First, I want to welcome Garth, Audra and Dave!  All three are friends of Tom, and came for a free workout on Saturday morning.  You guys all did wonderful!  We hope to see you back soon.

The workout on Saturday was "Tabata Something Else". We did tabata pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and squats.  Even though the workout is over and done with in 16 minutes, it's a tough workout!  The tabata work protocol has us work for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds.  We repeat this 8 times.  8 times is usually sufficient to get your muscles burning! The temperature outside reached about 51 degrees on Saturday, and it was absolutely beautiful.  We timidly cracked the overhead door about 10 inches during the workout to get some fresh air.

High fives go to the first 5 people to figure out how to add a personalized gravatar and post to comments!  hint

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So what's this I hear about Team Friday?  How did you guys forget to call "TIME"?!  Sigh...unfortunately the rules are that you have to call "TIME" in order to signify that you have finished your workout.  We had two teams neck-and-neck, but one team forgot to call "TIME", so they finished 5 seconds behind the other team. 

The workout was a modified version of the Diablo CrossFit Royal Rumble.  It consisted of one set of the following for each team member: (work could be divided however you want)

1 rope climb
500m row
50 Deadlifts
50 pull-ups
50 thrusters
50 box jumps
80 overhead walking lunges

Our winning team finished this BEAST of a workout in 43:00.  Dang.  All I can say is dang.  I leave for Texas, and Bill and Zach put you guys through THAT??!  Have they no soul!? No compassion!?  There are only 151 days left until the CrossFit Games 2009 Affiliate cup challenge.  The plan is to take 6 of our biggest studs and rock the team workouts in Aromas California.  Guys, if we want to even stand a CHANCE out there, we have to start hitting it hard.  We need to dial in nutrition,  lift heavy, get plenty of rest, wax our eyebrows, take your vitamins, apply self tanner, get tribal tattoos, buy some board shorts, and make a conscious effort to become a cohesive team so that we make a good showing.  The top 5 teams from Friday perform again on Sunday for a year's worth of bragging rights.  Let's do it!

Jefrey, I hope you pulled your weight...

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Hi everyone!  We had our very first CrossFit Fire staff meeting today, and there are a lot of exciting changes happening!

First and foremost, the schedule.  With Bill back at the Fort full time, we are going to be opening up a few new class times. We will also be offering a "Ladies Only"class two days a week.  (GIRL POWER!) 

Second, the website.  Zach will now start occasionally offering contributions for our main page blog to keep things fresh and interesting.  Bill will also be heading up our nutrition blog.  Also, we'll be adding a testimonials page as well.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.  Please feel free to email us with your testimonial, and we will gladly use it on the website. 

Third, we will now begin requiring new members to go through a CrossFit Foundations class before joining the group workouts.  This will ensure that everyone is trained on the 9 basic movements, as well as the olympic lifts.  This will give newcomers the confidence to join YOU BEASTS.   

Fourth, keep your eyes open for improvements at the Fort.  We have some cosmetic and inspirational ideas that will be implemented over the next 60 days. 

Pete shows us good bar position on his overhead squats

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Virtuosity is defined as performing the common uncommonly well. CrossFit published an entire journal article on the subject, and until I attended the Level 2 certification I don't think I realized what it meant to me as a coach.

I failed my Level 2 certification.  By 1 point.  My initial reaction was to get upset, feel like it was unfair, and cry a little. Deep down inside I knew that the things I lost points for were legitimate, and that my score told the story of my performance.  The instructors were very upfront with us, and let us know that on a scale of 1-5, they would typically award no higher than a 3 to most people for each category of performance.  70-80% of people who attempt their level 2 certification go home with a "failing" score.  But is it really a failure?

Only 7 out of 18 people passed their level 2 certification this week.  7.  That's it.  18 people paid their $1,000 to CrossFit, and lumped travel expenses on top of that just to find out that they didn't have virtuosity as a coach.  People traveled from as far away as Canada and Hawaii to find out if they met CrossFit headquarters' definition of "virtuosity".  Turns out, most of us didn't.

Is it disappointing?  Sure.  At the same time, this was only my first attempt.  Some of my classmates were on their 2nd or 3rd attempt.  It's an incredibly vulnerable feeling to show up and be critiqued by a bunch of strangers, but for some reason their approval meant SO MUCH to all of us.  Why would people put themselves through 2 days of nerve wracking stress MULTIPLE TIMES just to get the "nod" from CrossFit headquarters?    

