Today is a scheduled rest/recovery day, but don’t worry! We are open and running on our normal schedule. In today’s CrossFit group classes, you’ll have the option of doing either yesterday or tomorrow’s programming, which can be found in the comments section of today and every Rest Day’s post.

This Week at CFSBK in Review

1. The Community Potluck is TOMORROW NIGHT, gang. We can’t wait to see all of your beautiful faces and eat all of your delicious cooking. The fun starts at 7pm. You can find the full schedule in yesterday’s post.

2. Our new training cycle kicked off this week. Go HERE to find out what you can expect in group classes through the end of the Open!

3. Get out of pain, stay out of pain, strengthen your weaknesses, and improve mobility and movement patterns, all while getting stronger in 2019. An AM cycle of Active Life Strength starts Tuesday, February 19th! This is a predominantly strength-based class specifically programmed to strengthen movements and improve positions based on your individual needs.

4. In our latest installment of Better Know a Member, we learned about memory maven and death-metal-listening mentalist Matt Cooper!  

5. We’re less than 2 weeks away from the start of the CrossFit Open! the comments were awesomeThis week we asked blog readers to reflect on their experience, and .

6. Tomorrow’s 11am Active Recovery class is cancelled. 

My Body, My Jokes on February 20th

My Body, My Jokes is a bimonthly stand up comedy show all about living inside these weird, gross, human-shaped bodies, and what they go through. As an antidote for Valentine’s Day, February’s theme is BREAK-UPS! Join host and CFSBKer Maria Heinegg and a group of hilarious comics as they tell jokes about the break-ups they’ve lived through, plus our relationship expert, Effy Blue, who will tell us everything we’ve been doing wrong in love. This months proceeds will be donated to Survived & Punished (S&P). S&P is a national coalition that organizes to de-criminalize efforts to survive domestic and sexual violence, support and free criminalized survivors, and abolish gender violence, policing, prisons, and deportations.

Tickets: $15 in advance/ $20 at the door

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Yesterday’s Results Board
Trust the Process Breaking Muscle
Expect Stiff Competition at This Year’s International Hair Freezing Contest Smithsonian

WOD 2.7.19

4-5 Sets:
8e Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
8e Wall Facing Shoulder Taps or 2 Wall Walks
8e Single-Arm Contralateral Reverse Lunge + Romanian Deadlift
:20 Reverse Plank Bridge

Build to a challenging set or two on each exercise.

Post work to comments.
Week 1 of 7

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Performance
AMRAP 8 Minutes:
Thrusters 135/95
*5 Lateral Bar Burpees EMOM, beginning at 3, 2, 1, go. 

Fitness
AMRAP 8 Minutes:
Thrusters 95/65
*5 Lateral Bar Burpees EMOM, beginning at 3, 2, 1, go.

Post rounds, reps, and Rx to comments.

Coach Lynsey gets the crowd involved during karaoke at last year’s Community Potluck 

Join Us for the CFSBK Community Potluck This Saturday!

This year’s Community Potluck goes down this Saturday, February 9th! We’re excited to get everyone in house to break bacon and socialize together outside of classes. This event will simultaneously kick off the new year, support the Look, Feel, Perform Better Challenge, and bring folks from all times and corners of the gym together. The fun starts at 7pm and will continue until around 10. This event is open to everyone and all are encouraged to come. Bring your friends and family!

More details can be found on the event page. Here’s the schedule for the evening:

4:30pm to 6:30pm: Set up (We need volunteers! See below for info.)
7:00pm: Doors open
7:30pm: Dinner begins (As you pick what to put on your plate, also be sure to pick up a voting sheet to vote on your favorite side dish/salad, entree, and dessert!)
8:15pm: Dessert course
8:30pm: Awards and screening of documentary short on Fight Gone Bad 2018!
9:00pm: Karaoke
10:00pm: Clean up (Please stick around to help get the gym ready for our Sunday morning classes!)

Awards

Everyone is encouraged to fill out a voting sheet for their favorite side dish, salad, entree (separate awards for vegetarian and non-vegetarian options), and dessert. Voting will focus on both the taste and healthiness of the dish.

Fight Gone Bad Documentary

You may remember a film crew at our Fight Gone Bad event this past fall. Well, they finished their short film, and we’ll be screening it at the Potluck!

Volunteers

Come get involved and meet new people! We need a few volunteers to direct people as they come in the front door, help arrange food as dishes are placed on the tables, and MC the karaoke. Please contact Coach Brett at Brett [at] crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com at the email address above if you are available to help even for a short time during the evening!

