No Excuses CrossFit is celebrating 12 years as an affiliate this week.
During that time we have had nearly 3,000 people workout at No Excuses either as members, drop-ins, or for competitions.
I’ve been with the gym for 11 of years as either a member, coach, manager, or owner.
Here are some of my favorite moments from the last 12 years.
Annandale Village working out with us
We developed a partnership with Annandale Village, a place for adults with traumatic brain injuries and intellectual disabilities, in 2015. They would workout with us 1-2 days a week at No Excuses or at Annandale. They always came to the gym with a smile on their face and ready to workout. They also loved to talk sports with me. COVID has prevented them from working out with us this year, but we hope to rekindle that relationship in 2021.
Bar muscle ups in the Open
During the CrossFit Open it forces people to go outside of their comfort zone and try new things.
In 2016, the Open had bar muscle ups for the first time. It had a lot of people discouraged about the workout since only a small handful of people at No Excuses could do the high-skill gymnastics movement.
But by the end of the night nearly a dozen people got their first bar muscle up. It was highlighted by Dennis Scales, who once he got his muscle up just stayed at the top of the bar for several moments with excitement.
WOD For A Cause in the park
No Excuses has always been about giving back to the community and we did that in a big way in 2013. We hosted WOD For A Cause at Suwanee Town Park with the mission to end homelessness in Gwinnett County.
The event featured a 5K road race, team CrossFit competition, and weightlifting demonstration from two-time Olympian Chad Vaughn.
Coach Laura qualified for Regionals
The sport of CrossFit began to take off in 2013 and through the CrossFit Open you could qualify for Regionals. Coach Laura Moore did so that year and it pumped a lot of excitement into the gym. We made T-shirts that said Moore Strength and sold them as a fundraiser to help pay the entry fee and travel costs. Since it was in West Palm Beach, Fla., in the spring time we also had a solid group of members go down to cheer her on.
Meeting my wife Leslie at No Excuses
For the first six months I was at No Excuses I had no idea who Leslie was at the gym. I would workout at the 9:30am or 12:30 pm classes and she always went to the 4 pm after teaching at school.
Then the summer time came and she started coming to the 9:30 or 12:30 classes and we finally crossed paths. I would wipe down her equipment and help her put it away just so I could talk to her more. The gym threw us a Wedding WOD, which may have been the hottest day in June off all time. Now we’ve been married for 8 years and have two children.
The old pull up rig
Before Rogue or Lynx were big names in the CrossFit equipment world, many CrossFit gyms made their own equipment. Our first pull up rig was one that was welded together by a local company.
It was small and looked like something you might see at a playground. If there were more than three people on it at a time, we would have to coordinate who was facing which direction so we didn’t kick each other as we did our kipping pull-ups.
Garage Games One at SSA
The Garage Games was a local competition that grew to be a pretty big one in the Southeast. In 2015, they used Suwanee Sports Academy as the location and No Excuses had a large presence. We had kids, individuals, masters, teams, every division they had open, we had someone competing in that weekend.
Because of the large participation by the gym, we also had a large group of fans from the gym to cheer everyone on.
Barbara Parsons won her master’s division and was the first No Excuses athlete to win a local competition.
Hugo Open
The Hugo Open is our annual in-house competition that we started in August 2014. This was a way to bring our gym community together and have a fun competition with everyone. The divisions, teams, and workouts have evolved over the years, but the sled in the hot August sun has always been a staple. People always ask why we do the sled in the afternoon and that’s exactly why. 🙂
I’m sure I’ve missed a few moments, so reply to this email and let me know your favorite moment from No Excuses CrossFit.