Rachael Girmscheid

Students have the option to take a CrossFit class before school this year.

For P.E. class, you have to always worry about getting your heart rate up so that you can earn your minutes in your heart rate zone.  But, what if you were doing a workout that’s short and fast but so intense you were dripping in sweat afterwards?  Yes, CrossFit is a worldwide thing now and it’s very popular here at LHS.  CrossFit is the type of exercise where you work out for a short amount of time at an increased intensity level.  CrossFit is performed in regular P.E. classes, but is now being made into a zero-hour class at 6:30 a.m. starting during the 2013-2014 school year.

Waking up before the sun rises just to go to school is what students fear.  But, it’s CrossFit and it counts as a gym class.  This zero-hour class is a full-on CrossFit class.  About 60 students have already signed up for this class, according to Mr. Schinto, and they are more than ready to work.  The way you sign up is by including this class in your schedule.  Whether you’re a guy or girl, you still will have lots of time to shower and get ready for the rest of the day at school since the class will go from 6:30-7. The nice thing about LHS is that it is CrossFit affiliated.  This means LHS is a non- for- profit organization.  You don’t need to be a member and pay any money to be a part of this P.E. class.  Any of the students in this course can just show up and be prepared to have the perfect WOD, or Workout of the Day.

The teachers here at LHS who are CrossFit Level 1 certified and who also have their CrossFit Kids certification include Ms. Joyce Kleinheinz, Ms. Carrie Niemet, Mr. Scott Schinto, and Mr. Dan Gooris.  They will all be teaching the zero-hour class.

One benefit of having gym class in the morning for a half an hour is you get your workout over with in the morning.  “That is the beauty of CrossFit.  It is constantly varied, meaning it’s different every day,” Ms. Kleinheinz stated.   For instance, you’re not running five miles each day or lifting 45 pounds each day; you’re doing a bunch of different workouts each and every day.

Some popular local CrossFit facilities, such as CrossFit Freedom and CrossFit Carbon, have a huge open space for everyone to come and workout.  Unfortunately, LHS is limited to the space that they have. But, Mr. Schinto claims that if you give him a hallway to use, he will put the kids there to do their work out, basically transforming places into CrossFit regions.

Junior Krista Erlandson signed up for this class because of the atmosphere around you and to get a great workout before school starts.  “My soccer coaches have been working on this class for a few years, and since they finally got it to be a class, I decided I should help them out and take the class. Since they worked so hard to make it a class. CrossFit is important to me because of the atmosphere that I am surrounded in. Everybody is suffering, just like you. And they still cheer you on,”  Erlandson stated.