Merry Liftmass at Replay Crossfit in Bucharest can only be a good thing! Living in Rotterdam for some years now, Andrada is originally from Romania. And where to spend Christmas better than with your family then home sweet home? But not without a drop-in at Replay Crossfit!

Home sweet home

I have been doing crossfit for almost 2 years now. Started in Netherlands and doing drop-ins in other countries as well. However, I have never done a WOD in my home country – Romania, although it is the place I travel to the most each year (for obvious reasons). This was due to change this Christmas holiday! I even managed to persuade two of my friends to do a trial class (I guess all of my crossfit stories throughout the years managed to spark their curiosity what my passion is all about).

 

Replay Crossfit

Out of the 5 crossfit boxes that exist in Bucharest, I picked Replay Crossfit because of their reviews. The crossfit community feel looked strong within this box based on their social media. So I was curios to see  if that applied in real life as well. And I was also intrigued to try “Romanian crossfit, but the American way” as they mentioned on their website.

Replay Crossfit has been around the Bucharest scene since 2013, but for 2 years they have been in the Pipera location on the north of Bucharest. They are quite an international box, run by  American Joe Velarde (no wonder they have the US flag on one of their wall). With 3 Crossfit coaches and a Weightlifting coach, they teach mainly in English, so foreigners are very welcome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Replay Crossfit has two main areas: one for WOD and one for open gym. They have all the crossfit usuals from kettlebells to assault-bikes, so you will not run out of toys. During winter holidays they even have a Christmas tree decorated crossfit style!

 

The drop-in

Me and my friends decided to drop in for the 10:00 WOD on a sunny Saturday morning, right before Christmas. Even though traffic was not crazy at all, we still managed to be 5 minutes late (I know, I am not proud of it either, and I assure you that it has nothing to do with my driving skills…I will blame it on “being out of the country for too long”). Fortunately coach Luminita didn’t apply any burpee fee…

We were introduced to the rest of the class of 6 other people: 4 Replay members and 2 other drop-ins. Unfortunately my wish to get a crossfit training in Romanian didn’t happen since one of the other drop-ins was an international visitor, but we made fun questioning how to explain TTB and other crossfit lingo in Romanian.

        

The WOD

We were up for the Hero “White” wod:

5 rounds for time
3 rope climbs
10 TTB
21 OH lunges (20kg/15kg)
400 m Run / 500 m Row / 800 m Assault Bike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the warm up, I had to pick my poison: running, rowing and assault bike. Guess what my sado – masochistic brain picked….that is right: ASSAULT BIKE. Don’t worry, I am not that crazy, it’s just that we don’t have them at my home box so they were more like a toy for me….a toy from hell !

With a time cap of 35 minutes, I came 100m short  of finishing all 5 rounds with the AB and the rest RX. After I picked myself up from the floor and managed to breath normally again, we took the mandatory flex group photo. I also had some Christmas gear prepared for me and my friends to make sure that they would not hate me for the muscle sorenesses during their Christmas dinner.

We stayed a little while for some more goofing around pictures, before we hit the road back to our families to enjoy all the yummy points (aka calories) of Christmas.

 

Nice to know

• The registration for either a drop-in or a trial session is fairly easy through their registration platform. You can either send them an e-mail to ask about it and introduce yourself or just register and show up!
• A drop-in costs 40 RON (aprox. 10 euros) and a trial lesson is free.
• Getting there is easy by public transport: take the metro until Pipera and then walk for 5 min.  If you go by car during weekdays take some extra travel time, since the traffic in Bucharest can be quite chaotic.
• Don’t forget to follow Replay Crossfit on social media: Instagram & Facebook.
• If you are in the East European area and find yourself wanting to try a Romanian – American style crossfit, Replay Crossfit is the place to go to!