Coach’s Blog

“The Open is coming!!  The Open is coming!!” announced Coach Liz in her New England accent as she drove through the gym on her trusty Bulldog Scrubber steed.  “We have to get ready!! We have to squat below parallel!  We have to do pull-ups with our chin over the bar!  We have to learn how to do Double-unders!!!!!”

This was just one of my many dreams the other night as I woke up and realized I hadn’t yet signed up for the CrossFit Open, 2022 edition!  But never fear, I woke up, grabbed my computer, skimmed the Morning Chalk-up to see if Dave was back yet, and then SIGNED UP.  I’m in!  And here’s why you should be in too:

1. Everyone else is doing it.

I know, this reason doesn’t work on your mom, but she doesn’t read these emails so I’m gonna go with it.  Seriously, all of your friends at CFKI will be competing every Friday for three weeks, and having a lot of fun with it.  We’re going to do a fun “Intramural Open” (more to come soon), much more fun than college intramural basketball (they never passed to me), and one way you can score points is just by signing up for the Open and logging your score!  The Open is a really fun community event, and you’ll want to be part of it.

2. You did it last year.

This might not apply to everyone, but for those that have done the Open before, you have history!  And what do we know about the effectiveness of CrossFit?… we measure to improve!  We will most likely not repeat a workout from last year, but we might repeat a workout from several years ago.
Even if you don’t directly repeat a workout, you’ll be able to see what your ranking was from years past – in our CFKI community, in the great state of Maryland, in the good ol’ USA, and even in the WORLD.  And then this year, you’re going to smash that ranking!
We know we all have off years, but even if you think you are less fit going into the Open this time, you have to make your mark again, now, so that you have that history once again to compare to.  I can point to the year 2016 when I came into the Open really banged up, but I still took on each workout with whatever I could do so that I had a consistent flow of data on my where CrossFit performance output stood each February/March.

3. Challenges are good for your soul.

The CrossFit Open is a challenge.  There’s no way around it!  Because each workout means a bit more – we’re putting our results out there for all the CrossFit world to see – you’re going to put maximum effort into each one.  And it’s going to hurt.  You might even feel like something didn’t go as well as it could have, and with a little strategy change, you’ll repeat that workout that you know is going to hurt again, maybe even more this time.  But this is where we GROW.  When we step up to a challenge, and give it our all, get knocked down and stand back up ready for the next one.  Maybe we’ve learned a little bit about ourselves through the experience, physically or athletically, sure – but maybe more importantly about our heart!

4. Challenges are bad for your ego.

And to be clear, we don’t like your ego.  At a traditional Japanese meal, you must leave your shoes outside the door.  At a CrossFit box – in order to be as successful as possible – you must leave your ego outside the door.  The lack of patience for excess pride and vanity in the CrossFit community is evidenced by the lack of mirrors on the walls and scales in the bathrooms.  We know when you look good – when you’re high-fiving your buddy for putting out their max effort on that last run, or when you just show up to a class on Friday evening to meet your goal of 3x/week even though you could be doing something else slightly more fun.
The Open will provide a true, unbiased snapshot of your fitness, given that we all have to perform to a standard.  Those that put a lot of emphasis on a daily basis on beating all of their peers in the gym sometimes get a bit of a bruised ego when they’re held to that standard by a judge other than themselves.  And that’s good!  This is just another opportunity to grow as an athlete, as a teammate, and as a person.

We have about four more weeks to prepare.  Let’s focus on our skills, and our endurance.

The first Open workout of the 2022 season will be released on Thursday, February 24^th and we will complete it as our class workout that Friday.  You must submit your score by Monday evening, giving you time to repeat the workout if you would like (I’ll have some thoughts on that in a future message!)

When you’re ready, sign up for the Open here!  Then, grab a buddy and tell them to do the same.  The more the merrier!!

