Wasn't the weather yesterday weird? We've seen temperatures around 55 degrees, and last night we even got a thunderstorm!

Our strength work yesterday was back squat 5-5-5+ at 65, 75, and 85% of your single rep max. It's great to see people making so much progress with their squats. I like all the driving through the heels, straight bar paths, bars over the middle of feet...it truly makes me weep with happiness!

Our metcon was this little number:

5-10-15-10-5
burpee box jumps (24")
Overhead squats (50/35kg)

Yeah! No pull-ups! We had a HUGE 5PM class last night, and things got a little tight. Is everyone registering for classes? We're inching closer to having to enforce our 12 person max. Only 3 or 4 people are registering for classes on a regular basis....right now they are my favorite people in the world. REGISTER FOR CLASSES!

I have some exciting news! Ivy got her first pull-up last night! Woo Hoo!

Have you guys laid eyes on our better body participants these last few days? They are looking SMOKIN' HOT! Belts are being pulled a few notches tighter...friends and family are asking about this "new diet". I'm so proud of you guys for all your hard work! Deciding the winner of this challenge is going to be very hard!

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Do you ever get the feeling that the pull-up bar is lonely? Well, Bill secretly communicates with the pull-up bar, and it said it was feeling neglected. As we don't want to hurt the pull-up bar's feelings, the programming this week has us hanging on the pull-up bar a lot. A LOT.

The strength work yesterday was hang power snatch 3-3-3-1-1-1. Garth, Craig T., Sam, Daniel, Hero Mike, Kris, Ryan Z., Ginny, Kristen and Bethy all got to ride the PR train yesterday. Congratulations! In fact, the ENTIRE 4PM class set PR's on their snatches. I think it was the magic of having the door open!

I know there are some mixed feelings about Angie. Yes, again, this workout is so evil its name has to be italicized. At some point, I might not even refer to it by its name, like in Harry Potter....

I DIGRESS.

The comments from everyone were SO FUNNY. Here are a few things I heard:

"my abs are so swollen my pants don't fit right!"
"my wife just walks around the house going OUCH."
"I think I need new hands."

The abs comment was my favorite of the day.

Our metcon yesterday was:

50-40-30-20-10 of Double unders
25-20-15-10-5 of Toes to Bar

You would rotate back and forth between double unders and toes to bar until you have worked your way through the whole series.  Ryan Z CRUSHED this workout! He had this awesome kipping motion on his toes to bar which allowed him to go lightning fast. Great job!

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There was some good mojo at the Fort yesterday. We saw a lot of HUGE dead lift PR's! Our buddy Pete pulled 500lbs, and his sister Stephanie pulled 297lbs. Like I've said before, I definitely want some of their Greek blood! In addition to two new gold medals, we also saw PR's from Garth, Tommy Mo, Strong Julie, Alicia, Earl, Mark M., Bender, Brian, Jack and Brianna. Congratulations you guys!

The metcon was the dreaded Angie. Angie is a workout that is so evil, it's name is deserving of italics.  It's always funny to watch people's reaction to the workout as they wander in. There's the groan, the sigh, and of course, the eye roll.

Angie
100 pull-ups
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats

Again, there was some good mojo hanging in the air, because we saw some lightning fast times on this workout. Congrats to everyone for PR'ing yesterday including Stacy for her blazing fast 17:26 finish! Atta girl!

By my calculations, there were approximately 3,975 pull-ups performed at the Fort  yesterday. That's a LOT of pull-ups! I noticed that there was a cloud of chalk dust hanging in the air and there were also about 10 sets of chalky hand prints on the floor, which brings me to my point....

LET'S SETTLE THE HECK DOWN WITH THE CHALK USE

I understand that there is a need for chalk, especially when there are heavy weights and a lot of pull-ups. Believe me....I get it. What I don't get is taking the chalk block and scrubbing in for surgery up to your elbows until your hands are an inch thick with chalk and then CLAPPING above the chalk bucket. (clapping? really?)

The directions for using chalk are as follows:

Step 1: Approach the chalk bucket, and crouch down so you can stick your hands in it.

Step 2: Grab the block of chalk (not the powder) and swipe it two times on each hand.

Step 3: Gently rub your hands together inside the bucket to shake off the excess chalk.

Step 4: Repeat as necessary.

See? That's not so hard. After the bajillion pull-ups yesterday, Bill and I were left vacuuming chalk dust, brushing the chalk out of the bars, wiping off the pull-up bar, and even scrubbing chalky hand prints off the floor. If you bleed, sweat, vomit or leave chalky hand prints, let's be courteous to the next class and find the mop. Mkay? Bill is threatening to take away the chalk, and that makes me sad.

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Each day we dedicate some time to either a strength movement (strengff as the Mayor likes to say) or a skill. We have been working on our strength for so long, that the skill work took some people by surprise. The skill work was ring dips 5-5-5-5-5. Yep. Ring dips. If you still don't have ring dips, let's challenge ourselves and use a smaller band today for our sets of 5. If you have unassisted ring dips, strap on the weight belt and have at it! Josh T. stayed after class and played around with heavy single reps, and he was thiiiis close to locking out a ring dip at 50kg's! You'll get it next time Josh!

After the strengff (Ok, you're right Zach, it IS more fun to say it like that) we went through a little metcon:

5 rounds for time of:
20 overhead walking lunges w/dumbbells
10 push press w/dumbbells
*prescribed weight is 35% of your total body weight between your two dumbbells.

This workout got heavy pretty fast. Ya know what though? It's going to give us all some sexy shoulders in our tank tops this summer! Earl and I were discussing the weights before we got started, and he asked if he should just round up to the 40lb dumbbells. I warned him that it was going to get heavy pretty fast. I don't think he believed me until the middle of round 2.

