Friday, May 15, 2009

Roll with the 603

First thing's first - the PR Party thread is still going strong, with more than 70 comments so far. Keep them coming - if you're a lurker here but have yet to drop some props, now is the time to make yourself heard.

Now, on to the topic of the day. A few of you who posted songs to the PR Party thread added as a bit of a disclaimer, "I'm not a 603'er, but here's my favorite track." Interesting. The first thing I'll say it does not matter if you're not a 603'er. Good music is good music, and I'd like to get 70 more people to contribute to this gold mine of lyrical magic.

But the next thing I'll say is, why aren't you a 603'er? I mean, I know you most likely do not live within practical driving distance of Tilton, NH, and therefore cannot physically come and train with us. Too bad - we'd love to have you. But that doesn't mean you can't still check out our stuff and play along from time to time.

See, at the 603, we do all our own programming. And I may be biased, but I'd like to think our stuff is pretty good, thanks in no small part to Dallas (the evil genius behind 90% of our WoDs). Our workouts are heavy on the Oly, kettlebells and gymnastics, and have a serious strength bias. We like to mix things up in ways you may not have seen before. And we make you think about your training - your strengths and weaknesses, your skill level, and your degree of mental toughness. All of which means our workouts are an awful lot of FUN. Well, fun-ish. I mean, you've seen our tag line. (Also, even we'll admit that the math is not fun. Nobody likes math.)

The thing is, we've got CrossFitters from all over regularly doing our workouts and posting to comments. Jonathan in the UK, Kristin and Jay in North Carolina, Andy at Dartmouth, Addi in Nebraska, Nik in Maine, Tony from... um, Tony, where are you from, anyway? And Matt, originally from NH but currently deployed in Afghanistan. So not all 603'ers actually train WITH us (although, again, we wish they could).

So if you're ever stuck for a workout, or bored with what you've been doing, or just feeling like kicking your own ass in a totally new and uncomfortable manner... check us out. Scroll through our WoDs, and if you see something you like, give it a go. That goes for you affiliate owners and trainers out there too - feel free to borrow, sample or straight-up snatch any one of the 603 WoDs. We only ask one thing of you... if you give our stuff a whirl, sound off in our comments! We appreciate hearing feedback on our programming, and we love seeing what other people are able to do with our stuff.

Come roll with the 603, even if it's just for a day. You can start here, if you like... the met-con I am now calling The Workout of Which We Do Not Speak. Or, my personal favorite - our version of a CrossFit classic called Stand Up, Linda. See, Constantly Varied drops in on us all the time, so no matter what day you choose, you're bound to try something new, and have a little fun while you're at it. (Well, fun-ish. Right.)

Our long-distance trainee, Kristin Schulz, passing our version of the Sissy Test with flying colors.

15 people drop some props (leave a comment here):

Jay M Schulz Photography said...

First, let me say that my wife looks HOT! Now that this is out of the way, I gotta say that I am LOVING (and hating) the 603 workouts. We want to join a CrossFit gym (that's with a soft 'g') in Fayetteville, but until then, we are in love with the workout programming and will probably use the insight here in some form or fashion even after we get hooked into a local program.

As to learning strengths and weaknesses, I gotta tell you that is SOOO true. My legs are SOO sore from those stinkin' berpies. This is a TOTAL body workout.

As a Captain in the Army, you can be SURE I will be implimenting this workout mentality and techniques with with my soldiers.

Thanks for including us. We will make you proud.

Jonathan said...

'The Workout of Which We Do Not Speak'... this is the perfect title for that one. Shudder.

You forgot to mention the buy-ins and cash-outs! They're a lot of fun. God only knows why I would enjoy having even more work to do after the WOD, but for some reason I do...

Jill P. said...

Hi Kristen..
What part of NC are you in? I am in Wilmington and work out at Crosfit Wilmington..come visit us whenever you can..
I love MB's site..My husband is at the qualifiers today with the rest of our team..Wish them luck!
Jill

Laney Peach Coyne said...

