Bullet dodged - Thanksgiving holiday schedule!

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I know you do this. Read this:

**HOLIDAY SCHEDULE**

Thanksgiving Thursday - 9AM Open gym, 10am Class

Black Fair Fight Friday - 10AM-Noon Open gym, Noon Class

Ok now you can scroll and look at the workouts. Or stay and read the things I have to say, which may be pertinent to you! Just kidding. I don’t have anything to say other than I’m glad Dewine made the right choice and didn’t force us to close. Let’s continue our diligence of distancing inside the gym, masking when we’re in public, washing our hands more, avoiding random gatherings, and eating our vegetables daily. That’s the only scientific efforts that can be made, so let’s make them.

I can’t wait to see all of you this week. :)

P.S. We’re starting some beautifying projects at the gym, so expect some paint and saw dust and disorganization en route to ambiance upgrades.

ASSESSMENT SEASON BEGINS!

Tomorrow begins an exciting and tough stretch of challenges around The Standard. Each day, we work our way through our daily training sessions with the intent of improving our skills, strengths, mental fortitude, and so much more. This assessment season is to see where we are at. To take our fitness temperature. It’s like a fitness check-up. “Hey, last time we got together, you were Orange and purple, and blue all over… now the oranges are gone, and some purples have emerged.” If we aren’t testing, we’re just guessing!

So, let’s see where we are at. Let’s see how much we can deadlift tomorrow. Let’s see how much we can press or how many pushups we can do. Let’s run as fast as we can.

Let’s NOT GIVE A CRAP about what we did last time!

Let’s put forth our best effort and that’s all that can be asked! MANY of you will level up. This is so much fun and addictive; to do something you’ve never done before. Many of you will establish a first initial overall level. Many of you will level DOWN and I NEED you to be ok with it. I need you to understand that fitness fluctuates. I need you to respect the impact COVID had, the impact your crappy nutrition has had, the impact of working from home or dealing with homeschooling your kids, or whatever. Those are all worthy variants that DO IMPACT your performance. Leveling down is not a failure. It’s just an indicator that tells us we need to address an area.

We’ll work through all 15 categories over the next three weeks. If you miss a category, you’ll be able to catch it later or come to Saturday class times, which will always be set aside as make-up times. If you have already tested a category and don’t want to retest API to see if you can get an extra rep or two (I understand :)), there will be an alternate workout. ALWAYS talk to your coach; we will give you something to do. We will not be allowing people to do different tests than what is assigned for that day during class times (example: Class is doing Fran, but you missed Diane last week… resist the urge to ask to do Diane). Come for Open gym (each evening it’s available!) or wait until Saturday’s make up day. This will help minimize the load on your coaches, who already have an increased workload during these weeks.

Please pay more attention than normal during the whiteboard meetings. All of your coaches have been through this process 3 times, so we’ve learned some things along the way that will make your experience better and your performance higher.

If you typically come on a specific schedule (M,W,F), consider deviating from that schedule if possible to make sure you get to work through each assessment. If you typically come M-F, you may consider taking a day off in there to recover and subsequently maximize your performance.

Labor Day is a week from tomorrow and we will have 9AM and 10AM classes only. We’ll be doing lactic tolerance (FRAN) and a 1 mile run. LT only takes 6ish minutes, so we’ll have multiple heats and a long rest time between efforts.

I’m really excited to see the progress you’ve all made! It’s going to be a lot of work, but so so so worth it. :)

Let’s start with a few highlights from the week!!

Huge shoutouts to these guys!

John (Kong… yes, it’s ok if you call him that) came to us a few weeks back frustrated about his weight plateau. We BATTLED through Basics in roughly a week and has brought the intensity to every workout since! Welcome, sir! We’re happy to have you and proud to be trusted with your journey to optimal health.

Ben Holt is a firefighter who lives in Liberty Center. He doesn’t get to come to class as often as we’d all like, but he’s been working one-on-one with Stephen Dull, one of our coaches and produced his first bar muscle-up! Congrats gentlemen!!

If you see either of them in class, make sure to introduce yourself and congratulate them.

Let’s talk about workouts this week. Level Method allows us to make adjustments as needed when it relates to our community of athletes, so a lot of changes have been made for this week. To give an example, LM is not going to program partner workouts because many gyms are not open still or are under stricter guidelines than Ohio… but partner WODs are important training stimulus and simply FUN! So, I wrote one for Saturday that hits things we didn’t get to during the week... you can hate me for this one.

