If there was any doubt yesterday which muscles we were working, you surely all realize it this morning. Maybe that's why they call those "Good mornings"....because when you go to get out of bed the next day it's like, WHOA! Good MORNING hamstrings!

After our strength work of dead hang chin-ups and good mornings, we did this little WOD:

3 rounds:
15 burpees
30 kettlebell swings

It's never the super complicated workouts that end up being hard. It's little short guys like this that sneak up on you and poke you in the eye when you're not looking.

George, I'm proud of you. After being at the Fort for just over a year,  you are finally coming out of your shell. Don't get me wrong, you're still VERY quiet. Last night was the first time I heard you celebrating your victory. "I totally beat Garth this morning!"

Know who's REALLY good at dead hang chin-ups? (besides Drew) Bank of America Ryan. During the 7PM class I overheard Zach ask him if he ever went to prison because his chin-ups were THAT good.

We have had a few competitor spots open up for WOTW this Sunday. If you're interested in competing we now have 2 mens and 2 ladies spots open. Register today! In case you needed a little extra incentive to participate, I'll dangle the carrot....1st place will receive $100 in Life asrx gift certificates, $25 2Pood gift certificate, $35 progenex, Lululemon water bottle and yoga mat, and FREE MEAT from the meat goat!

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Yesterday's class was was one SUPER strength WOD. It took some of us (Nicole, cough, cough) more than one class to finish. Someone mentioned that we should have punched her card twice for going over into the 5pm class haha. Nah, good for Nicole for buckling down and finishing it all! After all, it was a doosey of a WOD. Here's what we did:

Complete 5 sets:
5-10 backsquats
:20 rest
10-15 dumbbell thrusters
:20 rest
5-10 wall climbs 
:20 rest
10-15 knees to elbows
3:00 rest

If you're not sure what a wall climb is check out the link above. They're pretty cool and quite a workout! The picture here to the right actually shows the progression from start to middle. Thanks for such an awesome action shot Amie, Dolores, and Brad! To scale this movement you just climb as high as you can instead of walking all the way up so that your chest touches the wall. You do have to be careful with these because sometimes you run out of strength as you're coming back down and you loose control then end up flat on your face. Know when to call it quits with these little buggers!

So, we all know you love the Fort, but the REST OF THE WORLD wants to know what you think too! Visit this link and rate the Fort today! Show us some LOVE!

We are hosting a MEGA event, War of the WODs THIS Sunday and could use all the help we can get. Please sign up on the bulletin board if you're willing to commit to volunteering. We could use food donations, people to setup, and break down. Even if you just have an hour to spare come on by! Thanks guys !

 

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Ok here it is. The information you have all been waiting for! Here are the WODS for this Sunday's War of the WODS!

WOD 1:

With 10:00 on the clock
Row 2,000m
as many double unders as possible in the remaining time

WOD 2:

Max reps unbroken front squat (ladies @ 3/4 body weight, men @ body weight)
rest up to 2:00
Max reps unbroken pull-ups

WOD 3:

15:00 AMRAP
5 Shoulder to overhead (70/50kg)
7 box jumps (30/24")
9 KB swings (32/24kg)

There is a master document that you can reference for movement standards, parking information, spectator info, heat times, etc. Please read this document before asking any questions. If you ask a question that is answered in the document you will be fined a 5 burpee penalty!

Guys, this event is going to be GI-NORMOUS. If you are planning on coming as a spectator, please check the master document for parking information. We have permission to use some of the surrounding businesses for parking, but not everyone wants us blocking their space. Let's be courteous to our Fort neighbors and only park where we have permission.

We will be running live scoring at this event. (impressive, I know) There will be separate pages for men's scores and ladies scores.

ALSO - the new CrossFit Fire t-shirts will be on sale starting Sunday, along with my WORLD FAMOUS AMAZE-BALLS chili. Please bring your cash if you'd like to feast on some delicious chili, or sport your new CFF t-shirt.

I'm very VERY excited for this event! Hope to see you all there!

 

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It is no secret by now that Bill LOVES his Big Green Egg. Heck, I love it too. We are always looking for delicious recipes we can cook on our egg and this recipe was a home run. If you don't have an Egg, this would also be delicious cooked low and slow on your grill or in the oven.

Ingredients:

2 Pork tenderloins (1.5lbs each) (These come as 2 roasts in a 3lb package at Meijer)
10oz crimini or portobello  mushrooms chopped
1/2 package  baby spinach (about 75g)
2 slices thick cut bacon - chopped
2 garlic cloves - minced
2T butter
1/4c white wine or vermouth
4 green onions, chopped
60g chevre cheese
100g feta cheese
1T fresh thyme leaves chopped
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Crust:
1T fresh thyme leaves chopped
1T fresh oregano leaves chopped
2tsp Kosher salt
2tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4c stone ground dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic finely minced

Directions:
First you'll need to prep the roasts. Remove all silver skin from the outside of the roasts. Then butterfly the roast so it lays open nice and flat. Place a piece of saran wrap over the meat, then pound it with a mallet until it is about an inch to an inch and a half thick. Meat should be nice and even when you're done - no lumpy spots! Set aside.

