My Hockey Arena Lobby Crossfitting Sistah

Hockey Arena (aka - my sisters Crossfit Box)

My sister does not have a Crossfit affiliate in her town.  What she does have is a small, crowded garage with a few pieces of crossfit equipment wedged in between lacrosse bags, hockey nets, and a variety of boogie boards for all seasons.  She also has the lobby of the local hockey rink.  

She has sons and they play hockey. As any parents of aspiring NHL’ers know, the time slots for minor hockey practices can be a bit early.  Combine crazy practice times with working full time, three kidlets schedules to juggle and her own Crossfit WODs to fit in, her life gets a bit crazy. 

This is where the lobby at the hockey arena fits in.  She frequently emails me with descriptions of some of her experiences at the rink. I enjoy the stories so much that I decided I should interview her for this blog. 

Check out her responses.....

AP: What are some WOD's you have done in the hockey arena?

C: My WODs depend on what arena I'm going to.  For example: one of the arenas that I go to has a very small lobby with really tiny benches and I’m not sure if they're fully secured into ground.  If I decide to do box jumps in this lobby the wobbly benches can make things very interesting!  For this reason I will choose to do box jumps at the OTHER arena lobby that I WOD in.  The benches at this arena are secured and much easier to jump on.

However, compared to doing box jumps at my house, either of these arena’s lobby benches are okay.  My box jump equipment at home is a shoe storage bench and it is set up in such fashion that my head almost smashes on our gutters every time I jump. 

I do wall balls at the rink but the target is not very high because hockey arena lobby ceilings are not very high.  I did Karen there once and got a killer time! 

 (AP: Shocking considering the lower ceilings!) 

I'll do a few HSPU and then modify with pike ones off the benches. 

I usually bring my kettlebell to swing around between the boxes.  

Before my skipping rope broke, I would often skip (*she is talking about a real skipping rope as opposed to the Princess skipping rope she borrowed from her 5 year old daughter when she first began Crossfitting).

AP: Do you have any fun memories of doing your arena WODs?

C: Yes!  I have a couple of fun memories! One time I did 400m repeats in a very sketchy industrial area…in the dark.

Christy’s Husband:  "Uh yeah, sketchy!  There are people under the bridges there and you're running by in the dark.  Makes me mental!!!"

C: Well, needless to say, I had an incredible pace.  

I have another fun memory where I was doing burpees with my 5-year-old daughter and another little girl came and joined in.  I was pretty much done my workout; thankfully, because they had enough air left in their lungs to yell, "Watch Me! Watch Me!!"

Here’s a fun one! I brought a soccer ball inside the arena one day and showed my daughter how to do a wall ball (I always keep soccer balls in my van). When it was her turn, she threw the ball straight at the wall and it rebounded off the cinder blocks and hit her right square in the face!  Yeah, that was fun.  (Total sarcasm)

AP: What time do you usually do your hockey arena WOD's?

C: I've been known do several times:

7am on Sunday. 6am on the occasional weekday if I'm heading to work late and

of course, my personal favorites, the 5:45pm WODs that are at the arena that has a pub.  

AP: Sorry, did you say Pub?  Can people in the Pub see you wodding?  

C: Oh yes!  The only area to WOD in that arena is in right by the main entrance where everyone walks in. Most people come in and go sit in the Pub to watch hockey and lucky for them, they can also watch me WOD. 

AP: What's the best comment you've gotten wodding at the arena?

Most people say, "What a great use of time!" as they sip their Tim Horton’s double doubles.  

I've been asked if I'm training for something to which I say “no, just trying to get my workout in.”

"It looks pretty intense" is a common comment.  

AP: What do you like best about doing hockey arena WOD's? 

C: I really enjoy how impressed my husband is when I get home at 8:30am on a Sunday and I have already wodded.  He is definitely more impressed by that, than he is when I go for runs in dark, sketchy areas of town!

I also enjoy that the bathrooms are very close by, as I always have to use them; especially when I incorporate skipping!

Christy and her 2 boys at Regionals 2011

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A big thanks to my sister for sharing her time and for providing me with daily giggles.  She constantly provides me with a huge sense of pride because she works so hard to fit Crossfit into her very hectic life.   Sister, you are inspiring as all heck-a-doo!  

As Rich Froning Jr. recently said whilst wodding on top of the Empire State Building, "You can do Crossfit anywhere, anytime." 

Maybe he happened to be hanging out at my sister’s local arena Pub and witnessed her work ethic one night as well.