We had a very special team Friday yesterday. And by "special", I think you know what I mean. I mean it was extraordinarily hard and fantastic! The workout was in teams of two, complete the following: 1000m row, 150 ring dips, 250 box jumps, 1000m row. Bill tried something new, and said that he didn't want two women on the same team, since women would have a significant disadvantage on the rowers. Mariah, did you hear that? Bill poo-poo'd on all female teams. Psh. He obviously doesn't remember the 3 week streak that you and Kris had together. I digress...

This workout was tough. In order to make even teams, I jumped in and did the workout with Chris Kelly. OH, and by the way, Chris Kelly's Dad joined us for a workout too! WELCOME! Chris Kelly was a great team member! He kept cheering me on even when I thought I was going to throw up. (stupid box jumps) We came up with a pretty good strategy at the beginning, and it really helped us pace ourselves. In the end, we totally dominated, and became the new team Friday champs! We were nauseous champs....but we were still pretty happy.

Looks like Matt was feeling a little bit of the box jump nausea as well....

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Our Christmas morning class was much smaller than we thought it would be. We had our two Zachs in attendance, and that was it. Since the class was light, we did Linda. AKA, the three bars of death. Me and the Zachs ground through this workout together....it was my first time attempting Linda. Ugh. Linda is 10 rounds of deadlift (1.5 x body weight), Bench press (body weight), and clean (75% body weight). Each round you do one less rep than the last, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 DONE. Zach R has done this workout before, and he warned me that rounds 10-7 were going to SUCK. Even with his warning, there was no way I could have anticipated how hard those first few rounds were going to be! My new Christmas Lululemons definitely helped get me through the workout.

There are some people in the CrossFit who can finish this workout in as little as 9 minutes....but we are not those people. The three of us all took nearly 30 minutes to finish. I'm sorry Mom....my arms were just too tired to help with the dishes this year. You understand, right?

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Merry Christmas CrossFitters! Yesterday's workout was the 12 days of Christmas. This workout was done in the style of the song, the 12 days of Christmas. You start with 1 burpee, then you do 2 push press and 1 burpee, then you do 3 front squats, 2 push press and 1 burpee....and so on and so on. Here is a list of our "days" of Christmas: 1 burpee, 2 push press, 3 front squats, 4 hang power cleans, 5 deadlifts, 6 box jumps, 7 pull-ups, 8 push-ups, 9 sit-ups, 10 squats, 11 kettlebell swings, and a 500 meter row. Phew!

For the seven of you who were in attendance, I don't need to remind you what a tough workout this was. Brittany managed to beat up her collar bone during the cleans, but she never once complained. She did tell me one time that her bar was "heavy"...yeah....it's weights. (just kidding Brittany. We love ya)

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The weather outside was frightful, so we had to get creative with our workout. Instead of doing normal "Helen" we did "Helen in a boat" and used the rower instead of running. Actually, there were some brave individuals who ran. Can you guess who one of them was? (Hint - his name rhymes with Friss Melly)

The workout was 3 rounds for time of row 500m, 21 kb swings, 12 pull ups. Kelli did an AWESOME job! She did her whole first round of pull ups without a band! Way to go!

It can be pretty intimidating to let go of the "safety" of our assistance bands. Whether you're switching to one with lesser assistance, or eliminating it all together, it can be pretty scary. My advice to anyone using the assistance bands is to always at least TRY the lesser assistance during a workout. Yes, it will be harder, and therefore your time is likely going to increase for the workout....but this totally fine! Try and be less worried about your time than you are about your overall physical performance. If you're currently using the green band, try doing one round with the blue, and then switching back. You'll never get stronger unless you push yourself!

Kelli and Jennie swing their way through Helen

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Hooray for Mondays! In order to make Monday more interesting, we did a little workout called "pull ups on the minute". In this workout, you are given 1 minute to complete a certain number of pull ups. In the first round, you have to do one pull up in a minute, in the second round, you have to do 2 pull ups in a minute....and so it goes until you are not able to do the prescribed amount of pull ups in the minute you are allowed. Some people got as many as 15 rounds! Nice work!

The overall improvement of everyone's pull ups was really highlighted with this workout. We did this back on 7/7/08, and almost everyone improved by 2 rounds and 2 pull ups. I can't explain it...that was just the magic number. Back in July, if you completed 10 rounds, plus 3 pullups, you can expect to bump up to 12 rounds, and about 5 or 6 pull ups within 5 months. Well, at least if you're at our gym you will!

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Saturday morning is definitely our most popular class! We had 12 people show up at the Fort bright and early to start their weekend off with a WOD. I have to ask again...what did you guys do to make Bill mad? The Saturday workout was beyond comprehension. Bill claims to have pulled it straight from the main site....but I think he pulled it from a more evil place. The workout was 3 rounds for time of: Row 100m, 50 pushups, row 100m, 50 situps, row 100m, 50 squats, row 100m, 50 supermans. Yes, you read that right - 3 rounds of that. There are some people in the CrossFit community that can do this workout in as little as 27 minutes....but we are NOT those people. I finished in just over 40 minutes. Ugh. Tucker went outside after the workout and stuck his head in the snow. It's too bad I have hair, otherwise that would have been mighty refreshing.

GREAT job everyone! Sabrina came back and ROCKED the workout! Great to have you back, girl!

Tucker....why are you laughing? Were you doing a different WOD than the rest of us??

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We had another fun and exciting team Friday. The workout was a repeat of one we did over the summer; Row 1000 meters, 250 wall ball shots, 250 double unders, row 1000 meters. Some of the teams tried to just crank through everything while others planned out a strategy. As it turns out, the team with the strategy won! Bill and Mariah decided that they would switch on the rower whenever they got tired, rather than having each team member row 500 meters. They perfected their technique of switching rowers, and it got them a big lead.

It's absolutely amazing that our pregnant CrossFitter is still kicking everyone's butts on team Friday! Nice work Mariah and Bill! I didn't make it to the gym in time to take a picture, so we'll have to settle for a camera phone picture of our champs.

Chris Kelly worked out Friday too...just in case anyone was wondering.

Camera phones need lovin' too

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