During the strength yesterday we played with handstand holds. Some of us were perched on a box, against the wall, or free standing. No matter which version of the handstand hold you did I am proud of your willingness to hangout upside down! When working with handstands either in strength or a WOD remember to keep your core tight and have “active shoulders.” I loved the competitiveness the strength brought out in Amie and Andy yesterday. Amie was determined to beat Andy in a handstand hold. But, to Andy’s dismay she did in fact hold out longer than him! Way to go Amie! GIRL POWER!

The WOD yesterday was:
3 Rounds of:
15 Box Jumps (30/24)
30 Anchored Sit-ups

The taller box jumps and anchored sit-ups really engaged our hips throughout the entire WOD. Whoa, can you say hip burner? I am so proud of Casey for stepping up during the WOD and using a higher box than normal. Atta girl! You'll quickly conquer the 24" in a WOD, I can feel it!

I want to give a BIG welcome to our recent ramp-up graduates! Six new members took over the 6pm class and officially completed ramp-up. Each and every one of you did an awesome job and we look forward to seeing ALL of your smiling faces in group classes.

Hi everyone! Greetings from the frozen land of Door County! We're enjoying our little weekend away despite the fact that we are without heat. Brady slept with his winter hat on last night.

I have a few  announcements - the first is Paleo Thanksgiving. We have finalized a location and a date, so make sure you put it on your calendars! The Saturday after Thanksgiving we'll be having our annual feast at Old Mill Kitchen Design in McHenry. Please RSVP through the events page.

We also have our Surviving the Holidays nutrition discussion scheduled for Monday night at 7PM. This will be about a 45 minute discussion on how you can make a safe passage from Thanksgiving through Christmas without adding inches to your waist.

I'm also excited to announce that we will be adding a "Little Flames" kids class! This class will be Saturdays at 10AM for kids 6-12yrs old, and it will run in 8 week sessions. More info to come!

Last but not least (and my personal favorite) is Karaoke night. Corkscrew Pointe in McHenry will be having their monthly karaoke night on Wednesday, November 23rd. I would love to get a group together and go sing our faces off! I'm not sure what time it starts, but I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday’s WOD was:
5 rounds of:
With a 3:00 clock:
500m row
Max wall ball shots (20/14)
3:00 rest

Mental toughness is the ability to consistently sustain one’s ideal performance state during adversities in competition. Are you mentally tough??

The length and design of this WOD really required some mental toughness. I am proud to say, the six o’clock class all displayed mental toughness during this taxing WOD last night. I've noticed in the past some people don't work until the clock runs out. Some athletes stop as soon as the coach starts counting down, 3-2-1- rest. Which got me thinking…I bet everyone could have gotten just one more rep in if they didn't quit early. So, during the 6pm class I decided to STOP counting down so everyone would work until they heard the buzzer. I overheard Drew saying that the last 10 seconds of each round felt like an eternity since I didn’t count down! But you know what? Without that count down Drew busted his butt until the buzzer stopped him and actually accumulated a few more reps then he would have otherwise. Way to go my friends, you ARE mentally tough!

Phil S totally deserves some kudos after last night. I was riding him a bit (ok, maybe a lot) about his rowing form during the warm-up. He really showed me how dedicated he is by making changes to his form during the WOD. His pulls on the rower really started to look great by the end! Nice job Phil.

Everyone should have goals.  Goals are very important to have because they keep us focused and driven towards a certain thing.  Goals also help us to see our progress for all the hard work we do at the Fort.  If you have attended some of my morning classes or looked on the white board you know that I have been asking people for at least two goals that would be obtainable within approximately six months.  I know some of the other coaches have been putting other peoples goals on the board as well.  Obviously if you are working on your goals on your own and do not want or need any assistance, no problem, keep up the good work.  For those that like a little assistance or just like having workouts written out for them what I have been trying to do is give people different workouts to do on their own.  These workouts are tailored to each individual and their goals.  These workouts are made to be quick so they can be done after class in about 5 or 10 minutes.  I do not expect you to do the goal work everyday, just when you have a little extra time and a little extra energy after class or any time on your own.  I understand that if your goal work is part of the strength or WOD for that day that you already worked towards your goal. I give you the goal work so you can do it at your own pace.  With that, if in six months you only did one or two goal workouts don’t blame me for you not reaching your goal .

The goal work is a work in progress and one of the struggles are that many people come to different classes with different coaches.  So for the people that have come to me, what I have been doing is writing your goal workouts on the white board and when you complete the workout just put a check next to your name or write down what you completed if you didn’t complete everything or did extra.  I am also going to start something online with a google document.  The google document lets everyone use it and change it.  This way if you are working with one coach and that coach isn’t at the Fort everyday or during the times you go, all you need to do is open the google document and see what the new goal workout is.  It will be up to you as to which way you prefer or you can do both ways.  I will be checking the white board and the google document as often as I can.

