Happy Monday!

 
We hope that everyone is doing their best to enjoy the weather outside and focus on what we can control.  Over the past few days we’ve had multiple members ask us what our plan is going forward with Covid or shutting down. As of now, our plan is continue to be here for all of you the best we can. We’re continuing to follow the guidelines provided to us by the state and we also hope that you all are being honest with your part as well. If we are mandated to close we are discussing options, from renting equipment back out and going to Zoom classes, to possibly not closing at all (since we’ve re-opened we’ve had 16,274 check-ins to the gym without a single person testing positive for Covid that we know of, and without a single member having any immediate family they live with testing positive, so we believe it to be a bit un-reasonable to force us to close our doors if that’s announced).
 
Please do your part in the community so we can stay open, if you’re traveling for Thanksgiving we greatly appreciate you taking the proper steps to ensure that we can stay open. 

General Covid Reminders

– If you’ve traveled out of state, please self quarantine per the state guidelines.
– You’ve been around others that aren’t from Vermont or have signs/symptoms of not feeling well, please self quarantine/get tested per the state guidelines.
– If you don’t feel well or show any sign/symptoms of Covid-19 please self quarantine per the state guidelines.
 
We believe that keeping CVCF open is essential to the mental health and overall well being of all us.  We will do our best to always support you all the best we can, so we appreciate you taking proper pre-cautions and following guidelines so that there is a CVCF this time next year. With businesses starting to shut their doors, and one of the the biggest gyms in the area recently announcing their permanent closure, this is becoming ever more close to home and evident that this is a possibility if circumstances do not play out right. 

General Health

We do not know what’s going to happen going forward with Covid-19, so instead of playing the “What-If Game” let’s try to focus on what we CAN control. Here are some things to think about going forward, especially as we get into the darker, colder months of the year…
 
– Nutrition –  Try to do your best to eat whole foods, lots of veggies, water and the occasional treat.  If you’re a stress eater, eating now might be extra challenging for you and we totally understand.  Just do your best to fill up your plate with a good portion of Protein and Veggies FIRST, then indulge in a treat. If you can, try to pick a healthyISH treat. Remember there is more and more evidence and understanding that the quality of the food you put into your body affects the health of your gut and digestive system which is directly connected to your mental health and well being as well. As much as food can be a coping mechanism during tough times, if it’s the wrong food it can often just make things worse. 
 
– Water – Drink it, stay hydrated. If you struggle to drink plain water, you can add something to it. Fruit, Nuun, Salt/Lemon, Seltzer or Tea! 1oz per 2lbs of Bodyweight is always a great starting point as a baseline.
 
– Daily Movement – Try to find some form of movement to do each day. This could be coming to class, stretching, walking, hiking, biking…the list goes on! 
 
– Mindset – The saying, “Your mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy,” is true.  We don’t necessarily have control over the thoughts that pop into our head, but we can stop them from controlling us.  In times like this, we get how challenging it is to remain positive, but we need to stay positive and not let our minds get the best of us.  Here are a couple of ideas for Mindset:
 
– Journaling – Super simple.  Wake up in the AM and write down 1-3 things you’re grateful for.  This can be basic as, I’m grateful for this cup of coffee. Being grateful has powerful impacts on the brain and helping rewire. 
 
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain
 
– Meditation – This can come in many forms. There are a handful of apps out there: HeadSpace, 1%, Insight Timer, Youtube has many options. Meditation can also be just focusing on your breath for 1-5 minutes. 
 
If you’re looking to make any of the above changes, try to focus on making manageable expectations.  For example, say you want to add in meditation, maybe start with 5 minutes every OTHER day. Sometimes if we try to make too many changes at once, it can be a lot to handle and we might not stick with it. 

New Coach

As we mentioned a few weeks ago we have hired a new coach full-time and we are excited to have him join us starting this week. You can read a little more about Evan below…

Evan Cohen graduated NYU Tisch with a double major in Drama and Political Science. He has been generally active throughout his high school and college years – mostly focusing on tennis, cardio, and occasionally working his way through resistance machines at various gyms. He found his way into a Crossfit gym in 2017 after being referred by a friend. He was a little intimidated at first, so it took him a few months to fully get into it. However, he fell in love with the sport in 2018, and he has been working out 4-6 times a week ever since. When gyms closed due to Covid, he continued to train using a variety of calisthenics and dumbbell movements.  
 
