The 4:30 group flying through the Wall Balls during last Wednesdays WOD!
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WOD

Strength:
Thruster
Build to Heavy 10-Rep

Conditioning:
“Sucker Punch”
21-18-15-12-9:
Kettlebell Swing (53/35)
Thrusters (75/55)
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DAILY MINDSET

“If you put limits on everything you do – physical or anything else – it will spread into your work and your life. There are no limits, only plateaus, and we must go beyond them.”

~Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident when he was younger. He was told, he would never be able to walk again.

In that moment, he had a choice. To believe that his life was limited, to which a self-fulfilling prophecy would have followed. Or, he could choose to believe that there truly are no limits – only the ones we impose on ourselves.

Bruce made his choice. He chose to believe in cause and effect, and he put in the work. When times got hard, he got harder. When he reached a plateau, he recognized it for what it was. Not a limit, but the next challenge. And he found a way to overcome.

Bruce made his choice. When we reach our next challenge, what will be ours? Will we see it as our limit, or as the plateau that it truly is?

Reminder: The Box is open today from 8:00am to 10:00am, come get your weekend WOD on!
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WOD

“Knee Slapper”
AMRAP 15:
100′ Walking Lunge
200 Meter Farmers Carry (53’s/35’s)
30 AbMat Sit-ups
400 Meter Row
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DAILY MINDSET

“I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

~Jacob Riis

Immediate gratification feels good.
Whether that be a linear progression on the barbell, the steady climb in raises, or anything between, we enjoy seeing the forward progress. Yet, we know this isn’t always the case.

As the stonecutter hammers away, he sees nothing. No progress. He likely loses count, falling numb to any thought aside from… the next blow. And he returns back to this blow with full focus, in full faith of the process. And low and behold, it does split.

But there’s no warning, no indicator, no way to tell when it’s about to go. It just goes on that hundred and first blow. This is often how life unfolds for us. We want the immediate gratification of seeing the cracks in the stone, getting closer and closer. Yet, with one eye focused on the endstate, looking for those cracks, we are leaving only eye for the process. We aren’t truly in the moment, making that next blow, our best blow.

Regardless of how yesterday went, the day before, or even how our day today is going – we have the chance to make our next strike, the best we ever have. And well knowing how the stonecutter breaks through, it’s not a single strike that accomplishes his goal… it’s the accumulation of one hundred, fully focused blows.

Emily is showing how strong and inspiring moms can be!
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WOD

“Runaway Train”
Teams of 3
3 Rounds (30 Minute Cap):
400 Meter Team Run
70/50 Calorie Assault Bike

Directly Into…

21 Clean and Jerks (115/85)
21 Clean and Jerks (135/95)
21 Clean and Jerks (155/105)
21 Clean and Jerks (185/125)
21 Clean and Jerks (205/135)
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DAILY MINDSET

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has already taken place”.

~George Bernard Shaw

Have you ever believed that someone fully understood what you said, but it turned out they were far off base? Sometimes it turns out to be funny, but sometimes… it’s not. And emotions flare.

Let’s say we used all the right words, said in all of the right tonalities. Or, so we think at the time. Because where perception is reality, misunderstandings will take place. It’s a human condition. When the mother asks her son, “is your room clean”, we can imagine two very different interpretations.

Is the child wrong? Is the mother wrong? We can agree, neither. Both are perceptions. So how can we get better at this? It’s less about trying to master it, and more, about being understanding of it. Where both mother and son believed to be in the right, there’s no one to blame. Keep cool, recognize the situation for what it truly is, and simply communicate further.

Dustin and Jake working side by side during Tuesdays gripper!
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WOD

“Crazy Stairs”
For Time:
10 Rounds of “Cindy”
50/35 Calorie Row
30 Power Snatches (115/85)

1 Round of “Cindy”:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats
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DAILY MINDSET

“When doing your risk analysis, how to you measure the risk of doing nothing?”

There will always be a reason to wait. Always a reason to push to tomorrow. To await that “right moment”. This is a pitfall we’ve all found ourselves in… we wait for perfect.

The greatest risk in life is the one we never took. It hurts to admit it, but every single one of us has experienced this… we froze, purely because we were afraid of failing. That we would be embarrassed, disappointed, let down… to ourselves or others.

But as we think through those things – what is the bigger risk in 10 years from now?
The realization of those fears?
Or the realization that we never tried?
Let’s jump, and build our wings on the way down.

The 8am crew smashing the Wall Balls during “Frank The Tank”!
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WOD

Option 1:
“Team Tosh Sprints”
Teams of 2:
3 Rounds:
200 Meter Run
400 Meter Run
600 Meter Run

Option 2:
OPEN GYM
Make up a WOD that you missed, or a WOD that you have really been wanting to try, work on skills, etc!

*You must still come to one of the regularly scheduled WOD times.
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DAILY MINDSET

“I do not want to waste any time. And if you are not working on important things, you are wasting time.”

~Dean Kamen

Imagine generalizing our lives into two categories:
Urgent things, and important things.

Urgent things are responding to text messages, emails, and putting out small fires throughout the day at work, home, and everywhere in between.

Important things are starting the journey we’re been putting off for 5 years.

Time is absolutely escaping us. We know we have limited time here. But too often, our actions don’t fall in line with that understanding. We get distracted by the things that truly aren’t important. And at the end of a day, we may find ourselves questioning, “what the hell did I do today? What did I actually accomplish?”.

