ALBANY CROSSFIT

Fight Gone Burpee

Great to be back at Albany CrossFit, definitely some great energy in the air all day today...maybe you guys miss me when I'm away!

I came in at noon and was immediately greeted with enthusiasm from Dona and Gab.  They both spent some time working on their medicine ball clean, Gab has really got the form and technique down, and Dona made some huge improvements in her form.  The two of them and Noreen did a simple yet killer workout (one that looks easy on paper) of: 5 rounds: 15 medicine ball cleans and 15 pushups, for all of you evening folks curious...don't worry you'll get it later in the week!  Speaking of Noreen, she finished her basic level testing, great job, you are making some great improvements, keep it up.

Shye was also there at noon and his first rx'd "Fran."  He did a phenomenal job completing it in 9:17, and his time is only going to go down drastically as he gets a little more efficient on his kipping and gets his hips more involved in the thrusters.  He displayed virtuosity (doing the common uncommonly well) on every single rep.  He also informed me that his running times were faster and he was recovering quicker and he is running much less than he used to...what do you all contribute that to?

As most of you read on the board I would really like to take the next 3 months and rededicate ourselves.  Not that anyone wasn't already, but it is summer time and a great time to gather our focus, improve our fitness and improve our lives!  I want to spend some time everyday working on our weaknesses as well as hitting some technique and form practice.  Even for those of you who have mastered everything!  I also want to get more people on the zone and those of you on it, to be even stricter and limit those cheat meals to either one day a week or 3 bad meals per week.  Everyone is doing amazing, after being at the certification I realize what an amazing community we have built here, and it only makes me want to push you all to your potential that much more...you all have no idea what you are capable of!

The evening folks were given a real treat tonight for my first day back in the form of "Fight Gone Burpee".  It was setup the same way as  Fight Gone Bad, the only difference being we sub burpees for rowing (fun!).  Before hitting the WOD we worked on something we suck at, and we are going to stick with that movement for the course of the week.  Most people wound up choosing Overhead Squats, which is a challenging exercise but also a great one to work on because it will in-turn help your squat, snatch, press, and many other movements.  The point of this isn't to make you feel frustrated it is to start eliminating weaknesses and when this is no longer your weakness, guess what...something else will be...like Viv said, "take this weakness and make it your bitch!"

Already in one day I saw some big improvements.  Chris, Josh (great job starting the zone), and Erin worked on their OHS and made big improvements.  Erin has realized (I told her) that it is not a shoulder flexibility issue but a core stabilization issue.  Laura G. hit a bunch of Double Unders, not sure exactly how many, I just kept hearing her yell, "I got one!"  Keep at it, it's only going to make you that much fitter.

Everyone killed it today.  I was impressed by all of you today, so don't feel left out if you don't see your name.  Rich and Anthony did great with their first FGB.  Rich has only been at it for 2 weeks and has already lost 5lbs.  I can't say enough about Viv, she continues to impress me not only did she use the man weights for FGB but she is an absolute amazing coach, I can't wait for her to get her Level I training.  Jess Cole must have taken what I read on the board with some seriousness because I have never seen her push herself so hard, I'm very proud of her for hitting more reps than she thought she could.  Hadn't seen Andrea and Jen in a little while, but they came in and hit it hard, great to have them back!  Elania is awesome I see a huge difference in her physique and fitness level. 

Chad and Peter have a big Jiu-Jitsu tournament this weekend, you guys are going to wreak havoc in your divisions.  Chad is turning into an absolute beast, if he were going to the CF games I honestly believe he would have a chance of winning.  

Some of you may have notice a bottle of YBF (you'll be fine) spray.  So if you are in the midst of complaining or whining and find your self getting spritzed, just rest assure You'll Be Fine!

There will be no 9:30/10:15 classes for the time being.  Those were put on the schedule for the Niskayuna Mom's group and we won't be meeting again until the Fall.

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get. --Confucius

Fight Gone Burpee

Level I again?

Congrats to Niki, she is now an official Level I CrossFit trainer!  She did awesome this weekend, great job!

As most you know, Niki and I were in Maine this past week attending Niki's first Level I training and my 2nd.  Now, some of you may ask why attend another Level I training?  Especially when you are already a Level II coach.  Well, the first answer is to support Niki and an excuse for a mini-vacation, the other answer is to better help, support, and improve the fitness of my Albany CrossFit members.

