Quarterly Progress Checks

Mark your calendars!

Tuesday nights at 7p: NINJA TRAINING – Starting next week, join Lindsay at 7p at the box or meet her at the Piedmont Park Active Oval at 7:15, for some running speedwork! This visit does count as one of your weekly classes, so please RSVP online and Lindsay will log you in (if you meet at the park).
Mon, April 29-Sat, May 4: Quarterly Progress Checks… Retest your Baseline, CrossFit Total and a few other benchmark workouts all week long. Don’t miss this week at CFM!
Saturday, May 4th: Goal-setting workshop with Lis. Join us for a free goal-setting workshop at noon, to set your goals for the next quarter. Wrap up Quarterly Progress Check Week with some goal-setting for the upcoming quarter!
Saturday, May 11th: Strong4Life Field Day at Piedmont Park, 9a-12n AND 1st Anniversary Party at CFM, 7-10p
Tuesday, May 14th: Birthday WOD! Join us for a birthday WOD at the 8pm class. Maybe Arielle will make cake balls 🙂
Saturday, May 18th: Self-defense seminar with Walter

Monday, May 27th:

Memorial Day Murph… join us at the box for a Hero WOD and then a cookout. We’ll be collecting optional donations for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Welcome to new student Charles gettin’ his row on in his first class at CFM!

Workout of the Day: Benchmark Friday

A. Front Squat: Work to a heavy single in 8 minutes
B. Karen:
150 wall balls for time 20#/14#

Beginner options – scale to 50 or 100 wall balls, or 150 air squats, for time.

And coming tomorrow…TAKE IT OUTSIDE!***

Team WOD!
In teams of 4 –
As fast as possible, complete:
3 rounds for time –
50 wall ball tosses & 50 burpees (2 partners toss ball 10′ back and forth while other two team members do burpees between them. All reps must be in sync…so no ball toss rep w/o a burpee rep at the same time)
50 cleans 115/85
50 partner leg throws (core work)
50 overhead walking lunge steps 45/25
50 kettlebell swings 70/53

If you drive to the box Saturday, please use our FREE overflow parking 1/2 block north of the gym. Park in any of the New South Construction spots in the pay lot located between 13th & 14th & Spring & West Peachtree (enter the lot from W Peachtree or 13th)…and if you live within a half-mile of the box and don’t take advantage of the beautiful weather to enjoy a walk or jog to the gym, we reserve the right to poke you with a PVC stick.

FRI 04.12.13 Upcoming Events Read More »

Olympic Lifting Seminar with Travis Cooper

Sunday, March 10th, Travis Cooper will be joining us for a six-hour seminar (9a-4p with an hour break for lunch) to teach us the finer points of the snatch and clean & jerk. Travis has competed and coached at the national & world levels. He is now a member of Team MDUSA and aspires to compete in the 2016 Olympics.
Register now! This seminar is limited to 24 athletes. Athletes and coaches of all levels will benefit from this course.

$75.00 – CFM Members
$85.00 – CFM Guests

Visit the FB event page for the seminar timeline and more info about Travis.

Lis & Dan make good on their lost SuperBowl bet and do 50 burpees (notice Dan actually does 51) as a triumphant Nate heckles around them. Nate was nice enough to provide background music for the festivities. Dan made good on his prediction of a 2:30 finish time and was nice enough to drag Lis out super fast, way off her pace, to a 2:42ish finish. Both would later regret this blistering pace and lack of a warm-up.

Quarterly Progress Checks:

This week, we’re retesting several benchmark workouts and setting new goals for the next three months. Who will you be by early May? Set your intention now.

Workout of the Day

A. CrossFit Total:
1 rep max of –
Back squat
Strict press
Deadlift
B. 1 minute AirDyne test for max calories

And coming tomorrow…

Partner WOD at all classes!
Choose between –
A. 5k row: you and your partner alternate as you wish. Each partner must row at least 2000 meters.
B. TabataISH: you and your partner each complete 8 rounds – :20 max reps of air squats, push ups, sit ups, pull ups. While Partner A works, Partner B rests. Count all reps for total score.

FRI 02.07.13 CrossFit Total! Read More »

CrossFit Games Open

by Coach Dyer
The CrossFit Games Open is less than a month away. If you think you might be the kind of person who likes to have fun, sign up.

Dates: March 6 to April 7
Cost: $20
What is it?: CrossFit HQ will announce 1 workout on Wednesday March 6th and you have until Sunday evening to complete the workout in front of a judge and upload your score. This will happen for 5 consecutive weeks with a new workout each week. Your score(s) will give you a worldwide and regional ranking – so, you can finally go head-to-head against your friends who live outside of Atlanta or who train at another gym.
Where?: We’ll complete (and judge and validate your scores) all workouts here at CFM each week. If you have to travel one of these weeks, you can still do the WOD at any other participating CrossFit affiliate.

