Dansville Fitness Club

Isn't technology wonderful

So many generations of gadgets and innovations have been geared toward making our over complicated lives a little bit easier. Clothes wash themselves, dinner can be delivered or picked up from the comfort of your drivers seat, which also has buttons so you don’t have to go through the painstaking process of rolling down your windows or leaning down to open your trunk. We have escalators, elevators, and whatever those horizontal ones at the airport are called. Buses, trains, taxi’s, and planes. A service for any inconvenience. It’s all so absolutely fantastic, but all we gain comes at the cost of our bodies. Our physical independence. Your body gets really good at whatever you use it for. So if you never run, jump, push, pull, lift or throw you’ll find your body adapting to that lack of stimulus. You’ll get fat, slow, sluggish, weak and really good hand eye coordination from pushing all those buttons. Pills may slow the onslaught of heart disease and my even keep your weight from ballooning but it’s a bandaid for in ineffective lifestyle. There is no magic remedy, only effort. There isn’t a button to push, only your body to move. Enjoy the fruits of technology, but take some of that time you’ve saved and put it to good use.

Reverse the gears

What I’m thankful for…

- My son, who tugs heart strings I didn’t know I had

- Samantha, who keeps me honest and well fed

- Milk

- My dad and sister, who inspire me to succeed

- Crossfit, for making me excited about things that suck

- All those who train here, for fueling the gym with blood, sweat, tears, and burpees

Had a few motivated women show up for an early morning turkey day workout. I wanted something fun, new, a little confusing, a little hard, and a little thanksgiving. Settled on a Columbus themed trip on the rower. Just as he sailed to America by mistake, each girl had to row as close to 1492 meters as they could, blind folded. And while each girl rowed, the others had to do as many backwards jump ropes, virtual shovelings, and partnered wheelbarrow walks as they could. A little fun, a little confusing, and a little thanksgiving.

Wheelbarrow, just like the pilgrams used

Everyone was thankful there were no burpees or double unders today!

Final results of the blind row - the target was 1492

Happy thanksgiving, and remember we’re all invited up to Crossfit Geneseo on Sunday, December 13th for Bethany’s infamous 12 days of christmas workout. It’s long and hard and full of suck, but in that good way only crossfit can deliver.

Well, that fire is eventually going to die down and need to be tended to. Since our grandmas are both from a generation with work ethic they decide that 2 people carrying wood will get the job done faster and allow them to get back to watching the Bills lose in comfort. When they get to the wood pile your grandma grabs 2 small logs and my grandma, who just got a fresh hip and feels like a 55 year old grabs 3. Trip after trip, both women slowly walk their payload in the house and up the stairs. When they finish, each feels tired but proud of their accomplishment. They each worked within their different capacities, casually scaling their own loads. I do the same for my athletes. While there are some amazing people doing some amazing things here, everyone needs scaling. Everyone here does pushups, some on a raised bar, some on their knees, and some upside down. Some scale up, some scale down, but everyone works hard. To maximize the return on your efforts you need to be pushing your limits, where ever they may be.

Here are 2 athletes doing the same movement. Each is working to their capacity. Each is getting stronger.

The band makes it doable, not easy

The 70lbs between his legs makes it tough, even for him

Now go carry some wood

Chase vs. the Barbell from Dansville Fitness Club on Vimeo.

Here’s a brief look at some of what is very wrong with America and also why your diet sucks.

Check out the nutrition page for ways to get on track.

Respect and thanks to all those who’ve served and those who continue to serve.

Jill got her first un-assisted pullup on Wednesday. She’s been close for the last month but she finally made it over the bar. The adrenaline kicked in and she managed to bang out about 1o more before calling it good. This is the girl who told me in June that she would never get a full pushup. Well, she’s got 15 of them now, but I bet that 1 pullup feels better. Outstanding effort and a truly awesome accomplishment.

“You cannot move forward from some idealized point in the future that has not yet arrived.
If you are to move forward, you must do it from where you are now.
Though it may not be perfect, it is plenty to get you going.
Wishing for more, or feeling resentment because you don’t have more, will only waste your precious time.
Although there is no guarantee that your actions will be effective, one thing that is certain is that nothing will happen if you take no action at all.”

James “OPT” Fitzgerald (crossfit legend)

The workouts we do here are hard. Some feel down right epic. To effect change we must visit this extreme often. After 2 years of doing crossfit I still get butterflies in my stomach just looking at a workout on the board. So if the activities I’ve been doing regularly for 2 years still intimidate me, it goes without saying that someone who isn’t familiar with intensity or range of motion or handstands is going to be intimidated by what they see here as well. With the exception of maybe Don, the people I work with didn’t come to me with significant strength. With the exception of Pru, the people I work with didn’t come to me with significant grace or coordination. With the exception of Barb, the people i work with didn’t come to me with significant cardiovascular endurance.  The same is true of power, stamina, speed, agility, accuracy and midline stability. These attributes are the results of hard work. Most people are born healthy but no one is born an athlete. The cost of that title is true effort, and for most the payment plan is long and the interest rate is rich with sweat. Doing nothing, procrastinating, and making promises for later days will only make the process longer and harder.

Every step is hard in my garage, but the first step is always the hardest.

The reason I get butterflies before a workout is because I know how hard I’m about to work. It’s not because I’m afraid I won’t finish. It’s because I know I’ll finish… and I know I’ll be better for it.

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