Workout of the Day

CrossFit Open 15.5

27-21-15-9 reps for time of:
Row (calories)
Thrusters

Notes
This infamous workout was the final test in the 2015 CrossFit Open. The bulk of the athletes worldwide finished within the 10-15 minute range with an average time of 12:07 for men and 13:35 for women.

Competition loading:
Open division: 95/65
Open division scaled: 65/45
Masters 55+ 65/45
Masters 55+ scaled: 45/35

The world’s fastest athletes finished well below 7 minutes. Simon Paquette and Mat Fraser tied for the worldwide win with a time of 5:19, while Colleen Fotsch set the fastest time of any female athlete at 6:26. In total, 88 men went sub-6 and 27 women went sub-7 minutes.

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK4/8)

Herschel training to be a big strong baby girl

CFSBK’s Front Desk is Hiring!

CFSBK is looking for new talent to staff the Front Desk. Responsibilities include handling inquiries from walk-ins, managing basic membership issues, light cleaning/organization, and other miscellaneous duties. Ideally, we’d like to hire from within so that candidates are already familiar with CrossFit and CFSBK. On top of an hourly wage, FD staff will also receive a comped Unlimited membership.

We are looking for a person who can do the shifts below and help with extra coverage in December. We require a six month commitment, barring extenuating circumstances.

We will be interviewing ASAP and hiring a new staff member for immediate training.
Please email charlie@crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com with your resume and availability.

Available shifts
Thursday- 5:45am- 11am
Friday- 4pm-7:15pm

Matt Froning and Rich Fraser take on 15.5 (and never do it again)

The two best male CrossFitters to ever do it taking on today’s workout during the 2015 CrossFit Open. They both did it sub 6, but you don’t worry, we certainly won’t. Also hilarious to see the after effect on them starting at 3:30 in the video.

Matt Fraser: 5:19
Rich Froning: 5:39

Workout of the Day

FLOATER STRENGTH

Chin-Ups 5×2

Bench Press 3×3, 70-75% AMRAP

Front Squat 3×5

Power Snatch 5×1

Notes
Perform 3–4 progressive warm-up sets for your chosen lift(s). Work within the prescribed rep ranges, leaving 1–2 reps in reserve.

Tomorrow we have Rowing and Thrusters

METCON

12m Pacer Test

Modified: 10m Pacer

Notes
The 12m (~40 ft) Pacer Test is a progressive aerobic fitness test. We’ll be using the 15m timer but a slightly shorter distance to accommodate space restraints in the gym. You will run back and forth between two lines 12 meters apart in time with audio beeps. The test gets faster as it goes—each minute or so, the pace increases.
The goal is to run as long as you can until you can’t keep up with the beeps. See below for more info.

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK4/8)

Coaches Phil and David taking on the PACER Test

The PACER Test

Today’s workout is a throwback to a middle school PE test. Luckily, we’re all adults now so we can bond over any childhood trauma this test caused us and can instead do it for FUN. We’re having fun, right??

How It Works
Start behind the line. Begin running when you hear the first beep.
Reach the opposite line before the next beep. At least one foot must touch or cross the line.
Wait at the line if you arrive early. Do not start running back until the beep.
Continue shuttling back and forth as the beeps get closer together.

The test ends when:
You miss the line for two consecutive beeps, or
You voluntarily stop.

Make sure to cut
You will quickly have very little time to stop to change directions. Especially as you get tired, efficient cutting is a great way to save time on your turn arounds. See the video below:

Workout of the Day

STRENGTH

5 Progressive Sets of:
1 Power Snatch

Notes
After 3–4 barbell warm-up sets, complete 5 working sets of 1 Power Snatch. Build progressively in load across all 5 sets, aiming for crisp, technically sound reps. Focus on a tight set up and pulling yourself under the bar quickly. Only go as heavy as you can maintain solid technique with.

METCON

“ISABEL”

For Time:
30 Snatches

Notes
Last week we took on “Grace” and today we take on her sister “Isabel”. Similarly, this workout should be short but can range from 2-8 minutes depending on the person. While we want to move fast, it’s more important to move well.

Skill version
Using a modest weight, perform 1 rep, every :15-:20, capped at 8:00

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK4/8)

Steph setting snatching in 2015 Subway Series

Emily Abbott Does Isabel Unbroken in 1:15

This is an AWESOME video where CrossFit Games athlete Emily Abbott performs and unbroken Isabel while talking through what shes thinking during the workout.

