Sometimes workouts look like a good idea on paper, but once you start doing them, you realize they were an EPIC FAIL. CrossFit programming is typically rock solid, but I am going to punch whoever came up with "Murph Gone Bad" in the FACE if I ever meet them. "Hi nice to meet you so-and-so. Oh really? You're the guy? (PUNCH)"

As prescribed, the workout yesterday was HALF of Murph Gone Bad which is:

Row 800 meters
25 wall ball (20/14)
50 sumo deadlift high pull
75 push press
100 box jumps
Row 800 meters

The morning class looked at the name of the workout, and said, "why are we only doing HALF murph gone bad? Why don't we do the whole thing?!" A special thanks goes out to the morning class for setting the bar RIDICULOUSLY high for the rest of the classes yesterday. Ya hear that Kilo? You sweated your ass off for a frickin' hour because our Graveyard Crew decided they had too much swagger to only complete HALF a workout.

If it makes anyone feel better, it took them almost an hour to get through the whole thing too...Yesterday was the definition of intensity!

Great job to everyone who was at our first ramp-up session! We went over the different squats, and a few other movements just to get you all acquainted with our standards. Hopefully we didn't scare anyone away, and we'll see everyone back on Wednesday!

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I want to thank everyone for being so supportive during my big experiment. In all honesty, it was harder than I thought, and I didn’t know if I could pull through it mentally. After completing my required time on the first phase, Bill has moved me to Phase 2. Phase 1 of the “banish the squish” lifestyle program (notice how I REFUSE to call it a diet?) left me feeling pretty dang hungry. I was prescribed a daily allowance of 80 grams of protein, 75 grams of fat and only 48 grams of carbs. After about a week and a half of being hungry, I finally started feeling better. I was having a really hard time staying within the prescribed food amounts though. More often than not, I would go over my daily allowance, but I still lost a significant amount of weight, and could definitely see body composition changes. “Hello six-pack!” In addition, I didn’t feel as winded and tired during the longer workouts. I could take 4 big breaths and get right back at the workout.

“So Jennie, now that you reached your goal weight, can’t you just eat normal again?” – NO. If I eat the way I was eating before, I will gain back all the weight I have worked so hard to lose. I could CrossFit until I was blue in the face, but the truth is that fat loss is more closely tied to nutrition than exercise. GASP! I know, I said it. If you want to lose your muffin tops, then you have to evaluate what you’re eating.

Phase 2 is the next step for me. I am now prescribed a daily allowance of 80 grams of protein, 124 grams of fat, and only 41 grams of carbs. Bill has increased my daily fat intake, but I will now have to sacrifice 7 more grams of my precious carbs that I hold so dear. Essentially, I will almost need to eliminate fruit from my meals. I have discovered that I can eat blueberries instead of apples and take a much smaller hit on carbs. I have had to break up with my good friend, the banana, and I’m heart broken. (insert banana jokes here) I love bananas, but they would smash almost my entire carb allowance for the day. *shrugs* Good thing I like fitting in my goal pants more than I like bananas.

Bill is putting together another discussion on nutrition, but this time it is going to be personalized. We haven’t set a formal date yet, but when we do it will be mandatory that you speak with Bill in advance, and you allow him to weigh and measure you. Based on your measurements, he’ll put together your daily prescription, just like he did for me. That’s right you guys….Bill loves you as much as he loves me. Well, almost.

**REMINDER** Tonight is the first session of our new ramp-up program! Be there at 7PM if you signed up!

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True to form, Saturday morning we had a big, fun class! I got lucky, and we had an uneven number of people so I got to jump into the workout. The workout was called “Get a Grip”. Here are the rules:

As a team you must complete 100 rounds of:

• 1 Deadlift
• 1 Hang Power Clean
• 1 Front Squat
• 1 Push Press

(That whole combination of 4 movements is 1 round)

Only one person can be lifting at a time. While one person is lifting, their partner is running 400 meters. The bar can NEVER touch the ground; it can only be passed off after your partner completes a 400 meter run. If the bar touches the ground, both partners suffer a burpee penalty. Fortunately, both times we have done this workout we have never had to enforce the burpee penalty.

It was a close match – but Garth and Pete were just too damn fast. It would probably have been a closer match if I hadn’t gone completely brain dead and lost track of where we were at. Brittany handed me the bar and said, “We’re at (insert a really high number here)” and I just started going. After 3 reps I realized that I had completely forgotten the number she told me. After a quick discussion upon her return from the run, we decided we were on 71 reps. In retrospect, it was probably closer to 80. EVERYONE was faster than I was on the runs. I would have about 200 meters on Tom, and he would pass me EVERY time. (Shakes fist angrily at Tom) I’ll get better at running eventually. Every time I ran past Garth he was saying something like, “Ow, shoulders, ow hands...” It made me giggle a little. Great job everyone! Hopefully your shoulders have recovered.

Look who got photo bombed!

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Yesterday’s workout brought back some SUPER fond memories for me. The workout was 5 rounds for time: run 400m, 50 squats. The fond memories of this WOD come from the running and endurance certification Bill and I attended. After 2 days of being beaten by Brian Mac and his crew, they put us through this little WOD. Unfortunately I didn’t get to do the workout yesterday due to a horrible neck ache, but I’m sure I’d love it as much as when we did it in September.

