I hope everyone has had a chance to check the new schedule. It’s not written in stone, yet. Let us know what you think! We decided that the 45 minute intervals would be the most accommodating to everyone’s schedule. As always, if you need a different time and can get 3-4 people to join you, we’ll do our best to work it in.

MORE CHANGES

These are small, and I promise they won’t hurt! Everyday when you come in, please actually read the board! We’ve been experimenting lately with changing up the warm ups and seeing who actually notices it. Let’s just say that our newest members are doing great, while some of our vets aren’t quite so hot. Check it out.

We’ll also be going back to our sign in system. If this is new to you, it’s very easy. When you come in, there will be a clip board on the front desk. Write your name on it. Simple eh? This helps us keep track of who was here (and eliminates suspects when there is a huge mess of chalk!).

CROSSFITTERS IN ACTION!

Warming up on the speed ladder

On Ramp - reviewing the dead lift.

Victor's bar muscle up.

I told you the changes would be coming. This one is probably the biggest, so we’re getting it out of the way quickly; like ripping off a band aid.

CrossFit Athens will be transitioning back to a class based schedule starting Monday, January 31. What does this mean? It means no more open style WODs. WODs will be performed during a set time period with a specific coach. The class will start and end as a group. You will have to make an effort to show up at the right time to get it on the time slot you want. We are not going to require anyone to sign up for WODs however.

Please try to show up 5-10 minutes before the class you want to attend starts. This means if you’re coming to the 6;30, try to be here around 6:20. Everyone has their own individual things they like to do for warming up. This will allow you plenty of time for that. Classes will start promptly at their assigned times. If you are more than 10 minutes late and absolutely can’t wait until the next class, there will be motivational consequences to serve as your warm up before jumping into the WOD (take a wild guess).

Does this mean you can’t show up at 6:08 for the 6:30 class. Hell no! Come early and stay late. Work on anything you want to work on. All we ask is that you look at the board and figure out which equipment is being used and reserve it for the class that is going on.

Why are we doing this? A few reasons actually. For you long time members, you’ll remember that we used to do this a couple of years ago when our membership base was much smaller. I wanted to allow for more flexibility with scheduling and the open model worked nicely. Now that we’re not so small, it just doesn’t work very well logistically. There isn’t enough equipment for 3-4 people deadlifting during the ME component and 3-4 people doing thrusters during the Metcon. People warming up are sometimes in the way of people working out. This will be much safer.

Also, I feel that the quality of coaching has decreased somewhat over the past few months. This is entirely my fault, and this is a move towards increasing it. This means that you will be receiving more attention from the Coach, more direct instruction with regards to the WOD and a better overall experience. The Coach will no longer have to worry about people coming in to warm up and explain things when he should be pushing you to go harder, coaching you on your clean, or explaining how to do a new movement. (Oh yeah, before I forget, warm ups will be changing too!)

This will also provide you, the membership base, with more accountability. If you’re a regular to the Tuesday, 4:30 class and don’t show up, you can bet that someone will be calling to check on you.

Below is the tentative schedule, to begin on Monday, January 31. If you have any questions or comments, please share them with us.

Semester Special

Students, don’t forget the semester specials are only good through the end of the month. If you want in on it, act now. For those that tried to pay with a card, you’re all set this week.

Okay. So Mother Nature didn’t really want us to start anything in 2011 last week. That’s cool. Consider it a mandatory stay-cation. However, Monday starts a new week. Get your butts back in here! Spring break and bathing suit season are only a few short months away!

Students, don’t forget about the semester specials! They are only available the first month of the semester. After that, tough cookies (or should that say tough steak?). You’ve got 2 weeks left!

TIME ZONES SUCK

CrossFit San Francisco - how about an outside gym?

Hey folks! I’m back from an extremely awesome tour of some of the best CF boxes in the San Francisco bay area. Like I said earlier, CrossFit is snowballing into a massive grassroots, politically incorrect, tell-those-aerobics-instructors-to-stick-their-microphone-where-the-sun- don’t-shine fitness monster. Driving around some of the busier areas in the valley, it seemed like there was a gym, or someone sporting a CF shirt at least every 5-10 minutes. How sweet is that?

After talking with other owners and trainers, experiencing their classes and watching other classes, I have a lot of great ideas that we’ll be implementing on a trial basis over the next few months. Hopefully these will bring the quality of our box, our classes, our training staff and your enjoyment even higher. Stay tuned.

That's right. In San Francisco, you can get a salami cone! Paleo anyone?

These are some of the pics from the trip. If you want to see them all, just head over to our Flickr page. I got to warn you though that Flickr has this habit of uploading pics out of order, so the time-line doesn’t make much sense. Enjoy!

CROSSFIT ATHENS NEWSLETTER

Hopefully all of you received the first edition of the CFAth newsletter. What did you think? Was it informative? Was it easy to read? Did it even open for you? I know a few people had trouble viewing it in their email programs. If that was you, please let us know and tell us what you use for email. Also, if you have ideas that can make it better or topics you’d like more information about, put them in the comments!

THEY SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Birthdays this month:

Cat Curry

Chris Brown

Darren Gurree

I’ll have pics up asap. Can you believe I forgot to bring the cable that hooks up to the computer?!

Tomorrow we’re headed to Santa Cruz, the birthplace of CrossFit and to the coast with a nice drive up PCH 1, probably the most beautiful road in the country!

Keep checking the website and Facebook for details on the schedule.

~Peace