Here we go! We start HUGE tomorrow with “17.2(ish)” ….

Glassman's Fitness in 100 words - and... workouts...

Here are a couple of pages from the Field Manual we’re building for Standard athletes… Glassman has always said and done some stupid stuff, but as a coach and a fitness pioneer, no one has changed the world the way he has. Let’s take a look at “Fitness in 100 words.”

COVID/mask update and some KILLER workouts this week.

Hey everyone! I hope you’re staying cool, managing to find some water to relax in. This week is going to be crazy hot, so we have zero running outside (unless you WANT to on Wednesday).

Let’s talk COVID quickly. We got rid of the temperature checks because there’s increasingly more evidence that it doesn’t prove infection and could simply prove it’s hot outside. We changed boxes to lanes to accommodate for more people to fit in the same space and simplify rig designations. We also had Coach Sam avoid the gym for until he got a negative result back after his co-worker tested positive. This week, the mayor is expected to mandate a mask requirement in social settings on Tuesday. We will not be working out with masks on. The science and airflow demos I’ve watched put us at super low risk with proper distancing measures (we have those) and proper airflow (have you noticed the giant fan blowing harder than normal?). Our likelihood of transference is ridiculously low, then along with being healthy individuals as a whole, I feel like the risks are pretty low; so low that I’m not going to ask anyone to wear a mask during workouts.

Let’s just stay away from each other, wash our hands before and after class, and wipe down your stuff. Everyone cool with that? If not, please let me know and I’ll make reasonable accommodations!

Let’s talk workouts. This week is a beautifully constructed balance of workouts. We’re going to get better, get one step closer to our goals, and have fun all at the same time. If you know of anyone that might want to join this fun, I don’t currently have anyone in basics, so invite them over! :)

Operation MURPH - Complete. Workouts for 7/6!

Happy 4th, everyone! In a moment in time when people have sort-of lost track of appreciation for the nation we live in, it was especially powerful to do Murph with friends that I’m blessed to get to train every day. I say this regularly, but probably not enough — It’s a gift that you trust us with your fitness and we do not take that responsibility lightly. Thanks for that honor. Yesterday we saw so many people do things they’ve never done before and that’s inspiring to me and the entire training staff, but hopefully inspiring to your friends at The Standard. I’m pumped to keep the momentum going!

We have a big week this week! Check it out!

Workouts for 6/22 - COVID Adjustments to class...

Hello all! We’re crossing the one-month anniversary post-COVID, so rejoice! No fines, no confirmed cases, just fun and fitness and friends. The way it should be.

We’ve been getting more creative with space and opening up class attendance capacity, but some people are still not getting to attend as often as they’d like. We’re working on a couple longterm solutions to this, but here are a few things we’re going to change, based on the above facts:

1) Chalk is back. We’ll put buckets back on the floor, but please be aware of others in the area and maintain proper distancing. Just FYI… The virus doesn’t seem to be transferrable from surfaces (CDC), so the buckets themselves aren’t a problem, but two people leaning over and breathing in each other’s faces… is. Let’s avoid that. Oh, and please don’t scoop the chalk into your hand and then clap your hands together leaving a trail of fairy dust behind you. =)

2) Secondly, we are using just cleansing wipes at this point for a variety of boring-to-type-out reasons. We’re also going to have a mop bucket made fresh each morning for those beautiful sweat angels that have been showing up alongside the increased heat. If you make one, or spit, or bleed, or leave a chalky mess on the floor, just wheel that guy over and do your best janitor impression.

3) Please make sure you cancel your registration if you’re not going to make it. Most of you do this really really well and sometimes we forget; I would love to get that forget number down to zero. Don’t make me send you a message for no-showing and give you an idle threat about charging you for no-shows or something really intimidating.

4) The AC is on. Believe it or not. Enjoy! (I think we’re the only CF gym that has it?!?)

We are back to Level Method programming completely and they’re challenged to create workouts for people confined in 10x10 squares. Some of these get repetitive or lame, but they are nonetheless EFFECTIVE. That’s all I care about… making sure you all get the progress you deserve from the effort you’re putting out. Let’s get after it this week. Tomorrow will be a great start back!

Workouts for 6/15 - $100 gift cards for everyone now (!!) & much more.

