If this picture is what your face looked like after the Tuesday snow storm and the cancelled evening classes, CHEER UP! WODFather has decided that we will have a make-up day for people who wanted to do Tuesdays workout. If you made it to the morning classes on Tuesday, don't worry. There'll be something fun and amazing for you to do on Thursday too.

Fun for everyone!

I'm kind of excited to announce this event. It's still in the works, but it's going to be completely unique and 100% fun! We are having an NFL Combine day at the Fort! We are going to put people through all the same drills that they use at the actual combine. There won't be the super advanced Nike heart rate monitor shirts, or the millions of dollars in free swag....but it'll be great!  This event is a come one-come all type of event, and it's open to both men and ladies. The plan so far is to have it on Saturday, May 4th sometime in the early afternoon and follow it up with an epic tailgate party. BOOM! Mark your calendars! More details coming soon!

2/27/13
WOD:
Max set of Pull-ups
2:00 rest
"Death by 10m" or "Death by Burpees"
2:00 rest
Max set of Pull-ups
2:00 rest
Bottom to Bottom tabata squats
**score is your lowest round
2:00 rest
Max set of Pull-Ups

It's been quite a while since we've done anything with the tabata protocol so if this is new to you, don't worry. It's new to a lot of people. It's basically a 20 second period of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Only the kicker here is that your "rest" is at the bottom of the squat instead of in a standing position. Just a fair warning - these are HARD. Make sure you get in a couple minutes of hip stretches before this workout so your hip flexors play nice. The couch stretch is a good one, and so is the pigeon pose. Do it. I'm not joking.

Hi CrossForters - just a heads up that we have decided to cancel all afternoon classes this evening. Your commute home will be long enough as it is! We want you to get home safe and sound to your families.

Itching to get in a Tuesday WOD? Here are some options you can do at home:

You can do a variation of today's WOD:
Shovel snow for 4:00
8:00 AMRAP
15 tuck jumps
10 sit-ups
5 burpees

Or one of these other handy at-home WODs:

21 push-ups
42 squats
15 push-ups
30 squats
9 push-ups
18 squats

3 rounds:
run 200 meters
10 squats
10 push-ups

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Burpees
Sit-ups

as many rounds as possible in 10:00
5 push-ups
5 sit-ups
5 squats

2/26/13
Strength: 12:00 to work on the movement of your choice

WOD
w/a 12:00 clock:
1000m row
AMRAP
15 double unders
10 sit-ups
5 burpees

Oh.My.God. The WODFather is giving us our choice of what we want to work on for the strength? (rubs eyes in disbelief) Can this be true? My recommendation is to come with a plan in mind. If you show up already knowing what movement you want to work on, that will make classes run a lot more smoothly.

Know what else? I want you to register for the 2013 CrossFit Open. Maybe you're never going to qualify for the Games. Maybe you don't always go RX on the workouts. Maybe....Maybe I don't care about any of that. The purpose of the Open is not to be a supreme badass. The true meaning behind it is far deeper than that. It gives you a chance to participate in a once a year GLOBAL COMPETITION. We watch our kids compete all the time. We tell them winning doesn't matter so long as they try their hardest and have fun. So why not take our own advice?! Get registered for the CrossFit Fire Open team and experience 5 weeks of awesome with you fellow CrossForters! The Fort takes on a whole new level of excitement during these Open workouts.

As a participant there's no experience quite like having 20 people cheering for you. I can very clearly picture in my head last year during the Open when I squeezed in one last rep just as Bill called TIME the group of people off to my right actually jumped up and down and cheered. I mean...how spectacular is THAT!? How often in your life do people clap for you?? It is truly the spectators that make the difference for athletes, especially when you're faced with the impossible.

And that's what the Open is all about. It's not about the superstar athletes....they'll have their stage to compete either way. The Open, even just by its name, is meant to take bench warmers, picked second to last for dodgeball-ers, non athletes and show them what it's like to be part of something - to be part of a team.  Whether you take 9th in the region or 687th, I want you on the CrossFit Fire Team!