It makes me happy to help all of you improve your fitness levels and overall health.  By hearing a lot of these lectures for a 2nd time (or more from videos) I can see them in a different light or from a different angle.  For example when we were discussing the Overhead Squat today, I was thinking about how I can use these corrections and techniques to help Dona, Erin, and Josh.  The first time listening I was just doing my best to follow along and learn as much as I could.

Me telling you that I've mastered CrossFit and don't need to learn anymore is like someone telling you they mastered the violin.  It's a lie!  No matter how well you play the violin, you can always improve, the same is true with CrossFit.  There is no mastering, we can strive for it, but there will always be more to learn.  This is like playing a violin...not a triangle! 

It also reminds me of how important the basics are.  What they say here is true.  Everyone gets that first "dose" and wants more, but it is necessary to make sure we focus on mechanics and consistency first.  Intensity is important but without technique you won't be able to maximize that intensity.  I'm not saying we are going to take it easy (far from that), but we need to make sure we keep CrossFit efficient and safe!  Let's take some time a few times a week and go over the 9 basic movements (the squats, presses, and deadlifts), as well as other movements such as pullups, olympic lifts, and burpees!

Hearing these lectures reinforces the reasons we do this.  Independent living.  How many of you have visited a Nursing home?  Now how many of you have visited a nursing home and said to yourself, I cannot wait to live here?  No one.  CrossFit helps support Independent living.  We do these "CrossFit" movements everyday, whether standing up from your chair at work, or squatting with 200lbs. on your back, you need to be able to do this to live a long, healthy life. 

I can write and talk about this all day.  Niki and I have 5 other trainings planned for this summer. Rowing, running, olympic lifts, barbell, and kettlebell trainings.  I'm not saying I do it all for you guys, I love it, and love to learn more about the body, fitness, and health, and I love to pass it all on to you.  I look forward to offering many seminars and trainings at Albany CrossFit over the coming months.  Hopefully you will enjoy and take this knowledge and further your fitness.

Here is a post from Brett on the Message Board, I thought it was worth everyone reading.

Did I mention that it was an absolute honor and pleasure to coach all of you. Some of you have been CrossFitting for a while now, and it shows Others have only started, but your determination and intensity are more impressive than I can express in words.

As a coach, it is always a tremendous joy to see people improve at something, "get" something new, or just discover their own potential. My biggest concern after "visiting" the evening classes for a few days was that some are putting intensity before the 2 parts of CrossFit you NEED to nail first, virtuosity (WFS) and consistency. Get the technique. Understand and master the movement, even if it means you lighten the weight away from Rx'ed or your PR. The better the technique, the more productive application of force you'll be capable of. The better you can maintain form in a workout, the less likely you'll be to injure yourself and the longer you'll last (both in that WOD and long term). If you're a good trainee, you should show up hoping for Jason to be an absolute "form nazi"!

Keep looking for gains in small increments and you will continuously improve (remember to rest though). As a CrossFitter, you all keep raising the bar and . It's hard work just to keep up, which leaves me in the same struggle between virtuosity, consistency, intensity and rest (not to mention food).

So, keep at it! because YOU inspire ME!

Achieving the Muscle-up from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

Achieving the Muscle-Up

One Woman’s Manifesto

(written by Lisbeth Darsh of CrossFit Watertown)

I refuse to become one of the walking undead. The unwell. The quitters, the complainers, the crybabies. Those who say “Oh, well, I’m fat” and just accept it. Those who don't even try. Those who won’t get off the couch and on the road to anything but the drive-through. I am so done with them.

Although I have reached what used to be quaintly referred to as “middle age” I no longer think of it as some green pasture to lay down in and count my money until I die. This is my prime.

I will not go gently into the good night. I will not let my body spread, my willpower relax, and my determination downgrade. I am making a stand here. Like Dylan Thomas, I am raging against the dying of the light.

I refuse to listen to “Oldies Rock” and wear “Mom” jeans and appliqué my sweatshirts with inane seasonal greetings. I won’t use the phrase “old enough to know better.” My body is older but I am better. I am fine.

I vow not to become one of those people who stroll past hard-working CrossFitters and sneer, “You’re not getting me to do that.” Instead, I will be one of those people who stop and ask, “How can I do that?”

I am not too old for triathlons; I am too young for complacency. The next forty years is a long time to sit on the sidelines. I am not too old for CrossFit; I’m too young for life on the f***ing couch.

