4/27/13
Team Saturday
In Teams of 2 Complete:
3 rounds each of
10 Push Press (61.5/45kg)
60 double-unders

3 rounds each of
10 front squats (61.5/45kg)
20 burpees

3 rounds each of
200m run
10 box jumps (20")
10 pull-ups

I'm not sure what was going on in this old Team Saturday picture...Pete or Nick can either of you explain the significance of the Oly shoes?? So confused...Anyone else have a guess??

We are putting together a co-ed sand volleyball team instead of our annual softball team. Games will be Sunday nights at Sideouts in Island Lake. If you're interested in joining the team, you can find the sign up sheet on the events board at the Fort.

Also, our pile of unclaimed shoes has finally grown so large that we need to start thinning it out. I organized the pile of shoes, and anything that looked unused for a long time (spider webs inside them) got the laces double knotted together. I'm going to give you guys 30 days, but after that, any shoes still double knotted together will be donated. Sniff....sniff....it'll be so sad to see your shoes go, but it feels like a bad episode of Hoarders in the front office.

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SOCKS. Cold steel. Weights slamming against the floor. A haze of chalk floating in the air. And in all that agony, all that struggle, I couldn't stop watching her socks. The stark contract of her innocent, girly tall socks stood out to me and had me completely captivated.

FUN. It reminded me that we all just want to have fun. Deep inside all of us is that little kid screaming "no hands" on the roller coaster, and jumping into the air at the very last second before the elevator stops. As adults we tip-toe around puddles, but sometimes don't you just want to jump in with both feet and splash around?

YOU. So make sure you're making CrossFit what YOU want it to be. If you're here to wear tall socks and put on lip gloss before your workout, GREAT! If you're here to raise hell, go RX every day, and qualify for the Games, PERFECT! There's room here at the Fort for all types. Silly, serious and everything in between.

PLAY. Try and remember that there are enough parts of life that are demure and grown-up-y. Make sure you're playing with your inner little stinker every once in a while. So go ahead and run through a sprinkler, car dance, climb a tree, or wear pigtails to work. When it's time to return to the grown-up stuff, it'll be a lot more tolerable.

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4/20/13
Team Saturday
Part 1:
8:00 AMRAP
3 Power Cleans (70/50kg)
3 Front Squats
3 Jerks
*Once you start a round, you cannot set the bar down. If you do, the reps will not be counted and you must start over
**Partners alternate rounds

4:00 REST

Part 2:
8:00 AMRAP
5 ring dips
10 wall ball shots (20/14lb)
*Partners alternate rounds

Last week there was some question about whether or not Bill changed the WOD on the fly to insure himself and Kinsy a victory. While that would have been kind of funny.....that wasn't the case. I can verify that I saw the programming document, and the burpees were in fact, part of the original plan.

This week, to avoid any raised eyebrows I thought I'd post the workout ahead of time.

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4/15/13
WOD
In teams of 2
3 rounds
800m run with medicine ball toss
80 sit-ups
80' Bear Crawls

Bear Crawls might be the only thing we do at the Fort that can compete with knees to elbows for "least sexy/flattering" movement. I mean....really. Your butt sticks WAY up in the air, and you try and crawl around without ramming your head into anything, or accidentally doing a somersault. Honestly though - when was the last time you CRAWLED?

It would seem that evolutionarily speaking, most of us are beyond this movement. Crawling is so 1979...I'm onto walking now. Believe it or not, there are some benefits to the bear crawl movement. Babies have no problem crawling, squatting and rolling without pain. Can all of us adults say the same thing? Probably not. That's because all of us are born with these perfectly flexible and able bodies. It's only a lifetime of crappy habits that "ruins" us.

When you're doing your bear crawls today, focus on how it makes your body feel. Can you feel your core working? Can you feel your shoulders fighting to stabilize? All of these things will have important carry overs to over movements in the gym. I promise. Yes, you look silly. But I did them this morning right along with ya. Three cheers for shoulder stability and core strength!

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Last Saturday marked the end of the 2013 CrossFit Open. Our gym finished 86th in our region and I couldn't be more proud. We're not going to regionals....but big deal. Some AMAZING things happened at the Fort over the last 5 weeks!

Week 1: Many of you set new snatch PR's - and then got multiple reps at that weight. I even got to watch a few of you drop under the weight for the first time. It was almost as exciting as watching Brady walk for the first time.

Week 2: Our box jump standards were LEGIT. Maybe our scores suffered because of this, but we could all go to bed at night knowing we held ourselves to the highest standards!

Week 3: Our Karen record board times got shifted around a LOT during this workout! Great job muscling through those 150 wall ball shots! I know a few of our ladies used the 14lb ball for the first time. We also had a few people who had only recently gotten muscle-ups get a couple reps on this workout! And who did WAY more double unders than they have before?! YOU GUYS.

Week 4: This could have been the most epic workout at the Fort. The excitement with each heat was so intense I had to step outside a few times! There were so many people - men and women - who set new clean & jerk PR's during this workout. Not only were these new PR's, but you guys managed to get multiple reps at that weight. Plus, a couple of our ladies also got their first toes to bar!

Week 5: Ah, the 4:00 workout of doom. Who could forget the look on Gina's face when she got her first CHEST TO BAR pull-up?! It was epic. I'm fairly certain that this was not only her first C2B pull-up, but maybe her first regular pull-up! We had a couple other of our ladies who got their first C2B pull-ups....you ladies are amazing!

You are all superheroes in my eyes. Seriously. We had over 50 people participate in all 5 workouts and complete the Open. You hung in there, gave it 110%, and you're a better athlete because of it.

If the Open does 1 thing...it does a great job exposing weaknesses. If you found yourself lacking in any area over the last 5 weeks, now you know where to focus your energy. Don't wait until December to start preparing for 2014. Start today. Hell, hopefully you started yesterday. Work your weaknesses. Own the things you suck at. Make them your bitch. And let's kill it in 2014!!

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4/9/13
Strength
4-3-2-1 Press
2:00 rest between sets

5-5-5-5-5 Push Press
2:00 rest between sets

1-1-1-1-1 Jerk
2:00 rest between sets

3 sets
8-10 body rows
1:00 rest between sets

It's a nice strength focused day today. So if your legs are still feeling the aftermath of 13.5, then today is a good recovery day. Come on in and work your pressing and pulling strength movements!

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POCKETS. You've all seen someone whose pockets are turned inside out, right? It's usually synonymous with someone saying they have nothing left. They're broke. Pockets empty. It dawned on me while I was coaching the other night that this could also be symbolic of how you approached a WOD.

SAVE. Did you save a few reps in the tank? Did you pace yourself so that you could avoid that uncomfortable burning in your legs? Did you just go as fast as the person next to you? Or did you empty out your pockets; dig deep and give it everything you had? The people who are truly great at CrossFit are the ones who are willing to go deeper into the suck than the rest of us. They're gasping for breath, limbs burning, sweat running in their eyes...and they're ok with that. They know how to turn out their pockets.

BETTER. When you turn out your pockets you'll never finish a WOD and say "I could have done better". Instead you'll collapse to the floor triumphantly knowing that you put it all on the line. As you write your workout in your log book, hand shaking, sweat dripping onto the page, you'll smile knowing you truly emptied your soul for that PR.

WHEN IT MATTERS.  So next time it really matters, I want you to turn out your pockets. Push yourself to work through the pain, the burning, the mind games. Tell yourself that this is your chance to be great. Because at the end of the day, nobody cares if you "could have done better". All that matters is what you did in that moment.

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