Gently down the stream

Five large boxes arrived today from Concept2. What a treat--outstanding product. Everything was complete, batteries and allen wrench included! You see why theirs are the world's best indoor rowers: their engineering is top shelf.


Setup of the rowers is but 10 bolts away. Set your country, time, and date and you are rowing, my friend. Each of our new rowers went through strenuous QA with 250m
sprints.

Break-in workout was as follows:

1000m Row
50 Abmat sit-ups
800m Row
25 GHSU
600m Row
10 4-count lying alternating knees to chest

Supplemental lifting:

5-4-3-2-1 Push-press add 5# per set

Platforms

We took a different approach when laying our lifting platforms. We cut 6-foot x 4-f00t MDF blanks to fill in mat space. This keeps our space completely modular. We can add and remove the platforms on the fly and place them in any one of the 69 mat spaces on the floor.

Current events: A new graduate and a new home

We interrupt this walk down CFES memory lane to document some current events of note. First, Eastside CrossFitter Brian Rees recently graduated from the Washington State Police Academy and is now an officer with the Seattle PD. He was given special recognition during the graduation exercises for his physical achievements and commitment to fitness in two areas: his running mileage log and the extra PT sessions he put in. (Notably, he was not recognized among those who put in additional time on the cardio machines.) We are bustin’ with pride for him, his accomplishments, and the service he will be providing. Congratulations, Officer Rees!

Speaking of busting at the seams, our other big news is that CFES is in the process of moving into our own four-walled, heated, spacious facility in Redmond (making the commute for some of us even shorter than the amount of time it takes Greg Amundson to do Fran). Our community is thrilled to have a new home, and the support and encouragement we’ve received has been truly amazing.

We got the keys to the box and delivery of about 7500 pounds of rubber flooring on Thursday and held the first workout in the new box at 0600 Friday morning, with plenty of room to set up five concurrent deadlift bars and for everyone to do 58-foot indoor lunge and bear crawl (or handwalk) laps. A great (and warm) time was had by all.

An expanded training schedule is under development for January.

Continued momentum

Team6 adds two new regular members, both hard workers--and one with an entertaining flair for workout whining.

Space gets a bit tighter as the carport serves its dual purposes as both effective CrossFit gym and the homeowners’ storage space. Fortunately, we have an incredibly generous and accommodating landlord, who states, “We have a bunch of stuff we should get rid of anyway.” Because of the tremendous space-clearing efforts, including the removal of an old washer and dryer, we are able to add three additional stall mats (another 72 square feet), essentially tripling our total floor space to 12 feet x 20 feet.

Classes bring continued focus on the fundamental CrossFit triplet: squat, push-press, deadlift. We take the fundamentals and remove the metabolic component to focus entirely on technique. Striving for absolute perfect execution (or damn near), our athletes help with the coaching. If someone is not performing correctly or is slacking on execution, the crew makes the call. “Head up!” “No slouching!” “Fix that back!” echo from the carport.

With consistency comes efficacy. These words from Coach Glassman resonate through our
facility.

Segmented training delivers segmented results

My neighbor of 15 years approached me with questions about off-season training for his daughter. She plays college volleyball down south and was home for the summer.

While away from school, she was assigned a “volleyball training program” to follow in the off months building up to the next year’s season. The program included dietary recommendations (high carbohydrate, minimal fat, some protein), circuit training (involving isolation machinery commonly found in your local commercial facility), stretch bands, and a few scattered Olympic-style lifts (power cleans). Once back at school in the fall, the team would test their off-season training by performing leg extensions and leg presses for maximum weight or repetitions. I kid you not.

I reviewed the training curriculum more times than I care to remember. I was simply stunned that supposedly success-driven sport teams follow the standard pop fitness model (bodybuilding), yet expect to be in the winner's circle.

That kind of programming (of the Muscle and Fitness magazine variety) does not provide fitness, forge elite athleticism, or condition fighters or warriors to dominate in the arena, cage, or battlefield. Varied, functional movements executed at high-intensity do.

The father-and-daughter team were the second and third members of Team6 at the carport.

If you are really passionate about training you can train anywhere

Truthfully speaking, the title says it all. Our journey with “getting some, anytime, anywhere” began six months ago in a carport at a house near you.
“My friend needs a trainer….” This was the call I received from one of my dear friends.

“I would love to train him, but we don’t have a facility to train in.” “You could train him at his house…in his carport”

“Really?”

“Yeah, totally, he is into the garage gym thing—you guys will hit it off well.”

And so the journey begins.

May 2005 - First session with new client
5:55 AM: Arrive on location. Triple-check the map, see the target site, but it does not have an address on the front. Oh, man, I hope I am in the right spot. Coffee in hand, I pace nervously. I am out of my comfort zone. My toolset is unknown (no real gear to bring with me yet), the layout is foreign, and this is my first time meeting with this client.

6:00 AM: Client arrives, out comes the game face. “Glad you found the place—we haven’t put the numbers up on the front of the house yet.”
“Yes I know, I was worried for a second or two.”
“Cannot believe I made it up this morning.”
“Same here, this is new for me, the whole get up before the birds thing.” “Successful people get up early, that is their nature.”

That last sentence still sticks with me today. When I have issues dragging myself out of bed, I think about the things that can be accomplished before most people even think about getting out of bed. Success-driven people do get up early; we have proof!