Thib and Valentin began training with us late last week. They walked out the back of the Anawalt Hardware Store and essentially fell right onto the steps of the Hut. I am still not sure what attracted these newly established Malibu residents, originally from Marseille, France. And the reason I am not entirely sure is because… well, I can’t understand much of what they are saying. Nope, I don’t speak any French! And while they definitely DO know some English, our Elements sessions look more like a game of charades than anything.
The most important thing is that they went from never having even heard of CrossFit- to jumping right in with no trouble at all. Of course, that doesn’t mean their front rack positions are perfect and that their cleans are already as smooth as beurre (see, I’m willing to learn!). But it does mean that they are putting forth tremendous effort and getting some change already. What is fun about teaching them is that it is so clear that human movement holds no distinction for nationality or language (among many other things!) I often find myself doing a certain movement and saying “This is a YES” and demonstrating correctly… and “This is a NO” and performing the movement with a technical flaw. IT pretty much transcends language! 🙂 They head back to France for a few weeks- but when they return- you can expect to see them in classes. And if you know some French- please help translate… you can also ask them more about the hair salon/clothing boutique they are getting ready to open near the old post office near Las Flores Canyon.
Power Hour culminates a 6 week training cycle with another running of CrossFit Total. If you missed out a few months back- then tonight is your night to lift heavy with the back squat, press and deadlift. A rarely occasion where you could set FOUR PRs in one hour!

Thursday 6, 7, 9am, 4, 6pm WODs
FUNdamentals 8am, Noon Open Training Hour, Power Hour Finale 5pm
For 15 minutes, move through these gymnastics skills and drills a few times if possible:
20 hollow rocks, 20 supermans, 10 parallette push ups, 10 training handstand push ups in parallettes, 10 toes to bar, 10 parallette/bar/ring dips, long L sit hold in rings or on parallette, and one wall walk.
-then-
Four rounds for time of:
400m run
50 squats
Post time and scaling to journals/chalkboard.
Stay tuned for an in-class explanation of “Escape Route” details.
Compare to Feb 2 2014, Oct 16 2013