca rocked out 5 and ½ rounds. We got to chill afterwards and take some pics with the Saturday crew and chit chat with Anthony a little, and then one of the regulars was nice enough to give us a lift back to our hotel and give us the scoop on island living. Overall it was definitely a very positive and enjoyable experience, and it was really cool to see how another Crossfit was run. Becca and I both agreed we were very glad we took the opportunity to check out Lahaina Crossfit.