As the 11:30 class started last week, we circled up and Coach Hannah asked the go-around question. What type of email inbox person are you? I tried my best to stall while telling everyone my name and preferred gender pronouns, but finally, I had to admit that I thoroughly go through my email about twice a year. Which was totally a lie. Truthfully, I did it...
I came to Solcana as a photographer. I responded to a request to shoot a throwdown. I knew that Crossfit was an exercise program with a reputation for getting people into exceptional shape, and what I saw at the competition put that athleticism on display. I was sold. I wanted to be in exceptional shape. I came to Solcana as an ultra runner. I run for...
Congratulations to our two February Athletes of the Month, Ikraan Omar and Kira Hasbargen! Ikraan has made a home at Solcana and always greets everyone with an infectious smile and a bright and enthusiastic "hi!" She shows up consistently. She is a strong advocate for her health at 16 - and she has made an impact on her family's health as well. Ikraan has a great attitude and...
This month, Adam Quick shares his story of how after a mobility class he feels like that "annoying person that’s happy all the time and you feel like you want to punch them but subconsciously it’s really just because you want to feel that good, too." Read on to find out how he did it ... What first drew you to adding mobility into your routine? I always had...
Last week, I finally registered for the Twin Cities In Motion Valentine’s Day 5k, which will be my first race in almost a year. I’m excited, but more so really nervous. Anxiety always likes to greet me before any type of test, whether it be a workout or a midterm. I have ran this course once before, a couple years ago, but it was sort of...
Ideally, home is comfort. It’s comfort and peace and relaxation. Home is escape. That being said, I’m not referring to the buildings where our mail is sent. As a high school teacher and a human being who generally tries to pay attention, I understand that many people don’t have the luxury of letting their hair down at the place where they go after school or...
Problem 5: Boys Last spring, I was at practice for Solcana’s Olympic Weightlifting team, when I got a text message from my boyfriend. The team had just finished warming up, beginning our sets. I went to check my phone to see what weight to start with, when I read the words, I need to talk to you. I froze (which was ironic because the snow was finally...
My journey to Solcana was the result of a series of meant-to-be’s. After my dad died, I went in search of something to give me a sense of community with my fellow humans. I took Everyday Improv at Brave New Workshop and fellow athlete Taj Ruler was my instructor. Taj’s advice for those learning about improv was to see improv, lots and lots of it....
Laurel is one of the most dedicated, committed, and heart felt athletes and all around humans I've ever met. If you have had the pleasure of working out with and/or mobilizing with Laurel, you know she is deserving of both Athlete AND Mobili-buddy of the Month simultaneously. It is an honor to highlight her this month and share her story with you. What first drew you to...
Happy New Year! I am pleased as punch to announce our two January Athletes of the Month, Laurel Turek and Alex Fink! Laurel Turek is a lover and a fighter who is conducting her own personal renaissance. Years ago she survived a crash that resulted in a hip replacement and changed the course of her life. Laurel does not allow physical limitation to hold her back, and in...
My journey with food has been a wrought one, and you don’t have to look farther than my mother’s cheese drawer (see Problem 2: Coming Home) to see why. Growing up, and honestly still today, my eating habits are led by my taste buds and brain’s pleasure center more than anything else. As a kid, I ate so much pineapple that my tongue burned from all of the citric...
I started coming to Solcana exactly one year ago. I had been following a home-based fitness program with some success, but I had hit the limit of my self-motivation and knew that if I wanted to push further I needed to find some external accountability and enthusiasm. I had given up on conventional gyms years before, always feeling like a hamster on a wheel in...
“It’s time to email Hannah,” I sweatily muttered to myself. It was a snowy February evening, and I was running on a treadmill in my old apartment building’s exercise room. This “fitness center” was more of a glorified utility closet, housing a bunch of random gym equipment. Shockingly, using a broken elliptical and QVC’s infamous Ab Slide for 30 minutes a day wasn’t an inspiring method...
It all started with the dressing room, sometime around 6th or 7th grade, most likely in late August. My mother Jeannie and I were back-to-school shopping, and we grabbed all the same sizes that we did the year before: adult medium. (I was too mature for Gap Kids.) Stepping out of the dressing room, however, she identified the muffin top in the room and said, “Lift...
Wonderful community, As a means to share the many gifts mobility has to offer to our community, we will be highlighting a Mobili-Buddy each month! Becky Kane graciously accepted the opportunity to be highlighted as our first. Here is what she has to say about her experience with mobility, athleticism, and how incorporating gentleness and patience with her body has benefited her in the gym: What first drew you...
