In this episode, Hale coach Heidi shares her journey from athlete to overweight to
CrossFit coach.
Coach Heidi Gets Real
Coach Heidi has been an athlete all her life: Dance. Biking. Baseball. Football. Rugby.
Swimming. Volleyball. Basketball. Skiing. Snowboarding.
But that doesn’t mean she’s never struggled with her fitness.
Shortly before joining Hale in 2013, Heidi had reached her highest body weight ever: 200
lb. You might look at what she can do now and think, “No way. She doesn’t understand
the struggle,” but we assure you, she does—even now.
“As a coach, unless you are being coached, it’s hard to get to that scary
place sometimes. You can do just enough. I don’t always push,” she admitted.
That’s why even coaches need coaches.
Heidi described being inspired by Coach Wendy to track her macros more carefully; today,
Heidi’s at the lowest body-fat percentage of the past three years.
That inspiration is one of the reasons she decided to become a coach herself.
“The things you can’t see in yourself that others can,” she said. “And this
is a big part of why I love being a coach: You can see the faces people make, you
can see the little glimmers of fear or hope or excitement or all of those things,
and you are not always self-aware enough to see them in yourself.”
It’s not about perfection, she continued. It’s about effort.
“Find something you can nail down and be confident in,” she said. “Find
momentum. Do one very simple thing and do it really well, until that feels easy.
Then you can take off a bigger chunk.”
In this episode, you will learn:
How even coaches like Heidi struggle with their
fitness.
How committing to precise nutrition and
accountability helped Heidi take her fitness to the next level.
Why Coach Heidi thinks you should be a grizzly
bear.
In this episode, Hale coach Dave shares how he went from member to coach and what he’s
learned along the way.
Becoming Coach Dave
You’ve seen him at the front of class.
Maybe he’s cued you through a technical lift or high-fived you after a PR. Or maybe
you’ve watched him overhead squat and wished you could move like that; be as athletic as
him.
But he wasn’t always so at home in the gym.
“I’d walk in there and be very confused and scared of what to do,” he said of
working out years ago in a conventional gym.
He was still intimidated when he joined Hale about four years ago, watching athletes do
pull-ups and lift big weights while he could barely press 65 lb.
“I don’t want to be the weakest one,” he thought.
But he kept coming back. Soon, he realized everyone at Hale—coaches and members alike—was
helpful and supportive.
Things started to click.
“Once it clicks, you realize the fun in it, and you’re accomplishing these
things,” he said.
Today, Dave’s got a 175-lb. press—and even better, he’s the one helping others accomplish
their goals.
“Give us a shot,” he said. “Check out CrossFit Hale, because (in) the
environment here, I think you’d have a hard time not prospering.”
In this episode, you will learn:
Why Dave kept training at Hale even though he was
intimidated at first.
How he made piece with scaling workouts.
Why Dave continues to pursue tough challenges—like
becoming a coach.
In this episode, Hale member Ann Mary shares how she prioritized her nutrition and
fitness to lose almost 100 lb. while also balancing a busy career as a lawyer.
Ann Mary’s Metamorphosis
Before starting CrossFit at Hale about a year ago, Ann
Mary had been inactive for years. Though she was a distance runner in high school,
law school and a demanding career as a lawyer took a toll on her health.
“I was very unhappy with my weight, with my overall fitness and how I was feeling
physically,” she said.
Diet changes helped her lose 40 lb. in about a year, but it wasn’t until she started at
Hale that she began to value what her body was capable of over what it weighed.
Though she was scared at first—her first workout called for double-unders but she hadn’t
even jumped rope in two decades—she persisted, even after long days when all she wanted
was to flop on the couch.
“One thing that was hard for me was learning that there are some days when you just have
to show up and keep moving, and you have to consider that a successful workout,” she
said. “The days that I least want to go to the gym … those are the days when I most need
to go to the gym.”
Today, Ann Mary’s 95 lb. lighter than she was at her heaviest weight, can deadlift 265
lb. for a triple and has her sights set on a pull-up.
“On the whole I feel so much better,” she said. “I feel like I’m more focused, I have
more mental clarity and I have more energy.”
In this episode, you will learn:
Why Ann Mary ditched fad diets for a sustainable
approach to nutrition.
