Work hard to play harder; that’s the motto around these parts. There’s nothing like a new year, new goals and a little motivation to get the train headed straight to Awesomeville. So, for the 5th straight year, CrossFit Austin proudly presents The Circle of Awesomeness Challenge.
Look good. Feel good. Play good. Let’s Go.
What is it?
The COA challenge is a trifecta of awesomeness: Part fitness, part nutritional and body composition, and part accountability. Our goals for each 2014 Circle of Awesomeness Challenger are:
Mental and emotional preparation for the longevity of a healthy lifestyle
Creation of lasting habits for individualized nutritional and body composition success
Fitness Challenges:
Athletes will be tested and retested in 3 different fitness categories. Each category is comprised of 2-3 tests, for a total of 8 tests.
The categories are:
Work Capacity
Strength
Athleticism
**These fitness tests will be the Workout of the Day, as an “All Levels” Group Class during the first and last week of the challenge. Thus, testing will occur during your scheduled WOD. Just like the CrossFit Open, athletes will partner up and judge each other during WOD’s . Athletes and judges will sign off on their score sheets before turning them into the coach. There will be 3 divisions of the COA Challenge: D1 (Rx), D2 (scaled level 1), D3 (scaled level 2) – all levels of CFA athletes are encouraged to participate in the Circle of Awesomeness Challenge.
Nutritional and Body Composition Challenges:
Challengers will be tested and retested on body composition and weight, for their own information. Throughout the Challenge, Challengers will receive points for completing weekly nutritional and lifestyle challenges and assignments. Challengers will also receive points for attending weekly accountability and educational seminars.
Important Dates
January 18th @11:00 am – Kick-Off Seminar Saturdays {Jan. 25, Feb. 01, 08, 15, 22 @ 11:00 am} -Accountability and Educational Seminars January 20th – January 25th Initial Fitness Tests Monday 1/20 – Tests 1, 2 Tuesday 1/21 – Tests 3, 4 Wednesday 1/22 – Make up day Thursday 1/23 – Tests 5, 6 Friday 1/24 – Make up day Saturday 1/25 – Tests 7, 8 February 24th – March 1st Final Fitness Tests Monday 2/24 – Tests 1, 2 Tuesday 2/25 – Tests 3, 4 Wednesday 2/26 – Make up day Thursday 2/27 – Tests 5, 6 Friday 2/28 – Make up day Saturday 3/1 – Test 7 & 8 Saturday, March 8th – BBQ Potluck & Awards Ceremony
What’s in it for you?
There will be 3 divisions of the COA Challenge D1 (Rx), D2 (scaled L1) and D2 (scaled L2). Each Division will produce one Male and one Female winner. This challenge will be unique to each participant as our primary focus will be on goal setting and assisting each challenger in achieving their goals.
What you can win:
1st Place Male & Female per division (6 total): $100 cash prize + 1 month of FREE group class membership
Most Improved Male and Female Fitness Performances (2 total): Reebok Nano or Oly shoes of choice
Top Male and Female Fitness Performances per division (6 total): Complimentary entry into this year’s CrossFit Open + Free CFA T-Shirt
100% Accountable: CrossFit Austin T-Shirt
What you get:
A Kick-off “Success Seminar” with the CrossFit Austin coaching staff: Saturday January 18th @ 11:00 am.
2 Body Composition Assessments: Assessment includes Measurements, Body Fat Percentage, and BMI, conducted by your CrossFit Austin Coach/Team Lead. Initial assessment occurs during the 1st week of the challenge, the final assessment is during the last week of the challenge.
An official CrossFit Austin Nutritional Guide: Complete with foods to avoid, shopping guides, healthy recipes, supportive educational materials and feedback.
Before and After Photos: Not required, but highly recommended!
Comprehensive Fitness Tests: Tests will cover Work Capacity, Strength, and Athleticism in the competition division you select (Rx, D1, D2).
Weekly Accountability & Educational Seminars: Each week will include a new focus and topic. These seminars are designed to give you the tools for lasting success and help you stay accountable throughout the process. Classes will meet every Saturday from January 18th – February 22nd at 11:00am.
**Bonus** Spouses or significant others will be allowed to attend these seminars for free.
Challenger Facebook Page: A private Facebook Page, monitored by the CrossFit Austin Staff, will be updated tri-weekly with a relevant, educational article. The page will be a phenomenal forum for questions, to share success, struggles, articles, recipes and ideas! This has been a huge success factor in many folks’ experience in past years!
Weekly Video Skill Progressions: On topics such as Movement Quality, Mobility, Stretching and Recovery Methods
Support: Challengers will be assigned to a CrossFit Austin Coach as their Team Lead. Over the course of the 6 week challenge, each athlete will receive support, accountability feedback, goal specific feedback and motivation – not to mention have LOADS of fun!
