There’s some new signage at CrossFit Mudtown that many of you have seen. To recognize the hard work and dedication members put in day in and day out we’ve added two signs that showcase those who have reached 100 classes attended and 200 classes attended since they became members at CrossFit Mudtown. You’ll find the signs upstairs above the shoe cubbies. This is a HUGE honor and we are so proud of the members (and future members) who have achieved this status!! These people have made their fitness a priority and worked hard to get where they are.

Here’s the current list of athletes at the 100 classes stronger level:

Brad Castro
Clay Childress
Jennifer Childress
Caleb Crosby
Alisha Crossley
Patrick Crossley
Tyler Destefano
Josh Fisher
Heather Harris
Nick Irvin
Jennifer Kimble
Julie Macon
Scott Patterson
Kristen Skinner
Will Slappey
Nicholas Smith
Heather Warwick

And Jennifer Kimble has reached the 200 classes stronger level! Scott Patterson and Nick Irvin are not far behind her.

We can say with all honesty that each and every one of those members have improved or reached a goal in some way. Whether it was hitting a strength PR, a weight loss goal, doing a pull-up or muscle-up, or just feeling better after a workout. They put in the time and marked something off their goal list.

We stress the importance of showing up, putting in the work, and allowing yourself to be a coachable athlete. Setting goals is a great start but you need to put in the time to achieve those goals. We all have things we would like to get better at, but if we do not invest the time we are not likely to get the results we are seeking. The road to fitness is endless, it’s all about journey. Making time to get to the gym is hard. Life is hectic and when you throw in family, work and extracurricular activities, it can seem impossible to find the time. Exercise has an amazing effect of improving your self-worth and more importantly your health. We encourage you to “make the time” and have pride when you enter the 100 (or 200) class club!!

Good luck on all your goals, and remember goals are achieved when you invest the time!!

As we wrap up our 1-year anniversary celebration of CrossFit Mudtown there is so much to reflect on! We have not only grown as a gym and community but each of you have grown in some way through CFM. So many new friends, new PRs, new adventures, and more. We can’t wait to see what year two holds for us all. To remind you of all your greatness and achievements I wanted to recap the year month by month, event by event, PR by PR. Hopefully after looking over all you have done it will inspire you to go bigger this year!! Thank you for allowing us to do what we love and for being a part of our community!
Year in Review 2015-2016

March
– We sign CrossFit affiliate papers. Snag a building in Cahaba Heights. Order a ton of equipment. The gym is coming to fruition!
April 
– The doors of CrossFit Mudtown officially opened! So many people helped make this gym a reality! From painting, stopping in to help move things in, watching our children, and just being there to say ‘it looks good!” we appreciated the support.
– We ran our first official workout that was open to the public at CFM. Everyone did Cindy.
May
– CrossFit Mudtown continues to grow its members and classes are starting to fill up!
– Conducted our first OnRamp beginners class.
June
– We held our official grand opening party that included a workout to anyone who wanted to join in on the fun! We did Fight Gone Bad and had support from family (who all traveled), old members, new members, and (old and new) friends.
– Jacki also competed in the Wodlife Summer games and it was her first competition as a Muddy!!
July
– We continue to grow and new members are joining almost daily!
– The Vestavia Chamber of Commerce conducted a ribbon cutting ceremony welcoming us as a new business in Vestavia Hills.
August
– Nine athletes competed at the local competition Mayhem in the Mountain at Oak Mountain State Park. We had 3 teams, and 1 individual compete. Lainey, Alisha, Kelly, and Melinda led the ladies of CFM in a team. Danny, Nick I, Patrick, and Nick S were on a RX team and Clay, Leroy, Evan, Brian were on a scaled team. I was our RX individual athlete. Despite the heat we had more support than we could ever ask for! We had a tent set up and it was packed with friends and family throughout the day.
September
– We ran a kids workout for Kaidyn’s birthday and the coaches set up an obstacle course in the main work out area! The course included box (plate jumps) jumps, zig-zag sprints, tumbling, burpees, and much more!
– The gym sponsored a fun family event in Cahaba Heights called Back 2 School in the Hills. We had people try out equipment and chat more about CrossFit.
– A group of us participated in a service day hosted by the Vestavia Chamber. We picked up trash along Cahaba Heights Rd.
October
– The push up challenge left everyone at CFM with sore shoulders and better push up form! We challenged the members to do 3 ,000 push-ups this month. These push-ups could be done in any number amount anywhere you wanted! The winner of the challenge was Brian Warwick, but everyone that signed up completed the challenge!!
– Halloween was fun with a costume and pumpkin wod! After the workout we continued the fun upstairs with a party and pumpkin painting for kids.
– Jacki and a member of CrossFit Irondale competed in the Grid Iron games hosted by CrossFit Gardendale. They placed first in the competition.
November
– CrossFit held its first annual Lift Off event focusing on a 1 Rep Snatch, 1 Rep Clean and Jerk, and 1 Workout. This was set up like the CF open and we had many of our athletes register and participate.
December
– While the kids were on Christmas break we held a Mudtown kids class again! This workout included sled pushes and DL. The kids learned about healthy food choices using myplate.org. They enjoyed heathy fruit and cheese snack after the lesson.
– Coach Billy rowed 1 million meters in 2015!!! With the help of some friends he finished up his year-long goal at CFM!
January
– Kristen Skinner and Nick Smith competed in their first Olympic Lifting competition in Georgia. Nick placed 1st and Kristen 2nd in their respective weight classes.
– There was also something in the water at CFM because Jacki and Melinda announced they were pregnant and Nick Irvin announced he was going to be a daddy! (again)
February
– We had several athletes compete in the Wodlife Winter games this year. Jacki was on a team with a few girls from CrossFit Chelsea and CFM had 1 team of 4 compete. Danny, Clay, Brian, and Tyler did an awesome job representing CFM! Once again the CFM crew traveled and we were supported very well!
– We also had several athletes compete in the Tuff Love competition hosted by CrossFit Irondale with proceeds benefiting Christfit. Jacki and Sloan (from The Farm) Competed on an RX team as did Coach Danny and Coach Billy. Danny and Billy both hit huge PRs on the hang snatch and hang clean. Tyler and Brian did an awesome job battling through the WODs as did Clay and Nick! How can we all forget Clays “trip” that lead him to the scare of a lifetime!!
March
– The OPEN!!!! CrossFit Mudtown had over 35 members register and complete the Open this year and we could not be prouder! For 5 weeks we excitedly (some) waited for Dave Castro to dish out our poison. So many of you reached PR’s or completed movements you had never done before! There was lots of screaming, tears, and more high fives and hugs than we can count!!
-While the kids were on spring break we held another Mudtown kids class! The kids enjoyed a fun workout and healthy snack!
– The Assault Bike Gang was formed. Ride hard and fast my friends!!
– Mudtown Barbell was formed (hoping to get this on the regular schedule soon)
April
– Member appreciation week was April 25-30th. It was fun to see all our members being treated special and participating in everything we had going on that week.
– We hosted our 1st anniversary party and 1st Annual Muddy Awards. This was such a fun night and we can’t wait to do it again next year!