Hey all!! WOO, this week of training has variety, difficulty, technicality, and is going to be fun and suck all at the same time. That’s good news and bad news for everyone.

We did get some BAD news this week when we learned that a friend of ours, Matt Williams, owner of CrossFit Crowned, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He’s just 42 years old and has a family that’s rocked by this news. Matt is a true good guy. We remain optimistic, but obviously the prospects forward are dim. =/ Crowned’s head coach put together a tribute workout for Matt and we programmed it for THIS SATURDAY. We’ll be taking donations (suggested $20) to help support Matt and his family in this. Please don’t feel obligated, but one of the best things we do is support our community, so we wanted to give you opportunity to help if you want to.

Speaking of support, we can’t overstate how pivotal you all were in getting us through the COVID shutdown. Not just financially, but also emotionally and spiritually. I feel like this was under-appreciated by our #stayformay promo/give-back, so we want to open that up to anyone who has been a member or generally supportive of The Standard. Please encourage them to signup for the $100s in gift cards at: communitycoalition.fitness/loyalty

MORE TO SAY….

CrossFit HQ is enduring some turmoil because of a variety of different things the CEO has done, who he’s been, and things he’s said. Our short response is above. The Standard is not CrossFit, we don’t represent CrossFit, and their CEO certainly doesn’t represent us or our beliefs. WE define who we are. No one else. CrossFit is a methodology; it’s a tool. We use that tool because it’s effective toward reaching our goals and helping others do the same. The parallel is: Steve Jobs was a known jerk. …should we not use his iPhone? Nah. It’s a great product despite his being a jerk. That’s all I really have to say about that, but if you want to talk about it more, come find me. :)

Workouts for 6/7 - CrossFit HQ commentary...

Hello friends! Welp… this is a pretty crazy year we’re having, right? One of my favorite things in life is conflict because I believe it forces adaptation and growth. In the gym, conflict is mental and physical— you overcome those and enjoy a benefit. Heck, we provide a safe conflictual situation everyday in which you can emerge victorious, so in many respects, we thrive on conflict. We thrive on doing the hard things. Overcoming those hard things is a process, though. It’s not always over 15 minutes after 3-2-1-Go is called. COVID has lasted months, George Floyd spurred conversation and action that will last even longer. That process will bring out great ideas and on the other side, the worst of people. Being the optimist I am, I can see many ways where good is going to emerge from all of these challenges.

I’ll hold off on more political opinions and analysis and touch briefly on CrossFit HQ, which is embroiled in controversy currently. If you don’t know, that’s great. Your life is likely not going to be enriched by knowing what I’m talking about. :) It’ll be a time suck with no firm solutions.

So, I’ll say this: CrossFit as a company has been laser focused on creating a methodology that is efficacious to all people. It works for the young, old, tall, short, black, white, gay, straight, all genders, heck even if you’re missing limbs or blind or disabled. If you have a heartbeat, CrossFit will help you fight back chronic disease and become a harder to kill person. That’s a beautiful thing and noble in it’s pursuit! HQ is run by people who cannot help but love other humans and want to see all of humanity enjoy a body that functions optimally and lives as long as possible. That longing is why The Standard exists as well. We started this gym to help people realize their best selves physically and mentally, using the tool of CrossFit.

So, as Greg Glassman, the creator, is out making brash statements like he always has, we will not be deterred from our responsibilities: to bring a world-class fitness experience to you so you can enjoy a life filled with health, happiness, confidence, and self-worth. This is a conversation that requires a lot of nuance and that’s impossible to type in a blog, so if you want to chat about it, please get with me (Ben) anytime. If you have any concerns at all or feedback generally, I always want it. Together we will make The Standard the most inclusive, professional, and effective gym around!

Which brings me to my next point: THANK YOU. Because many of you did #stayformay we were able to endure the forced COVID closures financially and as we said, you’ve earned $100 in gift cards!

If you had an active recurring membership during May, CLICK HERE to claim yours! You have to redeem them by 6/25, so get to pickin’ out your goodies!! Again, thank you for standing by us and believing in us; we literally couldn’t have survived with you.

With all of that said, here’s what we have planned for the week! This week, we’re back prettttty much full force. It’s going to be great! I’m genuinely excited to do some of these and even more excited to help you guys get through them. Let’s get after it!

Back to our regularly schedule program(ming).

We made it.

First week back!

