ALBANY CROSSFIT

Coming Events

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and got some rest.  Just wanted to put up a reminder on some upcoming events at Albany CrossFit:

May 17th, Saturday 11am - Parallette building party.  After our normal 10am class please stay and help build some new parallettes for our exercise enjoyment.  Please let me know if you plan on being there.

May 23rd, Friday 5/6pm - Luke's Farewell Friday Night Painstorm. 

May 25th, Sunday afternoon - Hiking Buck Mountain in Lake George.  We can all meet up at the gym and take a few cars up to Lake George for a fun scenic Hike.  Please let me know if you can attend.

May 26th, Monday 12pm - 1st Annual Albany CrossFit Memorial Day Challenge.  Pick the Hero WOD you wish to do and we will all have fun and work hard honoring these fallen soldiers.  We will also be having a BBQ that afternoon at the Johnson's Home.  Please sign-up ahead of time, space is limited.

May 31st - June 1st - The 1st Annual East Coast CF Challenge.  This is going to be an amazing time.  I will definitely be needing anyone and everyone's assistance in order to make this a great event.  We will be holding a few volunteer meetings in the coming weeks to finalize everything.

I look forward to many fun group events this Summer.  I have Survivor Saturdays in the works which will be a Summer long challenge for any members wishing to participate.  I also look forward to many other fun outings.  If you have any suggestions or ideas feel free to put them out there, we are down for just about anything!

Dear Ben

Happy Mother's Day!

Great way to finish the week. Beautiful day, positive attitudes, and a fun yet challenging workout. Everyone came in very chipper and smiling this morning which is always an awesome way to start the class. We did the "dirty 30" which was 30 thrusters, SDHP, pullups, and KB swings, all with a 400m run in between. Some incredibly fast times were turned in as well as some heavy weights being thrown around. I saw Viv doing pullups, Jess using a 55lb. KB, Steven swinging the 70lb. KB, and Hunaid swinging the 25 (heavy for him)!

I'm glad everyone has a fun time while getting an intense workout and improving their overall fitness levels, that is what ACF is all about. Keep up the fantastic work and thanks for making this place such a great community.

Sounds like we are all going out tonight, so if you are interested give me a call or text for the details. 

John and I hit a quick WOD after class. Thor did an awesome job with "Lynne" hitting 20 reps on his 1st round of bench and over 100 pullups with all 5 sets. He also pushed me through "Fran" which had me seeing Pukie after...remember, it's not do as Jay says, it's do as Jay does! I'm not just a preacher!

Enjoy the weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there!  Without you none of us would be here...Thanks!

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.  ~Irish Proverb

Niki's HSPU

Thor vs. Ernie

"Gwen" was the lady of the day. It's one of those WODs that on the board doesn't look too terrible, but you know she is a real killer.

Great teamwork and motivation from everyone throughout the day. It was great to have everyone do their set while all of the other participants cheered on. Everyone that had completed "Gwen" before went up in weight and their times were faster! Beautiful form by our newer members. Tim, Erin, Heidi, Vahe, and Teresa are all new to the clean and jerk but are showing tremendous improvements. Most of their 2nd and 3rd rounds looked better than the 1st as their form started to improve right before our eyes.

Ben is so fing awesome. He is still recovering from his arm injury, but that didn't stop him from doing a 1-armed "Gwen" and then after hitting Max Weight 1-arm clean and jerks, the dude rocks!

Great to have Tim and Sarah back in on their "date" night.  We love having you two in, wish you could be here more.

So, we were packing up for the night and out of no where John and Ernie decided to go one on one in a Clean and Jerk contest. First one to hit 135# for 10 reps wins. (Definitely no instigating on my part) What happened next was utter insanity! Watch the video.

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.
Henry Ford

Thor vs. Ernie

Positive Attitudes

Thanks so much Fred for helping me with the moving around and construction within ACF, it is always appreciated.

After all his hard work Fred wanted to get in a quick workout and somehow "Grace" came up (I think he was being lazy and one of the bars already had 135# on it). He rocked "Grace" in 3:23!!! Not only that it was his first workout in a week because he was out due to bronchitis...a beast I tell you!

"Helen" was everyone else's party today and the nooner did fantastic. Josh, Lenora, Andrea, and Dave all turned in impressive times. Lenora did all legit ring pullups and Dave used the 55#KB for the first time.

Sue also stopped back in for the first time today. She was looking great and a great positive attitude. I am sure she will be back better than ever and have that well deserved first pullup...she is just like a fine wine or moldy cheese, getting better with age!

Everyone seemed so happy tonight, it was really great to see.  Not sure if it was beautiful weather or the laughing gas I'm pumping into the room, but it was contagious!  I love watching people finish their WOD and then immediately turn around and start cheering and encouraging their classmates.  It's really awesome to see and be a part of.  Mark is always good at that, he was done super quick tonight and then right away was helping everyone else set some PRs as well.

Our newest friend Vahe was back in class tonight and this guy is no joke.  He did his first "Helen" in under 10 minutes, keep up the good work.

Look forward to a HUGE Friday night Painstorm, May 23rd.  It will be Luke's going away WOD and I expect it to be a doozy.  After the WOD we'll all be heading to our favorite Hibachi hangout.  That's going to be a very fun, busy weekend, we'll have the Painstorm and Hibachi on Friday, Hike on Sunday, and our Memorial Day Challenge and BBQ on Monday...fun times.

Thanks again for all of the great feedback.  It seems most of the constructive criticism centered around more space and more pullups bars.  I have been working on a solution for both of these and I have it.  New wall mounted pullup bars should be in very soon, once we mount these on the wall it will free up a lot of space where our current unit usually sits. 

