If there's one workout that favors our big, beefy men, it's DT! This is a heavy workout that's sure to test your grip strength and your mental toughness.

5 rounds:
12 deadlifts (70/50kg)
9 hang power cleans
6 jerks

Without a doubt, the worst part of this workout are the jerks. Well, unless you're Sam. Then you cry and struggle through everything and then just press 70kg's 6 times each round. Sheesh! Despite the heavy workout, the morning classes did fabulous. Sarah scaled WAY down to 3 rounds, called time, and then started up again. She just smiled and said "don't ask". It was kind of funny.

And then we have the Pete/Josh combo. They decided to make it a partner workout by splitting up the rounds and sharing a bar. Hey, whatever works! Throughout the Open, please don't feel shy about scaling workouts. We have 4 more WODs to give our 110% effort to, so save a little gas in your tank for the end of the week! Feel free to go lighter, do less rounds, or even (GASP) take an extra rest day.

Next Wednesday night we are hosting the long awaited nutrition discussion on Pre & Post Workout Nutrition. This is a discussion for EVERYONE! Come one, come all, and learn how to properly refuel yourself!! Register for this wonderful FREE seminar.

ALSO - you may have noticed the LOVELY poster that I hung in the front room. This is our 2012 CrossFit Fire Open Participants poster. I want every single soul at the Fort who participates in the Open to sign this bad boy, even if you're not officially registered. If you do an Open WOD - YOU'RE SIGNING! This is going to be our 2012 Open yearbook! Sign it!

Last but not least - I would like to announce the 2012 Open t-shirt design contest. (oooh, ahhh, contest!) We've never done this before so it's kind of a big deal. I want your help designing a t-shirt for the 2012 CrossFit Open/Games season for CrossFit Fire members. These shirts will be our "spirit wear" should we qualify an individual or team for Regionals. They'll also be the shirts we wear to the BBQ that we'll be announcing later this week to celebrate the end of the Open.

RULES:

1. Design a shirt. It's easy and fun! Use an online program if you'd like.

2. Email your design to jennie@crossfitfire.com no later than 3/6/12

3. I will ponder all the amazing shirts and choose a winner

4. The winner will receive a FREE MONTH OF CROSSFIT!!!! Whoa. Free CrossFit. It's serious now!

5. This contest is only valid for current members of CrossFit Fire

Get busy designing! You may submit as many entries as you like!

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Yesterday we locked up the Fort and headed down to the Chicago Indoor Rowing Championships for a fun day of rowing! This year the event coordinators added a special event called the "CrossFit Challenge". Ooh lala - doesn't that sound amazing? In teams of 4 you rowed 1,000 meters for the first part of your score. Then as a team of 4 you rowed a 2,000 meter relay. These two scores were averaged together for your overall score.

I am proud to say that CrossFit Fire had the most participation of any other gym! We had 7 teams of wonderful athletes all giving it their all! Unfortunately for our score, the event coordinators changed up the rules, so our score was the average of ALL our teams, not just our top 2 teams. Harumph. As you can imagine, the gyms that only brought their top 2 teams for this event did significantly better than Fire who brought 7 teams. Bill even tried talking to the event coordinator about having the scoring reverted back to what we were originally told, but they said no.

Know what? Screw them and their stupid scoring. It doesn't even matter. I would rather take dead last in their event, but have super high participation from our members than to cherry pick my top 2 teams and dump all my other athletes into the 2000m open. The CrossFit Challenge was for CROSSFIT gyms and that's what we are. I'm proud of everyone for how hard you all rowed! You represented CrossFit Fire well by showing good sportsmanship, amazing effort, and extraordinary talent. Not all the gyms that participated can say that, so you should be proud!

Is it just me, or is the best part of the day the post CIRC trip to Lululemon followed by drinks and dinner?

As a reminder, Bill is doing a nutrition discussion next Wednesday evening (March 7th) on pre & post workout  nutrition. This is a topic that a LOT of people have been asking for, so hopefully we'll see you there! Be sure to go online and register for this free discussion!

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LONG LIVE THE SHAF-FRO

Light day yesterday. What happened? All those walking lunges on Tuesday a little rough? Shucks. You'll be back to normal in no time!

We did have a big 6PM class and there were a lot of newbies there! Almost our entire February ramp-up joined us for their first "real" group class together. Despite the complexity of the strength work and the WOD, you guys did a great job staying focused and not getting discouraged. By the way I absolutely LOVE that you guys exchanged email addresses and plan to attend class at the same time.

3 rounds
10 hang power snatch
15 ring dips

And so begins our journey through the 2012 CrossFit Open. They workout was announced last night - a 7:00 AMRAP of burpees. Simple. Universal. PURE EVIL. If you are registered for the Open, and you all should be, you have the option to do the Open WODs during group classes, or on Saturday morning as a group. The Open WODs will be taking the place of Team Saturday for the next 5 weekends.

