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.

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!

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!

Yesterday's strength work was press 5-5-5+, which was pretty peachy. The sun was shining, and the weather was great. What more could we have asked for?

Oh...I know...a Great Big Metcon!

This one came from Wild Bill's laboratory, and I think it is going on record as his very first brain fart. We won't be too hard on him though, these things happen. After 2 years of VERY SOLID programming, he's allowed to miscalculate a workout.

30 burpees
and then
21-15-9
push-jerks (60/40kg)
pull-ups
and then
30 burpees

In my mind, I thought this workout would take around 12:00. In Wild Bill's mind, he thought the goal time should be 6-9 minutes. Um...I don't think we even had anyone finish in  under 15:00. I was working out across from Ryan P, and he started his first push jerks before I did. He said out loud, "those push jerks are SO HARD after burpees!" I kind of laughed a little to myself, but I stopped laughing when I had to start my push jerks. HARD.

Everyone did a fantastic job though. We had 6 people finish up their ramp-up last night, so hopefully we'll see all of them as full time members shortly! Chad, Jodi, Chris, Keith, Nicole and Scott will be in regular classes soon - so make sure you introduce yourselves!

REMINDER: The Fort will be closed Saturday, March 20th. NO CLASSES!

Have you been dying to try something new? Is your workout routine getting you NOWHERE!?

Don't worry! There is hope - CROSSFIT FIRE!!

To get started at CrossFit Fire, all you need to do is complete a ramp-up session. Our ramp-up sessions consist of 6 classes in which you will receive hands-on instruction in all the movements we use in our group classes, as well as a fantastic workout each class!

No more excuses! Sign up for our ramp-up today! If I ever hear someone tell me again that they want to "get in shape before trying CrossFit", I swear to you I will go fall on something pointy. CrossFit IS how you get in shape! Get out of that boring workout routine that has given you little to no results, and try CrossFit. What have you got to lose?

Ramp-up only costs $75, and there is no obligation to join after the session is complete. At any point you are free to look me in the eyes and say, "Thanks Jennie, but CrossFit just isn't for me". I swear. No obligation. I may weep openly, but you are ultimately free to walk away.

Our next ramp-up will be at 7:00AM on the following days:

Monday, March 22nd
Tuesday, March 23rd
Thursday, March 25th
Monday, March 29th
Wednesday, March 31st
Saturday, April 3rd

If any of those days don't work for you, just shoot me an email in advance and I can work with you individually to reschedule them.

Hope to see you at the Fort!

"Pistol" is a word my Mom uses a lot. She usually uses it to describe my child's behavior when she's having a less than stellar day. Anyways...I just thought that was a funny tidbit. Every time I said "pistol" yesterday I thought of my beloved mother.

The strength work yesterday was overhead squats 5-5-5+ at 65, 75, and 85% of your single rep max. Have I mentioned before that overhead squats are sneaky hard? It's almost a guarantee that you'll feel like Bambi on ice the first few times you try and overhead squat with any real weight. We saw some pretty impressive numbers though! Tommy Mo grabbed 60kg's for 5 reps, which is a HUGE improvement for him. Good work!

The workout yesterday was:

800m run
15 pistols each leg
25 sit-ups
12 pistols each leg
25 sit-ups
9 pistols each leg
25 sit-ups
800m run

Yeah running! For this little workout, you had to complete all the pistols with your left leg first, and then your right leg. No alternating! (that would be FAR too easy) If you want to talk about balance...try doing a squat with only one leg. Yeesh. Most everyone starts out by hanging onto something to help control their descent, and help them get back up. Eventually you'll need less and less assistance, and you'll be able to amaze your friends, family and coworkers with your ability to squat with one leg.

Did you kids like the Irish playlist yesterday? It wasn't exactly the best music for working out, but it WAS the best music for St. Patty's day. It kind of made me want to dance fight like in Riverdance REAL BAD. Man those Irish people are smart. They even invented a style of dancing that leaves your hands free to hold your beer. We also assigned everyone who came to workout an Irish last name. Good times.....

You asked for it, and we made it happen! Ok...you didn't QUITE ask for it this way, but it's the best we can do. I will post the workout of the day on our Facebook Fan page every morning before 11:00AM for those of you who are just DYING to know what the workout will be before you get here. If I start to suspect that people are cherry-picking the workouts though, I reserve the right to cease all posting!

The Mayor carries Mark M last summer

The strength work yesterday was power clean 3-3-3-1-1-1. We had a camera malfunction, so we don't have any pictures of the white board OR our amazing power cleaning!  BOO! I think the little camera that could has finally bit the dust.

Of all days for the camera to take a dive, it's of course a day when people are swinging kettle bells. There are few things I like to take pictures of more than kettle bell swings. There's something so sweet and poetic about the bell gracefully locking out over head...the lens just eats you guys up! sigh..

Our metcon was Helen.

3 rounds for time of:
400m run
21 kettle bell swings (24/16kg)
12 pull-ups

Is everyone glad to finally have some running weather? Audra told me she can't wait for the snow to come back so that we don't have to run anymore.

We had a bunch of PR's yesterday on this workout, but without the camera we are relying on my AMAZING memory. (eye roll) I know for sure that Stacy, Pete, Tommy Mo, Morgan and Josh T all set new PR's. Hooray for you guys! Sorry if I missed your name. Feel free to scold me in the comments section for being a doofus.

Occasionally I come across articles on the Internet that give me hope that I feel are worth sharing. Check out this article from The Sunday Paper. They couldn't have chosen a more dorky picture....but you get the point.

We are re-vamping the way we handle our referral bonuses. I could give you a big long story explaining all our reasoning behind the change...but it doesn't really matter. For the last 2 years we have offered a 50% credit to our current members if they referred a friend who signed up for a membership. Instead of a discount, we will start awarding quarterly prizes to our members who bring in referrals. For every person you bring in who signs up for membership, you will get one entry into our drawing for a prize. The size and awesomeness of the prize will be determined by how many tickets (referrals) are in the pot. We are thinking things like spa packages, Visa gift cards, etc. Do you have an idea for a referral prize? Post your ideas to comments! This change will be effective immediately. If you currently have a buddy in our ramp-up program fear not; you will be grandfathered into our old referral program.

Reminder: The Fort will be closed this Saturday for the Oly certification.