For the filling, you'll need a deep saute pan. Melt the butter over medium heat, and saute mushrooms, garlic and green onion until softened. Add chopped bacon and cook until crisp. Add spinach and saute until completely wilted.

Add the wine/vermouth to the pan and scrape all the edges of the pan to incorporate all the pan drippings into the mushrooms. Cook about 5 more minutes, or until all wine has evaporated.

Stir in the cheeses and thyme and remove from heat. Stir until the cheese is melted and creamy.

Spread a thin layer of filling over both loins, leaving about an inch of space from the edge. Now carefully roll the loins together and tie with butcher's string. I tied it about every 2 inches. Make sure not to tie too tightly, as this will squish out all the filling.

Coat the outside with the crust and allow roasts to come to room temperature before cooking. (this allows for a more even cooking) Bake at 375 50-55 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches about 145 - 150. Let rest under foil for 10 minutes before serving.

DELICIOUS!

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Tommy Mo sent me a text message yesterday and it said "Snowy Greetings!" I thought that was clever, so I'm stealing it for today's blog post.

The workout yesterday was:
5 rounds of
5 power cleans (70/50kg)
10 burpees

This was a heavy workout, and it was great to see so many of you pushing to go heavy! I have to give a shout out to Catherine for this workout. She hates burpees more than anyone else I know, and yet she kept pushing to finish this workout with a smile on her face! Nice work Catherine!

Another shout out goes to all the January ramp-up-ers! After yesterday morning they have all successfully completed their 6 sessions, and now will be joining group classes! We're excited to have you as part of our family.

In case you were curious, yes we had group classes last night despite the snow. I think the worse the weather forecast, the more driven Bill is to get to the Fort for classes. It's like a challenge or something.

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Well my Chickadees, we have a very busy Fort these next few weekends. As you are well aware, the War of the WODs is next Sunday, the 29th. I hung volunteer sign up sheets on the board at the Fort and I need LOTS of help. I'm looking for people to help with the following:

• Judging - I could use 3-4 more people. There is a judge training meeting this Sunday at 11:00AM. Be there!
• Event setup/tear down - We'll be setting up the tents and other stuff on Saturday the 28th after Team Saturday. Stick around if you can help. Tear down will be around 5PM on Sunday after the event.
• Paleo treats - we will have a concession stand selling chili and paleo treats. If you could volunteer to bring a paleo treat that would be super duper. Cookies, chocolate thingies, bananas, apples, trail mix etc. Drop them off at the Fort by Thursday the 27th so I can baggie them and price them.
• Equipment switchers - I need 2-3 people to help switch equipment between WODs, and even between heats for event #2.

Any help is appreciated, even if you can only stay for an hour or two. This event is going to be AMAZE-BALLS! We had a few people drop out, so there are now a few open spots if you'd like to sign up.

AND THEN. The January Hero WOD is this Sunday at 9AM. Yes, these workouts are hard, but they are supposed to be symbolic of the sacrifice made by the great men and women that they honor. Hope to see you there!

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I know you like to set PR's. Heck, who DOESN'T like to get better at something? Truth of the matter is, we all do. What you have to realize is that not every day is a PR day. There's a famous story about me that goes way back. I was all excited about one rep max day for deadlifts. Looked forward to it all week. When the day finally arrived I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning! Dashed off to the Fort, laced up my shoes and got ready to be EPIC and set a new PR. Only, I didn't PR. Matter of fact, I couldn't even pull my old PR off the ground. Not once.

AND THEN. I kicked the chalk bucket. Back in the old days it was just an old black bucket that sat on the floor. And while I spent the next hour vacuuming up that mess I got to reflect on my actions.

You see, there are a lot of factors that go into your PR's. Have you been sleeping enough? Eating right? Spending enough time on Heather's massage table? Maybe we had a particularly hard week for your hamstrings. Maybe it was a week with a TON of pull-ups. Any of those things could easily affect your strength. And know what? That's OK. It's OK to NOT PR every time you touch a barbell. Know why? Because there's always next time!

Yesterday we repeated WOD 11.2 from the 2011 CrossFit Open.

15:00 AMRAP
9 deadlifts
12 push-ups
15 box jumps

I wish I could say there were a bunch of PR's in this workout, but there really weren't all that many. Our strength work was floor presses and heavy kettlebell swings, and that will definitely take some of the wind out of your sails when it comes time to deadlift and jump on something really high. Despite the lack of PR's, you guys did great! We saw lots of good form and amazing determination! I'm proud of you guys!

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