Iron Will III Movement Announcement #2 

1. Squat snatch = all divisions

1. CTB pullups = D1

1. Pullups = D2/D3

1. Power Clean = all divisions

We are 6 weeks away for the conclusion of our Iron Will Series (IW3).  And it has been a blast to witness so many athletes testing their limits and redefining their goals over the past 4 months.  We know some athletes were exposed to their weaknesses and we hope they have been attacking them.  As we approach the final installment, IW3, The time has come to begin the movement announcements.  We will announce movements every Wednesday by 3pm.  Make sure to check the site, fb and or twitter.  Also once we have released these movements no changing of divisions will be accepted.  

Movement Annoucment #1

Handstand Pushups (Division 1/ Division 2) - head to ground, arms locked out at full extension and both feet in contact of the wall at the top position.  Hands must stay within a 36" space.  Kipping is allowed

Hand Release pushups (Division 3) - Hips and knees must be locked out and can not make contact with the ground.  NO SNAKE or WORMS we will be very strict on these.

Double unders (all Divisions)

Stay tune for the next announcement next Wednesday.

This year is flying by.  We are already complete with the 1st quarter.  And this means our events are coming , selling out and new ones are being added.  Make sure to stay current with the upcoming events.  As an affiliate these are great motivating tools for your athletes.  Once you have a purpose to train, it becomes easier to focus and you make less excuses and miss fewer training sessions.  

The NLI brought to you by Legendary Competitor and sposnsored by Life as RX and Rogue Fitness 
Next event date is 6/23.  We will host this event @ Aliso Niguel High School.  Great venue and great school and staff to work with.  This event is currently sold out.  At our current level of athletes to volunteer/ judge ratio we can not effectively handle more athletes.   We want to allow more athletes but we need more support from the very group we are trying to help- the affiliates.  With over 60 affiliates represented at each NLI event we hope to see close to that # represented on the volunteer side.  Volunteering is currently not mandatory but the select affiliates that provide the judges and volunteers that work all day would really appreciate some help.

Our next series "The Warrior Soul" 8/11, 10/13 and 12/8 is around the corner.  Registration is currently open for those who wish to register for the entire series upfront. (click here) We will open individual event registration on 5/15.  Our goal is to have athletes compete in the entire series to allow for a true series champion.  Do not miss your opportunity.  We will be making gym visits and dropping off flyers over the next few weeks.  Hope to you soon.

Endurance Events

We have 2 upcoming endurance events.  

The Dreaded Hill 5mi/8k Trail run sponsored by Oxygen4wods.com, Rocktape, FRS and Sport Journals - This is a 4.98 mi Run in Whiting Ranch The Run has a total ascent of 741.47 ft and has a maximum elevation of 1,548.56 ft.  This is an out and back course.  Bring your water to carry.  There is a water station at the turn around point (2.49mi).  The course will be open so there might be other runners/ bikers out on the course.  The course is wide enough to support everyone.  Come out and challenge yourself.  I am going out to run it again tomorrow so I will take some good oics to show you how beautiful, yet challenging the course is.  We are looking to have more than 70 runners out there and we are looking to find which affiliate has the best runners.  If you are interested in volunteering for this event please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Legendary Competitor July 4th Freedom Challenge Run 
This event is held in conjunction with the  Freedom Run @ the Ranch

The way this run works is as follows.  It is a 5k run w/ 3 stations of CrossFit movements - Station 1- 15 Burpees/ Station 2- 30 pvc ohs/ Station 3- 60 double unders (you must bring and carry your rope).  There are individual and 5 person team categories available to register for.  If you are on the team it must have at least 2 females and the reps will be done as a team total.  Each station will have a pit bosses who will be overseeing all competitors.  You must hold yourself accountable and count your reps.  The pit bosses will be on your back if they see faulty movement.  This will be a very fun and challenging event.  We are creating a banner that the winning affiliate will take home that they can hang in the gym.  Will you gym take home the pride and bragging rights.  For more info and registration click here.

The Legendary Competitor Olympic Weightlifting Meet on 6/2 @ Aliso Niguel High School sponsored by Life as Rx, Oxygen4wods.com, Sport Journals   
Our meets are designed to be a gateway into the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. We host unsanctioned meets which means you do not have to be registered with USAW to compete, but it also means that your totals and lifts are not inputted into the USAW database and do not count towards qualifying for any higher level competitions. Because of this, wearing a singlet is NOT required.  However, all rules and standards on the Snatch and Clean & Jerk are still strictly enforced.  We will have high level Olympic Lifting coaches/athletes as our referees and they will be a great resource to ask questions and learn from during the meet.  Adding this meet to your athletes training calendar will cause them to focus on technique and speed and ultimately improve their skills and help them reach their o-lift goals.

The Legendary Competitor RAW Powerlifting meet on 9/22 @ Aliso Niguel High School sponsored by Oxygen4wods.com, Rocktape, FRS and Sport Journals

We are fresh off our first Powerlifting meet and it was an awesome experience for everyone.   And based on the feedback and interested level we have added another meet to the schedule.  The overall take from this event was that too many crossfit affiliates do not lift according to the powerlifting standards.  Form breaks and half steps do not cut it on the platform.  All the athletes left the platform a better athlete than when they step on the platform.  Competing in this competition will make you better.  Get yourself and your affiliate involved. 

