If you have a body, you’re an athlete.
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08 March 2012, written by admin
How to do a DEADLIFT: The Mens Health Getting Started Video series
We recently collaborated with Mens Health on a series of Getting Started Perfect Form videos, where you can learn the fundamentals of the kind of training we do at Roark Gyms. Once you’ve mastered the various basic movements, then we combine them in such a way as to increase your fitness and build your strength.
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25 January 2012, written by admin
James gets schooled in strength by NFL Veteran at Crossfit Football Certification
After four weeks of certifications and trainings, the time had finally arrived. The Crossfit American Football Certification was my time to shine. I had read a lot about the course before I arrived, and as such knew it was based on the areas of exercise in which I consider myself to be most proficient, namely strength and power.
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08 January 2012, written by admin
Olympic Lifts
How is it possible that Olympic lifting isn’t more more popular? You want abs? It’ll get you abs.
You want shoulders? It’ll get you those too. It will also make you stronger, bigger, more ripped and more explosive. And it does it quicker than any other exercise on the planet.
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16 December 2011, written by admin
Training with Kelly Starret & Angel Orozco at Crossfit San Francisco
I arrived in San Francisco last week Tuesday, jet lagged and in a state of exhaustion. After waking from my disorientating slumber, I decided that a workout would solve all my problems. I booked a coaching session with Angel Orozco, the head coach of San Francisco Crossfit, and arrived as eager as I’ve ever been in my life.
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16 December 2011, written by admin
Training with Kelly Starret & Angel Orozco at Crossfit San Francisco
I arrived in San Francisco last week Tuesday, jet lagged and in a state of exhaustion. After waking from my disorientating slumber, I decided that a workout would solve all my problems. I booked a coaching session with Angel Orozco, the head coach of San Francisco Crossfit, and arrived as eager as I’ve ever been in my life.
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13 December 2011, written by admin
Some pics from San Francisco
Just a few shot from my trip so far. Managed to get in some sight-seeing in between classes. San Francisco is a very light city with beautiful architecture. Somehow all the buildings seem to reflect the light. It was chilly while we were there, so we did quite a bit of walking.
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06 December 2011, written by admin
Balls & Bands: Mobility Certification Course in London
I’m not the most flexible human being at the best of times, and so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I arrived at Crossfit Thames for a Mobility Certification Course. The king of mobility, Kelly Starrett, states on the head of his website mobilitywod.com that every human being should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves. And so with this in mind I came to realise that mobility has nothing to do with your organic flexibility, but rather with getting yourself into better positions while sitting, standing or exercising.
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02 December 2011, written by admin
And then it snapped…
I didn’t hear a pop. I didn’t hear anything. All I remember thinking was how I looked, crumpled on the floor, holding my knee, trying desperately to move it. The news that my ACL had snapped left me feeling entirely exposed. Your body doesn’t lie to you, and you can’t lie to your body.
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Killing the Quitter
I recently read a tweet by Gym Jones disciple Matt Owen which stated, “if you don’t think about quitting at least a few times during a 2000 meter row, you aren’t going hard enough.” While the 2000 meter row provides an excellent examination into the psychological strength of an athlete, the theory behind this statement isn’t limited to it.
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Why You Need To Get Stronger
At Roark, our programming doesn’t involve rushing through a quick fix programme and crash diet to get you ‘bikini ready’ – although that might be a goal of yours. Our aim is to teach you to use your body properly, to get steadily stronger, which will allow you to put yourself in better and more efficient positions during exercise, therefore increasing your fitness and making your body stronger, leaner and fitter.
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Why we don’t have mirrors in our Women’s Gym
One thing which is immediately noticeable on entering our new women’s gym is that there are no mirrors. If you’ve trained at a globo gym for most of your life, this may seem a strange concept, considering that these ‘health’ clubs are usually lined with mirrors to assist you in checking out every angle of yourself.
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Why you’ll never look like a supermodel, and it’s a good thing
We are taught for most of our lives that some of us are sporty, and the rest of us aren’t. We like to perpetuate this belief because it allows us to be lazy, to hide our inactivity behind labels such as ‘bad genes’. We flip through magazines and sigh, ‘I’ll never look like that’. And for the most part, we’re right. Not because you didn’t hit the gene jackpot, but because you’re comparing yourself to someone you are not.
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The food thing: Eating to gain
A beginner athlete will often have many questions, one of them being ‘what should I eat to get a body like so-and-so’. One thing Roark athletes realize very quickly is that in order to be able to use your body, you need to feed it properly. By this we don’t mean carbo-load or protein shake or take supplements or even cutting carbs – we mean understanding how your body works and what it needs to deal with the level of work required. That level is dependent on what you wish to get out of your body, that is, the goal that you set for yourself.
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How Roark Women Works: Coaching, classes, packages and pricing
Roark Women is a gym which caters exclusively to women. The gym is a large, private space with a view over the city, and is stocked with the best available equipment. View aside, there are no saunas here, and no hairdryers. We will not lie to you and tell you that exercise should be a gentle trot on the treadmill followed by a steam. If you’re here you’ve probably noticed that that doesn’t work.
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An introduction to training at Roark Gyms
Roark Women is due to open March 2013 and is situated on the 3rd Floor of The Buying Service Building, which is situated on the corner of Roeland and De Villiers Streets – opposite the Ferrari Garage on Roeland. The gym is one floor above the Men’s gym. Before you start training with us we will need to set up an introductory coaching session with one of coaches. This will take roughly an hour, during which we will explain how the sessions will work, show you around the gym as well as go over the fundamental movements we practice.
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What makes Roark Women different to other gyms?
At Roark, we are firmly against the ‘one size fits all’ policy. It is ludicrous that men and women be required to follow the same training programme, or even be taught the same movements, when our bodies are built for such different functions. It must be noted right at the outset that this does not mean women cannot compete with men, it only means that their bodies have different compositions, and that this should be kept in mind at all times when considering programming.
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