Friday is my rest day - that's all there is to it! If I try and push myself by working out 5 days in a row, I'll be setting myself up for failure. The same goes for you guys! All someone has to do is say, "So Jennie, what's your max press?" and I'm ready to throw on my lululemons and lift some heavy stuff, but that would be counter-productive. Coach Glassman has been doing this CrossFit thing longer than anyone else out there, and he has determined that a 3 on, 1 off schedule works best. This allows for ample rest and muscle recovery. I know you guys are bad-asses, but make sure you're resting and recovering and not practicing your round-house kicks on your days off. K? Sweet.

The workout yesterday was 5 x 5 press.  Hooray for strength days! By the way, where WERE you guys yesterday? It was one of the lightest Friday nights we've had in a while, and we were a little surprised. Do the Friday times not work well? Was is the impending DOOM (snow storm)? WHAT IS IT!? OH GOD!

We didn't get any pictures of you sexy beasts in action, but I'll post this SWEET picture of Zach from Thursday. He went through it as Rx'd at 60kg! Nice work Zach!

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I wanted to let everyone know that we are semi-famous today. What is now being referred to as "the guilt video" was featured on the CrossFit Affiliate blog! Woo Hoo! As Sparky put it, it has now become a national/international guilt trip of epic proportion! 

The workout yesterday was very fun! Bill picked up a new jump rope for his princess so I could do the workout sans the plastic toe slicers of doom. (the red & black plastic jump ropes) If anyone else doesn't care for these jump ropes, please feel free to bring your own for the workout. They're durable, but they sure don't spin very fast.

The workout was:
45 double unders
45 cleans (60/40kg)
45 ring dips
45 double unders

If your arms weren't burning by the end, you weren't doing it right! Welcome back to Dawn and Connie!  They joined us last Saturday for the longest workout in history. I'm absolutely over the moon that they were brave enough to come back!  

Our ladies class is growing every week! We had a full group last night, and you ladies all did great! Bethany even surprised us by bringing pink and red jello shots. She claims they help speed muscle recovery. (uh huh...sure) We broke the clean down using our medicine balls - this is one of the hardest movements we do. Like I always say, don't get frustrated if you don't feel 100% confident with it. I've been doing it for over a year, and I'm still not without flaws. Chin up guys! You have good coaches to help you. 

Ok, I'm making this post from Bill's Macbook...it's a little bit like trying to brush your teeth with the opposite hand.  Sorry for the weird picture formats...I'll make them prettier tomorrow when I can get back to my PC.  Sheesh. 

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The first question we seem to get from people within the CrossFit community is, "Most CrossFitters are doing the Zone Diet, why do you guys promote the Paleo Diet?" The answer is that you don't have to choose one over the other. You see, the Zone Diet is about macronutrient quantities and ratios (i.e. how much you are eating and in what proportions) while the Paleo Diet is about macronutrient sources and their level of quality.

When attempting to change the way you eat, it should be for the long haul. It doesn't do any good to go on a crash "diet" and change the way you eat for a few weeks or months just so you can eventually return to your normal eating habits and put on more weight than you lost.

Instead, you should work towards changing the way you eat with plans on sticking to it for the rest of your life, thus making it a "lifestyle" change. Only then will you be truly successful in attaining AND maintaining your goals. Nobody likes losing 50 pounds so that they can eventually gain back 75.

This is precisely why we stress the importance of quality over quantity. Lifestyle changes are generally very difficult to make, so don't make it any harder than it needs to be. Let's take it one step at a time. By focusing on the quality of our food, we are free from counting calories and being hungry.

You see, we can eat until we are full at every meal and still be making progress. This is because healthier foods are less calorie dense and therefore more difficult to consume in high quantities. Ever try consuming 200 calories from broccoli? A lot harder to do than 200 calories from pizza or beer! Therefore, by eating "clean", we will naturally consume fewer calories and more than likely, begin losing some weight.

So, let's all start focusing on what we are eating. Having an awareness of what we are truly consuming on a daily basis will be the foundation from which we will build on going forward.

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Good morning everyone!  How was everyone's drive home last night?  How about your drive to work this morning?  I know that I was BLINDED while trying to get to work.  Yeesh.  I need some cool sunglasses.  

Hopefully it's just a fluke that we have done so many handstand push-ups this week. The workout last night was Diane, which is:

21-15-9
Deadlift (100/85kg)
Handstand push-ups

So far, Nathan has two black eyes, Tucker lost the use of his left arm, my boobs are sprained and the rest of you have flat heads from all these handstand push-ups.  You know what they say though: "Take the suck and make it your b*tch!"  We can't get better at handstand push-ups by NOT doing handstand push-ups.  

Matt finally came back to the fort last night - his ankle/foot is about 11 shades of bruised and it's swollen, but we found a workout that he could do. Our 1st 6PM class did pull-ups on the minute. Nice work you guys! Clark, sorry your hand got all torn up. Where are the gloves your Mom bought you for Christmas?

