Sunday Story... The Open, Week Two Week one had us box jumping or box stepping and doing a whole bunch of wall balls. It was 12 minutes, and it pointed out to many of us where some of our training has not been what it should have been. Now here we are in week two, and we've got a very nice triplet of overhead lunges, dumbbell snatches, and a mix of high-level gymnastic skills done under fatigue. If you've been with us following the Invictus programming, you'll notice that we do a lot of fairly high-level gymnastic skills under fatigue. By fatigue, we mean we've done a bunch of stuff, and then we have to step up to the bar or the rings and perform a skill that is difficult to do but even more difficult to do under fatigue, when breath is coming hard and fast, and heart is leaping through my throat. This is one of the beauties of CrossFit: we ask our bodies to do a lot, and then ask it to do something difficult under the best conditions. You might ask yourself, "Why is that important?" The answer is simple. Sometimes we must do hard things that require thinking and frontal lobe work, even when our bodies and brains rebel against doing so. We don't want to do those things when our hearts are in our throats, our vision is narrowing, and our fine motor skills are under attack. It's at that moment that there's a separation between those of us who train for this sort of thing and those who don't. If we don't train for it, it's going to be really hard to hop up on those rings or hop up on those bars and get that job done. Every week is a real eye-opener for all of us. But that is one of the reasons to do the Open! If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly to get started on your journey to extraordinary results. John Mariotti www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com www.crossfitodyssey.com 775-338-2412

March’s Extraordinary Athlete is none other than the tiny, spit-fire, she-devil herself, Allie Robinson. Allie has been with us at CrossFit Odyssey for 1 year and 8 months, brought here by her dear friend and neighbor, Lynnette Hartman. At 5 feet tall, a feisty lawyer, a mother of three boys under 7 years old, and the daughter of a professional baseball coach, Allie has some experience with fighting to reign supreme.

February’s Extraordinary Athletes for Valentines Day are Chase and Ashley Russell! Chase has been at CrossFit Odyssey for 10 years and has one of the highest attendance rates in the gym at 1070 total attendances! His beautiful wife, Ashley, has been doing privates with Ellie and John for 8 and a half years! They are both setting the healthy example for their two lovely daughters, Samantha and Ridley, both middle schoolers at ESD. Both of them have a strong fitness background as Chase played college baseball for Duke, and Ashley is an avid tennis player, so they both recognize how important fitness is to their health and longevity.

We couldn’t think of a better person to celebrate as we begin a New Year, than the woman who has the highest overall attendance at the gym at almost 1700 visits. It’s hard to put everything we love about Mandy in one blog because there is just so much. Mandy has been with CrossFit Odyssey just over six and a half years, although she has been doing CrossFit for about 10 years. Mandy is regularly in the gym, as marked by her attendance. She pays attention to coaching and consistently tries to improve her form and abilities slowly and carefully, while also being conscious of adding in long, slow distance and mobility work.

December’s extraordinary Athlete is Darin Gregory. At 61 years old, Darin has been with CrossFit Odyssey officially for almost three years. He was at Katy Trail CrossFit for several years before joining us here, and he qualified for the CrossFit Quarterfinals a couple of times while there. However, since he has been with us, he has seen incredible improvements in his fitness. His Back squat went up 60lbs, Deadlift up 30 lbs, Bench up 60 lbs, Snatch up 20lbs, Front Squat up 75lbs, Strict Press up 20lbs, and his clean up 20 lbs. He has also conquered bar muscle-ups and ring muscle-ups and significantly improved his handstand pushups and cardio.

November’s Athlete of the Month is Charlie Wensinger. Many of you know him because he comes to class several different times of the day, depending upon his schedule. Many of you also know his beautiful, sweet wife, Madelyn, who just gave birth to their adorable baby girl, Charlotte, aka Charlie.

Sunday Story...The Open (again) It's that time of year when the CrossFit season officially opens, and the CrossFit Open begins. It's three weeks (it used to be five). One workout per week. It'll be announced on Thursday afternoon. You must have it done and post it by Monday afternoon. It's a chance to compare yourself with others like you. It's a chance to really lay it on the line and do your best in a workout you have probably never seen before. It's a chance to really up your intensity in a way that you don't normally do day-to-day. Let's be honest, you show up at the gym 3, 4, or 5 days a week, and you're not always at 100%. During the Open, it doesn't matter whether you're at 100%; you are going to do your level best to put 100% of your effort into the workout. Whether it's 5 min, 12 min, 20 min, 100%. I remember my first Open workout, 2012: 7 min of burpees, touch a target, 6 min above 6 in above your head. It was late February in Northern Nevada, cold. I had nowhere to do it but outside on the sidewalk, outside of my martial arts studio. Drop on the floor, hit the cold cement, jump up, and touch a target 6 inches above my head. I had to do it outside; I had no choice. It was the only place I had with a target above my head that I could touch. I finished with 87 reps and 88th place. That started my competitive CrossFit career: 87 burpees in 7 minutes. Since then, I've done that workout several more times and have gotten much, much better. If you ever want to give it a shot, it's tough. Whether this is your launching pad for your competitive career or just a fun 3 weeks of workouts, the Open will challenge you in ways you didn’t know were possible. If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly to get started on your journey to extraordinary results. John Mariotti www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com www.crossfitodyssey.com 775-338-2412The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Sunday Story...More Monks! Last week I went to walk with the monks, as I mentioned in last week's story. Unfortunately, we didn't get a 6-mile walk. We only had a 1-mile walk due to the weather, which was actually very nice except for the end, when it started raining cats and dogs. The other thing was that there were a whole lot more people there than I think anybody expected. There must have been at least a couple of thousand people, and it was a crowd of calm, peaceful, happy, harmonious people who were there to celebrate a truly amazing accomplishment. Those monks walked 2,300 miles from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C. Some of them did it barefoot. They did it in the rain, in the cold, in the heat. It didn't matter; they were just walking for peace. In these trying times, and there's a lot going on in the world these days, I'm pretty sure that most of us can get behind peace. Pretty sure there are some universal truths that we can all get behind. We'd all be happier if things happened in a more peaceful manner, in a more harmonious manner, in a way that honored every human's purpose on earth, every human's ability, every human's voice. Everyone deserves to be heard, everyone deserves to be respected and honored, everyone. I hope each of you can walk through your day with peace in your heart, assured of the dignity and respect you deserve as a member of this human race. If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results. John Mariotti www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com www.crossfitodyssey.com 775-338-2412