First, reading.  My sister was three grades ahead of me and was an absolute MONSTER at reading the Ramona and the Baby Sitter’s Club series.  I tried, and it was like Greek.  In all seriousness, I sounded out the best my kindergarten-self could, and still, pure Greek.  I remember, giving it all that I had, and still getting nothing for some time.

I was reduced, for the time, to Dr. Seuss and Dick and Jane. I hated her… I was so hungry to be better, to be at the Ramona level~but for awhile, I was plain old Dr. Seuss, no matter how hard I tried.

Bike riding was a similar story...

Yesterday, I was bound and determined to PR on my power clean.  In fact, I actually dreamt that I would.  I was bound and determined to get 195 to my chest.

Personally, I feel that if you count the amount of times I got it to my chest, but didn’t get my elbows where they needed to be, I GOT IT~~~unfortunately, this isn’t the way Olympic lifting works, the same way that all of my sounding out letters didn’t result in my comprehension of Ramona: The Brave.

You see, sometimes we try our hardest and it STILL doesn’t provide the desired result.  We try and we try, but we just don’t seem to gain progress.

What we don’t realize is that the failures add up.  By this I mean that we learn from them.  We gain a little something each time we fail.  Eventually, the moment comes, and it all clicks.  The change occurs.  We get it.  Finally.

I can read now.  In fact, I teach English.  It finally clicked.  Who knew???

Dave B.

Quads still hurting from Monday's med-ball cleans??

Stewy in the HOUSE!! Great to have you back!

Ron D...

We may not be Mike Burgener, but we can still lift like him!

Mark Testa PR’d on his clean (215), Shawn Hatchel PR’d on his clean, Lauren Plumey PR’d on her snatch (125), Steve Signore power cleaned 205 twice, Bill Roy PR’d on his snatch, Kyle Winters PR’d on both his clean (by 10 lbs.) and his jerk (by 15 lbs.), Peter Blomgren Pr’d on his clean, Carl Chu PR’d on his power clean (230), DP on his push jerk (320), hang clean (305), and power clean (300), Shlee Vargo PR’d on her power clean (160), and Meg O’Testa PR’d on her jerk (205).

Who’s developing buns o’ steel?! These people are!

Mark Testa PR’d on both his back squat (340) and overhead squat (165), Matt Stebbins. on his back squat (210), Shawn Hatchel PR’d on his overhead and front squat, Joe Liguori PR’d on his overhead squat (155), Kelly Walsh had a front squat PR, Frank Hammell front squatted 285, Lou Dinola and Joe Murgo. both had a front squat PR of 245, Bobby Durand PR’d on his front squat at 305, and Ashley Banks Front Squatted 170!

Athletes that PR’d on the ever-so-nerve-racking girl WODs:

Mark Testa did on “Helen” as well as Annalisa Porter (by 2 minutes..9.42 RX!), Jess Lavigne (by 1 minute) and Joe Liguori (8.40).  Billy Roy PR’d on “Lynne” and Meg O’Testa PR’d on Isabel (2.41).

Look at the athletes getting in touch with their inner gymnast:

Meghan Elgee did a whole WOD with left leg pistols, while Christina Quong and Karlee Hackett did pistols in a WOD!  Shawn Hatchel did butterfly pull ups and Andrew did them in a WOD, Meg O’Testa did butterfly chest to bar pull ups for a whole WOD, Lisa Williams did handstand pushups with one abmat, Annie Marchitto performed pull-ups with no band for an entire WOD, and Dominic Carew held a handstand for 40 seconds!

You pick things up and put them down!! (And PR too!)

Ray Garcia deadlifted 345×5, Peter Blomgren and Shawn Hatchel both PR’d on their deadlift, as well as Liz Keyes!

Entering the elusive muscle up club is:

Eric Rapuano, Courtney Miniter, and Vanessa Montorsi! Kevin Katinski did a bar muscle up and Meg O’Testa did a non-false grip muscle up.  Along with the three women listed above, seven other women at SCF have gotten muscle ups!