How she learned to trust the process even when she
wasn’t improving as quickly as she would have liked.
How she sets herself up for success by overcoming
obstacles before they occur.
In this episode, Hale coach Larry shares how he found
CrossFit, why he loves coaching and what he’s working on outside the gym.
Man of Mystery
You know him as Coach Larry, one of your Hale trainers dedicated to making you better one
cue, one no-rep, one high-five at a time. Coach Jay calls him the “Man of Mystery.”
But mystery no more!
In today’s episode of the Living Better Podcast, Coach Larry shares his first CrossFit
experience, 50 wall-ball shots for time—”After wall ball number five I felt like I was
gonna die already,” he said—his career as a scientist outside of the gym, and why he
loves coaching.
“I just wanted to give back; seeing how the program changes lives and improves lives, and
I wanted to sort of share that with others and be that somebody who changes somebody’s
life for the better and improves them.”
Listen to the rest of Coach Larry’s story in Episode 42
of the Living Better Podcast.
In this episode, you will learn:
How CrossFit helps Coach Larry try and conquer new
things in and outside the gym.
Why he decided to become a coach, despite having
another full-time job.
The secret to the six-pack abs in the movie
“300.”
(If not, close this email/web page and find it and watch it; it’s awesome!)
The main guy, Phil (played by Bill Murray), lives the same day over and over again in a
small town, but he’s the only one who knows it.
He goes through all sorts of emotions: It’s confusing at first, then kinda cool, then
depressing, then completely awesome!
One of the main things he tries to do is “get the girl” by finding out everything she
likes and trying to “stage” the perfect day so she’ll fall madly in love with him.
He learns her favorite ice cream, her goals in life, and even recites some French poetry
to try and impress her.
It works to get her attention, but he always falls short of the “madly in love” part
(eventually leading to the depression).
At some point, he stops caring about her and focuses on helping people and improving
himself, learning the piano, helping a homeless guy, saving someone from choking, etc.
The part that fascinated me about the movie were the piano scenes.
He signs up for piano lessons, and his first one was terrible. He had no idea how to
play.
After living the same day over and over again and doing the “first lesson” over and over
again … he begins to crush it.
One day while he’s playing Bach while chewing gum and looking totally relaxed, the piano
teacher says to him,
“Wow, you say this is your FIRST lesson?”
There’s something about that scene that just gets me.
How good could you be at something if you just did it over and over again, every day …
without fear that you’re getting too old, or “wasting time”?
What if you were able to let go of pretense, relax, and enjoy the process?
What if you had all the time in the world?
(This is the premise of the movie, btw … it was even in the trailer.)
I think about this often … and it’s why I’ve seen this movie at least 20 times.
People say life is short, but the truth is, life is LONG.
Every 10 years represents 3,600 days of life. You can master anything if you spend a few
hours a day on it for 10 years.
If you don’t want to master something, you can be GOOD at it with focused practice in 12
months.
And if you just want to acquire a basic skill? Three months or less.
In three months, you can learn how to swim, train for and run a half marathon, lose 40
lb. or even learn the basics of piano.
But you have to be willing to start, and you have to be willing to be TERRIBLE for a
while.
I see a lot of people walk into the gym and expect to be good at things on their first
day.
When they aren’t, it’s a big hit to the ego.
“Why am I finishing last?”
“Why can’t I do this movement?”
“Why is everything so HARD?”
This leads people to quit because they just don’t get it, it’s too hard, or they can’t
handle the ego hit.
Why would you expect something to be easy if you’ve NEVER DONE IT BEFORE?!?
The thing that makes Hale special is that it’s NOT EASY to do this stuff.
And because it’s not easy, it’s more than just a workout you do every day, day in and day
out (like Groundhog Day).
It’s a set of SKILLS you have to acquire over time by PRACTICING them.
Phil found meaning in his life when he focused on improvement on a daily basis, not just
having everything he wanted.
This brought progress and joy to his otherwise mundane days.
And it ultimately led to him escaping the loop.
Look at your workouts as skills you’re developing, rather than just goals you’re
achieving.
Focus on getting better every day, and you’ll break out of the “Groundhog Day” mentality.
