COMMUNITY UPDATE

july 4 potluck PICNIC, and july 4 - 5 gym hours.

Join us on Thursday, July 4, for for a Potluck Picnic at Feast, starting at 11:00am. Sign ups are live on the front desk now to bring in a main, side, dessert or drink to share. You bring your favorite food, and we’ll supply the beer and seltzer. Can’t wait to see you there!

Feast will have Open Gym (no classes, but a posted workout) from 8 - noon on the 4th and 5th. Then we’ll be back to regular classes and times on Saturday, July 6.

FEAST fam donates over $2,800 in april and may.

Our Feast thROWdown marathon row raised over $1,800 in scholarship funds for Feast athletes! This money goes to Feast members who are temporarily struggling to pay for their memberships, usually due to job transitions, or competition expenses for athletes who would not otherwise be able to compete. Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed a fun day for a great cause!

And Murph netted over $1,000 that was donated to Americares to support their humanitarian work in Ukraine! Americares is a top rated charity on Charity Navigator, and we’re so grateful to be able to support victims of Russia’s war of aggression in honor of Lt. Michael Murphy. Thanks for using your fitness for others!

“BRING A FRIEND WEEK” IS BACK monday, JULY 15 - Sunday, july 21 . . . your friend works out for free!

Our next Bring a Friend Week starts Saturday, July 15. During that week:

• Your friend works out for free (and other members will bring their friends in, so your friends will be with other athletes who are also new to CrossFit, or new to Feast)

• The workouts will be designed to be easily modified for all levels

• And of course, if your friend joins, they get $100 off their first month membership, and you take $100 your next month’s membership

This is a great opportunity to help a friend who wants to know about that cool gym you’re talking about all the time! Introduce them to Feast, and we’ll help them get in great shape in a fantastic community.

Just have your friend sign up through this link.

WE’RE UPGRADING YOUR EXPERIENCE AT FEAST!

There are some big changes happening at Feast:

• First, our facade is getting a facelift! Say goodbye to the beige brick and hello to our new look. Special thanks for Feast member Brad Vandenberg for designing the new facade for us, and to Greater Raveswood Chamber of Commerce for paying for half of the cost of the facade upgrade through their facade improvement program.

• Second, we’re excited to announce that Ravenswoof Pet Grooming has signed a lease next door to the gym, and should be opening in their new space in late August or early September. In the meantime, they’re offering 15% off to all Feast members as a way to introduce their amazing services to our community. And in their new space, they’ll be expanding their service offerings to include daycare and other services your pet will love. To take advantage of this offer, just let them know you’re a Feast member when you book your services with them.

• And last, we’re thrilled to announce that Ignite Physical Therapy and Sports Performance will be expanding their footprint at Feast so they can provide even more great PT services to our community. We’ll be moving the north wall of the gym one column line north to create the new Ignite space, which will have new PT equipment, and a new, larger treatment room. We’re looking forward to having more hours with Feast member Erin Short and her colleagues in the building, and a greater array of treatments and services to keep you healthy and in the gym.

FITNESS UPDATE

CONGRATS TO VAL FOR MAKING IT BACK TO THE GAMES! Please pitch in tO HELP HER GET THERE.

Congrats to our very own Val Cohen who will be returning to the CrossFit Games for the 4th Year in a Row! For the first year, adaptive athletes will be competing in a different location and on different dates than non-adaptive athletes. Val will competing on Sept. 19-22, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas, and Coach Connor will be going with her to provide on site coaching support. If you see Val in the gym, tell her congrats, and get ready to cheer her on!

Also, please do what you can to help Val raise the funds necessary to compete! You can bid on the items Val has for sale on the front desk—last day to bid is July 2. This is all gear that was given by sponsors to Val as a Games athlete, so if you buy one of those items, you’ll not only be supporting Val’s trip to the Games, but you’ll also be the proud owner of official Games gear. If you’d prefer, donate to Val’s GoFund Me in support of her Games trip.

FORCE TESTING WITH IGNITE + FEAST

From 10:00am to noon on Saturday, June 29, Feast’s physical therapy partner, Ignite Physical Therapy, will be running force production testing at the gym for Feast members. Unfortunately, all slots for this session are already full, but if you want to learn more, feel free to come by and watch your friends be put through their battery of tests.

Ignite will test Force production in multiple dimensions. They’ll use force plates to determine (a) how much Force you can exert into the ground while at the top of a pull and the extension of a squat and (b) jump height. They’ll also use dynamic isometric testing to assess your Force production while pulling and pushing with your upper body.

Why should you care? CrossFit is designed to help you develop the capacity for Work and Power. Force is a key component of these capacities. Force = Mass x Acceleration. Work = Force x Distance. Power = Work / Time.