“Run Forrest Run!”

Tricia Anderson ran 1 mile and Kellie Boni PR’d on her mile time!

Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

Kurt Morely came back, Hillary Finnemore mastered the GHD, and it was Becky Massey’s 1 year anniversary at SCF!

Roz, working hard during today's WOD

Welcome to SCF, Chris! Great job today.

Brandon, making his way under the bar! Great job!!

Amy, looking strong with the RX'd weight tonight!

Rope climbs during Sunday's WOD

Kristen, with a solid lock-out in yesterday's WOD.

Derrick, demoing some great form too!

WikiPedia, defines Late Bloomers as:

“A person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual. The term is used metaphorically to describe a child or adolescent who develops more slowly than others in their age group, but eventually catches up and in some cases overtakes their peers, or an adult whose talent or genius in a particular field only appears later in life than is normal – in some cases only in old age.”

Have you ever heard of George Blanda or Gordie Howe?  How about George Foreman (before he was a grill master) or Nolan Ryan?  This is just a quick list off the top of my head, but what they all have in common is, if you haven’t figured it out yet, they are all athletes who were at the top of their game into their forty’s and fifties.   Gordie Howe for instance was playing hockey for the Hartford Whalers when he was 52.

OK, next test, ever hear of Cheryl Ragsdale, no?  How about Lynne Knutson?  Ed Earl for Glaydes Burrill?  That’s OK, these are older athletes as well, just lesser known.  Cheryl Ragsdale is a boxer at age 52.  Lynne Knutson is a mountain climber at age 63.  Ed Earl, a competitive Kayaker (who knew there was such a thing) at age 72.  Ms. Burrill?  The oldest marathon finisher at 92 years old.  Besides the obvious of fame and name recognition, the difference between the two groups is the second came to their sport later in life.  That’s right, they started after most people retire from sports due to age and other factors

By now we should all know about the benefits of exercise in our daily lives, but what about sports?  We know that regular exercise will keep us healthy, that regular weightlifting will increase bone density, which is especially important as we age.  We know that a good diet will tie all these things together for your overall well being, let’s call that “Fitness,” but is there more?

I believe that sports and athletics adds another dimension to the picture.  When you compete at something, you’re now bringing all the things together, exercise, strength training, diet, to serve a purpose.  Those are tools you’re now using to complete a goal.  Softball, tennis, basketball, whatever your focus (passion) is, your level of Fitness will come through in your sport.

When I started Martial Arts, I joined a dojo to “get in shape” as most people do.  I quickly realized that I needed to get in shape to do Martial Arts.  The more fit I was, the better I performed.

My point here is that if you’re not involved in some kind of sport, I think your missing out.  This is doubly true for older people.  For some reason as we get older, society only seems to allow “acceptable” sports for us.  Golf comes to mind, tennis is OKAY too, why is that?  People hear that I play a lot of soccer and they just give me that look and say, really???  Trust me, I’m not an ultra competitive person, I just get a thrill out of playing the game for what it is.

For those of you involved in Crossfit, you have the unique opportunity to compete every day in the WOD.  Crossfit a sport?   Absolutely!  Reebok has dubbed Crossfit “The Sport of Fitness.”  OK, marketing…whatever, but don’t tell me you don’t have that person you’re always chasing.  You come in at 3:30 because you missed the 9:00 class and the first thing you do is go to the board and check their time.  This person is probably one of your closest friends, but you both still like to go head to head.

That’s a sport.  That is you using your tools, your Fitness, to be better, to compete.

I would suggest, as the Crossfit Open season begins, leading to the Crossfit Games, that you put yourself out there and step up your game.  There are local competitions happening almost every weekend these days and most now also have Masters divisions for those of us over 40.  There’s also the Crossift Open where we compete in one WOD a week against our peers worldwide.  Scary for a first time competitor, sure.  I will guarantee you though, that you’ll be surrounded by a number of like minded people all striving to be their best.  More than likely that 9:00 am person you’re always chasing will be there right by your side.

