Five Alarm Fitness

Bloomington, Illinois

CrossFit Open

The Fall/October Open

By

Hey, everyone! I apologize for the lack of communication regarding the Fall/October CrossFit Open! Here’s a quick rundown…

Every Spring since Five Alarm was founded we’ve done a Friday Night Lights (FNL) event that revolved around the CrossFit Open. This year, CrossFit HQ threw us for a loop when they rearranged the yearly CrossFit Games schedule and gave us TWO Opens. We talked to a lot of people, and while we absolutely LOVE our FNL events, we decided to forego a full-on second FNL this year.

Since we’re not running a full FNL, we’re scheduling the Open workouts as our CLASS workouts every Friday (they’re announced every Thursday night). The classes will be full classes – coach led, lesson plans, etc. If you’re not registering for the Open through CFHQ, then no worries – we’ll just keep ticking along as usual, and hit the Open workouts hard on Fridays!

Anyone wishing to sign up for the CrossFit Open via CFHQ is more than free to do so. However, validation of your score still requires you to be judged while doing the workout. Whether you perform the workout in Class or during Open Gym, it will be your responsibility to ensure you have a judge available. Coaches will not be available to judge during classes.

In the meantime, we’re excited to announce that we will be participating in TEAMWORK again for it’s (and our) second year! TEAMWORK is an annual nationwide fitness event in support of the Navy SEAL Foundation. It consists of 24 Hero Workouts that honor fallen members of the Naval Special Warfare community performed over a 24-hour period. For us, this will start 11/8 at 6pm and run for 24 hours through 11/9 at 6pm! More information will be released soon, so stay tuned!

Lastly, although it seems far away, we are 100% planning to run Friday Night Lights again next year! We hope to make it bigger and better than ever, so no judgement if you want to go ahead and block that off on your calendar for 2020! I know I will!

If you have any questions about any of the above, please feel free to email me at josh@fivealarmfitness.com! See you in the gym!

– Coach Josh

Into the Great Wide Open

By

The 2019 CrossFit Open marked some change; most noticeably in the format of qualifying for the CrossFit Games. CrossFit HQ wasn’t the only one to make changes! At Five Alarm, we opted to do an “intramural-type” event instead. This change didn’t slow anyone down and, for another year, we are so proud of the turnout and effort of every single person that participated in Friday Night Lights!

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

INDIVIDUALS

JACKIE CARNAHAN: In open workout 19.1, wall balls and rowing devastated the masses.  Jackie kicked butt and completed this workout Rx, using the 14# wall ball for the very first time in a workout!  We are so proud of you and love that you pushed yourself to complete this task!

DAVE MOUSER: Dave showed everyone just how strong he is on workout 19.2.  He cruised through the scaled division with ease and was able to knock out multiple reps at the final barbell of 185#.  Even after all that work, he was able to PR this lift!  Way to go Dave!

MICHAEL REILLY: 19.3 challenged everyone in one way or another.  If you were able to get through the nasty lunges and weighted step-ups, you were kindly greeted with 50 strict handstand pushups.  Everyone’s favorite Reilly placed his best in this workout (6th in the gym), crushing a total of 15 strict handstand pushups! 

CALLIE SANDERS: After a couple of warm-up attempts that were “not even close”, according to her husband Taylor, Callie was able to knock out 3 Bar Muscle-ups in workout 19.4!  Congrats on the new skill Callie!

MAX ADLER, JOEL BACKS, BEN HENSON, RYAN REILLY, and THOMAS WOODS: This group of guys gets the nod for their performance in 19.5.  All 5 of them were able to complete the Rx level Fran-on-steroids event under the time cap! 

SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT: A special nod goes to all of you who competed this year for the first time!  The CrossFit open is a magical time, and it was great to see so many of you get out of your comfort zone!T

TEAMS

The Clean and Jocks team was able to take away the overall 1st place imaginary trophy by the narrowest of margins. We loved all participation of the themed weeks, the enthusiasm people had for judging, and the environment that was created by all the participants Friday Nights!  

WHAT’S NEXT?