Ryan

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“TIME!  7 minutes.  How fast did you say you could run the mile, Wolf?”  Instructor Price scowled at me.  “Uhhh, like 6:30?” I blubbered out.  “Nope, it was 6:14,” called out Instructor Wornham, reading from a notepad, “I have it right here.”

Dammit, why did I put my best ever mile time on my application??  I should have known they would hold me to that.

“Line it up again, guys! Most of you didn’t make your time.”

Of course we didn’t, they just made us do like 300 burpees for all the infractions we had during check-in.  They’re not going to really make us run the timed mile again right now…

“GO!”

8 minutes later, my fellow candidates and I struggled back across the finish line.  “TIME!” yelled Instructor Price again.  “You guys actually got worse!  Line it up again!”

This has got to be a joke…

“GO!”

This was just one hour into my experience at SEALFIT Kokoro Camp, and in my mind it was obviously not going well.  As we ran the mile for the third time, my mind started racing.  Is this how the entire 50 hours is going to be?  If so, I don’t think I can hack it.  I should have trained more in the heat.  I should have timed my mile run when I was already beat down from push-ups and duck walks on the grinder.  I thought I was prepared for this?  I’m going to have to quit.

“TIME!  I don’t even have to tell you guys, you know what to do.  We’re going to keep on doing this until somebody makes their time,” growled Instructor Price.  Nobody moved toward the line; some were vomiting – my body was trying to but I had been so nervous in the morning before we started that I hadn’t eaten anything since last night’s carb-loading pizza.  Big mistake!

“It looks like this isn’t working, D,” said Instructor Wornham, “I got something though.  Everybody follow the truck!”  And with that he started at a jog behind a pickup that had just begun to lumber down a dirt road, right toward a long, slow uphill…

A few minutes into the run, one of the intern coaches sidled up beside me and started running with me.  His name was Andy, and I’ve come to see him as my guardian angel at that time.  A year later as I was interviewing to be a SEALFIT intern coach, I used this example as what I wanted to be for future candidates.

I was physically hurting, and still not feeling very good about my performance thus far or my prospects for finishing this now monumental event.

“What’s up, Wolf?  How ya feelin’?”

“Not good.  My legs are cramping, my throat is dry, I can’t breathe,” I listed all of my body’s current complaints.

“Are you gonna QUIT?”

I turned my head to face him.  “No!” I said defiantly.  At the time I thought he wanted me to.

“I knew you would say that.  Good.  Why?” asked Andy, fishing for what my internal reason to keep going was, no matter what.

After a second I realized that my Why wasn’t to prove something to myself, or to advance my coaching career.  I had a chance to make myself either a good example for my two boys at home, who I imagined right then wondering how I was doing, or a bad example.  “I want my kids to know that I did what I said I was going to do, and that you don’t quit.”

“YES!  That’s powerful.  Remember that, and stay in the fight.  Stay in the fight.  Say it!”  Andy coached me to solidify that mantra.

“Stay in the fight,” I repeated, still out of breath but now starting to turn the corner emotionally.

“HELL yeah,” said Andy in his surfer dude accent, and sprinted up to the next candidate in line, ready to coax some more internal motivation from the depths of his soul.

Lack of physical preparation had nothing to do with my feeling sorry for myself and choosing to experience the physical pain of the moment so acutely.  It was my lack of emotional control and resilience that was starting to shine through.  Coach Andy’s reminder to come back to my Why, or even to figure out what my Why was in the first place, was a gamechanger that I fell back on so many times during the remainder of the event, and turned a very rough start into a hugely successful mental, emotional, and spiritual experience for me.  Physically?  I was an absolute trainwreck when I got home and Denee had to nurse me back to health for a week or more.  But in the moment, after my initial pity party, I honestly didn’t feel it and I was able to finish the weekend standing tall when many others had quit along the way.

So as we begin the year and we line up some personal challenges or a goal we’d like to take on, I’ll echo some advice from Andy, and you’ve all heard it before but it’s worth hearing again.