Wow! What a year. Looking at the goal board so many people have improved or were able to check something off their goal list this year! From getting a HSPU, PU, or DU, to hitting a new Clean and and Jerk PR, or a new FGB score, big goals were met.

We hope you all have had as much fun as we have and will continue on this crazy awesome ride we call functional fitness! Cheers!!

3 Stages that our Bodies go through after a CrossFit workout

We all know the way you feel after a CrossFit workout.  Exhausted, disoriented, drained, empowered and gassed.  Your heart is up and you are breathing hard and heavy.  It takes you a few minutes before you realize what you just did, or carry on a conversation.  There are so many things our body is going through seconds, minutes, hours, and at times days after a workout! CrossFit causes stress to the body, and a process called general adaptation syndrome (GAS) forces the body to adapt to it using these three main stages.

The Alarm Stage

In the first stage, the body encounters an “unaccustomed” stressor; that is, a physical demand it doesn’t have the capability of meeting completely. Think about your first Thruster, pull up, or snatch.  This puts stress on cells (muscle cells) involved in the processes that are called on to meet that demand.  When a cell is stressed beyond its capacity, it gets damaged.  In the case of muscle tissue, cells or fibers are disrupted.  The cell membranes are degraded, which causes swelling, and you spend the next day or so moving very slowly from the resulting delayed onset muscle soreness. (DOMS)

The Resistance Stage

Within the next 36 to 48 hours, your body begins transitioning out of the alarm stage and DOMS subsides.  It has now gauged the damage, responded to it and can begin the repair process during what is known as the resistance stage.  Your body actually responds in a very logical way to this stress event.  Your body does not want to go through the alarm phase again if you ever re-encounter that stressor in the near future!  During the resistance stage, muscle cells not only repair themselves to the level they were before, but they actually complete a repair process that will ensure they will be better able to meet the demand of that stressor.  This process may take as many as three to four days, you will have more microfilaments pulling on tendons, which creates more force and increases strength.

The Exhaustion Stage

We all need the alarm and resistance stages if we are to become stronger, faster, fitter and more powerful!  However, if we don’t allow sufficient time for the body to complete the repair process, we run the risk of moving into the next stage- exhaustion.  In the exhaustion stage, cells are not fully repaired before again encountering a demand they cannot meet.  Once again, damage occurs, and the alarm process begins.  Over time, insufficient repair time (rest days), stemming from training sessions that are too intense, too frequent or too frequently intense, leads to overtraining and breakdowns.  You will notice slower WOD times, and you will find it will be harder to lift loads you use to manage easily.  Your heavy lifts will drop in weight and PR’s will come less often.

Making sure we train smart and allow our body to recover properly is important!  The intense workouts put major stress on our bodies and can cause internal injuries.  Showing up at the gym 5 or 6 days in a row and going through high intensity workouts will not make you stronger or faster.  Listen to your body and allow it to heal before hitting another hard WOD.  Your body will thank you and reward you in future workouts!