“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Will Durant (paraphrasing Aristotle) As 2025 comes to a close, I want to pause and say this clearly: Well done. You showed up this year — through early mornings, busy seasons, tough workouts, hard conversations (sometimes REALLY hard), small wins, big breakthroughs, and everything in between. We’re just wrapping up the Fortify strength cycle, and it’s been incredible to watch this community get s

Athletes working on band assisted or banded pullups as they develop the strength required to perform unassisted strict pullups. Every so often, a question comes up in class or from one of our coaches that deserves more than a quick answer — it deserves a full conversation. Recently, one of our coaches asked about kipping pull-ups: when we’ll bring them back, how to coach them, and why we emphasize strict strength first. The question was great. And it made me realize something

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” —Ernest Hemingway Today, we take on a benchmark workout: the CompTrain Beep Test. It’s a demanding “death by” style challenge that will test your grit, pacing, and mental discipline. The format is simple, but deceiving: A run A set number of burpee pull-ups A growing number of thrusters each round Each round gets harder. The window of time allowed to complete t

“The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.” —Jim Collins I watched something special happen last week. It wasn’t a new PR. It wasn’t a flashy movement. It was just Coach Mark, quietly crushing a Threshold Thursday workout—with near flawless execution. For those of you who missed it, it was a simple format: 1:00 on, :30 off for 30 minutes. Each round started with light-to-moderate barbell work, followed

“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” — Nelson Mandela You’ve probably noticed the whiteboard notes: Target scores. Intent. Movement standards. Hopefully, you've also been involved in the post-class chats: “Did you hit the goal?” “Were you close to the target?” But, here’s the truth: missing the target isn’t failure—it’s feedback. We write standards and targets not to create pressure, but to help create clarity. To giv

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." — Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) A few weeks ago, I turned 40. To mark the milestone, I laced up my shoes and set out on my 18th annual birthday workout—this time, a 24-hour trail race. The stretch goal was 100 miles. I finished 81. And somewhere in the middle of the dark woods, with only my headlamp lighting the trail ahead, I learned what might be the most important lesson yet: You don’t have to see the

"Wherever you are, be all there.” — Jim Elliot Today, one of the Coach's Notes in CompTrain hit me especially hard: “Each AMRAP should...

"Don't turn away from possible futures before you're certain you don't have anything to learn from them." — Richard Bach Sometimes, we...

From day one, we set out to build more than a room with barbells. We wanted a place where hard work changed more than your split times—a...

Hey team, Over the past couple months we’ve climbed the pyramids, dialed in on how we think about Strength, Conditioning, and Mobility,...

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” — Plato Fitness at the Pinnacle: Taking Your...

“Success is built like a pyramid—one intentional layer at a time.” Why Three Pyramids Tell the Whole Story Hey team, This newsletter gets...

“Move well, then move often.” — Gray Cook Mobility that transforms workouts — and life Hey team, We’ve already talked about Strength....

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” - William Barclay Hey team, In our last training...

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” —...

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” — John 15:13 (NIV) If you’ve been with us for a while, you...

At CrossFit Fairfield, we've always trained with purpose. It’s never just been about crushing a workout, although that's a wonderful...

When I first started coaching kids, I wasn’t teaching squats or push-ups. I was only 18 years old and I was coaching a swim team. But, it...

“Don’t count the days—make the days count.” — Muhammad Ali Hey team, In our last letter, we talked about how each training day has a...

“Don’t confuse movement with progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but doesn’t make any progress.” — Will Rogers Understanding the 4...