We spent Sunday night in Bakersfield with the lovely Helen and Terry, an absolutely lovely American couple who took great care of us. Terry who is actually ex US Navy gave us great advice and tips for our upcoming trip to Las Vegas and LA. Helen was such a sweetheart, she kept us well fed and watered and was such a caring woman! We also got to have dinner in the garden with their two cute dogs. All in all – a lovely little stop over for us.
Feeling well rested and fuelled up, Sam drove the four hours to Las Vegas. We left nice and early to avoid the crazy tourist traffic! We reached our hotel – The Stratosphere in good time and squeezed in a little sunbathing session followed by some HIIT training in the hotel gym. (See previous blog for the HIIT video).
The Stratosphere:


We chose to stay in one place for four nights so that Sam could have a break from the driving and so that we could get some decent training in. Freestyle Crossfit was just a 30min walk away which was great for us and meant that we could train each evening. The walk itself was a bit cheeky in the 35+ degree heat! We also used the hotel gym occasionally for some fasted cardio and free weights.

Freestyle Crossfit deserves a big shout out on the blog. We visited the box website to see what it looked like and what times they offered wods. Honestly, the website doesn’t do it justice. It is one of the best boxes we have visited. We really loved the programming. Nothing was missed – all of the Olympic lifts were covered and also all of the powerlifting lifts.

Coach Jake kicked off the wod with a really decent warm up. I have a real pet peeve for poor warm ups. I think it’s hugely important, especially since I tend to suffer from shoulder pain and elbow tendinitis.

The warm up consisted of using a pvc pipe for snatch style jump and jacks. I’ve never seen this before but it was perfect! A great little pulse raiser and it really opened up the shoulders prior to our Snatch session. The warm up continued with a number of great little mobilisation and pulse raising exercises.

Jake then guided us through a 3 position snatch skills and strength session. Sam is still learning the Olympic lifts and he found this session extremely helpful and felt he really turned a corner in terms of technique. Coach Jake’s teaching style was spot on, he was authoritative yet approachable. He also gave each individual athlete the attention and tips they needed. We were really impressed and satisfied.

We also had a wod with Coach Shelton. We were pretty excited to find out the strength element was bench press! The warm up again was absolutely spot on and then we did a good old fashioned 5×5 bench sesh.

Shelton was a really animated coach and he kept the attention of his athletes at all times. He was super upbeat and really motivating! He continually fed in tips during the strength and the wod.

5*rating for Freestyle Crossfit!!

Holiday balance…

In order to maintain a little holiday balance we indulged in the odd milkshake or two at Roxy’s diner!! I would say that this is the best diner we’ve been to yet. The waitors / waitresses are all entertainers and randomly burst into song! …

Apart from daily sunbathing sessions by the pool and Crossfit workouts we also did a fair bit of walking around town. We took the obligatory stroll downtown to see the sights. Walking along Vegas Boulevard we had to walk through the casinos of Ceasars Palace and the Bellagio. Slot online ‘s variety and such casinos’ experience are two different things. We also have a confession.. We stopped by the Cheesecake Factory at Planet Hollywood and had the most awesome burgers and a Reeses Pieces cheesecake – unbelievable!!!! I feel no guilt…

Naturally we had to pop into the factory outlet and spend our pennies in the Crossfit Reebok, Nike, Oakley and Adidas stores! After all, you can never own too much workout gear right?

Sadly Friday morning came around too fast and we once again packed up early morning. This time taking a drive North East to the Grand Canyon…