Get To Know a Member: RUE

On any given day you’ll see him running over every mile of pavement in Portsmouth. From 15 degrees to 105 degrees, he’s out there, the TC Express rolling along, smiling every step. At the gym he’s the first person to call you by your name and say hello. He’s Rue and everyone loves him.

Rue and I have talked several times over the past couple of years and I've been very fortunate to get to him. More people needed to learn more about him so I asked him to write a short bio, he was pretty hesitant but after some convincing he did.

Below you’ll find out the reason he is always smiling is because there was a period when he never smiled. A tale of depression, booze, and drugs that eventually turned into a love for people and fitness.

“Growing up I was bullied pretty regularly as a kid. I was always picked last in class or in sports. I always enjoyed sports, especially football but only played one year in the 8th grade because I felt I wasn't good enough. 

My lack of self esteem and confidence made me very shy and reserved, drew me inside myself. This led to me drinking at a very early age. I drank A LOT and then mixed my drinking with speed. My goal sometimes was to see just how I could get my blood pressure. Looking back at it and come to think of it, those were my very first “PRs”. 

I had total disrespect for myself and others. I got in trouble with the law several times and found myself sometimes in and out of jail. Sad to say, but that’s basically how I spent a good 20+ years of my life, a blurred mess of alcohol, drugs, depression, mixed with lack of love and respect for myself and others. 

After watching a friend overdose I then decided I had had enough. And for the past 8 years now I’ve been clean and sober…and I smile a helluva lot more. 

In addition to my job assisting those with special needs, every week I visit inmates at the county jail and other juvenile detention facilities in the area. I go these places to talk to the inmates, give them some hope and encouragement because I know what it’s exactly like to be in there shoes. 

Sometimes all it takes is for someone to reach out to make the change a person needs. 

In addition to my substance abuse I was also pretty overweight. When I dropped drugs and booze I picked up running and I run a lot. At first I just ran to get away from the substance abuse, to give me much needed time to think, to keep my mind off of the drugs and alcohol. What started as a few steps turned into several miles. I’ve completed dozens of 5Ks, ½ marathons, and full marathons. 

My new love for fitness led me to PSKC and CrossFit. I remember the first time I saw Dale swinging this weird looking iron ball and jumping up and down on the floor like a maniac. I had never met him before but I told him “man, you’re crazy…there’s no way I’d ever do that”. That was 3 years ago. I had never worked out before and now I love it! CrossFit is where it’s at. I’m doing things that I never thought I could do. 

I know firsthand what it feels like to be the last one picked and go 20+ years without real laughter and joy. So now my pleasure is helping people and giving words of encouragement to my fellow PSKC’rs and anyone else that needs it. I love to laugh and make others laugh. Words of encouragement and laughter go a long way. 

We have the best coaches and members at PSKC. The coaches and people there have helped make me who I am today. You all are the best and are like family to me. I’d do anything for them."

You're the man Rue...we're all lucky to know you.

Together

On Friday we did the "Glen" workout;
30 clean and jerk 135/95
run 1 mile
10 rope climbs
run 1 mile
100 burpees

That day we had over 30 people dive head first and tackle this WOD to honor a great man. Most important was the display of motivation and community each person had for one another. Take a look below..



That's an example of just why we're different and what we offer...together. You're the one doing the work, but you're not doing it alone.

This is the last week to enroll and get in on our current rates. Our next beginners program is taking place this Wednesday at 630pm, email mo@pskcstrong.com to reserve your slot!

We also have some new swag for $20:

To make room we're putting the old gear on clearance, $10/shirt or 3 for $25:

First come first served! Train hard and we'll see you at the gym!

EFFORT

“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

CrossFit’s slogan is “forging elite fitness”, a strength and conditioning program designed to increase your capacity as a human. And yes it does that..numbers will clearly show that. Whether it is numbers going up in your lifts or numbers going down in the scales..the numbers prove it, it’s hard data.
To me,  a much more important result of CrossFit is the forging of indomitable spirit…WILL, the type of determination and spirit that burns like coal, white hot coals. Coals that will stay hot long after the fire has left and if stoked properly can ignite fire after fire when needed.

“Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.”

This “unconquerable soul” can be only be forged through repeated effort, toil, and pain. Yes pain, I’m not speaking about injuries, I’m talking about that pain that the Airdyne or Fran can deliver.

The pain that only comes after you have emptied whatever you had in the tank.
You have got to make the decision to dive headfirst into some pretty dark, murky, and uncomfortable waters. Make that decision and accept it.

Accept that you will encounter pain.

“PAIN IS NOT YOUR ENEMY, IT IS YOUR CALL TO GREATNESS”

Accept that you will get up and you will do it over again tomorrow and the day after it.

Accept that you will relish, cherish, and enjoy this pain.

Accept that some days you will not feel like going, but you will go anyways, and you will give everything you have for that day, that hour.

The daily conquering of adversity and effort will produce this spirit

Your effort is determined by your attitude.

And to quote Mark Twight; your “attitude is the only meaningful fundamental”.

Our mission is to take the average person off the street and turn them into a machine. But you’ve got to want that too, more so than us. You can’t just show up and go through the motions.
Mediocre effort produces mediocre results. Watching mediocrity in action is disgusting, and it infuriates me. Isn't America full of enough mediocrity? Take a stand and don’t add to the list.

You are not meant to be mediocre or average. But you've got to be willing to believe that your mind and body are capable of incredible things. You've got to be willing to sacrifice for it, willing to EARN it. If you want a fitness welfare check, you’re in the wrong place. You can’t show up, break a little sweat through osmosis and expect to be awesome. Inside these walls it’s a meritocracy…you get what you earn.  

We get you 1 hour a day. 1 hour of your life where you can forget everything else, where nothing else matters except for the task at hand. Where the only thing that matters is the repetition that you’re doing, being truly in the moment. So don’t cheat yourself of that hour, that minute, that moment..

DO EVERY SINGLE REP. If it’s 21 reps, that doesn’t mean 20 or 19. It’s 21. Use whatever the hell you have to, chips, chalk, markers..but count them. If you lose count, do more than you think you have to.

DO EVERY SINGLE REP CORRECTLY. To standard, FULL RANGE OF MOTION. Get hips below your knees, elbows locked out overhead, chin above bar, etc. A 400 meter run is not a 385 meter run. Don’t rob yourself of that 1 hour.

And here’s the cold hard fact of why you cheat your reps or don’t perform them to standard. You got weak..not physically weak, you can do the movement and the work. But much worse, you broke mentally. The workout started to suck, so you decided to take the easy road out. You “lost count” and you started half squatting.

You may have gotten away it before somewhere in the past, but not here. We don’t hand out participation trophies. We don’t grade on a curve. And we don’t hand out fitness welfare checks.
We won’t allow it because we care too much and we expect nothing less than everything you got.

We won’t tolerate mediocrity.

We don’t care if you’re the fastest or strongest. We don’t care about times or scores for workouts, we care about your level of effort, attitude, and determination. You know why we cheer for the last person during a workout? It’s because we know what they’re going through. It’s because we love and appreciate their EFFORT. No one would cheer if that person was half-assing, half-squatting, and half-counting.

If you fall victim to the disease of weakness, the good news is that it’s not a terminal diagnosis. However, you've got to be willing to take the medicine..it comes in 1 hour doses each day you step foot into the gym.

Weekend Review

PSKC was all over the place this weekend as a crew was competing up at CrossFit Reynoldsburg and a crew was helping to train the future Marines and the PHS football team. The team that competed did fantastic! We had Coach Ash finish 2nd, Ninjy 4th, and Sass 5th in the Women's Open. Coach Zak finished 3rd in the Men's Open and Robin grabbed a 3rd place finish in the women's masters!

Back home we had an amazing group of coaches and volunteers put approximately 50 poolees and football players through a half day of team building and physical training.


We'd like to personally thank each and every one of you who volunteered your time to help out.

We have a great week of training in store this week. Be warned it's gonna be a nasty one capped off on Friday with an extremely brutal Hero workout. So make sure you take the necessary steps to be properly recovered.

