9-26-13

I just wanted to take a little time tonight to discuss a few things. First and foremost I found CF almost 5 years ago. I mainly dabbled at first not really realizing what I was doing. I mixed it with my swim workouts and did mostly the things that I could do with weights that I knew I could handle. I was working out a local gym and doing what I could with the equipment that I had. Then one day I heard about this “local” throw down taking place in Albany, Ga and I just had to sign up and go compete. The night that I showed up in Albany will be a night that I never forget. The gym was huge they had more barbells than I had ever seen, there were no treadmills,they had more pull-up bars than you could shake a stick at,  and everyone looked so stinkin fit. It was an atmosphere that I had never seen or been or part. Everyone treated me like family, everyone knew my name or wanted to introduce themselves, they wanted to know how long I had been Crossfitting and where was my box located. I had the opportunity to meet two very amazing people in Kris Morrill and Jennifer Durden. Since then they have both been great friends and mentors. Now you can imagine the type impact that this experience had on me. Great looking people wanting to be around me and know my story, to share their CF stories with me, and also cheer for me while I compete. As for the competition itself I ended up placing 7 out of 8 in the scaled division. But on the ride home I told the guy that I was riding with that I was going to open up a CF gym in Dublin, Ga. I am sure that you can picture the look on his face.

Fitness has become more than my hobby it has become my profession. I absolutely love seeing people get their first pull-up, power clean, push up or any other  firsts of an exercise that you can possibly think of. I love mentoring and talking about values. I love sweating. I absolutely love seeing other people succeed inside and outside of the gym member or non member. See I don’t do this because I have to, I do this because I love fitness and I have found what GOD put me on earth to do. I want to thank every single one of you for making this dream become a reality. It is my hope that I have helped you in some way become a better husband, wife, mother, father, co-worker, athlete, sister, brother,or friend. I am looking forward to many more years of providing a fitness service that is unmatched in the Dublin/Laurens County area. Thank you so much for believing in me.Now when people ask I get to say this, ” My name is Eric Bland. I am the owner and head trainer at CrossFit DGA/ DGA Strength and Conditioning. Our gym is huge, we have more barbells than you have ever seen, we do not have any treadmills, we have more pullup bars than you can shake a stick at, and everyone that comes is so stinkin fit.”

Fitness:

For time:

1000m row

20 PC 115/75

30 Alt Lunges

20 Shoulder to OH

**same weight should be used throughout

Competition:

EMOM for 20 mins

Even- 3 Squat Clean Thruster #135/85

Odd- 10/15/20 DU

+

EMOM for 8 min

6 Pistols- 3 each leg