CrossFitValleyPark

Sweating for a Cause

 

 

Every year CrossFit's popular workout "Fight Gone Bad" serves as a fundraising event. Athletes for a Cure and the Wounded Warrior Project  benefit as CrossFitters all over the world participate. CrossFit Valley Park will be hosting the event on September 26th. We support these great causes and hope you will find it a worthy donation. Please go here: CFVP Fundraising Page to see our progress and to make a donation. Information about the event can be found here: Fight Gone Bad, 2009  

We hope everyone can make it here for the workout. Don't be intimidated!!!!! This is not a race. It's a chance for you to give it your best for two great causes! The day will conclude with some great food, drink, and a few prizes! We will have 2 versions of the workout. One will be "recreational" and will have scaled weights and box heights. The other will be "competitive" and will use the prescribed weights and heights. Please let me know if you will be attending so I can get a list started. Before you write me and ask what "Fight Gone Bad" is, consider this. If you are asking that means you are hesitating! I assure you that anyone can participate.

Famous Faces

 

It's always a treat to spend some time with the famous faces of CrossFit. The biggest names in CrossFit are approachable and always willing to talk and pose for pictures. Mike Burgener is the CrossFit Olympic Lifting Coach and he's a blast to spend time with! During the 1 rep. max. snatch event he was going from athlete to athlete helping them and cheering them on. It was great to watch. 

Courtney Kleefus will be relocating soon to Texas. We're going to miss her! I'm sure we'll see her competing next year in the CrossFit Games. She has invited us all to a "See ya St. Louis" BBQ this Saturday, the 18th anytime after 3 p.m. The address is  1026 Liggett Ave., 63126. We hope you can make it!

Download CrossFitGames09_AffiliateCupDay1

Feeling Strong?

 

Pictured above is Tanya Wagner, the winner of the 2009 CrossFit Games female division. Tanya took 2nd last year, trained hard, and got what she wanted.

If you were to imagine the 2009 CrossFit Games champions, what do you think they would look like? Men and women come in all shapes and sizes. We all have perceptions on what "being fit" should look like. If you spent one day at the CrossFit Games, you would be amazed at all the "fit" bodies around you. However, there was a huge variety of body types, shapes, and sizes.......and all very appealing. CrossFit tends to develope this "athletic" look.  Despite our opinions on the aesthetic side of things, we should all agree that training in CrossFit should not be any different for men or women. Ladies, when you step into our gym, you will do everything that a man can do. You will learn to do it well and become powerful, strong, and confident. Here we battle fitness myths everyday and our proof is not in literature but in the healthy bodies that fill our gym.

Here's a nice article from Mark's Daily Apple.  

Don't forget we are hosting the "CrossFit Total" this Friday night starting at 6:00 p.m. Feel free to show up a bit early. This is open to anyone who wants to come out to test your strength.

Emotions

 

 

 

This year's CrossFit Games brought so many things to the community. For athletes who particpated, it brought out new levels of effort. For spectators, it drew inspiration and emotion. As we watched strangers, members, friends, and heros compete, it drained us. There were moments that were hard to watch. There were moments that had all eyes on one single athlete. There were moments we expected and one's that took us by surprise. As much applause that was heard as the first athlete crossed the finish line, there was thunderous uproar as the last athlete finished. Perhaps this is what touched me the most and I'm sure others felt the same way. Like we often say, it's the effort, not the outcome, that truly inspires us. This weekend drained me but I needed it.

There is a flood of pictures, videos, and articles emerging from this year's event. I suggest you take time, watch, read, and think about the goals you want to accomplish. This is where great moments are born.

The Sporting News did a piece on the Games. A Day at The CrossFit Games.

CrossFit Downtown Winston also wrote a nice article. What We Look For in CrossFitters  

Short Report

 

 

I am excited to post some full reports and pictures from this past weekend. Right now, I am completely wiped out. This will be the short report.

First of all, thank you all so much for the comments! We are flattered and appreciate your support. It was a long weekend filled with cool mornings, hot days, and some serious competition. This must be how the gladiators felt as they entered a stadium to battle. It was nervous excitement. It was intense. CrossFit HQ did a tremendous job with running this event. We gave it everything we had and ended up 18th out of 97 teams. Like any workout, you always look back and figure ways you could have done it better. Still, we are all very proud of our performances.

A couple highlights for us were the stadium chipper WOD in which we finished 1st in our heat! On the hill run Jon Levy took a huge lead up the hill, got passed be another competitor, and had enough of that. He flew by her and never gave it up. He was the first one coming down the hill with no one else in sight. He was flying, coming close to falling with every step. People were cheering and it was a very emotional moment for me. Rochelle, Margaret, and Brody held our strong position but some good runners took our spot and we ended up finishing 3rd in our heat.  The athletes legs were locking up, burning, and aching. I was worried they couldn't make the 2nd lap! When the time came, they ignored the pain and finished strong. It was truly touching.

One question that is always debated is deciding if CrossFit athletes are the fittest in the world. After I saw what they all went through this weekend, there is no doubt. We are champions in the sport of fitness. This community is incredible. The crowd roared when the winners finished but roared much louder when the atheltes struggled. It brought tears to your eyes. What an event!

CFVP Team in 12th place after two rounds!!!

Details aren't known at this point, I just got a text from Dan, but our intrepid team has placed in the top twelve after the first two rounds. To put it in perspective, there are 97 teams from all over the world. More information to come, but there are plenty of reasons to be very proud of our team!!!

 

It's time. Our team is on route to Aromas. The good luck e-mails have been pouring in. We want to thank everyone for your wishes and for all the support. So many people came out for our group workouts to share the experience, push us, and inspire us. Remember this wouldn't be possible for us without our members, families, and friends. We are going to give it our best efforts. Most of all, we are going to have a blast! The Games experience is worth the trip alone.

Our workouts were posted yesterday. Go here Affiliate Cup Workouts to see what we will be doing. Our team will do the  North Pad workout first, the Stadium workout second, and the relay run last. We  only get 1/2 hour between workouts! Keep up with the Games website to follow the action. I will do my best to relay reports back to you. 3.....2.....1.....GO!

090705 - Deadlift + Overhead Squat w/200m run. Heat 1 & 2 from Rich Hill on Vimeo.

Redemtion Feels Good

 

 

 

Jack is getting ready to show us how to deadlift! The crew from Freeburg Illinois is always a blast to have around. Holly, Jake, Josh, and Jack are great friends of CFVP. Thanks again to everyone who came out for our July 5th workout. While I didn't reach my goal of under 20 minutes, I did beat my tryout time by over 6 minutes. It helps when your back isn't cramping and you don't have to lay down on the track! Nothing feels better than getting back at a workout that beat you. We had a blast. Some of the athletes did "Griff" while the others did the "Orie Special."

Rich Hill was nice enough to put together a nice video of the first 2 heats. I will put in on the next post. Heats 3 and 4 to come. Thanks Rich.