Workout of the Day
WOD 10/3 - 10/8: Do you know about the Fog City Moratorium?
We have to announce a violation of our unspoken Moratorium that was put in place to make sure our beloved members don’t leave the city of San Francisco. We haven’t talked about the Moratorium much, but something that’s been in place for a while. However, whenever it gets violated, we have to call it out. Lisa Guadagnolo is the latest member who is moving to Houston. It' pains us to call her out this way, but we do it out of pure love.
Lisa has been a member of the greater Fog City community (Arena Ready days) for many years. What started off as a casual stop in at the gym with a co-worker turned into a lifelong friendship. For those of you who have worked out with Lisa, you know how strong and athletic she is. Don’t let her tiny frame fool you — she is a tiny beast. Lisa has also been a coach at our gym for many years, thoughtfully guiding athletes through rough and tough workouts.
After 12 years in San Francisco, she will be moving to Houston along with her husband and daughter. We will miss her friendship, coaching, and competitiveness in our gym dearly. We wish her all the success on her new journey. We look forward to seeing her in the future.
Here are her words taken from a recent Slack message:
Dear Fog City Fam,
The time has come for me to say my farewells to you all As most of you know by now, we’re moving to Houston and we’re down to the last days of being in the Bay Area. I’d love to see you all at the ParkLabs gathering on Saturday or at my last coaching day this Sunday at Open Gym!
When I moved to SF in 2010, I could count the number of friends I had on one hand. In leaving 12 years later, I feel blessed to have made so many lifelong connections. Whether I had the privilege of coaching you, working out alongside you, and/or sharing a food item or beverage with you, it’s been a wonderful 12 years. I’m forever grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the community as a member, coach, and board member.
If you’re ever in Houston, please reach out to say hi! Since everyone in Texas seems to flee during the dreaded summertime, we’ll likely be back for a few weeks then! So, it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.
Thank you all for coming out this weekend to our afternoon hangout at Parklabs! We had a chance to say our goodbyes to Lisa. Look forward to another hangout in the future!
WOD of the Week:
WOD 9/26 - 10/1: Barbell Club Details & Fall Hangout
📯 Happy Rosh Hashanah to our members who are celebrating. Wishing you a wonderful year ahead. Shanah Tovah!
🏋🏼♀️ Barbell Class Details:
As we mentioned at the Town Hall, we’re excited to launch a Barbell Class in our new space starting on Tuesday 10/4! Here are the details:
What is FCCF Barbell Class and Programming?
90-min sessions, 3 days per week (4th optional session programmed for open gym time)
Includes 4-week cycles for both Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting with access via spreadsheet to warm-ups, programming, coaching notes, and video demos
Video review during classes (and for Individual sessions depending on demand)
Membership options available for both class participation & programming to do on your own
Where? Our new space, 1643 Valencia St (Enter through FCCF main entrance, 1649 Valencia garage door. Please be respectful of any ongoing class activities.)
When? First class: Tuesday 10/4. Tuesdays & Thursdays 5:30-7pm, Sundays 10-11:30am
Who?
All levels are welcome, whether you are brand new to lifting or a seasoned competitor!
Coach Kate Fulghum (USAW-L2) who has many years of competitive weightlifting experience and passion for the sport will be leading classes and programming.
Coach Hillary Terry (USAW-L1) who has competed at the USA Weightlifting National Championships and the American Open (2013-2014) will be an advisor.
Why? Because weightlifting is awesome our members expressed interest in having this class via member surveys.
How? Sign up for classes in MindBody and purchase a Barbell membership using one of the below options (Barbell classes are an additional cost to membership as they require extra programming, coaching, equipment, and space). Attend our Q&A session on Wednesday 9/28 at 8pm to answer any questions.
