Mike Alley of Get Fit Chattanooga Cross Fit
I parked my car on Main Street and immediately decided I couldn't go into the gym. Get Built Chattanooga Cross Fit is one of those serious gyms, and I imagined beefed up athletes training on sides of chilled cattle.
I peeped in the door apprehensively and heard someone shout out my name. The owner, Mike Alley, introduced me to a group of people who were indeed serious about their workout that day, but as friendly as could be. A young woman bench pressed 75 pounds easily, but assured me she had worked up to it. I know everyone there knew each other, but there was nothing cliquey about any of them. Friendly smiles and nods came from the whole group, and I think Mike sets the tone. Obviously thrilled to be there, he welcomes every person enthusiastically and encourages them during their workout. Initial instruction is a must, and he is a pro at showing you the ropes of weight training.
Mike Alley has a background in fitness, but didn't realize his true calling in that arena until he was lucratively mired to the corporate world. A manufacturing sales rep, he travelled non stop and was successful in every way but one: he wasn't happy.
"I was stressed out, and focused on money instead of people. And I didn't like it," Mike says. Too young to call it a mid-life crisis, Mike nonetheless had the sort of epiphany it takes people half a life time to reach. "I realized I wanted to make the world a better place, and I decided I had three routes: massage, personal training and yoga."
Mike immersed himself in all three, and if the art of massage had required him to jump around and burn off steam, and wasn't performed in a confined dark room, we may have never been privy to Get Built Chattanooga Cross Fit.
"I read an article in Cross Fit Journal, which basically redefines fitness and training," Mike says. Used as the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies, military units, champion martial artists and professional athletes worldwide, Cross Fit is nonetheless inclusive of all fitness levels, from low-energy couch potatoes to Navy Seals. The same routines are used for people with heart disease as well as cage fighters in intense training. The scale load and intensity varies, not the program.
Mike and his then business partner (now wife) Katrina Fomich, went to San Diego for their certification, then opened up in 2008 at the Business Development Center in North Chattanooga. They quickly outgrew their space, partnered with David Yann and moved to Main Street, which they outgrew again. Currently located at 301 W. Main Street, at the corner of Main and Market, they are already busting at the seams. "Cross Fit is exploding in popularity. Reebok has partnered up with them, and Cross Fit is used on The Biggest Loser. And it was all over the Super Bowl," Mike says. So what's the deal?
World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:
Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch.
Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.
Yikes! Handstands and pirouettes? It sounds intimidating, and maybe best left to the WWF competitors, but Mike scoffs at that interpretation. "Cross Fit is just as much for the older, out-of-shape person as it is for tri-athletes. The best part is helping people get from low-fitness to doing things they never thought they could do. What you do in the gym carries over, and positively impacts the rest of your life," he says.
Mike tailors each workout himself, carefully touching up and adding to the standard Cross Fit workout. A class for participants new to Cross Fit, On-Ramp, focuses on form and intensity, and stresses the importance of listening to your body.
Mike believes the power of the group is a potent motivator and re-enforcer of good behavior. "In a group class, or Workout Of the Day, (WOD) if one person is tired and whining, and another person is giving it their all and showing heart during the workout, it tends to encourage the complainer to step up their game," he says.
A big part of CrossFit is nutrition, and the interaction at Get Built Chattanooga CrossFit is huge. "We have food challenges several times a year, and the focus is on choices, not starvation. We all eat amazing, incredible food, but it is healthy!" January was called Yannuary in honor of Mike's partner, David Yann, and members were encouraged to share recipes and photos and just anything at all about what they were eating. Actual pictures of salmon pesto pizza, along with the recipe and comments from others are regular posts on the Facebook Yannuary page, along with tacos on bright green endive leaves instead of fried shells and shrimp and 'grits' that are actually cauliflower... It's the pictures and the comments - real people connecting and sharing – that Mike credits his success to.
CrossFit is what you make it, and for some it is simply a way to get a great workout in a short amount of time so you can get on with your life. For others, it's a nurturing community, a sort of family, sometimes an on-going therapy session.
All I know is that I learned to press down with my feet and engage my legs with I lifted a barbell under Mike's supervision, and was amazed at the difference. Oh, and he was as excited as I was.
"It's so rewarding for me, seeing my clients improve the quality of their lives, empowering themselves. It is so exciting to go to work every day!"
It shows.
www.getbuiltchattanoogacrossfit.com or 240-5355.