We have some exciting news at CrossFit Fire! After many long discussions, Bill and I have made the decision that Bill will start doing CrossFit full time at the end of November! This will allow us to expand our current class schedule, and hopefully make your overall CrossFit Fire experience better. We are reviewing everyone's preferred class times, and will start offering more classes soon! 

Ok, this is getting serious now...we have some missing CrossFitters! Have you seen these two CrossFitter? 

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Do you know one of those REALLY good movies you saw, but when you try and tell your friends about it, it just ends up sounding dumb? They kind of look at you like..."you really thought that was a good movie?" That's how stories about the gymnastics certification are going to be. My apologies in advance.

I can't even describe the fun weekend had. Jeff Tucker is more than could possibly be expected. He's an amazing coach, and he inspires people to push themselves farther than they think possible. His methods of coaching are so simple that even the most novice individual could learn the movement quickly and develop good form. But at the same time, even the very athletically gifted are challenged. There is no doubt in my mind that I am a better CrossFitter and a better coach after spending the weekend with Jeff Tucker.

I think it's a fair assessment that we had a GREAT group of people at our certification. We were on the small end for a cert, but I can say with absolute certainty that I would not have gotten as much out of this cert if there were 10 more people there. We had about 15 people, and Tucker was able to go hands on with each person for damn near every single movement we were learning. When you're talking about getting a room full of adults upside down, suspended from bars and pushing the limits of their abilities, it takes a certain amount of trust to do that. From the moment the cert started, I think all of us trusted Tucker. We trusted his spotting, his coaching and his knowledge.

I learned a lot this weekend, and it goes far beyond just learning how to do handstand pushups and back levers....here are the things I learned this weekend:

1. People from Texas say "damn" a lot. I have at least doubled the frequency of the use of the word "damn" in normal conversation after spending 2 days with Tucker.
2. No matter how sneaky you think you can be, Tucker will ALWAYS catch you for not wrapping your thumb around the damn bar.
3. Your extra supportive sports bra is your best friend if you are going to be upside down in a room full of men.
4. If you are spotting a handstand press, and you don't get your head out of the way, you end up scissored between Kelly Moore's legs as if she has a damn G-string full of dollar bills and was twirling on a pole at your bachelor party. Pervert.
5. "Free bleeding" is discouraged, and will require that you stick a tampon in your nose if you want to keep participating in Jeff Tucker's damn certification.
6. If you're going to take a two handed grab of someone's ass when they're upside down, DON'T chalk up like a maniac beforehand. Chalk leaves evidence. Enough said.
7. If you have a "well developed posterior chain" (thanks Brian Mac), it will be difficult to skin the damn cat without someone's hand shoving your big butt through for you. Thanks to everyone who volunteered by the way.
8. In order to properly spot someone, you need to be "all up on their bacon".
9. After 2 days of playing "let's be upside down" your body will hurt like you're a 90 year old woman. 

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Ok you guys....what gives? I was just about ready to declare that our CrossFitters hated morning classes more than any group of CrossFitters in the world....and you guys go and prove me wrong! Despite the fact that our Saturday morning class was bumped up to 7:00AM due to the gymnastics certification, we had a great turnout! Thank you to everyone who woke up extra early to attend class. 

The loft is finally finally finally operational! As everyone yesterday found out, there are now "extra credit" stairs involved any time we need to row. Puting the rowers upstairs frees up a ton of room downstairs, and makes it a little less snug for our BIG 6M class. Thank you to everyone who made all the new updates to the gym possible. Honestly...without your help, we couldn't have done it. <<HUG>>

The workout yesterday was 1 round for time of: 75 supermans, row 750 meters, 50 push ups, 100 double unders. Before we started, Cheryl asked if I thought she could finish it in around 15 minutes because she had to leave early to make another appointment. Low and behold, Cheryl was NOT messing around and finished right around 16 minutes. Atta girl! I want everyone to grab a jump rope for at least 3 minutes EVERY SINGLE TIME you are in the gym until you can string together 2 double unders. That'll be your "homework". The only way to get better at double unders is to grab a dang jump rope, and practice. Now this will mean that you are going to be voluntarily whipping yourself repeatedly...but it's all in the name of progress. 