Workout of the Day

STRENGTH

Front Squat
3×5 reps

Notes
Perform 4-5 progressive warm-up sets then complete 3 progressive and challenging sets of 5 reps. Rest 3-4 minutes between sets. Leave 1–2 reps in reserve each set.

METCON

EMOM 15:00
A: :45 Double Unders
B: :45 Wall Walks
C: :45 DB Bent Over Rows

Notes
JR: Use the jump rope segments to perform DU attempts or an AMRAP, even if you only get a couple. They don’t happen unless you make them happen!
WW: Aim for 3-5 reps each round
BOR: Aim for 16-20 Reps per set. You will have to break these up. (+/50s/35s/20s/-)

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK4/8)

Handstands

The section below is a snippet from the 2006 CrossFit Journal article “Handstands” written by Greg Glassman. In it, Coach Glassman talks about some of the why’s of training handstands and some of the developmental exercises they recommended at the time. Take a trip in the CrossFit history machine and check out this phenomenal article!

“Handstands, hand walking, and pressing to the handstand are critical exercises to developing your athletic potential and essential components to becoming “CrossFit.” Historically, these exercises have been collectively referred to as “hand balancing” and have been an integral part of strength and health culture since antiquity, yet today hand balancing seems to have followed the passenger pigeon to extinction.

Examining the twin questions “what has been lost by this extinction?” and “what does hand balancing offer that makes it essential?” is the aim of this month’s Journal. The answers to these questions motivate a challenge for our readers for the New Year.

The quick and obvious analysis as to hand balancing’s benefits would include improved balance and increased shoulder strength, and though accurate, ending the analysis here doesn’t speak to the singularly unique advantages to this training.

There are countless successful protocols for increasing shoulder strength and balance, but training the handstand and presses to the handstand improves proprioception and core strength in ways that other protocols cannot. Let’s examine this claim more closely.

Being upside down exposes the athlete to, what is for many, a brand new world. Psychologically, physically, and physiologically, inversion is otherworldly. We spend roughly two thirds of our life upright and one third in repose. When upside down most of us lose our breath, orientation, and composure. What this portends for an athlete upended by opponent or accident is calamitous. The difference between tripping and landing on your feet versus knocking your teeth out is profound. Gymnasts’ bike wrecks don’t look like weightlifters’…”

Read the full article on the CrossFit Journal

Workout of the Day

STRENGTH

Bench Press
3×3 Reps
75% AMRAP x1

Notes
Perform 4-5 warm-up sets, then work up through three progressive sets working towards a heavy triple leaving 0-1 rep in reserve. Afterwards, take ~75% of your best lift and do an AMRAP keeping 0-2 reps in reserve. Aim for 8-12+ reps on the AMRAP.

METCON

5 Rounds for time:
8 DB Hang Clean + Reverse Lunge (L)
8 Burpees
8 DB Hang Clean + Reverse Lunge (R)
8 Burpees

Notes
This workout should be around 14-16 minutes with a cap of 18. All lunge sets should be unbroken loading +/50/35/20/-

Scale volume down to 4 rounds if needed.

Afterparty

Come to COVEN tonight at 6pm!

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK4/8)

No, not like that!

CFSBK’s Front Desk is Hiring!

CFSBK is looking for new talent to staff the Front Desk. Responsibilities include handling inquiries from walk-ins, managing basic membership issues, light cleaning/organization, and other miscellaneous duties. Ideally, we’d like to hire from within so that candidates are already familiar with CrossFit and CFSBK. On top of an hourly wage, FD staff will also receive a comped Unlimited membership.

We are looking for a person who can do the shifts below and help with extra coverage in December. We require a six month commitment, barring extenuating circumstances.

We will be interviewing ASAP and hiring a new staff member for immediate training.
Please email charlie@crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com with your resume and availability.

Available shifts
Thursday- 5:45am- 11am
Friday- 4pm-7:15pm

DB Hang Clean + Reverse Lunges

Here’s a demo of today’s dumbbell exercise taken in the time of distancing. For the clean, think of moving your body in the same way you would to swing a kettlebell.

Workout of the Day

METCON

For Time:
24-20-16-12-8-4 Air Bike Cals
Alternating with
12-10-8-6-4-2 Chin-Ups

Notes
This workout should take around 12-16 minutes for most.

