Pottstown Athletic Club

A wall of nutritional supplements can be incredibly seductive. The little jars with multisyllabic, unpronounceable technical names that often combine letters and numbers: CoQ10, L-carnitine L-tartrate, methylsulfonylmethane. The pictures of molecules and all the trappings of science. The cartoon-sized tubs of protein powder and the aggressive packaging. The tanned, rippling, bulging models. The delicious pictures of guilt-free “healthy” cookies and candy bars. The promise of massive gains. The nutritional-supplement industry—which includes vitamins, minerals and supplements—produced $32 billion in revenue in 2012. According to the Nutritional Business Journal, that figure is expected to   double by 2021 . Everyone wants an edge, something a little extra. If you train hard, sleep well and eat right, why shouldn’t you also take supplements? The problem is many of the claims made about supplements are not supported by science, and we don’t yet understand how our b...

Join us for the 5 th Annual Zombie Run hosted by Pottstown Athletic Club/CrossFit Pottstown. This year’s event will be held on Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 2016. Thank you for the support from Brick House Restaurant in Pottstown and the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation . Without their support this event would not be possible. So what exactly is the Zombie Run? Summer is nearing and end and so is society as we know it. The Zombie Resurrection is about to occur…it’s time to run for your lives! You wonder what you’ve been training for…well this is IT! The run starts at 8am at The Armory, 263 King Street in Pottstown. This is not for the faint of heart! The run will consist a 5K run and 6 WOD stations. Please encourage your children to dress as zombies – they will be chasing their parents. Kids can also ride a bike or scooter, skateboard, rollerblades, even ride in a stroller. Whatever works! The Zombie Run helps us promote to the communi...

To move all significant health markers in the right direction, do more work faster, trainers say. The only way to know intensity is to experience it. It is not a mythical creature born of grunting loudest, sweating most or cheering excitedly. It is also not a matter of opinion. It’s physics. Scientifically speaking, intensity is defined as power: force multiplied by distance, then divided by time. Simply put: Intensity is doing more work faster. “You have to teach people how to do it,” said Chris Spealler, a member of CrossFit Inc.’s Seminar Staff and a seven-time CrossFit Games athlete who owns CrossFit Park City in Utah. Fran, for example, is a workout most of the general population should be able to finish in roughly 7 minutes or less, he explained. The workout calls for 21-15-9 reps of thrusters and pull-ups. For an athlete who is trying to break into that time domain, Spealler provides the road map: Do the 21 thrusters and 21 pull-ups in no more than 2 sets each,...

My name is Dylan S. I'm a recovering drug addict. Growing up, sports played a big role in my life and was something I enjoyed very much. I was always involved i n sports and got very involved in motocross in my teenage years. I was very passionate about it and traveled the east coast racing. It was the one thing that gave me a purpose and felt people were proud of me for doing.   As I got into high school, I gave up all the sports and racing and went down the wrong path. I was looking for and finding that rush that physical exercise gave me, in all the wrong areas. It took me to the point where I was homeless and tried to take my life. That's the point it took me to get sober, and find my faith. One point I was still lacking, even though I was mentally getting better, was the physical side. The years took a toll on me and I was looking to change that. I still was low on f unds and that was one thing that was holding me back from attempting to get back...

Septuagenarian CrossFit coach Mike Suhadolnik refuses to let his peers age gracefully. Mike Suhadolnik, a former offensive tackle and middle guard at Illinois State University, spent most of his life powerlifting. At this best, he benched 350, squatted 450 and deadlifted 550 lb. His physique implied fitness. But when his daughter Molly and her now-fiancé Tim Hahn asked him to overhead squat more than seven years ago, he couldn’t get the bar over his head. Then they asked him to do burpees. “I played football in college. I said, ‘No problem,’” Suhadolnik recounted. “I couldn’t do a burpee.” Disturbed by this, the then-65-year-old visited his doctor in Springfield. “I told him I wanted to live until I was at least 110 years old but that I did not want somebody pushing me around in a wheelchair, walking with a walker or having someone wipe my butt,” said Suhadolnik, today 223 lb. The doctor recommended changes...