March 7th at 7PM we will be having our bi-monthly nutrition discussion. The focus of this discussion is post workout nutrition.  Ever wondered the best way to refuel after your WOD? Contemplating dropping a couple bucks on recovery shakes? Well, come participate in this interactive conversation that is sure to answer all your questions.

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I bet you're wondering why there's a picture of Team Saturday on the WEDNESDAY post. Well, quite simply, it's because I wasn't at the Fort Tuesday for the group classes, so I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE! OK?! I have been fighting some awful TubercuHIVmonia thing for about 8 days so just BACK OFF! Ok, I'm not really that hostile. I miss you guys!

Tuesday's workout was:

5 rounds of:
20 steps DB walking lunges
20 DB push press
40 double unders

What a great workout, huh? Too bad I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

Know what I DO know something about? Team Saturday! Yay! We divided into teams of 2 and knocked out some wall ball shots, kettlebell swings and box jumps. I asked every team for a team name, and Garth replied without hesitation "LIQUID BUTTER!"  Um, Ok. I think this team name is somehow related to Skinny Hippo, but I couldn't say for sure. Any who - great job to Garth and Mark for taking the championship belt! Team Honey badger was hot on your heels the whole time, but you two kept a nice consistent pace.

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Know what it's time for? Time for Nicole to fly off to Boston and row. Not just row....but row like a champion! Row like a highly trained and skilled athlete. Row like a CROSSFORTER! She's been rowing 30,000 meters a WEEK to prepare for the Crash B's, and she's gonna KILL IT.

The Crash B's are this Sunday. Let's send all our love, positive thoughts, and good luck out to the East Coast this Sunday!

Nicole - we're all SUPER excited for you. This is your Superbowl baby! You're going to do amazing!

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Every time my in-laws host a holiday I get asked to bring green bean casserole. Know what the funny part is? I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO EATS IT. Well....usually I'm the only one. This past Christmas I was determined to make an amazing green bean casserole that would appear on everyone's plates....not just mine. The end result? This little creation whose recipe I had to share about half a dozen times. BOOM. How you like me now!?

Ingredients:

2lbs green beans - trimmed
4 slices bacon - cut into small pieces
3 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 large onion - chopped
4T butter
3c heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 tsp salt
fresh black pepper to taste
1/8 tsp cayenne
1c grated sharp cheddar cheese
4oz pimentos - drained
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1c slivered almonds

Directions:

1. Bring beans to a boil and cook about 5 minutes until just tender. Then submerge them in ice cold water to stop them from cooking. (this is known as blanching)

2. In a large pan, cook bacon 3-5 minutes, then add onions and garlic.

3. In a separate saucepan melt the butter. Cook 1-2 minutes then add heavy cream. Cook, whisking constantly until thickened. (about 8-10 minutes) Then add salt, pepper, cayenne, cheese, ground mustard and paprika. Turn off heat.

4. Add pimentos and bacon/onion mixture to cream sauce. Stir. Then toss in your green beans.

5. Transfer to a 9 x 13 baking dish and sprinkle with slivered almonds. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

* This recipe is great for making ahead of time! Can be made up to 3 days in advance. Just make the whole recipe through step 4, and when you're ready to eat it, pop it in the oven to heat through.

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Looks like I have some catching up to do with our Team Saturday posts. Not to worry...Brady is at the store with his Daddy, I have a fresh cup of coffee and I'm ready to BLOW YOUR MINDS with some crazy blog catch-up! Ok, that's a little over dramatic.

First on my list are the champs from January 28th - John and Scott. Whatever the workout was that day, you know it was tall guy friendly! With a combined height of over 13', these two towering siblings are usually at a disadvantage because of their lengthened range of motion. Believe it or not, the workout that earned them the belt involved double unders, box jumps, dynamic push-ups and toes to bar! Great work guys!

Oh, and nice photo-bomb TIM!

Next up, February 4th. Sammi, Steph and Mark took the championship belt that weekend vby crushing hang squat cleans, shoulders to overhead and box jumps. With this powerhouse trio, it's not surprising that they dominated! What IS surprising though was that Sammi and Steph actually attempted to hoist Mark up on their shoulders for their picture! DYING LAUGHING! Looks like that didn't work out so well, and they went for the hold-him-like-a-bride pose instead. A for effort ladies, but Mark's a big hunk-a-man.

Again. Great job with the photo-bomb!

Moooooving right along, we have our champs from yesterday - Garth and Pete. The WODFather was quite pleased with himself for that workout. He told me that it's the first time in a while that he's called TIME and all the bodies hit the floor at once. He said it was like a bomb went off!

This handsome couple took the belt by dominating power snatches, double unders, pull-ups and wall ball shots. If you're wondering why they had their picture taken in the bathroom....and I'm assuming you ARE wondering why they had their picture taken in there...it's because Garth was using the cool bathroom floor to rest during the workout. When Bill called TIME, he found his way back to his sanctuary to rest, and Pete thought their picture should be taken in there. Good call guys....good call.

Well, there you have it! You're all caught up in the world of Team Saturday champions!

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