SUNDAY 070930

Poetry

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Pavel Saenz of CrossFit Santiago at the Aztec Pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico.

Creating
Revolutionary
Observation
Sanity
So
Fundamentally
Illuminating
Treasures

Greetings from the south of the world.

-Pavel Saenz

Quantico Affiliate Discussion, Part VIII:
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SATURDAY 070929

Motivation

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Annie Sakamoto of CrossFit Santa Cruz.

Tomorrow Affiliates all over the world will participate in the Fight Gone Bad Prostate Cancer Fundraiser. Check out the Team Stats for top fundraisers.

For a little motivation and some helpful tips for your efforts this weekend here is a piece written by Ray Kaplan of CrossFit Challenge...

"Weight Gazing"

You've seen the weight gazers on the floor. They're the ones in the middle of a kickass Fran or a raging FGB who feel the need to pause and assess the apparatus they've just spent hard won reps lifting, pulling, or slamming. Why? Because they have fallen into the mental trap of weight gazing. Most commonly they're just coming off a metabolically demanding exercise, and they spend valuable moments pausing before engaging a strength component. In our Fran example, the gazer comes off the pull up bar and stops for 10-30 seconds before starting to negotiate the Thruster. Instead, our intrepid Crossfitter should grasp the bar immediately and crank out as many reps as possible, even if it's only one or two, to break the psychological pause of moving from one exercise to another. Once that positive feedback cycle of exercise / progress / exercise has resumed the athlete can start to accurately assess his or her rest needs. The trap of weight gazing is almost exclusively mental - of course we're tired, but we make negligible metabolic recovery by abstaining from that first rep.

We've often times heard Jerry say "Rest Smart" - take three to five deep breaths and fire it up again. Utilize this technique and see valuable seconds recovered, intensity retained, and inevitable improvement achieved.

And just a little more inspiration with a blast from the past video... Fight Gone Bad.

Good Luck to All!

FRIDAY 070928

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Sean Wilson, Kara "Firecracker" Miller, Dennis "Buck" Nitzel, and Bobby Ford of CrossFit Ocala and Lake County Fire Rescue in central Florida.

CrossFit Philly won Best Gym in Philadalphia on My Fox Philly Hot List "best of" competition. They beat out all the commercial gyms in the city. Of course! Way to go guys.

More Affiliate Discussion from Quantico, Part VII:
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THURSDAY 070927

American Gladiator

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Michael Stanwyck of Petranek Fitness cranking out 24 pullups in 30 seconds.

Becca Borowski of Petranek Fitness reports on the event:
"I Tried Out for American Gladiator"

More Affiliate Discussion from Quantico, Part VI:
[wmv] [mov]

WEDNESDAY 070926

Lookin' mean in that skirt!

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Jesse Ward of Lynnwood CrossFit, one of our newest affiliates, in the Highland Games event "Weight for Height"...

"The contest is kinda like high jump, the bar slowly goes up as everyone makes their throws and eventually there's only one athlete left usually competing for PR's. Brilliant. You swing it to and fro' a bit and then heave the hell out of it hopefully with the right trajectory to get over the bar. This was my first highland games comp, I got lucky and won it from a few returners in the novice class."

-Jesse Ward

Video: Kevin Aillaud takes us on a 3 part tour of HEL, Part III:
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TUESDAY 090725

The most beautiful burpee ever?

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Tom Brose of CrossFit DC on the western (Tibetan) region of China.

Article by Jon Gilson of Again Faster:
You are Beautiful.

Post thoughts to comments.

Video: Kevin Aillaud takes us on a 3 part tour of HEL, Part II:
[wmv] [mov]

MONDAY 070924

Victory!

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This is Zach Copple of Suncoast CrossFit deadlifting 365lbs...more than twice his bodyweight. About a year ago he went to the doctor because his lower back was hurting very badly. The doctor told him that his back was "weak and fluffy". His friends at Suncoast used to tease him about it all the time. However, Zach worked really hard and during their most recent CrossFit Total, he shut them all up.

Kevin Aillaud takes us on a 3 part tour of HEL:
[wmv] [mov]

SUNDAY 070923

Happy Birthday!

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SSG Eric LeClair of Elite Fitness Bootcamp celebrates his 30th Birthday today!

US Tactical CrossFit promo video:
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SATURDAY 070922

Hawaii, not just for the beaches...

