Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
News from Orlando, FL: The theme park capital of the world! Find us every Wednesday at 629am at Harbor Park by Lake Baldwin, and connect with us via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This week we regressed back into that magical, golden time in our lives, where the entire world fit within the radius of our neighborhood and everything was still fun & games. When we’re young, we start to figure out where we stand- finding our voice at home, scoping out our clique at school, knowing our favorite spot at the playground, and otherwise ruling the corner of our block. We always crave a place to belong.
For those of you who missed out on the rocket-powered pop-up we held for the (postponed) #SpaceX #Falcon9 launch last week, we decided to bring back a slightly modified version of the workout since it garnered such rave reviews from the four brave souls who busted through it. Not sure we’ve ever done a back-to-back repeat of a workout before, but this one was too good to pass up… Overall, I’d call it a success since most everyone was able to finish through the entire set and blast through the atmosphere into OUTER SPACE by the time it was over!
Leadership Support and Training:
Our leaders are our most important assets. Their willingness to selflessly wake up before dawn and lead workouts is the only reason that this movement keeps growing and prospering. It’s vital to us that we continue to provide them with support and resources so they can continue to excel in leading their city. One way we do that is by connecting them with other leaders at our annual gathering we call the Meeting Of the Minds, or MOM for short. At MOM, the leaders have the opportunity to share stories, learn from each other’s successes and failures, and foster relationships that transcend geographical boundaries and time zones. We discuss everything under the leadership umbrella such as creative ways to recruit new members, how we can improve inclusivity, ways to plan an efficient workout, as well as addressing ‘Corporate’ topics with strategic decisions that we at NP HQ are working on. We also bring in specialists who have a unique perspective on diversity and inclusion to challenge us to shift paradigms. And even though the hashtag #safetythird has seen its fair share of usage on social media channels, we take the safety of our members very seriously and offer CPR certification classes to every co-leader interested.
Day-To-Day Operations:
November Project, Inc. has two full-time employees, Brogan Graham and Bojan Mandaric, and one part-time contributor, Laura Green. This trio is in charge of all non-workout leading operations including, but not limited to, designing and executing NP strategy, planning and operating an annual budget, communicating with leaders, growing the new and existing NP locations, and collaborating with our sponsors, partners, and local communities. As we move into this new space, the job description is now expanding into the growth of the non-profit/youth program and fundraising that may require bringing on more hands on deck.
Administrative Cost:
And finally, the not-so-sexy yet extremely valuable tools associated with administrative duties which include website hosting and maintenance, accounting, legal expertise and compliance, mailing, and printing, just to name a few.
We hope this gives you a more transparent view on how your donations are used to grow the movement we all love and appreciate. If you’re interested in supporting November Project, click here.
We can never predict just what #PRday will bring us. Mother nature could send out a cold snap, or turn the sauna up to 12. Waking up on the wrong side of the bed, dealing with the proverbial pebble in your shoe, or a head that’s not in the game are all within the realm of possibility every time we #justshowup to the lakeside on those designated Wednesdays.
First and foremost, November Project global announced a sponsorship with Brooks this week, sparking off a new era of fresh running gear, epic races, and an ever-growing #runhappy community. Read more about that partnership, and details about the upcoming #NPsummit in Las Vegas, NV (November 15-18), at this link: https://november-project.com/brooks/
#NPSUMMIT
This year’s annual gathering of all November Project members from around the world will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 15-18 at The Rock’n’Roll Las Vegas. The races on Saturday (5K) and Sunday (10K, 13.1M, 26.2M) actually shut down the iconic “Strip” and don’t start until the sun sets. There is so much more to come, but for now, plan to partake in various activities that will kick off with the workout on Saturday morning and conclude on Sunday night. We will be sharing NP-specific registration codes soon but if you’re so excited that you HAVE to register immediately, who are we to say no?
We’re stoked about all the incredible things that are ahead of us but for now, please join us in welcoming Brooks to the global November Project family!
I wanted to share my love of the sport with my tribe and, in doing so found out that I had some fellow former cheerleaders in the group. Lara was happy to relive her glory days and Brenna proved that she could have been a fantastic flyer(those liberty step-ups were on point!), even though she didn’t make the cut in high school-I’m sure the gymnastics team was happy to have the budding young athlete instead. Jennalee had great form in her tuck jumps, carrying over from her NDA dance days, I’m sure. And Todd, well, I’m sure he was a much better football player-even though I did see him and Cameron throwing some pretty explosive basket tosses together. 
We were happy to see some faces that we hadn’t in a while, and make some new friends. It was clear that everyone was putting in some serious effort as the two teams we had formed, were separated by only one point in how many rounds they completed. The squad showed they were full of spirit when they said ‘Bring It On’ to BG’s request to see 10 burpees: 5 with perfect form and 5 as fast as perfectly possible. Unfortunately, it turns out we have a little work to do as the man himself was not satisfied. I’m happy to report that I don’t mind at all adding a few more burpees into the weekly workout. We hope you all feel like a part of the squad, because this shit is good. 
Love,
Dyani
Reminders:
This past Wednesday morning, we put our members through a rigorous training program comparable to the Barkley Marathons (workout inspired my our friends at NP Grand Rapids). We started with a license plate warm up and then instructed the tribe that the main workout would give them 30 minutes to complete as many rounds as they could starting with 40 reps of each exercise before running a lap and working their way to 30 reps, 20, 10 and 1 if they were strong enough to finish the challenge! It turns out that our course was not quite as difficult as Barkley, but a formidable challenge to all, regardless. A couple of people did, in fact, finish all five loops including our traverballer, Ben from Denver and Mr. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Bazzi. When they completed a lap, they were to find the dictionary and locate a word that best represented how they felt at that moment. They ripped that page out and kept it with them so they could look back and remember how ‘accomplished’ or ‘dynamic’ they felt in the early hours, after burpees for days, dipping and mountain climbing by a beautiful lakeside sunrise.
A moving cheer tunnel completed our mornings activity, and we determined that no one in Orlando has birthdays ever, besides Juli, who will have one every week, forever.
Love,
Dyani
Reminders:
Once the bench was sufficiently warmed up, we traveled right into the main workout. It was all about teamwork, as we rotated through sweet 16 squat jumps, elite 8 triceps dips, final 4 Bojans, and the championship round being all of those plays, combined. In between strength rounds, the players took a timeout to work in some cardio with a sprint to the long dock before finding a new partner to move on to the next round with.
I’m quite sure that all players made it to the championship, and some of the power forwards took it to the next level and showed off their all star skills, getting in some overtime.
The rain that had started dribbling down, was now a steady screen of precipitation, as our finishers tunnel formed. We had the team gather their gear and transition to a sheltered area of our concrete court, as we know that some of our players are #weatherspoof, and we didn’t want them to miss out on a buzzer beating burnout to the Katy Perry classic, Swish Swish. A full body pump was the perfect fadeaway to finish the morning’s fun.
Thanks for playing.
Love,
Dyani
Reminders
A small but mighty swarm of busy bees took on the inaugural bug ladder this morning (as the fresh dewdrops scared a few of our #weatherspoof friends away), and we all breathed new life into the first day of spring.
Who knew that a group flower pose was a thing? Our petals, pistils, and stamens were on full display (hm, that sounds weird) as we pretzeled our way through a quick warm-up stretch.