CrossFit Open 2019, Part II

You heard that right!  Because of the new format of the CrossFit Games, the Open will now be taking place in October!  So, if you loved it this time, strap-in for another exciting FNL event! Expect to see the same format for that Open, with the same amount of enthusiasm (or more)!

LET’S SKIP TO THE GOOD PART!

I’m glad that I’ve kept you engaged enough to continue to read this far!  As many of you know, part of doing the Intramural Open for the gym, allowed YOU to help decide on new equipment for the gym.  By the NARROWEST of margins, the people decided on 1 Rogue Echo Bike and a new Big Ass Fan!  We are so excited to crank that puppy up in the hot summer months and watch the relationships build as you come together to cool yourself off in front of it!

(Here’s where it gets good)

Because of how awesome everyone was during the Open and how successful the event was, prior to the results even being posted, we went ahead and ordered TWO ROGUE ECHO BIKES, as well as the Big Ass Fan.

I apologize for those of you who were very excited to possibly avoid the bikes a little bit longer, but when you show up for Thursday’s workout, you’ll be able to test them out!

I can’t say it enough how proud we are of everyone and the effort that went into making this event successful!  We cannot wait for October!

Also, maybe next time we can give some love to the sandbags?

– Coach Catie

Friday Night Lights – 19.1

By

Welcome back to Friday Night Lights, a weekly, inner-gym team competition held here at Five Alarm CrossFit, and built around the CrossFit Open.

The 2019 Friday Night Lights heats start on 02/22/2019 at 6 pm! To help keep things somewhat organized, please take a look at the information below and let us know if you have any questions. We can’t wait to see you all there!

1. At 5:30 pm every week, there will be an athlete/judges briefing. This is when we will go over the standards for all movements in the workout along with what judges should be looking for and how to score the athlete. Please try to be here for this portion of the night as it will help us from answering the same questions multiple times and will also help us stay on schedule. It may also be helpful to watch the Standards Video ahead of time.

2. Please be sure to sign-up for a heat to compete in if you plan to do your workout at Friday Night Lights. Click HERE to reserve your slot! This link will be updated by 8:30pm each Thursday night to sign up for the heats.

3. We’d love to see as many of you as possible at Friday Night Lights. This is a great way to meet new people at the gym and to encourage each other through the workouts. Plus, massage therapist Heather Roney from Hush Massage Therapy will join us this first Friday for complimentary massages! We do understand that some of you may not be able to make it at this time so there will be a designated makeup time on Fridays from 4:00 – 5:00, Saturdays from 9:00 – 11:00 and Sundays from 1:00 – 2:00. During those times, Open athletes will have control of the main clock and first dibs at the equipment. Please make sure that if you’re planning to do a makeup or repeat workout at this time or any other time outside of FNL, you have cleared it with a coach and have somebody to judge you.

5. HAVE FUN! This is the most important part. Come ready to do your best & enjoy spending time with your fellow Five Alarm athletes. Friends & family are welcome to come watch and hang out as well!

We hope you’re as excited as we are for to kick off the 2019 Open! We look forward to seeing you all!

Friday Night Lights – 18.5

By

Every year, these five weeks go by so fast. We’re at our final week of the 2018 season and are excited to watch everyone dominate the WOD. Hopefully your team has established a theme for the week and you’ve got your outfit ready to go 🙂 By now, you’re all familiar with how this works so I’ll save you the long write-up and just give the highlights.

– WOD Briefing (and Josh’s infamous speech) will begin at 5:30.
– Please watch the STANDARDS VIDEO before coming in so you’re familiar with the workout and the judging.
– Sign up for your heat time HERE.
– Please do your best to make-up or redo the workout during an Open Gym time slot. If you’re unable to do so, please just keep in mind that the class in session takes precedence.

Let’s send this thing off in style!

Friday Night Lights – 18.4

By

Grab your Guinness & your favorite green apparel and join us for week 4 of the CrossFit Games Open as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

1. The athlete/judges briefing will once again begin at 5:30pm. This is when we will go over the standards for all movements in the workout along with what judges should be looking for and how to score the athlete. Please try to be here for this portion of the night as it will help us from answering the same questions multiple times and will also help us stay on schedule. It may also be helpful to watch the Standards Video ahead of time (especially if you can’t be there right at 5:30).