Pricing
Open Registration: 12/30 – 01/10 = $100 *Enter code “openregistration” for discount Last-Minute Pricing:01/11 – 01/17 = $125 *No code for last-minute pricing *Space is limited to 60 Challengers only!*
Below are the fitness challenge details for the Circle of Awesomeness 2014. Please review each item and description along with the division specs. There are three fitness challenge divisions: Rx, D1, D2. The division you select will be the division you participate in throughout the entire challenge. We look forward to obtaining your division information on Saturday, January 18th during the Kick-Off Seminar!
Monday – {Pre-Test: 01.20 || Post-Test: 02.24}
A. 1 RM Power Clean in 15:00
B. 3:00 Max Meter Row
Description:
Power Clean
Athlete’s will start with an empty barbell and build to a 1 rep max in the power clean. All lifts must be started and completed within the 15:00 time span. Athletes will be grouped together in groups of 2-3 and must work together
Row
Each athletes will have 3 minutes to row for max meters. Male dampers will be set at 6, Female dampers will be set at 4.
Division Options Rx: As listed D1: As listed D2: As listed
Tuesday- {Pre-Test: 01.21 || Post-Test: 02.25} CrossFit Total Find a 1 rep max in the Press, Back Squat, and Deadlift
Description:
Athletes will be expected to warm up before class time. As soon as class starts we will begin with the press. The athlete’s will have 20 minutes to find a 1 rep max in each exercise, in the following order:
1. Press
2. Back Squat
3. Deadlift
Coaches must view the max attempts and approve that full range of motion is met. All athletes will be place in groups of 2-3 athletes per station.
Division Options Rx: As listed D1: As listed D2: As listed
Thursday- {Pre-Test: 01.23 || Post-Test: 02.27}
1:00 Max Double Unders
5:00 AMRAP
5 Thrusters
5 No Push Up Bar Jump Over Burpees
*Total reps recorded
Description:
1:00 Max Double Unders
Each athlete will have 1:00 to complete as many double unders as possible. Athletes will be placed in two heats and will judge/count each others performance.
Each athlete will have 5:00 minutes to complete as many repetitions as possible. The athlete will perform all 5 Thrusters, followed by all 5 no push up over the bar burpees. Athletes will be placed in two heats and will judge/count each others performance.
Division Options Rx: M – 135 lb, W – 95 lbs D1: M – 95 lb, W – 65 lbs D2: M – 75 lb, W – 45 lbs
Saturday- {Pre-Test: 01.25 || Post-Test: 03.01}
“Cindy”
20:00 AMRAP
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
20 Air Squats
Each athlete will have 20:00 minutes to complete as many repetitions as possible. The athletes will perform all 5 pull-ups, followed by all 10 push-up, then followed by 20 air squats. Athletes will be placed in two heats and will judge/count each others performance.
Division Options: Rx: As listed D1: Men – Red Band Pull-ups, Women – Red Band Pull-ups and Knee Push-ups D2: Men – Jumping Pull-ups, Women – Jumping Pull-ups and Knee Push-ups
Thursday (11/28) – CLOSED – Join your fellow CFA-ers at the Turkey Trot! Friday (11/29) – 10AM – 11AM All Levels class Saturday (11/30) – Normal 9AM & 10AM Class Schedule
October brought in a great group of new members to the CrossFit Austin community! If you haven’t had the chance to get sweaty with them yet, we would like to introduce:
Dustin Bowden
Kai Bumpus
Julianne Carlson
Matthe Cecilio
Robert Creamer
Austen Dyer
Jenna Gelgand
Todd Gilfillan
Brian Hackworth
Alexander Harris
Daniel Hazekamp
Nicole Kirkendall
Rebecca Klopp
Thuy Vy Mai
Amy Maples
Halie Marksberry
Logan Nickell
Steven Perez
Paul Rodriguez
Raul Saldivar
Leslie White
Tom Williams
Cindy Dremers
Ivy Horton
Kerri McLaughlin
Evan Pratch
Erica Sherman
Nicole Tait
Eric White
Malia White
New members: The CFA community is full of awesome people and fun events! Keep an eye on the events calendar and the monthly CFA Newsletter, and be sure to join us for the Little Woodrow’s Happy Hour on November 21st at 7PM!
Current members: Be sure to introduce yourself to any new faces, learn names, make friends, and remember, we don’t workout with strangers!
