I know that everyone of us has found a way to eat out, Paleo, for under $7.  I’m always looking for a way to get better results in the gym, while saving money when dining out.  I would love to hear your ideas, here are a few to get us started…

-Sean Eden told me about Taziki’s; where you can get a side of grilled meat, a side of fresh fruit, and a water for $4.23!

-Jim Cavale mentioned that Urban Cookhouse features the “Down Home” for $6.99 that includes a Meat and two Paleo sides (the Broccoli salad is awesome).

Please post your ideas!

A friend of mine said to me recently ” you would have to be nuts to go to ITF! And you would have to be even more nuts to like it!” …. hmmmm. Well let’s examine the evidence.  1-It’s a facility where you have to go through a month long training class to get in good enough shape to be able to attempt the regular classes. 2- they are proud of you if you throw up during it, and have a creepy clown mascot to prove it, and 3- when you tell them you can’t walk to your car because you can’t feel your legs, they say “well good, that means you did it right.”(yes, Tra, I’m talking to you). And knowing all of this, we come back. Some would say it’s because they like the pain, others would say that it’s because they like the variety, and everyone would say that it works. (I would say that it’s because I’ve been abducted by aliens and replaced with a stronger girl with a better attitude who seems to be up for a challenge- but that’s beside the point). Anything that’s worth having is worth working for, so if that makes us all a little bit nuts, then so be it. Listen, I apparently used to think I could just wish myself fit and thin… Now that’s nuts.

Following is the testimony of Warren Beason.

I highly encourage to read every sentence.

When I asked Warren to write me a case study testimony, he agreed, but wanted me to know that his story is unremarkable.

Warren genuinely feels that way because, well, because this is one humble man.

To me, that shows just how strong, stable and grounded this man really is.

I believe you are going to enjoy what you are about to read.

I say that because I believe Warren’s testimony speaks to so many different kinds of people who would be interested in ITF.

And for all of you who are ITF athletes, what you are about to read is both inspiring as well as showing what can be realistically attained with hard work.

Finally, speaking to you personally Warren, thank you for such a detailed testimony and for the influence I know it will have on the lives of those who read it.

You-da-man!

_________________________________

Trust me, my story is fairly unremarkable.  And that might also just be the reason you should read it.

I am not a former college athlete.  I have known very little about nutrition for most of my life.  I do not work out three times per day.  I have never visited a masseuse or chiropractor.  I have never been a bodybuilder, triathlete or ultramarathoner.  I don’t even own a pair of those cool black leotards that Forrest likes to bust out for special events.  No, generally, the rut of suburban sloth has been my habitat.

In other words, the pursuit of “elite fitness” is a new venture for me.  However, thanks to Forrest allowing me to be one of his early garage-gym lab rats, I have been at this thing for a little over 18 months.  And that is likely the reason Aaron asked for this testimonial.  To answer this question…what really does happen when you slam an average guy into a CrossFit training regimen, in the context of a supportive tribe, combined with an intentional diet?  In other words, for those of you who have joined in the last 6 months, what can you expect out of this endeavor in the next several months?

Don’t worry, I fully realize your time in this article is only beneficial to the extent it encourages you toward what’s possible, and equips you to understand why you will succeed.  My story is not that remarkable primarily because we’re blessed to be in a unique environment at IronTribe Fitness.  Heck, I just might have won member of the year at the Y!  But not at ITF.  My positive results are the norm and expectation.  It’s the simple (and inevitable) byproduct of this system and environment.  Let me illustrate.

I first heard of CrossFit roughly two years ago.  I began what I affectionately refer to as “CrossFake” at the Y.  Those of you who have tried to follow the main site at a traditional gym know what I mean.  When Forrest’s garage opened up, I was on board (although, looking back, perhaps I was some necessary “diversity” in the overall fitness level of the group?!?!).  Frankly, the idea of a group workout was intimidating and uncomfortable.  However, I began to enjoy the competition because it provided interest, encouragement, excitement and a tangible revelation of what was truly possible in each workout.  There is no way to recreate that alone or solo with a trainer.  Long gone were my days of 5 sets of 5 and 20 minutes on the treadmill…drudgery!

Even still, my early commitment was sporadic and really only used as an attempt to counteract my terrible diet (by the way, if you’re wondering, this doesn’t work).  Over time, I slowly became more committed.  When ITF opened its Palace de CF in February, I was ready to go full on.  And, this summer, my diet even became a little stone age.

If you’re still reading, the big question remains…did it work?  If we can be honest (you can, we’re friends), we all love ITF, enjoy the people, revel in the community, etc, but we’re really here for results.  We are not investing our money, time, sweat, blood and effort for anything less than the “Why?” Forrest asked us to identify.  We want to increase our overall level of fitness so that we can improve our quality, length and enjoyment of life, as well as accomplish those goals unique to each of us.  ITF has become our weapon of choice.  Good choice or not?