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Craig Cates, Alan Cook, Faith Cook, and Bryant Powers.

Alan and Faith Cook of CrossFit East went vacationing in Hawaii and stopped by CrossFit Oahu for a workout with Craig and Bryant.

CrossFit Ann Arbor featured in Fortune Small Business: Do your customers love you?

In an industry like ours, what are some other ways to "upgrade customer service"? Post thoughts to comments.

FRIDAY 070921

Yup, he got it.

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Jake Platt of NorthWest CrossFit got his first muscle up at this past weekend's Portland Cert.

Video: Truck Push from CrossFit Edmonton:
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"23. Make your customer a hero... the practical near term imperative is to make a...Solid Gold Hero...out of the individual who is responsible for buying and using your product or service. Consider: I am not in the "widget selling business". I am in the... Hero Making Business."

-From The Sales25, Tom Peters, Re-Imagine!

Does this apply to training? How? Post thoughts to comments.

THURSDAY 070920

Slam Ball Solution

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Trouble with Slam Balls breaking?

At Rainier CrossFit they have solved this problem with 35# (grey) and 60# (red) concrete stones "slammed" onto stall mats over crash pads. They "bounce" up about 6-8 inches with a good slam.

Video: Quantico Affiliate Discussion, Part V:
[wmv] [mov]

WEDNESDAY 070919

Bonus Round

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A 100m post WOD truck push at CrossFit Edmonton.

Video: Quantico Affiliate Discussion, Part IV:
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TUESDAY 070918

Welcome!

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Renee DeAngelis and CrossFit Sunnyvale.

Video: Quantico Affiliate Discussion, Part III:
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Read more about Renee and CrossFit Sunnyvale below:

MONDAY 070917

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Juan, Hari, Dammit, and Rob.

CrossFit NYC at this weekend's Portland Cert.

Video: Quantico Affiliate Discussion, Part II:
[wmv] [mov]

SUNDAY 070916

Happy Birthday!

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Lisa Ray of CrossFit Flagstaff.

Video: Quantico Affiliate Discussion, Part 1:
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SATURDAY 070915

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Jim Milkowski and Mike Stehle of CrossFit Jersey Shore, Pamela MacElree and Jason C. Brown of CrossFit Philly, and Ryan Bishop and Eric Leverenz of CrossFit Orange County.

Video: Jeff Tincher and Maggie Colby talk about CrossFit Fairfax and give us a tour of the facility, Part IV:
[wmv] [mov]

FRIDAY 070914

Mt. Baker Boys

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Can you guess which one of these CrossFitters has five grandchildren?

Video: Jeff Tincher and Maggie Colby talk about CrossFit Fairfax and give us a tour of the facility, Part III:
[wmv] [mov]

THURSDAY 070913

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Ricky Frausto and Joe Westerlin of CrossFit Omaha are the strength coaches for the University of Nebraska. Pictured are their wrestlers. They have won the NCAA Division 2 National Team Championship three times out of the last four years (2004, 2005, 2006, 3rd in 2007) and in 2005 they were and are the only team to win both the national team title and the academic national team title, simultaneously.

"These guys are monsters and eat up everything CrossFit. I have stressed the importance of range of motion and doing everything correctly with high intensity. For wrestlers, to see them doing WOD's with proper form, is unheard of as wrestlers are notorious for doing half pushups and half pullups among other exercises. This picture was taken following a WOD they did that was similar to the one during the CrossFit games. It was a 1000 meter run followed by 5 rounds of 7 Push Jerks (135lbs.) and 20 Pullups."

-Ricky Frausto, CF Omaha

Video: Jeff Tincher and Maggie Colby talk about CF Fairfax and give us a tour of the facility, Part II:
[wmv] [mov]

WEDNESDAY 070912

Strong!

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Karen Katzenbach of CrossFit Montgomery with a 285# deadlift. This is a PR by 40lbs!

