Happy Anniversary!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Mobility:
Shoulder Prep
Strength/Skill:
3 rounds of
8 Weighted Strict Pullups, heavy as possible
Rest 60 seconds
8 Strict Press, heavy as possible
Rest 60 seconds
Notes: Use a weight that allows for at least 3-4 UB Pullups. These should not be all singles, but a few breaks are acceptable. If the total set takes more than 30 seconds then lower the weight.
“Helen”
3 rounds of:
Run 400m
21 KBS 24/16kg
12 Pullups
Cool Down:
Up/Down Dog, 30 seconds each
Straddle stretch, 30 seconds
Work on the tan.
It was September 1, 2009 when Paradiso CrossFit opened it’s doors on Glencoe Avenue, and I taught my first class at noon. Diso had just put in his 2 weeks notice at Neptune’s Net and was edgy and terrified of diving into his own full time business. He quit a secure job on the beach for just a chance to make this thing work. I just started my last semester at school, and had accepted a part time offer from him to help teach classes. I remember those days like it was yesterday.
It is yesterday.
He was the first person I talked to in the morning and the last person I talked to at night, for hours each time (sorry Martina.) We had a full schedule of classes offered but no regular clients, so we just spent more time talking and doing and dreaming of things to come. At 800 square feet, and 12 ish foot ceilings, our box was SO SMALL, like an apartment living room. I wondered who would ever join us and trust us with their fitness. We were just 2 dudes who loved CrossFit and didn’t give a f#ck. Subconsciously, I gave myself 3 years to go for it and build something crazy with this guy I met all of 5 times in the last 13 months. But as different as we were, I could sense in Diso a fire and a burning for CF that mirrored my own, and we were different enough from each other that it was a healthy enough balance. I saw that we were a perfect ‘business’ marriage, as neither of us are business minded. Despite this, I strangely and intuitively grasped that if we were secure at the foundation, our futures would also be secure. We brought in G to round out the schedule of classes, and Martina shortly after to keep us in line with the day to day operations. I knew PCF would not only represent the best and greatest parts of us, but it would also attract and expose the best and greatest parts of whoever walked into it’s doors and stayed with it.
Three years later, I couldn’t be happier with where PCF is. Each of you reading this blog is awesome, has in some way been transformed by CrossFit, and serendipitously transformed me in the process. The quality of the gym is getting better (we hope!), our extracurricular activities are blowing up hardcore, and our future couldn’t be more exciting even if we tried. So thank you to all of you, and please join me in wishing Happy Third Anniversary to our beloved Paradiso CrossFit.