We also made room for a 9th box in the gym to hopefully get more of you into the classes most convenient for you. Bear with us as we’re at the mercy of Ohio’s guidance here. I’m convince it will be short-lived.

Muscles are sore, reminding us we are doing something that breeds change and adaptation and ultimately more capable human beings. We saw friends we haven’t seen for a while, who have been enduring a lockdown alongside us, and smiled, laughed, and enjoyed every moment of it.

We took on a few workouts designed to remind us what training is like and to not crush us, rip our hands, or leave us unable to come back the next day.

This week, we’re going to raise the intensity and the volume. Let’s take on some really tough workouts, at levels we can all handle, and come out better on the other side. This week will be fun and tough and humbling.

Let’s take a look!

WE... ARRREEE... LIIIIIIVE....

WELCOME BACK!

We’re kicking off this week with some classic CrossFit workouts. Triplets, barbells, AMRAPs, and burpees. :) Yes. Those still exist. Sadly, they go with you anywhere. They’re inescapable.

REMEMBER - You MUST be registered for class before you show up. We’ve said this so many times, so please please don’t be the one I have to turn away because we don’t have space. Please.

ALSO - NO BAGS - So check these workouts and bring with you whatever you’re going to need. Jump ropes, knee sleeves, chalk baggie, grips, etc. Keep them with you in your box. Do not bring a bag. There is no room in the inn for a bag. There is not flat area inside the gym in which a bag can be placed. You may leave it outside if you have separation anxiety. :)

WORKOUTS!!!

** BRING YOUR OWN JUMP ROPE ** - TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY If you did the At Home with The Standard workouts, you know what plat step-ups are. If you didn’t, oh boy. You’ll love them!

FRIDAY

SATURDAY - yum.

At home workouts for the garage gym folks!

Enjoy, guys! If you need anything please text or call me! I’ll help however I can!

Check out Sean's Story!

Hey guys! Rob Wagner of our 6AM class often shoots photos for us, but he also produced this video about Sean and his journey. We think it turned out great! Check it out!

This week, we’re going to have a number of people dropping in at the 6AM and evening classes, so if someone seems lost, please help them. :) You all are already really great about this and making people feel welcome; thanks for that!

OK! March Madness! The most fun competition imaginable. It really should be fun. Have a good time with it; try your hardest, cheer on your friends, do things you’ve maybe never done before, and smile a lot. :)

Here are the workouts for the week! (Obviously Friday is missing…)

Double check your overall level! #Marchmadness

Hey guys! Zak Hermiller and his company The Media Menu created a series of incredible videos to help us promote what we do at The Standard. Check out the first one above!

March has arrived! …and MERCH is coming as well! Monday is the LAST DAY if you want to order a t-shirt or sweatshirt! CLICK HERE AND DO IT WHILE YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT IT

This week is awesome! So many challenging workouts with a WIDE variety of movement and strength development.

Here we go!

The end is here... and near... Saturday awards ceremony!

I hope your super Sunday has been exactly that! It’s been a challenging two weeks with assessments, but I love how all of you are approaching it this time. There are so many of you that are less worried about proving advancement than about how to continue toward improvement. This is exactly what should be happening! We assess where we’re at, address it with a plan, then progress.

After a HUGE first week that covered 9 of the 15 categories, you exceeded the number of improvements in week two with just 6 categories! Holy crap!! I applaud you. 204 last week, 220 this week! And we’re not even done yet. I think we could realistically hit 500 by Saturday!

Speaking of Saturday, we’re going to have a little ceremony after the 10a class (starts at 11, to be clear) to celebrate wins and then Kayla will be giving us a de-brief about the 800g challenge! You should be there!

As I’m writing this, I’m eating my 600th gram for the day. It’s the last day and I’m happy to not have to weight my food, but the last 4 weeks have solidified my insistence upon veggies being absolutely vital to recovering and health. I hope those of you who participated had a great experience and learned something about yourself as well!

Some house-keeping items:

1) If you don’t mind changing your billing to direct from your bank account, it would help us save a significant amount of money each month. If you want to do that, see Ben!

2) Etiquette with equipment. Lately I’ve seen a handful of people unload one end of the bar and then just yank the other plates off the other side, causing a CLANG as the bar hits the ground. Shocking, I know… but they’re not designed to do that. And bars do, over time, break, so let’s not do that. Same with plates. Plates are not meant to be thrown and land on their sides. The metal rings inside have gotten knocked loose, plus, it’s obnoxiously loud. Let’s just carry our plates where they need to be. Just to cover all bases, kettlebells should never be dropped, nor dumbbells. Thanks!