2. Please be sure to sign-up for a heat to compete in if you plan to do your workout at Friday Night Lights. Click HERE to reserve your slot!

3. As always, we’d love to see as many of you as possible at Friday Night Lights however, we do understand that some of you may not be able to make it at that time. If you are unable to make it on Friday or if you plan to repeat the workout, please make every effort possible to perform this during an open gym time slot so as not to disrupt the classes. Due to the size of our Saturday 8 am class, we ask that nobody plan on making up the workout during that hour.

Friday Night Lights 18.1

By

Here we go again, everyone! Welcome back to Friday Night Lights, a weekly, inner-gym team competition held here at Five Alarm CrossFit, and built around the CrossFit Open.

The 2018 Friday Night Lights kicks off on 02/23/2018 at 6 pm! To help keep things somewhat organized, please take a look at the information below and let us know if you have any questions. We can’t wait to see you all there!

1. At 5:30 pm every week, there will be an athlete/judges briefing. This is when we will go over the standards for all movements in the workout along with what judges should be looking for and how to score the athlete. Please try to be here for this portion of the night as it will help us from answering the same questions multiple times and will also help us stay on schedule. It may also be helpful to watch the Standards Video ahead of time.

2. Please be sure to sign-up for a heat to compete in if you plan to do your workout at Friday Night Lights. Click HERE to reserve your slot!

3. We’d love to see as many of you as possible at Friday Night Lights. This is a great way to meet new people at the gym and to encourage each other through the workouts. We do understand that some of you may not be able to make it at this time so there will be a designated makeup time on Saturdays from 10:00 – 11:00. During that hour, Open athletes will have control of the main clock and first dibs at the equipment. Please make sure that if you’re planning to do a makeup or repeat workout at this time or any other time outside of FNL, you have cleared it with a coach and have somebody to judge you. Due to the size of our Saturday 8 am class, we ask that nobody plan on making up the workout during that hour.

4. HAVE FUN! This is the most important part. Come ready to do your best & enjoy spending time with your fellow Five Alarm athletes. Friends & family are welcome to come watch and hang out as well!

We hope you’re as excited as we are for to kick off the 2018 Games Season! We look forward to seeing you all!

2018 Friday Night Lights & The CrossFit Open Information!

By

What is the CrossFit Open?
The CrossFit Open is the first step of the CrossFit Games. Anyone and everyone worldwide can compete in the Open. The top athletes of the Open will move on to Regionals, and the top athletes of Regionals will move on to the Games. During the 5 weeks of the Open, a new workout will be released every Thursday night. Each competitor has until 7pm on Monday to perform the workout and submit their score. Then they can see their ranking in the world, the region, the state, the city, or even inside their own gym! Think of it as everyone in the world belonging to the same CrossFit gym for one day per week, and instead of recording your score on the whiteboard you do it on the CrossFit Games website.

What is Friday Night Lights and how will it work?
Friday Night Lights is weekly event thrown at Five Alarm CrossFit, every Friday night for the 5 weeks of the Open. The gym gets set up in a competition-style format and FNL athletes will complete the Open workout for that week in a series of heats, with judges and all!

In addition to simply running the CrossFit Open workouts, we have a friendly inner-gym competition. Five Alarm Staff has chosen 3 Team Captains (Andy Mitchell, Jason Cleary, and Ashley Mikkelsen – team names TBA). On February 10th, everyone who has signed up for the Open with Five Alarm CrossFit as their affiliate will be “drafted” by these Team Captains in a closed-door draft. Any athlete that registers after the Draft will be randomly assigned to a team, so get in early!

Every week, teams will earn points for completing the Open workouts. At the end of the Open, one team will emerge victorious! Points will be earned as follows…

  • 1 point – for each person on your team who completes the WoD & submits a score for that week.
  • 3-2-1 points – for each person on your team who finishes in the top 3 (male Rx/Scaled, female Rx/Scaled) for the gym that week.
  • 5 points – to the team with the most team spirit each week.

