I heard more than a few times yesterday that people were REALLY glad we weren't running. Granted, I feel like that EVERY time there isn't running in the workout, but yesterday I heard that from people who actually like to run. Perhaps it had something to do with the 40 mph winds?

Stacy and Pete are working hard to get ready for regionals at the end of April. They have dedicated themselves to doing multiple workouts in the same day, and they even run when NOBODY ELSE wants to! Yesterday not only did they run outside, they also rowed, and swung kettle bells. You two are tough cookies, and we at the Fort are proud of you for all your hard work!

The strength work yesterday was dead lift 3-3-3+ at 70, 80 and 90% of your single rep max. For some of our new members, we worked up to a single rep max. Nicole pulled an amazing 115kg's! Atta girl! Nice job taking a bronze medal in dead lifting during your FIRST WEEK.

The metcon was from the Mountain Region Sectionals, and it went a little something like this:

AMRAP in 10:00 of
6 Cleans (60/40kg's)
9 chest to bar pull-ups
12 box jumps (24/20")

The highest score for the women at sectionals was 4 rounds and some change, and our Stacy got over 5 rounds! Woo Hoo! Steph L definitely wins the push-yourself-to-the-limits award for yesterday's workout. She kept chugging away even when it started to suck a LOT.

In case you're wondering, the cleans were with a full squat. We learned last weekend that anytime someone says "squat cleans" Coach Burgener kills a kitten. As Sage put it, "saying squat clean is like saying squat back squat or squat front squat...it's redundant."

WE HAVE A NEW CAMERA! We will be resuming snapping bajillions of pictures doing the workouts, as our new camera arrived yesterday evening. I still haven't figured out how to use it, but the manual is only 915 pages long, and it should be an easy read.

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Strength work yesterday was press 3-3-3+, and we saw some new PR's! Earl was bound and determined to make the record board, so he worked his way up to a single rep max of 92.5kg's! Nice work!

The metcon was 5 rounds of:

30 double unders
15 broad jumps
7 dumbbell push jerks (50% of your body weight)

My buddy Sam actually let the words, "That's it? That's easy" slip out of his lips right before we started the workout. After his first set of broad jumps he smiled a little and said, "Ok,the jumps suck." Hopefully you learned your lesson, and will refrain from ever saying the word "easy" inside the Fort again. We'll let it slide just this once, since I'm sure ANYTHING seems easier than Nancy.

So I hate to break it to you guys, but I don't think there will be affiliate cup tryouts this Saturday. We have a few people interested in doing a multiple WOD day just for the experience, but only a handful of people who are actually interested in going to regionals as a team. We have a multiple WOD day planned for April 3rd, so we are going to just save the fun-ness for that day. We are still having Victoria Cook come and give her presentation on goals setting, and I hope as many of you attend as possible. She helps men and women set a path to reaching their goals both professionally and personally.

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If you groan every time you see overhead squats on the board, then yesterday was your worst nightmare. Fear not....because you are not alone. Even some of the Fort's most elite athletes struggle with over head squats. It's kind of like a beautiful ballet of flexibility, strength, balance and body awareness. If even one thing is off by an inch, the bar comes crashing down. Even the almighty Pete had some work to do on his squats when we first met him. He spent the last 8 months working on his ankle flexibility so that he could cleanly get below parallel. Yes, he's a BEAST at them now, but it's because he put in the hard work.

NO BEING MAD AT OVERHEAD SQUATS!

Put the time into developing your flexibility, and they will quickly become one of your favorite movements. Jamie is another great example of this. We always teased her that she went "boobs to the floor" on her squats, but yesterday BY MAGIC she was overhead squatting with amazing form. I think that was her birthday present this year. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!

Anyways...I'm rambling.

Strength was overhead squats 3-3-3+ at 70, 80 and 90% of your single rep max. We saw several people go the distance and go for several reps at their body weight! Pete got 8 reps, Matty Lo got 3 (I think) and Mark R got 5! Good work boys! We ladies are going to have to get busy if we want to get to 15 reps before you do.

