Lamorinda CrossFit Owner Dave D'Angelo keeps watch while co-owner Anni Watson deadlifts 75 pounds. Photo Rosylyn Aragones Stenzel

Just in time for New Year's resolutions to get into shape, Lamorinda CrossFit is open for business with a new way of looking at fitness that involves personal coaching, intense workouts and a sense of community.

Located in downtown Lafayette, Lamorinda CrossFit is not your typical gym packed with treadmills, ellipticals or other machines. Instead it is a clean, simple space with bars, weights and minimal equipment. Says co-owner Dave D'Angelo, "Your body is the machine!"

What is CrossFit? CrossFit is a back-to-basics approach to exercise. The exercises are an intensified version of everyday fundamental movements. It includes gymnastics, weightlifting and metabolic conditioning. Groups of four to five work out together with a certified CrossFit trainer.

D'Angelo, who also works as a custodian at Lafayette Elementary School, first learned about CrossFit training in October 2007 and since then has become a self-proclaimed CrossFit junkie. He became certified in CrossFit training in March 2008 and began to dream about opening up his own gym. Co-owner Anni Watson, who met D'Angelo while working at another gym, was looking for a job after completing college.

After seeing results in CrossFit training, Watson too became hooked and with her encouragement, they opened Lamorinda CrossFit together.

What makes Lamorinda CrossFit's founding unique is they opened the gym in honor of Watson's late brother, Sgt. Gabriel Guzman. Twenty-five-year old Guzman was serving in the Army with the 82nd Airborne when he was killed in Afghanistan on March 8, 2008. Watson found out the news while in labor before her daughter was born. Watson and her brother were very close, and she knew since he was a fitness enthusiast, he would have loved CrossFit. So in his honor, she used the money he left her to finance Lamorinda CrossFit and open it with D'Angelo, a Navy Gulf War veteran.

As a mom with two children, Watson enjoys CrossFit because it's convenient, intense, workouts can be completed in half hour or less, and for the sense of community. "We cheer each other and motivate each other. It's not like taking a class at the gym and no one talks to each other and then you leave," Watson explains.

Finally, both D'Angelo and Watson agree that the best feature is that a personal trainer will always be there to motivate you - not only making sure you are doing it correctly, but watching that you are doing it safely. In addition, each workout is unique. "Routine is the enemy. We specialize in not specializing in anything, "says D'Angelo.

Lamorinda CrossFit offers classes seven days a week. All are invited to their grand opening open house on Sunday, January 24th from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Also they are offering a special where your first visit (one-on-one assessment and workout) is free.

Lamorinda CrossFit is located at 1031 Blackwood Lane in Lafayette. For more information call 925-284-9348 or email

anni@lamorindacrossfit.com, and check out their website at

www.LamorindaCrossFit.com