Crossfit creates an athletic environment built around community. Christopher Newport University’s Crossfitness Club hosted a Community WOD that encouraged students and members of the community to come out and accomplish a WOD (workout of the Day).

“We had our first 9/11 community workout in the Fall and after that we all knew we wanted to put another community workout together in the Spring. One of the things I love most about CrossFit is that anyone can do it and it brings a variety of people together,” says Sarah Bowser, the president of the Crossfitness Club.

The club utilizes many resources based inside the CNU community and Newport News community. The club’s advisor, Dr. Kathleen Callahan, is a level one Crossfit coach.

“I coach our students in a workout and teach them the movements that we may not be able to get at the CNU gym. The movements are with the rigs, barbells and utilize the space for a little bit more movement at CrossFit liquid.”

Bowser, Callahan and the rest of the executive board worked together to craft the Community WOD. The Community workout was a WOD designed to be scalable for all fitness levels. The WOD consisted of six movements that teams of three would do together to complete under the 30 minute time cap. One member of the team would run while another member of the team worked to make progress towards a collective 100 Squats, 100 V-ups, 100 Burpee Broad Jumps, 100 lunges and 100 tricep dips. 

“In the CrossFit club, we try to make sure that all students know that it’s accessible and not what people see on social media. We just want to promote wellness and moving awesome all the time no matter your age or skill level,” says Callahan.