Know why you’re doing what you’re doing.  What is going to prevent you from quitting, or veering from the path you’ve committed to?
As a quick exercise if you’re not sure, imagine yourself actually quitting.  What makes this hurt so badly on a deep level?  If your reason is externally motivated like my being a good example to my kids, don’t imagine how they would feel (you don’t really know), imagine how YOU will feel when you’re faced with that person or organization and you’ve let them down.  And if it doesn’t hurt, then you have some more thinking to do, or you might need to pick another goal that means something to you!

And if you know the challenge you’ve chosen is worthwhile and you’re solid on Why you’re doing it and Why you’ll never stop, then repeat after me when times get tough.  STAY IN THE FIGHT.

Ryan

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2021 has come and gone — PHEW!  How did you do with your goals?  Maybe you wrapped it up super-quick and then didn’t really have another goal to shoot for.  Maybe your goal remained just out of reach all year because it was a little too lofty, or maybe you couldn’t narrow down your goals enough and were shooting for too many at once.  Maybe you’re a practiced goal-setter and you nailed that thing to the wall right on schedule!  In any case, the new year is a great opportunity to refocus and redouble your efforts toward a solid goal.

The best goals will have the following attributes.  Experienced goal-setters will recognize the SMART acronym that these attributes create:
They are Specific and Measurable.  Not just “I want to lose weight”, but “I will lose 15 pounds”
They are Attainable and Realistic.  If you currently squat 200 lbs, squatting 400 lbs in the next year is not going to happen for you!  Sorry to burst your balloon there.
They are Time-bound.  “I will climb to the top of the rope by May 31st”
Finally, they are Singular (my addition… so SMARTS!).  If you choose two tough goals, it will take you twice as long to achieve just one of them as if you just choose one and go for it.  Set your sights on one goal, crush it, and move on!

How can you work on achieving your goal, given that our class time is scheduled already with a warmup, strength/skill component, workout, and cooldown?  Here are a few ideas:
1. Find some time to come in for Open Gym, or stick around for 15 minutes after class for some focused goal-smashing time!  Talk to a coach about how to structure your goal work so that you’re not doing the same thing every time, but working on different components of your goal in a smart way.
2. Keep your goal in mind when deciding how/if to scale the workout.
For example, if your goal is to lose weight, it is generally a good idea to use a lighter, manageable weight during a timed workout so that you can continue to move fast.  Use the Weightlifting components of the weekly schedule to get some heavy work done, and then use a light weight for the Metcon components.
If your goal is to do a strict Pull-up and the workout calls for 25 Pull-ups in a set, instead of doing jumping pull-ups and zooming through 25 reps, choose a light band that you can do a small amount of reps with, and scale the number of reps in the workout.
3. Keep your goal in mind during the workout itself.
If your goal is to improve your Front Squat 1RM, then as you are squatting with heavy weight make absolutely sure that your form is perfect.  You can’t (or shouldn’t) add weight to your squat if you are allowing your lower back and shoulders to round forward, and if you let the weight slide down to your rest in your hands.  Listen to your coach’s cues and remain hyper-focused on your form, and the movements will feel easier.  Then we load that barbell up a little bit more!

Think about what you are excited about achieving in the new year, and when you think you can achieve it.  Email Coach Alicia at alicia@crossfitkentisland.com with your goal, and we can give you some feedback on whether it meets the criteria above.  Then write it on the wall at the gym (we’re going to reset that wall so we can all add some new goals), write it down in your office or somewhere that you will see it on a daily basis so that you’re always reminded of what you are working toward.

Looking forward to a lot of hard work and celebrations in 2022!

Ryan

If you’re reading this blog, you and I probably have at least one goal in common.  We both want to generally improve ourselves over time.  We want to become the best version of ourselves, and we are actively pursuing that goal.  As part of my personal mission, I include the phrase “self-mastery”, not in a restrictive sense, but more expansive.  I want to work toward mastery in all facets of my life that I can control – physical development, emotional awareness and control, etc.

