Friday 100430

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Jason D. of CrossFit Newton (MA) finishes a clean and jerk.

"I want not to train 10 people. I want to train 10 people who want to train 10 other people, so we all benefit from this little life giver called CrossFit." -- Josh Bunch of Practice CrossFit (OH) urges CrossFitters to Spread It Right.

Euan from CrossFit Unreal (Australia) goes through a handstand obstacle course: Video.

Thursday 100429

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Melinda of CrossFit Durham (NC) lost 110 lbs. Her words to the CF Durham gang: "I firmly believe you adopt the habits of those you choose to associate with. I can't thank you guys enough." Read the rest of her remarkable story.

Affiliates: Who else has members of the 100lb Club? Post to Comments!

CrossFit Feel Good (Australia) writes about using Anger or Aggression?

"A Little Less Conversation" from Inc.

Wednesday 100428

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CrossFit Montgomery County (Tai Randall) steps into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: August 2009.

Location: Gaithersburg, MD, USA.

Sq Ft: 1600.

Number of Members? Around 40 (and growing!)

How many times have you moved your affiliate location? 1 - we started in the park and then moved into our box.

Number of Trainers? 3 (including myself).

Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Being able to come into the gym everyday and watch as people consistently redefine their limits.

Keep reading! There's more!

Tuesday 100427

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Rich C. squats at Gunx CrossFit (NY).

CrossFit Ignite (NJ) helps Vasti C. lose 100 lbs. so she can join the Army. (She's at boot camp right now.) Read "U.S. Military: Obesity is a Matter of National Security" from the Star-Ledger.

If you think of yourself as a teacher and your members as students, you might find some insights in "Building a Better Teacher" from the New York Times.

CrossFit Ventura (CA) remembers Amanda Miller.

Monday 100426

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CrawFish MegaFest II Team WOD competition for Houston-area affiliates, hosted recently by Bayou City CrossFit (TX).

2010 CrossFit Games to be held in L.A.

Megan B. at CrossFit Gig Harbor (MT) is determined to walk again.

Sunday 100425

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CrossFit Delray Beach (Sarah Bowling) steps into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: October 1, 2008.

Location: Delray Beach, FL, USA.

Sq Ft: Approx. 1700 SF and a back alley.

Number of Members: 200+

How many times have you moved your affiliate location? Never. But we are busting at the seams. Occasionally we are caught drooling over our neighbor's bay. We stay up at night plotting our takeover.

Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Two great moments: Instead of a "Grand Opening Party" we decided to host a FGB Fundraiser, "Miracle in 3 Rounds" for The Milagro Center --a charity program for disadvantaged kids in our community. We introduced over 200 strangers to CrossFit AND raised over $22K for the kids! We are planning our 2nd Annual event now for May 8th, 2010!

Our second greatest moment was when our team placed FIRST in the Affiliate Challenge at the "Dirty South" Regional Qualifiers last year in Jacksonville, FL. We still have the "tiki" trophy sitting proudly at our front door - we are heading back to defend our title this year! And in breaking news, we just had 10 athletes compete in the Florida Sectionals: 3 of whom made it through to Regionals! "We May Be Green...But We're Growing Like Weeds!"

Keep reading! There's more!

Saturday 100424

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Mark B. at SnoRidge CrossFit (WA).

Wondering about the new L1 Test? Look in the right sidebar and check out the four new Test-Only dates just added in May for VA, GA, and CA.

"Meet Jim": Read a great story from CrossFit Ocean Isle Beach (NC).

Friday 100423

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CrossFit 3D (Karl Steadman) steps into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: 13th February 2010.

Location: Manchester, UK.

Sq Ft: 2188.

Number of Members? 20 - we've only been open just over a month!

How many times have you moved your affiliate location? None - Its a brand new venture. I moved away from CrossFit Manchester in October 2009 to start up on my own.

Number of Trainers? 3.

Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Being able to directly impact upon people's lives and help them excel.

Keep reading! There's more!

Thursday 100422

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Farmer's Walk by Steve (aka "Pukie") of CrossFit King of Prussia (PA).

How San Francisco CrossFit started with a few members and grew to over 200, in the words of Juliet Starrett: [wmv] [mov]

Mario, of CrossFit Redline (FL), gives us "The Ten Tendencies of a CrossFit Athlete."

Wednesday 100421

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The growth of Foundation CrossFit (WA): "We first affiliated in 2007 and we were in a 300 SF garage. In April of 2009, we moved into a 1700 SF box where we were subsequently kicked out for noise complaints. Finally in October of 2009 we lucked out and found this new box where we have been building it up since. Our previous landlord -- the one who kicked us out -- is actually one of our members now. What a great journey so far. Things are getting bigger and better."

