I'm LOVING the fact that I get to coach the morning classes a couple times a week! Not that Josh and Bill weren't doing a good job, but I just feel like you guys were missing some silliness and dance party warm-ups.

The workout yesterday was

10:00 AMRAP
10 toes to bar
10 burpees

Man oh man, I don't think I've ever seen so many conflicted faces. On the one hand, burpees are hard. On the other hand, the toes to bar got even HARDER. So while you wanted to work fast and get the T2B over with, that only meant that you had some burpees waiting for you. Oof. Tough choices. It's like having to choose between burning the roof of your mouth on pizza, or getting poked in the eye with a fork. (that's an old Coach Rip quote....man I love that guy)

I am super excited for the January ramp-up-ers that are finishing up! We have a big 9 person ramp-up and they're all really fun people. I mean...they laugh at all my jokes and everything! Those ramp-up-ers will be finishing up in the next day or two, so look for some new faces around the Fort!

Not that the rest of the WOD yesterday wasn't HARD....but the double unders were the part that really mattered. Your score was the total number of burpees you managed to get:

5 rounds for max double unders
With 1:30 on the clock
20 KB swings (24/16kg)
max double unders
3:00 rest

Can't do double unders? No worries. You could substitute single unders. It was funny to watch people's reactions to the GYG scores. I heard at least 4 people say, "Wow, Bob got 307!?" Why yes....yes he did. You guys might not know this, but Bob is a phenomenal jump roper! I think he mentioned something about training with Muhammad Ali in a past life or something...

In case you're wondering, the handsome fella in today's picture is Paul. He started with us about a month ago and he's already down 15lbs! I just had to give you some props Paul, because you're doing GREAT! Always smiling, always trying super hard, and always HATING burpees.

Yes folks, that’s right, the famous female visitor Monday was…Fran!

21-15-9
Thrusters (40/30)
Pull-ups

The last time we faced this hellish chick was back in June. We’ve had LOADS of new members since June so we had many athletes going through Fran for the first time EVER. I want to give props to all of our newbies for facing her head on! Especially Sammi (the birthday girl!), who’s only been CrossFitting for a short time. She completed this WOD prescribed in just a little over 8 minutes. Nice job girl! You’ll get sub 8 next time…I can FEEL it!

We also saw several ENORMOUS personal records. RTL cut off 50 seconds since last June. Andy also took about a minute and a half off his time! His pullups looked so much stronger this time through. Way to go buddy! Pete and Drew took the top two spots on the record board with times just over three minutes. Wow…that’s BLAZING fast you guys, way to get after it! Kinsy was SUPA-fast with a time just over 4 minutes. Totally unbroken, Kins? Atta girl! The last shout out I’ve got goes to Nicole. She attacked Fran for the first time ever TOTALLY prescribed unassisted pullups and all! Sweetness.

I am so proud of each and every one of you for your amazing efforts. It was awesome to be part of.

Nicole forwarded me a quote the other day and it has really stuck with me. You can read it in the image attached to this post. (this is the part where you read it.Good. Now read it again, but slower)

I don't think this has ever been more true than right now in my life. The Fort has really become a big happy family and I am so grateful for you guys.

We share each other's lives both in and outside of the Fort and that speaks volumes about what we do on a daily basis. I would be lying if I said the Fort was just about a good WOD or moving heavy weights. The Fort is about the Fort Family and that's what makes it the best place on Earth.

We celebrate birthdays, help each other move, welcome new babies, and bring meals to each other when we are in need. We dance at each other's weddings, watch each other's kids blow out their birthday candles, and even help plan big top secret Christmas surprises.

I have never experienced anything like the Fort Family. You are not my blood but I would do anything to see you smile.

Let's be honest. This recipe isn't all that complicated, but it's DELICIOUS. I like to enjoy this recipe with 1/2 of a baked potato with mountains of butter, salt and pepper. The blue cheese comes across nicely with the avocado and bacon, but if you're not a blue cheese fan then you might want to substitute a fine parmesan instead.

Ingredients
8 oz 80/20 ground beef
1 slice (17g) of danish blue cheese
2 slices bacon
1 oz onion
1 oz avocado
1 large lettuce leaf

Directions
Fry bacon slices. Crumble, divide into thirds, and set aside, but leave warm bacon grease in pan.

Form two 4oz patties with ground beef. Place the slice of blue cheese and 1/3 of the crumbled bacon in between the two hamburger patties. Pinch the edges together to seal in the cheese and bacon. Season the outside with salt and pepper.

Grill over high heat for 3 or 4 minutes per side, flipping once. While burger is cooking, saute onions in reserved bacon grease. Remove burger from grill and place on large lettuce leaf. Top with sauted onions, sliced avocado, and crumbled bacon.