Photo courtesy of Jon Manuel and CrossFit TSAC

So that is what we have coming up.  Use us to help you and your affiliate stay motivated.  We are here for the community and we are not going anywhere.  Better organization, communication and more competitions are coming.  We are working on improving the scoring system even more.  Our goal is to get out an visit as many of our supporting affiliates as we can.  We want to learn more about those that support us and give back to you guys the best way we can.  

Stay tuned for more exciting LC News.

Our first powerlifting meet was held at Aliso Niguel High School this Saturday.  Before we start we would like to thank Coach Westling and his football team for allowing us to use their facility and assisting with spotting and loading of the weights.  We had 24 lifters compete for the title of best lifter based on the Wilkes formula.  Our powerlifting meet follows the basic powerlifting rules for all the lifts.  This was a great experience for all the lifters.  Of the 24 lifters only 3-4 lifters had every competed in a meet before.  Getting use to the specific rules and waiting for the commands took several lifters so getting used to.  As crossfitters, strict form and precise, technical rules are sometimes lost in the speed and intensity.  All the lifters now know what it takes to achieve a competition total.  In the gym, we sometimes get away with certain things that do not fly in a meet i.e. hitching the bar up on a deadlift, not getting deep enough on the squat or your butt coming off the bench during the bench press. 

This meet was a learning and inspiring experience for all the lifters and spectators.  We had a lot of fun during this meet.  Our next meet is 9/22 and we will be adding a slight twist.  We will open up a team division based on the Wilkes formula.  The teams will be 2 males and 2 females.  Their Wilkes scores will be added together to determine the winners.  Get your gym involved.  Focus on heavy lifting with perfect form and it will make you a better crossfitter in the long run.

Go to our Facebook page to see pictures and videos of the squat and some of the bench.  We lost the deadlift pics and video and for this we apologize.  If anyone that was in attendance has photos and videos of the deadlift please email them This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Here are the winners from the event.

Male
1st place - Jake Cutting - CrossFit Brand X/ Life as RX
2nd place - Ryan Suzuki - CrossFit Code 3
3rd place - Michael Walsh - Crossfit Foundry

Female
1st place - Amber Bolton - CrossFit Pride
2nd place - Niki Carroll - CrossFit TSAC
3rd place - Janeil Stehr - CrossFit Ventura

For full results go here.  Then click on thumbnail for full pdf.

Thank you to all the lifters and their affiliates for the their support.

What are your goals? 

Do you even have goals?

As we go through our daily operations it helps to have both short term and longer term goals.  If you do not have one, set one today.  At the end of your day review your progress toward that goal.  The daily steps help you reach your long term goal.  Each step forward should be a step toward something.

One of our goals is to help provide athletes with the outlet to achieve the goals they have set.  If you are a crossfitter who trains just to train and has no goals you are falling short of your absolute potential.  And having a specific date (competition day) you will train harder, eat better , get more sleep.  And while you do all these things a great side effect is that life becomes easier and you look better naked... (haha, that's always a good bonus)

I use the S.M.A.R.T method for planning out anything worth planning.  It works great for athletic perfromance, coach's meetings etc. Read the article below and apply it.

The article below comes from: http://topachievement.com/smart.html

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing.

When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

We had a fun weekend.  We had a chance to visit a few gyms.    We started off by going to CrossFit 714.  They had close to 20 athletes compete in our last NLI event and they had 7 athletes make the podium. While we were there we had a chance to chat with Aaron Cole, the owner, about the importance of competition for himself and his athletes.  Check out the raw video (I am working on the video skills, do not judge just listen to the content.  If there is anyone out there who would like to assist with the video media department please contact me asap)

Alex Garcia -  Division 2 Male 3rd place (see photo below)
Gerard Dauphinais - Masters 40-52 Male 1st place
Gabriela Roney - Division 2 Female 3rd place
Kacie Redmond - Division 3 Female 1st place
Brandy Burton - Masters 40-52 Female 2nd place
Lisa Switzer - Masters 40-52 Female 3rd place (see photo below)
Graham Threadgill - Masters 53+ Male 2nd place

Lisa Switzer (l.) Alex Garcia (r.)

After CrossFit 714 we headed over to CrossFit Insanity.  We caught them in the middle of an open gym session working on some clean and jerks,  check the video.  While we were there we delivered Michelle Carmenlingo her Division III 2nd place medal. 

The beauty of what the NLI and Legendary Competitor, are rests in the hands of the community of athletes and affiliates that are constantly training and pushing themselves to be better.  Our goal is give every athlete a reason to train for something.  Without something to train for it is easy to lose the motivation and desire.  If your affiliate is not competing in something then what are you doing?  You have to get in the game to make real gains.

After CrossFit Insanity we headed down to CrossFit Costa Mesa. Another example of an affiliate that is training hard all the time.  They have a dedicated powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting team which has athletes that compete in the NLI and will be competing in the upcoming powerlifting meet (4/28) and Olympic Weightlifting meet (6/2).  We were able to drop of the medal for the division I 2nd place winner - Lindsay Schuil. 

Lindsay Schuil during the overhead Sandbag lunge.

Lindsay has been competing with the NLI for some time now.  She started as an intermediate competitor and now she has developed into a pretty good Division I athlete who is also on CrossFit Costa Mesa's Regional team.    Before we left we got a quick tour of the facility, check it out.

It was a fun Saturday.  We plan on visiting some more affiliates through out the week.  For now get back to enjoying life and training hard.