Alison Wood sit’s down with Courtney Moore a CrossFit coach who works on a military installation as a Fitness Center Lead for MWR and at CrossFit Arifjan. Courtney moved from the United States and writes her own blog over at The Petite Athleat about CrossFit and life overseas.

Tell us a little about CrossFit Arifan and MWR.

CrossFit Arifjan is a military affiliate. Totally non-profit and run and orchestrated by volunteer coaches.

These are some of THE greatest folks I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Being far from home and deployed, they’re all really more like family. At the end of the day, coming in to the box and seeing them, makes it all worth it.

Can you give our readers an idea of what it’s like to be the Fitness Centre Lead at a military base?

My title with MWR is Fitness Center Lead, essentially just that; I oversee the day to day operations of the facility. It’s a multi-purpose gym, we house all kinds of fitness classes along with the CrossFit Affiliate (sadly, not everyone loves to CrossFit!) like Zumba and Brazilian Jui Jitsu. Our aim is to keep the soldiers busy and morale high while they’re away from home. I have a great, hard-working MWR team that I work with, whom also help me plan and organize events and competitions as well. It’s a lot of fun! This month I planned a team Competition called the Gruesome Twosome, an all-day event full of sled pushes, buddy carries and chippers.

In terms of programming and training, tell us how that works at CrossFit Arifjan.

I follow my own programming, but our athletes follow a set program that we sit down and program as coaches. In our hour long classes, we always have a strength/skill movement followed by the metcon. We follow a Wendler 5/3/1 program and vary the movements (back squats for front squat and push press for strict press, etc.) We program Hero WODs, partner WOD’s and regularly test our fitness with Benchmarks.

Twice monthly we host an Orientation for new athletes unfamiliar with CrossFit. It’s about 3 hours long, and gets them comfortable with the 9 foundation movements and how to come prepared to class.

What has been one of your favourite experience so far at CrossFit Arifjan?

The amazing coaches. I’ve been so blessed to train with and work alongside these folks, their commitment and dedication not only to CrossFit, but to our country is so humbling.

What sets CrossFit Arifan apart from other boxes around the world (perhaps chat about the non-profit aspect, remoteness etc)?

We are non-profit! We collect no monies. All of our coaches are volunteers in their off-duty hours. Because of that, we run things a little differently, and you know everyone is here because they want to be here! The hardest part … It’s so sad to see soldiers come and go. They come for their deployment and then back home they go … I have had to say so many goodbyes in my short 6 months here! But now I feel I have family all over the States 🙂

Does your box have a motto/mantra’s etc you live by?

Do more, suck less!

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Alison Wood, 28 is a novice CrossFitter who goes to Crossfit Darwin, marketing professional and crafter currently residing in Darwin, NT.  Follow her own blog North of Here for lifestyle and fitness posts or join her on Facebook.