When we woke up on Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised to see all the snow on the ground. Not only does the snow suddenly throw our gloomy winter into a cheery Christmas card scene, it also means WE WON'T BE RUNNING. Yep, if there's snow, there's about a 99% chance we won't be running. Snow is wet and messy, and it would be awful to have somebody get run over by a snow plow. (Perhaps that would be the CrossFit version of Grandma got run over by a Reindeer??)

Despite the snow, we still had 20 people show up for Team-no-running Saturday.

In teams of 2 complete 2 rounds of:
3:00 AMRAP of
box jumps
sumo deadlift high pulls
1:30 rest
3:00 AMRAP of
rowing
burpees
1:30 rest

Bill threw a little monkey wrench into the plan this week by only counting COMPLETE rounds. Normally every rep counts, unless Bill only got 4 hours of sleep.

Our winning team WASN'T Jamie and her cheater boot this week, surprisingly. It was New Pete and Garth! Great job you two! I also want to throw a great job out to Nicole for doing the sumo's at the men's weight. You = tough!

What would YOU do if it was your first Team Saturday win, and it was snowing?? You'd probably do snow angels like New Pete and Garth!

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Yesterday we rocked a named workout with some handstand push-ups and deadlifts in it. Yep, we did Diane.

21-15-9
deadlifts (100/65kg)
handstand push-ups

My favorite part of this workout is that it forces people to call "TIME" whilst upside down. All day I got to hear people croak out, "tiiiiime"! It made me giggle a little.

Do you feel like you completely SUCK at handstand push-ups? Well don't worry, you're not alone. HSPU's are a fairly common weak point for a lot of people, just like muscle-ups.  I got asked a few times, "how do I get better at handstand push-ups"? GOOD QUESTION. I encourage you to work through the full range of motion whenever possible. You can kick up against the wall, and lower yourself down as slow as you can, and then kick back up and do it again. You can also try kicking up into the assistance bands before/after class with the help of your coach.

Speaking of kicking up into the bands, Hannamal decided she would demonstrate what happens when you kick ALL the way over in the bands. I'll admit, it looked painful, but VERY funny.

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I tried warning everyone that there would be running in the workout so that you could come prepared. I was pleased to see how many of you showed up with gloves, hats, and pants. Great job you guys!

3 rounds for time:
21 power snatches (40/30kg)
400m run

This workout was a lot sneakier than people realized, and I found a lot of people (myself included) scaling mid-first-round. Oops! Turns out 21 power snatches are hard. Well, they're hard unless you're Hannah. Our Hannamal was the only lady to go through this workout Rx'd  yesterday, and she did awesome! I'm thinking we need to have that girl tested for PEDs, because DAMN is she getting strong!

On a separate note, we would like to announce that two of our members, Pete and Ivy, will be leaving us this week. It's a bitter sweet goodbye, but they aren't going far. Pete has never kept it a secret that he wanted to one day own his own CrossFit affiliate, and his dream is finally coming true! We wish Pete and Ivy all the luck and success they deserve at CrossFit Carbon in Vernon Hills!

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The workout yesterday was amazing, but slightly hazardous. Pay attention to where you're jumping, or you might have a head-on collision!

5 rounds:
10 ball slams
5 broad jumps
10 wall ball shots
5 broad jumps

Wednesdays are always a nice quiet day at the Fort, and yesterday was no exception. With 12+ person classes 4 days a week, it's kinda nice to get back to the more intimate feeling of smaller classes. Or maybe that's just me.

Last night was our 4th monthly Warrior Woman Wednesday, and it was a total blast! Our girls only hour is always fun, and a great way to bond a little bit in our own girly way. DJ Hannamal didn't disappoint, and brought another amazing mix CD especially created for our handstand clinic. We worked on our hollow position, kicking up with a nice straight line, and even played around with handstand forward rolls. KTUCK might have even earned herself a new nickname - McRib! Thank you ladies for the fun hour together!

