Any time I see that the WODFather has programmed a single rep max day I get all excited. All....giddy inside. There's nothing better than watching people CRUSH their old PR's. The look on someone's face when they re-rack their bar, smile, and tell you that they just set an 11kg PR is only rivaled by little kids on Christmas morning.

Yesterday our strength work was to work up to a new single rep max on front squat. I can honestly say that I have never seen so many "circles" on the whiteboard. If you're new to the Fort Family, a circle means you set a new PR for a movement. Example - Robert, who is fresh out of ramp-up - front squatted his body weight yesterday! CIRCLE! Example - Kinsy front squatted 83kg's and made it look EASY! CIRCLE! Example - RTL set an 11kg PR! CIRCLE!

Get the picture? LOTS of circles. When I just counted, there were FIFTY people who PR'd their front squats! 5-0. That's huge guys. Perhaps this stuff is actually working...

In other words, you guys have set the world on fire with your bad-ass-ness and I'm super proud! CIRCLE!!

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Who doesn't love starting their week with heavy power cleans, kettlebell swings and sit-ups!? I thought it was a marvelous way to kick things off.

5 rounds:
:30 KB swings (32/24kg)
:30 rest
:30 sit-ups
:30 rest

As you can see, we wanted you to go heavy on the kettlebell swings. If your form looks solid, I say go one size bigger than you normally use. We had a lot of people grab the big bells....and we even had a few people grab LOTS of bells! I'm pretty sure Lisa pulled out 3 sizes of kettlebells. Little does she know that she's amazingly strong!

Check out this picture of Mark. LOOK.AT.THAT.SHRUG. He's exploding through his hips, jumping and shrugging, and his elbows are high and outside. It's a thing of beauty. Also take note that he is shrugging up and back...not just straight up. This is what YOU should look like in slow motion. Just sayin'.

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This post was originally published in September of 2010, but it was too good to keep hidden in the archives. Enjoy.

It just dawned on me that you might not hear often enough that you're beautiful. You are. You really, really are. When you look in the mirror I hope you see the same things I see. I see  amazing people who are going against the "norm". I see people who are courageous and giving. I see people who are strong both mentally and physically, and THAT makes you beautiful to me.

Maybe the things I see as beautiful, aren't beautiful to other people. Maybe my definition of beauty doesn't conform with what you see on the cover of a magazine. Don't blame the magazines, it's not their fault. They don't realize that the pictures they're printing aren't always beautiful....they just haven't seen things my way yet. I'd love to see a women's magazine run an article on how to get visible hamstrings instead of their crap about "how to lose 14lbs in 14 days".

It's our responsibility to remind each other what REAL beauty is. It's our duty to ensure that our girls aren't striving to be "magazine beautiful". Real beauty isn't about being skinny. Real beauty isn't about a number on the scale, or about having a collar bone that could double as an M&M dish. Real beauty is CrossFit beauty. It's getting your first pull-up, doing your first WOD as prescribed, pulling a deadlift PR, cheering for someone else even though you want to collapse on the floor. It's accomplishing things you never thought possible, and building up enough self confidence to fill Soldier Field.

Real beauty is YOU GUYS and the things you do each and every day. Thank you for showing me how beautiful you are.

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Well that was it...the last WOD of the 2012 CrossFit Open. We sure went out with a bang, didn't we? This workout was a repeat from last year and it blows my mind to see how far you have all come! We had people who couldn't even do chest to bar pull-ups last year who were cranking them out one after the other. We ALSO had people who found the thruster weight VERY heavy last year, and you flew through them!

I'm just so.....proud. Even though we finished in 50th place for our region, we gave it everything we had. The whole Fort was full of athletes pushing through their mental limits and gutting it out. Did you know you were capable of so much!?

Please mark your calendars for the Open Finale celebration on Saturday, April 7th at 3PM. This celebration is about YOU GUYS. I should actually just get one huge cake with all of your names written on it, because this party is for all of you!

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Not really sure why this blog post is titled "feel my wrath!"...I think it has to do with how sore my butt and legs are after split squats! They're a fun little squatting movement aren't they?

The workout yesterday was a re-run from back in October.

4 rounds:
:45 db burpees
:45 rest
:45 anchored sit-ups
:45 rest

This workout was sure to get you breathing heavy and working your hip flexors! Anyone end up with an ab mat raspberry from the sit-ups?

Just out of curiosity, what do you guys think Jodi was saying to Amie in this picture??

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A lot of you saw the board yesterday and thought, "Hot-diggity-dog!" It was the right combination of movements and weights, and it allowed you to go RX...maybe for the first time! I know for sure our gal Amy, and our buddy Kelly both went RX'd, and they're both fresh out of ramp-up. Be honest....at any point during your workout did you say to yourself, "what the H#ll was I thinking?!"?

The workout yesterday was:

5 rounds
15 KB swings (24/16kg)
10 burpees
:90 rest

Not too bad, right? Nah, burpees and kettlebell swings are nothing to get too upset about.

Well, this is it. It's the official last week of the CrossFit Open. I'm super proud of CrossFit Fire and all of our participants. Only one workout separates us from the first annual Amaze-balls Open Finale Celebration! That's right! We're throwing a party at the Fort to celebrate you guys. Save the date - Saturday, April 7th at 3PM. More details will be coming soon!

Another thing to add to your calendars is our Friends and Family Funtastic Free Days! Wednesday, April 4th - Friday, April 6th we will once again be opening our doors to all the people of the universe. Bring your friends, family, co-workers, hair dressers and dog walkers - this only happens a couple times a year!

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Over time, I have noticed that every movement we use at the Fort can be lumped into one of these four categories:

1. Warm and Fuzzy - Everybody loves these movements. They don't require years of practice to master and they're not overly taxing. When you see these movements on the board it's like a big hug from the WODFather. "Mmmmm...thanks Bill! We LOVE these!"

2. - Is Bill mad? - These are the dreaded movements that are hated by ALL. Without exception. NOBODY likes these and we all just wish Bill would forget they existed. "Really?! AGAIN!? We just did these 16 months ago! Do we HAVE to do them again?!" 

3. Meh - People don't really hate them, but don't really love them. When these are written on the board, they're scanned over in search of something to hate or love. You see these and yearn for a movement that elicits a more powerful emotion than just...."meh".

4. Hostile Division - These are the grand daddy of them all. These movements have a crowd of people who love them and an equally loud crowd of people who despise them. The people who love them try their darn-dest to convince those around them how fun they are, while those who dislike them also make everyone around them aware of their feelings. These two crowds of people find themselves eternally entwined in a battle over whether these are the best thing EVER, or if they are worse than being boiled alive. "Yay, these are my favorite - aren't you having fun?" OR "Jesus H Christ in a Chicken Basket! I'd rather be waterboarded!"

The reason I'm mentioning all this is because our workout  yesterday was comprised entirely of movements that fall into the "Hostile Division" category. Needless to say, it was a fun day at the Fort!

4 rounds for time:
500m row
400m run
3:00 rest

We've done this workout before and when the weather report said it was going to be 80 degrees yesterday, it just seemed like the perfect WOD. It's been a while since we've had running in our workouts, but you guys did great! We saw some blazing fast times for this workout! Yay running!

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