Dear Roots Crew,

We’re excited to see everyone at the 4th of July celebration tomorrow, where we’ll also celebrate Roots’ 16th birthday.

Of the 300 or so current Roots members, 89 of you have been training with us for 10 years or more. Coy and Dizon are on track to become the first two members to hit 3,000 class attendances. And Roots now sits among the longest-running affiliates (top 100) of the 14,000 worldwide.

I say all this because the bedrock of these numbers is the work you have put in day in and day out, consistently, over many years. This is not normal. At a recent seminar I was teaching in Colorado Springs, someone lamented to me that they would feel weird or stand out if they didn’t eat the typical American diet.

My reply was “yes” – to truly drive your health and fitness in this day in age, you must first accept that you’re not going to be normal. With 129 million Americans having at least one major chronic disease (heart disease, Type II diabetes, obesity) you have to accept that the lifestyle you adopt to be healthy and drive performance will by default mean you’re not “normal.”

For example, it’s not normal to bring chicken breast, oranges, and almonds on a 12-hour plane ride. It’s not normal to wear your ruck throughout 8 hours of your kid’s soccer game because that’s the only means you have to get weight on your frame for the day. It’s not normal to train on the 4th of July. It’s not normal to weigh and measure your protein intake to optimize your muscle mass. And, it’s not normal to walk into a “fitness class” where the smallest deadlift going up in the 60 minutes is 240 pounds.

So don’t be normal. Be CrossFit. And own it.

See you on the 4th!
Nicole

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QUICK HITS

• YOU’RE INVITED: Double Birthday Celebration: America Turns 249, Roots Turns 16!
• Benchmark Week
• Teens Program Fall Schedule
• Lindsay Ramsey, DPT – July Special
• Summer Reading List
• Who Is On Track for The Great Attendance Challenge of 2025?

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Double Birthday Celebration: This Friday!

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Benchmark Week

The second installment of Benchmark Week is BACK! Three times a year, we program the same five workouts, Monday through Friday for athletes to come in, test and then repeat throughout the year.

If you completed Benchmark Week back in April, review your results and reserve your spot in class for the workouts you want to repeat. If this is your first Benchmark Week, we recommend aiming to complete 4-5 workouts, log your scores, and keep detailed notes. Then be on the lookout for the Benchmark Week in the fall to repeat!

What is Benchmark Week? Why do we do it? Take a moment to read this article, as it will help frame your understanding of programming, working weaknesses, and working toward a goal of general physical preparedness. Seriously, give it a read!

2025 Benchmark Workouts

Monday: 1 rep max Squat snatch
Tues: DT
Wed: Max rep strict pull-ups, Max Time L-Sit, Max distance burpee broad jump, 30-sec a max cal bike
Thurs: Jerry
Fri: Pick a CrossFit Benchmark Girl

Want to know even more about why we do Benchmark week at Roots? Check out this blog post.

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Middle and High School Teens Program – Fall 2025

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Lindsay Ramsey, DPT – July New Patient Special

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Summer Reads!

Need a good dose of inspiration while snagging some downtime on a beach, in a tent, or on a plane? Look no further than these reads!

Fitness, Luck, and Health – CrossFit is so much more than a trendy way to sweat. It’s a methodology grounded in science, with a defined goal to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains. And if one is going to drive health and performance, the methodology must also address and solve for chronic disease – the cause of 70 percent of deaths worldwide.

Healing Back Pain – Have you ever realized the perspective we put on back issues? For example, if we tweak a shoulder, we just tweaked our shoulder and work through it, but if we tweak our back, we “have a bad back.” Why the difference? Dr. John E. Sarno’s groundbreaking research on TMS (Tension Myoneural Syndrome) reveals how stress and other psychological factors can cause back pain-and how you can be pain-free without drugs or surgery.

CrossFit Level 1 Training Guide – The definitive guide to understanding CrossFit, maximizing your results, and driving your long-term performance and health.

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Tracking for the The 2025 Great Attendance Challenge

The 2025 Great Attendance Challenge is off and running! Attend 225 classes in 2025 and be entered to win a FREE YEAR of membership at CrossFit Roots! Learn more about the challenge HERE.

Members who attend 19 or more classes each month stay on track to attend 225 in one year and you can now track your monthly attendance in the CrossFit Roots app!

Here’s who is on track for 225 with 114 classes through the first half of the year.

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