“Bring em Out, Bring em Out…”

Open WOD 6

7 Minute Amrap 3/3, 6/6, 9/9, 12/12, 15/15,18/18, 21/21, etc as high as you can go.
Thrusters and chest to bar pullups, as always Get Some…

Video by: Roo
Post by: Z

“Do Epic Shit…”

Two days into the 6th Edition of Caliber Cycle I’m feeling todays title. Three weeks of maxing twice a week on three different lifts. Do Epic Shit? Check out this Video…

Get Some

Posted by: Z

“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you, simply makes you… Stranger”

Opens over. Who’s ready to bang…

Caliber Cycle 6th Edition

Posted by Z

“Who’s Keyser Soze”

There a lot of mythical things in this big strange world of ours, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, but the biggest oldwives tales in our gym revolve around one singular thing, La Familia Filer. Urban legends have grown rampant about as one man once put it “The royalty of West Seattle”.  Does Nickay really live on a dirt road in the middle of the hood with chickens and ducks roaming the area? Does Z actually use special shampoo for his beard? Did the Pickle Man story really happen or was that just Mama Filer’s short story submission for the local paper? Those are stories for another day, today we delve into the mystery of “Who is the third Filer brother.”

 Jaime “JJ” Filer is the eldest of the Filer boys.  A naturally talented athelete, Jaime excelled at numerous sports, from football to basketball to his current love of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. JJ parlayed his success on the football field at JFK High School to a college football career at Western Washington University and than University of Puget Sound as wide receiver. In between he found a way to win Hoop It Up and a Flag Football League. His influences on the gym can be felt all the time. Hate running sprints up a hill backwards? Blame Jaime Filer. Hate Z getting on your mechanics while sprinting up said hills? Blame Jaime Filer. Towel pullups, I go You go dips,  all Jaime Filer.

After playing some pro ball, JJ was lost trying to find something to take up his competitive juices but he found it in BJJ. Jaime walked into Foster Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school a little over 3 years and was hooked. He started to pour himself into the sport, reading all the books on the subject and training almost every day. His skills improved dramatically with his dedication and he cemented his place as the skinnest Filer maybe ever. This past year Jaime has been training his ass off for two things, 1. Pan Ams and 2. To reach Purple belt. To reach his goals, he only not trained constantly but started to teach more. At a local tournament to show his mettle, he went prison style and went at heavyweight to show that his Jits was sick.

Recently Jaime went to California for Pan Ams and took 5th place in the Open Weight Division at Blue Belt (an interesting fact, JJ seems better at rolling with big guys, wonder were he got that experience, hmm). I am glad to say that he will not repeat that distinction next as the picture below shows.

Congratulations Jaime, you earned it (this doesn’t mean though that you start doing leg locks on us though)

Posted by: Nickay

“Test your might”

When the day is slow can you think of something better than watching people kick each other’s ass. I am hoping that Jax will uppercut off the stone bridge over the row of spikes in this one.

Posted by Nickay

“Get away from her you bitch!”

Here at OCS, we love our strong ladies as the title of this post clearly indictates (and if you do not know which movie that is from come talk to me on Monday and bring your playbook). This is noticable not only by our Fem-Beasts accomplishments lifting iron but outside the gym. From inspirational posts here on OCS from the “Strong is Beautiful” series to lending help in the local area with the Barbell Girls program at Chief Sealth High School, the girls of OCS have been given a chance and shown their quality. With all they do and I have never done a pop culture post for them, and I think about this. Now this is about where Z would ask me what the fuck we are talking about and I say it is time to celebrate our OCS girls by celebrating the ladies from the movies who like our girls don’t take shit and kick ass . And without further ado, our inaugural OCS “Sarah Connor All Stars”.

Our first inductee and namesake for the group is Sarah Connor from the Terminator franchises. Sarah Connor as the mother of mankind’s hope, John Connor, goes from running for her life in “The Terminator” to in”T2: Judgment Day” pumping a shotgun with one hand. The description of Linda Hamilton in the second movie is “cut”. I mean look at her arms, she’s got a vein popping out of her biceps. Her shoulders are jacked too. The first time you see her in the second movie is doing pullups in her mental hospital room using her bed, that’s some prison shit there. Linda Hamilton worked out 6 days a week at leat 3 hours a day with a former Israeli commando to make sure that she just didn’t look strong but was able to do all the things that any T-1000 killing badass would be able to do. I would not screw with Sarah Connor.

Next strong lady of the cinema is Jordan O’Neill played by Demi Moore in GI Jane. We got burpee strict pullups, we got one armed pushups, and Demi Moore like Linda Hamilton before not only cut to ribbons but packing a good deal of muscle. Also she has enough savvy to break Viggo Mortensen’s nose, get her ass kicked, and still talk shit. A worthy second inductee.