2/22/13
Strength
3 sets (3, 2, 1 reps)
Deadlift
Press

WOD:
9-7-5-3-1
Power Cleans (75/50kg)
Lateral Hop Burpees
and then 500m row

Lateral hop burpees....psh. What good are those anyways!? I'll tell you! It's to get your little bunny hoppers ready for Easter! Can't go into the season cold, without any practice! Being a successful bunny takes training. Practice. Dedication. This is your first training day!

Couple events have just popped up on the calendar - first is the Hero WOD this Sunday at 11AM. Next is the March ramp-up. It's all scheduled and ready to be filled with eager new CrossForters! Third is the annual Corned Beef & Cabbage dinner.

2/21/13
Strength:
5 sets of
Hang Squat Snatch
:20 double  unders

WOD:
20 DB Thrusters (35/25lb)
10 pull-ups
15 DB thrusters
15 pull-ups
10 DB thrusters
20 Pull-Ups

For some reason when I read this WOD, I thought it said "double under thrusters". I was scratching my head and wondering how exactly that would work. Oh. It's just my baby brain getting the best of me.

Mark your calendars for this Sunday's Hero WOD. Josh has come up with another great WOD to honor a fallen hero. We'll kick things off at 11AM.

Also save the date of Saturday, March 16th. We'll be throwing another super epic St. Patty's day party!

After having a break in January from having a Hero WOD we will be having our Hero WOD for Febuary on Sunday the 24th. For this Hero WOD I chose to honor the life of Chris Kyle. For those of you that do not know Chris he was a Navy SEAL Sniper that conducted four combat tours in Iraq. During Chris's four tours he totaled 160 confirmed kills. Chris was so deadly on the battlefield and in his area of operation that the enemy nicknamed him the "Devil of Ramadi". Chris was wounded twice and was involved in six IED attacks. To learn more about Chris's life you can read his book titled "American Sniper".

Chris's life was cut short only a few weeks ago on  February 2nd. Chris and a friend, Chad Littlefield, decided to take a military veteran to the range to help get his mind off things since he was struggling with PTSD. For unknown reasons, while shooting on the range, the military veteran turned a gun on Chris and Chad and murdered them. This is such a sad and tragic incident because Chris got out of the Navy to be in a safer environment and spend time with his family.

During the 2012 SHOT Show my father and I were fortunate enough to meet and speak with Chris. Chris was speaking with some friends so my father and I waited off to the side. As we were waiting one of Chris's security approached us and asked what we needed. I thought for sure he was going to tell us that Chris was busy and that we wouldn't be able to speak with him. Turns out Chris's security was super friendly and advised us that once Chris was done talking with a his friend that was in a wheelchair he would bring him over.  Sure enough a few minutes later Chris came up to us and we got to talk with him. My father had Chris's book and asked if he could sign it and Chris did. Chris and I spoke for a moment and he thanked me for my service and we went our separate ways. I don't get impressed or want to meet too many people but here was a guy who had the most confirmed kills and he was thanking me for my service. I couldn't believe how one of the deadliest guys on earth could be so caring and humble. A sign of a true warrior.  So in honor of Chris and all that he has done I came up with the following WOD:

"Kyle"

3 rounds (one for his wife and two for his children left behind)

40 KB Swings 32K/24K

40 Box Jumps 24"/20"

40 Thrusters 30k/20k

40 Elevated Push-ups (feet on 24" box)

* The 4 movements represent Chris's 4 tours in Iraq and the total reps for each round equal 160 representing Chris's confirmed kills.

With all WOD's there will be many scaling options available for those that don't think they can do the WOD as prescribed, it can be custom tailored for each individual. This event is free and open to all (non-Crossfiters are more than welcome to attend), if you are a Crossfit Fire member please sign up for this event and if you are not a member just show up. This Hero WOD will be held on Sunday the 24th at 11:00 am. Come out and help me celebrate the life of Chris Kyle, a true American Hero.