“Let’s not tell anyone we’re competing.. unless we win.”
Much to our surprise, Diablo athletes Dee Sanchez and Surita Sharma decided to compete in (and win) the annual MABA Games competition on Saturday! They chose “Scaled Teams” .. because there was no Rx teams. But, as it turns out, getting to the top of the podium wasn’t a walk in the park. Dee’s text to me: “we said we were doing it just for fun, but then the shit got real serious towards the end. We went from fourth place to first.”
Congratulations Dee & Surita – way to represent Diablo!
“Be careful how you are talking to yourself because you are listening.”
Lisa M. Hayes
RANDOM THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK
Sober October: I gave up social media. Had to delete it from my phone to prevent the unconscious opening… hmm. Occasionally find myself picking up my phone to check IG only to set it back down a little disappointed by the compulsion.
Grip Sh*t: Coach Sarah tore a tendon in her wrist/thumb using brand new synthetic hand grips for bar muscle ups. A member’s grips stuck to a pull up bar (that was sticky) and was nearly injured. Wrist/Hand grips can be hazardous – a few competitive CrossFitters have been injured when the grips didn’t rotate or release. Be alert and don’t overly trust ’em.
CrossFit is Intimidating: had a few conversations with prospective members and others about CrossFit. The fear is real. And the myth, “CrossFit is Dangerous” is still alive, despite significant data to the contrary. Ultimately, the ONLY way for people to discover the incredible benefits of CrossFit is to walk through the door and surrender themselves to the process.
Strength Training is Empowering: Diablo is hosting 2 “Women Only Weightlifting” clinics and the feedback so far has been awesome and encouraging. Most of the women have very little, to zero experience with weight-training. One, a 70yo, admitted her fears on the first day and said that her daughter tried to dissuade her from going to a CrossFit gym. After the 3rd day, I bumped into her in the parking lot and she said to me: “I feel like a badass!”… just 3 days in. Best compliment ever.
It Sucks to Lose Good People: “CrossFit Community” is a double-edged sword. We’ve had a couple of departures from our community recently due to jobs, moves and life changes and they hit hard …for everyone.
AI .. what is the differentiator? Jamie Lee and I have been playing around with AI for our competitions, programming, marketing content, and other admin stuff. It’s amazing and surely will be an equalizer for many people and businesses. So what will be the differentiator? In my opinion: work ethic, relatability, and physical fitness.
Craig
#itsup2us
SARAH’S CALL OF DUTY
A few months ago, Coach Sarah Howard hit us with some very sad news: she was going to be re-deployed to Virginia. Sarah is a senior non-commissioned Officer in the US Air Force Band – and she’s taking a new leadership role on the East Coast. She has said that after a year of Coaching at Diablo – leaving this community is one of the hardest moves she has ever had to make. She seriously considered early retirement from the Air Force in order to stay in the area.
Coach Sarah is an awesome coach, an amazing athlete, a really talented musician, a very cool human, and apparently, a damn good Officer. We will miss her and hope she makes her way back soon!
Me and my two best friends love CrossFit!
This is a fun opportunity to introduce CrossFit and our amazing community to your family and friends. We spend just a few minutes showing everyone around and telling them a little about CrossFit and Diablo. Then, we introduce them to their first (or maybe 2nd or 3rd) CrossFit workout – Partner Style!
So, help us grow our community with the people you love. Invite them to our Bring A Friend day on Oct 10th!
- Sat, October 10th at 11AM
- No Experience Necessary
- Partner Workout – Scaled to Ability
Send the link to your friends:
A Diablo member since 2014, Jerad Kissack has finished his Observe & Assist training and will be ON the schedule soon…..when he completes his recovery from heart surgery (!!). Coach Jerad was supposed to start about a month ago, but a visit to Urgent Care turned into life saving bypass surgery. It was a HUGE relief to see him back in the gym on Wed last week, just riding bike, and definitely on the mend. When he’s ready, he’ll be in front of our members early in the morning.
Newer member, Flor Miller, is a PE teacher and Field Hockey Coach and passionate CrossFitter. She’s also a CrossFit Level 1 coach and now, fully entrenched in our Observe and Assist Coach training program. You’ll likely see her shadowing our coaches at different times of the day over the next several days.
DIABLO INTRAGYM COMPETION – Sat, Oct 31st: 9AM – 2PM.
- Teams of 2 or 3… its your call.
- OPEN Division = All Ages (we’ll scale the workouts for Masters Athletes)
- SCALED Division = All Ages for athletes who prefer to scale.
- All workouts are partner (2 athletes) – you decide which teammates workout
- Workouts will be released the week of October 18.
OG Of The Week – MELISSA CHATTERTON
Melissa at her first comp. in 2013 (Reindeer Games w/ OGs Katie & Carrie) and then in 2025 at our Intragym comp.
Melissa Chatterton has been a Diablo member since January 2014 and has compiled almost 3400 class & open gym visits since then! She’s a passionate outdoors person – traveling around the world for awesome backpacking and hiking adventures with her husband and daughter. And, she’s a pretty damn good CrossFit athlete as well with 15 Opens, 10 Quarter Finals, including 1 Indy Quarterfinals, a Regionals Team appearance (’17), and Masters Seminals qualification in ’26.
She usually trains in the early or mid-morning and she’s a regular on Sundays for our Masters Rx+ class.
PROGRAMMING THIS WEEK:
Back in the early days of Diablo, we named our Metcons. We’re thinking about doing it again. What do you think? (Click on the pie chart to cast your vote)
- Mon – “Minute by Minute”: Toes-to-bar, wall walks, push-ups and rowing
- Tue – Front Squat. Metcon: “Jump Around”: High wall balls and burpee box jumps
- Wed – C&J Cycling. Metcon: “Hold On”: Push-up plank holds and max-rep sit-ups
- Thu – “Run to the Hills”: Deadlifts and 400m runs
- Friday – “The Greatest Show”: Pull ups, T2B, Push Ups, Burpees, Squats (ADV: Bar MU & Pistols)
- Saturday – “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” – Partner dumbbell cleans, rowing and wall walks
- Sunday – “Carry On Wayward Son” – Echo Bike, wall balls, box step-ups and medicine-ball carries
The Diablo Way Podcast Guest Schedule:
- THU, Oct 8th, 10AM (reschedule): Diablo Mayor Dean Quiambao: AI and the Bay Area effect!
CRAIG’S LIST: Stuff I’m Watching, Reading, Using or Listening to:
Audio Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Ahhhmmazing (if you like fantasy sci-fi) recommended to me by Erica Linden. She knows I’ve played a little D&D. The story is immediately engaging and fast -paced. It helps a TON if you have a little role-player game experience. I’m recommending the audio book because the voice-acting is over-the-top great (and hilarious). One guy (Jeff Hays) plays over 200 distinct characters in the book. This is NOT Ai.
Prime: King & Conqueror – Mini Series. This is an 8 part series that tells the story of the 11th-century power struggle for the English throne between Harold Godwinson and William, Duke of Normandy leading up to the 1066 Battle of Hastings. It’s got all the stuff of a great time-period piece. Gotta pay attention to follow the names & territories.