Coming to us from Million Dollar Baby is Maggie Fitzgerald played by Hilary Swank. Again not only was Hilary in great shape in the movie but she stacked on the muscle. Hilary packed on 19 lbs of rip for the film by consuming 210g of protein a day, drinking flax oil, going through countless rounds of sparring, and real strength training (pull ups and pushing cars). And also like our other prior inductees and the woman at OCS, she can dish out the punishment. Just watch out for sucker punchs.

Next is a personal favorite of mine, Valeria played Sandahl Bergman in Conan the Barbarian.  I remember as a little kid watching the movie and being stunned by how bad ass Valeria was. Not only that, she bagged Conan and I mean that has to count for something.

These are but just a few of the many ladies who have helped to show that is okay to be strong and kick ass. If your favorite is not on the list than make your case in the comments.

Posted by: Nickay

“It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you…”

“Anybody can lose one fight, anybody can lose once, you’ll come back from this you’ll be champion of the world. “

“There is magic in fighting battles beyond endurance”

If any of you guys have been to the Saturday Competition WODs you may have seen my rocking pink socks and a tank that says “Team BUGGIE.” Maybe you’ve thought to yourself, “What’s Team Buggie?” or “What’s up with the gettup Roo?” or some of you have even heard me talk about it, but what’s Team Buggie really about?

I’m not quite sure what it’s like growing up in the city but where I come from, a town/s of about 3000 pretty close knit people, you grew up knowing everyone. As a little girl I always had those girls that I looked up to playing sports, mainly basketball since I started playing year round in 3rd grade, but the high school girls were my idols, they were my heroes and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world when they’d help coach us, or they’d see you downtown and be like “Hey Roo.”

As I grew older the tide started to turn. My teammates and I started to become those girls that the little girls in Elementary and Middle School looked up to. We were those girls that would help coach the little ones during the summer, the girls that made a little girl’s face light up when we saw them off of the court and said hi.

I knew as a little girl how much I looked up to the high school girls and I knew that I was being given the opportunity to be a positive role model in some young girls lives. I let this drive me to do the best I could so I knew that I was making a positive difference in someone’s life.

As bad as it sounds we (my teammates) all sort of had our “favorites.” But there was always a special little girl, Krystyne. When you watched her even as a little tiny girl you knew someday she was going to be awesome! Going in to my senior year our basketball coach wanted to get even more kids into the high school program so we created a campaign around town with a little girl and a little boy in our varsity basketball jerseys aspiring to one day be varsity players, posters spread throughout town and throughout the schools and it was an awesome way to get the community involved while bringing together multiple generations. Who was that little girl? Krystyne.

(This was just one of the several pictures that were made. I love this one though because it has us older girls looking up to Krystyne and that’s really how I felt I looked up to these little ones, they were my inspiration)

Krystyne just celebrated her 15th birthday. I couldn’t even believe it when I realized she was in high school, I just still have this image of the little girl hanging from the hoop in my mind, and when I would go down and tutor her 5th grade classmates. “Krystyne is a fighter. She’s been living with epilepsy and Polycystic Kidney Disease for years. She plays sports and maintains a straight “A” report card. Nothing will defeat her. Her positive attitude will overcome—and she’ll be an inspiration to us all.”- Krystyne’s Mom. As if that weren’t enough for someone to have to fight through, in early March Krystyne was diagnosed with Intermediate Risk Hodgkin Disease (alymphoma cancer).

(Krystyne and her older sister, Virginia)

My heart just tore in two when I saw on her sister’s facebook that she had been diagnosed with cancer. I thought to myself, “this isn’t supposed to happen, this isn’t supposed to happens to such little girls.” Obviously we always think that when anything like this happens, but it just didn’t seem right. Anyways, Krystyne and her family have a positive outlook on life and they know Bugs will “Fight Like Girl” through this.

As soon as the Team Buggie webpage (http://teambuggie.com/) announced that “Team Buggie” gear was available I was ordering. A part of the proceeds from the Team Buggie gear go to helping out Krystyne and her family. Donations can also be made at https://donate.caringbridge.org/.

So why do I wear the gear for the competition wods? Krystyne is my inspiration, thinking of her helps push me. We all have our driving forces, I myself have a couple, but when I’m competing and I want to just slow down or give up I think of her and it drives me, if she is willing to fight for her life and battle like she has, I have no excuse to slow down. That second Open WOD I wanted to slow down so bad, I HATE pushups and I’m not very good at them and I could have used that as my excuse to not push through the pain but I kept thinking to myself “Krystyne wouldn’t give up, she wouldn’t give up.” Leading up to WOD 3 I was having a rough one, I didn’t want to do the WOD, I had a thousand reasons not too, a thousand excuses of why I wouldn’t do that good, and I just didn’t have the heart to do it and Zach sent me a text saying, “Roo, you’re wearing pink, do it for her.” I knew I had to, I had to compete I had to fight through it, because in all reality I love doing it I chose to compete I chose it and if I couldn’t let myself give up on something I chose, something I love, just cause I was having a “rough” day. Buggie didn’t ask for any of her circumstances she doesn’t love any of it but she’s willing to fight because that’s just her, she’s a fighter, and she’s a big driving force and something that helps keep me going even when I feel like the pain of a workout, a workout is unbearable… it’s a workout, it’s not my life and if she can fight so can I.

