Family fun!

Your kids are so impressionable. They really just want to be like you. At least until they're about 10-12! :) I had so much fun watching Larry and his daughter Darian the other day at the 9AM. She had perfect form in the exercises, just by watching her Daddy. Darian was doing the front squat, overhead lunge and burpee! Of course the camera was too slow to get her at just the right time but I think you get the idea. The overhead lunge was the best. She walked over, got the appropriate sized weight and just started lunging! It was awesome. Make CrossFit a family affair, you're kids will love it! I also wanted to congratulate everyone who competed in the Open on Saturday (Sarah, Larry & Ellie from the 9AM). I am so proud of all of you. It was so much fun. Hope all are inspired to compete next time! :)

WOMEN'S GET SOME CHALLENGE!!!

Here you have the fearless women of the 9AM class gearing up for the Women's Get Some Challenge! What a great picture! However, this isn't all of them. I know Kathy is signing up and there might be a few more. Very proud of the 9AMers! They were really kicking some bootay at toes to bar in today's workout. I hope all the CrossFitWorks women consider signing up for the challenge. It'll be a lot of fun and great motivation to improve your strength. Let's do it women....

KICK SOME ASS!!!

A visitor at my "other" job

Yesterday I had the pleasure of giving Ellie, Pancho & a couple kiddos a tour of our new fire station. It was so nice of them to come visit and check out my "second" home. The kids had a great time! It's always fun having friends over to the station. Ellie, thanks again for the salad and cookies. The guys devoured the cookies before I came back upstairs! They were very happy :)

It's really nice that firefighting and CrossFit go hand in hand. Obviously it's very important for firefighters to stay in shape. However, it's one thing to run and lift weights, and a totally different thing to do CrossFit. CrossFit has gotten me in much better shape for the job. The workouts are more functional, fun and a lot shorter! :) The thing that's most important to me though, is that CrossFit has gotten me in better shape for LIVING. I've seen improvements in all aspects of my life. I'm very fortunate to be a firefighter and I'm even more fortunate to be a firefighter who does CrossFit!!!

If you need motivation...

You know those days when you're in a funk or you just don't "feel" like working out? We all get those days. If that happens to me and I need motivation, I like to watch this video-It's one of my favorite stories. It's a little long but well worth it. So next time you don't want to run that last 400, think of Dick and Rick Hoyt and I guarantee you'll get through it.

First 9AM class of 2010!

Happy New Year! Just wanted to give a big shout out to the first 9am class of the year. This is the first week of the closed class system and we had a great turnout- 13 people! Mike and I will be teaching the 9am & sometime in the near future there could be a couple other firefighters joining us. I'm really looking forward to getting to know everyone a lot better. This means you as a person & your strengths & weaknesses. We are going to have a ball! Representing the 9am is Mike, Matt, Keith, Bob, Karen, Kathy, Sarah, Me, Andrea, Elizabeth, Carolyn, Ellie, Julie, Maureen & Sonia.

Welcome!

Hello & thanks for checking out my blog! My name is Jenny LaCoss & I'm going to give you a brief glimpse at who I am & how I've gotten to this point in my life. I grew up involved in sports: volleyball, soccer, cross-country and mostly softball. Freshman year in high school I signed up for a weightlifting class. The teacher was the varsity football coach so most of what we did was bench, dead lift and squat. It definitely gave me a good foundation. Between the class and reading Muscle & Fitness magazine, I learned how to lift weights. About that same time a firefighter from the Tucson Fire Department came to our school to talk about the Cadet program. At this point in my life I had yet to choose a career path. I considered medicine, but also really enjoyed athletics. However, this Cadet program sounded really interesting to me. The summer of my freshman year I went through the TFD Cadet program & I was hooked! I knew I wanted to become a firefighter. I spent the rest of my high school years playing softball, working out & summers in the Cadet program. I ended up getting on the Fire Department when I was 19. I spent the next eight or so years staying in shape for the job with weights & cardio. I did the typical Monday- chest & tris, Tuesday- back & bis, Wednesday- legs etc...etc. Then would do 30-60min of cardio. During this time I also competed in power lifting and bodybuilding competitions. After over ten years of this my body was feeling it. I started spending less time in the “gym” and began doing more body weight exercises. In 2004 the Fire Dept. wanted to certify about 20 firefighters as personal trainers to help other firefighters stay in the best shape they can. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of these Peer Fitness Trainers or "PFT's". Another responsibility of a PFT was to organize & run P.T. for recruits & firefighters that were off shift in different certification classes. I really enjoyed being a trainer & organizing group workouts so I decided to also start training people on the side. In Sept of 08 the Fire Department decided to send two PFT's to the Level 1 CrossFit certification in Mesa. I was really excited because I had been doing CrossFit on my own for about six months. Mike Heinz & I were chosen to attend. We didn't realize at the time how lucky we were to be at this particular cert. There were probably 60-70 people in the class & they break you up into groups of about 8-10 to learn the exercises. Unless someone goes out of their way to talk to every person, more than likely you'll only get to know a few people. In my group was a lady by the name of Jennifer Higgins. At one point during the classroom portion she mentioned that she was opening an affiliate in Tucson. That was exciting because at this point there weren't any affiliates in Tucson. It wasn't till class was over on the second day did I first speak to Jen. I ran into her in the bathroom and asked her about her affiliate. We talked for a few minutes, exchanged numbers & parted ways. About a month later I got a call from Jen saying she was looking for trainers and the rest is history! I've been at CrossFitWorks over a year now & I couldn't be happier. It was meant to be that Mike and I were in that cert with Jen. CrossFitWorks is an amazing place to work & workout! Jen & Carl have created an affiliate that has the most positive, supportive & uplifting energy. I've never worked with better trainers or clients. I'm very fortunate to be where I am right now in my life & I look forward to sharing more of it with you!