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Yesterday’s Results Board: Lateral Lunges, Chin-Ups, High Pulls | Run, Power Cleans, Ring Dips (part 1) (part 2)
The Unifying Theory of Alcohol Medium
Breakfast Isn’t Pointless, But It’s Having an Identity Crisis NY Mag

WOD 2.6.19

3-5 Sets:
6e Alternating Lateral Lunges
6 Strict Chin-Ups
6e Single-Arm Kettlebell/Dumbbell High Pulls

Work up to a challenging set on each exercise. Add weight to the Lunges (goblet-style) and use assistance as needed on the Chin-Ups.

Post work to comments.
Week 1 of 7

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Perfomance
For Time:
550m Run
21-15-9
Hang Power Cleans 135/95
Ring Dips
550m Run

The barbell should be medium-heavy for you. If you have some Dips but not 45, scale to 15-9-6 or 9-6-3. You should be able to do sets of 7+ Dips to attempt the Rx volume. Begin and end the workout with a 550m run.

Fitness
For Time:
550m Run
21-15-9
Hang Power Cleans 95/65
Box Dips or Push-Ups
550m Run

The barbell should be medium-heavy for you. If you have some Box Dips but not 45, scale to 15-9-6 or 9-6-3, or to Push-Ups with a similar strategy. Begin and end the workout with a 550m run.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Better Know a Member: Matt Cooper

Blog readers can look forward to new installments of our Better Know a Member series in early 2019. For the past 3 years, we’ve been bringing you these profiles from across our community of kind, interesting, wonderful members. In our previous edition, we got to know comedian Maria H. a little better. Today, let’s talk to someone else with a cool job, Matt Cooper!

Name (and any nicknames):

Matt Cooper (COOP). Generally, I go by Matt and use COOP on the whiteboard. But I answer to both.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. It was an interesting childhood.

How long have you been CrossFitting, and how did you arrive at CFSBK?

I’ve been at it for two years. Before, I was going to a “normal” gym without much progress. Then my stepdad, a former Green Beret and affiliate owner, suggested I try CrossFit. So I did my homework and found the CFSBK reviews to be overwhelmingly positive. I signed up, went through Foundations (shout-out to Coach Fox), and the rest is history. Looking back, I definitely made a good life choice.

What are you up to when you’re not at 597 Degraw Street?

Currently I’m across the street, rowing my tail off for Nick Peterson’s Crash-Bs program. Aside from that, I spend most of time traveling and performing as a psychic entertainer (aka Mentalist). Usually, I’m hired by corporations for special events to entertain a group of executives. But lately, I’ve been doing some public shows and little TV spots here and there. Outside of my career in show business, I love shooting street photography. It’s just a hobby, but I find it extremely gratifying to do something artistic and have no one to answer to.

What’s your hidden talent?

I’m well versed in mnemonics: the ancient Greek system of memory. I got into it when I was learning to count cards for Black Jack, like the MIT group from the movie 21. But it turns out, card counting isn’t as glamorous as Hollywood suggests. Fortunately, advanced mnemonics (like the Memory Palace) are quite useful outside of the casino. It’ll work with anything: names, dates, books, grocery lists, etc. If you’re interested, read Moonwalking with Einstein. It’ll open your mind to the amazing world of super power memory.

Do you have any unusual rituals, superstitions, or habits?

When I’m feeling nervous or uneasy about something, death metal music really helps a lot. Maybe because I’m interested in death from a stoic philosophy standpoint. After all, death is what makes life precious… Now I know it’s not for everyone, but I find this genre to be a reliable source of encouragement. It is raw power and pure feeling. It conjures up this explosive energy that is both physical and emotional, and it puts me in a cheerful state of mind. In terms of ritual, I’ll listen to it before big workouts, and ALWAYS before going on stage to perform.

What are you recommending right now?

Letter writing. Send a funny postcard to a friend, a love note to loved one, or type-written letter to Tom Hanks. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as it arrives in the mail unexpectedly. It’s such a wonderful exercise in creativity, generosity, and surprise. Get yourself a nice pen, some stationary, or even an old school typewriter — then write. Don’t worry about it being deep or poetic or perfect. It’s the effort which makes it 10x times more meaningful than a Hallmark card. Also, California-Typewriter is a cool documentary to get the creative juices flowing.

Any advice for new CFSBKers?

Sure! Part of what makes CrossFit so fun is community, which is particularly true at CFSBK. But meeting people is tough when you’re new in town. So try to come in a few minutes early and stretch out with the cool kids (hint, everyone is the cool kid at CFSBK). An easy icebreaker is discussing the WOD (work out of the day). Before you know it, you’ll have some real life gym buddies, which makes coming to the gym so much easier.

News and Notes

• We can’t wait to see you at the Community Potluck this Saturday night! Head over to the event page for more details and to let us know what you’re bringing!
• We’re always trying to get better at what we do. If you have a minute, head over to the Feedback page and tell us about your experience at the gym!