I am quite pleased to announce our December Athletes of the Month, Lauren Hansen and Ben Capistrant! One thing they have in common is love of a stylish workout ensemble. Let's dive into the details. Lauren became a Solcanaut last May. The first time I met her, she said she was here because she wanted to work on getting stronger. I did not realize at the time just...
My sophomore year of college, just before our fall break, Professor Harris took the last few minutes of lecture to prepare the class. It wasn’t for an upcoming midterm or about required reading over the holiday. Instead, she talked to us about this concept, a question from writer Ella Winter, “Don’t you know you can’t go home again?” In part, she was preparing us for the...
So many congrats are in order. Ya'll did incredible work on the fall challenge, and it was an honor to watch you all give everything you got to those lifts. The clean, overhead squat and bench press require precision technique, guts and insane mobility. You all dominated each and ever lift and just left me with my jaw on the floor. I am so over...
By Spencer Retelle Problem 0: The Prologue I turned 27 this past spring. Which is to say, that I now pay rent on the 1st day of the month rather than the 5th, that I am reeling though my sudden adult-onset lactose intolerance, and that my mother still reminds me every fall that it’s not too late to apply to grad school. 27 has always been lucky token...
Growing up, I never thought my physical strength was special. Physical strength meant big, meant fat. Fat was a bad thing. My grandpa would call me “rolly-polly” and chubby when I was little. To this day, I can recall those moments and the emotion I felt. I was ashamed; I didn’t try to be fat. I didn’t realize I even was fat until people called...
It’s November already, and it’s time to announce our two Athletes of the Month, Ericka Stewart and Sarah Wordelman! If you don’t know Ericka Stewart, you still have probably heard about her gargantuan bench press--just one of the noteworthy things about her. I am always impressed by Ericka's huge heart, how welcoming and supportive she is toward new people, and how she keeps things in perspective...
Hi, my name is Nick and I’m a runner. I’ve been a runner since 8th grade. I ran Track & Field from 8th grade through high school, adding Cross Country in college. I continued to run “competitively” until a few years ago when I was unable to recover from injury. I had that dastardly Plantar Fasciitis and it took me almost 3 years to completely...
Christina Gee has been quietly showing up to the 9:30am classes for over a year now. She is kind and quick to smile, and she is secretly very funny. When she started doing crossfit, she was pretty much starting from ground zero. She has been patient, open, and eager to learn and I have watched her change and grow so much since then. She has continued...
So who is that guy that seems to think Zubaz are coming back in style . . . Hi, my name is Mike and I have an abnormal collection of Zubaz and an addiction to Crossfit! Now that I got that off my chest I can tell you about how Solcana has reignited my competitive flame! Let’s travel back a few years to where this journey...
In early 2014 I was settling into some major weight loss (75lbs!) and not sure where to head next health-wise. I had spent the previous year learning about nutrition and making lifestyle changes - intentionally excluding exercise for the time being. It was a big change for someone who’d spent the last 24 years eating her feelings 24/7. I didn’t want to add too much...
October marks the start of a new cycle at Solcana, and it's also time to recognize our October Athletes of the Month, two incredibly consistent, dedicated athletes: Gina Sabbia and Garrett Hoffman! Since Gina joined us in July 2015, she has worked her butt off to master challenging movements, fine-tune positions in her lifts, and become stronger and more stable. These things have not always come quickly or...
Growing up my nickname was Weako. I hated that name so much that I often cried about it, but this was the nickname bestowed upon me by my family. More specifically, my uncles. It was well into adulthood, and after my coming out, when I realized that Weako was the nicest possible way for a family to call a little boy a faggot without actually...
Congratulations to our September Athletes of the Month, Jess Finney and Brianna Regan! Both athletes have been with us since December, and since then they have made indelible impressions on the Solcana community. Coach Hannah described first meeting Jess: "she told me 'I know I am strong and can do anything, I just need a coach that understands that I can do a lot with this body'. That alone is...
Solcana has helped redeem my love for fitness. Allow me to explain. I pursued and attained a degree in Exercise and Sport Science and began working in the fitness field while finishing that degree. It didn’t take long to experience how vain the fitness field could be. There were spoken and unspoken pressures to look a certain way, which was conveyed as “thin but toned” if...
“The power to change. The strength to do it.” Over the past two years I have made changes. Changes in my personal and professional life that without Solcana, I honestly don’t know if I would have had the strength to do. Let's start at the very beginning of my Solcana journey. I happened upon Solcana when my family and I were looking for a new...
