The garage gym revolution was CrossFit’s original intent.  Glassman never had a goal of expanding to 15,000+ affiliate gyms worldwide.  It’s made him a millionaire so he’s not complaining but the goal was always to empower people to pursue fitness and produce excellent results in their own homes free of charge.  It’s not great business but it is a great intention.  And COVID has granted us a temporary return to that ideal.  I’m thrilled to see people getting creative and taking charge of their own fitness during isolation.

Maybe as a gym owner I should feel threatened but like Glassman, my goal was never world domination or riches but as our name suggests, to Empower people with their fitness the way CrossFit empowered me.  Besides, we’re social creatures and some, like me, will discover that it is more fun and there are better results to be had by training with other people.  Would I ever have reached my peak fitness levels without Sandman perennially nipping at my heels?  Probably not.  And even f I did, it wouldn’t be half as much fun.  So the gym will always provide a home base for some of us.

But I hope that one of the big takeaways from the past couple months is that fitness is not a discipline confined or defined by the gym.  The toys are fun and convenient but CrossFit is about so much more than that.  I know many people felt locked out of the gym but I prefer to look at it like we were freed from the limiting perceptions of fitness that have constrained us and our training.  I’ve never stopped being a CrossFitter even though my training tools were all backpacks and branches. 

Tuesday we headed to the beach for SLIPS and deadlifts.  We didn’t have to train at the beach, we chose to.  Why not?  The weather was gorgeous.  And we were excited to discover the beach parking lots have finally reopened so we went back to Acadia Beach after a long hiatus.  SLIPS = 20 minutes of weakness work for me so the pleasant scenery and fresh breeze made it feel a lot less like training drudgery – well, it’s still drudgery, but drudgery with a better view.   Deadlifting logs is fun and primal.  We found good logs that were well suited to sets of 10 reps.  We got some sun and fresh air and got a decent workout too.  In a very real sense COVID has liberated me from the confines of my gym routine and reminded me that I have a choice.  Many times the gym is the best choice, but not every time!

Equipment:
Deadlift object roughly 50% of your 1 rep max

Warm Up: 20 mins SLIPS
4 Rounds:
1 min Stretching: Hamstring Rock left, Hamstring rock right, Elevated Rock, OS Full Body Rock
1 min L-Sit: Hold, alt single leg raise, double leg raise, hold
1 min Inversions: Handstand Hold, Crow Pose
1 min Planks: Shoulder Tap, Left side, right side, side shuffle
1 min Scales

Tech
Deadlift

WOD
Deadlift
10-10-10-10-10
at 50+% 1 rep max

Cool Down
1 min Hamstring Rock left
1 min Hamstring rock right
1 min Hands & Knees rock
1 min Downward dog Rock
1 min pigeon pose right
1 min pigeon pose left