TTCF’er Jeremy Striffler writes…

This past weekend I went to Las Vegas to celebrate my 30th birthday with my two best friends from college.  A year ago,  I would have predicted a weekend of excessive eating, drinking and minimal exercise. Think The Hangover with me in the Ed Helms role – missing tooth and all.  The only calories burned would be from walking from the chaise lounge to the bar to order another round.  Thankfully, that was far from what happened.

Now that’s not to say that I didn’t have a lot of fun, drink a few beers and gamble some money but I found a more satisfying trip based on quality rather than quantity.  A little bit more of clean living than Sin City. Perhaps it is due to age and maturity, but I think my adoption of the CrossFit culture was a huge contributor.

For instance, rather than a weekend of buffets and bad eating habits, I picked high quality restaurants by master chefs like Thomas Keller, Jose Andres and Mario Batali.  I was conscious of the food I ate and sought out menus full of interesting and flavorful ingredients.  And rather than just greasy burgers and fries, it was delicious dinners of bison carpaccio, veal scallopine and frog legs.

Further, in the few days I was there, I got up the first morning for a 4-mile run on the Las Vegas strip, which was a great way to see the city from a very different perspective. There is nothing like running past revelers who still haven’t gone home at 8am.

I also paid a visit to CrossFit Las Vegas.  It was my first experience visiting an affiliate CrossFit gym and it was fantastic.  The owner, Joe, led my Noon class and there were about a dozen locals in attendance and one other visitor from Oregon.  Joe was as friendly as can be and treated me as if I was a regular, providing instruction and encouragement throughout the class. (So it felt a bit like home.)  It was a bit surreal of a setting as we started the class by taking a lap around the building with a medicine ball and the Las Vegas strip in the distance.  In addition, CrossFit Las Vegas was ten times the size of our beloved TTCF with the largest, scariest looking ceiling fan I have ever seen in my life,  rowing machines that could remain resting on the floor and rings that were lowered from the ceiling for the other class that was going on at the same time.  (Did I mention there were two classes taking place with plenty of elbow room to spare?)

Working out with showgirls and the members of the Thunder from Down Under was definitely unique (at least they all looked like they could be performers on the Las Vegas strip).  And while my allegiance will always be to TTCF, it was great to visit another affiliate and is an experience that I will definitely seek out on further travels in my life.

My weekend was one in which fun was found in physical activity and not mired in excess, even if that is was the city is known for.  I also went out of my comfort zone, something I learn to do more and more everyday at TTCF.  This was reflected in my visit to Machine Gun Vegas, in which I got to fire off rounds with a hand gun, shot gun and sub-machine gun at their gun range.  The confidence that has been built from CrossFit is totally reflective of the adventures I know seek out.

Thanks to CrossFit, my travel itinerary has been totally transformed.

Here was the CrossFit Las Vegas workout:

WOD
Push Jerk
3-3-3-3-3 (same weight for each)