As far as the google document goes just click on the link below.  Save it to your favorites and anytime you want to go to it just click on the link from your favorites menu.  After you open up the link, find your name and you will see your goal workout.   Once you have completed the goal work just check the completed box or type in what you did.  Once I know you did the goal workout I’ll give you another one.

So in summary, goals are important and everyone should have them.  If you are working on your goals on your own, no problem.  If you don’t have a goal workout set up yet and want a goal workout tell one of the coaches or just put your name and goal on the white board or in the google document.  If there are any questions please feel free to ask me or e-mail me at josh@crossfitfire.com.

Goal Work Document Link:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ak_hAyXH3IAVdFpXMzhhN0Z1cEpPS244TE52ZXBfV2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

Yesterday's WOD was an awesome accolade to the number one.

1 round for total reps/cals:
1:00 row
1:00 rest
1:00 deadlifts (100/70)
1:00 rest
1:00 burpees
1:00 rest
1:00 KB swings (24/16)
1:00 rest
1:00 thrusters (40/30)
1:00 rest
1:00 pull-ups

Personally, I LOVED this WOD. One minute is the perfect amount of work:rest time. Way to go WODFather, another sweet METCON in the books!

Before the 5pmers started there was some trash talking going on up in the loft between Shaffer & Sammi. She flat out announced she was gunning for him on the rower. They were neck-n-neck for a while, but in the end Shaffer pulled out a few more calories. Next time Sammi, next time!

I got a pretty sweet surprise last night at the 6pm. Heather, a dedicated morning WOD’er decided to try out an evening class. In the summer I have the pleasure of WODing side by side with her on a daily basis, which is pretty sweet. But, once fall rolls around I’m condemned to the evenings (darn school!) and I don’t get to see her much. So, it was a wonderful surprise to see her smiling face at the fort last night. And let me tell you, her pull-ups are looking quite fantastic! Nice job Heather, keep up the good work. Don’t be a stranger to my evening classes.

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to some amazingly dedicated people. About 60 days ago they embarked on a paleo journey, the Better Body Challenge. Since the day this challenge started there have been seven people who have kept their food logs up to date, made coming to the fort a priority and have supported each other day in and day out. Dolores, Steve, Mark M, Gabe, Kim, Kelly, and Sammi, I am beyond proud of you for your efforts during the BBCV! You’re all are looking and doing great, finish strong!

BEAUTY. I have never met women more beautiful than the CrossFit Women in my life. I'm not talking just their physical beauty either. CrossFit Women have something in their soul that other women don't possess. It's an inner strength and confidence that is unprecedented.

CELEBRATE. For as silly as this may sound, our annual CrossFit Fire Girl's Night In is not just about getting together and giggling about all the fun we've had over the last year. It's also about celebrating who we are and what the culture at the Fort is all about. It's a party to honor the lovely ladies in my life who I would be completely lost without. It's an evening of fun with the people who will ultimately help you succeed. It's our own support group. With wine.

THANKS. A HUGE thank you to Kinsy for opening her home to us again. Thank you to everyone who came and shared a piece of your weekend! I think I can speak for the whole group when I say that this was a super fun night!

What is a hero to you?  Is it someone who saves another persons life?  Is it someone who loses his or her life in the defense of freedom or so that someone else may live?  A hero means so many different things to so many different people but for me during the Hero WOD of “Roberts Ridge” I had everyday people become my hero.  I’ve been around many people in our military, many who have signed a contract and were forced to do things they would not normally do.

Today was different, it was different because today I was surrounded by people who took time out of their Sunday morning and afternoon to be a part of something special and do a workout in honor of seven military service members that lost their life on “Robert’s Ridge”.  This was special to me because I saw something inside of everyone today that I had seen so many times before but usually they were serving our country.  There were no big crowds cheering them on, there were no prizes for first place, there was no recognition for what they had done but everyone gave it their all for almost an hour.  These were just everyday people coming together to do a grueling workout in support of people that gave their life so we could enjoy the freedom that we have today.

These are the same qualities I have seen in people that have done very courageous things.  I saw the selflessness to support others even though they may never be thanked or recognized.  Well today I am truly thanking everyone that came out to Crossfit Fire to pay respect and honor to those that in a blink of an eye lost their life so that we could enjoy ours.  It was an honor and a privilege to witness everyone go through this Hero WOD today.

One of the more memorable moments I had during the WOD was with the owner of Crossfit Outpost, Ismael Rosa.  While we were running I remember him telling me that I was his hero.  He could have been joking but it was so ironic to me because just before he said it I was thinking how Ismael was my hero.  Ismael only had four hours of sleep the night before, did an Illinois State Physical Test, drove forty-five minutes to CrossFit Fire and still did the Robert’s Ridge WOD.  It would have been very easy for Ismael to just go home after his test and be with his family and get some much needed rest but instead he chose to be a part of something bigger and better than just himself.  It’s people like this and the people that came out today that makes this nation so special.   So to everyone that came out to CrossFit Fire to show their support I thank you and salute you.

"For he who sheds his blood (sweat) with me today shall be my brother/sister"