How many square feet do you need per member in a CrossFit gym? 100 sf? 200 sf? 400 sf?

"17 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Shouldn't Listen to 'Experts'", from Young Entrepreneur.

Tuesday 100420

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Jon Wilson, founder of Blue Flame CrossFit (one of our high school affiliates), bear crawls with his daughter Lynnlee.

Photo/Video Releases: Do you have your members sign them when they join your affiliate? Or did you just think "Oh, man! We should have one of those!"

CrossFit Naperville (IL) and CrossFit Peachtree (GA) combine forces to do good things for a little girl who's ill: Read.

Expert Tips on Taking Better Sports Photos, from the New York Times.

Monday 100419

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CrossFit Sparta (EJ Diaz, with a 315lb one-handed deadlift) steps into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: June, 2007.

Location: Lutz, Florida, USA.

Sq Ft: 18,000 sf.

Number of Members? Approx. 300.

How many times have you moved your affiliate location? Well we started in a back yard. Then we moved to a Martial Arts school. Then we moved to a gym and used the aerobics room for a while, then we moved to a local park while we looked for a new building. Then we moved to a 6,000 square foot building which we out grew in a year, we moved into an 18,000 square foot building where we are very happy and in the process of buying the building . . . bad new is we are outgrowing it already.

Number of Trainers? I have 3 trainers including myself.

Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Making an impact in someone's life that really makes a difference!

Keep reading! There's more!

Sunday 100418

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CrossFit NFT (FL).

Over at CrossFit La Verne (CA), Danielle gets her first muscle-up: Video.

"Craigslist: 15 Years Later" from Smart Money's SmallBiz.

Saturday 100417

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Danielle of CrossFit Lithium (NJ).

Sometimes, there's so much achievement in CrossFit, that the extraordinary becomes ordinary. That's when you look at who is "Slippin' Through the Cracks" -- from Practice CrossFit (OH).

"Don't Give Away Your Waffles", from Entrepreneur.

Friday 100416

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Central Oregon CrossFit (Ryan Hudson) steps into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: September 2008.
Location: Redmond, OR, USA.
Sq Ft: 940.
Number of Members: 125.
How many times have you moved your affiliate location: 1 (From 4000 sq ft to 940.)
Number of Trainers: One L2, Two L1's.
Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Converting Globo-Gym-Goers into CrossFitters. (Our box is in a Globo-Gym we also own.)

Keep reading! There's more!

Thursday 100415

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CrossFit L.A.

Passing the new Level 1 Certification Test is now a requirement to attain (and maintain) affiliation with CrossFit. Read more about the Level 1 Test and how it pertains to you.

Read "The E-Mail Zealot: Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks" from Inc.

"Is CrossFit Hardcore?" from CrossFit Catalyst (Canada).

Wednesday 100414

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CrossFit Delaware Valley (PA).

Are you a member thinking about quitting your affiliate and heading back to your garage? Read this post from CrossFit Utility (OH).

Are you an affiliate owner or trainer with regular returnees? Members who seem to cycle between starting up and dropping off and starting up again? How do you deal with them?

How to Fight the IRS, from the Wall Street Journal.

Tuesday 100413

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CrossFit Fire (Jennie and Bill Yundt) step into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: February 7th, 2008.
Location: Lakemoor, IL USA (Just South of "Up North").
Sq Ft: 1,850.
Number of Members? 108.
How many times have you moved your affiliate location? Once. We used to share space with an all-star cheer facility, but our members didn't like sharing the stereo with cheerleaders. All Miley, all the time. Fran without "Thunderstruck" just isn't the same.
Number of Trainers? Three.
Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Watching someone call "TIME" the first time they do a workout RX'd.

Keep reading! There's more . . .

Monday 100412

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New England Sectionals at CrossFit Milford (CT), March 2010.

Thumbs on the pull-up bar: Do you wrap them or not? And do you teach your athletes one method but use another?

Remember Jeremy, trainer at CrossFit Orillia (Canada), who was injured in a snowmobile accident? He's getting better and CF Orillia just held a benefit WOD for him.

"What Sets Great Leaders Apart", from Forbes.

Sunday 100411

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CrossFit Geneseo (NY).

CrossFit FF (WV) has a member (Skip) go "From Office Guy to Competitive Athlete."

