Yesterday's team Saturday was inspired by our buddy Lisbeth at CrossFit Watertown. She's famous for making her people run to a specified location to retrieve a packet containing their workout. It's fun and just a little evil. Bill divided up teams, made people choose their scaling options, and then said 3, 2, 1, GO! And the WOD started! One team member had to run 400 meters to find me waiting with the workout. In the rain. (that part wasn't planned)

This was a mental exercise as much as it was physical. Your team was required to READ, and then form a strategy quickly. Hopefully you guys liked this bit of extra excitement and camaraderie.

It was decided that Pete and Drew are not allowed to be on the same team again if there are push-ups in the workout. They're without a doubt, faster than a speeding bullet. Jamie was on their team, and even with das boot, she was still able to participate in almost all of the workout. She didn't run, but she had to ride the bike instead. Those of you who have ridden it know it's just as evil. This trio was our winning team!

Thank you to everyone who came to the Paleo Breakfast. I think everyone agreed that this was one of the best ones yet! We enjoyed paleo pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit salad, Mark's muffins and Garth's freshly squeezed orange juice. Everyone ate until we were ready to bust, and then we got to enjoy each other's company. Ah....I love breakfast Saturdays!

Speaking of Saturdays, next weekend is our Totally 80's like....awesome Halloween party. In terms of RSVP-ing, we are at an all time low. If you crazy kids don't mind shooting your RSVP into comments for this post, that would be great. I have NO idea how much of my soon-to-be-world-famous Paleo Chili and margaritas to make if I don't know you're coming!

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Whenever Karen comes to visit, I'm always a little nervous. Is she going to like what we've done to the Fort since her last visit? Is she going to get all drunk and put the lamp shade on her head again? Will she embarrass me in front of all my friends? Will she leave my LEGS COMPLETELY DESTROYED FOR 3 DAYS?! Yes.....yes she will.

The workout yesterday was "Karen". Which is 150 wall ball shots for time. Some people look at this workout and say, "That's it?" But I say to you, beware. Beware of her fury.

We saw some amazing PR's from everyone. Our top spot on the board was held by Ryan Z for about 7 hours. Brandon Harvey set a huge PR, I think he wrote on the board that he beat his old time by over a full minute! We had a lot of CrossForters go through RX'd for the first time, and everyone did fantastic! Great, great job you guys. This workout is VERY hard, and you guys stuck it out like champs!

We also just had to guys finish our ramp-up session! Congrats to George and Brad! I feel kind of bad that Karen was your first workout out of ramp-up. I sorry. Hopefully you still come back.

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It has been a pretty exciting week at the Fort! We got to welcome back Jamie, who ruptured her achilles tendon a couple weeks ago in a freak accident. She is back in the Fort working on modified workouts in her bedazzled boot! It's great to have her spark and energy back at the Fort!

DAS BOOT!

The workout yesterday was FUN. It has little, teeny baby runs in it, and heavy hang power cleans. Ah....heavy hang power cleans!

4 rounds of:
7 hang power cleans (60/40)
12 pull-ups
200m run

Fun stuff! Everyone did a great job, even those of you who I forced to use extra weight. I'm mean like that. Emmitt came up and visited us from CrossFit Roselle, and showed us the world's fastest pull-ups. No joke, they were LIGHTNING FAST.

We have a new CrossForter alert! Everyone look out for Melissa! She's 4'9" of martial arts fury, and she's ready for some serious workout awesomeness!

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Ok, I don't want anyone getting too upset about this....but Coral got her first pull-up yesterday! YES I realize she has only been coming a few weeks. YES I realize there are people that have been coming forever who are DYING to get a pull-up. Know what the difference is? Coral is the little Mermaid.

That's kind of an inside joke from way back in the day when she tried double unders for the first time. I'm sure she'd be happy to demonstrate. She literally jumped on the pull-up bar and said, "Hey Jennie, can you teach me that kipping thing?" I roll my sleeves up and get right at it. 3 minutes later she gets her first pull-up. Then her 2nd. Then her third! Atta girl Coral!

