As children our parents yelled at us to "stay out of the street!" I can clearly remember my Mother screaming this to us from the kitchen. (Yes, in my mind, all things my mother screamed, she screamed from the kitchen) Staying out of the street is a fantastic idea for small children because they don't know how to be safe and cautious. As grown ups we have credit cards, wear underwire bras, drink coffee and should know how to keep ourselves safe. Right? Mkay. Over the warm summer months we will frequently be outside - both in our parking lot and in the road. Make sure you aren't so focused on your AMAZINGLY FAST WOD time that you forget about danger. I'll take away your undewire if you do. And your coffee.

The workout yesterday was

12:00 AMRAP
30 double unders
20 yards walking lunges
10 hand release push-ups

If I had to give this workout a name, I'd call it the "Furious Pete" WOD. Most everyone got about 5-7 rounds on this but Furious Pete got 10 rounds! Way to crush it Pete!

We have some exciting things happening at the Fort. We are in the process of switching from MindBodyOnline to Zen Planner. This switch won't be "official" until May 1st. For now, I'll need you to continue making payments through MBO until our credit card processing is setup in Zen. Attendance and event registration should all be done through Zen.

ALSO - we have a new CrossFit Fire LEVELS system that will be unveiled! OOh....Levels! We're hoping to get this officially rolling by the end of this week. Keep your eyes on the blog for more info.

ANOTHER ALSO - We are about a week away from starting our next Better Body Challenge. This one is going to be our most detailed challenge yet. Bill and I are figuring out the algorithm of the VERY complicated scoring process. It's going to be epic. It's going to change lives. It's NOT going to be ready for anther week. Sorry.

LAST ALSO - Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a member of the CrossFit Fire coaching staff? (besides dashing good looks and a winning smile?) We will be starting a new Coaches development program and opening it up to anyone who is interested. You heard me right....ANYONE who meets the prerequisites can start the process for becoming an amazing coach. Yet another reason we're the best gym EVER. The whole CDP will be outlined in a post on Friday. Be excited!

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The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and CrossForters were hard at work yesterday morning! Team Saturday was another great workout, and this time it included 300m runs. Don't ask Jamie where the turnaround is....she doesn't know. Just yell "TURN!" at her when you think she's gone far enough.

In teams of 2:

10 rounds
10 thrusters
10 burpees
300 run

One partner worked at a time. Our winning team was Pete and Jamie, despite the fact that Jamie just showed up at the Fort to do a rowing WOD. She rowed like 8,000 meters and then got suckered into the team WOD since there was an odd number. Such a team player!

Her comment to me later in the day was, "I thought Pete was going to go slow so I could rest more, but he moved really fast!" Tee hee. Good stuff! Congrats you two!

I also have to say congrats to Maggie and Shannon for coming to Team Saturday! They're fresh out of ramp-up, and still they found the courage to come. See guys? Team Saturdays aren't scary at all. YES there's a championship belt on the line, but that's designed to make it more fun, not more scary. We're all just here to get a good workout and have fun.

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Friday was an extra special treat. We got to do a TEAM workout during our regular classes!

In teams of 3:

5 rounds each of
20 yard suicide run
10 dumbbell ground to overhead

One partner was working while the other two rested, so don't be scared....there was plenty of rest built in! We had some friends and family join us yesterday once again! I have to give a big Internet high five to Lisa's friend Nicole who admitted to me that she has never worked out before. Ever. In her whole life. She was a little nervous, but girlfriend, you did AMAZING!

Hopefully we'll see all our Friends and Family at Monday's ramp-up!

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Ok, I'm just going to come out and say it....we have the best gym in the entire world. How do I know this? Because Google Battles told me so. I wouldn't make something like this up! SWEAR!

Yesterday was the launch of our first Friends and Family Funtastic Free Week of 2012 and it was super fun! I'm truly honored that you think so highly of the Fort that you share it with the people you love. I am eternally grateful!