One of the ways that I’d like to explore improving myself over the next year, if it’s not too early to think about New Year’s Resolutions, is to improve my decision making.  I was watching a daily inspirational video a couple days ago, and the speaker Matthew Kelly was asking his audience how they make decisions.  He recommends relying on a personal philosophy, or what we might also call a creed or an “ethos”, to make critical decisions.  Kelly leans on his Christian faith and the teachings of Jesus to guide his decision making process, which is obviously a great pre-packaged philosophy that we can choose as our own, and there is so much written on which choices are best to make as Christians.

Rather than using a plug-n-play approach to personal philosophy though, I would advocate for a bit more thought and reflection on what your personal ethos is.  Or you might even start by trying to articulate – in your own words – what that philosophy is that you follow.  I am Catholic, but have to admit that there are certain doctrines of the Catholic church that I don’t agree with wholeheartedly (or with any of my heart!)  Adopting a more personally connected ethos, which includes the moral and ethical values of the Christian faith, as well as my own personal principles, will be more powerful for me and a more honest guide for my decisions.

An ethos can be described as what you believe at your core.  What you stand for.  As the saying goes, if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.  So this is important work!  A good exercise to start might be to write down a list of values that mean the most to you.  If you know what your major long-term goals are, especially around who you want to become in this life, then this should be a part of your ethos too.  Take some time to expand upon these values and your goals in order to create a few bulleted action phrases that are both direct and very meaningful to you.
Here is my example, with my initially identified values bolded so you can see where I started from:

• Pursue Self-mastery with an attitude of Service
• Provide for and protect my Family
• Take Responsibility for my actions and those of my teammates
• Persevere through adversity, and NEVER QUIT
• Pursue Truth, Love, and Simplicity

Once you have a personal ethos that you’re ready to take on the world with, it’s time to take it for a spin and use it to make decisions.  So every time you have a decision to make, take this ethos out of your back pocket and read it out loud and… just kidding.  It’s surely not feasible to directly refer to this word-for-word every time you are faced with a decision.  You might not even realize you are making a decision sometimes, or if you know you are you might not have more than a split-second to take an “ethos time out”.
I feel that the best way to incorporate your ethos into your decision-making process, whether it is conscious or subconscious, is to review and recommit to your ethos each day when you wake up as part of your morning ritual.  If it is meaningful to you, and each of the parts of your ethos are a hill you’re willing to die on, then reviewing it each morning will be a motivating way to refresh your mental state and refocus you on what you’re going to do that day and how you’re going to do it.

No one is going to make a good decision – or the best decision possible – EVERY time they are faced with a mental fork in the road.  To use a baseball analogy, nobody is batting 1.000.  I’m sure even Jesus grounded out to short a couple times in his life, although he definitely was leading the league in GDBA (Good Decision Batting Average) for most of the years 20-35 AD.  He definitely never struck out.  But while we may not share his infallibility, we can at least give ourselves the best chance possible to improve that batting average, wherever it may be right now.

In the consulting world, and indeed in CrossFit, we talk about measuring to improve.  If you want to improve something, start measuring it.  All of a sudden, because you are paying attention to that metric, it magically starts improving because you are taking action to improve it before the next measurement time!
To measure our GDBA, we could take a brief moment at the end of the day to review our ethos one more time, and then look back at our day and reflect on any big decisions we made.  Did we decide in line with our ethos?  This can create a daily batting average, but more importantly it allows us to pat ourselves on the back where we made aligned decisions, and reflect on lessons learned where we did not.  Why weren’t we acting in alignment with our ethos?  How can we improve on that the next time that decision point or situation comes up?

A huge part of this revolves around creating that personal philosophy, or ethos, that can act as our decision-making protocol.  If you have any trouble with this exercise or want to work through it together, please reach out, I’d love to help you nail this down.  And if anyone hits a decision home-run, let me know that too!