Happiness resides not in posessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul. -- Democritus

Bottom to Bottom

Happy Birthday Cheryl!

We want to wish a very happy and healthy Birthday to Cheryl.  Have a great time on your vacation in Florida, rest and relax, you deserve it!

Great job to the nooners today.  We spent some time working on developing our cleans today and then implemented it into our WOD of cleans and HSPU.  You are all really starting to understand the movement, it is not only functional but one of the two most Powerful lifts that we do along with the Snatch.  Great job Lenora, you are almost a big dog...woof woof!

Camille and John were back again today.  John is coming over to the "dark" side after spending many years at a local "globo" gym.  We are so excited to have John, we are going to try and set a goal of him lifting at a local Power-Lifting Competition.  He has done many in years past and I would love to see him do one again.

Fun and Intense WOD tonight.  Everyone was fearing the workout after reading the board...but I always have some tricks up my sleeve...you can't believe everything you read, right?  Sometimes it is easier to wait and explain the WOD, rather than try to write it out on the board.  So, once the WOD was fully explained everyone seemed really excited and were ready to go.  I saw fantastic teamwork tonight in the 5:30pm class, everyone was really pushing and motivating one another during the cleans and helping to push the HSPU to a new level. 

Angie, Chad, Jess L., Niki, Tim, and Noreen really pushed themselves during the 6:30pm class.  Since it was a little smaller we didn't do teams, but 3 rounds instead.  Angie continues to impress me with how hard she pushes her body.  She did 3 rounds of 21 full squat cleans with 65#, the girl is a beast!  I love it!  Both her and Chad have been keeping to the zone for the past 10 days and both are loving the results.

I'm glad to hear of some other starting the Zone as well.  Laura G. started today and said she was feeling great.  Jess L. has been on it since we started the challenge and I can see a difference in both her performance and physique.

I have gotten some great feedback so far, thanks to everyone that has taken the time to respond.  Please keep it coming and if you have anything else don't hesitate to let me know.  First thing I will do is add a new 4:30pm class beginning next Wednesday 5/14...at ACF, you want it, you got it!

Also, everyone seemed interested in more outings outside the doors of ACF.  I'm planning a hike in Lake George on Sunday, May 25th.  Please let me know if you are interested, we can take a few cars and drive up together.  Feel free to bring any family, friends, or dogs...Lucy and Chester will be joining us!

I am also planning on a Parallette building party next Saturday after the 10am class.  Everyone is beginning to develop their L-Sit and it would be great if we had more parallettes to go around.  I'll buy all of the equipment and then hopefully we can make 8-10 of them.  Please let me know if you'll be able to help out.

Thanks everyone for keeping up the positive attitudes.  Some people come in a little negative at times, which is ok, that happens, but don't let others bring you down.  Maintain those good vibes and keep the energy positive!

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yvonne Rows

Feedback

Speed! Everyone is getting so much faster. I can't believe how quick some of you were running your half-miles and rowing 1000 meters, Awesome! These short really pay great dividends when you need to run or row a little longer. So, when you have your next 5k race expect your time to be much faster!

Great job practicing your skills today. As Napoleon Dynamite said, "Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills," so it is clearly very important. The medicine ball cleans are really improving, I saw people nailing double unders, and some of you are so close to hitting that exclusive Muscle-Up. I would like to continue this on a daily basis. Try incorporating these skills into your daily warm-up.

Let's get some feedback on Albany CrossFit, take some time and answer these questions. You can post them or e-mail me directly. Please feel free to answer freely and openly and add anything you feel needed.

1. What can we do to make Albany CrossFit a better place for you?
2. What other days and times can be added to enhance our schedule?
3. What additional equipment would help make our WODs better?
4. Is there any equipment you feel we need more of?
5. Would you like to have more outings outside of ACF?

Let's start with this today. I will go over feedback and critiques and do my best to accommodate. I really think of Albany CrossFit as a community and family and take everyone's concerns and opinions with the utmost respect.

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The "sure thing" boat never gets far from shore.” --Dale Carnegie

The future of CrossFit

We always like to push ourselves a little extra on Mondays, and tonight was certainly no different. I love it when people read the board and say, "that's not too bad", knowing they will be eating those words in a few short moments.

.25 run, 50 situps, .5 run, 100 pullups, .5 run, 100 pushups, .25 run, 50 back extensions, doesn't look too bad when written on the board, but when you are in the middle of it, the outlook is pretty grim. Everyone pushed hard and it was great to see excellent form on everyone's pullups and pushups. Remember when 10 pullups were hard? Now you are all doing 100! Pretty amazing.

Everyone is also running so much faster. Dona has really noticed a tremendous difference in her run, but also an improvement in her rowing. A perfect example of how varying your exercises will improve everything. If you want to improve one exercise, everything will help it. That's why our warm-up is so important, those 5 basic exercises will help improve everything. What to get a muscle-up? You won't get one until your pullups and dips are top notch.

I would really like to see members practicing new movements. Everyone is doing great, but I want you to be the best. Work on the muscle-ups, work on HSPU, work on your clean and snatches. If you need help you can always ask me. Teaching your body new movements and tricks is what CrossFit is all about!

"One who creates the opportunity is Brilliant. One who gets the opportunity is Lucky. One who capitalizes on the opportunity is the Winner."
--- Gunalan Ramachandiran

Congrats to the Brett and his family on the new addition...a future CrossFitter for sure!

Luke's Max Bench or Karma Sutra #55