Check out CFM’s own Matt C showing off dem CrossFit skills last weekend at a bachelor party in South Florida. (Yes, they’re calling him Rex in the video… this is apparently his middle name and college alter-ego… AND his new whiteboard name)

Quarterly Progress Checks:

This week, we’re retesting several benchmark workouts and setting new goals for the next three months. Who will you be by early May? Set your intention now.

Workout of the Day

A. 1 Rep Max Weighted Pull Up(or 5 sets of 3 slooooow negatives)
B. For time:
250m row
15 kb swings 2/1.5pd
25 burpees
15 kb swings 2/1.5pd
250m row

And coming tomorrow…

A. CrossFit Total:
1 rep max of –
Back squat
Strict press
Deadlift
B. 1 minute AirDyne test for max calories

THURS 02.07.13 The CrossFit Games Open is a month away! Read More »

Noon yoga starts today!

Beth is back teaching yoga, now on Wednesdays at noon in the front room.
Yoga can help with many ailments/complaints I regularly hear about from CFM students: you’re achy, sore, tight, inflexible, unable to concentrate, stressed out, unable to relax…
Yoga is INCLUDED in your CFM membership. It doesn’t even count as one of your weekly classes, so give it a try! We even have some spare mats you can use.
In addition to Beth’s Wednesday noon class, Monica also teaches a yoga class Thursdays at 8:15p at CFM.

Last Friday’s noon class doing their best flying squirrel imitations for Coach Woody. If you’ve never attended Animal Warm-Up Friday, you are missing out. Big time.

Quarterly Progress Checks:

This week, we’re retesting several benchmark workouts and setting new goals for the next three months. Who will you be by early May? Set your intention now.

Workout of the Day

As many rounds as possible in 20min of:
20 Thrusters 135/95
20 Pullups
20 Burpees

And coming tomorrow…

A. 1Rep Max Weighted Pull Up (or 5 sets of 3 slooooow negatives)
B. For time:
250m row
15 kb swings 2/1.5pd
25 burpees
15 kb swings 2/1.5pd
250m row

WED 02.05.13 Noon yoga today Read More »

Striking a Balance

by Uran
This past weekend I attended CFM’s Ayurveda Workshop with Anna Russ. Boy oh boy, am I glad I did. One of my goals this year is to find some balance in my life.
I confess: I have a bad habit of being an “all or nothing” kind of person, and unfortunately, it has led to some unhealthy decisions. If I can only make it to the gym once this week, why go at all? If I can’t have a perfectly paleo meal when I’m eating out with my friends, why not just blow it out with something completely unhealthy? I’m not proud of it, but it’s the truth, and this mentality has created a lot of additional and unnecessary stress in my life.
So, I’ve decided to stop it. I’ve committed to quit beating myself up about every little thing that falls short of perfection, because that is unrealistic, unattainable, and the opposite of good goal-setting.
Instead, I’ve vowed to focus on the wins in my life. While I made some good progress on my own in January, this workshop helped me reinforce this goal for February as well. It gave me some steps to understanding who I am and learning how to work with, rather than against, myself to find balance and live in the present moment. And finally, it reminded me that self-care is a lifelong process.
As we move into CFM’s February Challenge on Positive Thinking, think about if you’re struggling to find balance in your own life. For those of you who are, what will you do to center yourselves and regain your equilibrium?

Congrats on all your January Goals & Achievements! Add your new goals to the board in the box this week. Congrats to Casey on listing our first February accomplishment on the board: SHE DID ALL 10 PULL UPS IN THE BASELINE RX’ED FOR THE FIRST TIME!

Quarterly Progress Checks:

This week, we’re retesting several benchmark workouts and setting new goals for the next three months. Who will you be by early May? Set your intention now.

This week’s benchmarks

Your first session of the week: Goal-setting & baseline retest, then daily WOD…

As promised, for those of you who don’t remember your old Baseline score (RECORD YOUR STATS!), here are whiteboard pics from the last two Quarterly Check-Ins.
August 2012:

November 2012:

Workout of the Day

Olympic Total:
1 rep max of Snatch, then
1 rep max of Clean & Jerk

And coming tomorrow…

As many rounds as possible in 20min of:
20 Thrusters 135/95
20 Pullups
20 Burpees

TUES 02.05.12 Quarterly Progress Checks continue… Read More »

Workout Tracking is here:

How often do you record your workout results?

