Blog

We have a new edition to the Cove, Tripp Allan Hippensteel. Congratulations to Josh and Kristen Hippensteel on their newest arrival!

 We have watched Josh and Kristen grow from young college graduates ,to Husband and Wife, and now to Mom and Dad. Young Tripp is in such great hands with this amazing duo!

This Saturday we will continue our annual tradition by recognizing Juneteenth with a special WOD. Juneteenth is an American holiday celebrated on June 19th commemorating when federal orders were read stating that all slaves were free.

To give a bit more detail, during the American Civil War, Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than three million slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. More than two years would pass, however, before the news reached African Americans living in Texas. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance.

Juneteenth, also called “Freedom Day”, is widely accepted in the United States as the day slavery ended. This is not a day just for African Americans to celebrate but a day for all Americans to remember and revere. It’s a testament to America’s ability to recognize wrong and do its best to change course and make things right.

An article published in the Galveston Daily News summarized so beautifully why we must continue to do the work. “Injustices continue to stain our nation’s honor to prevent us from living up to our stated belief that all are created equal. The abuses of slavery and its successor practices have often been experienced by many generations. And it’s never improper to continue seeking justice for all.”
This Juneteenth WOD has the volume and difficulty of a Hero WOD. And just like Hero WODs, it is designed to help you step outside of yourself to find a place of reflection, understanding and remembrance. We can all make a difference.
“Juneteenth”
6 rounds
19 Burpees
11 Thrusters
63 DUs
Buy Out: 65 Cal Bike

Fx- 95/65
P/O – 115/75

Numerical significance of reps:
6: June
19: Nineteenth
11 & 63: Emancipation Proclamation signed Jan. 1st (1/1/1963)
65: News slavery was abolished spread to Galveston TX 1865

 

COACH MADDIE!

The kid’s room is open for business

Thank you to Coach Joel for organizing this weekend’s Cove offsite event. It was so great to see everyone outside the gym and grown-up person clothes.

There will be more community fun for the upcoming Memorial Day Murph event.

Covies in the wild!

This Saturday at 3 PM, we will be having a little off campus social event at Hysteria/Lost Ark (right next to Larry Jackson’s Bull Head Pit Beef).  Come join your fellow Covies in an evironment that doesn’t involve a workout clothes and chalk. 

Thank you Coach Joel for organizing this event who is also hosting an after party at his home (BYOB).

There is more to Caoch Joel that his love of heavy metal music.

MURPH IS FOUR WEEKS AWAY!

Americans celebrate the lives and honor the memories of their fallen soldiers every Memorial Day.  As CrossFitters, on this day, Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy is memorialized by thousands of people completing the CrossFit hero WOD (workout of the day), which is titled “Murph” in his honor.  This is meant to be a day for community and remembrance, and we want everyone to have FUN and stay SAFE and HEALTHY as they tackle this challenging WOD.

Murphy was deployed to Afghanistan in April 2005. During a mission (later depicted in the movie Lone Survivor), he died while climbing to higher ground to make a call for help. Despite suffering severe wounds, he was able make the call and continue fighting. During that mission, Michael Murphy, Matthew Axelson and Danny Dietz were killed. The fourth member of their SEAL team, Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell, was able to escape, partly because of the call made by Murphy.  We honor his heroism with the following benchmark WOD:

1 MILE RUN

100 PULL UPS

200 PUSH-UPS

300 AIR SQUATS

1 MILE RUN

While this is a daunting workout no matter how you cut it, there are TONS of great ways to scale to make it work for you:

• Break up the reps in easy bit sized pieces.  Most people opt for 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats (for 20 rounds) to get to the 100/200/300 total rep count.
• For most, the PUSH UP is the first part to fail.  If this is an area of weakness for you, consider breaking up the push-ups even more.  Go 5 push-ups, 5 pull-ups, 5 push-ups, 15 air squats (for 20 rounds).
• Consider doing “TEAM MURPH”.  Find two or three friends (or we can pair you up) and split the volume.  For those of you who love partner WODs, this is a super fun way to attack the day!
• HALF MURPH is a great option as well.  You can cut the runs to 800’s and then hit 50, 100, 150 reps.  We still STRONGLY advise you to break up the reps it smaller sets!
• Or you can just do it as an AMRAP.  Let’s say 30 minutes is a good “feeling” time cap for you.  Go for a run then do a 10 or 12 minute “Cindy”.  Then hit another run!  Cap yourself at 30 minutes.

We are working through all the details of the day, but here are some things we DO know:

We will have indoor AND outdoor options for you to do the workout.

We will run multiple heats of 20 athletes going every 45 minutes. 

Your spot MUST be reserved in Wodify and we ask that you stick to your heat time.

If you are doing “Partner Murph”, each partner counts as a single sign up (meaning, if ten teams of two are going at once, that is a heat of 20)

“Outside Murph” will have pull-up subs including barbell rows, sit-ups or ring rows (we have a limited number of rings outside)

The event will kick off at 9:00am Memorial Day (Monday, May 31st) with the National Anthem, welcome remarks, and standards review.

Rolling heats will run every 45 minutes until we get everyone through.

And yes, we will have a community potluck-style party after!

While things are certainly not back to ‘normal’, we will do our best to safely honor the remembrance, celebration, and community that this day is all about. 

ONE POUND MINI PLATES 

We had another great week of training this week at the Cove and we saw lots of breakthroughs and personal records with our strength work. As we get more experienced as an athlete, it gets more and more difficult to make those gains. To help you see that progress, we added some one-pound plates to the weight stacks.  A two-pound increase might not seem like much, but every little bit counts.

COACH CARLOS!  

Most of you probably know Carlos S. from his fast times and heavy lifts on the WhiteBoard, And while he’s one of the most beautiful movers and outstanding athletes out there, he’s also one of the kindest and most generous we know.  He loves to help people fine-tune movement, whether it’s a high level skills like muscle ups or basic body upkeep with mobility drills. He’s been amazing to have as an athlete here for over four years and we are thrilled to announce him as our next Cove Coach!  Making the transition from athlete to coach isn’t always easy, but we know this community will rally around him and support him in his new role.  He’s a wealth of information and so eager to make a difference, so please tap into that. We asked him to give us a few thoughts on his journey and how he approaches fitness, so take a look below. We built this place to be a ‘playground’ where things that once seemed impossible no longer are – and it’s clear he shares that belief.  Welcome aboard Carlos. Let’s play!

“I first came across CrossFit when I watched the 2015 CrossFit games documentary (“The Fittest on Earth”) and I remember thinking how cool it was, I mean, these people were able to do just about everything from weightlifting to gymnastics, double-unders, handstand walks and more. It was amazing to see and thought I might want to try that one day. A year later I found myself getting bored of regular gym training with no results, I found the Cove through a simple online search and jumped on their free week trial. This place has become such an important part of my life since then.  As an athlete I’ve worked my way up from scaled to Rx and learned a ton of new skills, but for me, it’s not just about working out.  I used to be very introverted and straightforward, but the people here are genuinely nice and friendly and I couldn’t help making new friends and being social.  The Cove has changed me in so many ways.

I now see CrossFit as a huge playground for adults, where you are challenged to take on a series of tasks that you need to complete to best achieve your goals. In my case, I enjoy doing that on a high level for myself.  And as a coach, I look forward to helping people reach their potential so they can enjoy it on whatever level they are striving for.”

Carlos from last year’s Memorial Day Murph (coming soon!)