Back to the Future is a movie (with a couple of sequels) from the 1980s, when the idea of time travel and blasting forward to the future imagined wild technology, fashion, and lifestyles that seemed super innovative and futuristic then, but seems almost silly now that we know exactly what the “future” is.
The Back to the Future workout at NP is done in the stadium and involves running sections around from 37 toward 1, but at random times being called “back to the future,” at which point you return one section to the past—that you already completed—and repeat it as you continue forward to the “future” sections. And bonus challenge if you’ve passed section 19, when the “back to the future” call happens, you go back 2 sections.
While this workout is timeless and always a good mind-challenge, especially the week before PR day (get ready for that!!!), the “Back to the Future” theme is a good one for this week.
November Project Boston’s BIRTHDAY
We are mere days away from November, when November Project will be celebrating its 7th birthday. Yup, 7 whole years ago, Brogan Graham and Bojan Mandaric showed up for the very first time with each other to workout as a commitment to each other and to their own fitness. It was an experiment of sorts, to see if they could get in better shape, to see if they could become morning people, and if they could overcome the very real challenges and the other excuses that they hung onto that prevented them from being active in movement, from enjoying that movement, and from changing their lives for the better.
Way back then, they made a simple challenge, and took on a month-long “project” to see what would happen to their fitness and their friendship if they just showed up together.
Flash forward to the future—7 years later—there are not only two curious and slightly irreverent dudes showing up and tracking their workouts on a google sheet titled “November project,” but there are also hundreds of human beings showing up in Boston every single week and thousands more showing up in 49 cities around the globe each and every week for the exact same fitness and community that BG and Bojan sought and found in what became November Project, the global movement.
Take a peek at social media this week and you’ll also see badass cities like DC and Denver celebrating 5 years of November Project making waves and changing those cities for the better.
Looking back is a good way to gain some perspective on moving forward. NP continues to grow—which means even stronger roots in the core of what makes NP so freaking great, as well as evolution and change toward what continues to make NP so great for more and more human beings.
Next week, we celebrate the 7th birthday of NP, and the party we’re throwing all week is going to be the best of everything we love about this tribe and this movement. We’re calling it HELL-a-wee-WOahMAN, and no matter how long you’ve been coming to NP, no matter how new you are, no matter how fit you think you are, or what you think you can or can’t do with your fitness, next week is about galvanizing our tribe, strengthening our city, and getting a tasty reminder of the BEST of NP.
So Show Up. (next week!)
Show up for really hard workouts that will kick your ass and that we guarantee you can do—because NP is all about welcoming everyone, inclusive and scalable workouts, and giving every single person the opportunity to work really hard.
Show up for the community that gets built with consistency—see familiar faces and get to know them better. Meet new people. Expand your circle of connection, comfort, and cool people.
Show up for PRday because there is no better way to test your grit and hard work than to see if and how you get faster at things like a full tour in the stadium. Race your race with all the support and badass human beings around you to chase down (we call them #buttcarrots) and to stay ahead of.
Show up for costumes and weird shit. Halloween on Wednesday this year means we’re wearing capes and letting them fly as we race through PR day.
Show up for WOahMAN because it’s one of the hardest and most rewarding experiences you’ll ever have. It’s an additional challenge before our normal Friday hill workout, and it is a race. It’s optional. It starts at 4:30am and you’ll either finish before or during the normal 6:30 workout on the hills, with everyone supporting everyone through the brutal/amazing thing. (more info about WOahMAN and the rest of HELL-a-wee-WOahMAN found in THIS BLOG.)
Show up for one-time-only tags for your shirt. Each day of the week (Mon 10/29, Wed 10/31, & Fri 11/2) will have its own tag—which fit together to highlight the big birthday of November Project. You definitely want all three tags.
Show up because this shit is good. It’s really good.
The past of NP is amazing—look at all that has grown in the last 7 years. And damn, the future of NP looks good, because each of you is in it. See you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, all year long, no matter the weather, for a million years to come. NP will be right here. Keep showing up. Keep changing the world.