He is very excited to be a part of the vibrant community at Champlain Valley Community Fitness. During his time in NYC he enjoyed fine dining, museums, sightseeing, and most of what the city has to offer. His favorite athletic activities outside of the gym are skiing, hiking, climbing, tennis, and frisbee. In addition to being a fitness enthusiast, he is a musician, actor, mover, and lover of the arts.
 
Evan will be in through a mixture of classes this first week or two as we settle into and set a more permanent schedule after the Thanksgiving week.

Class Sign-up

A couple of quick reminders and adjustments being made to our protocols going forward.

– Saturday – Please be mindful this is our most often filled class times. Going forward please be aware we will only be allowing ONE reservation on Saturday, so no signing up for 9:15 and 10:30. This does not mean you can’t stay after the 9:15 if there is space, however we are finding a large contingent of athletes are signing up for both sessions, blocking others from getting in at all. We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to get in here and exercise, and while we know some of you would like to be in here for hours to train, this is simply just not an option given the present local and global circumstances.

– Waitlist – We want to highly encourage people to sign-up for classes even if they are on the waitlist. We’ve heard from a handful of people that if they see a class is full that they don’t waitlist, but we’re finding often a class will be full the night before and then there are open spots the following morning as some athletes are basing their attendance on whether they like the workout or not, often as many as 5-10 people dropping out of a full class in some instances. So, just because the class is full, doesn’t mean you can’t get in, so we’d encourage you to waitlist if you’re okay with not having a set-in-stone decision the night before…please feel free to waitlist for one class, and sign-up for another as well, just be mindful of cancelling one of them if you get into the waitlisted class.

Thanksgiving Week Schedule

Please be mindful of the adjustments to the schedule for Thanksgiving week, these are made based off of our previous years schedules and attendance trends.

Wednesday, November 25th – Noon will be the last class of the day. There will be NO evening classes.

Thursday, November 26th – We will be running two, slightly shorter, express classes. Basic briefing, quick warm-up and go. We’ve typically seen 50-100 people in past years so we’re doing two classes to help get in the range of what we typically see. If we see the classes are both only partially filled, we will be cancelling the later class and condensing to just the earlier one. There will be a class at 8:00 and 9:00 AM. Same entry/exit protocol and schedule as we have been doing, class will run 8:00 – 8:45 AM (athletes need to be out the door by 8:45 AM), 9:00 AM athletes you will be able to enter the gym at 8:50 AM. 

Friday, November 27th – The following classes will run, 7:00 AM, 8:15 AM, 9:30 AM, 10:45 AM (this will be a class), 12:00 PM. There are no Open gym slots scheduled so please only sign-up for one spot, you will be able to stay after for a secondary block if spaces are open. There will be no evening classes.

Saturday, November 28th – Normal schedule.

Programming

This week we’re jumping into another 4 Week Cycle for training.  
 
– Move – We will be working on developing a stronger “Front Rack” Squat, continuing to improve upon our single arm work and core work. If you’ve been following the Move Blog for a while now and are looking to add in or mix in some other movements with a barbell, don’t be afraid to jump into another programming track.  As always, if you have any questions about doing this, please don’t hesitate to ask a coach! 
 
– Power – We will be working through a modified version of the Wendler program. This is a super simple, yet often very affective strength protocol. It’s not fancy or exciting, but it works, and can be incredibly mentally demanding with the finish of Max Reps each session. We’ll be following a Back Squat on Monday, Bench Press on Wednesday, and Deadlift on Friday split and will be filling in accessory work and Met-cons appropriately.
 
– Sport/Competition – We will be looking to develop a stronger Front Squat, work on Barbell Battery work, continue working on our gymnastics, and adding in “Open style” workouts.  
 
That’s all we have for you, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out. Have a great week!
 
– The CVCF Team