Our 2nd 6PM class did Diane....some of us were a little late due to the weather, so we had a 6:30PM class. We didn't take any pictures last night because it's more important to get people *safely* into the assistance bands, so I had to dig a picture out of the vault.  (Safely is used kind of loosely considering that I kicked Zach twice)

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Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help with our projects at the Fort.  You guys are seriously the best!

Yesterday was a strength day, and we worked on our front squats.  We did 5 sets of 5, working up to our 5 rep max.  Everyone did awesome!  I got to meet Boyd for the first time, WELCOME!  Boyd is another one of those guys that has to use the rack at it's highest setting.  (I'm so jealous of you long-limbed people)  Make sure to watch Boyd row if you get a chance.  His rowing is PHENOMENAL. 

For a few of you, it was the first time you've ever done front squats, and you guys did great!  Garth, you look like you've been doing these for years!  Stop cheating me on the depth though...I'll bust you on it every time. My ladies only class was amazing too! Every single person hit a PR!  Woo Hoo!  

And now....get your kleenex ready.  It's time to remember all the CrossFitters who we've loved and lost.  If you love them, set them free...and if it's true love they'll come back, right?  (sniff.....sniff.....)  

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/3269494[/vimeo]

There are plenty of places where you can "workout".  You can stop by any globo gym, sign in at the desk, wander around for an hour and never speak to a single person.  How many people at that globo gym know your name?  Does the person at the front desk remember you?  Do they greet you by name?  No??  That's because they don't CARE.  They don't genuinely, with their whole heart, CARE if you succeed.  Their business model only works if they have a bunch of people paying for memberships who never show up.  Guys, that's how they make their money.  If everyone who had a membership at a globo gym showed up, their business would fail.  They would fail because they don't have nearly enough equipment for all their members to use, nor do they have enough space.  Globo gyms are in the business of signing people to a year-long contract, and only seeing them a handful of times.  

That is NOT how CrossFit works.  We only succeed if you succeed.  If you don't want to make friends and have a great time while you're working out, then head to your nearest globo gym, slap down your $25 a month and enjoy your misery.  We have fun at CrossFit.  We know each other's names, and cheer for each other.  Do you like high fives?  Do you like people clapping and cheering for you?  Do you like getting results from your workouts, and the fulfillment of being part of a community?  GREAT!  Get to the Fort immediately...we need more people like you.

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Yesterday we worked on our press.  Ok, I'm just kidding....kind of.  The workout yesterday was:

21-15-9 
handstand push-ups
ring dips
push-ups

I know it sounds strange, but if you ever stop making progress on your press, try mixing handstand push-ups into your warm-up routine.  HSPU's work the shoulders and arms in a very unique manner, and smart people like Coach Rip tell us that they'll help your press get stronger.  Give it a try!  

I saw quite a few people resting at the bottom of their handstand push-ups.  Guys, you're going to give yourself a headache or a flat head!  If you need a rest, or if you get stuck at the bottom, just kick down and rest for a few seconds.  The effort it's going to take to get you out of that predicament is going to be incredibly tiring.  I love you guys, and you all have nicely shaped heads...let's keep it that way!

Anyone out there handy?  We have a few more projects at the Fort that we would like to tackle one of these weekends.  We need some expertise in the areas of:

1. Drywall (finish wall up in the loft)
2. Electrical  (hang can lights under the loft)
3. Installing laminate floors (replace flooring in the office)
4. Carpentry (help build benches/cubbies for the office)

If anyone has a couple of hours to donate to the Fort, it would be a HUGE help!  Post to comments if you think you can offer some assistance.

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Good morning everyone!  We just returned home from another big Saturday morning class.  It's always a blast to have the whole Fort full of people! We had 16 people at our very first Team Saturday! We split up into teams of 4, and did the following:

Each team member will row in increments of 1:00.  While they are rowing, their team members will rotate through 5 box jumps, 5 clapping push-ups and 5 pull-ups.  This continues until one team has rowed 10,000 meters. We did this workout a while ago, and it seemed WAY too hard, so we did 5 reps instead of 10.  (much better) The winning team finished in 42:49. 

I'd like to say a special thank you to Tom.  In the few weeks that Tom has been coming to the Fort, he has brought 8 of his friends to CrossFit with him.  8!  Guys, why don't you love your friends as much as Tom loves his friends?  Tom wins the award for most referrals in the history of the Fort.  We appreciate it VERY MUCH that you think highly enough of our program that you refer your friends, family and loved ones. 

There were a few new people this morning - I want to welcome Dawn, Connie, Brian and Pat.  Pat amazed all of us by busting out his muscle-ups.  (he's a ringer) You guys did a fantastic job.  This workout was LONG.  Way longer than what we usually do! 

We have 4 new members this morning too!  Garth, Audra, Brian and Connie are now officially members of CrossFit Fire!

Ok, here's a test to see if everyone introduced themselves.  Can you name all the people in this picture? Props to whoever can name the most people!

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