This week we will be stressing the double under skill so you'll see that everyday in the warmup and in several of the workouts.

In two weeks the new rates go into effect. This Saturday will we be having our monthly "Bring a Friend" Pain Clinic. This will be the last opportunity to get your friend in at the current rates. Let em know now is the time!

Finally, there's an intro program going down Monday at 630pm. Email mo@pskcstrong.com to grab a slot.

Marine Corps Madness = Saturday 10am

It's that time again! This Saturday we are hosting the USMC for another epic day of training. This time the PHS football team will be joining in the fun as well. Here's the timeline for Saturday:
0900-1000 = Normal Pain Clinic
1000 - 1200ish = USMC event

We still need all the help we can get hosting future Marines from the Tri-State area. We need volunteers to lead mini-Pain clinic stations and team building events that these young men and women will be subject to. Anyone that has helped in the past will attest it's truly a rewarding experience being able to help these future warriors out.

A couple administrative notes out. Contracts are available at the gym now. See a coach to get yours sign so you can be locked into your current rate before the new rates go into effect May 5th. Remember you must have two items complete in order to be locked into your current rate:
1) Enroll in autopay
2) Sign the 1 year contract

We will honor our rates all the way until May 5th. So that means you have approximately 2 weeks to get locked in. The beginners programs are filling up QUICK. Our next one kicks off this Monday evening. Email mo@pskcstrong.com to reserve your slot.

Finally, this month's "Bring a Friend" Pain Clinic will be Saturday the 27th. This will be the last time to get your buddy into the current rates! So kidnap em and bring them in!

See you guys this Saturday!

Female Athletic Performance Summer Camp

This summer we will be conducting a 6 week strength and conditioning camp for female high school athletes. Throughout the course of our gym, we've realized that there is huge need to teach strength and conditioning fundamentals to females. Too often "strong" is a term reserved for guys especially in the gym culture. We want to change that.

The needs of a female or male athlete are NO different. They need to be STRONG, FAST, EXPLOSIVE, and most importantly develop an unbeatable mental attitude. This is exactly what our program will do for area female athletes.

They will gain a tremendous advantage over their competition by attending the 6 week camp. They will learn the fundamentals of Olympic lifting, kettlebell training, strength training, mobility and flexibility. They will learn principles that will carryover to the rest of their athletic career. Most importantly they will be coached under the direct supervision of a certified CrossFit Level 1 and USAW Olympic Lifting coach.

We are accepting 12 athletes for this program. We currently have less than 10 slots remaining for this unique opportunity. To register contact Coach Mo via email mo@pskcstrong.com

Busy Spring Schedule..

Nothing like helping a good friend live his dream

This past weekend PSKC was all over the place! We sent a crew up to Bayonet CrossFit to help our brother open up his affiliate. We then had another crew down in Tennesee participating in the Outlaw Camp. And finally another crew was up in Cleveland rooting on Jeremy at his bodybuilding show.

We like to stay on the move and stay busy. Now that the weather is finally warming up we're kicking it into full swing. Here's a list of the upcoming Spring events we've got going down.

April 13/14 - CrossFit Competition at CrossFit Thunder in Huntington

April 20 - PSKC/USMC function. We need your volunteer support for this! We're expecting a fairly large crowd because it will be a combined USMC and PHS football team event. So we will need as many folks as possible to help run stations.
Also on the same day we've got a group of folks heading up to Reynoldsburg to compete at the CFR Spring Games!

April 27th - Tactical Strength Challenge at the gym. We're hosting this cool little event consisting of max deadlift, max strict pullups, and max kettlebell snatches in 5 minutes. No cost!

May 25th - last day to register for the Gauntlet! We are at close to 50% capacity now!

June 15th - GAUNTLET!

Also, don't forget we are one month away from implementing the new rates.  For current members all you'll need to do is sign a 12-month contract to locked in at your current rates. As long as you sign up before May 5th we'll lock you into our current rates. But that means you've got to make the  decision to commit NOW. We don't have that many beginners programs left, so you need to email dale@pskcstrong.com to get signed up! Do not miss out on a phenomenal deal.