Our annual Beginner Olympic weightlifting meet is Saturday, May 16th. Register Here! It’s a great chance to get on the platform to test your best snatch and clean & jerk in a welcoming, positive environment that is catered to the beginner athlete. “But K, I’m not good at Olympic weightlifting, and competition just isn’t for me.”... you may be thinking. Hear me out, but I...
Our [Em]Power Series are affordable 5-week classes built for folks who want to engage with a small cohort of people to focus on specific, individualized goals. We offer sliding scale pricing for all our [Em]Power classes. Beginner 🥳 A 5-week program for folks who are new to exercise and haven't been to the gym in a while (or ever). Feel supported and loved in the body you...
In January we are hosting a Macro Challenge at Solcana! The macro challenge is an opportunity to learn about tracking carbohydrates, fats and proteins as a method of nutrition management. Tracing your personalized macronutrient numbers can you help you reach any nutrition goal, such as gain muscle, lose fat, balance hormones, increase energy or even manage illness and chronic fatigue. Here are the nuts and bolts of...
Who We Are: Solcana Fitness is a a Minneapolis based, queer-friendly, social-justice minded, feminist gym designed for folks of all fitness levels and backgrounds. Our Mission: To offer high-quality, rigorous fitness to people in an accepting and supportive environment. We are the gym for people who feel like they don’t fit in at other gyms. One piece of our mission is to make our facility more accessible...
Since starting my own Crossfit journey in May of 2017, nutrition has been a major focus as part of my training regimen. For the longest time, I wanted to believe that, as long as I exercised I could eat whatever I wanted. To an extent, I still believe that to be true. However, portion control has been a struggle of mine for as long as...
If you are anything like me, the transition around New Years brings up a lot of issues around food shame and guilt. Diet culture teaches us that each new year we should resolve to be smaller, take up less space and finally meet our goal of being skinny. It's so frustrating to constantly be in and out of the cycle of dieting. A few years...
Congratulations everyone! Another year of the Open is done. I personally really enjoyed the workouts this year, and I will definitely be retesting them in another 6 months to see how I do. 20.5 was particularly epic, as some people got their very first pull-ups and it was AMAZING to watch. Congratulations Nate on winning the workout this week! So incredible to be able to do...
So far 20.4 has been my favorite workout of the year. I didn't expect to love it because it was another 20 minute grinder, but I loved doing it and even more so, I loved watching people do it. There were so many clean and jerk PR's! Pat and Garrett tied for first this week! Both of them got through the 185# clean and jerks...
Congratulations to our Athlete of the Month: Jenessa White! I had to check several times to make sure that Jenessa had not already been athlete of the month, because she is such a huge part of the fiber of Solcana that it seems preposterous that she has not already gotten this nod. In the past she has won the Spirit of the Open award for being...
20.3 was a fun little repeat of 18.4 and it was a fun one to do again! This time I saw a lot of people really challenge themselves on the deadlift weight, and do some incredibly difficult pushup reps. Great work! Congratulations Pat!! Pat almost made it to the first set of handstand walking, which is very impressive. The second weight for the platinum deadlift...
Great job on the second workout everyone! This one was sooooooo loooooooong. 20 minutes felt epic, and not in a good way. There was also a vastly different number of reps between Silver and Gold/Platinum, so I would say we had a variety of experiences in this one! Check out those incredible scores! It's also fun to see some names on the top 20 that...
20.1 was an absolute lung-burning, leg trashing, burpee-heavy workout. It was so inspiring to watch everyone tackle this one head on. I saw some folks really challenge themselves to go a little faster, do a few more reps, and it was a beautiful thing. Let's check out the results: Kira was the only person to finish this workout! Her burpees are wicked fast, and even...
Aaron is so kind to everyone in the gym. He calmly comes in, cracks a few jokes, calmly kicks ass through the whole class, and calmly goes off to SAVE LIVES! - Coach Jeff Aaron will often talk about how fit and able other people are while being one of the most able athletes himself. Aaron will absolutely crush workouts and then commiserate with everyone that...
Congratulations to our September Athletes of the Month, Rachel Peterson and Bruno Lima! Rachel Peterson is a superstar of the 5:30am class. She has worked quietly and consistently to build her strength and skills with very impressive results. When she first came to the gym, she had one of those kinda scary squats(!), but she has trusted the process, taken it one class at a time,...
Welcome to July, it's getting hotter and we have lots of summer fun planned for you, so get in here and enjoy the good company and the A/C! We are so excited to announce our July Athletes of the Month, and it's been a long time coming for both of them: Pat McCann and Sasha Yunginger! Pat McCann is the best rower in the gym. He...
