Thursday, July 29, 2010: Syn and City Lifts on SicFit.com

Check out the article on Syn and the beginning of CrossFit Harlem at http://sicfit.com/blog/14698-Afro-Brutality-CrossFit-Harlem-Has-Big-Plans

Friday, July 02, 2010: Syncere Martinez

My name is Syncere Martinez and I'm the owner of CrossFit Harlem I started my journey towards becoming fit and helping my community a few years ago.

Well it was the year 2000 I was 30 years old and had so-called "made it". I was working from home making about 1500 a week and my time was my own.

My daily schedule was go to Mickey D's for a Egg McMuffin and hotcakes, around 10:30 am go to Blockbuster for some movies and for lunch chicken and broccoli with garlic sauce plus an extra 20 duck sauces for the fried rice.

Needless to say by 2001 I was 315 pounds and depressed but was too macho to admit it. I recall going outside running with my girlfriend around the New York botanical gardens and almost passing out from not being able to catch my breathe.

By 2004 I had lost about 75 pounds and was looking for the next level of fitness.

So one of the girls in the gym told a group of us that she was going to do a half-marathon and asked if anyone wanted to train with her, I of course raised my hand and said sure.

To make a long story shorter in 2006 I ran six races including three half-marathons, 5K a one mile race and another 5K.

By 2007 I was again looking for the next level of fitness so another girl in the gym mentioned that she was doing a triathlon this time there was no offering of participation it was an FYI. However since I was on a mission to increase my fitness I registered and trained myself to not only complete one triathlon but in 2007 I completed 5 triathlons.

Fast forward to April 2008 I was in a gym in midtown and these guys were talking about "crazy workouts" I asked where are these crazy workouts one mention something about Gym Jones and other said Cross something. I said cool I will go home and check it out. After a week of trying to remember Cross something I did a Google of Gym Jones and I hit similar pages a there it was CROSSFIT!!!!

So for the next few months I watched videos tried different exercises at the local gym. I started realizing that the exercise being advocated at CrossFit were ones I have wanted to do all my life i.e. snatches, clean and jerks, muscle-ups, kipping pull-ups, handstands etc. etc. etc.

So I date my length of time training CF at 6 months. In those six months I have taken classes at CrossFit Virtuosity, visited CrossFit NYC and helped raise money for FGB III at CrossFit South Brooklyn.

Since my goal is to open an affiliate I started a 6 month plan to become Level 2 certified so I started by taking my Cert. Level 1 on 8/31/08 at the CrossFit training center, then the Running and Endurance Cert. 10/5/08 at CrossFit Milford, the Gymnastics Cert. 10/25/08 at CrossFit Boston and the Kettle Bell Cert. 12/7/08 at Guerrilla Fitness CrossFit Montclair.

Syncere helps kids in Harlem and the Bronx using Crossfit methods to get them in shape and build a tight community.  Syn is a father figure to these kids and wants to create a safe, healthy environment.  We can help him do this by donating to get the equipment they need to do crossfit. 

Here is what they need:

Equipment list:

Junior bar
Women's Bar
Technique bar
Rogue Bar
Medicine balls 10,12,14,16
Plyo Boxes
Kettlebells 9,18,26,35,53,70

WISH LIST
Rower
Rogue Squat/Press Stand
Bumpers Plates (2 of each) 55,45,35,25,15,10

Thank You in advance

the kids in Harlem

Syn Before a healthy and fit lifestyle

Syn After!!  Congrats on your lifestyle change and thank you for your support in the community!