Bernie’s Corner

I AM BLESSED!!I am blessed in so many ways!!! And I thank God for the blessings I’m aware of…and the ones I’m not aware of. I’m thanking Him now for having such a wonderful community of athletes at CrossFit Sanctuary!!Just like last year, I’ve have been completely knocked off my feet in how amazing each one of you have been over the last six weeks!

What a Wonderful ThingWhat a Wonderful Thing – The Human Spirit!!! Last weekend our Community came together creating a force to impact the world! It may seem small compared to major philanthropic endeavors and other major charitable efforts, but what WE accomplished was amazing – and we had fun doing it.

What CrossFit Has Done for WomenIn years past, our society created examples of what a beautiful woman should look like. And through the years women have tried to live up to those images. But more recently, and as I have had the privilege to train women, I have seen a change in how women regard themselves to those images.

AMAZING!!!!In the last six weeks so many amazing things have occurred that I am blown away by all of our members at CrossFit Sanctuary. From the very first WOD of the CrossFit Open to this weekend’s WODSTOCK Team Competition, I have seen the following:Athletes rise to the occasion to participate in some of the most challenging WODS the OPEN has presented to usSome of you participated in your first OPENMany of you PR’ing your lifts and performed way beyond what you could believe you c…

strengthstreNG(k)TH/nounthe quality or state of being strong, in particular.a good or beneficial quality or attribute of a person or thing."the strengths and weaknesses of their sales and marketing operation"synonyms:strong point, advantage, asset, forte, aptitude, talent, skill;specialty"What Are Your Strengths?"What is Strength…In the world of fitness and specifically our world of CrossFit, to determine strength we find ourselves measuring by the amount of weight we …

Will The Real CrossFit Please Stand Up!!As the sport of CrossFit evolves, we are noticing that some of the required movements, skills, and weight loads are changing to be more challenging and difficult to achieve, but that’s because as CrossFitters we are getting better every year.  Unfortunately, in the midst of this evolution many of our fellow athletes have formulated that CrossFit is all about ‘Olympic Lifting’.  I recall a time when Olympic lifters laughed at Cro…

It Takes A Vilage…I know it sounds like a cliché…but we are that village.  This weekend was EPIC!!!  We were able to collect enough turkeys and food to feed 75 families.  My fraternity brothers (Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc) delivered baskets we prepared to these families Friday evening and Saturday morning along with many other baskets that will help the Brooklyn and Long Island area.   These families all send their deepest th…

From the Mind of Bernie:Every day that I come to work, I feel that I’m totally surrounded by Heroes. Those individuals that come through that Blue Door willing to experience a fitness challenge — heroes in a sense that they are facing fears, pushing themselves across thresholds of the unknown, willing to train hard even though they are not quite sure of what they really can do – until the end of the WOD. I watch you guys walk up to that whiteboard to assess, strategize, complain (lo…

Be Motivated – Be Blessed!!Since May, I have posted various motivational videos to our Daily WODs with the hope of inspiring and more importantly telling the story of those people who are confronted with challenges – challenges for these people depicted in these videos are everyday things that we take for granted. Just take a moment and go back a few weeks and you will see how some have overcome weight and health problems and avoiding the ills of hanging out in the streets. And then there …

    BEFORE PICS ‘It’s Not About Me’ Through my walk in Faith I’ve learned that when you give a testimony of your challenges, experiences, and trials it becomes a tool to help and inspire others.  So this Transformation story is not about me, but the hurdles we all can overcome.  From childhood, I was a big kid – plain and simple.  Like most, all of my life I made excuses and justified why I was big.  Does this sound familiar? – “I’m just a big guy”, “I come fro…