Hey Roots Crew,

This October we’re coming in hot with an in-house team competition, the Unicorn Phase of programming, not one but TWO big lift Saturdays, and the annual Spirit Week. 

Whether you’re chomping at the bit to train hard right now or your routine has fallen off, I want you to take a moment to read through the programming brief below for the next phase of training, specifically The Explanation section. 

At Roots, we are unapologetically CrossFit. We believe, and more importantly, have seen with our own eyes over the past 18 years, that a commitment to the CrossFit methodology beautifully delivers on long-term health and performance. It’s built triple-threat athletes who can hammer a 5K, pull 2X bodyweight+ in their deadlift, and walk 50 feet on their hands, all while having the blood markers to get the nod from their physician. 

That combination of athlete is a unicorn. 

And it’s something that we want you to take pride in. If we know that this type of training demands that athletes address their weaknesses to improve their fitness, it means we have to lean into that HARD to get the results we want. It means switching your perspective from “I can’t walk on my hands, I’m not going today” to “I’m going to learn to walk on my hands no matter how I look along the way because I’m in an environment where everyone else is also working on something they’re not the best at and nobody really cares how I look; they just care that I try.” (Yes, run-on sentence). 

I often think about what your families would think if they saw what you actually do in the gym each day to earn your fitness and hope in my heart that they would be proud, maybe a little in awe, because there are not many people in today’s world who have the guts to put themselves out there for the sake of a raw effort toward health and fitness. To you it may seem like a given, but the work is real and the effort significant. 

Enjoy the grind,

Nicole

---

QUICK HITS

• Harvest Hoedown Sign Up!
• Here Comes the Unicorn – Next Programming Phase
• Fall Nutrition Workshop Recap
• Next Big Lift Saturday
• Spirit Week at Roots
• Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity: What Does It Mean?
• November Save the Dates!
• The Great Attendance Challenge

---

HARVEST HOEDOWN – EVENT 4 ANNOUNCED!

Announcing Event 4 of the 2026 Harvest Hoedown. Sign-up by October 2nd to secure your shirt AND your place in the comp!

Event 4: Cow Tippin’ (floater)
A repeat workout from the 2016 Harvest Hoedown.

AMRAP 5 Minutes of:
Team Tire Flips

• Teammates work together to flip over the tire.
• Both partners must jump in the tire, both feet must touch the ground, and out of the tire to the other side after every flip to begin next flip in opposite direction.
• Scaled: lighter tire and no requirement to jump through the tire
• Score = Total tire flips

---

HERE COMES THE UNICORN

The Unicorn Phase Starts 10/5!

Here’s what’s in store for you starting 10/5.

Weekly Structure

• Heavy Front Squat or GPP Rotation Lift → Strength Base
• Inverted Gymnastics Bias → Gymnastics Base
• Conditioning with clear intent → Bread and Butter

The Unicorn Explanation

• Most people who spend their time getting brutally strong aren’t also kicking upside down and walking on their hands. Most people with elite body control aren’t trying to pull twice their bodyweight off the floor. CrossFit asks us to do both. The Unicorn is about developing the kind of athlete that shouldn’t really exist anywhere else. Strong enough to move heavy weight. Skilled enough to control their body in space. Fit enough to handle whatever shows up next.
• This phase pairs a renewed emphasis on pulling strength and inverted gymnastics with a return to true GPP conditioning. We’ll spend time attacking weaknesses without forgetting that part of becoming fitter is learning how to weaponize your strengths.
• Specialists are everywhere. We’re here to build unicorns.

Heavy Days:

• Deadlift alternates weeks as the heavy lift only day, and in the WOD.
• Weeks where we do heavy front squat in WOD, will have what we refer to as our GPP lift rotation, which hits Back Squat/Front Squat/Clean and Jerk.

Gymnastics Bias:

• Inverted Gymnastics – Alternating weeks of standalone skill/gymnastics strength sessions, and in workout expression.
  • Handstand Walk
  • Wall Walk
  • Handstand Push-up

How to get the most out of each phase:

• Attend class 4-5 days a week
• Make a pact with yourself not to skip workouts that aren’t your strengths
• Find an accountability buddy to help you get your 4-5 days on lock!

---

NUTRITION WORKSHOP RECAP

The fall Nutrition Workshop was a hit! Athletes spent a Sunday morning in September learning about CrossFit’s dietary prescription, how lifestyle factors can combat the conditions of chronic diseases, and how to put habits into place to drive long term health and performance.

Athletes finished the day by learning how to prep and pack weighed and measured meals based off of their individual macros and needs.

Shout out to Eric for the meal prep spread! 

---

BIG LIFT SATURDAY

Big Lift Saturdays are coming at you on October 10th AND 31st from 10:30-noon.

Sign up in Zen Planner. Bring the lifters. Bring the energy.

Want a peek at last month’s Big Lift Saturday? Check it out here!

---

SPIRIT WEEK

Mark your calendars – spirit week is October 26-October 30th! Spirit week brings a little extra fun and excitement to the daily grind of class and generally just gives everyone something to smile about!

We’ll tease the fun with Monday and Friday’s themes…

Monday 10/26 – Monday Night Football

It’s Monday night in America and that means, MNF! Whether you’re all in for the Broncos, love the Eagles, or are still coming off the high of da Bears win last Monday, put a stake in the stand for your team and wear. your jersey, hoodies, and tees to class. We’ll even have a football themed workout.

Friday 10/30 – Halloween Costumes!

Have you ever seen a dinosaur do deadlifts? A skeleton overhead squat? Or a princess do pull-ups? We have. Bring your Halloween spirit to Friday’s class.

---

MECHANICS, CONSISTENCY, INTENSITY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

CrossFit’s charter of mechanics, consistency, then intensity is an integral part of any athlete’s development. It’s also not just a beginners concept. As athletes get stronger, faster, and move heavier loads, the cycle of mechanics, consistency, intensity must continuously be applied to learn new skills and perform at a higher level.

Take the time to read the article below to get a better handle on how to get the most out of your training and programming.

Excerpt: “One of the most overlooked and undervalued tenets of the CrossFit program is the mechanics-consistency-intensity charter. The Level 1 Certificate Courseand CrossFit’s founding documents, as published in the early CrossFit Journal, define CrossFit as constantly varied functional movements, executed at high intensity. While this definition of CrossFit is both descriptive and prescriptive, the accompanying mechanics-consistency-intensity charter further elucidates how the program should be implemented by providing a hierarchy of concerns and establishing a linear timeline of development.

Yet, since the program’s inception, CrossFit has faced criticism due to the misguided assumption that intensity is the singular, definitive characteristic of the methodology, as if the inclusion of an element that can be overdone encourages a fatalistic, Icarian-drive to do so. We often see this accusation of “intensity above all” stemming from a limited understanding of the fundamental tenets of the program, combined with extrapolations based on a single moment in time.”

---

November Event Save the Dates!

Fall at Roots is not to be missed! Save the dates for these upcoming annual events; more details to follow.

CHAD 1000X – Wednesday, 11/11, all class times. Learn more here.

Thanksgiving Happy Hour – Friday, 11/13

Thanksgiving Day Shit Show – Thursday, 11/26

---

The Great Attendance Challenge of 2026

Attend 225 classes in 2026 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. The following members attended 19 or more classes in September!