A Jacket of Honor
You may have noticed some new SWAG around the gym... we wanted to shout out the fly navy jackets our coaches are wearing, and to take a moment to explain the significance.
Last year, knowing that our family would be growing (and with some real estate complications thrown in for good measure), Rob and I were acutely aware that our ability to continue running Arena Ready as the primary coaches was unlikely to be a winning strategy going forward. We needed to find outside employment to be able to support our family, and we needed to have time to raise our daughter.
Needless to say, we were afraid that we wouldn't be able to keep Arena Ready going, and spent countless nights heartbroken trying to figure out how we would break the news to our community, and even more so, how we personally would go forward without the Arena Ready community we've grown to love so much.
Enter the wearers of these navy jackets. Facing extinction, we reached out to our coaches, who in turn stepped up to save Arena Ready. In a wide variety of ways they supported us, and you, our AR community, to give us a path forward. Of course you've seen them in class teaching you how to squat better, and offering their suggestions regarding scaling and strategy, but we wanted you to know that they also kept AR on the map.
Initially, they gave us hope that things would be ok, and when things actually got real, when Rob was out for hip surgery, when we needed to run the Open even though Avery was due any minute, when the time came to physically move the gym and some of our plans fell through, they showed up to take us off the schedule when needed and to get AR through. Now, going forward, they're behind the scenes making suggestions, encouraging us, and generally supporting us, making sure we never feel alone at the helm.
To be clear, everyone at AR has been wonderful during this time, and we've never felt the importance of the AR community in a personal way nearly as much as we have in the past few months. But, our coaches stand apart for their willingness to add hours to their already busy days and facilitate workouts with enthusiasm and skill.
When you have a chance, please thank them. The jackets are a very small token of our immense gratitude.
WOD For 06-30-18:
In Teams of THREE Against a 24-Minute Clock:
A) First Complete...
3000m Row (MUST switch every 500m)
200 Med Ball Sit-ups @ 20/14 lbs
100 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
One athlete rowing while the other two athletes share the sit-ups & pull-ups with only one person working at a time -- sit-up & pull-up reps do not have to be evenly split and the two movements may be intermixed and partitioned in any fashion. The team must switch who is rowing at every 500m increment.
B) Then AMRAP of...
3 Power Cleans @ 185/125 lbs
6 Lateral Bar Burpees
9 Med Ball Squats
One athlete working at a time to complete a FULL round before switching. The team's score is Rounds + Reps completed of the AMRAP.