I agree with Jonathan on that metcon.. I have nightmares about it.. I think I gave myself a slight case of rhabdo with "The Workout of Which We Do Not Speak".

I live in Portland OR, and as a trainer myself, I find that there are some days where I just don't want to make shit up, so I browse other people's wods.. and the 603 mos def represents with some good freakin' wods. So if you haven't done some of their wods, do one today! You too will curse this Dallas character for hours, days afterward, even though you may not know him.

And I really like the Buy Ins and Cash Outs.. I am using them with my clients as well:) How's that for snatchin' some shiz..

Word up.

Jimi said...

Ok, I've decided to pledging 1 month (3 weeks hard, 1 50%) to 603 wods as a fun experiment. I need to focus on strength and a break from main site.

I shall see you tomorrow in the 603 comments!

Melissa Byers said...

Jimi - Holla!!! Make sure you introduce yourself in your first comment on the site. We've got a good group posting on a daily basis, and more and more people dropping in every day.

And if you ever have questions about the WoD, scaling, etc., just post to comments, or email me directly.

Melissa

Gayle said...

Hi Melissa,

I'm a solo Crossfitter in Vermont and I've really been loving (and hating, like Jay said) the 603 programming. The strength bias is really what I've been needing, and I love that you throw in some kettlebell stuff.

I'm catching up on your "Sissy Test" this morning and will post my results.

Keep up the great work! :)

Gayle

Melissa Byers said...

Hey Gayle! Thanks for joining in the fun. Good luck with our version of the Sissy Test... that left a few of us walking funny for a few days. And if you ever head east, pull up on us! I'd love to meet you.

Chris said...

Melissa & Dallas - you two have some excellent programming. A good balance of "NRGPP" (ask Gant Grimes to explain that acronym) and strength work/OL work. The buy-in/cash-out is a great way to integrate skill work that the CF theoretical template emphasizes. Unfortunately, that skill work doesn't get emphasized by the main site WOD/some affiliates.

Like Jimi, I'm going to play around with your programming for a few weeks. I need to get back on the sauce after several months of hybrid/black box programming. I look forward to see what you've got in store!

Melissa Byers said...

Hey Chris,

Any friend of Gant's is a friend of ours. (And I can guess what that acronym stands for, but I'll ask him anyway.) Thanks for playing along. It looks like you work some good stuff yourself, based on your blog, so I look forward to hearing your feedback on OUR stuff.

Melissa

Katie said...

Lurkers... lol... love it...

CFOT has my heart Melissa, but I'd like to think that you'd let me be an honorary member of 603... :)

David Tozzo said...

I have really been enjoying the diesel and 603 sites!
After the general invite I thought it would be a good time to start some of the work-outs.

I am a 48 yo firefighter from Florida. Who has been crossfitting ( or trying ) for a while.
I took the sissy test.
Good stuff!

Addi said...

Not everyone hates math... those are some of my favorites. And useful, it turns out. I competed in the Rocky Mountain Regionals last weekend, and the third WOD was.... 5000 lb. ground to overhead, with our choice of weight/rep scheme. How freaking excited was I? Pretty damn excited. Having done the OHS workout a few weeks ago gave me a better feeling for how to game it - helped a ton!

Melissa Byers said...

Addi,

First of all, congrats on your qualifier participation! I haven't had two seconds to check the stats yet, how did you do?

I'm really happy to hear that our programming helped you out with that last workout! And I'm DYING to know if maybe... just maybe... the organizers happened to maybe see that style WOD on the 603 page and like it so much they decided to use it? Maybe that sounds conceited, especially since I don't think I know anyone connected with organizing the Rocky Mountain Qualifiers... but still, it would be BEYOND cool if they were a little bit inspired by Dallas' programming.

Melissa

Addi said...

I finished 17th... THRILLED to be in the top 20! The competition was TOUGH. I came in 5th out of the Omaha girls, which I consider an even bigger achievement - we have some strong, fast women here.

I wouldn't be surprised if they had seen the 603 WODs - you have such a big following. I think I heard your blog mentioned at least 3 times over the weekend.