I dropped in to Straight Flush CrossFit in Las Vegas and gambled with some camera angles for a Ski Erg and bear crawl WOD.
The Space
Straight Flush CrossFit is located within a plaza at 8544 Blue Diamond Rd in southwestern Las Vegas. It’s one big rectangle fully equipped with every piece of equipment you can imagine; echo bikes, ski ergs, rowers, a rigged wall and free weights galore. A BIG SIDE NOTE: it was all meticulously organized. I’m talking there wasn’t a pood out of place thanks to SFCF’s GM, Adam.
And Adam was the first one to greet me when I walked in. He’s a jack-of-all-trades CrossFit guy and even designed their logo (above). After some small talk and a quick tour, he gave me the green light to take some photos and we waited for the Thursday afternooon crew .
The WOD
In the CrossFit world, Thursday’s are generally rest days for the typical athlete. Fortunately there was a dedicated crew of members who came in for the 4:30pm and 5:30pm classes. And they were coached by Diego, who, and I’m being serious here, was one of the most effective CrossFit coaches I’ve ever seen at work.
The skill portion of the class focused on handstands, and I watched him coach a member who had never been upside down to being fully inverted against the wall for a handstand hold in a matter of 15 minutes. A real masterclass of breaking the movement down, setting up approximations, and giving timely feedback. I’ve been to dozens of CrossFit gyms and don’t think I’ve seen anything more textbook.
The rest of the class was an approximately 30 minute partner WOD chipping away at the Ski Erg with some bear crawls mixed in. A good “flush-it-out” workout and a sneaky shoulder burn for all involved.
The Photos
My initial reaction to the WOD was a bit luke-warm, mostly because I didn’t have much experience with the Ski Erg (at my hometown gym they’re in a dark spot and fixed into the wall). Fortunately, the ergs were on wheels and could be moved to the center of the floor.
Also, due to the early post-DST sunset, tinted windows, and soft lighting at SFCF, it was probably the darkest gym I had ever taken pictures in. I called an audible by boosting the ISO to its limits, and grabbed my hand-held LumeCube to add in some extra lighting. And as I got more comfortable shining a light into the member’s faces, I started playing around with some of the angles and really loved the way they came out:
Final Thoughts:
One of my favorite things about dropping into a box is the unexpectedness. When I bring my camera to a CrossFit gym, I don’t look up what the workout is beforehand, what the space looks like, or who’s going to be there. All I rely on is to be prepared for the unknown and unknowable. But how cool is it to drop in sight-unseen and capture such an awesome crew, witness some awesome coaching, and portray a great WOD? What are the chances to experience that combination of unbelievable luck?
I guess it’s only right that’s how it went at “Straight Flush.”
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