Once upon a time, the Fort wasn't the dazzling spectacle you see before you. We were small. We only had about 25ish members, but we still had fun. Back in those days, we were CrossFit Home Base for Clark Dendinger. He came to us an enthusiastic and athletically gifted guy. You'll still find his name in several places on our whiteboard.

Why am I telling you all this?

Because Clark returned to the Fort on Sunday and earned himself the title of the CrossFit Fire Fittest FireFighter! He had a particularly dramatic finish by half sprinting,  half falling into the tire with the slosh tube and shouting, "GET MY HELMET OFF! GET IT OFF!" It was dramatic, but I would have expected nothing less.

The workout was:

30 calorie row
5 tire flips
10 Sandbag ground to shoulder
5 tire flips
10 Sandbag ground to shoulder
20 yard farmers walk (2 sandbags)
20 yard slam ball toss (30lbs)
20 yard slosh pipe carry

I'm super proud of everyone who participated. The Fort's very own Hero Mike came in 2nd place and had a very impressive performance. In 3rd place was Mike Pakosta. Thank you to everyone who came out to watch, and a HUGE thank you goes out to our sponsors:

Again Faster Equipment
Natural Therapy & Wellness
The Meat Goat

[Read more →]

Thanks to everyone who came out and had some fun at Team Saturday with us. It was a light crowd, but the workout was SUPER cool. It was much harder than we all thought it was going to be:

In teams of 2, complete 3 rounds (each person) of:
7 Kettlebell snatches (each arm)
14 lateral hops (24/18")
21 knees to elbows
*While 1 partner works, other holds a (15/10kg) plate overhead
**bending elbows or dropping plate is 3 burpee penalty

This wouldn't have been nearly as horrible if the WODFather hadn't thrown in the plate holding over the head thing. Sheesh did that make it hard!

After we all finished, it was decided that there could be no real "winner" declared since the scaling options were all over the board. Some people weren't doing strict knees to elbows, others used a lighter KB for the snatches, and some people had to substitute completely different movements. Either way, it was a great time! It's like Little League.....WHO WANTS ICE CREAM!?

Deena is becoming a real force to reckon with at Team Saturdays! The Tiny Power runs strong within her!

[Read more →]

We couldn't end our week without giving out legs a little lovin', so yesterday we did

I have to give mad props to Ryan The Lion for having the fastest time of the day! 60kg hang squat cleans are less than 10kg's away from body weight for him, so his time was impressive! Our second fastest time of the day was Kinsy, and 3rd behind her was Garth. When I saw Garth on Saturday he admitted to me that he thought about doing "G" Scaling on this one and dropping to 3 rounds mid-WOD. Glad you stuck it out and finished strong!

[Read more →]

Sammi's comment yesterday was "Why does Bill hate our shoulders?" He doesn't hate your shoulders at all! Matter of fact, he loves them so much that we did a whole workout in their honor.

5 rounds for time:
30 Kettlebell swings (24/16kg)
10 handstand push-ups

Unfortunately for my long-limbed friends, this workout was pretty tough. Ashley, who is fresh out of ramp-up, is nice and tall. Whenever I see tall CrossFitters I assume 2 things: 1 - they're going to LOVE wall ball shots and rowing, and 2 - handstand push-ups are going to be tough. Ashley dove right into this workout and did great! Nice having you in class!

More props to April for using the 16kg kettle bell for 3 rounds yesterday! Form looked amazing!

I need to do a wellness check on poor Mom though. Her knees slipped off the abmat during her box handstand push-ups, and she came tumbling down. It was a graceful tuck and roll, but it still looked scary. Mom, you ok??!!

Reminder - Sunday at 10AM is our Fittest FireFighter Challenge! Come on out and watch to see who is crowned our champion! If you know someone interested in competing, we can still accept registration. T-shirts will be ordered AFTER the event so nobody get shorted their shirt. Additionally, if you would like your very own FFC t-shirt they are $20, and can be "ordered" by replying to the comment thread on the blog with your size.

[Read more →]

Yesterday we didn't do any strength work, but only because our metcon was so long. As Andy so eloquently put it, "that was metcon-tastic!"