🍁🍂 Fall Afternoon Hangout: 10/1/2022
Fog City CF Board would like to invite all of you for an Afternoon Hangout at Parklab Gardens on 10/1/2022 from 3-5 pm to celebrate the start of Fall. We’ve reserved a cabana for all of us to hangout. There will be food trucks serving drinks and food. Come hangout with the community and reconnect! Please RSVP here.
WOD of the Week:
WOD 9/19 - 9/24: Sparkle Memorial WOD & the Week Ahead
🍂🍁Ahh yes, the latter half of September is in full swing, which means Fall is starting this week, officially on September 22nd. With Fall around the corner, we are already seeing the weather changing and pumpkin 🎃 spice everything, everywhere. Fall is always a sweet time of the year and a time where we remember a much loved community member (pre-Fog City CF days).
Remembering Sparkle ✨✨✨
Lindsay Stokman was a member of our community for many years along with her partner Jon. Lindsay was best known for her nickname, Sparkle. She was truly full of Sparkle. She was spunky, funny, competitive, and most of all loving. She cared deeply about her relationships at Arena Ready and built very tight bonds with many of our community members. She passed away tragically on September 9, 2019, leaving behind her partner Jon and her two children. Her passing was a reminder to us all that life is precious. In her honor, a memorial WOD was programmed for her and one that we have done every year. We’re honored to be programming this WOD again this year to complete during Saturday’s classes. Don’t forget to wear your Sparkle shirts if you have one.
Things to know about this week’s WOD
This week’s workouts may look a little different to you as we have a deload week on tap. These weeks are important for some rest and recovery. If you’re been coming in regularly, you’re probably feeling the effects of our recent workouts. This week will help reinvigorate you to be ready to take on more in the weeks ahead! If you’re just coming back to things and finding your groove, don’t worry! All of these workouts still pack a punch: talk to your coach about how to increase the intensity. Either way, we can’t wait to see you all at the gym this week!
Mark your Calendars
Fog City CF Board would like to invite all of you for an Afternoon Hangout at Parklab Gardens on 10/1/2022 from 3-5 pm to celebrate the start of Fall. We’ve reserved a cabana for all of us to hangout. There will be food trucks serving drinks and food. Come hangout with the community and reconnect! Please RSVP here.
WOD of the Week:
WOD 9/12 - 9/17: Thank you for coming to the Town Hall Tonight
Thanks to everyone who attended tonight’s Town Hall! We shared some important updates about our membership, new space, new barbell/weightlifting classes, and upcoming renewals.
If you weren’t able to make the call, no worries at all. We’ll be sending out an email with details. A couple topics that we discussed:
We will be introducing new 90-minute barbell/weightlifting classes outside of normal CrossFit programming. Stay tuned for more information on this. Classes start in October.
Membership renewals are coming up! Don’t forget to renew your membership and consider the new options we’ve added for additional barbell/weightlifting classes.
We’ve been using our new space as a soft open the last few days. If you’re an annual member, please come in use the space. Don’t forget to sign the waiver to use the space.
WOD of the Week:
WOD 9/5 - 9/10: Have you checked out the new space?
Great seeing many of you over the weekend and Labor Day. We had a good turn out of folks testing out the new platforms in our adjacent gym space. Excited to have an addition to our current facility. We’ll share more details about the future of our new space and ideas of what is possible. Don’t forget to join the Town Hall this Sunday, 9/11/2022 at 8 pm.
WOD of the Week:
WOD 8/29 - 9/3: Labor Day Weekend Happenings
Happy last week of August! We have a couple of updates for Labor Day Weekend to share with you all:
Saturday (9/3) will be our annual Labor Day weekend workout: The Seven. You can do it on your own, and compare to past years, or we’ll have a Sweaty Saturday partner version.
And then, join us on Labor Day Monday for the soft launch of our new space (1643 Valencia)! We’ll do our first workout there. Our new wing features Olympic lifting platforms, so we’ll be doing an Olympic weightlifting total (a heavy snatch and clean & jerk). It’ll be a holiday schedule (same as Saturday – 8am, 9:15am, and 10:30am). Come help break in our new platforms with your awesome lifts!