I am not in the wrong place. I am, finally, in the right mind at the right time.

And to those on the other side of the spectrum, the young firebreathers in the CrossFit Daily Comments who deride “the soccer moms ruining CrossFit", I have this to say: I am no soccer mom . .  . But this deadlifting, back-squatting, clapping push-up lacrosse mom is ready to kick your butt to Dumbassville and back again. To you, CrossFit may just be a continuous stream of crazy workouts, skin, puking, Rock Star, and boobs; but, to me, it’s a whole lot more. To me, it’s like breathing. And, trust me, you don’t want to get between a woman and the source of her oxygen.

So, step aside, I’m taking my turn at the pull-up bar. And I brought some bands for my girlfriends so they can take this path too. Get used to us. We’re CrossFitting for the long haul. We will not go gently into that good night.

I refuse to listen to “Oldies Rock” and wear “Mom” jeans and appliqué my sweatshirts with inane seasonal greetings. I won’t use the phrase “old enough to know better.” My body is older but I am better. I am fine.

I vow not to become one of those people who stroll past hard-working CrossFitters and sneer, “You’re not getting me to do that.” Instead, I will be one of those people who stop and ask, “How can I do that?”

I am not too old for triathlons; I am too young for complacency. The next forty years is a long time to sit on the sidelines. I am not too old for CrossFit; I’m too young for life on the f***ing couch.

I am not in the wrong place. I am, finally, in the right mind at the right time.

And to those on the other side of the spectrum, the young firebreathers in the CrossFit Daily Comments who deride “the soccer moms ruining CrossFit", I have this to say: I am no soccer mom . .  . But this deadlifting, back-squatting, clapping push-up lacrosse mom is ready to kick your butt to Dumbassville and back again. To you, CrossFit may just be a continuous stream of crazy workouts, skin, puking, Rock Star, and boobs; but, to me, it’s a whole lot more. To me, it’s like breathing. And, trust me, you don’t want to get between a woman and the source of her oxygen.

So, step aside, I’m taking my turn at the pull-up bar. And I brought some bands for my girlfriends so they can take this path too. Get used to us. We’re CrossFitting for the long haul. We will not go gently into that good night.

Princess Diana

(recap by Brett "Mr. Muscle-Up" Andrus)

Last night, Diana got the squat. Tonight she had the top score among the trainees!

Everyone worked really hard at the callenging warm-up and I saw some great new skills evolving and improving.

3 rounds of 1 min each followed by 1 minute of stretching (like FGB, but not for reps)
Double Under practice
L-sit practice
Muscle-up practice
Handstand practice
Snatch practice

It was 1 more step in the direction of having all of you walk into class anytime, see the white board and say, "I can do that." To many, CF workouts sound impossible. Impossible, nothing!

The WOD was a little different. It involved some strategy in choosing a good weight that would still act as a good "score multiplier".

Every minute on the minute for a max of 20 minutes, competitors were to complete

5 DeadLifts
5 Cleans
5 Thrusters (all with the same weight of their choice)

The weight was divided by half the competitor's bodyweight to get the "score multiplier".

For example, I tried it in the "noon class" since it was just Fred and I with 95#. 95# is 0.97 x one half my BW, I managed to finish all 20 rounds, so my score is 0.97 x 20 = 19.4. I get to keep my trophy this time

The 5pm ladies stole the show tonight as they completed every round and Diana managed a score of 10.94.

Frustration is a part of learning and it is possible to get a thorough workout in with just a good warm up and 6 minutes of a good WOD! But, some people just wanted to keep working, even after they failed to complete a round in the allotted minute. Inspiring work!

Some of you may hate all of the changes to normality... But, the whole idea behind CF is to avoid routine and prepare for the unknown. Get some! Jason will be back with new ideas Monday anyway

Thor Rocks!

Recap courtesy of Brett "the burpee king" Andrus

Choices again!

Everyone warmed up with a CFWU look-alike.
3 rounds of 10 reps:
front squat (try light weight)
knees to elbows
back extensions
100 m row (just 1 of these!)
ring rows
skater stretch (think speed skater)

Then, everyone practiced their back, front and overhead squats. Everyone has improved so much it's absolutely mind-blowing!! Do you remember when some of the (now) pros at squats couldn't get depth to save their butt-balls? Some even improved further by making the simple change of picking a focus point that gave them a neutral gaze and a better concept of how low they were getting with their bum, not their chest. Nice work!

