All Levels
Test 9: “Fight Gone Bad”
*In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating.

3 Rounds of:
Wall-Balls (M: 20 lbs, W:14lbs)
Sumo Deadlift High-Pull (M: 75lbs, W: 55lbs)
Box Jumps (20″ box)
Push-press (M: 75 lbs, W: 55lbs)
Row ( Max calories)

*The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athletes must move to the next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Announcements:

• Don’t forget! Sign-up for the CrossFit Games Open has started! Click here to sign up and represent CFA!
• Hip, hip, hooray! We’ve added new class times! You can now get your sweat on with us at 5:30 am (All levels) and 5:30 pm (*Level 2, Open gym) on Fridays. 

Any training program worth a lick is tough. Creating new habits or eliminating a bad habit is tough. And, although life is is full of ups and downs, good times and bad times, the consensus for most people is that life is pretty tough. So if everything is so difficult, how can we ever be successful?  I’m going let everyone in on a little secret: you have a choice.  That’s right – everyday, every action, every moment, good or bad, you have a choice. You can choose to work with yourself or you can work against yourself.  I can be a part of “Team Wes” or I can be “Team Wes’ Arch Nemesis.”

A good attitude is like your best friend and teammate. It can help you no matter what, pick you up when you get knocked down, support your efforts regardless of the results, celebrate your accomplishments, and is there to have a beer and laugh with you when you fail. Meanwhile bad attitudes are quite deceptive – and cunning!  They are only there to point out your faults, they laugh at you when you fall down, they think effort is only worthwhile if results are guaranteed, they convince you that you’re accomplishments aren’t good enough,  and  spit in your face and call you a bad name when you fail.

Now, everyone probably has experienced both of these scenarios via inner dialogue at some point or another.  So, how do we ensure that we’re working with ourselves, and not against? Here are some things that help me stay on “Team Wes” and avoid being “Wes’ Butthole Bully Arch-rival.”

Awareness
Like we’ve said time and time again: realizing and acknowledging when we are going down the bad attitude path is key. Just writing the above paragraph is cathartic for me in the sense that it makes some of the effects of both good and bad attitudes tangible. Creating a frame work for what an attitude does and how it affects you helps you to embrace the good and combat the bad.

Focusing on what you can control and what matters
Like I talked about in the challenge seminar, so much of what manifests as a bad attitude lies in the uncontrollable past: a place that no matter how hard you try, cannot be changed.  Effort  and energy are also often wasted on things that ultimately don’t matter. I won’t delve into these people, actions, and things, but leave it to the reader to reflect and contemplate the things in life that cause them angst and stress but ultimately do not matter. Lets collectively focus on the actions wthinin our control, and the people/things that matter: ourselves, our family, and our friends.

Practice
To steal a concept from a great article Walker has written for Monday, you must practice having a good attitude when normally you wouldn’t.  Be happy about having to work late or deal with a difficult person at work. Celebrate a workout that is composed of all the things you suck at. Rejoice in social situations where you can’t partake in delicious treats and imbibements! Practice your good attitude daily.

In closing, I would like to give a quick testimonial to our Tuesday 5:30 and 6:30 am classes.  As most of you know, I now live in San Antonio with my lovely future wife and commute to the gym. Teaching on Tuesdays requires me to wake up around 4:00 AM and get on the road by about 4:10 or 4:15 am (hence my stylish hair). Starbucks does not open until 6 AM so I trade in my delicious Americano for Chevron gas station coffee.  Despite all of this, I consider Tuesday morning a treat in my week, mainly because everyone always seem to have a smile on their face and a joke in their pocket that early in the morning.  This is what makes coaching at CrossFit Austin so enjoyable – working with people that brighten your day.  I won’t pretend that we don’t deal with folks on the other end of the attitude spectrum, but our hope is that the attitudes of the coaches and athletes will rub off on those around us that struggle with the negative demons.  So look inside yourself and commit to being your best teammate and get rid of that bad-attitude nemesis in your brain holding you back.

Picture via behaviorgap.com found @ The Happiness Project

All Levels
3 Rounds
400m Run
10 KB Overhead Walking Lunges
8 Pull-ups

No one wants advice – only corroboration. -John Steinbeck

Go outside! (Why contact with nature is crucial for health)
*Post thoughts to comments

Announcements:

• Don’t forget! Sign-up for the CrossFit Games Open has started! Click here to sign up and represent CFA!
• Hip, hip, hooray! We’ve added new class times! You can now get your sweat on with us at 5:30 am (All levels) and 5:30 pm (*Level 2, Open gym) on Fridays. 

Friday 5:30 AM - All-Levels Group Class
Friday 5:30 PM - Level 2 Open Gym*

Level Two
Test 6: 1 RM Clean-to-Thruster in 15:00
Test 7: 5 RM Front Squat (3 attempts)
Test  8:
“Annie ”
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Sit-ups
S1: Rx
S2: 3 singles
*Clean to Thruster weight, Front Squat weight, and “Annie” time and scale recorded

Level One (Day 9)
Skill
Snatches

WOD
A1. Hip Snatch (Power or Full) x2x3
B1. Deadlift x3x3 Rest 1:00
B2. RPU/Dips x2-4×3 Rest 1:00
C1. Step-ups x5x3 Rest :45
C2. Kip Pull-ups x4-6 x3 Rest :45

Quality means doing it right when no one is looking. - Henry Ford

Eating your veggies
*Post thoughts to comments 

Announcements:

• Don’t forget! Sign-up for the CrossFit Games Open has started! Click here to sign up and represent CFA!
• The Circle of Awesomeness Challenge is off to a great start! Good luck to all of our participants!