Coach “Punxatawny” Jay
Announcements
Summer of Skills:
Our next few skills sessions will be:
7/17: Rowing with Lauren Nielsen* 7/24: Oly Skills (Clean) with Nathan Loe* 7/31:
Oly Skills (Jerk) with Nathan Loe* 8/7: Oly Skills (Snatch) with Nathan Loe*
All clinics at 6:30 p.m.
These are FREE for members.
*Advanced sign-up is required and space will be limited. Please sign up here or in person at the front
whiteboard.
Is there something you’re dying to learn more of? Please drop a line to
[email protected].
Mark Freeman (of Freeman Technique, Cirque du Soleil, and Cal Gymnastics fame) will be
running his clinics on Wednesdays at 5:45 a.m. Cost is $20 for members; $25 for
non-members. Our regular 5:45-a.m. Group Coaching class will continue as scheduled.
Oakland Tri and Alcatraz Swim
Now that the Hero Challenge is done and dusted, the coaches are training for two upcoming
events. More info to come, but the more the merrier! Give us a shout when you sign up!
(You MUST stand up the 5th squat clean before you begin the thrusters. If you drop the
barbell after 5, you may squat clean into your 1st thruster).
Heavy barbell work today. This does not have to be done unbroken—today, we are going for
load. You should aim to finish the reps in 2 mins or less to allow for some rest before
your next set.
Start with a heavy-ish working weight and add as you are able. All 5 rounds should feel
like hard work, ending in one round at your top weight. Thrusters will likely be the
limiter here!
Goal today is to work on PACING, not necessarily get the fastest time. You should
actually feel a difference between your exertion levels on each run.
Control your breathing and cadence, control your workout! You should feel like each
effort is ACCELERATING relative to the last one—not just holding on to go hard the whole
time!
Wednesday—RECOVER
A. Warm Up:
15 mins for quality: 50 single skips + 20 on each leg 3 inchworm +
push-up (get a great calf/hammy
stretch!) 5 box OH stretch to hollow
B. 5-min AMRAP in pairs: P1 holds DB OH (2x 25/15) P2: 1 round: **Mini
Cindy** 2 ring rows 4 push-ups 6 air squats (switch, repeat for entire 5
mins)
Rest 2 mins
5-min AMRAP in pairs: P1 holds active squat P2 1 round Mini Cindy (switch,
repeat for entire 5 mins)
Rest 2 mins
5-min AMRAP in pairs: P1 holds plank P2 1 round Mini Cindy (switch, repeat for
entire 5 mins)
Score is combined rounds + reps for each round. Mini Cindy may only be completed while
other partner is holding position.
Move fast, and hold. Work on positions (this = active mobility!) and focus on breathing
in position to lock it in.
Training your row (and grip) for a long Viking journey. Focus on EFFICIENCY (LEGS!) in
the row and smooth, even strokes.
Barbell cycling will be key to maintaining your grip on the cleans—DO NOT go to failure!
Lastly … T2B. Kind of rude, but this is your test to link them together. PRACTICE linking
under fatigue, and you’ll be better off for workouts in the future. 6 + 4; 5 + 3 + 2 …
whatever you need to do!
Rx+ 70/50 DB MissFit: 14/10; 35/25; lateral step-ups; jumping C2B
Single leg and single arm movements! You’re only as good as your weakest link. This one
also alternates upper/lower body, but it’s likely everything will burn. Working on
power, stamina, and pacing today.
Have a strategy to keep moving smoothly. Try to string together a few bigger sets of C2B
to start, even if it means resting a little. PRACTICE these tougher skills under
fatigue!
Saturday—TRAIN (& Guest Day at Albany MS)
Outdoor workout today! Meet at Albany Middle School track at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. Guests
welcome!
20-min AMRAP in pairs! (One person works at a time.)
Quick scale: 10 burpees over rower 30/20-cal row Find max snatch OR complete one
rep at moderate weight every 30 s.
Note snatch weight in comments
A successful workout today means:
1. You aggressively push the pace on the burpees/row just over the line you think you can
sustain. Try to hold pace on row #2! Do not stop on the burpees!
2. You take a few attempts working up to a heavy-ish snatch with good technique. Allow
yourself some time to cool off, load your bar, etc., before you take a crack at it. If
you have time, start lighter than you think to get a few SOLID reps in, then take a few
jumps.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” as the saying goes. But you know what? New bricks were laid
each day—and the same goes for fitness progress.
