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Our friends at Westlake CrossFit are holding a shoe drive for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. I will be taken a donation from CrossFit Austin to Joss and Jevon next Friday, if you have shoes to donate please bring them to the gym.

From the CF Westlake website:

Join us in our effort to contribute to the victims of the recent disaster in Haiti. Westlake CrossFit is partnering up with Soles4Souls in an effort to provide one million pairs of new boots and shoes to help survivors locate others trapped in the rubble and begin the rebuilding process. As you can imagine, the amount of broken glass, twisted metal and raw sewage is staggering. We will rush this protective footwear to them as quickly as possible.

CrossFit Austin is pleased to announce our one-day Olympic Weightlifting Seminar featuring 2-time Olympian Chad Vaughn and USAW Senior International Coach Ursula Garza Papandrea.  The focus of the seminar will be detailed instruction and hands-on training of the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. This seminar will provide you with:

•    Mechanics and fundamentals of the Snatch and Clean & Jerk

•    Logical progressions for the two competitive lifts

•    Small group instruction from Olympic level coaches and athletes

To reserve your spot and pay online, click here

Yesterday I promised some suggestions to make your daily CrossFit Austin experience better.  I am going to borrow some material from my friend and colleague CJ Martin owner of CrossFit Invictus. The following is a slightly paraphrased version of a post he wrote back in May.  All of these suggestions are a applicable to you as an athlete and can help make CFA an even friendlier place!

All gyms have a natural flow to them – a pattern by which members arrive, situate themselves and prepare to have a great workout. For some, it’s sprinting in and joining the already-in-progress group warm-up (ahem, “A”-Game), but for others it entails some pre-WOD mingling and catching up with friends. I love this, and heartily encourage it as our community is what makes CrossFit Invictus so different from other places. Nonetheless, I am proposing some new rules that will improve both your socializing and athletic performance. So next time you are in, go with the following flow of the gym:

2. Gather with Friends at the Back of the Building and Roll – Some of the best tools in the gym are the black foam rollers and lacrosse balls (individual and those taped together). In my opinion, they are not being used nearly enough. Rolling some of your tight muscle groups helps get needed blood flow to them, loosens them so they will contract and relax better, and generally improves their functionality for the athletic endeavor you are about to embark upon. And the great thing is, you can roll and socialize at the same time. Yes, your conversation might be interrupted occasionally by a yelp, but that’s just good fun and provides for some comedic relief. So gather there and roll while you catch up with friends.

3. Dynamic, Skill-Based Warm-Up with Group – Once group session begins, your coach will put you through a dynamic warm-up. Recognize that this is not only a warm-up, but also an opportunity to put your body in ideal positions. Use this time to reinforce proper mechanics. For instance, when you lunge, think about how you lunge in a split jerk or split clean. Are you grooving that ideal pattern, or are you forward on the toe and too narrow? Make the most of this time and perform each movement perfectly.

4. Strength/Skill Work – No ego. Nobody is impressed when you deadlift 400 lbs. and herniate two discs in the process. Strive for virtuosity here. Move well and your numbers will progressively skyrocket. Move poorly and you might get some big numbers for a while, but you also run the risk of missing valuable training sessions because you are nursing injuries. This is your chance to perfect movements without a clock pressuring you to move quickly. Take the opportunity to be perfect. Once you have been consistently perfect, then begin to be consistently perfect with big weights.

5. Timed Workout – Go hard . . . and be damn-near perfect. I can accept slight deviations of form when you’re hitting it at high intensity, but you should be striving for perfection. (And if your coach’s interpretation of “slight deviation of form” is different from yours, you are the one who is wrong. Listen to your coach and slow down.)

6. Clean Up – Once you have completed your workout, please give us a hand by wiping down the bars and placing everything back where you found it. There is, however, one caveat: Be respectful of those who are still working out. It’s better to cheer someone on or relax than walk right in front of them with your barbell and weights. Nobody likes to be last, particularly when everyone else is cleaning up around them. Wipe down your bar and do a little static stretching while you cheer for others, then you can put your gear away and give them a hand with theirs.

7. Log Your Performance – If you don’t have a Performance Log, your coach will be chatting with you this week. They are essential to tracking your athletic progress. You will never know if what you are doing is effective unless you can track what you have been doing.

8. Post-WOD Recovery Work – If your coach puts you through a post-WOD recovery drill (stretching or additional skill work) please view it with the same respect you view the first portions of the workout. Recovery is instrumental to getting more fit. If you slack here, it will show. If your coach ran out of time, you’re not excused from stretching. Most of you know our protocols for post-WOD stretching, and even if you don’t, any stretching after your WOD is better than none. Get it done – your body will thank you.

9. GHD Machines – Almost as neglected as the foam rollers are our beautiful GHD machines. End your workout the way you began it, by socializing near the back wall. Jump on the GHD and knock out 10 sit-ups and 10 hip extensions. Then let a friend on to do the same. Switch on and off until you have done somewhere between 30-50 sit-ups and extensions.

Now back to your regularly schedule program…

With a New Year comes new challenges, fresh beginnings, and opportunities for improvements. You guys have made it clear that you are committed to constantly improving yourselves physically, and mentally in gym.  In that same vein we are committed to constant improvement of CrossFit Austin as whole.  Today we want to announce some procedural changes, and make a few suggestion on how we can continue to make CrossFit Austin a special place.

New Procedures

1. First order of business is to create a profile in our new client software system MindBody Online.  We will use this software for your membership payments, online communication, and also to sign up for your weekly classes.  Our goal is to have everyone in the system by Monday, January 18th.

So please follow the link below and set-up your profile with CrossFit Austin in MindBody Online, it should only take a few minutes:

http://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ws.asp?studioid=8794&stype=-99

2. Starting January 25th we will be capping all classes at 12 people per class and will require everyone to sign up for their class before arriving.  I will address some questions I foresee popping up with this change…

But Wes, I like to come in at different times throughout the week?
No problem just make sure you sign up for those different times, we are not trying to relegate you to a specific time or day of the week. The earlier you sign up the better, don’t chance your favorite time slot being full.

Fine, I’ll just sign up for every classes, that way I will always have a spot saved?
First of all don’t be this guy.  If you can’t make it to a class please try to cancel or reschedule 24 hours in advance, so that spot is not wasted on your no showing tookus.  If this becomes a problem we will address it individually.

I’m sure there will be many more question about the new procedures, feel free to ask those questions in class or email them to us.  We will be sending out emails, and posting more specific directions, as we get closer to the end of the month.

Hang with us through these new procedures, changes aren’t always easy, but we’re going to try and make the transition as seamless as possible.  We’re confident the new system will allow us to maintain the high level of quality, and personal service you all have come to expect from CrossFit Austin. Stay tuned tomorrow for some suggestion to make you daily CFA experience even better.

And now an intimidating photo of your leaders….

circa 1965

How it works:

1. Have a friend or family member sign up for On-Ramp in the next two months (November 30th, December 14th, and January 4th) or The Next Akins Boot Camp on January 4th.
2. Print off a voucher, or pick one up at the gym. Fill it out, and bring it to the gym.
3. Get a 10% refund on your December and/or January Dues, for each referral.