Have you noticed the announcement and sign up sheet on the whiteboard? CrossFit Fire will be participating in the Chicago Indoor Rowing Championship on 2/26. Woo Hoo! We are looking for men and women to row the 2,000 meter, the 2500 meter team event, and the Open 500. Our WODFather will be putting together a free rowing clinic this Saturday following the free intro workout for anyone looking to polish up on their rowing technique.

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Our WODFather coined possibly the best phrase of 2010. As he was preparing his classes for their workout, he let everyone know that there would be NO UNCONTROLLED DUMPING allowed. Tee hee. Ok, I'm done being 8yrs old. Seriously though, he's right. With winter upon us, 12 barbells moving at once inside the Fort can be tricky. Keep your hands on your barbell until it reaches the ground safely, mkay? Cool.

The workout yesterday was:

12:00 AMRAP

5 overhead squats (40/30kg)
10 kettlebell swings (24/16kg)
15 knees to elbows

In case you haven't figured it out, this workout turned out to be hard on the old forearms. Everyone went through the 5 squats, 10 kb swings, and then they did fiiiiifteeeeen kneeeees tooooo ellllllbows......They slowed everyone down, so please don't feel like you were alone in this dilemma.

Occasionally, a workout will require you to do a little extra than what's on the whiteboard. A good example is the extra credit flight of stairs you all get to enjoy on rowing days. In yesterday's workout, the extra credit was the snatch you had to perform at the beginning of each round to get the bar over your head. Is this an evil trick? No, not really. And honestly, it didn't really have to be a snatch. If the weight was heavy-ish for snatching, but okie dokie for overhead squats, you have alternatives. The idea isn't to perform a textbook snatch, the idea is just to safely get the barbell over your head. Amanda chose to clean the weight, pop it up and over her head onto her back, walk her hands out, and t hen she popped it above her head. Now THAT'S creative thinking! Atta girl!

KTUCK shows us how legit she is. Chin AND chest to the deck on each push-up!

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Who likes 50 degrees in November?? WE DO! Although there wasn't any running in yesterday's workout, it was still nice to get one last blast of fall weather before winter starts dumping on us.

The workout yesterday was fast paced, and could definitely get the old "Fran cough" started up again.

7 rounds of:
7 burpees
7 pull-ups
7  box jumps

I'm convinced that Ryan Z has some extra gravity around him. I was watching his box jumps, and he seems to be able to fall faster than anyone else around him. It's odd. I'm not saying he's cheating....I'm just saying he seems to be REALLY fast lately.

Did our coach switch-a-roo confuse anyone? (Maybe you felt like Special J did in this picture?) I took the morning classes and Bill coached in the evening. The morning classes definitely missed their WODFather, but it was nice to see people I haven't seen in a while. Right, Andy!?

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Have you ever been at the Fort, and something made you so mad that you wanted to kick the chalk bucket? Maybe you couldn't pull that last deadlift, or you didn't PR on a named workout? Yeah, that can make anyone mad. I'll admit that I've kicked the chalk bucket. I'm not proud, but I have actually kicked the chalk bucket. And as I stood there vacuuming for 35 minutes I had plenty of time to reflect on my actions.

Know what I realized? Anger is messy. My anger caused a huge mess that took over half an hour to rectify. And no matter how many times I vacuumed, I still found chalk residue for a week.

This is true both at the Fort, and in our everyday lives. Your anger and the inability to control it have consequences. Sometimes it takes a half hour to clean up, other times the damage can be much more lasting.

Here's my challenge to you: The next time you feel like kicking the chalk bucket, pause, and smile. It will be one of the hardest things I have asked you to do, but I know you are capable. Not every day is a great deadlift day. Not every day is going to be a new Fran PR. There will be days when you didn't get enough sleep, you ate like you were chained to the counter at a 7-11, or you had an 11 hour meeting marathon at work. These things happen, but they can't leak into the rest of our lives. Learn to contain your anger mess.

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