CrossFit Ceylon Colombo
CrossFit Ceylon (CFCY) was created in 2017 by 4 passionate CrossFitters with a vision to build a functional training space to develop the “sport of fitness” and community in Sri Lanka.
Here at CFCY, we wholeheartedly agree with CrossFit’s philosophy and methodologies, which is why both our trainers and founders have the CrossFit trainer certifications. Our mission is to introduce CrossFit to the island and create a tight-knit community that share the same goals of improving their health, fitness and quality of life – and have some fun while doing it!
CFCY is the largest and most equipped CrossFit box in Sri Lanka. Located in central Colombo, our 6,200 sq.ft space is the first and only 100% dedicated functional fitness facility in the country, equipped by Rogue Fitness, the official equipment supplier to the Reebok CrossFit Games.
We provide over 30 hours of CrossFit classes a week including CrossFit Kids, Yoga and other specialty courses in addition to Personal training and Corporate programs.
What is CrossFit?
In gyms throughout the world the typical workout consists of isolation movements and extended aerobic sessions, with a focus on “back day”, “leg day” etc. The fitness community (from trainers to magazines) have the public believing that lateral raises, bicep curls, leg extensions combined with 20-40 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill are going to lead to some kind of great fitness.
As part of the CrossFit prescription, programming consists of “constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity.” We replaced the lateral raises with push presses, the bicep curl with pull-ups, and the leg extension with squats. All CrossFit workouts are based on functional movements that reflect the best aspects of gymnastics, weightlifting and metabolic conditioning (cardio).
“The aim of CrossFit is to forge a broad, general and inclusive fitness supported by measurable, observable and repeatable results. The program prepares trainees for any physical contingency – not only for the unknown but for the unknowable, too. Our specialty is not specializing. By employing a constantly varied approach to training, functional movements and intensity lead to dramatic gains in fitness.”
Source: CrossFit, Inc. Website.
CFCY Colombo Team
Andy Andrews
Co-Founder & Head Coach
Our head coach is the fittest man in Sri Lanka. While some may call this a bold claim, we at CFCY simply refer to CrossFit Open leaderboard as proof.
GOLF
Andy began his athletic career as a Golfer and began to accumulate titles at a young age starting with being crowned the Sri Lankan Junior National Champion in 2001 and 2003. His early success was not limited to Sri Lanka, he was also crowned the 2003 Emirates Junior Champion and he was invited to join the U.A.E Junior Team from 2003 to 2005.
IMG ACADEMY
Andy’s early success in golf earned him an invitation to attended the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida from 2005 – 2008. IMG is the world’s largest multi-sport academy where athletes are groomed to not only improve their athletic performance but are also coached on academics, character development and social responsibility. IMG has been the training grounds for multiple World Class professional athletes representing all the major sporting leagues such as the National Football League (NFL), Professional Golfers Association (PGA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Some of IMG’s most famous students include Serena and Venus Williams, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Freddy Adu and Ben An. In fact, Andy likes to remind us all that Maria Sharapova was his classmate.
CROSSFIT
Andy discovered CrossFit in early 2013 in an effort to increase the power of his golf swing. In an effort to learn more, he attended the CrossFit Level 1 seminar in Spring 2014 shortly after which he migrated back to Sri Lanka. With the introduction of CrossFit into his training regime Andy not only saw an increase in the power of his golf swing but he started to see a significant increase in his strength. Before long, Andy was registering himself in weightlifting competitions and found success almost immediately by coming in Second Place at the 2015 Sri Lanka Novice Weightlifting Championship. In both 2016 and 2017 Andy was able to take the Gold Medal at the Colombo District Weightlifting Championship and Silver at the Western Province Weightlifting Championship.
Andy is a highly dedicated coach with a remarkable work ethic and is widely credited for introducing CrossFit to Sri Lanka. So much so, that he was featured in an article on the CrossFit site.
Alexandria Senanayake
Co-Founder & Box Manager
Alexandria took a break from corporate life in early 2016 to pursue her personal interests in health and wellness. This led her to an intensive training retreat in Tabanan, Bali to further develop her own yoga practice and ended with her quest to learn more about her other passion – CrossFit. Two years later, a qualified RYT 200-hr Yoga and CrossFit Kids coach, she looks forward to developing the ladies and kids offerings at CFCY to create a truly excellent fitness program for all ages and genders.
In her new role heading operations at CFCY, Alexi will juggle coaching with making sure our beloved box runs like a well-oiled Concept 2 rower.
Rakhil Hirdaramani & Dimitri Sheriff
Co-Founders
Long time training buddies, Dimitri Sheriff and Rakhil Hirdaramani decided to get their Level 1 Certifications in 2015 to learn about CrossFit and functional fitness.
While their full-time work and business commitments prevent them from coaching Dimitri and Rakhil can often be seen giving, mostly unwanted, advice to Alexi and Andy on how to run CFCY.
Zulsha Alibah
Coach
Zulsha, is known at CrossFit Ceylon as the “engine”. He is also the 2nd fittest man in Sri Lanka. His reputation for speed and endurance was built over years as a former district level marathon runner, college rugby player and Battalion ranked Cadet Corp. It wasn’t till Zulsha started to train in the CrossFit methodology in 2015 that his performance reached its true potential.
After understanding how far advanced the CrossFit methodology is over other fitness regimes, Zulsha has now dedicated his life to passing on this knowledge and his learnings to others.