Speaking of our Master’s athletes, let’s check out a few of them in action during Sunday’s WOD:

John M.

Annalisa

Heather

Janice

John K.

Can you guess the “motif” I was trying to capture in the 6:30 pm class?

Adam

Veronica

Ariel

Kevin K.

I know that I’ve said it on multiple occasions and often hear it from our adult athletes.

I often muse about what it would have done to boost my self-image, make me more of a problem solver, teach me not to quit when the going gets tough, be a team player, oh…and of course, the physical benefits of being strong, fast, agile, coordinated, etc…

At SCF we have a kid’s program that is headed by Coach K, along with coaches Shlee, Rilla, and Ashley D.

This Saturday, Midcoast CrossFit in Old Saybrook held a kid’s competition.  I was so proud to watch Aiden Lavigne, Caden Lyons, Rylan Jacobson, Rachel Dalton, Jacques Dalton, and Paige Dean grind it out in true CrossFit fashion.  All young athletes made SCF incredibly proud (and their parents).  SCF’s own Rylan took first place overall!!!

Great work.  We can’t wait to see the CrossFit beasts that you will develop into when you’re all grown up!

Our Fire-breathers in training

First place winner, Rylan, demonstrated great focus throughout the 3 WODs

Aiden "Diesel" Lavigne shows some serious heart when competing

Ask Paige what her mama taught her about water breaks during competitions!!!

Ahhhhhhhhh…yahhhhhhh….Life can be so stressful.  So unforgiving.  Please don’t let it take away from the hour a day that you get for just you.  Try to let it go.  For at least an hour.

When I make photo copies at school, there’s this corny sign, which reads, “Stress is unpaid overtime”.

Corny, but true.

Don’t allow what’s happening to you at work or in life to affect the hour a day (or perhaps more…time with family, church, etc…) that you have to better yourself.

Let it go.  For an hour.  At least.

What a lock-out!!!!

Undrea is back!!

Mike and Kevin going HARD...

Marie, looking good!

When you have it…ohhhhhhhhh, baby...you’re unstoppable.  PR’s daily, feeling like a million bucks in a WOD, the craving to get the gym daily….it’s the medicine for everything that’s bad in the rest of your life.

But, what about when it’s not there?  What about when you don’t feel like coming to the gym?  When you feel like a 700 lb geriatric during your WODs? When you are here, but just going through the motions?  What do you do to get your swagger back?

REST.  Perhaps you are overtrained.  Perhaps your sub-par performances are your brain’s reaction to your body crying for help (you do know that they work together, right??)  You don’t have to take a month off, but how about a week?  Have you ever gotten sick of your parents, children, or spouse?  What happens when you go a week without seeing them?  Do you miss them?  Want to see them more?  Crave them?

GET A TRAINING PARTNER. It’s too easy to skip the gym when you feel like no one will notice.  If you make an appointment with someone else, you are less likely to break it.   You are accountable.  As a responsible adult, I doubt that you will break it.

FIND A CHALLENGER.  Look for that person in your box who is slightly better than you at some things.  That person that, if you slack, could easily take you in a WOD.  Try to train with them.  If life makes it an impossibility to do so, scope out their times on the white board (assuming that they come earlier than you), and make it your every effort to SMASH (in a nice way) their time.  I don’t think Big John even knows it, but I’m gunning for him daily….

SET A GOAL.  It could be a movement (ONE!!!) that you want to better, or a benchmark that you’d like to improve, or weight loss, muscle gain, etc… BUT SET IT.  Hold yourself accountable.  Write it down.  Tell your friends.  Make it a goal that can only be accomplished by coming to the gym.  When you begin to see the results, it will be the fuel you need to continue to come to the gym.

SIGN UP FOR A COMPETITION.  Competitions are held in the Tri-State area monthly.  Find one and sign up.  I have found NO GREATER fuel to better myself.  The CrossFit Worldwide Opens begin February 22nd and run until March 25th.  You will have to perform one workout per week and post the results Online, barring approval of your in-house judge.  Help SCF get to the Games!!!  You can all help.  You all possess different strengths that can get us there.  It is also a great tool to see where you stack up against other athletes all over the world.