Speaking of squats... If you haven't read Starting Strength, it's in the middle bottom cubby. Peruse at your leisure, just keep it there please.

This time, the choices were strength, met-con, or absolute punishment!

Choice 1, STRENGTH:
Overhead Squats 5 x 1
Front Squats 5 x 1
Back Squats 5 x 1

OR, if you'd already done this, to complete the main site WOD of a CFT (Which Jess, Rich, and Angie did an awesome job with).

Choice 2, METABOLIC CONDITIONING (AKA "*** Whoopin' One World"):
5 rounds for time of:
7 pull-ups
7, 75# thrusters
7 burpees

These are the 3 nastiest movements for many and 2 in the morn and 2 in the 5:30pm tackled them with gusto.

Then, there was Jason's list for the masochist.
Run 1 mile
50 KB swings
40 pull-ups
30 KB swings
20 pull-ups
10 KB swings
Run 1 mile

Unfortunately, Shye has decided the side door must remain closed. This really shouldn't deter a CFer! The stairs and the obstacles are part of daily life. Please come in and out through the main entrance. (note from Jason: I will deal with this when I get back)

Keep in mind that not every workout will be a PR. CrossFit gets better, not easier. Work on fine-tuning the workouts, diet and rest so that you are maintaining that baseline of work capacity you're capable of and incrementally improving (that means slow & steady gains are the goal!).

I went after the WOD from the main site of a few days back:

50 sit-ups
50 double unders
50 sit-ups
50 lunge steps
50 sit-ups
50 burpees
50 sit-ups

I was at 6 something when I hit the burpees and thought I might go sub-10, but finished in 11'52". That was much better than my goal of sub 15 min. The burpees have improved as I'm definitely resting less, but they were still broken to 5s. Could have been faster if I hadn't had to stop and pull up my pants during DUs!

Man of the day was JJ... again. After helping the noon class, he came back, busted through J's WOD while maintaining a friendly face, before finishing by destroying the A-Whoop 1 World WOD in good time. Thor of Odin is strong and good and will have his own movie soon.

Forget regrets or life is yours to miss...

Lobster

Enjoying Maine, read here for your Mission

What awesome feedback I got about John "Thor" Johnson coaching at the noon class today...here is what Lenora had to say, "Gratitude to John Johnson (Thor) for a great WOD, and for coaching me on false-grip ring pullups, and GI Janes.  John was great at encouraging us to scale as needed, and kept reminding us to keep the thrusters deep."  Remember nooners John will be back again tomorrow, and then Fred will be in on Friday at noon to kick your butts!

Here is Brett's recap of the evening classes:

A Deceptive White Board today (there was a lot up there)!

Lots of people tried something new with their 500 m row during the warm-up.  Trying to establish a peak power output and then reach that output or beat it next time is 1 more way to improve your rowing and your all-around athleticism.  I got to witness some great 500 splits from many.

Also, adding a little more challenge to your CFWU as you go is a good way to grow!  Have you added some weight to your overhead squats?

The true deception lay in the choice between 2 metabolic conditioning workouts.

1 from the main site WODs:

50 sit-ups
50 double unders
50 sit-ups
50 walking lunge steps
50 sit-ups
50 burpees (Yay!)
50 sit-ups

It looked like such a long list, but many didn’t realize that you’re more than strong enough to do 400 floor sit-ups!  The morning crew and about half of the 5:30 gang chose this short chipper.  Best time was a tie between the 2 classes at 19’23”.  As always, burpees were killer.

And the 2^nd, from some evil genius’ hopper of a mind...

Row 1,000 m
50 x 75# thrusters
Row 1,000 m

Yes, this looks so much easier on paper, but the full body hip drive and shoulder work is almost constant throughout this 1.  Some looked like they wouldn’t finish.  This was an especially challenging WOD for our new members who joined us at 6:30, but Kelly, Dave, Anthony, and John didn’t disappoint.  They showed great heart and amazing athletic potential to the end.  It was awesome to meet them and I’m looking forward to what kind of fire-breathers they’ll turn into.  Chad crushed it!  I’m looking forward to his future tournament results, too.

Marley had a great time on the beach in Maine.  She continues to amaze people with how fast she runs and that she keeps going and going.  Today her WOD was 21-15-9 of ball fetching.  Great job girl!