3) Wednesday at noon, we’ll be shooting some stuff for our commercial videos, so if you hate cameras, you’ve been warned. :) If you don’t mind being on camera, great! Just dress how you’d like to be captured forever and ever amen.

See you this week!!

Open gym rules, 800g challenge update, and workouts!

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope your New Year has gotten off to a great start. It was great to see everyone back and in their regular routines this week!

Topics today: 6:30 Open Gym - Use the Members App - 800g Challenge Leaderboard - Help us, help you with Automatic Clearing House

*We added the 6:30 open gym time a couple months ago and the attendance has been rather sporadic. We added it for two reasons: 1) we know there’s a need at times to be there later because of crazy work requirements and 2) people need access to equipment in order to practice particular movements or develop skills. We are going to keep it because those are valid reasons! :) BUT… you’ll have to let us know that you’re coming. So our coaching staff isn’t there wondering if people will show, you will now have to use the Push Press Members App to reserve a spot prior to 6:30; otherwise open gym is cancelled.

Which brings us to the second thing we’d like to implement…

*We’d love to have each of you reserve a spot for each class using that same Push Press Members App. Being able to see who will be in class (and how many) will help us be better prepared to give you the best experience we can for you. So, if you don’t have it yet, head to your app store or android store and pick it up. (That same log-in can be used at the merchandise kiosk to put drinks/protein on your account.)

*800g challenge update! 6 days in the books and at this moment, we have some leaders emerging!

Kayla’s “Girl Power,” showed just how mighty they are with an impressive 366 points! Christian’s “Get Huge,” was next at 332, followed by Sam’s “Team Sam,” and Ben’s “The Winners,” being real losers at 312. Get ready for week two! Go to the store, have snacks available, eat out less, let’s go!

*Automatic Clearing House. What the heck is that? It’s direct-pay from your bank account. As you can imagine, new businesses run on a shoestring budget, so every little bit counts. Credit card fees are dang expensive in the grand scheme, so we’d like to ask each member to set up their account for ACH payments. We didn’t raise membership rates this year and kept the founders rates valid, so if you can get this set up for us, it’d be a tremendous help. IN FACT… for anyone who does, you’ll earn a free FitAid or O2 recovery drink for your trouble. :) See or text Ben to set that up. Thanks!!

*ok with all of that said, we’re in for a really good week of training! Some of these are superbly imagined and going to make us better. Here they are!

Workouts for 12/30!

Christmas Week workouts and schedule

Hey all! If you made it out to the Chaos of Christmas on Saturday, we hope you had a great time! If you missed it, man, too bad! …let me know if you want to give it a go sometime, you’ll need a partner.

Here’s the schedule for the week!

Monday - Normal

Tuesday 8a, 10a

Wednesday Closed!

Thursday - normal

Friday - normal

Saturday - normal

OH. MY… This could be SO nasty. Bring your midline stabilization!!

12/16 - A couple announcements!

Hey everyone!

Thanks for joining us for Friendsgiving this past weekend! We had a great time chatting with you and your little ones and your loved ones. I can’t wait to see what next year’s will be!

Version 2 of Level Method’s map! Version 1 was around for nearly 5 years before version 2 came out. We don’t expect a version 3 any time in the near future, so your new level is your level until you change it! If you haven’t logged in and changed your password, you should and then check your levels while you’re at it and see if there are any you could immediately upgrade. Let a coach know if there are!

Chaos of Christmas event is next weekend! It’s going to be a blast! Make sure to reserve a spot! If you don’t have a partner, just signup and we’ll match you up on Saturday. :)

Workouts for 12/9 - FRIENDSGIVING SATURDAY 6PM

Here we go again! A new week of workouts! An opportunity to get better, an opportunity to spend time with friends, an opportunity to shut your stresses off for an hour and do something good for yourself. Let’s do this.

Quick reminder - Saturday at 6pm at The Standard… Friendsgiving! It’s a potluck, so bring something you enjoy eating and expect others will too. Keep it simple. If you don’t want to bring something, still come, just bring a good attitude. :) There are a few good reasons to be there, but they’re surprises, so you’ll find out soon enough!