You guys did a great job! Matt Weltzer has done a fabulous job working on making his squats controlled and his form consistent. Even with his legs burning, he rep’d right through his last dozen squats with great form!

**CROSSFIT LADIES BEAST ALERT** Did anyone happen to notice Kris Loyd last night during the WOD? She has been consistently coming to the Fort and busting her butt! My prediction is that in the next 60-90 days we’ll start seeing her name on the record boards for the named workouts. You’ll be doing them as Rx’d in no time girlfriend!

Brian, we ran last night….what in the WORLD could you be doing that is more fun than CrossFit?

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Good morning everyone! Yesterday we worked on our overhead squats. This is a deceivingly hard movement. All of us know what a squat is supposed to look like. Now, just do it and hold something over your head. It should be easy, right? WRONG. It quadruples the difficulty of the movement to take something heavy and hold it over your head. Just ask anyone who was there yesterday! Even people with nearly perfect air squats will struggle with this movement. The weight overhead will reveal even the tiniest of flaws in an air squat. Have a tendency to drift onto your toes? Does your chest come forward as you get lower? ALL of your flaws will be magnified, as you’ll likely be unable to complete a full overhead squat without rock solid form.

For those of you who endured squat therapy against the wall, I don’t want you to feel like you were being “sent back to Kindergarten”. A proper squat takes a while to develop, and it is ESSENTIAL that your squat be stellar before putting you under any type of load. I personally apologize to everyone who has done weighted squats under my supervision prior to being ready. Going forward, we’ll work everyone on the wall until they are good and ready! Sometimes as a trainer I sense that people are eager to go heavy, and feel annoyed when they are sent to the wall instead. I can assure you that your annoyance will no longer have any effect on me. Get to the wall, and perfect that form!

Did anyone see that lady last night at the gym who looks a lot like me? That’s my SEESTER and she has finally been convinced to give CrossFit a shot! Welcome Jaime!

Barbie was daydreaming of what her hamstrings will look like this summer….

Also, take a look at these two pictures of Matt…..

Can you tell which picture represents proper bar placement? What is improper/proper about the bar placement?

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Yesterday we repeated our workout from New Year’s Day. For those of you who were here on New Year’s Day, this workout should make you quiver with fear! This type of workout is referred to as a “chipper”, and it’s actually my favorite kind of workout! The workout was:

• 25 Walking Lunges
• 20 Pull-ups
• 50 Box jumps, 24" box
• 20 Double-unders
• 25 Ring Dips
• 20 Knees to Elbows
• 30 Kettlebell Swings (24kg/16kg)
• 30 Sit-ups
• 20 Hang Squat Cleans (40kg/30kg)
• 25 Back Extensions
• 30 Wall Ball Shots (20lb/14lb)
• 3 Rope Climb Ascents
• DIE

Don’t read it too quickly….read it so that you can FEEL yourself transitioning from one station to the next. Without a doubt the hardest part of this workout is the 3 rope climb ascents. There were a handful of people who actually completed them; Chris Kelly was one, Tom was another, and I was the third. Back in January little KELLI climbed the rope 3 times, but she wasn’t there last night for a repeat performance. For all of you who didn’t get through the rope climbs (ahem…Garth) just remember that even Kelli can get her butt all the way to the top! Tom tore himself to shreds climbing the rope…you would’ve thought it was made of broken shards of glass!

OH NO! EPIC FAIL! I just re-read the description of the workout we did on 1/1, and I realized that we didn’t repeat the 25 back extensions last night! GAH! Zach ran out of room on the whiteboard and must have just casually decided to eliminate one of the exercises. Know what this means? We have to repeat this workout AGAIN and add the back extensions to gauge our progress. I was all excited that I improved by 4 minutes! CRAP.

Congrats to everyone for sticking it out and making it through this workout. Amy – you’re doing amazing! Lana, you always crack me up! Lana supposedly “pulled an ovary” so Bill didn’t let her workout yesterday. She did stay and cheer people on and watch the whole workout. She said she felt like the little kid at the birthday party who didn’t get to open any presents. J

Take a look at Mikey's form on the Wall Ball. He does a great job keeping his back straight, chest up, and elbows under the ball. If you look really close though, you can see that his heels are weightless. The weight is on the front of his feet instead, which deactivates the hips and hamstrings. We all need to remember to sit back and drive from our heels when squatting.

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What? You guys didn't like the music yesterday? We were simply trying to be in the St. Patrick's day spirit! Sheesh. Bill made me workout to that music on my lunch break, and I found it completely inspiring. I pictured little leprechauns chasing me during the entire workout, and that kept me moving!

The workout yesterday was:

7 rounds for time
7 push press (60kg/40kg)
14 pull-ups

As Mariah said, "7 rounds? What happened to 5 rounds?!" Well, the truth is that our confidence in all of you has increased, and as a reward we decided to start making the workouts more challenging. See? We love you guys THAT MUCH.

At the end of this workout, most everyone felt the burn in their grip. Yes, grip IS a body part. We had a lot of fun in the ladies class - we welcomed Erika to her first CrossFit workout! I hope your arms and shoulders are ok today girl...if you need help, just post to the comments and mash the keyboard with your face....I'll come help you lift your arms above your head! We have had people tell us that they went WAY too hard their first week, and ended up having their t-shirt cut off them with a scissor by their spouse. PLEASE take it easy for a while until you're accustomed to the program.

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