Can you believe our Fort has been around for 4 years?! Man, if there's anything worth celebrating, it's THAT!

Following our annual tradition we will once again be traveling down to Chicago to dine at Fogo De Chao. This is an all you can eat Brazilian Steak house. Mmmmmmmm....meat....

This event is open to all our members, and the special people in their lives. Date night! Please RSVP in the comments so we can get a head count.

Date: February 4th
Time: 6:30pm
Place: Fogo De Chao in Chicago

Last year we had a school bus to drive us downtown. We're looking into other transportation...possibly with a bathroom. (we will not discuss specific events which led to this necessity) I'll keep you posted on possible group transportation.

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The timing of the workout Bill designed for Thursday was a little goofy. I (and the ENTIRE 5pm class) was having a hard time figuring out how to run 2 heats. All I can say is thank goodness he called me back before the 5pm class started to WOD. Bill obviously had the perfect plan; he’s a genius when it comes to running the clock. Oh yeah, and he saved the evening classes from doing 2:00 of extra work! We all owe him a BIG THANK YOU!

We skipped the strength work yesterday since the WOD programmed was a tad longer than usual. However, I bet your upper body thinks otherwise…those floor presses got REAL heavy quick, didn’t they?

The WOD was:
5 rounds for total reps
:50 floor press (60/40)
1:10 rest
:50 pull-ups
1:10 rest
:50 anchored sit-ups
1:10 rest

A lot of you were working with a strategy for the 50 seconds, kind of like Fight Gone Bad. You’d set a goal number of reps and once you hit that number you allowed yourself to rest the remainder of the time. Bravo to you for not burning yourself out in the first few rounds and keeping your reps realistic and consistent throughout. Did any of your find yourselves getting really tired during the sit-ups? Next time that happens, try to get your arms involved. If you throw your arms forward as you’re coming up you’ll get a little more force behind you.

I have to give a shout out to RTL for killing this WOD he tallied up way over 300 reps! I’d also like to give some love to Scott L for his impressive floor presses at Rx’d weight. You buddy, are one strong son-of-a-gun!

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Our buddy Brian showed up last night for the 5PM class and it was a fantastic surprise. It's always great when people come back and visit us. Do you guys know that you're welcome ANY time for a WOD? It's true. I wouldn't lie about this. The door at the Fort works the same way it did when you left. No new secret locks or handshakes or anything. Come visit us....we miss you!

The WOD last night was:
3 rounds for time
10 handstand push-ups
20 burpees
30 wall ball shots (20/14lb)

Turned out this was a long-ish workout. Our top time for the day was Drew at just over 10 minutes. This should come as no surprise though since he has the world's fastest handstand push-ups.

There were a lot of questions about scaling handstand push-ups. My advice to you is this: If you can do them, but not very many, just lower the amount you do each round. I'd rather see you working unassisted even if it's a lesser number. Now, if you ALMOST do them unassisted and can do them against the wall without killing yourself, then grab something to shorten the distance for your head. Kicking in and out of bands is a skill that MUST be mastered prior to trying to use it in a WOD. You're likely to injure yourself or your coach (ahem, BRIAN) if you don't quite have this down.

How are you guys liking the Monday recipe posts? Would you rather I did the Monday inspiration posts again?

Also - the sign up sheet for the Snowshoeing outing is hanging on the whiteboard at the Fort. Get signed up, there are only 12 spots available!

Double Also - we only need ONE MORE LADY to sign up for the Lululemon hoodie before we can place the ladies order! Men, sorry, but there's a long way to go for your hoodies. Perhaps we could find something else?? I'll poke around and see what I can find.

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The strength work yesterday was to either set a new one rep max for clean and jerk, or go light and work on form. The morning classes were full of people mixing it up between the two movements. It's great to see so many people getting stronger! Catherine - congrats on your new PR!

The WOD was 1 round for max reps of:
3:00 hang power cleans (60/40kg)
3:00 rest
3:00 russian KB swings (24/16kg)
3:00 rest
3:00 row for calories

Lisa totally crushed this workout! She was writing her numbers on the board and I was like, "WHOA! You got 163 reps going RX'd?" Lisa just smiled and asked, "why, is that good?" YES IT'S GOOD! Great work girlie. You killed it!

