A beginner workout at IST CrossFit

The name of the gym might be IST CrossFit, but owner Chris Bell assures they do much more.

“We’re strength and conditioning coaches, fitness coaches. We do a lot of personal training, small group, large group exercise classes. We work with young athletes anywhere from middle school all the way up to the professional ranks,” Bell said. “And then we work with a lot of general population.”

He said they get people from age 15 to 88. Baihly Warfield went to experience how they might handle someone who is a beginner to exercise, especially in a gym.

“We would start low intensity, go over simple, basic movements,” Bell said. “Once you master those, we move on to maybe a little bit more advanced type movements.”

The workout he planned included a simple warmup, basic core exercises and strengthening, then some shoulder mobility and other bodyweight movements.

“Pretty elementary, kind of for beginner-level, nothing too complex,” Bell described it.

It took around 45 minutes but could have gone longer. Bell coached on proper form and explained how to improve balance. He welcomes all skill levels at IST CrossFit.

“All skills, abilities, sizes, shapes, backgrounds,” he said. “Some … are former college athletes, now they’re in their 40s or 50s and they want to get back into doing something healthy and active. And we’ve got other people who’ve been on the couch for 20 years and they want to get started and just make some improvements to their health and their whole overall lifestyle.”

And he encourages those who are intimidated by the concept of CrossFit to look at it differently.

“It’s really group exercise. And you’re getting a bunch of like-minded people working hard together to achieve a very similar goal,” Bell said. “And it’s a very powerful experience.”