Ryan

“What’s your Why?”
— Every motivational speaker

Being able to articulate your “Why” has become a bit cliché in the world of personal development.  Doing a quick Amazon search for the word “why” comes up with quite a few pretty interesting books – I might have to get me some of those – but the point is that the topic has been well documented and examined from all angles.

But phrases and topics become cliché because there is a lot of truth and value to them, and before we discard them as overused we should pause and take note.

I don’t want to train today.  Yesterday was pretty rough, and today’s training session looks even worse.  Even though my plan for the week was to get in the gym three days in a row, I’m ready to throw in the towel today and QUIT.  Just for today…

What’s your Why?

I pushed it too hard in the gym today.  My shoulder was hurting as I started moving up in weight on the snatches, but I pushed through it because I wanted to beat my buddy in the 6am class.  Now it really hurts to move it at all and I think I hurt myself…

What’s your Why?

Answering that simple question without a lot of thought could be a mistake.  But so could answering it and then forgetting about it, especially when taking a few seconds to align with our Why could guide our decision-making process in the examples above and even in a broader sense.

My Why that I think about for physical training is to provide the best possible example for my two boys to look up to.  Boom.  It’s very personal to me, and it ties my training in the gym to something (or someone) that I love very much.  I feel accountable to them and responsible for training in a way that reflects that.

In the first example above, when the feelings of “this sucks, I don’t want to do it” come up, I can think about setting the standard.  How would I respond to my oldest son if he said something to that effect to me?  If I respond with “suck it up, this is when you get mentally stronger,” or something awesome like that, will I have the experiential capital to back that speech up?  Or will he remind me that I usually back down when presented with a challenge like a hard workout?

How about in the second example?  My Why swimming around in my head like a mantra “for the boys, for the boys, for the boys,” will check me in my decision to keep on pushing through what feels like an injury waiting to happen.  Because if I injure myself training, what example does that set?  That it’s OK to make reckless decisions?  There is a difference between toughness and recklessness.  I want to be on the tough (and uninjured) side.

Before your next training session, check in with your Why.  Use it to guide how you will approach the training that day.  Use it to stay motivated, and to make good decisions when the shit hits the fan.
If you don’t know Why you are training, now is the time to figure that out!  Do you have a vision of who you would like to become through training, or what you’d like to accomplish – like an event goal?  Do you, like me, see yourself in a leadership role – who are you accountable to?  Are you training for a sport or a job that you need to stay physically prepared for?

Training in the gym, whether it’s CrossFit or weightlifting or yoga, can be really hard.  It’s physically demanding, which becomes mentally and emotionally demanding to keep going.  We must know Why we are there, in the arena, ready for what comes next.  If we can see how our training plan aligns with our Why, we’ll find that motivation to stay strong and resilient, to show up when we don’t feel like it but we know it will move us one step closer to our goal.

So, tell me – What’s your Why?

Ryan

“Eyes up!”  It’s one of the simplest, most effective, and multi-purpose cues that I can give someone as a coach in a larger group class when I need to make a quick correction.

If someone starts losing focus on their midline stability in a deadlift, “Eyes up!” can set in motion a chain of self-corrections starting with looking straight ahead instead of at the floor.

If someone is missing the rhythm of butterfly pull-ups because they are pulling their chin to the bar instead of past it, “Eyes up!” can remind them to keep their gaze up beyond the bar and then glide through to the proper arch position at the bottom.

And if someone is feeling sorry for themselves during a long, arduous workout, feeling alone in their misery, “Eyes up!” can re-enlighten them to the fact that there are others who have also taken on this tough task.  They have teammates to support them on this mission, and teammates that need their support too.