Check out this article from Jon Gilson at Again Faster (CrossFit Boston) - what do you think?

Tim Russert is dead.  The suffer-no-bullshit anchor of “Meet the Press” had a massive coronary on Friday at the too-soon age of 58.  

This was a guy you liked for the same reason you liked Die Hard-era Bruce Willis.  He was funny, he was aggressive, and he saw right through your front.  The only way you got off Tim’s hook was to tell the truth, own up to your argument, and admit your shortcomings.  I routinely felt sorry for his Sunday morning guests—they’d stumbled into a maze where the Minotaur was impossibly smart and every passage was a dead end.

Unfortunately, the otherwise brilliant Mr. Russert fell prey to the plague of the intellectual class, treating his body as an inconsequential vessel for his rock star brain.  His work ethic was notorious--round-the-clock marathons of analysis and exposition, executed for the benefit of a spoiled television audience.  His long hours in the office precluded regular exercise and proper diet, and his heart gave out.

Right now, you’re feeling pressured to put nose to grindstone on your own behalf.  Gasoline is four dollars a gallon, food prices have skyrocketed, and folks in Venezuela are using American dollars to light cigars and clean up after the kids.  Every hard goods provider in the country is ratcheting up prices, citing the astronomical cost of shipping, thinning margins, and the ridiculous expense of raw materials.  You’re getting squeezed, and you need more money.

You’re working harder and looking for things to cut out of the budget, taking big swinging hacks at the checkbook to free up devalued dollars.  Lattes are gone, your Friday night dinner date has gone the way of the Caribbean monk seal, and your gym membership is next on the chopping block.  

Eighty, a hundred, two hundred dollars a month, back in your pocket in one fell swoop, dedicated to more important things like filling the tank, clothing the kids, and keeping the mortgage out of default.  Here’s the problem—Tim Russert is dead.

The tanking economy is irrelevant when you’re pushing daisies. Without properly functioning organs, your idea-rich brain has all the utility of a table lamp during a blackout.  When your body crumbles, everything else takes a back seat. When the bills start mounting and your work consumes you, take a minute to remember this basic fact:  without your health, you are nothing.  

With the boogeyman budget staring back at you, it’s tempting to axe the gym and trade in grass-fed beef for twenty-five cent boxes of linguini.  It’s tempting to let your health go to meet near-term material needs.  Find another way to make it work.  Dig deep, and make it through with your health intact.  Economic woes will pass, but the road to bodily ruin is downhill, and the bottom comes quick.

I am truly saddened at Tim Russert’s death.  He was the type of man that men should strive to be.  He left too soon, and now we’ll never get to see him tear into the next Administration.  If only his all-consuming desire to expose the truth had led him to the gym.  Godspeed, Tim.

Here is a great video of Jon teaching the Sumo Deadlift High Pull (SDHP).  Watch the video and then practice them with some PVC tonight at class tonight.  Watch the video here.

Knackered

While I am away - Click Here

Everyone's hands were hurting and in rough shape today after all the pullups yesterday.  Take care of those paws, make sure to clean them if you rip them, trip off the excess skin, and buff the down with a pumice stone.  Remember this - (from another affiliate) Weight lifting gloves are useless for CrossFitters. They'll slow you down on the pull-up bar and keep you from getting a secure grip on the barbell. As Coach Rip advises, "Only wear gloves if you're worried your calluses might rip your pantyhose." Calluses are the skin's natural reaction to repeated friction or pressure; as long as you take good care of them, they'll take good care of you.  Here's an article about proper callus care. Remember: calluses are not to be avoided. They're evidence of hard work and badges of honor!

All of the nooners with the exception of Jody and Andrea decided to work on strength today, hitting some heavy squats.  Dona, Diana, Erin, Noreen, Lenora, Thunder John, Andy, and Dave all hit nice depth on their squats.  Erin squatted for the first time with weight and she hit a triple of 95lbs.  She is definitely in the running for Lasky of the Month.

I'll miss the nooners for the rest of the week...behave!  Don't forget John Johnson will be here to help and coach on both Wednesday and Thursday, and Fred should be in on Friday, the WODs are on the board already, but you can choose to use your time for some skill work, a previous WOD, or some Phase tests if you'd like (I'll trust you).

