2/10 Double Teamed!

So I got up and left really early, not hitting the wall in my sisters driveway this time, to head to CF Ballantyne(107) in Fort Mill, SC.

Here I met the trainers, signed some waivers, you know the typical stuff while class was hitting their warm up.  Then as everyone partnered up for the team WOD, there was only one person left for me to be with, Jenn.  Jenn was a mother of one, with an adorable little baby and a husband who watched the baby then handed it off so he could workout in the next class. I'm about twice her size so she told me to not be upset if she held us back.  I told her not to worry and that we would kick a little ass! 

The WOD:

As a team, 150 Slam Balls (30/10#), 150 DL ball tossed (30/10#), 150 Wall Balls (20/14#), 150 Ball Tosses (10#). As yelled time at 19:34, she looked around and couldn't believe it.  We were the first ones done.  She had never experienced being on top of the mountain.  We were one of the only mixed teams, which made it that much sweeter.  I really liked this WOD and I'm glad Jenn had a great experience, Thanks CFB!

Now time to speed across Charlotte and make the 10am Team Wod at CrossFit Vitality.

Now this place is huge! I mean like it had indoor astro turf!  So after meeting some of the crew, We got teamed up and the Wod was explained to us.  This time I had a 16 year old boy and a 40 year old soccer mom. (some teams had 4, like an alt or a rest person)  Rd 1 (20) 50m Sprints with Bear Crawls back, 1 person works the others are in plank. (7:20)  Rd 2 12 minutes of death burpees, slam balls, box jumps (13rds 14/14/1) Rd 3 10min, max number of 200m rows.  (13)  We finished 3rd overall, not bad for being one person short.  Can't wait to see what you guys do with the venture. 

Next stop, CF Covington Grand Opening......

North Carolina!!!

(2/9) So i got the opportunity to go visit a huge group of friends from around the east coast in Charlotte, NC this weekend.  I got in a little early to knock out some WOD's and snowboarding while I was here. So I went to Ultimate CF (105) and checked out their 6am class. After a quick warm up and some SOTS press skill work, I hit 125#x3, we went out to a few hill sprints.  I was paired up with Matt, one of the strongest memebers in the box, for these 10 50m hill sprints.  Every round got faster and faster and more competative.  I'm pretty sure we split the finishes but it was great to have that competative spirit so early in the morning.                   
After the runs, we came in for a little challenge.  Team plank hold for time, losing team has 25 burpees.  Again I was head to head against Matt.  2...3...4 minutes passed, only 2 people were left. Matt and I. 4:30, 4:45, 5 minutes in we decide to drop together so noone does burpees. Thanks for a great start to the day. UCF and I will take you up on the offer to come back.

Now on my way to Appalacian Mtn for a little snowboarding, I stopped by CF Hickory in Hickory, NC.
Turns out that the owner, Kent Stamey, is a good friend of Jen Patton, who is a good friend of mine and both are 2008 games competitors. 

6rds of 5 pull ups, 10 burpees, 250m row and 2 min rest.  19:30 was a great time for a 2nd wod that day.  

Great time meeting some of the athletes there and pick there brains. Thanks Kent!

Off to the slopes!!!! 

Not so Travelled, but well learned

So I have been home in Pittsburgh for a few weeks as you can tell.  I've made some life changes, redecorated a little, set some PR's and even done some school work.  I wanted to share this short paper about CrossFit that got me 2.5% (that is a good thing) of my total grade.


CrossFit and Innovation.  CrossFit is one of the most innovative ways to incorporate many things you thought you knew about fitness and a lot more you never thought of.  Former gymnast and creator of CrossFit, Dr. Greg Glassman, introduced this revolutionary idea to the fitness world in 2002.  Dr. Glassman took a required proficiency in the ten fitness domains of cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy and created something that took the worked by storm.  Incorporating gymnastics, Olympic and power lifting, and everyday functional movements along with a healthy diet, Dr. Glassman gave the fitness world his own "Fitness in 100 word or less"

World Class Fitness in 100 Words

• Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and NO sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
• Practice and train major lifts: deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics:pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstands, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
• Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. ROUTINE IS THE ENEMY. Keep workouts short and intense.
• Regularly learn and play new sports!
  ~Dr. Greg Glassman, CrossFit, Inc.

The innovative ideas that CrossFit has spread can be shown from your everyday "soccer mom" picking up the little ones with proper deadlift to a soldier on the front lines passing ammo cans up with a push press in the pursuit of protecting our freedoms.  I can tell that the methods the use are working because before I was a trainer at a CrossFit gym, I was a client.  I was that overweight guy coasting thru on fast food and video games.  The constantly varied functional movements, made for any age or ability, that they incorporated into their everyday workouts help push their clients to be better in and out of the gym.  They are always finding new ways to make you strive harder than you were yesterday and that's what puts CrossFit on the cutting edge of fitness innovation.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. BTW, I'll be back on the road for 105-108 this weekend!

Finishing off the Year

I finished the year of really quick, so here it is

101CF AZO Portage, MI 1 mile in -5 deg weather HORRIBLE!!!
102 HyperFit USA aka CF Ann Arbor  Ann Arbor, MI
10-9-8...3-2-1 Ring push ups, slam balls, and box jumps

103CF 440 Mentor, OH   Heavy back squats - Thanks Jim!
104CF Cleveland West  Lakewood, OH 
6 rft muscle ups to 15 ring dips & burpee pull ups

Sorry it took me so long and it's brief!

