Golden Hour, Virtual!

You can take the CrossFitter out of the gym during a pandemic, but you cannot take the gym out of the CrossFitter during a pandemic—even if you’re over 60.

It’s another typical Monday in partial-quarantine life—noon sharp—as 4 athletes open up their Zoom room links in order to kick some booty and take names—it’s workout time!

CrossFit Central’s Golden “Power” Hour—our 60+ training group— has been going strong ever since the pandemic shook things up this past spring—rain, sleet, shine and lockdown included.

The dedicated crew of 4—two married couples to be exact—meets every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at noon sharp, under the guidance of Coach Jess Powers.

All four say that their Golden Hour has helped them weather all the storms COVID-19 has brought—including being considered part of the “high risk” population, over age 60. 

“Their consistency and dedication to keep up with their workouts has been nothing but inspirational,” Coach Jess says, glowing. “When the shut down happened—a time when many folks would just dip out or stop working out all together, their instant reaction was, ‘Well how are we going to meet to workout?!” No questions about whether or not the show would go on. “They realized in order to keep healthy, they needed to keep moving,” Coach Jess added. 

Where there is a will, there is a way—steep learning curves of how to use Zoom and technology included.

“There was a little bit of learning curve for everyone—including me,” Coach Jess says. 

[If you’ve ever seen the SNL “Amazon Echo” skit about older adults and technology, you know exactly what she means (watch the skit here)].

“Communication over Zoom is way different than in class,” Coach Jess continues, “From demonstrating movements much more slowly to make sure everyone understands the workout before we start to writing the workouts in LARGE letters on the whiteboard, we finally figured it out, and even though it was all video, it was a huge social outlet for us all!”

“It’s really been one of our primary sources of social connection during the quarantine, and something we really look forward to every week. We don’t miss it,” athlete Ed Malcik said. 

In fact, Ed and his wife Susan rearranged their entire dining room to make their weekly 12pm workouts happen. 

“I don’t think we’ll ever have people over to eat again—our dining room is a workout room,” Susan said.

Despite being at home and out of their usual routine, Coach Jess’ Golden Hour programming stayed consistent—a mix of mobility, strength and conditioning included.  In fact, a typical workout for the 60+ crew doesn’t look much different from a sub-age-60 workout. For example: 

Metcon
12 minute AMRAP
20 situps
15 dips
10 goblet reverse lunges

Rest 3 minutes
12 minute AMRAP
20 air squats
15 russian swings
10/10 dumbbell/kettlebell snatches

“The best part about the workout? The ending!” Ed said jokingly. “Jess keeps us motivated so we can all keep healthy—that’s our primary goal. Not washboard abs, not being big and strong…healthy”—a driving factor that has allowed both he and his wife Susan to work on and grow their hobby businesses during COVID-19 times. 

“We are lucky to be retired and not have to work, but I actually started a mask making business during this time and Ed has been doing a ton of photography to document this time. It’s been a lot of fun,” Susan said, crediting Golden Hour and CrossFit Central as being part of her “growth mindset” throughout the process. 

Interested in Joining Golden Hour? 

Golden Hour is still going strong via Zoom, and it’s not exclusive. If you, a family member or friend, age 50+, want a great option for staying in shape at home, without hitting the gym, hit the link below for more details!