by RONA MANN

So, the holidays are over, and everywhere you go you are being bombarded with messages of “Lose weight today!”, “Go on this fast acting diet!,” “Take this miracle pill,” “Join our gym,” “Buy this life-altering equipment.”

STOP!

It’s time to stop the madness and get in touch with your body and a lifelong fitness program based on common sense, safely designed for who you are. It’s called Mad About CrossFit, and you owe it to your good health to give it a try.

“We meet the individual where they are,” says Lisa Goldenberg, owner for the past five years of Mad About CrossFit, conveniently located just off I-95 at Exit 60 in Madison. “CrossFit is often misunderstood,” Lisa continues, because people don’t know what it is.”

Although it began 16 years ago in California, CrossFit, with more than 4500 gyms worldwide staffed by the highest level of trained instructors, is primarily a fitness regimen developed over several decades by a coach who found that CrossFit optimizes total fitness by utilizing constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity. CrossFit is also defined as a community, because workouts are often done together in a class setting…and that makes for an increased positive result. The coach even devised an equation for the effectiveness of CrossFit:

CVFM @HI+communal environment=Health (constantly varied functional movements at high intensity in a communal environment leads to health and fitness.

CrossFit is an evidence based fitness program that incorporates movement, fitness, and nutrition into a regiment designed to promote a healthy life. It’s not a one week cleanse, a six week gym membership, or a trendy class. It’s learning to move safely, it’s how to attain and maintain personal fitness, and how to eat a healthy diet every day…one that is balanced, yet sugar-free.

“We keep people safe by teaching them proper form and technique first before they go on to their individual goals,” says Goldenberg who has been thoroughly trained in the  methods of CrossFit.  That form and technique is accomplished through a series of twelve classes all taken in one month called “Foundation” and is required before anything else is attempted. This teaches members the basics of CrossFit and makes sure they are performing safely at all times.

Lest you think Crossfit is an advanced program solely intended for high intensity athletic types, let us disabuse you of that notion. “Mad About CrossFit is for everyone,” says trainer Jameson Koptiuch enthusiastically. “We have kids classes starting at age 10, and we have members in their 80s. Most of our clientele is actually over the age of 35.”

Lisa and Jameson stress CrossFit is about high intensity interval training that incorporates a varied combination of workouts: weightlifting(no barbell lifts, however), gymnastics like pushups, pullups, and situps, and metabolic conditioning like jumping rope and rowing. “Always we look at the whole picture of nerve and hormonal response. Yes, we’re here to teach proper form and technique while building endurance, but  CrossFit also promotes functional movement for our clients’ everyday life like safely picking up a child or bag of groceries and getting in and out of bed or a car safely and flexibly.” In addition to CrossFit and the popular WOD (workout of the day which changes from day to day), Pilates classes are offered as well as their newest class, “Row Rage,” which is a high intensity class that builds strength and conditioning, yet is low impact. Above all, it’s safe…a word you’ll hear Goldenberg intone over and over again. Mad About CrossFit has the safety of its members primary at all times.

All staff members are fully trained and most hold Level II CrossFit certificates which requires them to train to the highest standards of their industry.

Your first appointment at Mad About Crossfit is a one hour one-on-one evaluation of who you are, where you are fitness-wise, and what your goals are. Injuries are discussed, prior surgeries, it’s a very thorough workup before any program is begun.

Very popular is Lisa’s one hour Pilates class, taught with the goal of improving total body conditioning. With the focus on core muscles, supplemented by proper breathing technique, clients benefit by strengthening their hips, backs, and abdominal muscles while striving toward optimal athletic ability.

While the emphasis at Mad About CrossFit is, and will always remain safe conditioning and strengthening, the gym’s mascot, “Gigi,” gets a whole lot of her own emphasis from  the clientele. A sweet, intelligent dog, Gigi is eager to greet clients, but knows her place. And she’s in great physical shape, thanks to owner Jameson’s watchful eye and training techniques!

This is not your father’s gym. It’s not the place you joined in the ’70s and hurt yourself doing aerobics because no one properly instructed you. It’s not the fad studio boutiques that followed in the next decades. It’s not anything other than simple physical intelligence and a concentration of what makes sense to make you stronger, regardless of what shape you’re in. There is no competition at Mad About CrossFit; no intimidation, no reason to feel nervous about that first visit…or the next one. Here are a small group of professionals, supremely trained, who strive to make sure everyone gets attention and results. They don’t make you touch your toes; they make you touch your goals.

Lisa, Jameson, and the rest of the staff at Mad About CrossFit learned the “secret” to healthy bodies a long time ago, and they’re waiting at their Madison gym to share their considerable knowledge and common sense approach with you. It’s not about miracles or buying expensive equipment or starving yourself. It’s about approaching each person  individually, finding out what THEY want, crafting a plan of attainable and reasonable goals to meet those expectations, and then working….safely, consistently, and having fun in the process.

“We can work with anyone who is coachable. Just leave your ego and fear at the door,” says Lisa.

Mad AboutCrossFit is about a body of work, yes, but it is also about dignity and respect for that body.

Make an appointment to come in and have a personal, one-on-one consultation. (203) 535-4588 – www.madaboutcrossfit.com

170 Fort Path Road, Madison