Rather than give my opinion to answer that question, let’s geek-out with a few stats.

For brevity (good time to start that, huh?), I’ll look at my progress in three areas –weight, strength and speed.  I think those three things pretty much quantify “fitness” for most of us.   We want to look better, be stronger and move over longer distances in less time.

When I started, I weighed roughly 215 pounds (down from my all-time gluttonous high of 222), could deadlift 285 pounds and ran a 5k in 29:30.

Today, after roughly 18 months doing CrossFit with Iron Tribe Fitness (only 6 of that with much thought to diet), I weigh 173 pounds, can deadlift 385 pounds and run a 5k in under 24:00.

If you break that down, I’ve shed roughly 20% off of both my bodyweight and 5k time.  However, while becoming both lighter and faster, my strength increased more than 35%.  When you combine the weight loss and deadlift increase together, you see an increase in my ratio of load to bodyweight of 70%.  That just doesn’t happen in a spin class, doing the couch to 5k program or utilizing 500 different gleaming Nautilus machines.  No, I’m thoroughly convinced that type of progress in all three areas is only possible in our world of expertly derived, constantly varied, functional movements.

Don’t get me wrong, by no means have I arrived.  My current performance is not world-class, or even ITF-class.  In fact, it says very little about me at all.  What it does say is that this program, facility and team are pretty special.  If someone with fairly average physical capability can get great results by merely showing up and doing what they’re told, it means we’ve all discovered something highly valuable.  If you think about it, that’s amazingly refreshing in today’s world of flimsy PR and spin.  Consider again what I just said…you can merely follow along (yes, including a lot of hard work), relax and enjoy the results.  There are no shortcuts or quick fixes, but there is a guarantee of success.  What more can you ask for?

To sum this all up, our faith, family and the legacy we’re leaving in this world are far more important than our last Fran time.  Thankfully, and perhaps uniquely, we’re surrounded by a tribe that knows just that.  However, the fitness level we afford our bodies will in many ways either inhibit or inspire those other areas of our lives.  ITF provides a platform for attainable excellence.  And in excellence, I believe we honor our Creator, as well as those alongside us in this journey.  Worthy aspirations, indeed.

My encouragement: Continue to use ITF for the amazing tool that it is.  I promise, it works!

Fortunately, it wasn’t a kettlebell.

Last Wednesday, I had to come to ITF at 5 p.m. for the “Over 40s” photo shoot. So the 4:30 class was in the throws of their WOD. It is a larger class than ours, so you have to be surefooted as you weave between athletes doing their Med Ball cleans, running in and out the door, and grunting through hand stand pushups. Good thing they weren’t doing kettlebell swings because surely I would have taken one upside the head as I walked toward the back.

That was the first thing that struck me that day.

Seeing how different the atmosphere in that class was, even though they were doing the same WOD our class had done that morning. I’m a regular at 9:30 a.m. And when you go to the same class, you tend to get used to the “personality” of that time slot. If you ever go to another class there is a distinct difference in the energy. One isn’t any better than the other; they are just different. I suppose reflected in the varied personalities of the athletes who come. Watching many people I didn’t know, some who are at a higher level than most in my class, gave me a new perspective on the WODs and something to shoot for.

Then, I was hit by another realization.

In that same vein, I was also struck by how many “over 40″ athletes there were. Many of my own classmates have reached that milestone along with me. Jan, Joni, Teresa, Amy, Keri — we all are defying our age and what some think our generation can accomplish. So when Aaron asked us to participate in the photo shoot, I automatically thought I would know most of the faces… both female and male..

But again, because I come to the same class every day, I had not had the opportunity to meet the host of other athletes who had grown up watching Little House on the Prairie, Charlie’s Angels and the Brady Bunch. And there is a surprisingly large number of us.

I was inspired watching couples like Teresa and Jeff Gasser, who have not only taken on this challenge together, but encouraged their daughter, Shannon, to take up CrossFit as well. There’s Morgan and Dana Wood, Jan and Craig Niedenthal, and of course, Aaron and Melody Crocker who are the poster couple for ITF. After all, it’s one thing for me, as a single person, to push myself and change my lifestyle. But to do it as a couple takes another level of commitment; and I would think, a healthy competitive spirit. I often hear Jan talk about how she and Craig discuss the WODs and compare their performance. Now that’s got to make for some interesting dinner time conversation, rather than the typical, “so honey, how was your day?”

