You have heard a lot of talk about hydration from us and we are very happy to see everyone responding well. Usually when there is a change in a system, there is some level of chain reaction. We know the benefits of drinking more water during hot and humid days, but there is a chain that many people may not have seen. Allow me to paint a picture for you. When we drink more, we have a lot more to sweat out. In gym terms, this is a good thing. However, as we tend to loath heated muggy environments, bacteria love it. This is the reason that we keep our refrigerators cold and dry. We don't want anything fuzzy growing on our food, so I will assume we feel the same about our skin. (Upper lip excluded of course.)



We do our best to keep our facilities clean and sanitary, but realistically, there is no way that we can sanitize the entire room with a 20 person class leaving as another walks in. We have spray cleaner for equipment and for the floor as well. We have also suggested that people bring a small towel to class to help with this situation. If you clean up after yourself, the next class won't have to deal with your puddle of sweat. We always boast about our tight-knit community. Let's show it and take care of each other.

***If your body ever stops producing sweat at any point, hydrate quickly and see a coach immediately. This is a telltale sign of heatstroke!***

Lifeguard Update
Pat recently attended another lifeguard competition on western Long Island and came out with a second place finish in the landline event. After this strong finish, some of your coaches are gearing up to do it again at the East Hampton competition later today. Updates are soon to come.

If you would like to see us in action, some of our coaches will be competing in the Long Island Championship for ocean lifesaving. Each year the event is hosted by our home beach of Smith Point. Come check us out Monday morning on July 29th. Although it is a few years old, here is a taste of our competitions. You might even see some familiar faces.



Hey Weekenders
The 7am Saturday class will be an all levels class. We will all meet at Southaven Park on Horse Block Rd./Victory Ave. (Sunrise Hwy service road). When you pull in to park (for no fee), there will be a large field behind the picnic area to the left. That is where our workout will take place. This will be something that we have never done before, but I expect it to be lots of fun. We will meet rain or shine. In the event of thunder or lightning, we will meet at the Blue Gym for some "plan B" fun.

This is a map from CFLI to Southaven Park. (Depending on your computer, you may need to click the minus (-) sign once to zoom out.)


Quick Reminder
Here are a few schedule adjustments over the next few weeks:
1) No afternoon/evening classes on Friday July 26th
2) No 9:30/10:30am on Monday July 29th (but you'll be at Smith Point anyway...Right?)

It's Wednesday, time to get over the hump! In fact, why not turn that hump into a peak and make today great? Ok let's do it!

1) Get TANKED!

New bamboo tank tops are available for pre-order but today is the last day to pre-order. Get on it now!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlS86HMOc812dEU5ZVoxZkVHRTBJeFMyVFo4aEdlaUE#gid=0 (tabs for Men and Women at bottom)




2) CrossFit 101

This week's CF 101 is SOLD OUT. We opened an additional slot for next week (22nd) which is also SOLD OUT. So we opened an extra special slot for the week of the 29th and it is already starting to fill up. Tell your home boys and home girls not to wait.. this will be the last CF 101 opportunity for several weeks!

3) Few Schedule Adjustments

Here are a few schedule adjustments over the next few weeks:
1) No afternoon/evening classes on Friday July 26th
2) No 9:30/10:30am on Monday July 29th

Sorry for any inconveniences!

Option 1 (Actually Mandatory)
The hot and humid trend continues, and to make things worse, now we have a heatwave on our hands. Well, here is some breaking news for you. Aside from oxygen, water is the most important thing for you. It's true! So be smart this week. Make sure that you have access to plenty of hydrating liquids. We would rather not see anyone walk in with a 2 liter bottle of soda ready to work out. In fact we have cold water available for purchase in each of our facilities. You can even step it up a notch because coconut water is finally back in stock. However you prepare, be sure to listen to your body while you are here and make wise choices.

Option 2
You can also try to beat the heat this summer with one of our new CFLI bamboo tank tops. The materials are limited, so it may be a long time before we see these gems again. Click the link and use the tabs at the bottom to alternate between men's and women's tanks.

Option 3
Still too hot? Spend some time in our air conditioning during a sports massage from Gretchen. Keep cool while you get that deep tissue burn. Just remember that appointment slots are limited.

Something Fresh
This Saturday, we are going to try a little experiment. During our 7am classes we will be attempting something for the first time ever. I won't spoil any surprises, but I will tell you that all interested members will meet at Southaven Park (less than 5 minutes from CFLI). The park will be open, but there will be no fee for parking at that point. Who will march bravely into the workout and become part of CFLI history?

Hot Brain
You will probably get pretty hot and tired today. We will help you stay on track, but as usual, everyone must count their own reps. We will remind you of the movements and when to start and stop. Just be ready, because if you lose focus for a moment, you may lose count. It happens to everyone, unless you're this guy...

Hey Gang,
Hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready to hit it into overdrive this week. It's going to be a hot one! With that in mind please be sure not to forget plenty of water and a towel and remember to wipe down any equipment after you use is. It's going to get sweaty the next couple of days..

