I started CrossFit to get fit.  I didn’t expect to stay for the community.  Before CrossFit, fitness was always a solitary endeavour.  Sure, I had training partners from time to time but mostly I went to the gym on my own.  When I started CrossFit I was only interested in personal training, I thought group classes were ridiculous but my coach talked me into it and before I knew it, I was in love.

Everything we do at Empower is an effort to recapture the magic of my old 11am CrossFit Vancouver group class crew, the folks I trained with day in, day out.  The workouts sucked but I never wanted to miss an opportunity to suffer through them with my friends. 

We enjoyed a healthy camaraderie, a mix of support and friendly competition, always pushing each other to be better and celebrating each other’s wins.  However awful the WOD was, we helped each other get through it.  The bonds we made are lasting and we remain friends to this day.  This group dynamic enriched my life so much more than a mere fitness program but look at our old 11am crew and 16 years later we are still fit as f@ck!

There were girls like Fancy Pants, Alisha and Crystal with whom I am still in Facebook contact but it was the 11am group of boys with whom I’m tightest because these are the guys I battled against day after day.

CJ Castro
15 years my junior, CJ was the youngest of our squad.  A former football player, CJ was built for lifting and we loved going head to head on barbell workouts.  He pushed me to my first ever sub 6 minute Grace.  The coach said my clean & jerks were the ugliest he’d ever seen but I didn’t care, I was thrilled to score a personal best!  Also a CrossFit Level 1 coach, CJ works as an RMT now.  I am god father to one of his kids.

Old Man Chan
A professional stuntman and martial arts instructor, OMC is one of Vancouver’s original CrossFitters dating back to the days of Smokey.  As the veteran in our crew he always had the tips, strategies and tactics for tackling the WOD.  OMC was the consummate CrossFitter well rounded with few weaknesses.  He was one of the original members of the self defense organization Leon & I founded years ago.  He would often stick around after class to train me in stunt work and got me a motion capture gig as a video game boss level bad guy.  Yes, somewhere out there is a game where you have to beat me to get to the next level of play.

Vince
V is for victory.  I’m tempted to call him Super V.  Or maybe Compound V.  But I think just V says it all.  Hiking the Salmon Festival trail one year, HeeHee and I saw someone flash past us carrying a child on his shoulders.  That’s Vince, I exclaimed.  How can you tell?  HeeHee asked.  Because he passes me several times every running workout, I’d know the back of his head anywhere!  With a background in Ultimate Frisbee, V is fast.  And he crushes any bodyweight workout.  But he is also pound for pound one of the strongest people I know.  I’ve seen him complete all 30 clean & jerks in Grace Rx’d at 135lbs which is like me completing Grace at 200lbs!  One summer I tracked the leaderboard at CrossFit Vancouver and out of over 500 athletes, V had more first place finishes than anyone, averaging 3 per week!  For comparison’s sake, in all my years at CFV I topped the leaderboard only once.  V’s wife Kimmy is also an incredible athlete though not part of our 11am crew.  Both she and V played on our 2012 dodgeball team with HeeHee and I for one season, no surprise they were our star players (team roster: V, Kimmy, Mellow, Pirate Sox, Wolfman, HeeHee, WOD Father, Shadow).

V and Kimmy moved into the neighbourhood this past weekend so it has been my pleasure to welcome V to Empower group classes where he has already been crushing my score on every WOD just like the good old days.  As an added bonus, he is the only person at Empower who remembers a time when I didn’t know how to do a correct foot pinch for the rope climb.  Ask him to tell you about my early group class days and he will be able to recall a time when I could barely squat snatch, struggled with ring muscle ups, had no bar muscle up, no handstand walk and so much more.  He’s probably too diplomatic to phrase it as such, but based on my athletic beginnings I was not an obvious choice for a CrossFit coach, much less a competitor.  I’m living proof that consistency, effort and dedication work even if you aren’t blessed with natural athletic talent.       

Despite my initial reservations, CrossFit group classes proved life changing.  Empower represents my effort to share that experience with you.  It is extra special to me that V, one of my favourite classmates, is here at Empower because I know his participation will enrich your CrossFit experience as much as it did mine! 

Friday Make Up Day

1) Battle’n Brawl
5 Rounds Rotating between stations
30 sec on/30 sec off
1. Battle Rope
2. Air Bike (cal)
3. Slam Ball
4. Jumping Pull Ups
5. Ski Erg (cal)
6. Jammer Arm Presses

Score = total reps/cal

2) Snatch 3-2-2-1-1-1 reps

3) Operation Red Wings
1200m Run

16 rounds:
8 T2B
8 Burpee Box Jump Overs@20/24"

Then:
47 KB Goblet Squats @1.5/2 pood