Walk with me… : 120724

I would like to talk to you for a moment.

Let’s start from the beginning, well maybe that’s too far back. Let’s start from about April, 2004…

I’m wearing a suit and tie. I have hair – and a corner office with a rubber tree plant. I can quote to you off the top of my head the market rates on 30 different mortgage products on any given day. The markets fall- I make money, they rise and we starve. I drive my boss’ Lexus to appointments because my 1990 mini-van doesn’t give the right impression to clients. I look good. I smell good and I’m hoping some day I can find a way out.

I’ve had a bit of a wake-up call when I hit 230 pounds so I decide to start shedding weight. I begin walking on my lunch break and cutting out the fries when I go to Carl’s Jr. I replace soda with iced tea. I lose about 15 pounds this way.

One day, while the markets are up, I realize I’m starting to get sick. I feel weak and tired and I don’t have any loans in the pipeline anyway so I decide to stay home for a day. Then another day, and then another… After almost a month of being off work with what turned out to be Pneumonia, I return to find out that the company I worked for was more ill than I was. The doors were locked, my rubber tree plant was gone and so was the sign on the door.

Skip to the next phase-

I’m working three restaurant jobs, then pared it down to just two so I could have some time to study. I’m tired, usually dirty and I pretty much smell like french fries all the time. I wear ridiculous uniforms, change clothes between jobs in my mini-van because it’s against the rules to show up out of uniform and I get to be treated like an inferior by some managers and customers alike. I have no full days off because if I’m not working both jobs I’m always working at least one.

Now here’s the point-

This may seem by all appearances to be a step backwards. It looks like failure. It smells like failure. It is actually progress.

You see, this ugly step back was in fact an opportunity for growth. I may be working until midnight, but then I have a couple hours of quiet uninterrupted study time! I might smell like a french fry but my new training clients are more interested in the new knowledge I have than how I smell (and most of them appreciate my situation). I may have taken longer to begin full-time training while I was working at the restaurants, but that gave me time to get in better shape and go from a pudgy 230# to a lean 175# and back up to a more muscular 200#.

A recurring theme-

When we made the transition from training people in their homes to getting our first training studio, it was a complete dump. The ONE bathroom looked like something you would find at a carnival. The walls were brown, yellow and orange texture. The carpet was green and torn and I actually heard one person come into the building and tell her children, “this place needs to be condemned!”

Three years later we were forced to leave because we had outgrown the space! It had become a home to our students. It was transformed from a dump into a launching pad of awesomeness.

The next space was the one most of you are familiar with but it took us three months to make it look that way (plus two years of continual small improvements). I remember at the time that some people were not happy because it was not as “cozy and intimate” as the previous space, but over the next two years it has become a rhythmic hub of personal improvement and relationship building.

So here we are-

The new place is a work in progress. On the surface it might not be dressed in a suit & tie, it might smell like a french fry (or worse?), but it represents opportunity for you all. How?

We have been training in Lake Oswego for almost 8 years. EIGHT YEARS! Yet when I meet people in the community they think we are the new kids in town. People ask me ” Oh are you the 503 guys?” No, 503 just moved into the area this year…”Oh are you down on Pilkington?” No…we were training here for 4 years before CrossFit Lake Oswego opened up.

No growth means no opportunity. Stagnation leaves you working out with old bars, too few medicine balls and not enough kettlebells. No growth means no coaching staff available at 5:30am, or 6:30pm. No growth means no showers.

Since we began work on the new space we have had the opportunity to share CrossFit to 12 new people as a direct result of them seeing our banner in the window! More students means more and better equipment for you! Not to mention more friends and family to get to know! This is more than financial opportunity- we now have the ability to change more lives! That’s what we are here for!

The future…

So picture this: Our new space has fully remodeled bathrooms that boast shiny new fixtures, tile floors and private showers. The hallway is refurbished, the workout area is completely matted and the kids area is a comfy mini-living-room. In this workout center we host special clinics, workshops, team training, private training, On-Ramps, boxing, MMA and Yoga.

Meanwhile our “old” space in the Wizer’s building is a full-time CrossFit Gym, fully equipped with everything you need, with Classes that range from 5:30am to 7:30 pm and includes 7-day-per-week open gym times and Olympic Weightlifting classes.

You will be able to train at both locations depending on your schedule and the type of training you are focusing on. We will still have a close-knit family of students, but it will be a growing, thriving community. More programs, broader schedule, better facilities, quality equipment…more opportunity for you to improve in every way!

But this vision won’t happen over-night. It will be a process, just like your fitness. It will be a journey.

Walk with me.

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WOD:
15 Rounds for time of-
3 Toes-to-bar
6 Pull-ups
12 Sit-ups

Scale rounds and movements as needed! Score time to complete.