The opposite of “Eyes up” in this case might be “Eyes in”, as in “inside”.  And when we focus our mental energy on feeling what is happening to us, how our body is hurting and doesn’t seem to be performing as well as it did when we started, this dwelling on negative thoughts can stir up negative emotions.
Emotions like anger – “why the hell are we doing this?? This is so stupid!!”
Like doubt and shame – “I’m never going to finish this, and it’s going to be so embarrassing!”
It might even cause us to do things that would break trust with our teammates – “I bet no one would notice if I just skipped some reps here so I can keep up…”

Focusing on ourselves, and feeling sorry for ourselves, which creates negative mental and emotional energy, can then drain our physical energy further.  If we believe that we are not doing well, and keep reinforcing that belief with negative mental chatter, that will become our reality.

Luckily, the opposite is true!  I learned long ago through extremely difficult team training that if you take your focus off of yourself, and use the mantra “Eyes up!” to instead focus on your teammates, your mental disposition can change immediately.  It’s very hard to have a negative mindset when you’re encouraging someone else.  You’re being positive FOR THEM, and it changes your emotional outlook as well.
“We’ve got this, guys!” – this breeds hope.
“You’re crushing it, keep it up!” – if you really mean it, you’re showing pride in your teammate.
“Stay with me, let’s do the next 20 reps together.” – you are leading by example.

And guess what – just as sinking your focus into your physical pain can drive your emotional state into a dark place, feeling a sense of pride and encouragement and positive leadership can also upgrade your physical capacity.
“Sure, I’m hurting, but it doesn’t matter, I’m going to keep going so that they keep going too.”  You will not be in such a stressed out state, and your body will follow suit – it will do what you tell it to do, versus the other way around.

Tomorrow on Veterans Day, we take on a tough task with CHAD1000X.  But even if you’re doing it in your garage, by yourself, you’re not alone.  Thousands are doing it with you, and they’re supporting you.  They’re proud of you for stepping up to the challenge.  But they need your support too.  “Eyes up!”

Ryan

“To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents.  What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”

 — Winston Churchill

I’ve written before about finding your purpose.  There is a process that we can go through to find out what we are meant to do.  It starts with contemplating what you are passionate about (and maybe what you’re not), what principles drive your daily decisions, and then diving deep to think about what those passions and principles mean for what our overall life’s purpose is.  What are we supposed to be, and do, in this life?  See our blog post here for a more detailed description of this process.

But what if you haven’t figured it out yet?  Or what if you go through this process and can’t really figure it out?

You’re in luck.  Your purpose will eventually find you.  What we need to make sure of, as Sir Winston warns above, is that we are ready when that purpose presents itself.

To be ready, make daily decisions that align with what you think a fit, humble, open, and prepared individual would do if presented with an opportunity.  And that opportunity could be in business as a chance to spearhead an entrepreneurial venture.  It could be an employment offer at a school that needs a teacher, with great benefits and advancement opportunities.  Or it could be your chance to step up in public and be a real hero, saving others in a crisis.

Will you be ready?  Will you be able to put your best foot forward?  Will you be prepared and qualified for the chance?  Or will you have to pass, because you don’t find yourself up to the task?

This is your purpose on the line.  This might be your shot to fulfill what you find to be your overall mission in life.

Train.  Be ready.

Ryan

This Veterans Day, for the second year in a row, our workout of the day will be “Chad 1000X”, a Hero WOD created by Dave Castro in honor of his Navy SEAL teammate Chad Wilkinson.  The workout is 1,000 box step-ups, as Rx’d with a 45-lb ruck to a 20-inch box.  Most of us will scale this workout in one way or another – the most common way being doing the workout with no weight – but still, it will get rough.  It will get very physically challenging, and then it will get very mentally challenging, and that’s the point.  Chad killed himself in 2018 due to the effects of numerous deployments, several TBIs, blast wave injuries and PTSD.  He was living in a daily personal hell, and in the end he couldn’t take it anymore.  The reason we do 1,000 step-ups for his commemorative workout is because this is a workout that he would do often to prepare for his next big mountain summit, a personal hobby of his.  But it’s also because the mental state this workout puts us in can remind us of the absolute struggle Chad lived through every day and eventually succumbed to, and to bring awareness to other military veterans that may currently be struggling due to their service injuries.