100 boxes and 4 PR's!

So it took a few tries (CF Troy, The CF Boxx, Practice CF) but damn Christmas Eve and me being a little bit tired didn't let that happen.  So after some family time, catching up with friends, and checking up on the Kool Aid monster Jenna @ CFOTR, I finally got up to Valparaiso, IN and Region CF. I met coaches Ryan and Brandy Jones right away and then Matt Belanger soon after. 

I called my favorite "British Nanny's" from Chicago in to share the moment.  Our good buddy Ric Stokes was doing CF TOTAL down at Corporal Crossfit in Miami so we decided to give a little moral support and do it with him from a few thousand miles away. 

Jaimie went first on every lift, which was cool to encourage her through her lifts.  New PR for her all around, Great Job! 

Press, new PR, 185#

Back Squat, new PR, 375#

Deadlift, new PR, 525#

CF TOTAL, NEW PR, 1085#

Think we were done? Think again! We were handed a little met con challenge since Matt said we couldn't leave without braking a sweat. 15min EMOM: 4 clapping push ups, 8 KB Swings 1.5p, 12 Squats.  I kept an average of 30 sec per round each time and Jaimie kept her word and stopped at 10.



This was a totally awesome experience and glad I could have shared it with a friend. Thanks for taking all the pics, sorry I only got one of you, atleast it was a good one! 

Last Bit of Boston

12/22 This morning had the biggest task for a WOD at hand as stopped in to CF Hingham (97) and see Eric Maghee.  (5) 15' Rope Climbs / 10 Unbroken HPC @ 185# / 200 DU / 10 Unbroken HPC / 5 Rope Climbs. This is no doubt one of the hardest WOD's I've done in a long time. 

My hand after and 2 days after this WOD!  So as you can tell I had to do a little scaling (135# HPC and no second set of rope climbs.  Thanks Eric, this was brutal!

A little later, my friend Ellie got home from South Africa and wanted to meet up for a WOD. Little did we know that this would take place in the weirdest place ever.... a church! Commonwealth CF (98) is held in the bottom of a church in order to help Brian get his business off the ground.  After a some intros and warm up, we hit their version of the 12 Days of Christmas: 1 Squat, 2 Push Ups, 3 Sit Ups, 4 KB Swings, 5 DU, 6 KB Push Press, 7 Burpees, 8 Good Mornings, 9 Box Jumps, 10 Walking Lunges, 11 Jump Tucks, 12 Goblet Squats.  This was a fun 15 min followed by a great photo shoot!

12/23 I tried to hit 100 before I left but the one box I picked, CF of Malbourough, didn't open due to car trouble.  So we head down to the city and hit CF Southie (99). I met Amy a little early and took a look at their version of the 12 Days of Christmas: 1 Burpee Thruster, 2 Turkish Get Ups, 3 Front Squats, 4 C&J, 5 KB Swings, 6 SDHP, 7 Clapping Push ups, 8 K2E, 9 Pull ups, 10 Box Jumps, 11 OHS, 12 HSPU. The weights were 115 and 1.5p for all and there was a 45min cut off. I finished up with 11 rounds & 12-5. I may have been a little beat up, but hey this was rough. 

That's New Englad for this trip. 9 new boxes, 3 states, and 1 trip to the original box.  A great time was had by all, maybe next time I'll hit 100.  Thanks LL, MHP, and Bay State Athletics for taking care of me.

Almost the end of my New England Vacation

I know I'm a little behind but if you were keeping my schedule, you'd be behind too! So here comes a down and dirty recap..........
12/20 BayState CF (93) Pretty cool box for a snowy day.  Due to the weather, Tim the owner, didn't expect a large crowd but we had a local police officer and a future marine make it in. I led the warm up for Tim and then we got to the WOD:  20 Min AMRAP of 5 C2B Pull Ups, 10 Ring Dips, 15 OHS @ 95# Finished with 8rds 5 C2B & 2 Dips. This sucked for me because I hate ring dips!  Thanks BSCF!

12/21 CF South Shore (94) Now 5am is early for me these days, but what the hell. I met Dave and some early morning Crossfitters @ MBX training or now the former home of CF SS.  After some intros and meeting his crew of sub 1 month CFers, we hit a fun WOD: 3 Rft  10 BW DL (205), 20 K2E, & 40 DU.  A quick 7:21 then a little lecture on muscle ups for the class. Fun times!! Glad you found a temp home for CFSS!

After a quick nap, I packed up and headed south for Cape Cod CF (95). This place was totally a former Blockbuster video, it still had the video drops! AWESOME! This 0930 class got started a little behind due to all the snow but hey it happened!  CINDY was her name & 15 rounds with a torn open hand was her pain. Thanks guys!  

Now I've been know to do 2 a days but here comes one of those random 3 a days.  Due to the wonders of Facebook I made a new friend in Tori Marrama, an avid garage Crossfitter.  We decided to meet up at CFNE (96) for a little TABATA THIS! Tori was good but I had his number this night. 419 to 332, Next time i'm sure he's gonna crush me.