Sunday, March 25, 2012

St Charles, MO.....the burbs!

After visiting the folks and a few friends back home in Cincinnati, I headed west to surprise my friend Rochelle Thayer.  Ro, as I call her, was one of my co-judges at the 2010 CrossFit Games.  I didn't tell her I was coming, I just dropped into her box unannounced!  CF TNT (216) in St. Charles, MO.  To say the least, Ro was shocked when I walked in the door.  It was good seeing her and her lil baby, Strong.  She waisted no time getting me in and getting ready for the WOD.  In preps for 12.1, I wanted to not kill myself, so I lightened the load for "Elizabeth".  Did an 11:30 with squat cleans at 95#.  Wasn't going super fast, but got the blood flowing.  I had so much fun with Ro, Jill, Jeff, and the rest of the crew from TNT, that I stayed in town for 3 days! 


I went over to CF St. Louis and got a make up pic from early in my travels and then headed over to CF St. Charles (217) in St Charles, MO to check them out.   No I hate giving bad reviews and maybe I caught them on an off day, but I wasn't thrilled.  There was no actually trainer, just a guy who was in charge that night.  Movements weren't explained and there were way too many people in such a small space.  I worked with 2 guys during the skill set of 2reps for 7 rds of strict presses so they could get there form down, but no one else seemed interested in helping anyone. People asked me a few times if they were doing it right.  I did the lifts 75, 95, 115, 125, 145, 165, & 175.  I stayed with my partners and didn't go but one round past their capacity.  As for the WOD it was chaos! 400m run, followed by a bunch of 15 rep exercise for 2 rounds.  I've never felt unsafe to do a workout until now.  People were dropping bars without covering them while people were of the ground doing burpees.  The biggest thing that honestly stood out was when a woman said she was a trainer there, made a guy move from finishing his double unders cuz he was in her way.  All she had to do was use the other side of the bar and there would have been enough room.  I hope this was just a one time thing and I hope they are usually better but it wasn't worth my drive.  Sorry


I hung out at TNT for another day, taught an intro, taught a regular class, and even fixed a few things around the box.  I even got in a "Pregnant WOD" as we called it.  30m EMOM of 3 jumping pull ups, 6 bar push ups, and 9 air squats.  It was supposed to be "Chelsea" but the open was the next day and I didn't want to tear just in case there was pull ups.... (Buck Furpees!)All in all the TNT was a great time with a great family atmosphere.  I can't wait til I go back and visit a few more boxes in the area and see my friends again.  You were awesome TNT and I'm super grateful. 



Stong and I... I bought him that onezy before he was born! 

Monday, March 19, 2012

Beginning of a Fun Trip

                 Another fun road trip, another awesome box visited.  This stop was at MTM CF (215) in North Canton, OH.  Now I have been to the area before but MTM wasn't around then.  We had a fun warm up with some ball tosses and some pipe balancing.  Very different but very awesome.  I actually loved this WOD.....both parts of it!  Part 1, Death By Power Cleans as a Team.  So I do one, my partner does one during the 1st min, 2 & 2 etc.  We made it up to 12 rd plus 24 reps then took a 1 min break and hit Death by Pull Ups as a Team starting at 5!  We got thru 13 here.  My partner was a beast!  Everyone here was super fun and Coach D Mac was super awesome.  This box was super fun and well worth passing up a few others to visit here.  Thanks for having me!!!