+ FEBRUARY: air squats

+3 Air Squats Each Day

• On Feburary 1st complete 3 air squats, on 2/2 complete 6, on 2/3 complete 9 ... increasing by 3 air squats everyday for the month. Focus on posture, keeping heels planted, and depth. Make them wall squats to help maintain virtuosity if need be.

+ MARCH: Handstands

Minimum of 1 Minute working on handstands every day

• For the month of March we will be focusing on spending some time upside down. To complete this challenge you must spend at least 1 minute everyday working on your handstands. This can anything from kicking up to the wall, a wall climb with your feet, working on a free standing handstand or walking on your hands.
• Add 1 extra minute of skill work each week...next Wednesday increase to 2 minutes, the week after to 3, and we'll close the month out with 4 minutes per day.
• This is about spending some quality time focusing on skill development. The goal is to add 1 extra minute of skill work each week...to start with something simple & achievable and then build on that.

+ April: Burpees

+2 Burpees Each Day

• On April 1st complete 2 burpees, on 4/2 complete 4, on 4/3 complete 6 ... increasing by 2 burpees everyday for the month. If you miss a day (or if I don't get this challenge posted until 4/3) then the previous days get added onto the total. For example if you start on 4/3 you would owe 2 for 4/1, 4 for 4/2, and 6 for 4/3 for a total of 12 burpees.

+ May: Murph Prep

Half Murph Each Week, accumulate 1 mile of running, 50 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, and 150 air squats.

• We're mixing things up a bit with May's challenge series. Instead of the usual daily challenges this is a weekly challenge. With Memorial Day Murph coming up this month's challenge is to complete the work of a 'Half Murph' each week...this can be split up however you want across the week. The goal is to complete 1 Mile worth of running, 50 Pull-ups, 100 Push-ups, and 150 Air Squats. You can choose not to count the work done in classes if you want to increase the difficulty of the challenge. There is also the option of completing the work of a Full Murph each week for the true die hards.

+ JUNE: Squat Bottom

Each Day: Accumulate 10 Minutes sitting in the bottom of a squat

• We are revisiting the squat this month and this time instead of looking for repetitions we're working on spending some quality time in the bottom. This is a position that was fundamental to our development as a species and is too often neglected. The goal of this month is spend, or accumulate, a total of 10 minute sitting in the bottom of the squat each day...it does not need to be one single sitting. Answer emails, send text messages, catch up on Facebook, whatever you want to do while you're there is fair game. The general guidelines are as follows:

  • This is a resting position not a max effort squat, keep the spine relaxed.
  • Feet should be about shoulder width apart, play with different stances, the aim is for depth and relaxation.
  • Toes should be pointed forward, this will vary for each person, play with different positions, what allows for the best depth and least discomfort.
  • If you're expereiencing knee, or hip pain, stand up...move around a bit and try to resume squat work in shorter bursts of time.
  • Try to do this barefoot or in some sort of minimal footwear...we shouldn't need lifting shoes, weight belts, or knee sleeves for this.
  • Heels should be grounded...if this is impossible add a small support under heels until ankle flexibility increases.

  Bonus: Incorporate some of Ido Portal's stretches into your 10 minutes.

+ July: Pull-ups

Completed a sub-maximal set of pull-ups before and after each workout

• This challenge is inspired by Pavel Tsatsouline's "Grease the Groove" program. For this month we will be focusing on pull-ups with the goal of either getting stronger at pull-ups or moving towards that ellusive first pull-up. If you have a pull-up bar at home that's great, if not don't worry you'll be able to complete this challenge each time you come to the gym. This challenge can be done with strict pull-ups, ring rows, or banded pull-ups. The guidelines are as follows:
  • Perform several sets of pull-ups (or modification) throughout the day, at least 3x per week. If this is being done at the gym then try to perform a set both before and after the workout.
  • All sets should be performed at somewhere between 40%-80% of max effort, these should not be 'burn-out' sets. If you can do 10 strict pull-ups you should be doing sets of somewhere between 4-8 pull-ups depending on how your feeling...the sets do not need to be the same number of reps although you should keep track of how many are being completed.
  • Ideally we are trying to gradually increase the total reps from week to week.
  • Do not train to muscle failure or anywhere near it.
  • Keep sets manageable, if you're using a band make sure to incorporate strict ring rows (feet raised on box) in addition to banded work.