As we plan to take on the Chad 1000X workout on Veterans Day, let’s honor Chad in two ways.

First, please prepare for the workout.  This is one of those that if you’ve done it before, you know.  It is rough.  Doing regular CrossFit workouts is a great start, and those of you taking on “Squatober” will be even more prepared, but adding in one more specific workout per week leading up to the big day will help tremendously with your physical stamina for the workout, as well as your mental approach as you start to learn how hundreds of box step-ups feel on your legs and your soul.
At a minimum, if you are planning to do 1,000 step-ups for Chad 1000X, work up to doing 300 step-ups in one session, and 500 step-ups in one week.  With 4 weeks to go before the workout, what that might look like is:
Week 1:  200 step-ups
Week 2:  300 step-ups
Week 3:  400 step-ups
Week 4:  500 step-ups
In my training I have broken up sets of 100 step-ups with a one-lap ruck around the gym.  If you don’t have a box to step up on, take on 2 stairs at a time, or do lunges.

For a more specific workout plan created by the leaders in rucking training, GORUCK, check this out.

Let’s also honor Chad by taking a moment to think about his life and his death.  To learn more about Chad and his wife Sara, check out this article.  Let’s think about others that know that might be struggling, and reach out and let them know we’re there for them, and they have someone to talk to whenever they need it, whether they are a veteran or not.  And if you want to help create more awareness for veteran suicide and help those that you might not know, go here to register for the event, get a t-shirt and a patch, and donate some funds.

Thanks in advance for your time reading this, in preparing for the workout, and in helping to raise awareness in yourself and others about veteran suicide.  Looking forward to this great community event in Chad 1000X on Veterans Day.

Ryan

I think we can all agree that CrossFit Kent Island is an awesome place, and not just because we say it is and we use the term “awesome” a lot.  OK, specifically I use it a lot.  But it’s totally true!  And if something is awesome, it’s alright to come out and say it.

We have an awesome facility, surrounded by awesome outdoor space with a beach and a running trail and some tractor tires that just appeared out of nowhere because they were tired of being driven on and wanted to be awesome.

We have awesome coaches that care about each of us as athletes but even more so as people, and are genuinely awesome people to be around, as physically formidable as they are.

And of course we have awesome members.  We have an amazingly awesome (I tried to just write amazing there but it didn’t work) group of athletes that love to workout together, motivate each other to get back in and work harder than the day before, and hang out on the weekends pretending to know something about fishing, following the 80/20 rule.  Wait, that’s just me again.

But what if it could get even more awesome?  Is that even a thing?  How could it be?  Is he going to rhetorically ask one more question?

It could get even more awesome if you think for a second about that awesome friend you have, or a hilarious sister, or your neighbor who always asks you where you work out and then talks about “back in the day” when he used to lift a lot.  What if they were part of the CFKI family too?

Starting today we’d like to re-launch our New Member Referral Program, or NMRP.  Here’s the deal – if you refer a new member to us, and they purchase at least one monthly membership, your next month is free.  Bingo bango, it’s free money.  All you have to do is ask your buddy to join you for a class, or suggest they come in and try our Free Intro Session.  When they join up, because the lightbulb will go off in their head as soon as they walk in the door, just remind us that you were the one that referred them, and that next month’s invoice gets shredded, or electronically deleted because we’re fancy with technology.  Feel free to share the savings with them, or don’t – we won’t tell them.  Unless you spill the chalk bucket.

So, how can this place get even more awesome?  By you inviting your awesome family and friends to join us.  It’s our biggest (and only) source of marketing, so we’d like to reward you for it.  Get someone started, get a free month.  And then you have someone to beat in workouts for a while!

Ryan