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This past Saturday there was a bit of a CrossFit Competition down on Capitol Hill.  Mostly athletes from CrossFit Balance were there and it was organized as a sort of birthday celebration by the birthday boy himself, Ash Cope.  I knew a whole slew of people attending and competing so I figured it would be a good time to join in the fun and hang with everyone while getting a few awesome workouts in!

Workout #1:
APRAP 1 minute of: ground to overhead anyhow w/ 85% body weight (no dropping or resting the bar on the ground)

I weighed in at 202.8 at that morning (this nutrition experiment is going crazy on me  In a good way) and used a weight of 175#.  This felt pretty heavy but my goal was just to find a comfortable rhythm and keep moving for the short minute.  In the end, Ash counted out that I got 12 reps (I always try to count on these and end up losing track after about 3...not sure why).  Not too bad with the tight back from heavy deads on Thursday, and a late night "lock-out" workout the night before; and, it was enough for 3rd on the event.  I believe one guy got a whopping 17 reps!).

A note before going into the next two workouts: this whole thing took place at Ash's house, a nice brownstone between Eastern Market and the Capitol Building, so our first workout was literally set up on a rubber mat in the walkway in his front yard, so cool!  The second workout utilized whatever outdoor space he had...
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Workout #2: (you kind of had to be there for this and the next...)
With a three minute cap do:
Sprint walkway, hurdle front gate
Run around to back of building, scale 8 foot wall
Grab 30# sandbag, throw over wall, scale wall again
Carry sandbag to front of house, hurdle gate with it, carry to top of stairs
Hurdle gate again, grab 80# sandbag, hurdle gate, bring to top of stairs
Tire flip jump through for remainder of time

It seems like a lot, but most people finished the obstacles and sandbags in about 90 seconds.  Then came the burn-out tire flips.  Up until my turn the top flip was 19, so everyone was wondering if 20 could be reached.  And, thanks to the insane amount of tire flips we all did back in the day with all my High School guys, I was able to efficiently move through them and bang out 25 reps before time was called.  This was an AWESOME workout!  Massive props to Ash for his programming.  All of our lungs were on fire.

For the final workout we all grabbed a collection of 20# and 12# dynamax med balls and walked about a 800 meters to a large park to the side of the Capitol Building.  To paint a picture here: we had 50 meter lanes marked off along a sort of reflecting pool with a grand stairway and fountain directly in front of us.  Here is what we did, i dare you to follow along!
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Workout #3:
For time do:
50 meter burpee broad jumps
Run up, around and down stair case with med ball
Overhead lunge 50 meters
25 push ups
Bear crawl 50 meters
run up around and down
Bear crawl 50 meters
25 push ups
Overhead lunge 50 meters
Run up, around and down with med ball
Burpee broad jump 50 meters
Sprint 50 meters

This one was just a gasser and we had a great heat pushing all along.  Devin, the athlete set up next to me pushed away on the overhead lunges and first set of push ups, but I was able to stay on his tail and take over the lead on the second set of push ups.  It was a dead sprint alone for me at the end and I finished up in an exhausting 6 minutes flat and an overall victory! 
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We posed for a big group picture and headed back where I believe everyone hung out and grilled and partied (I stupidly scheduled a client and had to get back to The Garage STAT).  In the end, this was exactly the perfect example for why I love CrossFit so much.  A huge group of people banded together (all in all around 40+ showed up, and this is NOT counting the masses of people that stopped and hung out to watch as they walked by) to push themselves and support each other outdoors.  I can not explain how excited it makes me to be a part of a community that truly enjoys finding ways to workout together at all times, it is so freaking awesome!  I feel so much at home and comforted knowing that this is such a fast growing community, and that I involved in the capacity I am.  I honestly hope that it never stops growing and the world can shift to a healthier, more active one.

OK, so, going a little off there.  I woke up this morning to a text from my biddy JP about headed out to hike the Billy Goat Trail with a couple he knows.  I was totally game and jumped up to meet him and head out there.  We threw on a 20# vest each and just moved through it enjoying the perfect weather, saying hi to the throngs of people (perhaps throngs is the wrong word, but it was more crowded then i have ever seen!) and just chatting.  It was the perfect recovery and chill type of thing to do.  Then, it was off to coach a double header before headed home for a nap and a little TV before bed and plenty of training this coming week!
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What did you do this weekend?

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage
 

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