WOD 8/22 - 8/27: Upcoming Q3 Town Hall
Hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather in San Francisco has been incredible these last few days. Hope you all had a chance to get out in the sun. We’re going to keep things short tonight because House of the Dragon just dropped and need to watch it before there are spoilers in the morning.
Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 11th at 8 pm — Fog City CF will be hosting its Q3 Town Hall to share the latest and greatest of what’s coming up for the community.
Have an amazing week ahead — get ready for some heavy lifting! 💪🏼
WOD for the Week:
WOD 8/15 - 8/20: Happy 2nd Birthday, Fog City!
It’s hard to believe that we turned two years old on August 12, 2022! What started off as a group of friends and community members working out with masks on a borrowed basketball court turned into a thriving business and a beautiful facility. We thought it would be great to share a little history about how we got started as a business and what we’re looking forward to in the next year.
Before we were Fog City CF
Many of the OG members of Fog City CF were members of a CrossFit gym called Arena Ready (AR). Some of the strongest bonds and friendships of our community were formed during the glorious AR days. The owners of AR moved prior to the pandemic and transferred ownership. Like many businesses, AR did not survive the pandemic. However, the community was very committed to staying together and getting through the pandemic. Coaches volunteered to lead classes outdoors in a borrowed space in McLaren Park and people showed up, even if it meant sweating it out with masks on, 6-feet apart. The resilience of our community was undeniable.
Forming of Fog City CF
It was during these sweaty workouts when a group of community members discussed the possibility of restarting a gym with a physical facility. While the physical facility was the anchor point to starting a gym, we knew that we needed a non-traditional structure to be sustainable and decided on a member owned and operated gym. This model enlisted three co-owners, Hillary Hegener, Gordon Whitehouse, and Lindsay Green-Barber along with a number of investors and support members. Fog City CF became a registered LLC on August 12, 2020.
With commitments from members secured and the LLC in place, the next step was to find our own physical facility with a sizable outdoor space to help us get through Covid restrictions. We were fortunate enough to land our current place after some tough negotiations, 1649 Valencia Street. Thanks to the effort of our community members, we began building out the space to use once restrictions eased and we were allowed to work out indoors. In the meantime, we started working out in the parking lot, with the first class held on 10/31/2020. When San Francisco finally gave gym owners the thumbs up to have classes indoors in March 2021, we finally moved inside!
What we’ve built
We are so proud of the community we have created at Fog City CF. It’s a community built on trust, resilience, and grit. We are proud to have grown our membership in such a short time. We continue to grow our community through monthly onboarding classes and drop-ins. We’ve hosted events and seminars and fundraised for some notable causes. We’ve made new friendships and continued to nurture existing friendships. It truly warms our hearts to see this community become what it is today.
Where we’re headed
We’re excited to be opening up an adjacent space, 1643 Valencia Street. We’ve always envisioned expanding our current space to allow for additional ways to support our members. With the opening of the new space, we’re excited about the possibilities of what we can offer. We’re currently exploring ways for our members to use the space for open gym time, barbell club, weightlifting seminars, personal training, and more. We would love to hear your ideas about what the space can be used for, send us your thoughts via the member survey this week or emailing info@fogcitycf.com.
WOD for the Week:
WOD 8/8-8/13: CrossFit Games Wrap-Up
The CrossFit Games wrapped up today, and what week of thrilling competition it was!
From Day 1 of the Games, right up until the very last event, there was a little bit of everything: drama, incredible fitness feats, and some new movements. But at the end, the 2022 champions were familiar faces on the men, women, and team divisions. Tia-Clair Toomey solidified her Greatest Of All Time Status by winning her SIXTH consecutive CrossFit Games, while Justin Medeiros repeated as the men’s champion. On the Team side, Rich Froning’s CrossFit Mayhem Freedom stood atop the podium yet again (his sixth team title). All in all, this year’s Games had some really fantastic moments where you saw athletes push themselves to the limit.