Our workout yesterday was:

8:00 AMRAP
15 kettlebell swings
30 double unders

Normally high rep kettlebell swings are NOT for beginners. They have a tendency to get a little loosey goosey as people get tired, and there's no sense in hurting your friends in their first WOD, is there? NO. Some of our friends and family substituted burpees for KB swings, and for that I am very sorry. There was a small handful who were allowed to tackled them, and you guys did great! Vince, Dan and Tony, you three did amazing for your first WOD! Hopefully we'll be seeing you back soon!

What was I saying? Oh, kettlebell swings hurt your back. Right. WELL - the way to rectify that is to first and foremost DROP DOWN A SIZE. Does this hurt your pride? Maybe but TOUGH TOOTIES! Grab the smaller kettlebell and when you swing, never ever turn off your butt. When the kettlebell is over your head, YOUR BUTT IS ON. When the kettlebell is swinging between your legs, YOUR BUTT IS ON. When your kettlebell is everywhere in the middle....you guessed it...YOUR BUTT IS ON. Letting your butt turn off causes your back to over-arch, and over-arching = death. Mkay? Be safe. I love you.

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How are you guys liking our "testing week"? As Steph so kindly blogged about, we already had a back squat extravaganza this week, and yesterday was our floor press-a-palooza. In case you were wondering what else we were testing, how about a burpee test? How many burpees do you think you could get in 3:00? Lucky you guys....you got to find out!

Let's back up for a second. The floor pressing INSANITY that went on yesterday was too cool to pass over. I thought that our 50PR day was a lot....and don't get me wrong, it is. Our floor press day put it to SHAME! I'm pretty sure every person set a new PR yesterday. *throwing confetti*!! Great job you guys!

I want to give a huge shout out to Kelly - he's fresh out of ramp-up and he already made the record board for max floor press! Way to go, Kelly! By the way, you're looking GOOD! Great job gettin' after the workouts and dialing in your nutrition...the results are definitely showing!

Who, you might ask, is this lovely vixen upside down before my eyes??? This is Karen! Her son, Myles, owns CrossFit Avalanche out in Tahoe, and she has been kicking serious BUTT at the Fort! Karen isn't the fastest or the strongest, but she has something that can't be coached - COURAGE. No matter what we're doing or how afraid she might feel, she jumps right in there and gives it 110% every.single.time. We love having you at the Fort!

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RSVP. Hi guys! Do you have the Open Finale Celebration on your calendar? It's this Saturday at the Fort from 3PM until about 6PM. We're grilling burgers and ribs, playing ping pong and having a dandy time. If you could take a minute and register through our new ZenPlanner website, it would be MUCH appreciated!

SPANKS!

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One of my favorite ramp-up stories of all time is about sumo deadlift high pulls. As you know, they are written on the board in an abbreviation (SDHP). My ramp-up class asked "what's SDHP?" to which I replied, "What do you think it means?" After a minute or two of discussion they came back with this as their answer:

Slightly Dangerous, Highly Painful!

I had to laugh, because they're kind of right!

Our workout yesterday was: 7:00 AMRAP of SDHP (50/35kg) and dynamic push-ups. Each time you complete a round, add 3 reps to the next round. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 etc...until time runs out. For the dynamic push-ups you had the option to either slap your chest, clap, push your hands off the floor, or just do regular push-ups. Chest slap push-ups never cease to impress me.

Let's analyze these for a second. (the look on Garth's face kind of says it all)

When you're doing push-ups, the only thing stopping your face from hitting the floor are those lovely hands of yours. Now wrap your mind around the clap. Not just a clap, but a CHEST SLAP. That's a looooong time for your safety net to be removed from the floor. Fortunately we have never had a face-bashing at the Fort. You guys apparently know your limitations!

Announcement! We will be switching from Mind Body Online over to ZenPlanner sometime in the very near future. All of the functionalities of ZenPlanner are still being worked on, but let's use the new site for our attendance going forward. Thank you all for getting your profiles updated! I'll be auditing the membership info soon to make sure it's accurate. If you find problems, shoot them over in an email. Thanks a million!

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