+ August: Air Bike Warm-up

Each WORKOUT DAY - perform an Air Bike warm-up,.

• We're taking advantage of our new toys for this Month's challenge. The challenge is to perform an Air Bike warm-up every time you come to the gym to workout. For the 1st week of the month we will be starting out performing a 30 Calorie Bike before each workout and for each additional week will be increasing the total number of calories.

  • Week 1 = 30 Calories
  • Week 2 = 35 Calories
  • Week 3 = 40 Calories
  • Week 4 = 45 Calories

+ September: Row Away

How far can you row in a month?

• With the summer coming to an end we're taking advantage of this month's challenge to help prepare people for the long winter. We're challenging people by asking a simple question - how far can you row in a month? Now there are a few rules...

  • Any rowing done during a class workout does not count, it can be either before class, after class, or during open gym.
  • Rowing done as part of a workout during open gym is allowed to count as long as it is not making a workout from a class.
  • There will be a leader board for this challenge and athletes will be responsible for updating their overall tally throughout the month.
  • This challenge is scored by the honor system.
  • Rowing does not need to be done at Strongtown.
  • There will be a prize for the top male & female rowers.

+ October: 30 Burpees

How fast can you do 30 burpees?

• There aren’t many movements that truly invoke emotion much like the burpee. They are one of those simple movements that has a tremendous ‘bang for buck’ factor and an equally, if not more high suck factor. They are CrossFit true and through. For the month of October we will be challenging everyone to do a 30 Burpees a day (we’re considering the Oct. 1st a bye), that may be broken up however possible throughout the day. In addition to the 30 burpees a day there will be a scored component of one time trial per week. The challenge will be scored based upon completion of the 30 days as well as the weekly time trials. Since the physical leaderboard was so successful last month we will be revising it to score the upcoming challenge.

  • Complete 30 burpees per day, burpees can be broken up / partitioned however possible throughout the day.
  • For each day of burpees completed check off your box on the gym leaderboard...if you miss a day do not quit! Just don’t check off that day, get back on the wagon, and check off the next day completed.
  • Once a week complete a 30 Burpee Time Trial. We are all friends here and scoring this based on the honor system...if there are any world record scores we are reserving the right to ask the Athlete to do an in-gym trail for verification.
  • Sunday is the deadline for all time weekly time trials.

+ November: 500 Thrusters

Can you do 500 Thrusters in a month?

• 'Can' and 'want' are often two very different things. For this month's challenge we are looking to see if anyone can complete 500 Thrusters over the course of November. As opposed to other challenges where work done during classes did not count - any Thrusters done during the month of November are fair game. We will be scoring this similar to the rowing challenge where there will be a score / leader board in the gym for people to keep track of their overall tally.

  • Rx Weights for Challenge = 75/55 lbs.
  • Throughout the month of November complete 500 Thursters.
  • Any Thrusters done during workouts can be counted towards overall monthly tally.

+ DECEMBER: "aka Abcember"

+For Total Reps & Time: Sit-ups, Planks, Toes to Bar, L-Sits

• As a little bit of Holiday damage control this Month's challenge will be what Mikey would call a "core blaster". We have 4 movements on the board - Sit-ups, Planks, Toes to Bar, and L-Sits. The challenge is to score as many total reps (or seconds) across the board in each category. Any reps done during a workout do not count towards challenge. Reps done at home or away from the gym are fair game.
  • Sit-ups are with an abmat (non-anchored).
  • Plank hold is scored by duration...seconds, minutes, maybe hours?
  • Toes to Bar can be modified to knee raises if you're not quite there.
  • L-Sits should be on paralettes, boxes or something similar.