COMMUNITY UPDATE

Black History Month Fundraiser

Feast Member Giov Penze is helping to organize an amazing fundraiser for Black midwives in Chicago. If you didn’t already know it, Black midwives literally save lives, working to improve the dismaying reality that in Chicago Black birth persons are more than 6 times more likely to die in pregnancy than white birth persons. Feast has the opportunity to help two Black midwife students pay for their books, courses, and other needs to get their midwife certifications. We’re asking everyone to donate now through this GoFund Me Page. We’re so grateful to have this opportunity to make a tangible and immediate improvement in our greater Chicago community.

GET READY TO DO MORE GOOD in march

Feast Member Britta Dahlberg is also raising money for Noble Network Charter Schools. Britta will be rowing 8,333 meters every 4 hours over the course of 48 hours starting at 10pm on Friday, March 5th. You read that right—Britta will not sleep more than 3.5 hours at a time, will row 12 sets of 8,333 meters, and will row a total of 100,000 meters by the time she finishes on Sunday, March 7. We love that Britta is using her fitness as a force for good. Donate here: GoFund Me Page.

Welcome to phase 4

Chicago has moved to Phase 4 COVID restrictions. That means that while class sizes are still limited to 15 members, we can also have open gym up to 40% of our capacity (~40 members). We’ve decided to open up a few more open gym slots during class times to accommodate demand, and we’ve brought back Saturday Oly (more info below)!

We’ve confirmed that our new HVAC units are operating as intended, replacing all of the air in the gym with fresh air every other hour at baseline, and faster if the CO2 sensors detect elevated breathing in the gym. One consequence is that the gym feels a little chillier on these cold mornings because of all the fresh air being sucked into the space, but we hope you agree the cool breeze is worth it!

We want to thank each of you for reserving your spots in Zen, wearing masks at all times in the gym, maintaining distance, and otherwise doing what you can to keep our community safe. Our Feast family has kept us mentally and physically strong during the past year, and we couldn’t keep the gym open during this challenging time without these efforts by each of you.

Member satisfaction survey: we still need your feedback

Our member satisfaction survey is still open. Please, we’d love your feedback so we can get better where we need to, and give you more cowbell if that’s what you want: Survey Here.

Loved the white elephant

You rocked it! Some gifts were fun, some were sweet, some were a little gross. But they all let us celebrate the holiday season together, even though we were apart. Thanks to everyone who participated. We’re looking forward to making this one a Feast tradition! It’s a little less painful than Greg’s cocktails.

Lost + Found going bye-bye

While some of you gave White Elephant gifts, others have left little gifts around the gym over the course of 2020. We don’t really have a place to store all of these “found” items, so please check your bag for missing items and come claim anything that’s yours. We’ll be sending any unclaimed items to an appropriate home at the end of February.

FITNESS UPDATE

Crossfit Open = Community

Last year we encouraged our members to jump into the CrossFit Open. At that time, it gave us a great benchmark of our current state of fitness, and also gave us a great excuse to throw down together as a community—to have silly head-to-head competitions (remember the Mad Scientists?!) and to cheer each other on.

We are not going to be able to gather in the same way this year, and we’re all struggling to stay plugged into our communities of families, friends, coworkers, and the the gym. We miss gathering together carefree, engaging in friendly competitions, and screaming for each others’s efforts, successes, and efforts at success.

So this year, we’d like you to focus on the Open as a way to stay plugged into a community. After all, the Open is one of the biggest communal events in the world, and also a great event for our Feast community to connect across class times. We can guarantee that even though we won’t all be crowded into the gym for Friday Night Lights, we’ll still find a way to make the Open a festive and fun time with your fellow Feasters!

And yes, you are ready, because the Open is set up for everyone to participate: It’s Everybody-er. The Open starts March 11. Sign up here: CrossFit Open.

Specialty Classes are back!

Phase 4 has allowed us to bring back

Gymnastics with PJ Wednesdays at 4:30pm
Yoga with Nuf Thursdays at 6:45pm
Olympic Weightlifting Saturdays at 10:00am with Tony
Mobility Sundays at 10:00am with Huong

These classes are an amazing opportunity to improve your skills and your stretch to help with CrossFit or just get more Fit for Life.

So get in here and try them all!

NUTRITION UPDATE

Nutrition coaches are ready to help with your 2021 nutrition reboot

Why not start eating to support your health and fitness? The Feast approach is gradual and sustainable so that you will over time develop the habits to eat minimally processed protein and produce to keep you fit for life. Every athlete at Feast is paired with a nutrition coach to help you set goals, understand how to achieve them, and get started on habit stacking. Reach out to your nutrition coach and set an appointment to get started. If you don’t know who your coach is, get in touch with Tony or Greg, and they’ll reconnect you.

+Sleep

This month and next we’re focusing on the +Sleep Feast Healthy Habit. It’s cold outside of the covers, and sunset is still early, so our challenge to you is to get in bed 15 minutes earlier every night for the rest of February. Then in March, let’s get under the covers another 15 minutes earlier. Take these 2 months to build 30 extra minutes into your sleep, and we promise you that your mental and physical recovery will skyrocket. If you’re not sure how to develop this habit, talk to your nutrition coach. What have you got to lose? Netflix and Tik Tok will still be there when you wake up tomorrow!

PRODUCE OF THE MONTH

Thanks to Coach Terri for buying, prepping, and coming up with recipes for the clementines and minneolas that we gave away in December and January. Those tasty treats nailed at least four of the Feast Healthy Habits: (1) + fruits; (2) + colors; (3) + whole foods; (4) + macronutrients. We hope you tried some, and that you’re trying out those Habits.