4 rounds for max double unders of:
With 5:00 on the clock
500m row
400m run
max double unders
5:00 rest between rounds

When Bill and I were discussing this workout, I made sure to point out that there might be people who didn't make it back in time to get double unders. Bill said that was ok....it would just be incentive for people to run faster!

Top scores of the day were from Pete (314), Scott Merrell (246) and José (231). Nice job!

Last night was our first Warrior Women Wednesday since Brady was born and holy cow did I forget how much fun these are! We had a belly dancing instructor come out and teach us a little shake shake, and a little dance. I felt that some ladies might need liquid courage so I also brought a few bottles of wine, and some snacks. Not surprisingly, we have a lot of ladies at the Fort who have a knack for booty shaking! A big thanks goes out to Rowena for her amazing dancing and teaching abilities! If anyone is interested in her services as instructor or performer, she does Belly Dancing as well as Hula Dancing. You can email her if you would like to hire her for your next Goddess Party!

[Read more →]

My older sister hasn't been to the Fort very much. I think she has probably worked out with us about 5 times. On one of her visits she finished her WOD, and sat down against the wall next to Mariah who, at the time, was VERY pregnant. Her comment was, "Wow, you're brave. When I was pregnant I used it as an excuse to sit on the couch and eat pudding".

And that's why I love my sister. Truer words have never been spoken. How many pregnant ladies do you know who workout for their whole pregnancy? Until you started at the Fort, I'm going to guess not very many. Rewind about 5 months ago, and we had a total of 7, yes SEVEN pregnant ladies all busting their baby bumps to stay in shape. Pregnancy is not a purgatory of couch sitting and watching your ass get wider than the love seat unless you want it to be. We have accommodated LOTS of pregnant ladies and all of them report having easier labors, more blissful pregnancies, and an overall better experience. Bri and KTUCK represented their baby bump power last night!

5 rounds:
:30 pull-ups
:30 rest
:30 alternating lunges (24/16kg)
:30 rest

If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it's that lunges are a BUTT EXERCISE. First and foremost, if you did them properly it should feel like Chuck Liddell punched you in each butt cheek the next day.

I have to give some props to Casey for this workout. She had been using the green and red bands together, but yesterday she ditched the red and went just green! Amie also did a great job by doing all her pull-ups without a band! Nice work ladies!

REMINDER - tonight is Warrior Women Wine Wednesday. Wait, what? Did somebody say wine? We have a belly dancing instructor coming tonight with her hip scarves, and I thought maybe some light snacks and wine would make the whole thing a lot more enjoyable. Join us for some fun!

[Read more →]

Yep, 3:20 rest. Does that seem oddly specific? Well, that's because it IS oddly specific.

Know someone interested in trying CrossFit? We can accomodate a free trial almost any day of the week, just email or call to set it up! We had a new friend stop by for a workout yesterday! Denene, you did an amazing job, and we can't wait to see you at ramp-up!

You'll notice that the first week of rowing WODs is already on the board. If you don't have a 2K row time, that should be your first order of business. What we want you to do with these rowing WODs, is to either complete them on a rest day, or to do your WOD in the morning, and row in the evening (or vice versa). If you do the rowing WOD immediately after your regular WOD you'll be altering the intended adaptation. Is it the end of the world? Probably not. I'd rather see you alter the adaptation than to miss out on the WODs altogether. We'll be traveling down to the Chicago Indoor Rowing Championships in February of 2012. The date hasn't been announced yet, but we'll be there again...and we'll probably have matching shirts and tall socks! Bill is hosting an informal rowing fundamentals session this Saturday at 10AM. Register for this free session if you would like a little help with rowing technique.

Reminder! Tomorrow evening at 7PM is our Warrior Women Wednesday! This is a free class for all female members of the Fort. We will be hosting a Belly Dancing instructor - FUN! Please register so I can let the instructor know how many hip scarves to bring. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that WWW should be preceded by a glass of wine? There may or may not be wine being popped open around 6:30PM tomorrow. Just sayin...

[Read more →]