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We had another fun team Friday last night. It's amazing how much more athletic everyone has become. In teams of 4, we did the following: run 400m, 250 burpees, run 400m, 250 pull ups, run 400m. This workout is officially named "Runny burp-ups". Charming, right?

We did our LAST workout on our old pullup bar. It was kind of emotional. SO emotional in fact that Team "Bend you over backwards" lost the ability to count, and took off for their run after only 150 pull ups. Had they not had this brain fart, it would've been a photo finish! Alas, due to this exercised induced regression, team "bend you over backwards" lost to team "whoop yo' ass". Nice work you guys!

Speaking of things that are kind of emotional, I'm feeling quite sad that we haven't seen Jeff and Mike in over a week. Sniff....sniff.....Where'd you guys go?

A special thank you goes out to Zach and Mike who came Friday night and helped install the BRAND NEW AND UBER STRONG pullup bar. Really guys...this one's strong...we swear. 

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Ok, ok....we get it...your legs have had enough for one week. Sweet. No problem guys, we'll just have you do 50 handstand pushups for time! No seriously....that was the workout. I suppose there is a silver lining to every dark cloud, right? The silver lining in this particular cloud is that you didn't have to run. It was raining, cold and downright awful outside.

 Isn't it funny that as children, we spent a TON of time upside down and didn't think anything of it? What I have learned is that most adults are afraid to be upside down. It's almost as if we stop trusting our bodies to do what we tell them to do. "Pssst! Hey arms! Do you mind locking out real strong for about a minute please?" Our bodies forget what it's like to be upside down. When was the last time you spun around until you were really dizzy? I betcha that's something else you did a lot when you were little. Don't let your body forget how to handle things like being dizzy or being upside down. While it may seem silly, I promise it'll come in handy some day. 

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We have a lot of sore legs after Monday's weighted walking lunges. We'll help you guys work out that soreness though! Last night we did 10 rounds for time of 1:00 of air squats, as many reps as possible, then rest for a minute. This workout is a recipe for rhabdo for beginners, so we developed a few substitutions for our new CrossFitters. Janet worked on her press, Barbie only did 30 seconds of work each round and Jill and Bethany repeated the workout from Tuesday. See? This really is scalable to any fitness level! If you're Stacy, regular squats aren't hard enough so you do special "house of Pain" jumping squats.

Stacy shows us her "house of Pain" squats from Jennie Forman on Vimeo. 

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/2244415[/vimeo]

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We had our first Mother/Daughter duo come last night! My Mom has only been to the gym once. She threw a 6lb medicine ball at the wall ball plate, came up 4' short of the target, and decided that was enough for her! Season's Mom, Rhonda, joined us at 7PM for a workout. She was a little apprehensive about the workout, but she did a great job! After the workout she was showing off her excellent handstand skills. For those of you struggling with handstands, Rhonda says they're like a kicking "downward dog". I'm assuming that's some sort of top secret Yoga code.

The workout last night was short and intense; the epitome of a CrossFit workout. We did 3 rounds for time of row 350 meters, 10 burpees, 10 kettlebell swings. A workout like this calls for a high level of intensity in order to get the most out of it. There should be NO standing around during this one! Most of our CrossFitters finished in under 12 minutes, with our fastest time of the day being 8:33. (pats self on the back) It's been a LONG time since I had the best time of the day! Victory would have been even sweeter if I hadn't dropped the kettlebell on the top of my foot after my last rep. I guess that's why Bill kept yelling at me not to drop it. Thanks to everyone who stuck around and cheered for Bill and me! It's always funny to hear our own words shouted back at us. Chris does an excellent impersonation of us. 

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