There will also be chances to earn EXTRA POINTS for your team each week via weekly challenges, etc.!  Stay tuned for those!

Each week of Friday Night Lights will also have a theme (think High School Spirit Week). For 2018, the themes will be…

  • February 23 – Five Alarm Friday Night
  • March 2 – Hillbilly/Country Night
  • March 9 – Movie/TV Night
  • March 16 – St. Patrick’s Night
  • March 23 – Team Choice

How do I sign up?
Go to www.games.crossfit.com! Make sure you sign up under Five Alarm CrossFit BOTH as your Affiliate AND your Team. Once you’ve finished registering, be sure to share it on Facebook!

Does it cost anything?
CrossFit charges $20 to register for the CrossFit Open via the Games website. There is no additional fee for Friday Night Lights.

What if I can’t do some of the movements/weights, should I still register to compete?
Absolutely! This isn’t about what you could or couldn’t do last year. It’s not about what other people in the gym can or can’t do. This experience is about YOU. We want you to push outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. Besides, who knows when you might get that first Double Under, HSPU, Pull Up, etc.? Also, if necessary, CrossFit HQ does a fantastic job of offering scaling options for each workout, so they do not have to be completed “Rx’d.”

If I do Scaled versions of workouts, will my score still count toward the team competition?
It does! In fact, we will be using a scoring system that levels the playing field for everyone. Your team will DEFINITELY benefit from your participation.

I can’t make it on Friday nights, can I still participate?
Yes! We know that Fridays won’t work for everyone. It is our goal to get as many people in on Friday nights as possible to cheer on one another and build our community; however, if you can’t make Friday night, the scheduled and recommended make-up day/time will be Saturday during Open Gym (9-11am). Remember, though, whenever you may choose to complete (or redo) the workout, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure someone will be available to judge you.

I have the 12 times per month membership. Will FNL count towards my classes?
No, FNL will NOT count toward your 12 visits/month!

Remember, sign up before February 10th to get in before the Draft! And even if you choose not to register, feel free to join in the fun and come on out to one or all of the Friday Night Lights events and cheer on your fellow Five Alarm athletes!

Have any other questions? Don’t hesitate to ask a Coach, or hit us up on social media! We can’t wait to see you all there!

Friday Night Lights – 17.5 – Superhero Night

By

Week 5. It’s the final week of the 2017 CrossFit Open and man, have we had fun! We’re looking forward to kicking off our Superhero Night with the head to head throw down of Josh Wheeler & Chris McFarland. Both athletes will be performing the workout in full fire gear. If you missed out on this last year, trust me, you’ll want to make sure you’re at the gym by 6 pm to catch it this time. As always, please read below for some additional information that will help keep our night running smoothly (we hope).

 

  1. We’re going to mix things up a little bit this week & have our WOD briefing immediately following the head to head challenge. This is where we’ll go over all the movement standards along with the staging areas for where athletes will be doing the workout. Please do your best to be there for this portion (even if you don’t go until later) so we can avoid some of the chaos. The standards for the workout can also be found HERE on the CrossFit Games site.
  2. The logistics for this workout are a little dicey. We’ve got heats set up in 20 minute increments to try and keep things moving and get as many people in as possible. Please be prepared to waterfall in if we have some athletes going over the 20 minutes. We will cover this at the briefing as well.
  3. Please sign-up for your heat HERE. If you are unable to attend for some reason, please remove yourself from the roster so we can backfill your spot.
  4. As always, if you are unable to attend Friday Night Lights, please try to come in during one of the Friday Open Gym slots or on Saturday between 10 & 11 am. Athletes unable to come in during those times need to make arrangements with another athlete to ensure they will have a judge and check with a coach as classes will take priority on Monday.

Remember, you don’t have to be signed up for the Open to come join in the fun! We’ll be at the gym most of the evening so grab your friends, your family, and your favorite beverage and come cheer on your fellow 5 Alarm athletes. We hope to see all of you tomorrow night!