This list is full of movements that are hard. Movements that are hated by most of you. Movements that suck the wind from your lungs and the power from your muscles. Movements that make you feel weak, uncoordinated, and out of shape. Movements you wouldn’t do if you didn’t come here. No one (except Steph) enjoys the feelings that come during workouts. No one likes the uncertainty of holding down their breakfast, the risk of raking their shins on that next box jump, or the realization that you’re totally spent when you’re only half way done. But we suffer through every last rep and come out the other side better for it. Stronger, faster, more coordinated and more capable. Taking the easy way out and avoiding your weakness will leave glaring holes in your abilities and sooner or later invite injury. We all have movements that we pray never come up… and it’s usually because we suck at them.
Well, those movements aren’t going anywhere so you better embrace the shitty feelings, roll up your sleeves and improve yourself. I’m a small guy and I avoided anything heavy for my first 2 years of crossfit. When you do your own programming it’s easy to steer clear of things that make you uncomfortable. Once you commit to regular exposure… the hard things get less hard. Progress may be slow, and it may never be “easy” but avoiding difficult tasks is the best way to ensure they remain difficult. Face your fears, embrace the suck, and conquer your weakness. No one will do it for you.
I hate overhead squats, because they hurt and I’m not good at them. But I have a goal to complete 15 reps at my bodyweight. In my quest to achieve that mark, I’ve gained a tolerance for the movement. I don’t enjoy them, but it doesn’t bother me when they come up in a workout. They’ve gone from hated, painful and avoided to just another tool in the box.
Here’s a 30lb personal record overhead squat - 215lbs
We’re pretty much done with the smashing and the ripping part and now we’re starting to put things back together. The masons are done separating the buildings, the floor we pounded is smooth again, the new toilet is in, the walls are getting framed and insulated, the debris is mostly cleared (thanks to steph and chuck), and the walls are spackled. Plumber should be here this week and almost ready for paint.
So we’ve taken a perfectly nice building and torn it completely apart. Knocked walls down, tore out shelving, ripped out sheet rock, electrical, broke up tiles, pullup up carpet… and basically made a huge mess. Now we’re starting to rebuild it (to crossfit standards). New flooring, new walls, new paint, new wallball targets, new pullup bars, new shelving… and a gang of new equipment is starting to trickle in to fill it. New jump ropes, new wallballs, new dumbbells, new kettlebells, new wall timer and much more. A lot has been done in a short amount of time, thanks to all the help from members like Steph, her husband Chuck, Don, Bethany from Crossfit Geneseo, her daughter Emily, my wifey Samantha and even Chase. This is as much your new home as it is mine.
Smashing tile sucks more than burpees
Steph taking some swings
B-dub wacking away in sandals!
Bringing down a wall brings out the man in you
Fixing some water damage
Sammy and Don inhaling lots of 1960's insulation
Mikie doing work
Gotta crack a few eggs to make a badass Crossfit gym
Well, it took a lot to happen, but I finally closed on the new building. Big thanks to everyone who helped with paperwork, direction, advice, and sarcasm. You can’t do anything without a good dose of sarcasm. Samantha was a becon of patience and shared volumes of knowledge. Without her, I’d just be a sweaty guy in a garage.
Moving forward, lots of work to do! Gotta seal up some holes, put in some flooring, design new pullup bars, buy new equipment, put in a front door that requires burpees to open (sarcasm right!) Anyway, here’s some pictures. It’s about 2100 square feet of open floor and high ceilings. We currently operate out of about 600 square feet (only half of which has high ceilings) so we’re more than tripling the space. Exciting times!
5 Ossian St - Plenty of parking - No neighbors to piss off...
The walls are coming down to open the whole place up
There's a bathroom and a change room. 5 burpees per use.
Big heater for those cold mornings
With ceilings like that, you could do wallballs anywhere...