Chin-Ups
There are 42 reps in this workout. Keep the full volume and use a band or self assisted chin-ups to complete the full volume. Cluster sets are fine to get through the work. If you can go unbroken go for it. If that seems easy perform these as strict chest to bar or weighted.

Bike
The first round of 24 cals should take you around 2:00 or less. Otherwise can scale to 80% volume 20-16-12-10-6-3 cals

ASSISTANCE

3-4 Progressive Sets of:
12-15 Anchored Weighted Sit-Ups
12-15 DB Lateral Raises

Notes
Each set should be harder than the prior. Maintain extension on the sit-ups and hover 1″ above the ground at the bottom of each rep.
The final 1-2 sets of lateral raises should go near or to failure.

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK4/8)

The team of Olivia and Bea on their last round from Saturday’s press, lunge row triplet.

CFSBK’s Coven with Coach Cara meets again tomorrow!

Join Coach Cara and fellow CFSBK members for an hour of playful inquiry into building a healthy self-relationship through magical-creative means. Cara will also lead an intention setting ritual to help foster health and positivity going into the holiday season. All are welcome!

Workout of the Day

FLOATER STRENGTH

SA DB Row 4×8-10e

Bench Press 3×5-8

Back Squat 3×8-10

1 Power Clean + 1 Push Jerk

Notes
Perform 3–4 progressive warm-up sets for your chosen lift(s). Work within the prescribed rep ranges, leaving 1–2 reps in reserve.

Tomorrow we have Double Unders, Chin-Ups and Air Bike

METCON

3 Rounds for time of:
Run 270m
130m’ Farmer’s Carry
25 Box Jumps

Notes
Find an aerobic pace that allows you to keep moving the whole workout. The farmers carries should be challenging but unbroken.

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK3/8)

Why we don’t currently offer CrossFit Kids classes

In 2018, Michael Dalton produced a great video of us explaining our kids program at the time. If you’ve never seen it, check it out. We offered CrossFit Kids in different iterations with a variety of amazing coaches over 13 years. Shane, Janelle, David, Tori, Lynsey, Noah, Jess—plus Xela and Tulsi, our teen helpers—made these programs a reality. In its heyday, we offered four levels of kids classes, all described in the video above. We also ran CrossFit Kids birthday parties with a lot of success over many years.

This population was very dear to CFSBK, and we loved seeing multiple generations of members training together under one roof. We hope we made an impact on all the kids we worked with over the years. Parents still ask if we’re ever going to bring it back because they’d love for their kids to build a relationship with fitness at CFSBK. And we get it. But to run a successful program, you need a few things.

The right people with enough bandwidth
Working with children is far more demanding and nuanced than coaching adults. Kindness, leadership, patience, and strong child-communication skills are just some of the qualities needed. On top of that, programming, setting up and breaking down lots of equipment, and communicating with parents all take time and energy. I often said that running a 1-hour CrossFit Kids class took about as much out of me as running four adult classes. When children are involved, it’s more important than ever to have the right people with the right skills and temperament to take on such a demanding program.

Time, space, and equipment to offer kids classes
Offering a kids program in a facility that isn’t exclusively designed for children comes with obstacles. The best-case scenario is reserving the entire room for the kids class, but that can be disruptive to everything else—and impractical if there are only a couple of kids and 70% of the room goes unused.

Other adults working out nearby can increase distractions, create safety concerns for both adults and children, and even affect member conduct (for example, we didn’t let anyone take their shirt off when kids were around). Loud kids can also be an unpleasant distraction for someone just trying to get their workout in.

With our three spaces, we made it work for many years—often using the Annex, which was isolated but somewhat limited. While there’s more flexibility in the summer, during the school year it’s tough to find hours that don’t create a tug-of-war for space between programs.

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Currently, we don’t have enough of either of these things to consider running a kids program again, and unless things change considerably, we probably won’t. It’s not something you can force. Kids still train at CFSBK, but now in more of a one-on-one context. Coaches Erick, Steph, and Cara all work with members under 18 in private and semi-private sessions and are available if you want your kids to start training. But for now, no more kids classes. 🙂

Workout of the Day

PARTNER METCON

12 Rounds for time of:
8 Strict HSPUs (or Barbell Press)
12 Reverse Lunges +/50s/35s/25s
16/12 Cal Row

Notes
This workout will take around 25 minutes with each person alternating complete rounds until 12 total (6 each) have been completed. Each round should take around 2:00. Rounds need to be completed in under 2:30 consistently in order to finish under the 30 minute cap.

