Keith E. Knapp

“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 stronger, more...

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 important: we...

“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 the work stays the...