Happy June, everyone! So many reasons to celebrate this month: It's summer, it's Solcana's 5th birthday, and it's PRIDE month! This month we are recognizing two very special athletes, Ruben Soto-Acosta and Ry Macarayan! They are both inspiring people who have been working hard so give them a high five when you see them around! Ry is nominated by Coach Jenn: "Ry is a body adapt...
Spring is finally here! Congratulations to our May Athletes of the Month, Katie Fritz and David Bradley! Katie Fritz told us that she always saw herself as a solo exerciser before Solcana, but she took a chance on us and has been really putting herself into everything she does here. Coach Jerik says "Katie started at Solcana as part of the Outdoor Program, and appears to...
The 2019 Open is done! Congrats on making it through. Everyone did an awesome job and I saw a LOT of people do things they thought they couldn’t. If you take a year at Solcana and zoom it way out, you’ll see that the end of the Open coincides with a solid Olympic-centric cycle. This is because we have the beginners weightlifting meet in May,...
Welcome Spring, and congratulations to our April Athletes of the Month, Pat Staiger and Margaret Perry! "Pat joined us after doing CF at another gym for a while, and once he tested the waters with us, he was hooked" says Coach Hannah. "He is now an integral part of our community and I can't remember what it was like before he was here. Pat is a...
19.5 is over, and that is officially a wrap on the 2019 season! In my humble opinion, 19.5 was pure torture. 20 minutes of lung-burning, arm-killing torture. Glad it's done! Even at 35# doing ring rows I was ready to throw in the dang towel about 6 minutes in. Great job to everyone who completed this and all of the other open workouts! I had...
19.4 is over and hopefully that means we are done with burpees this open season! This workout was super fun. I don't think I have ever seen an open workout before with built-in rest. That added component really pushed people to burn through the first part as fast as possible, to leave as much time remaining for those harder skills. It was also really amazing...
What a fun week! 19.2 was a repeat of 16.2, and it was a great opportunity to see folks hit new heavy numbers on their clean. Plus, a handful of people actually finished the workout, which was really cool to see. This workout was particularly hard because it combined a high-rep gymnastics movement (toes to bar), a difficult skill (double-unders), and heavy weights (squat cleans)....
Welcome to MARCH! It may look like a moonscape outside right now but the promise of spring is in the air! I am thrilled to announce our Athletes of the Month for March: Sparkle Jones and Martin Van Boekel! Sparkle started with Body Adapt about a year ago and has shown SUCH consistency in showing up and doing the work! Coach Hannah says "Sparkle is one...
The first CrossFit Open workout 19.1 is in the books! What an excellent way to start the season off, with a simple yet painful burner. A lot of you challenged yourselves to use a heavier ball than usual and a higher target than you are used to, and that was really incredible to see. I personally did the workout in a mostly empty gym in...
Welcome to February! This month is short but winter is starting to feel long. This time of the year I'm grateful for the warmth and sweaty cameraderie inside of the gym, as well as bright sunshine when the temps are frigid. It's also time to announce our February Athletes of the Month, Katie Paro and Brad Evans! Coach Hannah nominated both of these athletes and...
It's crazy to think that the 2019 Open is rapidly approaching! Now is the time for you to register to be part of the 2019 Solcana Open Team Challenge, AKA the most fun time of year. What is the Open? The CrossFit Open is an international competition that happens yearly in February and March. It’s an opportunity for CrossFit athletes across the world to test out their...
I joined Solcana in April 2017, when I was twelve weeks pregnant. If you’ve ever been pregnant, known anyone who was pregnant, or somehow gotten sucked up in the (awful) social conversation surrounding pregnancy, you probably know two things. First, you’re not supposed to try new physical activities because you might hurt yourself or the fetus. Second, lots of people have Opinions -- Strong ones!...
Happy New Year! As we head into the new year, we are also heading into a new programming cycle. This cycle is our 2019 Open Prep Cycle. In our year-long macrocycle, this time of year is our "performance" cycle. The rest of the year we are in cyclical strength training cycles, and now is the time of year where we put all of that training...
Happy New Year and welcome to 2019! All of you athletes are the reason we are here, and we're thrilled to be on your journey with you for another year. Thanks for lighting up these rooms with your energy and your sweat and hard work and for making Solcana such a special place! Congratulations to our January Athletes of the Month, Kate Anders and Teresa Schuld! Kate...
Hi. Lauren here. You know, once in a while, there are some rare mornings when I wake up, without being prompted by my over-active bladder. I lie there nestled in my bed, and realize I am awake just moments before my alarm starts its round of annoying beeps and boops. And on these rare mornings, I am not bothered by the loss of those precious few...