We had a record number of people at the Fort yesterday - 45 people worked out with us! Hip hip - HOORAY! Can everyone please start registering for classes through mind body online? We want to make sure everyone gets the best CrossFit experience possible, and until we can be outside a little more consistently, we need to limit our class sizes to 12 people.

We have some painting and other miscellaneous improvement projects going on at the Fort, so I apologize for the mess.  The projects should be wrapped up by the weekend.

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Ladies and gentlemen, it is time that we start a new tradition! Each month we will feature some fun information about one of our CrossForters. So, without further adieu, our CrossForter of the month for March is Alicia!

1. When did you start doing CrossFit?

I started Cross Fit in November 2009.  Best decision I've made in a long time....even though I'm still no where near in shape!  I try really hard though!

2. What is your full time job?

I am a Sales Development Manager for Weiman Products.  Everyone should become a fan on Facebook!

3. What is your most embarrassing moment?

Oh boy....  My most embarrassing moment actually includes Bill (believe it or not!).  It's a very long story, so I'm not going to tell the entire thing.  In the first grade, we had reading time.  During that reading time, I raised my hand and asked my teacher if I could go to the bathroom.  She said after reading time.  Being five years old, I had a hard time holding it.  I tried and tried, and asked my teacher if I could go to the bathroom again.  She said no, after reading time was over.  So, needless to say, I peed my pants.  Since Bill's last name starts with a Y and mine with a Z, we sat right next to each other.  He looked at me, asked me if I was peeing, and I told him that I was extremely hot and I was sweating.  Like anyone could believe that!!!  So I had to go to the principal's office, call my mom, and have my mom come pick me up.  My mom was FURIOUS with my teacher, and had to be calmed down by the principal.  So that my friends, is my most embarrassing moment.

4. Do you have any pets?

I have two dogs....  Dozer who is half black lab, half Rottweiler and Ellie who is a Swiss Mountain Dog.

5. Which is your least favorite movement we use in class?

That's a toss up between burpees and box jumps.  If I had to pick one, I would say burpees.

6. Least favorite workout?

My least favorite workout is one that I haven't even done yet, and that would be running a 5k.  I dread the day I have to do it because I am NOT a runner!!  My least favorite workout right now that I have done is Elizabeth because I did it last night and it sucked!

7. FAVORITE workout?

My favorite workout was one I did recently.  This workout seems like a real pussy workout compared to most that we do, but I liked it because we did sit ups!  And because when I was doing pushups, I went a whole band down!

50 push-ups , 10 sit-ups, 40 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 30 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 50 sit-ups

8. FAVORITE movement?

I used to really like the dead lift, then I found out I was using my back more than my legs=OUCH!  Doing it right hurts!!  I would have to say back squat is the movement that I like to do the most.

9.  What is your favorite paleo dish?

I haven't been eating any recipes.  Charlie and I just eat meat, meat and more meat.  On the weekends, we'll usually get a good strip steak or ribeye and melt some goat cheese on it.  I would have to say that's my favorite!

10. If you could have one super power, what would it be and why?

That's easy.  I would be invisible!  I would love to follow people around and find out who they really are behind closed doors!!

11. What would you do with a million dollars?

The first thing I would do with a million dollars is make sure that my mom would never have to worry about money ever again.  I would pay off all her debt, send her on several vacations anywhere she wanted to go, then I would open a big dog rescue.

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Leave it to Wild Bill to come up with an AWESOME workout for Team Saturday! We got to work in pairs, and each dynamic duo had to complete the following for a maximum number of reps:

5:00 row (calories)
and then
12:00 AMRAP of:
10 push-ups
15 sit-ups
20 squats
and then
3:00 burpees

Each team's score was their calories on the rower plus their rounds multiplied by ten, plus their total number of burpees. Bill did this so that the middle portion of the workout would be weighted evenly with the rest of the movements.

Everyone did a great job! We even had two visitors from Naples, FL join in the fun. Katie and Jeremy, it was great having you!

Anyone else REALLY ready to open up that big door and let the fresh air in? Ryan and I were working under the loft for most of the workout, and I thought we were going to drown in the humidity. I had to keep switching positions so I didn't slip and fall during burpees. Eww.

Brittany and Daniel had an awesome team name. Their team's name was "Where's Alicia?" Guess she had a little too much fun on Friday night. Oops! In the end Pete and Steph L. took the championship belt. Great job you two!

We also had a very special visit from Leslie and Mya. Welcome to the Fort Mya! Mommy and Mya are both doing wonderful, wait till you see how great Leslie looks only 5 weeks after having her baby! The official report from Leslie is that she should be back in the next week or two. Yeah!

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Yesterday we worked on some heavy back squats 5-5-5+. Everyone did a great job! Our newcomer, Wes, is kicking ass and taking names! His squats have come a long way since the first time I met him in ramp up, and it's great to see him finally putting some weight on his bar.

Know who else came back yesterday - Chris Sutter! Welcome back! Chris has surgery on his hand for a torn tendon (ligament? SOMETHING). He came back last night, and dove right into the workout. Great to have you back!

AMRAP in 8:00 of
10 sumo dead lift high pulls (50/35kg)
10 burpees

I truly believe sumo dead lift high pulls can earn you a special place in heaven. Anything that sucks THAT MUCH has got to earn you some privileges in the afterlife. Kris Loyd went thought his workout prescribed yesterday, and she did amazing! Let me tell ya...once Kris gets unassisted pull-ups, she's going to be a real fire breather!

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