**ALL CLASSES ARE IN THE BLUE GYM TODAY**

Drum Roll Please...
One of our oldest members is finally tying the knot. Some of you may know him as "The Doc". Some say he's stright O.G. (Original Gangster). All you cave dwellers know him as the former Paleo champion of the world. That's right Dr. Charles (C.J.) DeFraia is Getting Married.


What this means..
Friday, July 26th we will not be hosting any evening classes. All coaches will be in attendance to Doc's wedding. If this seriously impacts your training schedule please contact any of the coaches and they will gladly give you C.J's cell phone number and home address. Just kidding!

Fun Friday for ya that will hopefully bring you right into a "We can" Weekend. See yesterday's post? How are you going to enjoy yourself this weekend? Try something new? Get out there and PLAY! It's going to be beautiful out...don't let the summer slip on by!

Speaking of Summer. Pat and myself had the opportunity to head to Rehoboth, Delaware on Tuesday for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Lifeguarding Championship on Wednesday. This wasn't our first rodeo and by no means will it be our last. However, this was the first time Pat and I combined our CrossFit forces and competed as partners in the Landline Rescue Race. For our debut we managed to pull out a 3rd place finish! Nicole was also in the 4X100m Relay and came out on top with a 1st place finish! To say the least we were all very pleased with the outcome. Don't worry though we're back at the box and back in action until next time. Thanks to all the other coaches for helping us make the trip a success.


Couple Quick Reminders before you get the Weekend rolling:
1) Summer Lifestyle Challenge is underway! Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you have any questions or if you did not receive your scoresheet

2) Reebok / CFLI Zip-Ups are FINALLY in! They are ready for pick-up at the front desk at the Gold Gym.

3) Deep Blue Rub/Oils are also in at the front desk at Gold Gym.

***ATTENTION***
Heading Back
All classes will be held at the Blue Gym today! Any of you Gold Groupies can bring it back to our roots at Blue.

Take Life Back
We are all healthier human beings because we CrossFit. I think we would all agree that we have the the potential to live longer lives due to it. Still, like they say, "You're not livin', unless you're livin'." Too many of us "fit" CrossFit into our schedule. Too many of us work, do house work, make dinner, and go to sleep for the night. Too many of us have fallen into the belief that this is how we have to live our lives. Well guess what! Routine is the enemy and we need to take back our lives. Our existence on this planet alone is so mind-boggling, that is is a travesty to see people living each day by going through the motions.

You are an athlete. Break away from the norms of our culture. We need to find hobbies, activities, sports, or anything else to apply what we have learned and developed at CFLI. Get out and do something fun. Learn new games and try new things frequently. Go on that adventure that you have always wondered about. Take it to any level; from the physical demands of climbing one of the world's "7 Summits", to teaching your kids how to play SPUD in the back yard. You're life belongs to you. Make it fun!



What new sport/game/activity will you explore?

Welcome Back
Ian, Pat, and Nicole are returning from the USLA Mid-Atlantic Regional Lifeguard tournament today. The spent a few days in Delaware applying their training outside of our facility as well. I won't spoil any of their news, but be sure to let them know how much you've missed them and maybe they will tell you about their trip.

Sore Back?
Gretchen is hot on the scene every Tuesday. Schedule your sports massage for next week!

Got some classic CF cominatcha today and you better bring it!





Hear are some important annoucements:

1) Summer Lifestyle Challenge is underway! Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you have any questions or if you did not receive your scoresheet

2) Reebok / CFLI Zip-Ups are FINALLY in! They are ready for pick-up at the front desk at the Gold Gym.... come and get em!

3) Deep Blue Rub/Oils are also in.... front desk at Gold Gym whenever you are ready!

4) All classes will meet at the Blue Gym tomorrow (Thursday)!

Squat’s are a highly influential part of our pursuit of elevated fitness. So, why do we put such an emphasis on doing them?
Squats work many more muscles in your body than you may realize. With so much internal activity, squats allow us to burn more fat. If you go heavy, your legs and back have the potential to quickly put on larger amounts of muscle than other parts of your body. When the end goal is to obtain any level of increased fitness, squats are a fine foundation to build off of.

Let’s get scientific!
You have probably heard about professional baseball players attempting to get an edge by taking something called “HGH” and being called cheaters for having an unfair advantage. HGH is an abbreviation for Human Growth Hormone and it exists naturally in our bodies. Along with our testosterone, these are our bodies’ prime anabolic hormones. These allow us to become stronger as our muscles develop. Muscular people often tend to be well toned people as well. This is partly due to the behavior of these hormones. HGH and testosterone both transport fat to be used as fuel. Therefore, we will trim down on our fatty areas at the same time that we obtain more strength. We can best tap into these hormones by performing heavy multi-joint movements like deadlifts and, you guessed it, squats.

Where are the machines?
There are many reasons to avoid using machines, but here are just a couple:

CrossFit is functional and, therefore, can be applied to the outside world. If you come across something heavy in your daily life, you will not have a machine there to assist you. We will have to stabilize that weight on our own. If we are going to prepare ourselves for that kind of task, then we must train without assisted stabilization as well.