Posted by: Roo

“Finish Him!!!”

Been waiting for this for almost a year. If you don’t remember this preview here it is again to get your inner Viking fired up.

Now the viral online campaign to get “Mortal Kombat Rebirth” made into a movie, didn’t quite come through. But what it did spawn was a series of websodes starting with the one below. Get Some

Viking Approved…
Posted by: Z

“Everything in life Relates to Point Break and Squats…”

The title of last post came from Point Break. Come on guys I don’t know how you missed that.

Anyone who knows me has heard me say it. There isn’t much in life you cant learn from a Patrick Swayze movie. And the king of those movies is Point Break. And since you guys dropped the ball on the quote last Friday I’m opening the boards for you guys to make up for that.

“I’m just waiting on my set…”

“Dont you know who this is Roach?”

“No man I don’t know who this is!”

“This Johnny Utah, Ohio State Buckeyes…”

That’s right bitches, it’s a Point Break quote off day, lets get it on.

“BODHI THE RIDE IS OVER!!!”

“Oh no no no my friend, I say when it’s over…”

Posted by: Z

“Life sure has a sick sense of humor, doesn’t it…”

Can anyone tell me where today’s post title comes from? I turn to this movie a lot for inspiration.

That’s kind of the base of today’s post. Inspiration

I’ve been on this do what makes you happy kick lately. Life throws so many curve balls at us that sometimes it’s hard to see them. Some people find it simple to find those things. The list is endless of what makes some people happy. Your family, sports, maybe your best friend. Some people have it easy in that department.

I’ve been told by people (especially my brother) that I’m difficult. Finding those little things are hard for me sometimes. And I’ve been having a hard time lately myself.

What do I do? I turn to lifting. I’ve posted on using lifting to aid me in my personal battles more times then I can remember(this is a site about lifting, right). So again last Friday I needed my time with the bar. I was gonna let go and not think about anything.

But I wasn’t finding the motivation. My inner Viking was sleeping and I did what I always do. Got on youtube. I needed something to get me going. I turned to this video, it’s made it’s rounds on Iron sites so you may have seen it before….

It worked, after watching it I was all ready to lift.

But during my warmups something felt off. But I love to lift, this was my time to lift and I was gonna god damn do it. I didn’t want to think about the world. I wanted to lift.

Sometimes your body tries to tell your mind something and your mind doesnt want to listen.

I cleaned, heavier, I cleaned, heavier, I cleaned, Heavier. It’s the way I work. But I walked up to a heavy clean and I wasn’t thinking. My body was there it knew the drill.

Pull.

Jump..

Catch…

Stand….

But my mind was somewhere else. I let the bar drift away from me right before my pull. I continued. I knew it was to far away from me as I jumped. I continued. I knew as I pulled myself under the bar that everything was wrong but I didnt care cause this was my time to lift.

Three hundred and fifteen pounds doesn’t care if your having a shitty day, week, month, or year. It knows its heavy and it wants to be where it started back on the ground. I caught the bar to far out in front of me but thought I was gonna save the lift.

The weight had other plans.

My elbows came down as the usually do in a missed clean. But my left elbow found a stopping point on my leg. FUCK. My arm just got pinned. Ive never been pinned under a clean like that. I twisted. POP

Fuck, did I just break my wrist?

Long story short I didnt. But I have a nasty video of my hand trying to come off my body I’ll show you guys someday. I have a pretty knarly sprain but lucky for me it’s not broken.

It was one of those points in your life that 1/16th of a inch would have changed everything. I find it funny that I watched another Zach’s video earlier in the day who wasn’t as lucky.

I tell people part of lifting is being fearless. The human brain is not wired to jump under heavy shit. But there is a difference between being fearless and being reckless. I toe that line more often then not. I drive my brother and the rest of my family crazy. Pain comes and goes but doesn’t mean you should seek it out. Does that mean I wasn’t gonna jump back under the bar this week? No. And no Nicky I didnt pull heavy cleans. But I did get up more then once. I dusted myself off multiple times this week and kept at it.

“Life sure has a sick sense of humor, doesn’t it?”

Yeah it does.

But what do you do? A good friend told me “Chin down, hands up, keep moving forward.”

And I will.

Posted by: Z