Welcome, new members! We’re so happy to have you here!

*If you are a new member and haven’t had your picture taken, please talk to Caitlyn! 

Occupation?
Senior Business Systems Analyst at AMD

Words to live by?
“The service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” Muhammad Ali

What is your fitness background? 
I was certified to teach aerobics in high school (yay step!).  I’ve always loved lifting, but I was really a 30 minute elliptical, light lifter, 3 times a week for many years.

How long have you been CrossFitting?
I started On Ramp in March of 2010.

What’s your favorite part of CrossFit?
My favorite part is the support from all the other athletes and coaches.  No one is ever derogatory.  Not ever.  The last person in (usually me) is cheered on like a first place finisher.  It’s amazing every single time.  I was afraid when I started that there would be days I would have to sit out because of my leg injury.  There has not been one single WOD that the coaches have not been able to mod for me in nearly a year of classes.  It really makes me feel like part of the team, and not like I’m a burden or in the way.

What are your training goals? 
I want to compete in my first powerlifting meet in the spring (Thank You, Coach Blake!).  That is so exciting!  I just want to keep getting better at everything – higher jumps, faster times, smaller bands on my pullups, bigger CFT numbers.  I’m perfectly fine with taking baby steps to get there.

Favorite sport or activity?  
My favorite activity is playing with my son, Rooster (whose favorite activity is coming to CFA to monkey around).  The 630AM Strength Days at CFA are a very close second!

Recent adventure you’re planning?  
James and I are going to see Liz and Cody lift in Fort Worth at their meet in February.  We are bringing a little CFA to Cow Town!

Tell us something we don’t know about you? 
I have 2 3-legged cats, Cleo and Stinker.  I got them that way from the shelter.  I guess I don’t believe in throwing something away because it’s not perfect.  Nothing wrong with the scratch-and-dent models.  I’m sort of one myself.

Longhorns or Aggies?  
Gotta be Longhorns.  I graduated from UT Austin in 1998.

Best quote that you’ve said within the walls of CFA that was never recorded on the quote board!?
Oh dear.  I said something the other day about not wanting to have Big Bertha between my legs…9am immediately pointed out how lucky I was that the quote board wasn’t up yet.  I know I was 3 shades of purple.

Leave the fine folks of CrossFit Austin with some parting words? 
I’m incredibly honored to be thought of as an athlete by a group of athletes I respect and adore.  WODs at 630am are not always pleasant, but every freezing cold morning I run to the car I know I will be seeing my friends.  And I’m excited every single day.  Crossfit has made me a better person in a million ways that have nothing to do with bands and bars and kettlebells.  I’m so grateful to have such a huge motley crew of new friends to rely on, and to cheer on every day.  You all make Fran tolerable.  There is no greater complement than that.

Level Two
Skill
A1. American KB Swings x12-15×3 Rest :30
A2. Kip Pull-ups x5-10×3 Rest :60
*Post notes to comments

WOD
20-16-8
DB Single Arm Snatches Total (35 lb, 20 lb)
Push ups
400m Run
*Total time Recorded

Level One (Day 8 )
Skill
Kipping Pull-Ups
Burpees
Thrusters

WOD
5 Minute AMRAP
5 Jumping Pull-ups
5 DB Thrusters
5 Burpees
*Total completed rounds recorded

Go with the best you’ve got. -Al Lopez

5 Stages of Food Grief
*Post thoughts to comments

Announcements:

• Don’t forget! Sign-up for the CrossFit Games Open  starts TODAY (Wednesday, 02/01): Click here to sign up and represent CFA!
• The Circle of Awesomeness Challenge is off to a great start! Good luck to all of our participants!

With registration opening Wednesday, February 1st, and the release of the first WOD on February 22nd, CrossFitters from all over the world will be able to showcase their abilities in hopes of being crowned the “Fittest in the World.”

Level Two
Test 4: 1-Rep Max Power Snatch in 20 Minutes
Test 5: L-Sit Hold (2 attempts within the 60 Minutes of class time)
Test 6: 2-Mile Time Trial (2o Minute Cap)

Level One (Day 8 )
Skill
Kipping Pull-Ups
Burpees
Thrusters

WOD
5 Minute AMRAP
5 Jumping Pull-ups
5 DB Thrusters
5 Burpees
*Total completed rounds recorded

With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. – Thomas Foxwell Buxton 

Improve Your Body Image, Improve Your Body
*Post thoughts to comments

Announcements:

• Don’t forget! The sign-up for the CrossFit Games Open starts THIS Wednesday (02/01): Click here to sign up and represent CFA!
• The Circle of Awesomeness Challenge is off to a great start! Good luck to all of our participants!