And there are a lot of over-40s who, like me, are doing it on their own. Who took the chance to walk in that door after often being told “you’re just going to have to accept getting older.” Teresa Kirkwood, who won the Most Dedicated Athlete award at the AWODs on Friday, and Amy Young, both leave their husbands to their own devices and WOD at 9:30 with us.

My point is that while I’ve come to think of ITF as my family, there are still more “relatives” I haven’t met; people who I know will inspire me, whether they are in my age group or just starting out. So I would encourage all of you to step out of your class time once in a while and get to know the rest of the Tribe. Come to the events on the weekends or simply walk in and watch another class taking on the same WOD you’re facing. And let the rest of the Tribe know someone new you’ve met in the process.

We had a great 5k run in the rain. Here are the results:

Sean 20:42

Lee 20:53

Joe Allen 21:10

Stephen 21:59

Jimbo 27:40

Bebo- 2k (first run in Vibrams)

Whoever is up for a 5k can meet me, Sean and Bebo Sunday afternoon at 3:30 pm.  We are meeting at the Brownell Travel parking lot (across from Servisfirst bank) off of Lakeshore (at the corner of Cahaba Road and Moutain Brook Parkway).  Feel free to call Sean or I for directions at 205-337-1100 or 205-821-2497.

I just wanted to take a minute to say how much I enjoyed the AWODS party last night. Once again, another top-notch production put on by the ITF staff. It was nice to meet some new faces I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting sooner, as well as meeting the spouses/significant others of those I already know. I’ve yet to meet a fellow Tribe member who hasn’t been awesome.

Forrest, you always say that it’s “because of us” that all this is possible. I must disagree. The bottom line is that – while all of us are here now – none of us would have all come together like we have, in THIS place, at THIS time were it not for your vision, your determination, and your willingness to start your career over from scratch.

So thank you for doing what you’ve done, and thanks to the ITF staff, as well as Mendy and the other wives for making last night what it was. I know it wasn’t easy.

Just had to throw that out there. Have a great weekend everybody!

I’m so happy to be a part of the Iron Tribe Fitness team and will always remember one of my first project assignments; the production of “Tribal.”

This film is a reflection of you. Your hard work. Your dedication. Your passion.

Spread the word. Share this blog post video with anyone who will listen.

The Tribe is growing and getting stronger everyday!

JC

Tribe,

No clever headlines today.  No catchy graphics or photos.  I’m doing real well to get this in.

It has been a huge week at Iron Tribe!  On top of a great week of WOD’s we have had our “Over 40″ photo shoot on Wednesday night.  It was a great success and we had over 35 of you come and support our efforts to publish our first book!

My staff has been busy all week with extra duties for the upcoming Awods.  And, might I add that we could have never pulled this off without Mendy, Yazmin and Molly’s assistance!  Aren’t wives the best?

We graduated two huge CrossFit 101 classes this week as well and added 32 eager and anxious athletes to the regular program.  Watch out Tribe we have some serious athletes coming through.

This morning Jim and I were up at 4:15 am (nothing to Shyla and Tra) to be on Good Morning AL on CBS 42.  I had the opportunity to talk about CrossFit and Iron Tribe and it was a blast.

Now we are doing a staff photo shoot at the gym (and I’m squeezing in my blog).  After this we have one more class for the day and we are going to start decorating the gym for the Awods!!!

As busy and exhausting as this week has been I know I speak for the entire team when I say we can wait to see each of you tonight to celebrate and party together!

See you in a few hours…

When it comes to programming and picking movements, as a coach, I get to hear it all. Even though the comments I get are  majority on the lines of “I really don’t like fill in the blank, could you not program that movement for a while?”

I don’t, however,  take this as negativity because EVERYONE has their strengths and their weaknesses. Around here, we call them your Goats!

So as I began to program “Nasty Girls” last night, it dawned on me that this is one of my favorite WODs. I mean, I am looking forward to it in a sick way. Its going to hurt, its going to be punishing but mentally I’m thinking “Bring it on!”

Have you ever asked yourself why some WODs give you the nervous butterflies while others you attack with full steam ahead? My experience in coaching has also taught me that this mental part of the game is all very personal. What drives one can intimidate the other.

Nasty Girls involves 3 movements that don’t really treat me that bad. Air Squats, Muscle Ups, and Hang Power Cleans at 135#.  There are people much stronger, faster and efficient in all of the 3 movements which gives me that rabbit to chase. Its almost a perfect workout. Notice I said almost….

So for my blog today I want to know what are your goats and what are your favorite WODs and/or movements and Why?

I’m going to take this one step further and ask you to put together your own “perfect wod”.

Lets hear it  tribe.

What makes you cringe? What makes you excited? What is it about the movements? What is it about crossfit?

And ultimately, put together your  ”Perfect WOD”.

Who knows…you may find it to be the Work Out of the Day!

Best
Luan