Today, we check in for Week 3 of the Hale Case Study project, in which we’re following 12
athletes for 12 weeks to see what happens if they commit to fitness, good nutrition and
an overall holistic lifestyle.
And our participants have been doing work.
– Jon gave up coffee so he could get more sleep. He feels more energized at work and
recently PR’d his clean at 215 lb.
– Lilly’s learning to tolerate veggies and PR’d her workout streak at 5 days in a
row.
– Ron got his pull-ups back.
– Jay lost 3 percent body fat and stabilized his energy level.
– Kim learned to prioritize her workouts—even when she felt pressured to stay late at
work.
– Heidi increased her sleep from 6 hours a night to 7 and learned to save indulgences for
when they matter most.
That’s not to say our participants haven’t had struggles. There have been slip-ups.
Workouts were missed, tortilla chips were eaten.
But the point is that even after those slip-ups, our athletes get up the next day and lay
the next brick.
And with time, we’ll have a colosseum on our hands.
In this episode, we get to know new Hale athlete and
staff member Steph.
Steph’s First Steps
Have you met Steph yet?
She joined the Hale family a few weeks ago, both as an
athlete and a staff member working the front desk at the gym.
Though she played soccer as a kid and young adult, she’d
been relatively inactive before CrossFit. But after enduring an ectopic pregnancy,
she heard the three words she never thought she’d hear: “You almost died.”
“At 24 you don’t ever think that you would hear those
three words,” she said.
Steph wants to be here for the long haul and to be able
to keep up with her now 2-year-old son. So she joined CrossFit Hale. Even though she
was “terrified” in her first class and sore for a week after, she came back.
“I felt good; I felt amazing,” she said. “The
environment’s super, super welcoming.”
Listen to the rest of Steph’s story in Episode 40 of the
Living Better Podcast. And don’t forget to introduce yourself if you haven’t met her
already!
In this episode, you will learn:
Why the busy mom of a toddler decided to prioritize
her health.
How Steph went from terrified and intimidated in her
first CrossFit workout to happy and confident.
Have you ever driven by CrossFit Hale and wondered what
goes on inside?
Maybe you’ve seen friends post their workouts online in
what looks like a foreign language and thought, “That’s way too complicated for
me.”
Or maybe you’ve seen pictures of muscly men and women
lifting barbells bigger than your sofa and assumed you wouldn’t fit in. It’d be too
hard, too intense, too crazy for you.
But what would you say if we told you you’d hear more
laughter than grunts in a class at Hale?
That you don’t have to understand all the weird numbers
on the board or how to do an exercise because our coaches are there to guide you
every step of the way?
That when we use barbells, everyone uses the weight
that’s just right for them, whether that’s 10 lb. or 200?
Consider this our official invitation.
Check out what a class at Hale is like in the video above
and stop wondering today.
In this episode, Dee shares how CrossFit helped her get
mentally and physically stronger after her mother’s death.
Dee: “Suck It Up and Drive On.”
Dee had been a cardio fanatic all her life, but when her
mother passed away in 2013, she needed something different to distract her and help
her process the loss.
So she joined
CrossFit Hale, despite never having picked up a weight before.
“The first time you told me to jump on a box I looked at
you like, ‘What?!’” she said to Coach Jay.
She’s faced many more challenges since then, from her
first Murph to competing in the 2019 NorCal Masters competition, and says she’s only
gotten better for it.
“It was hard but it set off a trigger, I took it as a
challenge,” she said of her first impression of CrossFit. “This is different and
it’s difficult, but I want to learn how to do it.”
In this episode, you will learn:
How embracing difficult things has made Dee
better.
How CrossFit has helped her improve her mental
health and focus.
The best piece of advice she’s ever received: “Suck
it up and drive on.”
You don’t really appreciate the value of learning until you’re out of school.
Essays and exams kinda take the fun out of it.
Now that summer is finally here, we want to give you a list of our favorite books about
fitness and life, with a couple of cool stories sprinkled in.
“Atomic Habits” by
James Clear: The best book about habits ever written. It goes through the psychology and
processes that hide behind all of our regular habits. If you struggle with consistency
or procrastination, you gotta read this one.