Evening folks were definitely a little knackered from Chelsea last night.  That didn't stop them from hitting  a challenging WOD of - 4 rounds: .25 run, 30 GHD situps, 30 Wall Ball.  All the women used 14lbs. for the Wall Ball, huge accomplishment!  Josh was also in a bit early for some squat therapy.  His form and technique has seriously improved since joining ACF, no doubt he'll be hitting some heavy weights in the near future.

The 6:30pm (Niki) convinced me to change the WOD to "Kelly" since it was so similar...so rather than situps we made it jumps and added a round.  It was the "big boy" class as Anthony and John were back after Saturday and our newest regular Richard was there.  They along with Niki and Angie did a killer job.  I'm really excited for these 3 new men, they are already strong, now they are going to be CROSSFIT

We will be moving the POSE running clinic to a different weekend, hopefully July 26th (following weekend).  I was invited to attend the first Concept II rowing certification in Stowe, Vermont from July 17 - 20th.  It will be a great opportunity for me to learn more about proper rowing technique and ofcourse bring it back to ACF and get those rowing times down!

Don't forget LaskyFest is this Saturday at 2pm.  Contact Jess, Erin, or Ali if you need more information.

I can't believe that we would lie in our graves wondering if we had spent our living days well. I can't believe that we would lie in our graves dreaming of things that we might have been. --Dave Matthews

The Hopper

Chelsea

Chelsea was the lady of the day today.  It was everyone's first time doing "Chelsea" today.  She is a little different than "Cindy", while you are doing the same movements and reps, she has a slightly different twist. 

"Chelsea" - Set up before a clock, and every minute, on the minute, perform 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats.  Can you continue for thirty minutes?  If on last tackling "Chelsea" you went the full thirty minutes, try this time 6 pull-ups, 11 push-ups, and 16 squats, and if successful, add one rep to each exercise each time "Chelsea" appears.
 
At noon Josh and Noreen were able to complete all 30 rounds, so next time they do "Chelsea" they will up their reps to 6, 11, and 16.
 
Erin put in a valiant effort completing 16 rounds on the buzzer, before missing her 17th, all while using the blue band!  Erin and Nina should be coming regularly at noon now that school is out!

The evening folks did amazing!  Many people were able to complete the 30 rounds...meaning next time you'll need to bump up the reps!  Kelly definitely gets athlete of the night.  She has only been kipping for a few weeks but tonight something definitely clicked within her.  She completed all 30 rounds with great pullups, at one point she ripped her hand and looked at me with a crazed look and said, "I'm finishing this!"

Two of our newer members, Kelly and Dave are doing a great job.  They have been coming for just over a week and are already showing tremendous improvement.  Kelly's big goal when joining was to do a pullup and I think she'll have one before her wedding on October 25th.  These two have a great attitude and are super friendly, make sure to introduce yourselves next time you see them. 

I don't like to compliment Dave Garvey too often but his deep squats were impressive tonight.  I must say this man perseveres...he has really improved his flexibility through CrossFit as well as his strength and attitude.

It was great having Ashleigh in town from Oahu, she added a great attitude and energy to all of the classes she came to.  Come back any time you are in town!  Go show Hawaii how much you improved your kipping in Albany!

We will be offering a POSE running seminar Saturday July 19th.  Space is limited to the first 10 members that sign-up.  If we have enough interest we can offer a second seminar that same day.  We have almost filled up the first 10 spots so please let me know ASAP if you are interested.  For more POSE information go to - POSETECH

We will be traveling to a Level I certification from Wednesday thru Sunday.  Click HERE for the schedule and information for while we are away.

You can download the results of the East Coast CrossFit challenge right here.

Download crossfitchal.xls

Ernie and Heidi

Sales Pitch

(From another affiliate, but it suits us perfectly, I made a few edits)

We opened this gym for one reason - we think that CrossFit is the greatest fitness protocol in the history of mankind. We started doing CrossFit - we saw marked improvements in our own performance - we wanted others to be able to see those same improvements. The fact that we were all in the fitness industry at the time is just a coincidence. There are many examples of normal people leaving their mundane desk jobs, & opening CrossFit affiliates. We would have done the same. We were; however, a part of the physical fitness community already, so this afforded us an ease of transition that we will forever be grateful for. But...we would have done this no matter what.

The ease of our transition notwithstanding, we needed a few things to happen when we opened this affiliate. We first needed to have people find us in order to have clients to train. Second, when they walked in the door we needed to help them understand something as complicated as CrossFit, & we needed them to want to participate. Third & finally, we needed to have them pay us a membership fee for our services. It is not an exorbitant amount of money, but it is more than you would pay at your local Globo gym.