No matter what it takes, you can’t live without exercise the same way that you cannot live without food or water.  So do it.  Find a way to get that swagger back!

Be sure to welcome our newest athletes from the first On-ramp class of 2012!

Want to improve your rope climbs?

Want to resist upper-body fatigue when climbing rope?

Then take note of the past three photos and observe their FEET.

Gotta love Megin OT working with Chu on Saturday, BANGING out reps of the jerk at 135!

Childhood friends, Nails and Kristina, teamed up to be a dynamic duo on Saturday morning!

Heatin' it up even in the snow!!

Today's overhead plated squat truly exposed inflexibility issues. Donna shows how being flexible pays off...

In a society where a large number of individuals give up their physical goals by their forties, Saturday’s athletes proved that they are only just getting started! As a youngin’, not yet in my forties, watching you folks workout daily at the gym is the inspiration that I need to keep on keepin’ on.  All of the coaches at SCF are incredibly proud of the eight SCF athletes who competed on Saturday, as well as the spectators that braved the weather to be the cheerleaders that our Masters needed!

Our athletes placed as follows:

• Gayle Wirtz place SECOND overall for the 45-49 age group, and Heather Myers placed THIRD in this same category.
• Ray Garcia placed SECOND for the 60+ age group and is one of the reasons the whole competition got up and running.
• Ron Winslow placed THIRD for the 50-54 age group.
• Ethan Hershman place THIRD, Paul Wirtz came in FOURTH, and John Kinney came in SEVENTH for the 45-49 age group.
• Rob Lavigne came in SIXTH in the 40-44 age group.

Once again, we are beaming with pride to have such a strong representation in the Master’s division.  Keep on inspiring!

Gayle and Heather goin' HARD!

Ray being cheered on by first place winner, and CF Games Master athlete, Jocinto Bonilla.

That says it...

Ethan...

Paul...

Rob L...

Ron, taking that deep breath before the, "3,2,1, GO!"

John Kinney

EGO VS INTEGRITY

Disclaimer: The following post is in response to multiple recent occurrences at CFHW, and is meant mostly to athletes who want the “Rx” next to their scores, are interested in competing, or want their scores posted on our leader board. It is not directed at any one individual.

I love my job. I love seeing people make incredible transformations. I love seeing people hit PR’s. I love helping people achieve things they never thought possible. I love the fact that our athletes are great at fundamentals and that that greatness gives CFHW a solid reputation around the Crossfit community. What I don’t love is when someone’s ego gets in the way of me loving my job. Your ego has no place inside a Crossfit gym, and definitely not inside CFHW. No matter how bad-ass you think you are, there will come a time where you will have your ass handed to you by someone far superior to you. What sense, then, does it make to let your ego get in the way of your training? The whole reason you are at the gym should be to improve yourself, not to have bragging rights. Here are some ways that your ego gets in the way of improving yourself:

-Cutting corners to improve your score. There are a lot of ways to cut corners. Range of motion is one of them. If you are not completing full range of motion on every rep, you are cutting corners. You are not doing the same workout as the person next to you. Remember, we can always scale the load of a movement, but range of motion (barring special circumstances such as injury) is not negotiable. Another way to cut corners is by not completing the prescribed amount of reps. This has become a problem recently (you think we don’t notice, but we do). This is cheating. There is no place in Crossfit for cheaters. Now every so often, mid-workout, your mind might slip and you may not know whether you’re on rep 43 or rep 53. In that case, you have to suck it up and assume it’s 43. That way you know your score is legit. Cutting reps is extremely disrespectful to me, the other coaches, your fellow athletes, and the entire Crossfit community. For those of you interested in competing and being on the leader board, you have to get serious about it. Pretend Coach Glassman himself is watching every single rep. You must leave no doubt that you are completing each rep as prescribed. If it wouldn’t fly in competition, redo it. If you’re not sure you did it as prescribed, then you probably didn’t. Redo it. Make yourself better. Your training should be as difficult as possible in order to make you perform better in competition. If we find you cutting corners, we will not include your scores on the leadboard unless they are verified by a coach, which means we have to count every rep.

