Welcome to CrossFit Fire!

Our 6:00am class has been suspended until further notice with the exception of Wednesday mornings.

11/17/08
We have some exciting news at CrossFit Fire! After many long discussions, Bill and I have made the decision that Bill will start doing CrossFit full time at the end of November! This will allow us to expand our current class schedule, and hopefully make your overall CrossFit Fire experience better. We are reviewing everyone's preferred class times, and will start offering more classes soon!

Ok, this is getting serious now...we have some missing CrossFitters! Have you seen these two CrossFitter?

11/16/08 Gymnastics Certification Post
Do you know one of those REALLY good movies you saw, but when you try and tell your friends about it, it just ends up sounding dumb? They kind of look at you like..."you really thought that was a good movie?" That's how stories about the gymnastics certification are going to be. My apologies in advance.

I can't even describe the fun weekend had. Jeff Tucker is more than could possibly be expected. He's an amazing coach, and he inspires people to push themselves farther than they think possible. His methods of coaching are so simple that even the most novice individual could learn the movement quickly and develop good form. But at the same time, even the very athletically gifted are challenged. There is no doubt in my mind that I am a better CrossFitter and a better coach after spending the weekend with Jeff Tucker.

I think it's a fair assessment that we had a GREAT group of people at our certification. We were on the small end for a cert, but I can say with absolute certainty that I would not have gotten as much out of this cert if there were 10 more people there. We had about 15 people, and Tucker was able to go hands on with each person for damn near every single movement we were learning. When you're talking about getting a room full of adults upside down, suspended from bars and pushing the limits of their abilities, it takes a certain amount of trust to do that. From the moment the cert started, I think all of us trusted Tucker. We trusted his spotting, his coaching and his knowledge.

I learned a lot this weekend, and it goes far beyond just learning how to do handstand pushups and back levers....here are the things I learned this weekend:

1. People from Texas say "damn" a lot. I have at least doubled the frequency of the use of the word "damn" in normal conversation after spending 2 days with Tucker.
2. No matter how sneaky you think you can be, Tucker will ALWAYS catch you for not wrapping your thumb around the damn bar.
3. Your extra supportive sports bra is your best friend if you are going to be upside down in a room full of men.
4. If you are spotting a handstand press, and you don't get your head out of the way, you end up scissored between Kelly Moore's legs as if she has a damn G-string full of dollar bills and was twirling on a pole at your bachelor party. Pervert.
5. "Free bleeding" is discouraged, and will require that you stick a tampon in your nose if you want to keep participating in Jeff Tucker's damn certification.
6. If you're going to take a two handed grab of someone's ass when they're upside down, DON'T chalk up like a maniac beforehand. Chalk leaves evidence. Enough said.
7. If you have a "well developed posterior chain" (thanks Brian Mac), it will be difficult to skin the damn cat without someone's hand shoving your big butt through for you. Thanks to everyone who volunteered by the way.
8. In order to properly spot someone, you need to be "all up on their bacon".
9. After 2 days of playing "let's be upside down" your body will hurt like you're a 90 year old woman.

11/16/08
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.

11/15/08
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.

11/14/08
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.

11/13/08
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.

11/12/08
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.

11/11/08
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.

11/10/08
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.

And here we are before the climb.

11/9/08
Have you ever looked outside at the weather and thought to yourself, "self....the weather is way too crappy to go for a run. Let's stay inside where it's warm and dry." Ever thought that? If you have, my guess is that the weather was probably similar to Saturday morning. It was about 40ish degrees, windy and raining. We're like the post office though. Rain, sleet, snow....whatever the weather we're taking care of business! We did 5 rounds for time of: run 400 meters, 35 push presses. (35kg/20kg) With the stair climb less than 24 hours away, we didn't want to exhaust our legs too much. Instead we punished our shoulders a little bit. Fortunately, everyone was coordinated enough to get their chin out of the way of the bar....except for me. I thought I'd slam the 20kg bar into my chin at full force just to show all of you what happens if you don't get your head out of the way. Yep...I love you guys that much.