This high level of expectation, of VIRTUOSITY, is no different than what we expect out of all of our CrossFitters.  Whether or not you realize it, you are part of a very small percentage of the population.  You are a CROSSFITTER.  You choose to work hard, sweat profusely, lift heavy stuff and perform amazing feats of strength.  We'll tear our hands, bloody our shins and bruise our bodies all in the name of improved athletic performance, and the pursuit of fitness.  THAT my friends, is also the pursuit of virtuosity.  We should all hold ourselves to a higher standard than the average person does, and I think most of us do.  WE DESERVE to hold ourselves to  a higher standard.  We are not part of the millions of drones churning away at their stair masters and treadmills.  We are not part of the population who wants to get in shape, but does nothing about it.  We are not satisfied with merely "exercising"...we WORKOUT.  WE. ARE. CROSSFIT.  If everyone who attempted Fran finished in under 3:00 as prescribed, what would we have to work towards?  If your CrossFit total was 1,300 on your first day, what kind of goals would you set?  The Level 2 certification is the same principle.  IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HARD. It separates the good trainers from the trainers who possess virtuosity.  I now have a new goal for 2009, and it's to coach with virtuosity.

Thanks to everyone for their love and support.  Sorry you had to throw away the "congratulations" cake and banners....I'll hit it out of the park next time and we'll celebrate as only we can celebrate!

I see you JUDGING ME!

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Jennie is in Austin for 2 days at the CrossFit Level 2 certification so you're stuck with me *evil grin*. I am going to take this opportunity to get some feedback from everyone. We have been working with the same playlists at the Fort for several months now and I think we would all enjoy some fresh beats. Now that we have comments on our site, I would like everyone to contribute 2 or 3 songs to the new CrossFit Fire playlist. Oh, and if you request a slow, sappy love song of some sort, there WILL be a price to pay!

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The workout last night probably left a few people with sore shoulders.  We did 5 rounds for time of:

Run 400M (or row 300M)
15 handstand push-ups
15 pull-ups

This workout was a BEAST.  I am incredibly proud of Kelli for going through this workout without using an assistance band for her pull-ups!  This is by far the most pull-ups she has done in a workout unassisted!  <HUG> Nice job girlfriend!

For the first time ever, we had a 7 female 6PM class.  It was great!  Clark stuck around to help spot the handstand push-ups, but the workout was 100% estrogen powered.  Despite the fact that our legs were quiverring, our arms were shaking, we were highly nauseouss, and most of us could only get to the BOTTOM of our handstand push-ups towards the end, we pushed through! You ladies are the toughest group of women I have ever met!   Too bad nobody took any pictures of our sexiness in action.  Ahem.....(glares at Zach).  Zach did manage to capture Clark chugging away at this workout...

By the way, I would like to welcome Nancy to the Fort!  She stopped in for the 7PM class with Dan and Hank.  I didn't get to stay to watch the workout, but something tells me Nancy is a TROOPER and made it through her workout just fine.  :-)  Nancy, post to comments and let us know how your first CrossFit WOD went!

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Most everyone is probably wondering why I decided to pass on my opportunity with the ATF and come back home. My answer to you is that it was the totality of the circumstances. There is no doubt in my mind that if I didn’t have Jennie and Katelyn in my life, I would have stayed in Georgia, completed the training, and then moved on to Columbus. Sure, I would have been homesick, but I would have had no reason to not stick it out.

I DO have Jennie and Katelyn though as well as CrossFit Fire. I wasn’t ready to roll the dice on the unknown and risk losing any of the “perfection” that the 3 of us currently have. Who knows, maybe life would have been better for us in Ohio. I didn’t want to put the 3 of us through 6 months of heartache followed by moving away from our families, closing our business, and Jennie having to quit her job to find out. Being wrong would have been devastating!

Turning down the job offer back in December would have left me wondering “what if” and I most certainly would have had some degree of regret. Going down there and feeling all of the emotions surrounding the decision while seeing that Jennie and Katelyn were truly willing to give up everything they have and love to follow me and my dream was purely overwhelming, selfless, and awesome.

After spending 2 days agonizing over my decision, I finally arrived in Brunswick. I ended up sitting in my car right outside the academy for about thirty minutes. I then decided to get back on the interstate and start driving north, just to see how it would feel. I didn’t want to talk to anyone because I didn’t want to take anyone else on that emotional roller coaster ride with me if I felt the urge to turn around and go back. I figured I could drive for an hour or so and still have plenty of time to turn around and get back to FLETC if need be. Instead, an hour passed and I kept on heading north. It felt so right and like such a relief to keep on driving home. Then Jennie called me to check in and I let her know what I was doing. That was when I knew it was over and I was coming home to my wonderful family and friends.

I am sorry for putting everyone through all of this, but like I said, it was something I needed to explore for myself before moving on. Thank you all for the words of encouragement before my departure and for promptly welcoming me back with such excitement and open arms. I truly am blessed.

Oh, and for the record, I am not giving back the party, the goodbye hugs, or the kind words that people said to me. I am keeping all of it!

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