Blue Crab CrossFit July Newsletter

The Blue Crab CrossFit Committed Club Results

Congratulations to the following individuals who made it to the gym 15+ times in June AND to those with an * that made it 45+ times for the quarter! Awesome job, everyone! Consistency is key for growth and your hard work is showing!

On July 3rd, we’ll spin the wheel to randomly select a name to win the monthly $20 AND quarterly $50 store credit to be used at the BCCF store. If you think your name was missed, please send us a note by the 2nd with proof of 15 sign ins.

Why 15 check ins to make the list?

We believe that you if you are consistently attending the gym 3-4 times per week, you’re going to achieve your goals more quickly over time. If you’re struggling to get to the gym consistently, treat it like a meeting with yourself. Schedule it out for the week and show up for the meeting to prioritize yourself and your health.

Didn’t make the list? We restart TODAY – so your chances of making the list start over!

**Share your Blue Crab CrossFit love! Remember to check in to Blue Crab CrossFit on Facebook and Instagram and one or all of the following hashtags #bccfcommittedclub #bluecrabcrossfit #bccfcommitted #bccffamily #bccf

JULY ATHLETE OF THE MONTH
– Karina Dudley –

Congratulations to our July BCCF Athletes of the Month, Karina Dudley! Karina always shows up to class with a smile and a great attitude! She’s impresses us as a busy intern finishing up her degree and still prioritizing her fitness and consistently making it on the BCCF Committed Club! She recently competed in her first CrossFit competition and I think she may be hooked 🙂 Thanks for being such a great BCCF role model! Check out her great story below!

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m from Omaha, Nebraska. Growing up, I was a very active child. I did tap dance for a couple of years, figure skating for a year or two, gymnastics for 3 years, and soccer for 10 years. Eventually my parents made me choose a singular sport, and I ended up choosing soccer. Since there were not a lot of local soccer teams in Nebraska that were competitive, my soccer club constantly travelled out of town to play games, nearly every weekend during competition season. I used to call the main soccer season “living out of a suitcase for 1.5 months season”! Post-soccer life, I’m majoring in Computer Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and will be returning to Maryland after graduation to work in cybersecurity.

Tell us about your fitness journey and discovering CrossFit

After medically retiring from soccer in high school, I got into weightlifting to stay in shape. However, after a couple of years, I was bored with the monotony of traditional weightlifting programs. I ended up watching the 2021 CrossFit Games while packing up my dorm to move to Maryland for my internship and decided to give CrossFit a try. Blue Crab CrossFit ended up having a Groupon deal and was only five minutes away from my apartment. One Groupon deal and two years later, I’m still doing CrossFit!

CrossFit helped provide structure and fun back into my workout routine. Prior to CrossFit, the monotony of my workouts caused me to be inconsistent with the gym. With a variety of workouts and movements, I regularly make it 3-5 times a week to the gym and no longer dread working out. Well, I guess I dread some workouts but for a different reason (yes, looking at you Fran). Temporarily moving to Maryland every 3-4 months for my internship makes it difficult to form long lasting relationships (even within the interns as people are constantly graduating from the program or rotating at different times), but CrossFit has given me a supportive community to return to.

What goals do you have within the next year – CrossFit and non-CrossFit?

CrossFit – Get muscle ups (bar and/or ring) and strict handstand pushups. These two moves still elude me but look like a lot of fun to do! While I can do kipping handstand pushups, I want to build the strength to be able to do them strictly.

Non-CrossFit – Graduate college! I head back to Nebraska in August to do my senior year before returning to Maryland permanently. Outside of school, I’d like to go snowboarding in Colorado. I’ve gone snowboarding at Killington in Vermont but want to experience the powdery snow in Colorado instead of the icier mountains in the Northeast.

Tell us more about your life outside of the gym – favorite thing to do when you’re bored, favorite meal, music, job etc. 

I love being outdoors! Hiking, camping, biking. If it’s an outdoor activity, I’m 99% of the time down for it. This year I’ve also gotten into indoor rock climbing and boulder. Maybe one day I’ll try them outside! My favorite meal is a Burmese dish called Mohinga. It’s a rice noodle and catfish soup that, when done properly, takes hours for the broth to be ready. The wait and cooking effort is worth it!

Some random facts: I’m the middle child of 3, I have 2 dogs (German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois and Lab/Boxer/Supermutt) and a leopard gecko, I love to listen to and attend operas and symphonies, my favorite animal is a three-toed sloth, I love to garden/am a plant mom, and I’m a giant bookworm.

We had a busy June giving back to our community and putting our mark on our new space!

Thank you to Megan L. for coordinating the donation of 30 birthday bags to the Howard County Food Bank! These birthday bags will go to families in need – they contain all the basics to throw a birthday party for their children!

We also painted our original slogan, Experience the Molt, along the wall behind the rig. Thank you to the painting crew for showing up and leaving their mark and a special shout out to Coach Tyler for the idea, designing it, and staying up way past your bedtime to get the wall taped up for painting!

What is “Experience the Molt?”

