The downfalls to getting into fights

by Jason

Well, at least if you happen to run into a brick wall…like we said before the suicide runs, the cement wall will have no give, and unfortunately Dr. Greg learned that the hard way.  He ran full blast into the wall, and it did not budge, but his ankle did, he will be ok, but you might see him on crutches for a couple of days.  Well worth it though, what a fantastic performance Dr. Greg put on.  If you have any doubts you can't be fit in your 40s, a father, a husband, a doctor, check out this guy.  He epitomizes CrossFit and we are proud to have him at Albany CrossFit!

The fights were a huge success.  We had the 10 components of fitness on the board, and here is the order they were picked along with their competition, as well as the ones that were not picked, just in case you were wondering.

1. Balance – who can balance on one leg the longest, arms overhead and lifted leg must be bent with thigh parallel to the floor

Jess Dunn took this event with a close second going to Dr. Greg, who seemed more like he was conserving energy for the long night ahead, not giving up.  Shout out to Jess Lasky, Joy, Stacey, and Heather for valiant efforts

2. Power – 1 minute as many thrusters as possible, men use 95, women use 65

Definitely a male dominated event.  Coach Matt wrecked it, but Dave, and a few others represented with 20 plus thrusters.  Dave hit 21 consecutive 95lb. Thrusters for the first time ever, watch out "Fran"!  Stacey and Viv turned in solid performances for the ladies.

3. Cardio Endurance – 1k Row

Everyone was expecting a 500 meter row, but was (not) pleasently surprised to see a 1k show up, well, no one except for Victor.  It is truly amazing how this guy can not only turn in the best time of the night, but look like he is hardly working, awesome job! 

4. Stamina – seated Presses as many as possible in 90 seconds men us 45, women use 35

Another male dominated event, but the women definitely held their own.  Many turned in 30+ reps with the 35lb. bar.  Katie and Catherine showed that their one rep max strength is also transfearable into muscle stamina with two of the highest women scores.  Josh F. and "Mean" Gene represent the Y chromosome with some solid numbers.

5. Coordination – Double Unders, most consecutive wins

Finally, an event that both sexes had an equal chance, and overall the women probably had more total double unders with most hitting at least one or two.  But, ultimately the men occupied the top 2 spots.  Ted hit a solid 11 Double Unders showing he is not only good looking, but coordinated as well.

6. Accuracy – 25 squat jumps within a circle, lose a point every time you land on or outside the line

Our first event won by a woman as Katie hit a perfect 25 for 25 jumps.  A few of the men were accurate as well, unfortunately they accurately landed outside of the circle for most of their jumps.

7. Speed – Suicide Runs

Definitely the highlight of the night as we had brackets leading into the finals.  We started in heats of 3 athletes with the top 2 of each heat moving into the next round.  A few nice surprises as we saw both Andrea and Amanda make it into the second round.  We had quarterfinals, the semis and our six finalists were Dave, Ryan, Matt, Dr. Greg, "Mean" Gene and the wildcard Ted.  Matt, Dr. Greg, and Ryan made it to the finals with Matt winning and Dr. Greg edging out the younger Ryan by a hair.

Great job to everyone.  It was an absolute blast and we look forward to our next "Friday Night Fights" on March 27th.  Remember, each Fight will be completely different, you may teams, you may see battle of the sexes, you may even see a marathon, well, probably not, but you never know…

Not picked:
Flexibility – sit and reach test
Power – Max Deadlift (pound for pound)
Agility – the ladder, 60 seconds running back and forth, most trips wins

Andy and Kramer stopped by with the youngest CrossFitter Xander and he is cute.  What a fun little baby.  A baby is not that much different than a Kettlebell, you can do swings with them, even burpees if you are careful, it's jus that kettlebells don't cry as much…

Great WOD this morning, and the last of a great week programmed by "Mean" Gene.  Similar to a "Fight Gone Bad" but more like boxing than UFC with 5 3-minute rounds.  Killer on the legs with five minutes of box jumps mixed in their, not to mention, squat, lunges, burpees, and wall balls.

Our first "Competitor's Class" went great.  This class is at noon on Saturday's and open to those competing in the Northeast Qualifier.  We worked up to a heavy set of 5 on the Back Squats and then hit last year's CF Games WOD of 5 Deadlifts/10 Burpees for 5 rounds.  Everyone kicked some serious butt and will no doubt represent ACF at the Qualifiers.  We have some new additions from ACF participating, we are psyched for Viv, Jackie, and Angie, and there is rumor the "Red Devil" will be competing as well.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. –Airplane!