Reminder - tonight at 7PM is the nutrition discussion of the CENTURY! Ok, that's a little over dramatic. It's Bill's diabetes, kidney failure and Paleo talk. These discussions are open to everyone, so bring friends, family and neighbors that you think might benefit from this!

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I had been out of shape and overweight for as long as I can remember. I was that kid who was picked on in gym class for most of my life. It continued on into my adult life but I grew to accept that it was who I was. I had tried several times to lose weight but it always seemed to come back. At my heaviest I weighed in at 276 pounds. I work as a firefighter and knew that there was no way I would be able to finish my career in the condition I was in. Now a husband and father of two I knew I had to do something. I was tired of feeling that way.

Some friends had told me about this place called CrossFit Fire and how great it was so I decided to check it out. As soon as I walked in I felt intimidated watching all these people in great shape working out. Turns out, they were the most positive and supportive people I had ever met. I completed my free workout and was hooked so I immediately signed up for their ramp-up.  Once I was in ramp-up I knew I had made the right decision because working out was actually fun and I couldn’t wait for the next class.

Bill and Jennie worked with me to get through the workouts by helping me scale to my abilities. Pretty soon I was doing the full workouts with the others in class and was seeing results at an amazing rate. Then something happened that I didn’t expect. I actually started to feel good about who I was and the person I was becoming. I figured I would get in physical shape but never expected the mental change that took place. I was now more confident and mentally stronger than I ever thought I would be.

Bill and Jennie are truly amazing people because they don’t treat The Fort as a business but a passion. I am proud to call them both my coaches and friends. Their programming and nutritional advice is second to none and I truly believe that they along with everyone else at The Fort saved my life. When I started at CrossFit Fire I weighed in at 222 pounds and 23.5% body fat. I am now 175 pounds and have 8.1% body fat. At my annual physical, my doctor told me my cholesterol had dropped 100 points and that she had never seen that without medication. She also said I don’t have to try to lose weight anymore-words I never thought I would hear from a doctor.

I struggled as to what pictures to use in this testimonial because I still didn’t feel confident being half naked on the internet. After I saw my pictures my wife took compared to when I started CrossFit I decided I had to in order to show the progress. This was very hard for me to do. The solo clothed picture is from my heaviest. The other ones are from before I started at CrossFit Fire to present.

Thank again Bill, Jennie, Josh, Steph, Zach and everyone else at The Fort for your support and encouragement.

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I got to the Fort a few minutes late yesterday so when I walked in, the strength work was in full swing. I have to say that it was great to see so many smiling faces! We only had the 9AM class, but we still managed to get 28 people through a great WOD!

We couldn't let the 2011 holiday season roll by without doing an all time holiday WOD favorite - 21-15-9 of box jumps, burpees and ball slams! There were a TON of PR's for this workout, even for people who scale. I'm pretty sure I heard Jamie M say after the workout "ugh, I feel like I've been out drinking all night". So now in addition to the Fran Cough, we have the burpee hangover!

Hey guys, if you grab any merchandise from the front room please make sure to let your coach know what you're taking. We'll get a sheet printed out so you can just write down what you're taking and how you'd like to pay for it...but for now just let a coach know. Did somebody take one of the small sweatshirts? We're coming up short.

Reminder - Wednesday night at 7PM is Bill's nutrition discussion on diabetes/kidneys and the paleo diet. This discussion is being brought by special request from a few of our members. Make sure you don't miss it! This is the chance to convince that loved one to change how they eat!

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Ingredients

6 green peppers, seeded
1 lb ground beef
2 c finely chopped cauliflower
1 c chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp basil
7oz tomato sauce
1 tsp soy sauce or 1/2 tsp tamari
1 tsp cider vinegar
dash of hot pepper sauce
tiny pinch of cloves

Directions

Immerse peppers in boiling water for 3 minutes. Sprinkle insides with salt, and set upsie down on a paper towel to dry.

Cook beef, onions, and minced garlic in a pan until meat is browned. Add cauliflower, tomato sauce and seasonings. Salt and pepper to taste.

Fill peppers with a spoon and bake in a dutch oven or covered dish at 375 degrees for  15-18 minutes.

EASY. DELICIOUS. BOOM.

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