Dr. Ronda Rockett chucks medical practice to keep people healthy

When Ronda Rockett was a practicing physician, she urged her patients to get healthy through regular exercise and diet. 

But then, she chucked her medical practice to start her own CrossFit Launchpad gym in a two-car garage attached her house. 

 “When my patients were in my office, I would demonstrate the movements: burpees, squats, and other exercises. Many of my patients had success but to have the greatest impact you need a community of like-minded people for support. It’s nearly impossible to create that kind of positive change going solo,” Ronda explained.

Community is key

I’ve been one of Ronda’s “athletes" for nine months. The fist bumps, cheering and openness really work toward success. I learned, for example, that two of my fellow CrossFit athletes also have Rheumatoid Arthritis and all three of us were able to either reduce or eliminate costly and powerful RA drugs from our regimen. The CrossFit Launchpad Facebook page is a bulletin board for sharing life and personal experiences well as fitness and other accomplishments; something ordinary fitness centers lack.

Ronda's husband, Sean Rockett, an orthopedic surgeon, got involved and became head Doctor of the Ortho team at the CrossFit Games seven years ago.

Every one-hour class consists of stretching and the prescribed Workout of the Day or WOD in CrossFit parlance. Typically, the WODs are made up of an intense series of full-body movements, such as kettle bell swings and Olympic Weightlifting, that involve lots of muscles along with cardio training, such as rowing or running. The coaches review every movement no matter how familiar everyone is with them and make modifications to accommodate anyone's limitations. They are designed to be intense, compressing a lot of movement into a short time without long breaks. Recording the challenges and duration is done to measure progress. I’ve completed 1,000 meter rowing sessions at CrossFit, that I would never do on a machine in my basement. 

Additionally classes are inclusive—men and women of all ages workout together, which gives the experience a family feel. Every now-and-then Ronda throws a party for the athletes and their significant others.

CrossFit also encourages healthy eating with the Paleo Diet as its centerpiece.

She also advocates deadlifts—safely lifting any object from the floor to a standing position. “This is the strength and skill you need to pick up your grocery bags — or your child for that matter.”

I’ve done the gym routine, which is solitary and repetitive. One CrossFit coach described gym workouts as “rinse and repeat." Same goes for swimming, repetitive, cold and wet. When you go solo, it’s also easy to plateau and stay there. In contrast, my fitness improved markedly in 90 days with CrossFit, along with my health, lower cholesterol and triglycerides, big reduction in inflammation and I shed over 20 pounds. 

Here is a terrific podcast with the Doctors Ronda and Sean Rockett on the value of community, intensity, metrics and fun when it comes to health and fitness by British physician Dr. Julian Donovan of Stronger Medicine. 

http://bit.ly/30FQq9y