-Neglecting your weaknesses. Just because you’re not good at something doesn’t mean you should avoid doing it. Quite the opposite, in fact. You should be concerned with working on your weaknesses to improve your game. In 2010, Rich Froning lost the final event, and therefore 1st place, because he couldn’t properly climb a rope. 2009 Games Champion Mikko Salo got slowed down by double-unders. Do you think they ignored those movements the following year during their training? Absolutely not. They fixed the holes in their games, and Froning went on to win in 2011. Last weekend Ron Mathews competed in the O.C Throwdown. He made a great post on our FB page about it. This was one of his points: “Work your weaknesses! Better to struggle in your own box in front of people who know and like/support you than struggle in front of a crowd of strangers. If you have a weakness it will be exposed!” Thanks, Ron. Well said.

-Getting personally offended by a “no rep” call. Just because a coach calls a no rep on you doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, or aren’t working hard enough. Everybody gets no-reps called on them. It’s part of Crossfit. Watch any Games competition video from last year. Do you see any of those athletes throwing a fit about no reps? No. They just redo it and move on. This is the integrity of a champion. And make no mistake, if you’re fit enough to make the Games, you’re already a champion. When you see people throw a fit from a no rep, they have way too much ego. These are the people who cut corners in the gym on a regular basis. These are the people who post incredible scores on their own but bonk when it comes time to do it for real. Don’t be one of those people.

-Neglecting technique and fundamentals. When I first began Crossfit I would repeat over and over something Glassman said while suffering through a WOD: “Proper form is more efficient.” More efficient means less wasted energy. This is a good thing. The fact that you can muscle clean 95# with poor form won’t matter when going for a 1RM or when the prescribed weight is double that. Technique is everything. Been Crossfitting for a couple years and still can’t do overhead squats? This is your fault for not working your weaknesses, which probably means mobility. (I see this one all the time). Neglecting technique and fundamentals will lead to injury and will ultimately cause you to plateau in your training.

As I said, I love my job. I love working with you guys on improving yourselves and your quality of life. Please don’t let your egos get in the way of that. Have some integrity and take your training seriously. You’ll thank me for it later.

CrossFit Games Champion 2011, Rich Froning, pulling his way to victory in the final WOD.

 

What do we do with these hands?  Call it quits? Give up?  Resolve ourselves to being oppressed, sickly, addicted,  inactive, overweight gluttons?

You know the answer…

You see, the thing that most of us fail to see is that every time we are dealt a bad hand, the dealer comes back right after we play it to deal us another.

How are you going to play this hand?  Are you even going to accept it?  Or are you going to walk away from the table, choosing to focus on that previous bad hand?

I’m not a gambler, but my senses tell me to take the risk and pick up the new hand…

nothing makes me prouder than the "coaches" that come out to cheer on a fellow athlete finishing a WOD!

Murgo and Slane, looking strong in Saturday's team WOD. Are you ready for this week??

LOVEEE the energy in the PM classes lately (I'm sure it's in the am classes too...I'm just not there!!)!!!!

I saw this photograph on Facebook today, and initially, I was inspired…

Then I got to thinking…WHY??  Why does there have to “be a day when I can no longer do this”?  Why does all of this fun have to end?  Why does my quest for constantly challenging, functional fitness have to stop eventually?

This Saturday, I am attending a CrossFit Master’s (40+) competition in Norwalk, CT.  These individuals are proving this advertisement false with every ounce of energy they pour into each and every rep they take.

You wanna know what I say?  There will come a day that I may actually be better than I am today.  That day is not today.  But it may just be tomorrow….

Lindsay, working on those pistols

Ash, looking good!

Do you know what I love about this picture? # 1 Matt's focused face. #2 the fact that Liz is running from the pull-up bars to her barbell...that's what transitions should be!!!!