Leslie tried handstand pushups for the first time and did GREAT! She was a little scared to kick up at first, but she quickly mastered kicking up and hollowing out her upper body. We're proud of you Leslie! Thanks to Sparky for coming to workout even though you weren't feeling well. We'll let you use that as your excuse for getting beat by Brittany....again.

I went to a "surprise party" last night. Ahem. I hope you all know what I'm talking about. I giggled for about 3 hours straight. It was a blast! I met a lot of great ladies, and I sincerely apologize to Alicca for spamming her party with my CrossFit flyers. :-) I'm hoping I'll see a few of you soon for your free week! (Chery....Jennifer.....Noreen...) CrossFit has changed my life and I know it can change yours too!

11/8/08
Team Friday! Hooray! The workout last night was in teams of two, each partner does 100 pull ups. Only one partner can be doing pull ups at a time. As soon as you get off the bar, you have to do 10 push ups, and 20 kettlebell swings before you can get back on the bar. The workout was scaled back to each team's skill level....so don't be scared by the 100 pull ups. Barbie and Janet were our winners! HOORAY! Another girl power team!

We had an unfortunate mishap with our pullup bar last night. One end of it is not secured to a flange, but rather is held down by a steel "U". This allowed the bar to flex juuust enough so that it created a weak point. During the workout, an entire section of the pullup bar broke! It snapped the metal bar right off at the threading. Hmm...this won't do! We'll be contacting some steel and welding companies to see if they can design something a little sturdier for us. Sorry!

The camera was not at the fort last night, so unfortunately I do not have a picture of our champions. I do, however, have a picture of people flipping heavy stuff....because remember everyone...you can't get sexy just by flipping pancakes!

11/7/08
So we're all sore. That's just the facts after the last few days. Can you guess the one thing that you would dread seeing on the whiteboard as the workout? What could possibly be written on there that would make EVERY SINGLE PERSON who came last night groan and shake their heads? 150 burpees for time. That's right people....it's the unthinkable, but it happened. Bill decided we should do 150 burpees for time. I have officially given him the title of "CrossFit mad scientist", so I don't question what he puts on the whiteboard.

I've been trying to go 21 days in a row without complaining, and I wear a little purple bracelet as my reminder. If I complain, I switch the bracelet to the other hand. Would you believe that I was in the process of removing the bracelet so it wouldn't get in my way during my burpees, and it BROKE!? It's too ironic for words.

We are organizing carpooling for the Sear's Tower climb on Sunday. Our team is one of the first to climb, so we have to be downtown by 6:30AM. YEAH! If you didn't sign up for the climb, but would still like to come with, please just let us know. We'll be going out for a team breakfast once the climb is over, anyone is welcome to join us.

11/6/08
If I had to guess, I'd guess that this week is a test to see how sore we can all get. I'm sure all of you are feeling the same all over awesomeness that I'm feeling. Ugh. One of my goals for this year is to get a Masseuse Crossfitter to join our gym. This would, of course, be in the best interest of the masseuse. Imagine how much business we could drive their way, especially after a week like this.

The workout last night was 5 rounds for time of 15 deadlifts, 12 hang power cleans, 9 front squats and 6 push jerks. For those of you who were here for the "get a grip" team Friday event, this workout was an all too familiar horror. Everyone did a great job though. There were 12 people at our 6pm class, so we had to get creative with the equipment sharing, but we made it through! We had a visit from our buddy Pete again, and he amazed us with his strength. He was our only CrossFitter to go through this workout at the prescribed weight of 60kg! Nice work Pete. How's your grip feeling today? :-)

Mariah had me laughing again last night. With 12 people putting forth maximum effort, the Fort got a little warm. Remember how warm it was outside? I'm walking by people lifting, squatting and jerking watching the sweat just pour off them...and Mariah looks over at me very timidly and says, "It's kinda hot in here". It never once dawned on me to open the door. Sorry guys!

