TheMeghaMix: REVIEW: Western Pacific CrossFit/Spring Sweataway 2013 Part II

No vacation for Team Matson would be complete without a CrossFit field trip.

Back in September, I met Elizabeth at Graham CrossFit, who told me to check out her brother's box in Kirkland, Western Pacific CrossFit. We'd been meaning to visit ever since, so Jared emailed Nate to find a good class time for us to drop in.

Western Pacific has a lot of good class times available, in particular a block of morning classes from 6:30am through 9:30am Monday through Friday.

Nate said we were welcome at any class, so we decided to pop into the 8:30am. We had a little trouble finding the place because of all the business park/warehouse buildings in the same area, but eventually we made it!

Nate was really welcoming and let us ask any questions and do mobility as the 7:30am class finished out their WOD. Jared talked coaching and the Open with Nate while I snapped some photos of the space!

It's so big and so pretty! I love the way the space is laid out so a lot of athletes can be working at once.

Jared loved the black ERGs!

You know I had to buy a shirt - love representing any good box. I went with the neon green tank...so cute and very true to size!

There were 3 athletes in the 7:30 class, and they were all really friendly and welcoming. We talked about how everyone had done on 13.3 and what people's thoughts were for 13.4

Another athlete popped in, so it was three of us for the 8:30 class.

The warmup was really thorough and straight-forward. Nothing too complicated but definitely got your muscles moving and increased some range of motion (we had to hold the bottom of a squat for basically forever). The strength work was back squats - it was really fun to each have our own squat rack. Plenty of bars and plates - even some little 1, 2, and 0.5 plates for breaking plateaus!

I took it a little light after doing back squats on my own the day before. Nate gave some really good cues that helped me improve my form, and I ended up with two reps at #153.

Next, we were on to the WOD:

My hands were still shredded from Chelsea. I had taped up really well, but I took one rep on their pretty pullup bar and felt fire on my right hand. I asked Nate about subbing in different movements for the kettlebell swings and pullups. I ended up with 15 medicine ball cleans ("Can you do the #20?" - yikes) and 10 v-ups.

I had to use a band for the ring dips, but I got the double-unders and even had a few good sets of linked repetitions! Progress!

Some final thoughts on Western Pacific CrossFit:

I have not seen any better deals on monthly memberships in the Seattle Eastside area. They even have a couples membership which is an even better deal...if you both do CrossFit, chances are you will both KEEP doing CrossFit.

The coaching is excellent. The more boxes and events I'm around, the more picky I get about the person who is coaching me. Someone said recently that the best coaches compliment form and effort. Nate does just that. His focus is on encouraging his athletes towards better quality of movement, and congratulating people on working hard.

OLYMPIC LIFTING! We haven't yet had a chance to visit one of the bi-weekly Olympic Lifting classes, but these are led by Lincoln Brigham who has worked with Mike Burgener. These are offered on Monday and Wednesdays at 6:30pm and are even open to non-WPCF members for a drop-in fee.

Jared and I were so impressed with Western Pacific CrossFit!

We hadn't even gotten in our car before both saying, "If we had to switch to a new box, this would be the one."

Great coaching, great space, and great people. Definitely give them a vist.

We finished up our day watching Argo (such a great movie!) and getting a late lunch over at Paddy Coyne's in Seattle.

Our drinks were excellent, but the food was only okay. I'm so spoiled having such a great chef at home that when we go out to eat I am often disappointed!