What Am I Going To Do With All This Fitness?!

One of the coolest parts of helping people increase their level of fitness is seeing how they apply that fitness outside of the gym.  After all, the idea is to train hard inside the walls of Arena Ready in order to be... well... Arena Ready - prepared for whatever life may throw at you, or perhaps for whatever you seek out in life.  Our members certainly seek out some pretty cool stuff - much of it comprised of things that I would never really dream about doing - and it gives us a huge sense of pride when we hear about how their increased work capacity allowed them to basically kick ass out in the big bad world.

One such example is David G - this gentleman has been dedicated to his training at AR since day 1, and his progress is nothing short of impressive.  In the 13 or so months since he's started CrossFit we have witnessed huge gains in his strength, flexibility, speed, power, endurance, balance, and stamina among other things.  And some of the feedback he's been kind enough to provide us this year has made us incredibly happy to have been a part of his fitness journey.

He sent us this awesome message at the start of the year:

I just wanted to drop you guys a quick note and say thank you for everything you've done for me over the last 5 months.  A few months ago I thought CrossFit was basically a competitive "bro cult" and that a clean was something I had to do to my apartment -- last week I did "The Chief" with an awesome group of people and not a "bro" in sight.  I think I mentioned to you guys that I'm a pretty avid skier.  Yesterday I had a really big day in the backcountry (~10 miles of skinning and several thousand vertical of climbing) -- no way would I have been able to do it without the past few months of training at Arena Ready.  This is by far the strongest skiing I've done since back in my race days.  My cleans might not be perfect, but the effect of practice is definitely showing!  I really appreciate all the coaching, encouragement, and the general environment you guys create and foster.  Thank you guys so much for everything you do. 

And this is perhaps an even cooler note he sent us just this week, after he spent the better part of a month in Patagonia:

WOD FOR THE PAST THREE WEEKS...

For Quality/As Many Rounds As Possible:

Skin, bootpack, ice axe to the top of a mountain, and ski down.

Fitness provided by Arena Ready.  That squat program/assault bike/all your secret fitness sauce paid off in dividends.  Couldn't have done it without you guys.  Thanks a million for facilitating the trip of a lifetime!!  Bummed to be leaving Patagonia/South America, but super excited to get back to AR.

-David

Thanks so much for sharing, David, and for letting us be a part of your lifetime journey of fitness.

WOD for 08-31-16:

Tabata: Double Unders

(Rest 1 Minute)

Tabata: Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work/10 seconds of rest repeated for 8 rounds.  This is NOT an alternating Tabata, so you will complete all 8 rounds of the double unders, rest 1 minute, and then complete all 8 rounds of the chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Your score is the lowest round for each of the two movements.   

-REST 5 Minutes, then-

"Mini Fortitude"

Alternating EMOM For 10 Rounds (20 Minutes):

MINUTE 1: 15 Calorie Row

MINUTE 2: 15 Burpees

Start with 15 reps for both movements and progress for as long as possible.  If you drop to 14 reps for one of the movements then attempt to hold 14 for that movement for the remainder of the workout.  If you drop to 12 then attempt to hold 12 for that movement for the remainder of the workout, etc.