I would like to welcome our two new members, Nathan and Megan. They are our third married couple to join together. You guys are too cute! Nathan is Brittany's brother, and so far it looks like he has her same level of determination to do well! Megan is quite possibly one of the sweetest people I have ever met! We are all so glad to have you at CrossFit Fire! WELCOME!

11/5/08
Last night we had a two part workout. First, we got everyone good and jello-legged by doing 3:00 of squats. (as many reps as possible) Then we did 3 rounds for time of 15 ring dips, 20 sumo deadlift high pulls and 25 kettlebell swings. I had to laugh a little when Mariah called them "kettleballs"...it was kind of an inside joke with me and Mark.

The workout was fantastic, and it was made even better by the fact that it is still hanging out around 70 degrees. Granted, it's pitch black by 5:30pm, but hey....whaddyagonnado?

11/4/08
Our good buddy Will sent us some additional pictures from the Halloween party. Let me just say that I am so jealous of his camera! I think it would do wonders for our poor gym photos if we had a little better camera! My point and shoot just doesn't have the same flash power as his SLR! (jealous)

I will go on record as saying that yesterday's workout was way, way harder than Bill and I first thought. My compliments to all of you for going through it like total CHAMPS! One of the big slow downs was the jump rope. Bill had the 6pm class substitute 10:1 single unders for double unders. This means that the 6pm class was doing 500 single unders instead of 50 double unders! Whoa. This was supposed to motivate you guys to give double unders a shot, but instead you all stubbornly trudged through 500 single unders for 3 rounds! (hey at least you're persistent, right?) The workout yesterday was 3 rounds for time of: row 50 calories, 50 double unders, 50 sit ups, and 50 supermans.

I'd like to welcome our newest member, Nicole! Nicole is a tough chick and comes to us with an excellent fitness base. She's the type of gal who uses a good workout as her stress reliever at the end of the day. We're glad you found the ultimate stress relief - CrossFit!

11/2/08
Thanks to everyone who came Saturday morning! It is an unseasonably warm weekend, and this weather is a big treat. We would like to welcome our two newest members, Megan and Nathan! The workout Saturday morning was Thrusters and Jumping pull ups. We did 50 thrusters, 10 jumping pull ups, 40 thrusters, 20 jumping pull ups, 30 thrusters, 30 jumping pull ups, 20 thrusters, 40 jumping pull ups, 10 thrusters, 50 jumping pull ups. This was one of those workouts that are hard to keep track of. "Wait, how many thrusters do I do now?" Lisa brought her two daughters with, and they were absolute angels. They hung out in the office coloring dozens of pictures of Tinkerbell waiting patiently for class to be over so they could swing on the rope. It's amazing to watch Hannah climb! She can climb about 3 lengths of her body!

I want to thank our CrossFitters who came to our Halloween party. We had a great time! There were some really great costumes....take a look at the pictures and see who you recognize! We had a few friends who weren't at the party this year; I think you know who you are. Just wanted to let you know that I heart you, and miss you lots.

11/1/08
Is it just me, or did October go by really fast!? In honor of Halloween, we did Zombie Helen. We did 3 rounds for time of run 400 meters, 21 DEADlifts (body weight if you can), 12 DEADhang pull ups. The special surprise for anyone who wore their costume was that you got to shave a minute off your time. Unfortunately, my post about wearing your costume came too late in the day, and Wonder Woman was the only one who came in costume. Believe it or not, that gold girdle thing actually made it quite difficult to work out. Couple that with the fact that my red tube top of power didn't want to stay up, and that my butt stuck out of my skirt whenever I bent over, and you're looking at a recipe for disaster. I'm pretty sure that Lover's Lane will not be contacted by any actual superheroes to design their attire as it would be an epic failure.

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