1. Download the Zen Planner app on your smartphone
2. Every day, before leaving the gym, record your workout result
3. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

Anything worth doing is worth recording.

Quarterly Progress Checks:

This week, we’re retesting several benchmark workouts and setting new goals for the next three months. Who will you be by early May? Set your intention now.

This week’s benchmarks

Your first session of the week: Goal-setting & baseline retest, then daily WOD…

M (today’s Workout of the Day)
5 rounds for time:
7 handstand push ups
14 pistols
21 double unders

T (coming tomorrow)
Olympic Total:
1 rep max of Snatch, then
1 rep max of Clean & Jerk

W
As many rounds as possible in 20min of:
20 Thrusters 135/95
20 Pullups
20 Burpees

Th
A. 1Rep Max Weighted Pull Up (or 15 slooooow negatives)
B. For time:
250m row
15 kb swings 2/1.5pd
25 burpees
15 kb swings 2/1.5pd
250m row

F
A. CrossFit Total:
1 rep max Back Squat
1 rep max Strict Press
1 rep max Deadlift
B. 1 minute AirDyne test for calories

SAT
Partner WOD:
5k row for time. You and your partner split distance as you wish. Each partner must row at least 2k.

SUN
Open Gym:
Make up a QPC WOD (Quarterly Progress Check Workout of the Day) or do your own thing

MON 02.04.13 Quarterly Progress Checks Read More »

February is upon us!

We’ve got lots of great things in store next month, and we kicked off some of them early:
Beginner classes with Coach Cassie: We’re already two classes in. Join Coach Cassie now on Tues & Thurs at 8pm and Sat morning at 9 for a focus on fundamentals as well as a workout!
SUNDAYS! Starting FEBRUARY 3rd, join Coach Dyer for Open Gym from 12n-2p. This class will have supervised coaching, but won’t have a structured group warm-up. Show up and tell us what you want to work on, and we’ll help you select a good workout or skillwork to achieve your goals!
Yoga on Weds @ noon! Join Beth in the front room on Wednesdays at noon for yoga, starting Feb 6th. Thursday night yoga at 8:15 with Monica will also continue. Yoga is free with your CFM membership, so all students are welcome to attend… it doesn’t count as one of your weekly visits.
Ayurveda workshop with Anna Russ: Sat, Feb 2nd, 12n-2p. More details below…
Quarterly Progress Checks: Don’t miss the week of Feb 4-8th at CFM! We’ll be retesting the Baseline, maxing on several lifts, as well as doing a few other benchmark workouts. AND OH YEAH: Goal setting! We’ll reflect on the past quarter and set some new goals to crush over the next three months.
Mardi Gras WOD: Join us on Fat Tuesday, February 12th at 8pm. This WOD is open to the public so bring a friend if you wish. It won’t count as one of your weekly visits. The Beginner’s class will be cancelled on Fat Tuesday, but everyone is welcome to join the party (all levels!) and LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER!
Bring a Friend Days are coming back at the end of February. Bring a buddy along to class on Thursday, Feb 28, Friday, March 1 & Saturday, March 2 for a partner or team workout suitable for all fitness levels.

Finding Your Zone:

A Lifestyle Overhaul using Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science
Are you in a winter funk? Ever feel out-of-balance or so stressed out and overwhelmed you just don’t know what to do?
Has it ever occurred to you that self-care (taking time to nourish and nurture your body) will enhance your quality of life and improve your well-being?
Ayurveda, the science of self-healing, will teach you about your natural tendencies, how to tune into what your body needs, and how those needs change throughout the seasons of the year and various times of life. Anna Russ will lead us through a two-hour workshop with a basic Ayurveda overview on the following topics:
-Passion = Purpose
-Focusing on You!
-Nutrition for the mind, body and soul
-Taking your fitness to the next level
-Stress management tools for work and home
This workshop lasts two hours and costs $20 for CFM members and $30 for guests. Read more about Anna & register here.

Check out Fred, J-Herm, Calin, Jason & Colby crushing some push ups. It was awesome watching these guys motivate each other through the late rounds of yesterday’s push up extravaganza.

Workout of the Day (WOD)

A. Split Squat (w rear foot elevated): 4 sets of 8-10 @3010 tempo, every 4min
B. Handstand push ups: 4 sets of AMRAP(-2)* Rest 2 min between rounds
*AMRAP(-2)=two reps shy of as many reps as possible.
C. 6 rounds for time*:
15 pullups
10 air squats
*Change of plans since there’s a 50% chance of rain today. We’ll tackle “HELEN” next Friday instead!

