CrossFit 702 looks to motivate members to live healthy lifestyle

CrossFit 702 plans to host the CrossFit For A Wish event from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at its facility, 7520 W. Washington Ave., Suite 180, to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The event will include tours of the facility, demonstrations, food and prizes. There will also be chances for people of all age levels to work out, enter a raffle and receive an event T-shirt.

Throughout the day, special events are planned, such as a CrossFit Kids demonstration class at 11:30 a.m. for children 5 to 18. CrossFit Kids is a new program for the company. An Elements class is slated for noon, and an Accelerated Boot Camp is set to start at 12:30 p.m. The afternoon will conclude with Nutrition For Life, a look at the role nutrition plays in staying healthy, at 1 p.m. and sports-specific high school athlete performance training for individuals and teams at 1:30 p.m.

The cost to work out is $20, with proceeds to benefit Make-A-Wish, a nonprofit group that grants wishes to children in life-threatening medical situations.

CrossFit 702's program is designed to get more people motivated about taking care of their bodies.

"Our motto is, 'We want to build the fitness community in Nevada,' " owner Jared Glover said.

Glover said he is looking to build up membership and offer new programs, especially ones aimed at chlidren. The many news reports of the country's rising childhood obesity rates have fueled that action.

"It used to be you go outside, and your parents could bring you in just before the streetlights came on," he said. "It sounds cliché, but I'm 25, and I remember that. Nowadays, you get kids hooked on Facebook and Twitter and TV shows and video games. We're seeing a complete lack of activity."

CrossFit 702 is known for its untraditional approach to working out. Exercises use unlikely elements - flipping 18-wheeler tires, swinging sledgehammers. The unconventional exercises are supplemented by more traditional equipment for lifting weights.

Saturday's event will also celebrate its new, larger digs. The gym moved from a spot that had 3,500 square feet. When its membership swelled to 300 people, things got a little crowded, and Glover began looking for a new facility.

He settled on one near a freeway exit in a shopping center anchored by Lowe's. It has 12,000 square feet. The entire gym - there are changing rooms but no shower facilities - offers workout options. There are ropes and rings for gymnastics, as well as weights and kettlebells and rowing machines.

"When people post YouTube videos of it, it looks crazy; it looks insane," Glover said. "Our job is to show you that it's not intimidating. We have 65-year-olds in here. We have 15-year-olds in here and everybody in between. They are doing the same workout."

He said almost any exercise can be scaled down to one's fitness level and that trainers know if someone has medical issues such as a bad back and take that into consideration. He said modern medicine is extending people's lifetimes, and keeping active means those extra years are healthy ones.

"We have people in here who are 70, 75, and they're still lifting weights," he said.

Glover's mother, Ann, is 56. She is known affectionately as Mama G at the gym and has joined the program.

"It's kind of addicting," she said. "Once you start, you always want to (keep at it). My husband and I, looking down the road, we're looking at maintaining a good quality of life. And CrossFit has given us all kinds of different things, like our energy and sleep, and you just, over all, feel so much better."

She said it was also warding off osteoporosis because they are doing weight-bearing exercises designed to increase bone density.

A number of members said they liked the feeling of camaraderie found at the gym.

Constantino Anastassiou, 47, a chiropractor, began last October. Since then, he's gone from tipping the scales at 243 to weighing 193 pounds.

"It's one of the few places you can go for a workout where there's no sense of competition," he said. "Everybody supports everyone. It doesn't matter what level you're at. The first time I worked out, I was really worried about how I was going to do. But everybody was really helpful ... The thing I like the most is that you're always being supervised; they tell you what to do and how you should be doing it. They're very knowledgeable."

Christine Terrazas, 25, has been a CrossFit member for two years. She said she liked that the new location offered more options and that there was a large range of people coming in to work out.

She is a pharmacist and on her feet all day, so she was doing squats with heavy weights to build up her quadriceps muscles.

"I want to get my legs stronger, so when I'm standing around or if I'm running around, I don't get as tired," Terrazas said. "When I first started at the pharmacy, my legs hurt. Now I'm getting used to it."

At CrossFit, nutrition is just as important as your workout. Whitney Eros is on staff to answer questions about nutrition and advise members on what and when to eat.

"There's a place for pizza, but we would usually call that a 'cheat' day," Glover said.

He recalled working with former Bishop Gorman High School standout basketball player Shabazz Muhammad, who trained with CrossFit 702 starting in 2010. Muhammad was voted MVP in the 2012 McDonald's All-American game. He's currently at the University of California, Los Angeles with his sights on an NBA career.

"We took him from squatting 165 pounds to close to 400," Glover said. "UCLA uses a similar workout program for its junior and senior class athletes. So it's neat to see that we're shaping our kids so, if they go to college, if they have that opportunity, they're already ready for the weight room. They're already stronger and bigger so they don't have to sit out the year. They're already at that level."

CrossFit 702 also trained the Palo Verde High School wrestling team last year for state competition. It is starting an affiliation with Rancho High School.

For more information, call 462-6212 or visit facebook.com/crossfit702.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.