Crossfit Santa Fe and Zia Crossfit

Triathlon training is not working for me right now. I'll build a perfect triathlon program for me that fits my fitness and schedule, and then I never end up doing anything! In the mean time I just keep getting more out of shape and unhealthy. A buddy of mine told me about crossfit. I seems intense and fun so I've decided to try it.

Turns out there are 2 crossfit gyms in my area, Crossfit Santa Fe, and Zia Crossfit. I went to each to decide which one my wife and I would go to.

Cossfit Santa Fe is located inside Undisputed, a mixed martial arts gym. A HUGE benefit to this gym is that if I purchased a gym membership for Santa Fe Crossfit I could attend all the jiu-jitsu, boxing, and cardio kick boxing classes for free. They have a ton of crossfit, grappling, boxing, and cardio kickboxing classes available everyday. It seems like they have a class starting just about every hour all day everyday of the week! They offered to help me with my diet and nutrition for free. Another big plus is that they have kids jui-jitsu classes available for my 5 & 7 year olds. The gym is owned by a guy who is a serious stud of a mixed martial artist. He was on The Ultimate Fighter a few years ago. The down side is Santa Fe Crossfit would cost $200 a month per adult membership, $90 per child, and we'd have to sign a contract for 3, 6, or 12 months. If I wanted to get a membership for my wife and myself for crossfit and get two of my kids into grappling it would end up costing us $580 a month. Or $400 a month for just for my wife and I. They also charge a one time $70 fee per member upon signing up. Don't get me wrong, for all they offer it's well worth it, but there's no way my wife and I could afford that until my wife graduates from college and we get 2 incomes for our family again. A big negative for us is that they don't have day care and don't allow children to hang out there while the parents workout, which would make training there virtually impossible for my wife and I.
On 4/5/14 I received a response from Heather at Santa Fe CrossFit concerning the prices at their facility. She said they offer a %50 discount on every other member in a family if one member is paying full price. That option wasn't offered to us when we visited their facility. I'm not sure if it was just oversight or if wasn't offered at the time. But I wanted to share this so anyone reading my blog can make a fully informed decision. There was also a change in Zia CF's prices, I updated those prices in red below. Both places offers a law enforcement and first responders discount.

Zia Crossfit has a much larger facility and more equipment. They don't have any martial arts training at their facility but The Santa Fe Brazilian Jui-jitsu academy offers a HUGE discount to any Zia Crossfit athletes. Zia Crossfit only offers 3 classes a day but the classes are at times that fit my wife and my schedules perfectly. The classes are 5:30-6:30 am, noon to 1 pm, and 5:30-6:30 pm. Zia Crossfit unlimited gym membership with no contract is only $120 a moth, or $240 a month for my wife and I both, there's start up fees. If your wiling to sign a contract the monthly dues go down significantly. The owners of Zia Crossfit are willing to build a free custom training program for any of their athletes who want to concentrate on a specific aspect of their training, such as strength, or endurance. Their gym is kid friendly, so we can bring our babies there when we train.

The updated prices Zia CrossFit as of early 2013 are:
2 times/week: $135/month (days can be combined)
Unlimited: $180/month (month to month, no contract required)
Unlimited: $150/month (6 month contract required)
Unlimited: $165/month (3 month contract required)
Members of Santa Fe Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: $110/month
10 Class Punch Card $200
Drop-in Fee: $25

My wife and I have decided to try out Zia crossfit because of the lower cost, the kid friendly environment, and no contracts. My wife and I start training at Zia Crossfit on Monday I'll let you know how it goes, I predict pain!

2010 sw grappling championships

Here's a couple pictures from the South West grappling championships where I took 4th in the masters no gi & 2nd place masters gi division.

A sick baby & a ground fighting triathlete

This is my buddy. He's a gifted athlete who's not right in the head. LOL.

-I got home from work @ 6 this morning to hear my baby daughter crying in her
room. That's unusual because shes a great sleeper. When I entered her room she
looked up @ me with tears streaked down her cheeks & said "Daddy!" w/ arms
raised. Turns out she got sick last night. I will never get tired of rescuing
her from even the smallest of things. I love trying to be her Hero! I bent down
& picked up my most precious little girl held her against my chest as I carried
her to the couch. There's nothing worse than when I see her sick. Perhaps some
triathletes would worry about getting sick 10 days away from the biggest race of
their tri career thus far. But what will ALWAYS mean the most to me is my little
Princess. Man I feel horrible for her, it's Halloween & she was invited to a
party where there would be a bunch of other little ones-none quite as cute as
mine though:) Now she's got to stay home. Now that she is 2 she usually never
stops moving. But today I got to cuddle w/ her all day. I love having a Daddy's girl. But I sure hate it when she's sick. I'd gladly take her place whether the
Silverman is in less than 2 weeks or not.

Speaking of Irons, surprisingly w/ only 10 days until what is known as the most
grueling Iron in the world I'm not nervous @ all. My wife & I have got
everything planned out. We rented a 29 foot RV & will be staying at a RV park on
lake Mead less than 2 miles from the race start. I'm looking foreword to it.

Another thing I'm REALLY looking foreword to is my plans to lose weight after
the Silverman. I have the motivation, the support, & a reasonable plan.

Seems like some things just seem to work out perfectly @ times. My buddy & I
are always challenging each other to do things that take us out of our comfort
zone. Not the traditional guy things like drinking & such. Things that usually
better each other. Such as triathlons & multiple day hikes through mountains
neither of us had ever been to.

2 days ago he called me up & issued a challenge to me. Dec of next year (2008) he
wants us to do Grapplers Quest. That is a multiple day tournament for Jui Jitsu &
submission grappling. Actually Grapplers Quest is the West Coast Championships.
Of course like any good friend I agreed, all be it reluctantly There is good
news & bad news about me agreeing to do that. The bad news for me is that I'll have to
start grappling again, & that takes time to train for. Time is the one thing I
have least of @ this time in my life. The majority of my spare time I'll be
training for multi-sport. But I'll need to put in some time on the matts or risk
getting humiliated, beat the heck up, & hurt. Multisport is my true love. But
truth be known Grappling was my first love. I just kind of fell into Jui Jitsu
abut 4 years ago, but I got pretty good very quickly. After only 18 months I
placed 2nd in my 1st tournament. Then after my 1st triathlon I stopped training
for ground combat & never looked back. The good news about choosing to do this
is that there are weight classes in ground fighting tournaments. So its VERY
important that I drop down to about about 199 lbs by next Nov & then I'll cut another 10
lbs right before the tournaments (more on cutting weight later). That is ironic
because no more than a week before my buddy asked me to do this I had posted a
goal on my blog to get below 200 lbs By Dec of next year.
Perfect timing & extra motivation indeed! I'm weighing in right now @ 248 lbs
right now. If the tournaments were today I'd be fighting as a super heavyweight
which is 225 lbs & above. I'd prefer not to have to tangle w/ the big boys. My
goal is to get to 199 lbs & then cut 10 lbs before my competition. Cutting
weight sucks. If you've never done it it essentially means I'll restrict food &
water for a couple days before my official weigh in, in the hopes of being able
to fight in a lower weight class. If the day of my weigh in I still need to cut
more weight than I'll have to sit in a steam room to lose that last bit of water
weight. I'm hoping to fight in the 179-189 lb category in the Gee division, 179-189 no-gee, & in the absolute division. 3 divisions total. Most people usually only choose one division, but hey I'm an endurance athlete. My theory is that this will actually help my triathloning because light is fast! I'll let u know how the training goes. I start grappling again the first week in Dec.
Thanks for tuning in. Peace!