August brought in a great group of new members and just in case you haven’t had the chance to get sweaty with them yet, we would like to introduce:
Larry Albers
Mayela Barreda
Matthew “Beadles” Beadles
Paige Bowman
Daniel Brake
Jessica Brubaker
Jim Brummer
Julia Cuaderes
Scott Griffin
Sydney Horton
Jackie Juarez
Jonathan Krebs
Vance Loftis
Yvonne Mills
Bianca Mireles
Jared Nelson
Rahul Neulkar
Kenyon Odell
Erin Parsons
Meridith Rozell
Dawn Sarnecky
Casey Sheafe
Chad Shepler
Madison Smith
Michael Trujillo
Ashu Verma
Shelby Wallace
Kristy Wisdom
New members:The CFA community is full of awesome people and fun events! We encourage you to keep an eye out for upcoming events and join us tonight for one of our legendary Pub Runs!Come dressed as your favorite Superhero or Villain and don’t worry, you don’t have to run, walking is fine!
Current members:Be sure to introduce yourself to any new faces, learn names, make friends, and remember, we don’t workout with strangers!
CFA, here are some things to keep in mind in the coming weeks:
CFA will be closed for Labor Day (9/2)
On September 7th-8th Olympian Chad Vaughn and David Durante’s will be hosting an Olympic Weightlifting & Gymnastics Skills Clinic! This clinic is based around providing athletes with elite technical training and progressions revolving around both gymnastics and weight training. Learn more and Register Here!
The 2013 Athlete Open is right around the corner (9/28) and we need volunteers! Volunteers will only work half day and receive a free t-shirt, meal, and a front row seat to all the action! Click here!
Today’s article is just a quick update on few things happening, starting this weekend. Let’s get to it!
Workday Saturday (8/24) morning we will be doing some work primarily in the small gym. If anyone would like to assist, we’d love the help and you’ll get some free food a drinks out of it!
8 AM – 11 AM
Moving racks and desk out of the gym
Constructing plywood HSPU Walls
Aligning platforms
Reorganizing GHDs, Airdyne’s, Dumbbells, and KBs
11 AM – Noon
Paint all new HSPU walls
Noon
Free BBQ and Drinks
Test Week Alas the final week of this 8 week cycle is upon us! Which can only mean one thing…….TEST WEEK! Here is the schedule of tests so you can plan your workouts accordingly.
Mo 8/26 – Nancy
Tu 8/27 – Makeup / active recovery
We 8/28 – 800 M Time Trials
Th 8/29 – Front Squat
Fr 8/30 – Makeup / active recovery
Sa 8/31 – Open WOD 13.4
We will be posting links to the last time you did the tests on the daily posts so get ready to ring the gong next week!
Hey CFA! Our Podcast “Beyond The Bar” is now live in the iTunes store! It is free to listen, download, and subscribe. Just search in the podcast section of the iTunes store for “Beyond The Bar” or subscribe under the advanced menu options to http://feeds.feedburner.com/CFABeyondTheBar Happy Listening!
Don’t miss the upcoming 2 day Clinic hosted by Team Power Monkey with Coaches David Durante & Chad Vaughn!
September 7 & 8, 2013 at CrossFit Austin (8708 S Congress, A-180 Austin, TX 78745)
presented by: Power Monkey Fitness Equipment (www.powermonkeyfitness.com)
This clinic is based around providing athletes with elite technical training and progressions revolving around both gymnastics and weight training. Both Durante and Vaughn have many years of experience under their belts on both the competitive and coaching sides of their sports. Emphasis will also be put on the overlap between both sports to show athletes how one can help the other develop properly. By the end of the clinic, athletes will have an extensive new repertoire of exercises and drills that they can take home to their own gyms to help train properly.
FULL PRICE: $525
EARLY BIRD: $475 (FIRST 5 PEOPLE) Use code “earlybirdcfa” at checkout
MEMBER PRICE: $450 Use code “cfamember” at checkout **ONLY 20 SPOTS AVAILABLE**
David Durante is a multiple time USA gymnastics national champion and was part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Team as alternate. After retiring from competition, David helped coach his alma mater, Stanford University, to an NCAA Team Title in 2009 and has continued to be a part of the sport through his position on the Athlete Advisory Committee with the United States Olympic Committee. He is also the lead global gymnastics expert for adidas gymnastics.
He started crossfit after retiring from competition after the 2008 Olympic Games. He continued to get more involved in crossfit over the past couple years and is now a gymnastics coach at CrossFit LIC in NYC.

Chad Vaughn
Chad Vaughn is a renowned Olympic Weightlifter. He is a 2 time Olympian, 8-time National Champion, 2003 Pan American Games Gold Medalist, and the American Record Holder in the Clean and Jerk.
Chad Vaughn
With more than 15 years of developing and applying elite training programs, Chad has shared this knowledge with athletes of all levels throughout the world over the past three and a half years; mostly within the CrossFit community, through weekly weightlifting classes, seminars, and online coaching. Coach Chad also has had the privilege of assisting the Again Faster Competition team as a guest coach and has also written for the CrossFit Journal and continues to have more content in the works.