Ok you guys....what gives? I was just about ready to declare that our CrossFitters hated morning classes more than any group of CrossFitters in the world....and you guys go and prove me wrong! Despite the fact that our Saturday morning class was bumped up to 7:00AM due to the gymnastics certification, we had a great turnout! Thank you to everyone who woke up extra early to attend class. 

The loft is finally finally finally operational! As everyone yesterday found out, there are now "extra credit" stairs involved any time we need to row. Puting the rowers upstairs frees up a ton of room downstairs, and makes it a little less snug for our BIG 6M class. Thank you to everyone who made all the new updates to the gym possible. Honestly...without your help, we couldn't have done it. <<HUG>>

The workout yesterday was 1 round for time of: 75 supermans, row 750 meters, 50 push ups, 100 double unders. Before we started, Cheryl asked if I thought she could finish it in around 15 minutes because she had to leave early to make another appointment. Low and behold, Cheryl was NOT messing around and finished right around 16 minutes. Atta girl! I want everyone to grab a jump rope for at least 3 minutes EVERY SINGLE TIME you are in the gym until you can string together 2 double unders. That'll be your "homework". The only way to get better at double unders is to grab a dang jump rope, and practice. Now this will mean that you are going to be voluntarily whipping yourself repeatedly...but it's all in the name of progress. 

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We had another fun team Friday last night. It's amazing how much more athletic everyone has become. In teams of 4, we did the following: run 400m, 250 burpees, run 400m, 250 pull ups, run 400m. This workout is officially named "Runny burp-ups". Charming, right?

We did our LAST workout on our old pullup bar. It was kind of emotional. SO emotional in fact that Team "Bend you over backwards" lost the ability to count, and took off for their run after only 150 pull ups. Had they not had this brain fart, it would've been a photo finish! Alas, due to this exercised induced regression, team "bend you over backwards" lost to team "whoop yo' ass". Nice work you guys!

Speaking of things that are kind of emotional, I'm feeling quite sad that we haven't seen Jeff and Mike in over a week. Sniff....sniff.....Where'd you guys go?

A special thank you goes out to Zach and Mike who came Friday night and helped install the BRAND NEW AND UBER STRONG pullup bar. Really guys...this one's strong...we swear. 

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Ok, ok....we get it...your legs have had enough for one week. Sweet. No problem guys, we'll just have you do 50 handstand pushups for time! No seriously....that was the workout. I suppose there is a silver lining to every dark cloud, right? The silver lining in this particular cloud is that you didn't have to run. It was raining, cold and downright awful outside.

 Isn't it funny that as children, we spent a TON of time upside down and didn't think anything of it? What I have learned is that most adults are afraid to be upside down. It's almost as if we stop trusting our bodies to do what we tell them to do. "Pssst! Hey arms! Do you mind locking out real strong for about a minute please?" Our bodies forget what it's like to be upside down. When was the last time you spun around until you were really dizzy? I betcha that's something else you did a lot when you were little. Don't let your body forget how to handle things like being dizzy or being upside down. While it may seem silly, I promise it'll come in handy some day. 

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We have a lot of sore legs after Monday's weighted walking lunges. We'll help you guys work out that soreness though! Last night we did 10 rounds for time of 1:00 of air squats, as many reps as possible, then rest for a minute. This workout is a recipe for rhabdo for beginners, so we developed a few substitutions for our new CrossFitters. Janet worked on her press, Barbie only did 30 seconds of work each round and Jill and Bethany repeated the workout from Tuesday. See? This really is scalable to any fitness level! If you're Stacy, regular squats aren't hard enough so you do special "house of Pain" jumping squats.

Stacy shows us her "house of Pain" squats from Jennie Forman on Vimeo. 

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/2244415[/vimeo]

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We had our first Mother/Daughter duo come last night! My Mom has only been to the gym once. She threw a 6lb medicine ball at the wall ball plate, came up 4' short of the target, and decided that was enough for her! Season's Mom, Rhonda, joined us at 7PM for a workout. She was a little apprehensive about the workout, but she did a great job! After the workout she was showing off her excellent handstand skills. For those of you struggling with handstands, Rhonda says they're like a kicking "downward dog". I'm assuming that's some sort of top secret Yoga code.

The workout last night was short and intense; the epitome of a CrossFit workout. We did 3 rounds for time of row 350 meters, 10 burpees, 10 kettlebell swings. A workout like this calls for a high level of intensity in order to get the most out of it. There should be NO standing around during this one! Most of our CrossFitters finished in under 12 minutes, with our fastest time of the day being 8:33. (pats self on the back) It's been a LONG time since I had the best time of the day! Victory would have been even sweeter if I hadn't dropped the kettlebell on the top of my foot after my last rep. I guess that's why Bill kept yelling at me not to drop it. Thanks to everyone who stuck around and cheered for Bill and me! It's always funny to hear our own words shouted back at us. Chris does an excellent impersonation of us. 

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We live in such a small world, don't we? Last night we had two visitors at the Fort, and would you believe I went to grade school with one of them? Season and Bethany joined us last night as we did 3 rounds for time of: 50 walking lunges holding something heavy above your head and 50 situps. They both did a great job!

Now that the weather is getting a little...um....less awesome, try and come prepared to be outside. There's a good chance that we'll be inside, but just as a precaution, bring something warm in case you have to play outside. We did our walking lunges outside last night because Scott was installing our new rings. I'm sure all of you would rather be cold than to have a tool dropped on your head. A special thanks goes out to Scott for being our "big ladder hero" and getting the new rings hung!

PLEASE NOTE that this Saturday morning's class will be rescheduled to 7:00AM. We have the gymnastics certification, and we have to make sure we get everything cleaned up before 9:00AM.

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WE DID IT! We climbed 103 flights of stairs all the way to the top of the Sear's Tower! Marty was there to set the pace, and time our breaks, and Zach was there to keep all of us laughing. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we had a blast! We got our numbers mixed up, so I climbed wearing Kim's bib number...but other than that I think we had everything right. About 63 flights into the climb I was feeling dizzy, and was hoping that 1/2 the stairs were "right turn" and half were "left turn". Much to my amazement, we reversed direction to even things out.

I couldn't be prouder (is that a word?) of you guys! It was a tough climb, but everyone motivated each other and kept going all the way to the top. I really mean it when I say that we have the BEST group of CrossFitters at our gym! We are thinking about organizing another stair climb - this time to the top of the Aon center. Anyone interested?

Zach and I attempted to do a handstand pyramid, but as you can see, I fell right into him. We definitely need to work on that a little more at the Fort.
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