Nov 6-12

Its testing week! We are going to best testing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from our last 8 weeks of focus. Hopefully you recorded or remember your numbers. This is going to be a tough week.

This weekend is Remembrance Day. We normally do a hero workout to mark the significance of the sacrifice the soldiers made for everyone. This Saturday we have just such a workout. We will be performing Chad. As with all tribunal hero workouts, this is a tough workout, and will need proper scaling and a plan to complete this successfully.

First off, what is the Chad workout?1000 20" Box Step-ups with a 45/35# backpack. Yes, you read that right, 1000 step ups. Why, well the story is as follows. Chad Wilkinson was a 22-year active duty Navy SEAL who died by suicide on October 29, 2018, leaving behind a wife (a CrossFit level four trainer) and a daughter. 

Shortly before his death, Wilkinson completed 1000 weighted step-ups in his garage as part of a training plan to climb Aconcagua in South America. 

Dave Castro, who was friends with Wilkinson, completed the same workout in December 2018 and posted it as a tribute on social media. Thousands of athletes followed suit–creating a new hero WOD in the process. 

Today, Chad is more than just a workout. Wilkinson’s family–in partnership with GORUCK and CrossFit HQ–are using the workout to raise awareness of (and funds for) veteran mental health initiatives. 

You can learn more about the workout (and this amazing cause!) here.

Do not underestimate this workout, it will take a long time and has alot of repetitive movements. You will want to make sure it is scaled so that you can maintain proper form the entire workout. You can scale the height of the box, reduce the load of the backpack, or eliminate the external load all together, or reduce the number of step ups. Remembering to try to alternate which legs you are stepping up and down with every once and awhile will also help more evenly distribute the work between both legs.

If unsure, the coach will gladly help with some modifications. So Saturday crew, you have been warned.