Molt stands for a couple of things in the context of Blue Crab CrossFit and its history. As part of “Experience the Molt,” Molt stood for “Movement of Life Training.” According to the dictionary, Molt is defined as “to cast or shed the feathers, skin, or the like, that will be replaced by a new growth; to cast or shed (feathers, skin, etc.) in the process of renewal.” If you’ve ever heard of a softshell crab, it’s a crab that just molted and is in the process of growing a new shell. Given our logo has the crab, Molt in the context of BCCF is the process of shedding your old skin to be replaced by new growth. When you join Blue Crab CrossFit, you are joining a community of like-minded people who are working hard to live a healthier, stronger life. In the process of that, you are shedding your old skin to replace it with a stronger, healthier version of yourself.

Stop by and see the new wall today. It looks great!

Blue Crab CrossFit May Newsletter

The Blue Crab CrossFit Committed Club Results

Congratulations to the following individuals who made it to the gym 15+ times in April! Awesome job, everyone! Consistency is key for growth and your hard work is showing!

On May 3rd, we’ll randomly draw a name to win $20 store credit to be used at the BCCF store. If you think your name was missed, please send us a note by the 2nd with proof of 15 sign ins in by May 2nd.

Didn’t make the list? We restart TODAY – so your chances of making the list start over!

**Share your Blue Crab CrossFit love! Remember to check in to Blue Crab CrossFit on Facebook and Instagram and one or all of the following hashtags #bccfcommittedclub #bluecrabcrossfit #bccfcommitted #bccffamily #bccf

May ATHLETE OF THE MONTH
– Lavin Chainani –

Congratulations to our May April BCCF Athletes of the Month, Lavin Chainani! Lavin has been nothing but consistent with his workout routine since joining Blue Crab CrossFit. He always shows up with a great attitude and you’ll often see him at various class times throughout the week, getting that workout in! Thanks for being a great role model for everyone at Blue Crab CrossFit, Lavin! Check out his great story below!

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I was born and raised in India and came to the US at 22 to get my Master’s at Syracuse. After graduating in 2005, I moved to Baltimore for work and have lived here since. I went to Catholic School and loved playing soccer and cricket growing up.

Tell us about your fitness journey and discovering CrossFit

I had no background or heard about CrossFit. I just took a Groupon for one of the CrossFit places in this area and fell in love with CrossFit, but I wanted to try other places before committing. I dropped into a few other places for a 1:1 class but was not 100% sold. Finally, I bought the Groupon for the ten classes at BCCF, and after the first class with Ben and Josh, I knew I had found my place.

It’s been nine years! When I joined, I was completely out of shape, close to 250lbs, eating like crap, out of breath when I would tie my shoelaces, and had no foundational knowledge of factors of health (sleep, nutrition, exercise, etc). CrossFit has completely changed my life physically and mentally.

What goals do you have within the next year – CrossFit and non-CrossFit?

CrossFit – my main goal is to keep working on my nutrition and mobility and enjoying the process.

Non-CrossFit – I am playing cricket in the Howard Country League; my goal is to play as many games as possible.

Tell us more about your life outside of the gym – favorite thing to do when you’re bored, favorite meal, music, job etc. 

Life outside the gym is mainly running around with my six and 8-year-old (Riya & Rohan). They are getting into soccer, tennis, and dance, and I enjoy all the sports with them.

Blue Crab CrossFit Kicks Off the Ambassador Program

The BCCF Ambassador Program was established to identify members who can be ambassadors to the gym and help our new members settle in and have a person to go-to for questions. The role is not much more than what the nominated ambassadors already do, rather a formality and process for onboarding new members to link them up with a person before/during a class.

We’re excited to announce our inaugural group of BCCF Ambassadors who will be helping us out for the remainder of 2023:
Anna Anderson
Veronica Talbert
Tom Burke
Ron Mabe
Ashley Smith
Danielle Attiliis
Jami Silvia

The BCCF Ambassador position will be a six month position that will rotate members to give others the opportunity to fill those shoes. Ambassadors will be chosen based on their consistency at the gym, attendance to BCCF events,  and their ability to interact with new people. BCCF staff will attempt to select members across a range of classes to ensure Ambassadors throughout the day.

We all know that group classes can be intimidating for new people and we’d like to give new members a buddy for their first class. Ambassadors are not expected to coach the new member – their primary role is to be a part of our welcoming committee. Ambassadors will attend the new member’s first group class, answer general questions about the gym (like where we keep the equipment, where the bathroom is), but most importantly create a relationship with them that keeps them motivated, having fun, and wanting to come back day after day.

Are you interested in becoming an Ambassador? The next round of nominations will go out in December. Keep meeting the criteria listed above and chances are, you’ll be a future BCCF Ambassador nominee.

An Exciting Partnership!

We’re excited to announce that we are a drop off location for John’s Fit Meals! They offer meals each week as well as bulk items to help free up your time from food prep while being able to eat healthy each week!

This is one of the most affordable food prep businesses in the area and it’s also a small, local business that we’re excited to support. Drop offs at BCCF are usually around 8am on Mondays.

Use code JFM20 for 20% off your first order!