EXPERIENCE
LeanX at Four Barrel
STORY & PHOTOS BY JD DOTSON
I arrived a bit early at Four Barrel to get signed in
before the Lean X class. There is a small reception
area, offices and bathrooms and Four Barrel
merchandise shelves before you enter the door
to the gym. thrust-jump exercise that revs up your heart
rate and uses every muscle and your core and
is – to be honest – excruciatingly exhausting. I
am convinced that no one on earth likes burpees
except crossfit trainers.
On this particularly warm, humid day, the
massive warehouse space filled with equipment
and all manner of weights had the far wall exposed
to the back parking lot. Big box fans kept the
air flowing around what resembled an adult
jungle gym and a small crowd gathering just
inside the door. The class circled up with an introduction
from Sheri McWilliams, followed by a detailed
description and demonstration of the warm-
up. Not so bad; I might survive this after all. By
the end of class I would be praying for burpees.
Behind the crowd on the chalkboard wall was
a list of the day’s workout. It has been awhile
since I took a crossfit class and was unfamiliar
with some of the terms and abbreviations, but
I was relieved to see the word burpees was not
among them. A burpee is a full-body-squat-
36 EXTOL SPORTS / JULY 2017
The warm-up consisted of two rounds of a 100
meter run, a set of good mornings (an exercise,
not a greeting), mountain climbers, push-ups
with a down dog and leg raise bridges. Some of
these exercises I was familiar with but all were
expertly demonstrated, and I was in the middle
of 25 people doing the same thing. Warm-up
completed, we met back at the board.
Next came four rounds of weighted Romanian
dead lifts, side raises and a torturous pistol squat
(Google it to see a video, but this is a single-leg
squat). Again, everything was demonstrated and
explained expertly. There are several qualities
that are common with amazing teachers and
trainers. I have experienced these qualities
in my yoga teacher at the YMCA, my current
trainer, even my former art teacher and friend,
and Sheri is no exception. They all make what
they do look effortless, even things like pistol
squats. The exercises required a lot more effort
and huffing and puffing on my part but served
as great inspiration for what could be possible in
the (near?) future with training and persistence.
The last set involved a quick-paced round of
jumping onto and then off of a tall wooden box
before quickly springing your legs as a catalyst