And coming tomorrow…

9 am Beginner class, 10 am Partner WOD and 11 am Makeup WOD/Open Gym

Partner WOD: Partner 1 (P1) – 30 wall balls, 30 box jumps, 300m row. Partner 2 (P2) rests. Then P1/P2 switch for 10 total rounds or 5 rounds each.

FRI 01.25.13 Happy Animal Warm-Up Friday! Read More »

CrossFit and Body Image

by Instructor Training Program member Urán
This post is geared toward the ladies, but fellas should feel free to chime in as well. A well-known myth finds its way into the mind of every female who ever considered picking up a weight:
“Lifting weights will make you bulky.”
It bums me out. And it bums me out more that I’ve heard variations of this myth spoken from the lips of some of our very own members. I could spend days talking about why this bothers me and why it’s completely untrue. Instead, I’ll let you read this, this and this, and share with you my own body image demons.
Now, everyone who meets me knows that I’m not a slight woman. I never have been. CrossFit or not. Part of that is because, while I generally eat cleanly, I put on weight very easily. I love fruit (carbs) and sweet potatoes (more carbs). I spent most of my life struggling with my weight and body image, and to say those days are completely behind me would be a lie. But CrossFit teaches me to care about different things than I used to concern myself with.
Take being “thin”, for example. If I may be totally candid, my biggest motivator for dieting and exercise in the past was my hope of being “thin”. When I weighed in at nearly 200lb a few years ago, the driving force for me to lose 40+ pounds in less than a year was the desire to just be smaller. It wasn’t until I joined the crew team, and later CrossFit, that I realized how much sexier it is to be strong… how lifting, jumping, rowing, and throwing heavy stuff around gives you confidence and satisfaction that seeing shrinking numbers on a scale never will.
Nowadays, I never even think about being thin. I think about becoming stronger and working harder and eating healthier. And working with my body, rather than against it, to make the most out of what I’ve been given. But it’s taken time to get there. Time to retrain my mind and to shake old habits. Time to start thinking of food as fuel. Time to find happiness in improvements at the gym and enjoyment in how that transfers into my personal life.
How has your idea of body image changed since joining CrossFit?

Whole Life Challenge Finals & Party

It’s the final week of the WLC! In addition to the other benchmarks we’re testing this week, on Saturday we do final measurements and retest the WLC workout. We hope to see you, your friends, family and the whole CFM community at the Finals WOD and the Awards Party on Saturday. Be there!
Final Measurements & WOD: 9:30 to 11a at Piedmont Park Active Oval
We’ll be doing measurements from 9:30 to 10:15, and running finals heats from 10 to 11.
Finals Party & Awards: 1 to 3p at Rira Irish Pub
Dermot and the gang at Rira are hosting a shindig for us to crown the WLC winners, hand out prizes, and enjoy some good fun. All CFMers are welcome to join in.

No class at CFM Saturday

CFM has over 700 Facebook fans! If you haven’t LIKED our page yet, please do it now!

Workout of the Day

A. Quarterly Progress Checks – Baseline retest: If you didn’t retest the baseline yet this week, warm up and do it today. If you already did baseline, you get extra time for mobility/foam rolling.
Baseline:
500m row
40 squats
30 situps
20 pushups
10 pullups
B. In 20 minutes, complete as many rounds and reps as possible of:
20 Thrusters 135/95
20 Pullups
20 Burpees

WED 11.07.12 Read More »

Quarterly Progress Checks!

What did you accomplish in the last three months? What’s not working for you in the areas of health, fitness, nutrition, lifestyle, athletic performance? What stops you? What is your vision for the next three months and what action steps will help you achieve that vision?
We’ll be reviewing these questions with a 10-minute reflection at the beginning of your first class this week. This is your chance to reflect on the past quarter and set some goals for the next three months.
We’ll also be retesting the Baseline and several other benchmark WODs this week. So get to the box this week, do your best and crush some old numbers! I’m looking forward to all the PRs*!
*PR= personal record

Whole Life Challenge Finals & Party

CFM Field Trip

There will be only ONE CLASS on Saturday, November 10th: 10am AT PIEDMONT PARK. Even if you didn’t get in on the Whole Life Challenge this time around, join us at the park for some fun with burpees, kettlebell swings and running!
I learned SO MUCH at the BIZ seminar I attended over the weekend at VA’s CrossFit Woodbridge…and got a quick WOD in over the lunch break too!

Workout of the Day

A. Baseline: As part of your warm-up today, all classes will retest the baseline –
500m Row
40 Squats
30 Sit Ups
20 Push Ups
10 Pull Ups
B. 5 Rounds for time:
7 Handstand Push Ups
14 Pistols
21 Double Unders

MON 11.05.12 Quarterly Progress Checks Read More »