The workout yesterday was:

5 rounds of
21 double unders
7 overhead squats

As part of the strength work, we saw Jeremy (not to be outdone by a pregnant lady) overhead squat his body weight (94kg) 4 times! Great job Jeremy! There were also some amazing new single rep max's set by Strong Julie, Kristy, Heather, Matt S., Taryn, Jack, Brianna - (50kg!), Danielle, Scott, Lisa and Kris. Great work you guys!

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Can anyone guess the most dangerous thing we do at the Fort? You'd think it would be something like rope climbs, overhead squats, or maybe even something tricky and hard like a split jerk. The number one injury causer at the Fort these days has been BOX JUMPS. I don't know if you guys are just in la-la land when you're jumping, but you MUST STAY FOCUSED my grasshoppers! No more shin bashings, or I am going to start wrapping all of you in bubble wrap!

The workout yesterday was:

25-20-15-10-5
calories on the rower
box jumps (24/20")

We wanted everyone to use a box that they could jump on with great speed and agility. Basically, if you had to stand there for 3 minutes just willing yourself to jump, your box was too high. We saw some great times on this workout. Know who crushed it? Neil! He told me yesterday that he finally figured out how to do his box jumps faster! Atta boy Neil!

The Paleo Pancake Breakfast is this Saturday, and I truly hope you can all make it. There are a few people on the sign up sheet, but we're going to need a few more people to help bring stuff. If you are attending the breakfast and can help bring something, please add your name to the list. Thanks!

This Sunday is the 5K run for breast cancer out in Woodstock. The race coordinators are asking that we try and form carpools whenever possible since parking is limited. Talk to other CrossForters that live by you, and see if they want to hitch a ride!

Last but not least, this Saturday marks the official end of the Better Body Challenge III. Participants, you all need to have your "after" pictures taken by this Saturday, October 23rd. I can't wait to see how everyone did!

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I got a call yesterday from Brandon Harvey. He had overslept that morning, and didn't make it to the 5:30AM class. The 4PM class was full, but he was wondering if he could just squeeze in. I tell him, "sure, come to the Fort". Unfortunately for Brandon, there were pull-ups in yesterday's workout. We can comfortably fit 12 people on our pull-up bar at once. Like this:

See? Only room for 12. Since Brandon was unlucky #13, we had to substitute pull-ups for push-ups, and he ended up doing his whole workout outside. But you know what? That's what you get for being unlucky #13! If you aren't registered for a class that's full, just be prepared that you might have to do something different than what the class is doing. Make sense?

The workout was:

4 rounds for max reps
:45 burpees
:15 rest
:30 shoulders to overhead
:30 rest
:15 pull-ups
:45 rest

The other thing I want you to notice about the picture above is that Trish is using a red band! Atta girl! Nice job moving down!

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My Barbell. Its cold steel and rough knurling are smooth, fast and fair. My barbell is my training partner. My barbell never tells me it’s having a bad day, it just isn’t feeling it, or that it has sore hamstrings and a tight lower back or that it drank too much last night. Without fail, my barbell is there every day in the gym waiting for me. Its whole purpose is dedicated to helping me succeed. When I succeed, my barbell succeeds. When I fail, my barbell fails.

My barbell is like math; it’s very black and white. Right or wrong. Lift or no lift. There is no middle ground with my barbell like English or Science. My barbell isn’t open to interpretation like a piece of Art. There is no barbell multiple choice, or essay answers. Lock it out, squat it below parallel, take if from the floor in one motion, look through at the top, stand it all the way up. My barbell can’t be cheated. I take comfort in that.

My barbell is smarter than I am. Before I know something went wrong, my barbell already knows. It knows if I pulled early, landed steady, drove through my heels, dipped forward, gave it too much knee bend or kept the bar close to my body. The system for telling me something went wrong is flawless: a failed rep.

Thank you, Barbell. Thank you for the time you put in at the gym with me. Thank you for the strength you give, the lessons you teach, and the consistency with which you help me train.

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