E-mail is Making You Stupid, from Entrepreneur. Post thoughts to Comments.

Saturday 100410

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On the new pull-up bar at CrossFit Local (NC): Mitchell Osborn, Sarah Dunsmore, Oliver Glass. MItchell and Sarah will be competing at the CrossFit Games Southeast Regionals at the end of May.

Bill, a member at CrossFit Kinnick (CA), writes about how CrossFit is saving his life: Read.

Friday 100409

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CrossFit "The Rock" (Carlo Mattia and Larry Maier) step into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: August 2008.
Location: Rockville Centre, NY, USA.
Sq Ft: Approx 1,900 - with our members enjoying additional access to a 55,000 square foot health club.
Number of Members? 150 +/-
How many times have you moved your affiliate location? We've never moved but we have expanded within our current space. We lease space within a health club and we expect to more than double our space within the next few moths.
Number of Trainers? We currently have two full-time and two part-time trainers who lead classes. We also have six apprentice trainers who are working towards become full trainers.
Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Watching that transition over time as once wide-eyed newbies gradually become more veteran CrossFitters. And then watching them work with and mentor the next batch of newbies and take them under their wings. It's a very natural process and extremely rewarding to observe.

Keep going! There's more!

Thursday 100408

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Rory Z. of Rainier CrossFit (WA), 7th at the Washington Sectionals.

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Affiliate Scenario: You have three athletes place high enough at Sectionals to compete in the Regionals for the CrossFit Games. All three come to you and want to drop out of individual competition and join your affiliate team instead. Is that cool? Even if they bump somebody else off the team?

Think Godzilla's Scary? Meet His Lawyers, from Wired.

Wednesday 100407

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CrossFit JAX (Chris Russell) steps into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: Oct 2007.
Location: Atlantic Beach, FL, USA.
Square Footage: 1720.
Number of Members: 66.
How many times have you moved your affiliate location: 0.
Number of Trainers: Two L2's, six L1's.
Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Impacting others' lives in every aspect and being a positive role-model for them.

Read on! There's more . . .

Tuesday 100406

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CrossFit RX (GA).

"But there is much beauty here, because everywhere there is much beauty." Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet.

Is there much beauty here? How about if you opened the doors to your gym in the morning and found it left like this by your trainer? Would it be beautiful then?

South Baltimore CrossFit (MD) wants men and women to join them in thinking about "The Menaissance."

Monday 100405

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Tracey Shillum, co-owner and trainer at CrossFit Guelph (Canada). First woman at CFG to make a 300-pound deadlift, well over 2x her bodyweight.

Never too young to change the world: 11-year-old Marley writes a review of the "Omnivore's Dilemma" for the CrossFit Ocean City (MD) food blog and also joins her friends in the CFOC Girls Club in writing to their school superintendent for healthier food in school lunches.

What You Can Learn from a Tiny Italian Restaurant, from Divine Caroline.com.

Sunday 100404

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Champs of the Saturday afternoon team workout at CrossFit Fire (IL).

CrossFit A.C.T. (NJ) just had their grand opening yesterday and already they've scored some good press: Read.

Saturday 100403

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CrossFit Swarm (Brian Cook) steps into the CrossFit Affiliate Snapshot.

Affiliate Since: 10-2009.
Location: Westfiield, Massachusetts, USA.
Sq Ft: 1800.
Number of Members? 25.
How many times hav.e you moved your affiliate location? Once.
Number of Trainers? 3.
Greatest joy as a CrossFit affiliate: Changing peoples self images.

Friday 100402

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Kent Stamey, owner of CrossFit Hickory (NC).

Are you prepping a team for the Affiliate Cup at the CrossFit Games? Are you training an athlete that you hope makes it through Regionals and to the Games? Tell us your stories! Send photos, videos (without copyrighted music), and write-ups to games@crossfit.com.

"There are no entitlements in life. In reality, it's self-determination and self-reliance as the fundamental truths at the base of individual achievement." -- Jess Jackson, Kendall-Jackson founder, in "How to Be a Billionaire" from Entrepreneur.

Thursday 100401

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Hudson and Geoff at CrossFit Odyssey (VA).

Affiliate Scenario: It's Friday and one of your members shows up smelling like beer at your 5pm class. He doesn't seem that drunk and he's a really good athlete -- not the kind that you worry about during a WOD -- but the rest of the class is already making jokes about Twelve-Beer Billy. What do you do? Let Billy join class? Give him a warning or some kind of sobriety test? Or tell Billy to sit this one out?

The April Painstorm is on the next page . . .