Video: Jeff Tincher and Maggie Colby talk about CF Fairfax and give us a tour of the facility, Part I:
[wmv] [mov]

TUESDAY 070911

Body Armor

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Nichole DeHart, 3rd place overall female winner at the CrossFit Games, sent this in yesterday:

"Hi,
I work at Everyday Athlete in Portland, OR and have been a member and trainer at Brand X Martial Arts in Ramona (I still commute down to BX and trainer there every few months). Anyways... I was in a car accident on Labor Day and just about totaled my car! I hit a truck going between 45 - 50 mph. But I was able to walk away with a few minor injuries. I went to see a chiropractor on Friday and he checked to see how bad off I was. He saw that I was a little out of alignment but not bad. He noted that I looked very strong and asked what I did. I told him CrossFit. I explained that CrossFit is a unique training program that does not specialize in specializing. We train for everyday life and for the unexpected, like getting into a car accident. He said that made sense because a normal person who would have been in my accident would have been far more hurt than I was but, because I have such good muscular definition and am so fit, my muscles were able to absorb most of the shock, sparing my joints and bones. He told me that this wreck could have been so much worse but thankfully I am healthy and strong. I am so thankful that I have CrossFit and can be fully prepared to face whatever unexpected event life hands me."

-Nichole DeHart

MONDAY 070910

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Zach Even-Esh of CrossFit Underground gets his first muscle-up at the Quantico Cert!

Video: Saturday at Mike's Gym

SUNDAY 070909

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CrossFit Oakland was part of the 2007 Berkley Fire Department's Recruit Training Academy, a sixteen-week training program for firefighter/paramedics serving the City of Berkeley. The Berkeley Fire Academy consists of rigorous classroom and manipulative training with hoses, ladders, water supply, hazardous materials, wildland firefighting, emergency medical services, confined space operations, auto extrication, live fire training, rope rescue and Berkeley geography.

Congratulations to the 2007 recruits!

SATURDAY 070908

Happy Birthday!

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Birthday boy, Doc Jones, multi tasking at the San Diego Cert.

FRIDAY 070907

Fun as Marketing?

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Last week, CrossFit Ocean City took a week-long trip down to North Carolina’s Outer Banks with a bunch of their CrossFitters. They took kettlebells, an Again Faster pullup bar, some rings, a box for jumping, jump ropes, and some PVC pipes. They worked out each day with their regulars and quite a few others who wanted in on the fun. Not only did they have a great time with their clients, but they picked up a few newbies as they head into September.

Cops Interviewing Cops:
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THURSDAY 070906

Community

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Orange County Affiliate Gathering hosted by CrossFit Marina. Folks from CrossFit Newport Beach, CrossFit Long Beach, CrossFit South Bay, CrossFit HB, CrossFit Hollywood, Elite Fitness Bootcamp, CrossFit RSM, CrossFit Murrieta, US Tactical CrossFit, and CrossFit Inland Empire gathered to share business strategies, goals, all things applicable to running a CrossFit box, and t-shirts!

One last push for Best Gym in Atlanta. Standings: BTB CrossFit in 2nd with 24% and CrossFit Atlanta tied for 3rd at 13%. Let's give one final effort to get these guys to 1st and 2nd place!

Vote Here

WEDNESDAY 070905

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Rob Miller, Dave Castro, Greg Glassman, Brandon Millsaps, Bobbi Millsaps, and Thomi Gill relaxing after this weekend's Jacksonville cert.

Featured Blog:CrossFit Ireland on Tour

Video: Silly Sprints, CrossFIt Ireland
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TUESDAY 070904

Starting Strong

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CrossFit Montgomery Open House.

CrossFit Atlanta and BTB CrossFit are both on the ballot for best gym in Atlanta. Help them take 1st and 2nd place ahead of the Globo Gyms.... Vote here.

MONDAY 070903

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Colleen and Caitlin Glassman... Post caption to comments.

Video:
Jerry Hill: Muscle Up 101

SUNDAY 070902

Painstorm XXIX

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This painstorm comes from Gordon Limb, who got caught up in this madness when he was stationed in the U.K.

20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:

Deadlift: body weight
Push up
Dumbbell Clean: 1/2 body weight

Extra credit for ring push ups.

Shari interviews participants at the Oly Cert:
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SATURDAY 070901

Man vs. Bag

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Samuel Khan at CrossFit Oahu.

BTB CrossFit has been nominated as one of the best gyms in Atlanta by the local FOX TV station!! Go to this link and vote for BTB Fitness as Best Gym in Atlanta.

Rob Pincus of Valhalla Shooting Club interviews Jesse Woody of Primal Fitness and American Parkour, Part IV:
[wmv] [mov]