The more Force you can generate, the better you’ll be at CrossFit, and at life in general! These tests will also reveal asymmetries and weaknesses for you to work on, and how you compare against worldwide normative values for your age and gender. This testing will also help Coach Anna program for any Feast-wide weaknesses the tests might reveal. We’ll also plan on re-testing at the end of our next cycle so that we can observe any progress made.

CONGRATS TO CONNOR AND DANNY FOR COMPETING AT THE BACKLAND GAMES!

In case you missed it, Feast Member Danny Campagna and Coach Connor competed as a team in the Elite Division of the Backland Games sponsored by CrossFit Backland on June 15 - 16. They tackled some extremely challenging workouts, many of them outdoors, over two days against some of the best CrossFit athletes in the midwest, ending up in 6th place and having an incredible time. Way to go Danny and Connor!

STRICT PULL UP PROGRAM RESULTS ARE IN

In April, Coach Andy kicked off a supplemental program to help Feast members master or improve their strict pull ups with a seminar at Feast. Then, over the course of the next 6 weeks, the program participants tacked on 2 days of accessory work specifically designed to improve pull up capacity. When athletes re-tested, they saw impressive increases in their pull up capacity, including jumps from 4 to 9 reps, 14 to 17 reps, and 11 to 18 reps.

Stay tuned for more supplemental programming designed to help you accelerate your strength and skill gains!

UPCOMING PROGRAMMING CYCLE: ELEVATE

The third cycle of our programming year is named "Elevate." This cycle is designed to challenge us to raise the bar with our training. Our class strength focuses this cycle are Front Squats and Strict Press. Olympic Weightlifting classes will be geared towards Jerks and Snatches. Throughout July, expect to see more functional bodybuilding, the workout ‘Karen,’ and a retest of the workout ‘Fran.’ In August, we will incorporate interval-style training, the workout ‘Grettel,’ and a retest of ‘Nancy.’

Weekly Schedule:

• Monday: Front Squats

• Tuesday: Strict Press

• Wednesday: METCON

• Thursday: Jerks

• Friday: METCON

• Saturday CrossFit: Partner WOD

• Saturday Oly: Snatch

• Sunday: Sweat Class

As always, although the whole week is programmed, you need to listen to your body, prioritize recovery, and take rest days! Need help deciding when to rest or with effective recovery strategies? Reach out to any coach.

NUTRITION UPDATE

OUR FEAST FIFTY CHALLENGE IS BACK STARTING SATURDAY, JULY 20

On Saturday, July 20, we’ll launch our bi-annual Feast Fifty Challenge for all Members who want to participate. You can sign up here. We’ll launch the Challenge during an intro nutrition seminar at 11:00am on Saturday, January 20, so mark your calendars to attend. If you can’t make it, or if you’ve got questions, get in touch with Greg by e-mail at greg@feast-fitness.com.

Here’s how the Challenge works:

You’ll be given access to an online scoresheet, and you’ll score yourself daily on your progress at adopting the following healthy habits:

• Good Night = Good Morning! 2 points if You Were in Bed Lights Out for More than 8.5 hours. 1 point if You Were in Bed Lights Out for 7 - 8.5 hours.

• Savory Breakfast: 1 Point if Your Breakfast Had at Least One Card Deck Protein (4 ounces) and 0 added sugars

• Protein and Produce Lunch: 1 Point if Your Lunch Had at Least One Card Deck Protein (4 ounces) and at least One Fist Produce

• Protein and Produce Dinner: 1 Point if Your Dinner Had at Least One Card Deck Protein (4 ounces) and at least One Fist Produce

• Healthy Fat Bonus: 1 Point if each of your meals contained one of the fats from the "Protein, Produce, Fats" sheet

• Water Intake Bonus: 1 Point if you drank at least half your bodyweight in ounces of non-caffinated, non-sweetened liquids

• Meal Prep Bonus: 2 Points if you prepared all of your meals today. 1 Points if you prepared 2 of your meals.

• No Sweeteners Bonus: 2 Points if none of the foods you ate today included added sugar or sweeteners

You’ll receive weekly support e-mails, and can respond with any questions you have.

At the end of 50 days, you’ll have made progress towards adopting these habits that will keep you fit for life, and if you’re one of our top three scorers, you’ll win:

• 1st - A personalized nutrition consult, including a macro Rx if they want it ($100 value), as well as a Feast apparel item of their choice

• 2nd & 3rd - A Feast apparel item of their choice, or a 12 pack of FitAid flavor of their choice.

If you’ve got friends or family who you think might like to participate in the challenge as well, just let Greg know, and we’ll get them signed up!