We can alternate sides of our bodies that we work on. Try to find a machine that allows you to do a kettlebell snatch or a Turkish get-up. Need we even discuss Olympic lifting? Enough said.

Machines can put you in some unnatural positions. Have you ever been in a leg press machine? You end out partially inverted while pushing your legs upward. It is very unlikely that you will ever find yourself in a position like that outside of the gym. However, there is good news. If that big earthquake ever hits long island while you are lying in bed and your bedroom wall collapses on top of you, you will be able to leg press it off. Then again, you would be able to do it more efficiently if you just improved your squat!

Just Squat...

The holiday weekend is over and we are back to the grind.... let's get back in gear with a little something that'll make you sweat!

First, let's cover some important topics:

1) Summer Lifestyle Challenge

Day 1 of the Summer Lifestyle Challenge is today! Participants will receive their score sheets this afternoon.

If you missed the registration because you were too busy lighting off fireworks and scarfing hot dogs all weekend, you may need this more than anybody. You can still register up til 3pm today with no late fee.

Here is the registration: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahm-QtusFI8XdEhkZ21UdTlQUUJPandCdFRhU1ZHNGc&userstoinvite=shalford83%40gmail.com#gid=0

Here are the rules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agImvHIO_3E

2) 4th of July Beach WOD

The Beach WOD on Thursday was an amazing event! In fact, with just under 80 participants it was officially the largest event in CFLI history! Congrats to all who came out, you will go down in history as a part of a monumental moment!



3) Gretchen will be here tomorrow!

Sign up early for your sport massage https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlS86HMOc812dFVRSHhEcW9lb25SbmdtYy1hTnJqc1E#gid=0

We hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July! Remember today we are running an adjusted schedule.
We will be having a 9:00am and 10:00am All Levels Class at the Blue Gym. See you there!

Anyone know what time it is? That's right, the time is NOW! What do I mean? I'm saying that the Summer is upon us and we have the opportunity to improve our lives in a dramatic way. The Summer is the perfect time block to set short term goals with long lasting results. Tomorrow is the 4th of July and we are having another rocking Beach WOD to kick off the month of July and true Summer (more on the Beach WOD in a minute).

In addition, Friday is the registration deadline for the "Summer Lifestyle" Challenge. This is an awesome challenge designed by Brianne to mimic the awesome Paleo Challenges that we already do, with a little Summer modification to make your life a little more relaxed. No baselines, no measurements, no meetings. Just you vs yourself and the scoreboard. You even get cheat meals and cheat DAYS (yikes!). Gonna be awesome!

The way I see it, there are 2 types of people in the CFLI Community:

1) People who braved the cave this Spring, took on the challenge, and need a little mini-challenge to keep them on track or get them back on track. These people DEFINITELY need to register for the challenge!

2) People who missed out on the Spring Paleo Challenge and need to get a crack at Paleo for the first time, or need some help holding themselves accountable. These people DEFINITELY need to register for the challenge!

Here is a re-post of yesterday's video explanation of the rules. It's a little long, but grab a pen and pad and watch it once and you are set for the next 54 days...


Here is the sign-up sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahm-QtusFI8XdEhkZ21UdTlQUUJPandCdFRhU1ZHNGc#gid=0


Tomorrow is the 4th of July! That means we will be seeing your smiling faces at the Smith Point Pavilion at 8am sharp for an awesome (and FREE) Beach WOD! This WOD does not count towards your weekly training regimen and is just going to be some good clean fun. The way I look at it there are two types of people in our community:

1) Knuckleheads who skipped the last Beach WOD and missed out on an awesomely fun morning. Those people DEFINITELY need to be there this time.... without a doubt!

2) Knuckleheads who got up early on their holiday to push themselves through the hot sand workout. These people had a great time and DEFINITELY need to get there again.... I'm sure they would agree!





One more thing:

Reebok/CFLI Zip-Up Hoodies are FINALLY in (please don't kill us...it wasn't our fault!) Those who ordered will be receiving an email today about picking them up...

You want results? You can have results. Just be sure that when you workout, you do it a a high intensity. If you want to look better, feel better, or perform better, you better be moving heavy loads for long distances and do it quickly. Understand that these are relative components and will be different with varying athletes and varying workouts. Basically, choose challenging weights, hit your movements to full standard, and move as quickly as you can. Allow this video to support this concept:



Today you will be faced with two back-to-back AMRAPs that are simple movements arranged in couplets. The idea is to really crank up the intensity today!

Summer "Lifestyle" Challenge
You may have heard that some of us are trying to fight off summer temptations. Don't worry, we are here to help! Instead of calling a meeting at the gym, here is a video with all of the details for you to watch when it works with your schedule. If you can't wait to register, see the link below.



Register Now!

Sports Massage
Gretchen will be here as she is every week. If you are curious or a returning customer, sign up here.

Holiday Week
Today and Tomorrow - all classes on as scheduled

Thursday - 8am Beach WOD at Smith Point Park, this will be the only class of the day.

Friday - 9am P1 - Gold, P2 - Blue / 10am P1 Gold, P2 Blue