Four years ago, Mike and I were squatting in a cage on Queen Street. (He's the one with the thick black hair.) This was pre-Catalyst.
We're older. Our hair is greyer. Our squats are deeper and unassisted. From the look of it, my posterior chain is much more flexible (and our bars are much more rigid, thank goodness. No wonder I had trouble hitting depth in competition!)We're also a lot busier than those misguided days of our youth:Catalyst Teens expands to two nights/week, beginning next Tuesday and Wednesday. An amazing group that's left me hoarse every single week so far. And that's not easy. All the clapping has started to wear down my pullups calluses.
OnRamp starts its November group on the 9th. If you're thinking of starting CrossFit,
you've gotta do OnRamp. Invest 21 days, and you'll know virtually
everything you need to succeed at CrossFit. It's so effective that I
regret we didn't insist that all new CrossFitters do OnRamp right from
Day #1. Can you blame us for being so excited? Here's the thing: the
OnRamp Program tends to fill up WAY in advance. As I write this, 4 of
7 spots are filled for November''s Group, thanks to a huge waiting list
from October! Get your name on the list: 256-1344.
The difference this has made to our CrossFit programming has been
tremendous: graduates start their first CrossFit group already knowing
how to do more than the basics. They know what to expect, how to move
well, and they're excited to rip it up with the old veterans! FranFest is November 21! A tournament-style competition for the most famous of all the CrossFit workouts, Fran. Teams of two will Fran head-to-head as we narrow the field from 20+ pairs to 8, and finally to the Fran Championships. 8am start. An amazing event for spectators too, we've already had confirmation from two local media outlets.Santana's Indoor Cycling Group will start their second session of the fall on November 17. Most are now leaving their bikes inside (boo!) but burning up our main area every Tuesday night. (Hey, in 4 years, you'll never find a worse joke. Feel free to check.)More and more members are starting their own groups with co-workers and friends. We're doing private CrossFit groups for several businesses at both Catalyst locations – Park and Queen – several days per week.November 21 is the Santa Claus Parade! As usual, the absolute best place to watch is Catalyst at our Queen Street location! Bring your kids inside for a hot chocolate, hang with other members of the Catalyst family over coffee (provided by Forever Fit!) and enjoy the parade in your T-shirt. (Most families bring snowsuits to watch the parade outside, and then return inside for awhile afterward.) Starting in November, we'll be operating an Olympic Weightlifting Club at the Park! We started the Club because interest is high in OLY lifting due to CrossFit; because we have some excellent coaches available; and because we want to get Sebastien Wetzel into the Special Olympics. We haven't named the Club yet, but we'll be offering coaching to our members as soon as possible.
One of the big highlights from October for me was our Essays Project. We're featuring three essays each from some of the top writers in the CrossFit universe. It's been remarkably easy to reach these folks (just friend them, like us, on facebook) and they've all been really cool about letting us reprint their articles. They've even chosen one each! Another great highlight: having so many other CrossFit boxes link to our No Scale article. One of the most popular of all time on our site.
Our community is amazing. Two members of the Park crew have their own blogs now. Our tracking software has taken on a life of its own: Leanne issued her own Paleo challenge for November. CASS has their own website now (awesome!) and they'll be the second local high school to use the tracking software soon.