Gaming The New Schedule

The new class schedule has each class divided up into three distinct sessions – a Speed session, a Strength Session and a CrossFit session.

You can attend any of the three sessions.

This means if you are pressed for time you can come in and hit just one session and step up the intensity (we’ll help you with that – just let us know you’re there just for the one session). Maybe you do speed one day, maybe you do strength the next, rest a day and then come in for the CrossFit workout of the day.

Are you a CrossFit purist? Want to come in just for the CrossFit workout? No worries. Just come in for the CF Sessions.

Want to work on strength and get some technique work done and then do a scaled version of the CrossFit WOD? Just come to the strength session and CF session and let the instructor know what you’d like to hit harder.

And so on…

Thing is, there’s a wide range of training volume and intensity available and lots of different combinations. Figure out what works best for you and just let the instructor know you’re there just for one or two sessions so they can help you get the proper intensity / volume for your training time.

Trainer Spotlight – James Kitcher

James (aka “The Kitch”) is the newest addition to the staff at Fourth Power Fitness. He’s graduate of Fordham University, a CrossFit Level 1 Instructor, NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and has also completed the newly minted CrossFit Level 1 Nutrition Certification.

When he’s not training athletes or working out or spending time with his wife and family James also is the “web guy”, remote producer and sometime guest and guest host for The Rear Naked Choke, a weekly MMA focused podcast / vodcast featuring long time friends Joe and Ted that focuses not so much on the fights as on the personalities in MMA.

As for his work here, right now James is teaching Tuesday Afternoons, Weds mornings and Thursday afternoons and filling in on Fridays while Brooke is away on her humanitarian trip to Africa.

More than anything – James likes to see the athletes here succeed and become fitter. Here’s what he has to say in his own words…

I’ve got a broad competitive sports background – ranging from team sports like hockey to individual sports like track & field, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Fencing. I’ve also spent untold hours toiling away in places like Gold’s Gym and 24 Hour Fitness. Then I met CrossFit and the folks at CrossFit Sacramento and everything changed. It turns out there’s a much more effective way of training and that’s CF. I want to spread the love!

…Mission

To help you become fitter, no matter where you’re starting from.

…Philosophy

Fitness. It’s not a workout, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a physical manifestation of your character — of your dedication, responsibility and integrity. It’s a barrier against infirmity and a shield against stress, anxiety and depression. It’s about deciding to live well. It’s about making positive choices and letting those positive choices add up and being able to push through when things get tough – in the gym or outside. Like anything worthwhile, fitness is earned. I can facilitate that.

…Approach

When you hire me, when you train with me — I’m your coach. I’m not going to hold a clipboard and count reps as you move from machine to machine. I want you to improve your fitness. I want you to achieve your goals. I want to share in your successes and brag about you to everyone I meet.

In order for that to happen, you’re going to have to be an active participant in the relationship. I can teach the movements and be a facilitator of good habits (discipline, responsibility, situational awareness, eating well) — to arm you with knowledge about how to workout properly with and without me as well as providing nutritional guidance, but ultimately you are responsible for your fitness, well being and vitality.

James is available for private sessions and specializes in getting people started through an eight session program that covers bodyweight movements, slow lifts, metabolic conditioning (metcon) and Olympic lifts.

Contact James
He can be reached at 916.548.5808 (cell) or via email at jameskitcher91 AT yahoo DOT com.

More on the New Schedule / Class Format

Classes use to be an hour long and consist, generally, of a Dynamic Warm Up, speed work, technical work and a Workout of the Day (WOD).

Now they’re 90 minutes long with three separate and distinct sections (Speed, Strength, CrossFit) that you can attend, allowing you to pick and choose your workouts or just go straight through for the full ninety minutes.

If you’re showing up for the CrossFit WOD in the afternoon / late afternoon sections — show up about 15 min before the WOD to get warm. This way you’ll be able to start with anyone who’s done the Strength portion of the class.

Class Schedule Change

There’s been some significant changes in the class schedule. Take a look.

New Class Schedule

What About Abs?

We get this question all of the time from the kids in our high school program.

We also get “Can we do some core work?” from those that know the lingo a little better.

They always ask the same question and we always give them pretty much the same answer in the general form of a head shake, a smile and say something like:

One more time…You’ve been working your core through this whole WOD. Not just this WOD, but each and everything we pretty much do here starts with your core. Those thrusters – core to extremity movement. The wall ball – core to extremity. Overhead squat — BIG Time core to extremity movement. Pretty much everything is core to extremity. And your core is more than your abs. It’s your “posterior chain”. Your glutes, your lower back — all those muscles that stabilize your trunk while you’re doing a thruster or some other complex movement? That’s your core. Your abs are but a piece of it.

Of course there’s always Coach Glassman’s famous response about this question.

That’s not to say there’s no workouts that don’t hit the core specifically. Any WOD that targets the GHD certainly does. Even more so when you can get full extension like Chris does here…