“Grit” by Angela
Duckworth: Talks about how developing grit (discipline) starts at an early age and how
it impacts your life throughout your development. Also discusses how to develop it if
you DON’T have it.
“Solve for Happy” by
Mo Gawdot: Mo breaks down the story of his son’s death—the result of a medical mistake
during a routine procedure—in a way that makes you relate to the pain while embracing
hope. He reads the audiobook, and the emotion is palpable. I can’t
recommend this book highly enough if you’ve suffered a recent loss.
“Boys in
the Boat” by Daniel James Brown: True story of a rowing team’s quest to make the
1936 Olympics. I’ve never been a rower, but this gets you inside one of the most
team-oriented and mentally challenging sports in the world. The story is so well written
that it feels like fiction. I won’t spoil the ending here, but suffice to say it’s the
perfect summer read.
Guilty pleasures fiction:
“Wayward Pines” by
Blake Crouch and “Crazy Rich Asians”
by Kevin Kwan: Not all reading has to be educational or thought-provoking. These two
(and their sequels) are page turning, read-it-in-one sitting types of books. For me,
these are the MOST satisfying type of fiction.
Wayward Pines is so good I don’t want to spoil it, but it starts with a secret service
agent who wakes up in a small town not remembering who he is or where he came from … it
goes NUTS from there.
Crazy Rich Asians is pretty much what is written on the cover … but the book is a great
deal more detailed and interesting than the movie.
Reading is one of my great joys in life, both with Audible and on physical paper… I hope
this list brings you some joy.
Is there something you’re dying to learn more of? Please drop a line to
[email protected].
Mark Freeman (of Freeman Technique, Cirque du Soleil, and Cal Gymnastics fame) will be
running his clinics on Wednesdays at 5:45 a.m. Cost is $20 for members; $25 for
non-members. Our regular 5:45-a.m. Group Coaching class will continue as scheduled.
Hero Challenge: July 1-4
We’ll complete 4 Hero workouts in 4 days. It’ll be like the 12 Days of CrossFit, but
shorter, sunnier, and perhaps a little heavier!
Check out the workouts below!
Guest Day at Hale: Saturday, July 6
All athletes welcome, no CrossFit experience required. Classes at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. FREE!
On the burpees, jump over the box without touching it.
WHAT!? New skill! This one will be heavy on the midline and POWER. Practice landing OVER
the box with good footwork.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kielin Dunn, 19, of Chesapeake, Virginia, died on Feb. 18, 2010,
while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Dunn was assigned
to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary
Force in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
His friends remember him for his passion and enthusiasm, which extended to athletic
activities such as CrossFit and break dancing.
He is survived by his parents, Terri Dunn Campbell and Gary Campbell; sister, Nicole
Campbell; and brother, Jonathan Campbell.
Tuesday—PERFORM
“DG”
Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of: 8 toes-to-bars 8 DB thrusters (35/25) 12 DB walking lunges (35/25)
We’ve done this one before! Simple, quick, and dirty.
U.S. Air Force Major Walter David Gray, 38, of Conyers, GA, assigned to the 13th Air
Support Operations Squadron, based in Fort Carson, CO, died on August 8, 2012, from
injuries suffered during a suicide bomb attack in Kunar province, Afghanistan.
He is survived by his wife Heather, daughters Nyah and Ava, and son Garrett.
The “DG” Hero WOD was first posted on CrossFit.com as the Workout of the Day for
Thursday, December 26, 2013 (131226).
This is a LONG chipper. If needed, pair up to take this one on! Just keep swimming!
On November 5, 2009, at 1:34 p.m., a terrorist named Major Nidal Hasan attacked fellow
soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood, TX. He killed 12 soldiers and one civilian and
wounded 43 others.
SPC Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, TN, PFC Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West
Jordan, UT, PFC Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook, IL, and SPC Kham Xiong, 23, of St.
Paul, MN, along with eleven of the wounded were active CrossFitters in the 20th Engineer
Battalion, home to Lumberjack CrossFit.
The “Lumberjack 20” Hero WOD was first posted on crossfit.com as the Workout of the Day
for December 5, 2009 (091205).
