Not to be outdone by Super Dave, Garth has also made amazing progress.  Garth has also become the number one evangalist for our "no grains" way of life. Just ask his kids...they'll tell you how bad grains are for you! Here was an email we received from Garth about his experience at the Fort:

"Yeah man, right on. I love it.  Awesome. I dig it. Right on. Want a Paleo margarita?"

-Garth

(Ok, so that's not REALLY an email from Garth)

Garth has managed to modify his diet to exclude grains (except guinness), and the change was relatively simple for him. This is truly a testament to the man's willpower. We all have things that we eat on a regular basis that have no "meaning" to us. We'll eat it because it's there and what we're used to, but it doesn't satisfy any craving we have. STOPPIT!

I would like to throw out a challenge to all of you who are still eating grains. Try going grain-free for the next 21 days. It's ONLY 21 days! Stop the whining! Give up the grains for 3 solid weeks and report back to me with your progress. Pay attention to your appetite, mood, sleep patterns, and even your level of fatigue. Write notes to yourself in your workout log here at the Fort to track how you feel. I dare you to do it. NO. I DOUBLE DARE YOU. I don't care if your significant other's favorite thing to cook for dinner is hamburger helper....get him/her on board too and let's do it!

Look at what it did for Garth in just 60 days!

Well, well, well! Look who got blogging rights again! You guessed it, that guy with the dirty keyboard. It's been a while since I have last posted and I think it had to do with all the f-bombs I was dropping. Jennie got back and her hair nearly fell out when she read even just a few sentences. I was Court Marshaled by the CrossFit Blogger Committee (Oh yeah, they're out there. And they're watching...). So, needless to say, my blogging license was revoked and I was put on probation. Fear not and stay strong. I will serve my time and I am back once a week (for now). I might be able to work out early parole for good behavior. That's the skinny anyway; let's get down to the fat!!

Lot's has happened in our community since. A well known CrossFit Firebreather, a.k.a. the King of Pop passed away (tear). If you didn't know that then you certainly must have noticed the onslaught of Mikey-hits rockin' the Fort lately, right? No? Well start paying attention! At least you knew he was a CrossFit Firebreather. I mean, everyone knows that. If you didn't you'd just be a...uh...oh God...an idiot. (Whew, that was close. I felt a STRONG urge to drop an f-bomb there. Stay. Strong.) The King O' Pop is dead and you need to start illegally downloading his hits pronto! Let's see, what else happened? Oh, well Bill and Jennie got back from their honeymoon... blah blah blah. That's all boring stuff. Let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about camaraderie, Baby.

More specifically (dun-dun-dun), let's talk about those last few minutes of a WOD. Those last minutes when only a few CrossFORTers are finishing their kill. They've landed the antelope (Nicki?) and they just have to slice it down the belly to start draining the entrails. We'll assume that point in the WOD as "fourth quarter". They're owning this WOD (antelope) and it's time to finish. So there they are: grinding through a grueling metcon while the rest of you early finishers are wading in your pool of sweat and, possibly, victory (victory if we are talking about the 1:10 ratio between Tom and Garth...). You "early-finishers" are already flipping your antelope filets (low and slow, right Bill?)! Meanwhile some of your fellow CrossFitters, who you STARTED the METCON with, are still busting their asses. Great job by the way guys/gals, way to crush that WOD! That's not the point though. The point is you started together, you finish together.

We don't have to be THIS camaraderie-listic!

Is everyone following the antelope analogy? No? Okay, I'll keep going...

I've seen it before and I saw it again this morning. The ultimate display of affection from one CrossFitter to another.

SCENARIO: CrossFitter-A has finished the WOD. CrossFitter-B is struggling to stop that clock; CFer-A sees it. CFer-A is remembering the pain and how he/she gasped for air with exhausted lungs. So what does CFer-A do? He/she get's shoulder to shoulder with CFer-B; grinds it out with CFer-B to the bitter-sweet end.

Camaraderie; feeling each other’s pain and being there to help one another get through their struggles. Encouragement, plain and simple and I LOVE it.

There is an irreplaceable feeling of community and camaraderie at the Fort. No questions asked; hands down; without a doubt! (Feel free to insert your own cliché here). Can you remember a time when sideline cheering helped you gut it out? When someone's words helped you reach down and finish even just seconds earlier? Perhaps you wish everyone would ignore you as you discretely finish your WOD? Probably not going to happen at CrossFit Fire but tell your thoughts anyway.

Comment about your favorite WOD and the sideline cheering that went with it!

Just 2 days ago Super Dave asked me to forward him his 60-day progress pictures. I nonchalantly forwarded the pictures. Just for grins I took a look at his pictures side by side, and I was STUNNED. Super Dave has come a long way in 60 days! I don't know how many pounds he's lost, or what % his body fat decreased by. Frankly, I don't give a damn. All I know is that Dave is feeling better, and LOOKING better than ever. With Dave's permission I am sharing both the email he sent to me, as well as his before & after pictures. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there for others to see! Thanks, Dave, for allowing me to share...

As you know, I was doing Crossfit workouts at our other gym with Garth and Tom for 8 months before the stars aligned and Tom found Crossfit Fire for us. The instruction and competitiveness that we receive in our workouts is second to none, which elevated our workouts to a level we’d never experienced before.

Then came the diet advice, which is what REALLY made the difference. It started with the “two week experiment of Jennie”. When I saw how you looked, I wanted to do EXACTLY what you were doing with your diet. Within a week of that, Bill setup the nutrition seminar. He didn’t just say “this is WHAT you should eat”, but rather explained in detail WHY we should eat the way he was describing. After 60 days of following Bill’s nutrition advice, I lost a lot of my bodyfat, felt great, and am now setting PRs and besting my times during the Metcon workouts (not to mention beating my fellow Crossfitters who I never used to beat before). AND I’ve gained an increased confidence that I can tackle anything life throws at me.

What you and Bill have done for me these last few months in nothing short of amazing – my life has changed for the better because of you!

-Dave

This email from Dave is precisely the reason why Bill, Zach and I coach CrossFit. This is the reason why we get up early, stay up late, and bust our asses coaching. It's a little known fact, but all of us coach for free. We have never paid ourselves one dime for all the time we put in at the Fort, and THIS is the reason why. Coaching isn't about getting rich. It's about making other people's LIVES rich. Rich with health, rich with friends, rich with PURPOSE.

The workout yesterday was kind of a deviation from the norm. The strength work started out like usual, but the WOD left all of us feeling like we forgot something. Did I leave the coffee pot on? Did I remember to mail my gas bill? Hmm...nope. Remembered to do all that. I KNOW! I forgot to yell "TIME" when I finished my WOD yesterday!

Every minute on the minute for 12:00 do

5 box jumps (go tall!)
5 body rows
5 clapping push-ups

See? You didn't have to yell "TIME" even though we all felt like we needed to. It was bizarre, but a totally awesome workout. The GYG started things off right this morning, and set the tone for the rest of the day. You guys kicked butt!

I'd like to point out that the Graveyard Gang is growing. The 5:30 AM class is becoming increasingly popular, and is sometimes our largest class of the day. What are you crazy guys doing in the mornings? Am I missing something TOTALLY fun?

The real star of the day was our strength work. We worked on our cleans, and we saw some pretty impressive numbers. Yesterday will also allow us to finally fill in another section of the record board for SRM on Clean!

Stacy shows us what to do if you get stuck at the bottom of your squat.