I owe a few of our Team Saturday champs a big apology. The black hole that is my to-do list keeps sucking my time and the Team Saturday blog post has been neglected. Not, puppy in a crate 22 hours a day with no water neglected...but it needs a little love.

THEREFORE. I hereby declare that this blog post is dedicated to our amazing Team Saturday champions of the last few weeks!

We have Ryan the Lion and Mark with their stunning New Year's Eve victory! They powered their way to victory in an AMrAP WOD of wall ball shots, kettlebell swings and HEAVY push presses. Well...heavy to us mere mortals.

AND THEN we have Sammi and Pete. They won Team Saturday way, way, way back in December too. Their victory came on a day with single arm kettlebell snatches, lateral hops and knees to elbows. One partner was holding a plate over their head while the other was working. And if you know anything about Pete and Sammi, you'll know that they can hold a plate over their heads for a long time. (Ok, I don't even know what that means)

Moving on to more recent champs, we have yesterday's winning team and the second place team that finished a mere 6 reps behind them - Josh and Neil (701) & RTL and Nick (695). I'm not really sure why Neil looks so unhappy....maybe it's because he's finally back to reality after his long vacation. We missed you Neil! This quartet of stud muffins battled for the belt yesterday in the pull-up, box jump, push press WOD. Great job you guys!

There is one more Team Saturday winning team that is still missing. I believe Sammi was on the winning team again last week, but I can't seem to find the picture! Don't worry though guys....as soon as I track it down I'll add it to the post.

Once again a new month is here and it’s time for another Hero WOD.  I wasn’t sure which Hero WOD I wanted to do for this month so I started going down the list of the various Hero WOD’s and it hit me when I saw “Josh”.  I was like perfect because not only is Josh one of the greatest names ever but since my birthday is in January I figured it would be a good fit.

So this month's Hero WOD will be to honor an Army hero by the name of SSG Joshua R. Hager.  As I was trying to search for more details about SSG Hager I came across a blog from his father, which I wanted to share with everyone.

“On Feb. 23, 2007 my world and more was forever changed. Stopped at a traffic light about 2 miles from home, my cell rang and caller ID said Heather was calling.

“Hi there,” I said. The silence told me everything.

“We lost him,” she cried and said she couldn’t keep talking.

I started to sob, yell, scream, shake, everything that a father goes through when told your son has been killed. I wondered if I could make it to my condo. I knew if I stopped, pulled over somewhere, I would have to call my wife and she would never be able to safely drive. So I made the turn and got to the condo. I did not have a key and pounded on the door till Wendy unlocked it. She looked at my face and new the terrible truth.

Josh was gone.

SSG Joshua Hager was killed in action on a dark road in Ramadi. He had organized and inspected every vehicle and every member of the Scout Platoon including the commander. Lt. Col. Ferry relied upon Josh to make certain everything was in order before they went out. They went out many times. The first Humvee missed the IED. Josh was in the second and was hit by a deeply buried Iranian made IED. Col. Ferry pulled the lifeless body from the wreckage and worked to help the wounded. Rushing to support the attack, another Humvee with the medic hit IED number two. Spc Buford and Walters were killed trying to aid my son and his boys.

* * *

One week before Josh was killed he and I had a nice talk on the telephone. He asked about my business and we talked about Bayley. Lastly I ask about his job. He never said much, the unsaid speaking more than words can.

But he did say this, “Dad, I will stay here for six years if it takes that to keep Bayley from having to fight in this sand box.”

Josh believed in his mission and that mission was to keep his boys safe. Josh taught every soldier he came in contact with how to be the best possible soldier so others would be safer. Josh was there for his boys. They are all there for us."

To honor SSG Hager we will be doing his Hero WOD “Josh” with some extra credit:

“Josh”

Reps for time:

21 - Overhead squats (45K/30K)

42 - Pull-ups

15 - Overhead squats (45K/30K)

30 - Pull-ups

9 - Overhead squats (45K/30K)

18 - Pull-ups

Extra Credit:  50 Burpees

So now many of you are wondering what is the extra credit for, well for those that know me at the Fort, know that at times I like to do a little extra work.  So to honor my birthday month and more importantly to honor SPC Travis Buford and Rowen “Doc” Walters for attempting to come to the aid of SSG Hager we will be doing an extra 50 burpees. 25 burpees for Buford and 25 burpees for Walters.

As with all WOD's there will be many scaling options available for those that don't think they can do the WOD as prescribed. This event is free and open to all; all we ask is that you try to register in advance.

So on Sunday, January 22^nd at 9:00 a.m. come out to Crossfit Fire and help us celebrate the lives of Hager, Buford and Walters.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (women) to do nothing."