With Leon back, I've had mornings this week. I like mornings and if I had to choose between the morning or afternoon shifts, I'd choose mornings. But those first couple days after doing evenings are rough. It's funny how it works with the alternating schedule. On the first day of each week I think fondly of the previous week and how great that schedule was, then by the end of the week I'm acclimated just enough to the new schedule to reminisce when it changes.
Morning shift only has three classes on the schedule for me, so it's a chance to tackle administrative stuff. On the agenda this week was planning for the T-Town Throwdown, quarterly meeting stuff, and a random collection of little things like replacing the chain on a rower, unclogging the zamboni, getting a new gym phone, and would you believe I'm still working on the shower rooms? Oh, and Don King is starting his Master's qualifier for the Games, and although we've got a team working with him so there isn't a lot I personally have to do, it's been on my mind.
My original idea for this year's Throwdown was to have it near Old Town on the waterfront, with an event on the beach, one on the Old Town Dock, and a run up N 29th St. But that was quickly shot down by MetroParks. The Dock doesn't get used for events and it would be nigh impossible to get permitted for Old Town park (which we'd need to use for staging a run up the hill). That's fine. Frankly, I would have been surprised if Plan A had worked. So now along to Plan B, looking at Marine Park on the opposite end of Ruston. Another option would be Owens Beach, but that would force us later into September when the weather is less reliable. My big idea is to incorporate some sort of water-based event so for the moment I'm only looking at places with beach access. I plan on throwing my kids in the car and going on an exploring adventure this weekend.
I went to a handstand class at Expand Yoga on Tuesday and was excited by it. First because handstands are inherently fun and when you tilt a room full of people upside down they get all happy and chatty. Second because I saw several useful exercises and progressions that I could foresee using here. Third because I was considering whether or not to register for a 200-hour yoga teacher training there this year and I'm excited to think about the possibilities of bringing that knowledge and skill-set into Tacoma Strength.
I don't know if everyone who reads this column is aware of this, but Tacoma Strength is not a typical CrossFit gym. We are CrossFit and proud of it, mind you, but long before I heard about CrossFit, I was swinging across rafters doing toes-to-bar, jumping on picnic tables, and sprinting up dirt hills. CrossFit for me has always fit into a broader paradigm about what I think healthy, meaningful, and complete lives look like. I've always kept a love for the organic and creative movements of parkour, capoeira, and martial arts and so we as a gym do a lot more things like quadrapedal movements, rolls, and vaults than you see elsewhere. Something that has held me back from exploring this more is that most people don't have the body awareness and control (not to mention fitness) to tackle such a movement repertoire. At least, at the level that we're able to teach it. A better coach is able to go lower on the progressions scale and address those interconnected root issues that so many people have. As a side note, this is why it's easier to coach higher level athletes, the coach doesn't have to deal with that stuff as much. Which is why I'm excited to take this yoga course, because it will let me bring new understandings, progressions, and helps to the table. I bring this up because I know some people in CrossFitland would sneer at the value of yoga in a CrossFit gym. Just for the record, those people are morons and should be scorned.
Also this week was our first owners quarterly meeting since consolidating at the new location. Some interesting data from that meeting since you're wondering: we've got about 220 regular members up in here and 400+ people actually read this newsletter weekly, while there are 1200 or so who want it delivered to their inbox each week. Our busiest class time was 5:30 am, with the slowest being 5:00 pm. The average size is between 9 and 10. We're doing reasonably well in terms of revenue. You won't see us sporting any bling, but we could pay for the showers and equipment and everything else to make this place awesome.
Lastly, I'm working on refining things in the shower rooms. Now that we've had them operational for a while, we've collected feedback about how people actually use them. Next step is to address those dozen or so recommendations. It's hard to overstate the value of your feedback, whether in person or written on a drop box form. Which makes a good closing to this article- if you have any suggestions about what you like about this newsletter, this column, the gym, me, whatever, feel free to let us know in the comments or in the gym.
By Morgan on Friday, April, 18, 2014