Not a single person here hasn’t had that feeling. It’s good of us to recognize that we naturally default to the “urgent” things. They create the illusion of being more pressing, or worse, more “important”. But we know that’s not the case. Yet, we still allow ourselves to fall victim to the habit.

The truth is that the above won’t change on its own. We have to work hard… very, very hard… to put the important things first. But if we can cultivate that ability, to put first things first, every day will have purpose.

Let’s make that our aim.

Lacey is staying consistently on the Dumbbell throughout her Clean and Jerks!
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WOD

“Frank the Tank”
AMRAP 5:
Buy-In: 50 Wallballs
12 Deadlifts (185/135)
12 Lateral Barbell Burpees 🙂

Rest 5 Minutes

AMRAP 5:
Buy-In: 35 Wallballs
9 Deadlifts (225/155)
9 Lateral Barbell Burpees 🙂

Rest 5 Minutes

AMRAP 5:
Buy-In: 20 Wallballs
6 Deadlifts (275/185)
6 Lateral Barbell Burpees 🙂
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DAILY MINDSET

“The carpenter doesn’t show up to the job with a single hammer, and a single nail.”

To be successful, we need to think of ourselves as a toolbox. A vast array of skills and capacities that can adapt to take on any problem, from any angle.

The carpenter hones his craft through focused work with specific tools, but he musn’t lose sight of its role in the bigger picture. Adaptability is everything to him, as no two “jobs” are the same.

Like the carpenter, we expect the challenges, uncertainty, adversity and negativity… but we have an even greater expectation, that we will overcome them.

Dr. D, Alvin, and Kamrie are taking their elite fitness outside the box to climb 14496 feet to top of Mt. Whitney!
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Happy Birthday Luckey!

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WOD

“30 Rock”
AMRAP 20:
30 Kettlebell Swings (53/35)
30 Push Presses (95/65)
21/15 Calorie Assault Bike
30 Toes to Bar
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DAILY MINDSET

“One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness. It usually comes back to you.”

~Anonymous

Science has shown us that giving, or kindness, elicits that one of the most powerful emotions we can feel. But what is even more interesting, is that it’s literally contagious.

Think back to the last time you saw someone else doing something generous. Maybe it was as simple as holding the door open at the store for an elderly customer. Or when another randomly buys the next person in line behind them their coffee as they stand in line. Think back to those moments… how did you feel, witnessing that? Did it make you feel, more generous?

If kindness is contagious, we just need to start the chain.

J5, MK, and Candice are racing each other through their Dumbbell Snatches!
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WOD

Strength:
Back Squat
3 Sets of 5

Conditioning:
“Dirty Water”
For Time:
100 Double-Unders
800 Meter Run
60/45 Calorie Row
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DAILY MINDSET

“The fact of the matter, is that it’s just my opinion.”

~Benjamin Franklin

Have you ever caught yourself saying, “Well the fact of the matter is…”?

Sometimes we can be so sure of something, that we forget that it’s actually not a fact. That it is truthfully just our opinion.

One of the most important character traits we can practice is the separation of our ego. We can hold such strong beliefs, that we can blind ourselves to other perspectives. To continue to grow into the next best version of ourselves, Franklin’s quote brings us back to the basics of humility. Always an open mind. Always a student.

Jay is using Thursday Open Gym to get some Manmakers in!
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Reminder: There will be Open Gym today from 8:00am to 10:00am. Come get your weekend WOD on!
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WOD

“Russian Roulette”
5 Rounds:
10 Strict Handstand Push-ups
20 Russian Kettlebll Swings (70/53)
30 AbMat Sit-ups
40 Double Unders
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DAILY MINDSET

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence of the future”

~Seneca

Take a moment today to enjoy the present.
How often do we rush to finish, to move onto the next, only to rush once again. How often do we become fixated on the end state, instead of the process?
The end-state is often out of our physical control. We can’t decide that. What we can decide on, what we do have complete control over, is this present moment… and what we choose to do with it.

The aim is not to ignore the future. We still plan for it. However the pitfall is when we spend so much time thinking about the future, we ignore the present. Until it has become the past. All of this can sound mindlessly simple – and it is. Yet we often become so occupied in the moment, so frantically busy, that we actually living in this moment.

Happiness is delivered in many forms, one of which is to enjoy every experience.
Be present in what we take part in today, whatever that may be, and enjoy every moment.

Rob is making sure to spot Dan as he goes for a three rep Bench Press!
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WOD

“Hotshots 19”
Six rounds for time of:
30 Air Squats
19 Power cleans (135/95)
7 Strict Pull-Ups
Run 400 meters

On June 30, 2013 19 members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hot Shot Crew lost their lives battling the 2,000 acre Yarnell Hill fire just south of Prescott AZ. Thank you for your service, you will never be forgotten. RIP.

DAILY MINDSET

“No mud, no lotus”

The mud produces a beautiful blossom, known as the lotus.
Some of the most beautiful things in life come from the most adverse conditions.

It’s easy to chalk up an achievement to luck, or something someone was born with.
What’s harder to admit is that said individual put in an incredible amount of effort, perseverance, dedication, and resilience over repeated failure, time and time again, to get to where they are.

We seek the mud. We know what it brings.