COMMUNITY news

IGNITE PHYSICAL THERAPY & FEAST FITNESS UNITE

Ignite Physical Therapy and Sports Performance has expanded their footprint, and physical therapists, at Feast. And we’re excited about the benefits this expanded relationship offers our community:

August Winter DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT joins Erin Short DPT, COMT, CSCS onsite, doubling the physical therapists available to our members. They are in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield and also offer self pay services that can be submitted to your insurance carriers for out of network reimbursement.
Ignite has invested in additional equipment to make your physical therapy experience even more effective, including a Keiser Pneumatic Resitance Functional pulley machine, a Woodway treadmill, Normatec Recovery Boots, and a MVP shuttle system that can be utilized as a leg press and jump training machine.
Members undergoing physical therapy with Ignite that have Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO insurance may be able to arrange for insurance-paid-for, ongoing rehabiliation with a Feast coach to fully allow them to meet all of their fitness and return to sport goals.
Feast members will enjoy additional floor and rig space as we move the outside rig indoors along the column line where the old north wall was—and then move the rig that is in the middle of the floor toward the south wall.

Although Ignite has priority access to their new space and equipment, Ignite and Feast Intend to continue to share space and equipment. Need space for your wall walks or handstand push ups? Feel free to use free wall space in the new area, while maintaining respect for Ignite and their patients. Think you might be in the way? Just ask Erin, August, or any Feast Coach.

meet the ignite team from 8a-11a on october 19: enjoy coffee & light snacks — chat injuries or just say “hello!”

BRING YOUR FRIENDS TO FEAST FOR FREE: OCT 12 - OCT 18

Our next “BRING A FRIEND WEEK” starts Saturday, OCTOBER 12. During that week:

Your friends train for free with our members—and their friends, too!
Our coaches are prepared to modify workouts for all levels.
If your friend joins, they get $100 off their first month of membership—and you take $100 your next month’s membership.

This is a great opportunity to introduce your friends to your favorite fitness community!

ALL friendS CAN USE this link TO SIGN UP TODAy!

SAUNA CLUB IS COMING TO FEAST…

Coach Sarah and Feast member, Andrew Glatt, are bringing a mobile sauna and cold plunge experience to Feast on Friday, October 25 from 3:30p-8:30p and Saturday, October 26 from 8a-1p. Sessions are $30 / hour and include sauna, cold exposure, snacks and beverages. Sarah and Andrew will guide you through your experience and share the many benefits of traditional Nordic sauna use. Recover. Connect. De-stress.

want to be the first to know when sign-ups go live this weekend? email sarah@feast-fitness.com

PLUS, THINGS GET “SPOOKY” ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 25

We’re encouraging (but not requiring) costumes for all workouts on Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26—and on the 25th, our last class will run at 5:30pm. Starting at 6:30pm, we’re hosting a costume-optional Halloween hang. As usual, we’ll supply the beer and seltzer—bring anything else you’d like to drink.

RUCK WITH RYAN ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2

Coach Ryan Heywood is returning from Idaho on the weekend of November 2nd to lead a ruck workout from Feast. This will be a great opportunity to take advantage of the Fall weather, get outside, and put some miles under your belt with a pack on your back (or no pack, if you’d prefer). There will be no classes that Saturday—only Open Gym.

Sign up for the Ruck today!

After the ruck, Ryan will give a presentation on the Idaho Hiking Trident. Dozens of Chicago CrossFitters have joined Ryan on this annual hiking pilgrimage in the back country of McCall, Idaho. If you like hiking, the outdoors, great people, and using your fitness in a beautiful environment, this is the trip for you. Ryan is offering early bird pricing for Feast members from October 7 to November 11. Make sure you’re there on Saturday to learn more, or DM Ryan directly.

VOTE FOR FEAST FOR BEST OF RAVENSWOOD

Help us get recognized as Ravenswood’s “Favorite Place to Unwind.” Simply follow this link, enter your name, address, and e-mail address, and scroll down to the second category, “Favorite Place to Unwind,” and enter “Feast Fitness.” That’s it!

Voting ends November 8—so now’s the time to vote.

use this link to vote today!

WELCOME RAVENSWOOF PET GROOMING AND DOGGIE DAYCARE

We’re excited about our new next-door neighbors, Ravenswoof Pet Grooming! They offer a ton of services you and your pet will love, including self-wash stations so you can give your pooch a bath, doggie daycare so you can drop your dog off while you work out, and, of course, grooming services. You can book any service with them through this link.

DO YOU LOVE OUR NEW LOOK?

We hope you like the gym’s new facade and signage! Special thanks for Feast member Brad Vandenberg for designing the new facade and signage for us, and to Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce for paying for half of the cost of the facade upgrade through their facade improvement program. We simply couldn’t have afforded this upgrade without their help.

