When your friends ask you: “What do you do?”.. send them this pic.
And.the goal? To be able to do more.
“Your comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.”
Jen Alvares
TIM SAYS: “TRY HARDER”
My buddy Tim Dymmel writes a pretty damn good email to his community every week too (CF Palo Alto). I particularly enjoyed last week’s editorial, so I thought I’d share it:
“Coaching cue number 1: Try harder.
This is going to be a speech directed at myself, first and foremost. If it applies to you, you’re welcome. If you’re good to go and always giving 100%, then I will hit you up for your secret sauce later. Please share that recipe.
Periodically, I believe we all need a kick in the pants and for someone to tell us to “Be Better” or “Try Harder”. I tend to think that is why a lot of people come to CrossFit in general. Well, at least the ones that stand in the Introduction and declare they want accountability, community, coaching and intensity. Then you keep coming back so I reckon you’re getting what you came for. The Holiday Party is pretty great, too.
There are times when I get frustrated (NEWS FLASH). On the surface it’s when someone doesn’t learn as fast as I’d like or they do something totally different than what I just asked them to do. Over the years I have learned that this frustration is at myself for not being able to communicate effectively to get my point across. At least that’s what I tell myself because I don’t want to blame someone else for my inadequacy.
Another “Try Harder” time is effort in workouts. CrossFit is scary in the beginning. Then you get better just by showing up. PR’s happen regularly. Effort is natural. Then we discover The Open and competition. Effort is 100%. Eventually, you have been exposed to all the moves. You know what band, weights, bar to use. Decades of CrossFit pass and it’s become routine. Ramping up to push hard is rare. And THAT is where I’m focusing. Cruising can be dangerous. I’m mentally lazy. Sporadic in my training and am missing the fire that once burned so bright. So just like after eating too many of the most delicious chocolate chip cookies, tomorrow is a new day and another chance to check yourself and your friends to stoke the fires and get after it once again.
Maybe you need to “Try Harder” or “Be Better”. Take this as a sign that you’re not alone. We all get to start over every day. Even multiple times each day.
See you in class.
Tim”
THE WORKOUTS HAVE BEEN RELEASED!
DIABLO INTRAGYM COMPETITION – 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.
PROGRAMMING THIS WEEK
- MON – “NO REST FOR THE WICKED”: 4x5m intervals, no rest – 20/30 Cal Air Bike, then AMRAP 12 K2E, 12 Push-ups.
- TUE – FRONT SQUATS + “GREEN MACHINE”: 4×5 Front Squats @ 75/79/82/85%; AMRAP 6m – 5 Burpees, 10 OH KB Swings.
- WED – C&J CYCLING PRIMER + “CLEAN GETAWAY”: 3 sets of 2–3 reps from high, mid, and low hang; 3RFT – 6 C&J, 200m Run.
- THU – “HANG ON”: 5x3m intervals – pull-up variation, 30-sec hang/support hold, max-cal Air Bike. Nov: 10 Jumping Pull-ups; RX: 8 T2B; Adv: 2/3 RMU.
- FRI – “WALK THIS WAY”: AMRAP 18m – 3 Wall Walk Push-up Complexes, 12 Alt DB Snatches, 36 Double-Unders.
- SAT – “GRAVE ROBBER”: 4RFT – 12 Deadlifts, 200m Run, 12 Pull-ups, 200m Run.
- SUN – “THE FINAL COUNTDOWN”: For time – 50/60 Cal Air Bike, 15 Sit-ups, 12 Wall Balls; 25/35 Cal, 30 Sit-ups, 18 Wall Balls; 15/20 Cal, 40 Sit-ups, 24 Wall Balls.
OG Of The Week – Deanna Dovichi
Deanna doing situps in 2011 and a little overhead in 2025
Deanna joined Diablo in 2011. She loves the outdoors and is often in the company of her Husky.. who waits patiently for her to finish class. She’s got more than 1300 visits under her belt since joining and her usual class time is 12 Noon. Be sure to fist bump her next time you see her – and congratulate her on 15 years of CrossFit!
The Diablo Way Podcast Guest Schedule: Awesome Guests Coming!
This week we have Fire Captain (& Firefighter of the Year) Brian George, followed by the Irish Girl Crew of Renee Bourke and Shauna Sophy.
- WED, Oct 21, 2:30PM: Fire Captain Brian George
- THU, Oct 29, 11AM: Irish Luck – Shauna Sophy & Renee Bourke
Diablo Members Spotted In MTZ
A few Diablo members got together in Martinez on Friday and ran into another former OG member, Nick Jones, who told them: be sure to go to the water’s edge for the sunset.. which they did, and which led to this great pic sent to me
Side note: Diablo member Marcy Delisle (7yr member!) is moving to Rocklin this week – so we’ll only see her when she visits on the occasional weekend! Best of luck to her and her new adventures.
CRAIG’S LIST: Stuff I’m Watching, Reading, Using or Listening to:
Visit: Blackhawk Museum – A neighbor gave me a couple of passes for this museum – mostly for my daughter who is a natural history buff and an artist. I finally got around to taking her and it was pretty damn cool. The Don Williams car collection on the first floor has some of the rarest and unique cars in the world, including an awesome collection of Ferraris and a 1936 Bugatti roadster. The “Into China” exhibit included massive wooden & ivory sculptures along with an incredibly huge model of the Forbidden City. This is a very cool, half-day adventure in Danville.
Book: The Glass Box: The Shocking True Story of How CrossFit Broke the Rules, Made Millions and Changed Fitness Forever. Wasn’t sure I wanted to read this one since I know almost all of the players personally. It is essentially the good, the bad and the ugly story of CrossFit the business, the sport and the amazing methodology that changed the world and created so many coaches and affiliates. The author, Callum Marsh, did his homework – many hours of interviews over several years – to gather the story of the explosive growth of CrossFit. Greg Glassman was a broke personal trainer living in LA at age 40 when he began to develop his methodology – 5 years later it gained massive popularity on its way to becoming the biggest fitness company in the world.