HSPU/Press (:20-:30)
Choose the exercise that will give you better workout.

Press loading should be around 95/75/65/45/- and be challenging but unbroken. modify to push press if you hit a wall mid set.

HSPU
+ Deficit/Full ROM Strict/1-2 Abmats Strict/Kipping (no box piked or negative)
Scale to 6 or even 4 reps if needed.

Lunges (:30-:40)
2 Dumbbells, unbroken every round, go heavy.

Row
This needs to be around :50-1:10 per round. Scale back to 12 cals if you can’t consistently hit 16 cals in about a minute.

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK3/8)

Yesterday’s 10am group class with a spectrum of members who have been part of the CFSBK community from a few months to 17 years! Listed next to each person is their start year
Top row: Tamson, Rickke, Stephen, Jared, Danae, coach Brett, Gilles, Miriam, Ellie, Matt
Bottom row: David, Yana, Eric, Louis, Manu, Ash, Yrthya & coach David

Workout of the Day

FLOATER STRENGTH

SA DB Row 4×8-10e

Bench Press 3×5-8

Back Squat 3×8-10

1 Power Clean + 1 Push Jerk

Notes
Perform 3–4 progressive warm-up sets for your chosen lift(s). Work within the prescribed rep ranges, leaving 1–2 reps in reserve.

Tomorrow we have HSPUs, Lunges and row

METCON

1/2 “Cindy”

AMRAP 10:00
5 Kipping Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
15 Air Squats

Notes
Today we’re doing a 1/2 time domain version of the benchmark “Cindy”. Goal would be 6-10+ rounds in the 10 minute window. Pull-ups should be 1-2 sets, push-ups 1-3 and squats unbroken. Aim for virtuosity in your movement quality on these basic calisthenics.

Push-Ups
Mature, knee push-up, elevated on box

Kipping Pull-Ups
5/3 Kipping Pull-Ups
5/3 Strict
5 Ring Rows, banded or jumping

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK3/8)

Some of our beloved Fit55 crew socializing before class

Push-Ups Standards and Virtuosity

Today’s workout contains 3 calisthenic movements. 6-10+ rounds is possible in this workout which provide ample opportunities to ingrain and develop the motor skills and strength required to successfully perform these seemingly simple movements. Will your first push-up look like your 50th? Will your 75th air squat include planted heels, full depth and a neutral spinal position? Range of motion is only one component of functional movement. When you initiate a movement, what happens between the start and finish dictate the adaptation you’re pursuing. Soft technique builds soft athletes. Lazy attention to details builds laziness inside and outside the gym. Virtuosity is defined in Gymnastics as “performing the common uncommonly well”. Will you settle for mediocrity today, or will you pursue virtuosity? No opportunity is too small!

Workout of the Day

STRENGTH

5 Progressive Sets of:
1 Power Clean + 1 Push Jerk

Notes
After 3–4 barbell warm-up sets, complete 5 working sets of 1 Power Clean + 1 Push Jerk. Build progressively in load across all 5 sets, aiming for crisp, technically sound reps. Focus on fast elbows into the rack position and an aggressive dip/drive on the jerk.

METCON

“GRACE”

For Time:
30 Clean and Jerks

Notes
“Grace” is one of CrossFit’s classic benchmarks — fast, heavy, and simple. The intent is an all-out sprint while maintaining crisp movement quality.

Benchmark loads for this workout are 135/95 but choose a load you can cycle for quick singles or small touch-and-go sets. Most athletes will do fast singles with very short breaks, aiming to never stand and rest more than a few breaths. If you go touch-and-go, keep sets short (3–5 reps) to avoid redlining.

Expect times between 2–6 minutes. Advanced athletes will finish under 3 minutes, with most finishing around 4–5 minutes. Scale the load so you can finish within the intended window and move consistently throughout.

Skill version
Using a modest weight, perform 1 rep, every :15-:20, capped at 8:00

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CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK3/8)

February 1st, 2010. We had JUST moved to from the Brooklyn Lyceum into 597 Degraw street and since we couldn’t bail weights without getting yelled at in the old space, we decided to make the inaugural workout in our new home “Grace”. Pictured above are Coach Fox, Nick, Snip, Sara, JMD, Anne and Coach David.

Brooke Wells does 155lb Grace in 3:18