We’ve also freshened up the inside of the gym with a new coat of paint, and new colors, along the East wall and lobby. Special thanks to Feast Member Josh Braun who completed all of the renovation work at the gym, as well as at Ravenswoof, through his general contracting company Braun Renovation. Josh and his team did excellent work—on time and on budget.

FITNESS UPDATES

CONGRATS TO VAL FOR HER 2ND PLACE FINISH AT THE GAMES!

Congrats to our very own Val Cohen who placed 2nd at the CrossFit Games, completing 4 straight years of podium finishes! Val competed September 19-22 in San Antonio, Texas, with former Feast Coach Connor Scherer providing onsite coaching support. She finished with one 1st place and three 2nd place finishes, for a total score of 604—which was 80 points behind the 1st place finisher, and 208 points ahead of 3rd place.

Thanks to everyone who helped Val raise necessary funds to compete! The silent auction at the front desk was once again a massive success, and Feast members generously donated to Val’s GoFund Me in support of her Games trip.

ANOTHER GREAT RUMBLE

Thanks to all Feast Members who competed, judged, supported, and showed up to cheer at the 2024 Rumble on Ravenswood. Thanks to you, we were able to put on an awesome event for the CrossFit community: 39 athletes competed in teams of 3 in Rx and Scaled divisions—and with judges, coaches, supporters, and spectators, we had over 100 people in the gym.

A huge high five to the Feast teams who landed on the podium, each with strong 2nd place finishes:

Alexa Chavez, Kristy Bowman, Kaitlyn Witmer
Sam Schierloh, Mason Bowman, Matt Thalhamer

Special thanks to Feast member Andrew Glatt for all the great photos and videos of the event.

And congratulations to Coach Anna on running an amazing competition!

THERE’S STILL TIME TO TRAIN YOUR ENDURANCE

In case you missed it, Coach Sarah is running an 8-week endurance program designed to get you ready for your next race. As the popularity of Hyrox, Deka, and Spartan races have grown, we’ve gotten requests from Feast members to help them get ready for these races, which combine functional movements typically seen in CrossFit, with more endurance focused running, ski erg’ing, and other aerobic capacity tests.

Coach Sarah has competed at several endurance races, and is offering to Feast members a tailored, supplemental training program that she uses to get herself ready. She’s also training with members on Sundays through November 10. It’s not too late to sign up for this speciality track and see what these races are all about! This is a great opportunity to build your aerobic capacity.

DM Coach Sarah if you’re interested in joining the program!

CURRENT PROGRAMMING CYCLE: ENDURE

The fourth cycle of our programming year is named "Endure." This cycle is designed to build stamina, mental toughness, and our ability to sustain performance over time. Our class strength focuses during this cycle will be Power Cleans and Dips. Olympic Weightlifting classes will focus on Back Squats and Snatches. Throughout October, expect to see more barbell WODs, the workout ‘DT,’ and a retest of the workout ‘Karen.’ In November, we will shift our strength focus to Overhead Squats and Handstand Push-Ups (HSPU) and will see ‘24.3,’ along with a retest of ‘Grettel.’

Weekly Schedule:

Monday: Power Clean
Tuesday: Gymnastics
Wednesday: METCON
Thursday: Back Squats
Friday: Dips
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.

DAVE AND KRISTY GOT THEIR CF-L1

Congrats to Kristy Bowman and Dave Pfest for receiving their L1 Certifications at the CrossFit Coaching seminar Feast hosted on Sept 14 and 15. We love their thirst for knowledge, and commitment to CrossFit.

NUTRITION CORNER

CONGRATS TO OUR FEAST FIFTY CHALLENGE WINNERS

On July 21, we launched the Feast Fifty Challenge. Members scored themselves daily on their progress at adopting the following healthy habits. At the end of 50 days, everyone won by making progress towards adopting habits that will keep them fit for life, but our top scorers were:

Nick Tan: 293
Kaushal Dalal: 239
Ian Conger: 89

Nick won a personalized nutrition consult with Coach Greg, including a macro Rx if he wants it ($100 value), as well as a Feast apparel item of his choice. Kaushal and Ian both won Feast apparel items of their choice, or a 12 pack of a FitAid flavor of their choice.

Looking to improve your nutrition like our Feast Fifty Challenge members did?

Try these 5 simple tips to improve your nutrition and optimize your training:

Aim for between 7-8.5 hours of sleep every night.
Eliminate added sugars for breakfast.
Try to eat at least 4 ounces of protein at every meal along with produce.
Drink at least half your bodyweight in ounces of non-caffinated, unsweetened liquids.
Prepare at least two of your meals.

We recommend you start with one until it sticks. Then layer on another! It’s all about maintenance and balance.

A FAVE FALL SALAD FROM COACH TERRI

Looking for new meal prep ideas—or something seasonal?

Check out this delicious kale apple salad recipe Coach Terri came across. Add some grilled chicken breast, and you’ve got a meal that checks our boxes for minimally processed protein and produce.

Newsletter 26 // October 2024