A history lesson, a few notes on WHY, and sled stuff

Written at Barceloneta Beach, Barcelona, Spain 7:06PM 8 June 2016

Regionals are over, and the calm before the Games is here.

Fringe Sport started in my garage, after I built my garage gym so I could train at my home.

And since then, we've been fairly functional fitness-focused.

I remember when I quit my job to focus on Fringe. Most of my friends from business school told me, "This is a fad. It will fade and what will you do then?"

I would always counter that it was a movement, and if you had to call it something like a "fad"- it was better to use the word "trend."

And 7 years in to Fringe, I still believe that. But we at Fringe have evolved, as has the functional fitness movement.

While most fitness fads got retired to the garage or closet (thigh master! Shake weight! Chuck Norris Total Gym!), the movement grew and changed- and influenced the whole fitness world.

Back in 2007, when I told people at parties that I did this stuff, they usually said, "Oh yeah, I cross-train too."

Now every normal knows what functional fitness is- it's that crazy exercise program that got Chris Pratt abs.

Or maybe they even did it themselves for a while.

And we changed too.

I lost a partner, gained a partner, and realized that at our core we were a Strength and Conditioning Equipment Company helping our clients live stronger, healthier lives.

And of course we are still changing and growing.

This email is less focused and more contemplative than usual- because I am less focused and contemplative.

Anyway, our sale for the week is on plyo boxes and power sleds.

I'm a big step-up fan (vs box jumps), but I've been rediscovering box jumps lately, with good effect.

And I'm a big fan of our soft foam plyo. It's a little more expensive than some foam plyos out there- with good reason.

We use a denser, heavier foam than most do. This has the twin benefits of being more stable and being a biomechincally better surface to land on and jump off of again.

And there's only one downside.

It's more expensive than cheaper foam. Both in buying the foam to make the plyo boxes, and in shipping the boxes out to you.

But it's the only way to go. We prototyped a few plyos with the cheaper material, and I think they are dangerous- they create an unstable surface to land on.

I'm also a big fan of our sleds.

I push the Chariot around quite a bit in my training- and I pull our Model A sled a lot!

Both pushing and pulling are great methods of conditioning-

and they keep me in shape to take impromptu hikes and adventures.

I take a lot of adventures.

Until next week,