While the main spotlight was on the individual championships and the team events, it’s worth noting that the CrossFit Games has a number of other divisions that also crown champions at the end of the week. Men and women in the adaptive divisions, teens, and Masters competed as well over the course of the week. Athletes in these divisions were equally inspiring to watch, and it’s amazing to see the competition of fitness in different ages, bodies, and abilities.
As always, one of the incredible things that’s happened as CrossFit has grown all over the world is to see people how it brings everyone together in one place. From small towns to garage gyms to major metropolitans, it’s been fascinating to see people from different parts of the world participate in the Games. And not only that, but every year, the crowd that shows up to cheer the athletes on grows as well! Our very own Jen Clarke was able to attend most of the events during the Games, and able to attend some of the other offerings for spectators as well! If you see her around the gym, ask her about some of the souvenirs she picked up and who she was able to test her selfie skills with :)
If you want to catch up on any of the action, check out the summaries at games.crossfit.com and the Morning Chalk Up and the archived streams on YouTube:
We’ll see you in the gym this week!
WODs for the Week:
WOD 8/1 - 8/6: Crossfit Games Begin!
Remember when we did the CrossFit Open workouts way back in March? That was actually the start of the CrossFit competitive season. And after the Open, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals, this week it all culminates in the CrossFit Games. The massive event runs Wednesday-Sunday and will crown a male and female winner, as well as champs in the team, teens, adaptive, and masters categories.
So if you want to watch some amazing athletes this week, check out games.crossfit.com where all the events will be live-streamed. (And keep an eye out for our own superfan, Jen Clarke, who will be sitting 4 rows back from the finish, sporting her Fog City gear!)
CrossFit put together this promo video that talks about the difference between the Games and what we do in our gym everyday. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5bi2OmGqSw
As a huge sports fan, I love watching the competition, which gets pretty fierce as the weekend goes along. And as someone who does CrossFit for my health and sanity, I find it motivating to see what the athletes can accomplish and get some extra special inspiration from the Masters, which go all the way up to the 65+ category! There’s a lot to see, so check it out this week!
WOD of the Week:
WOD 7/25 - 7/30
Happy last week of July! We hope you’re enjoying our classic San Francisco winter weather. This is our last week of hero WODs, so come on in and finish the month strong!
WODs for the Week:
WOD 7/18 - 7/23: Gym & Equipment Etiquette
If you’ve been a member of Fog City for a while, you know how particular we can get about handling of equipment. While we may sound like curmudgeons, we promise there are good reasons to handle equipment with love and care. We have made a significant investment in purchasing brand new equipment for our members and we want to make sure the equipment will last us a while. When equipment is damaged, not only is it expensive to replace, but it’s a huge inconvenience to the rest of the members who won’t have access to equipment during a workout. So, we thought it would be good to remind everyone of our equipment etiquette and gym etiquettes to keep us all on the same page:
Equipment Etiquettes:
NEVER drop an empty barbells [Good video on loading & unloading a barbell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-cwyf2K_LU]
NEVER drop dumbbells (at least not from above the knee)
NEVER drop kettlebells
Load heavier plates on the inside of your barbell and use fewer plates as possible
Use clips to keep plates secure
Don’t just drop the bar after a heavy lift — control the bar all the way down
Gym Etiquettes:
Be on time — even showing up 2-3 minutes late can cause disruption for the coach and the rest of the class
Wipe down equipment, rig, and floors after you’ve worked out
Help clean up — if you see a band, j-hooks, or any equipment sitting out, help put it away
Don’t walk in front of someone during a lift
Don’t write on the walls with chalk
Cheer each other on during workouts
Hit a PR? Take a swing on the PR Gong!
WOD for the Week: