Five times a week, students from Denver’s all-girls school GALS work out at CrossFit DeCO. (Courtesy Leslie Friedman)
Forget dodgeball and the sit-and-reach.
Some students at the Girls Athletic Leadership School of Denver, an all-girls charter school in Lincoln Park, walk six minutes to attend CrossFit workouts at a nearby gym instead of the old-fashioned gym class.
Leslie Friedman, owner of CrossFit DeCO at 923 W. Ninth Ave., said she started coaching girls from the GALS three years ago, when CrossFit became an elective option for students. Now, she’s working to provide CrossFit classes to other GALS locations across the country.
Each student is required to do one gym class per day.
Fifteen to 18 choose Friedman’s CrossFit class, and show up at 8:30 a.m., five days per week. GALS students enrolled in the after-school program also come to the gym in the afternoon, and two have become regular members of Crossfit DeCO.
Leslie Friedman launched CrossFit DeCO five years ago at 923 W. Ninth Ave. (Courtesy Leslie Friedman)
“They walk in with a lot more confidence,” Friedman said. “Their strength has gone up considerably.”
For Friedman, 37, her passion for CrossFit started after she became a personal trainer en route to an acting career in New York City.
Personal training allowed flexibility in her schedule to pursue acting, but she decided she liked fitness more, so she moved to Colorado and eventually opened a CrossFit gym.
“I wanted to affect more people on a regular basis,” she said.
Five times a week, students from Denver’s all-girls school GALS work out at CrossFit DeCO. (Courtesy Leslie Friedman)
Forget dodgeball and the sit-and-reach.
Some students at the Girls Athletic Leadership School of Denver, an all-girls charter school in Lincoln Park, walk six minutes to attend CrossFit workouts at a nearby gym instead of the old-fashioned gym class.
Leslie Friedman, owner of CrossFit DeCO at 923 W. Ninth Ave., said she started coaching girls from the GALS three years ago, when CrossFit became an elective option for students. Now, she’s working to provide CrossFit classes to other GALS locations across the country.
Each student is required to do one gym class per day.
Fifteen to 18 choose Friedman’s CrossFit class, and show up at 8:30 a.m., five days per week. GALS students enrolled in the after-school program also come to the gym in the afternoon, and two have become regular members of Crossfit DeCO.
Leslie Friedman launched CrossFit DeCO five years ago at 923 W. Ninth Ave. (Courtesy Leslie Friedman)
“They walk in with a lot more confidence,” Friedman said. “Their strength has gone up considerably.”
For Friedman, 37, her passion for CrossFit started after she became a personal trainer en route to an acting career in New York City.
Personal training allowed flexibility in her schedule to pursue acting, but she decided she liked fitness more, so she moved to Colorado and eventually opened a CrossFit gym.
“I wanted to affect more people on a regular basis,” she said.
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