The metcon was Nancy:
5 rounds for time
400m run
15 overhead squats (40/30kg)

Everyone did fantastic! This workout is BRUTAL, but you guys handled it like champs. My Guns 'n' Hoses class absolutely crushed it! I think the sunshine is making you guys stronger. Great work on all the PR's....I'd list them all but I HAVE NO CAMERA. Feel free to post to comments with your PR's, because you guys deserve an internet high-five for all your  hard work.

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I know you all have goals. We scrawl them onto glittery paper and hang them in the lobby to keep them in the forefront of our minds. In keeping with our tradition of being goal oriented, we are pleased to welcome Victoria Cook to the Fort for a goals workshop this Saturday! Victoria has helped me both professionally and personally to stay on track and reach even the most difficult of my goals. Here is a description of her presentation:

Struggling to reach your goals?  You may be making one of the three common mistakes that hold most people back.  Join Guilt-Free Results Expert and Coach, Victoria Cook, as she shares with you what those three mistakes are and how to avoid them.

Participants will:

• Identify what's holding them back
• Gain strategies to overcome obstacles to their fitness goals or any other kind of goals
• Learn what it takes to move forward with confidence

This short interactive presentation will provide you with lots of information you can use right away to avoid the common mistakes that could be holding you back and move you into action on your goals.

Hope to see you all there!

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Well, our camera is still out of commission, but not to worry! We ordered a new, shiny camera and should be back up and running soon. Hopefully I can overcome my clumsiness so the new camera doesn't suffer the same fate.

Yesterday our strength work was power snatch 3-3-3-1-1-1.

Our metcon was from Wild Bill's laboratory

AMRAP in 15:00 of
250m row
7 handstand push-ups

I'd like to propose that if Bill is going to have us running up and down stairs so many times, that we start listing "one flight of stairs" in our workouts. Otherwise if people from other gyms do our WODs, they'll wonder why we didn't get more rounds.

Everyone did fantastic yesterday. One our newest members, Kristen Tucker, just flew through this little number. Watch for her to do AMAZING things in the next few months people! She's already got her unassisted pull-ups, and she's even got some speed under her feet.

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It should come as no surprise to you that I have a total crush on Sage Burgener. She is an amazing athlete. Some of the very first weight lifting videos that I watched were of young Sage doing the clean & jerk and the snatch in her Dad's garage. She is skilled, strong, loves tall socks, and is a phenomenal coach. While she was here I had the pleasure of watching her snatch 72kg's clean off the floor. IT.WAS.CRAZY. I want to thank Sage and her team for taking the time to travel to our little box and put on such an amazing certification. Tracy, the cert wouldn't have been the same without the special stretching torture you put Zach through. I still giggle when I picture the faces he was making.

So here is the question you are all dying to know - how did you guys fit 40 people into your little box? GOOD QUESTION. Things were pretty tight, but definitely not unpleasant. I think it made the cert feel more intimate since we were all standing on top of each other.

As your coaches, I feel that this weekend gave us some great tools to help all of you become better at the Olympic lifts! Sage let us know that Garth was the very first person to go through her cert shirtless, which I thought was quite an honor. Good work Garth!

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The strength work yesterday was dead lift 5-5-5+ at 65, 75, and 85% of your single rep max. Amazingly, we had some people lift 85% of their old single rep max over 10 times! You kids are so strong! Know what that tells me? That you probably have a new single rep max in the very near future. (Again, I have a crystal ball occasionally)

The metcon made people pretty glad that they skipped dessert this week, as the weights you used were based on your body weight.

Christine:
3 rounds
500m row
12 dead lifts (body weight)
21 box jumps (24")

We had quite a few people go through this prescribed, so we finally got to fill in some spaces on the white board! Congrats to all of you guys for gutting this one out - it was TOUGH!

Let's go back to the dead lifts for a moment. I want to mention that one of our new members, Kinsy, is VERY STRONG. I was trying to guess what her single rep max was so she could use that to base her strength work off of. I guessed she would max out around 80 or 85kg's....boy was I wrong! Kinsy pulled 92kg's off the floor for a single rep! ATTA GIRL!

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