The fact that people pay us to train them is nothing groundbreaking, but people are used to paying for training that involves a big, shiny gym, lots of biceps curls, & a sales pitch involving “guaranteed results” or “tightening your core”. We are obviously neither big nor shiny.  So there’s our big dilemma - people are used to having training sold to them, how would we sell our training?

I like the answer a question with a question sales technique:

“How long will it take me to lose 10 pounds?”
“How long do you want it to take?”

“How many sessions do you think I should buy?”
“How many sessions do you think you should buy?”

I don’t know if this is actually a technique. Quite frankly, it would annoy the hell out of me. I, in fact, don’t really know any sales techniques. I guess you can imagine that this would make it tough to start a sales oriented business, but somehow we’re still here. Weird.

For those of you who have experienced it first hand, I think you know - our sales pitch sucks. There’s no way to put it nicely. We couldn’t sell our collective way out of a wet, recycled canvas bag. Half the time we don’t have any idea what to say to people when they walk in the door. Someone actually told me one time that not having a sales pitch, was our sales pitch. I guess that would either make us geniuses, or idiots. I think I know which way most of you are leaning on that one. But the thing is...you guys joined - why?

Ok, so we’ve established it’s not our sales pitch - it’s probably not our good looks (ok, maybe Niki's) - it certainly could be our sparkling clean facility (if by clean you mean there are more hairballs than at one of those crazy cat people homes) - it may be this fine blog/website, but I know you guys don’t read the posts when they’re this long anyway. So what the heck are you doing here?

Most of you were probably instructed to do one thing the first time we talked to you - try a workout. In that “first impression” moment you may have thought that we were a little odd. You probably thought the facility was extremely odd. And you had to think the fact that some of workouts only last two-and-a-half minutes was definitely odd. Yet for some reason, some adventurous streak you have inside made you want to give it a shot.

The rest is history - you either love it or hate it. Funny thing is, when you love it - you really love it. You go from being a normal human, to a full blown cult member in about 2 weeks. You start to plan vacations around CrossFit. You start to check the website 10 times a day, because you’ve got to know what the workout is. You start to try to convert others to your cult. Sometimes they even come & join, & make you feel like a little less of a freak.

We will never have a sales pitch. You will never get a cold call after you visit our facility. We’ll never send out a mass email to all of the people that have sent us an email to express interest. If you cancel your membership, we won’t make a “special deal” with you to try to get you back. We won’t give you a brochure, or try to explain why we’re better than someone else. We will let you walk out of the door without making a “membership commitment”.

We will; however, coach the hell out of you every day. We will try to teach you to be the best mover/athlete/healthy person that you can possibly be. We will try to build a gym full of Firebreathers. We will give you the most possible fitness you could ever dream of getting for your hard earned dollar, & we will enjoy every day of it - we hope you do too.

Snatch

Saturday in the park

Thanks to Jess Lasky's great idea we decided to take our Saturday morning class down the road to the Colonie High-School trace (we have some good connections, thanks Erin and Nina).  The plan was to have a 10am WOD and then at 11am other would come by and we would all do "Griff" together. 

We had a great turnout for a beautiful Saturday morning - it was Marley, Niki, Jess L., Jess C., Erin, Nina, Kelly, Kelly K., Ben, Josh, Heidi, Ernie, Sarah, Connor, Angie, Thunder John, Kari, Chris, Shye, and two first-timers Anthony and John.

We loaded up the car last night with medicine balls and kettlebells for the WOD.  We had four stations along the track, medicine ball cleans, burpees, KB swings, and walking lunges.  The goal was to do as many laps in 20 minutes while doing each station for 10 reps.  Everyone did awesome with most people running 2-4 laps, which means you not only did about 40 reps of each exercise but you also ran a mile...not too shabby.

I was expecting almost everyone to leave after the first class and just have few folks doing "Griff".  But almost everyone stayed for the second WOD and did great.  We quickly found out why we don't run backwards too often, it was killer on the quads and calves.  Great times by everyone Shye and Josh were the first two done, those two are faster than lightning.

Thanks everyone for taking such great care of Marley, she is absolutely exhausted, she must have ran about 3 miles, all sprinting after her ball.

"....find that thing that is your weakness, embrace it, and make it your bitch..." --Robb Wolf (courtesy of Viv)