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Yesterday’s Results Board: Rest Day
We’ve Lost Touch with Our Bodies Scientific American
Should Pregnant Clients Do High-Impact Exercise Girls Gone Strong

Today is a scheduled rest/recovery day, but don’t worry! We are open and running on our normal schedule. In today’s CrossFit group classes, you’ll have the option of doing either yesterday or tomorrow’s programming, which can be found in the comments section of today and every Rest Day’s post.

Upcoming Programming Cycle Template

Training Cycle Dates: M 2/4/19 – Su 3/24/19

Goals: To stay fresh through the CrossFit Open, which runs from February 21st through March 24th. We’ll program regular metcons and strength/skill work with a bias toward the movements and formats that are typically seen in the Open. This mesocycle (the 7 weeks) will run on a 3 day microcycle, a departure from the 5 day microcycle we’ve run for some time now. The shorter microcycle will allow for more frequent exposure to movements as a focus of the day, and give folks who come on set days to fewer than 5 CrossFit classes in a week more variance in their training. It will still “feel” pretty similar to recent cycles, the main difference being that Wednesdays won’t always be Squats, and Thursday and Sunday won’t always be Olympic lifts. Saturday will still be Wild-And-Crazy-WOD day, especially when the Open starts!

Day 1

Hinge

Day 2

Press

Day 3

Squat

Register for the Open!

By the time this post goes up, we’ll be just 16 days away from the announcement of Open Workout 19.1. Go here to register! And please take a minute to fill out this short survey, so we know if you’re interested in participating in our Intramural Team Competition!

There are so many good reasons to register, and we tried to convey some of those reasons on the blog last week. But today we thought we’d throw it over to you guys to help us recruit more competitors. So…

Have you participated in the Open in the past, or do you plan to this year? Tell everyone about your experience! Why did you do it, and what did you learn? Why did you sign up this year?

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Yesterday’s Results Board: RDL, Z Press, Skin-the-Cat | Sit-Ups, Squats, Box Jumps
I Wish I Could Do That Breaking Muscle
So You’re Saying My Seltzer Is Not Made of Crushed Up Bliss NY Mag

WOD 2.4.19

4-6 Rounds:
6e Barbell Split Stance Romanian Deadlift
6e Alternating Dumbbell Z-Press
2-4 Skin the Cats

Spend about 20 minutes rotating through the three exercises, resting about 30-60 seconds between movements. Scale the Skin the Cats to low rings as needed, and use a jump on both ends to come through. Use as much control as possible on the descent, fighting not to drop. Build to a challenging set on each of the movements.

Post work to comments.
Week 1 of 8

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AMRAP 10 Minutes:
30 Sit-Ups
20 Squats
10 Box Jumps 24/20

Post Rounds, reps, and Rx to comments.

One of our biggest and best community events is less than a week away!

Saturday: CFSBK Community Potluck

This year’s Community Potluck goes down this Saturday, February 9th! We’re excited to get everyone in house to break bacon and socialize together outside of classes. This event will simultaneously kick off the new year, support the Look, Feel, Perform Better Challenge, and bring folks from all times and corners of the gym together. The fun starts at 7pm and will continue until around 10. This event is open to everyone and all are encouraged to come. Bring your friends and family!

Your dish doesn’t have to be paleo, but please try and keep the ingredients of your dish to within the guidelines of the Challenge: animal and vegetable proteins, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, starches, legumes, and whole grains are all good to go. We’ll vote on the top 3 dishes, so bring your best recipe! You may, of course, opt to bring a healthy dessert that limits the use of sugars and refined grains.

• The gym will provide some alcohol, but feel free to bring whatever else you’d like. If you’re not drinking booze and want to bring a drink, seltzer is great, too!
• If your food needs to be kept warm, you’ll need to provide your own crockpot or other method for keeping it at serving temperature. We’ve got surge protectors and extension cords.
• We’ll provide notecards so you can label your dish and list its ingredients.
• When you leave please take everything you brought with you. Do not leave any pots, pans, Tupperware, utensils, etc. They will be discarded that night.
• There will be a raffle for one free personal training session with Coach David!
• We’ll be doing karaoke again this year! In case you want to practice beforehand, these are the YouTube channels we’ll be using: Sing King Karaoke and Karafun.
• THERE WILL ALSO BE A BOUNCE HOUSE (for kids).
• If you’d like to help out (and haven’t already been contacted) we’ll need some hands on deck putting everything away afterwards. If you stay until the end, we’d greatly appreciate some help cleaning up!
• We also need some volunteers to help set up before and clean up afterwards. To help set up, arrive by 6:30 PM! E-mail Coach Brett at Brett [at] Crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com to let him know you’re available.
• Let us know what you’re bringing by posting in the comments section of the event page. 

Get your heavy-duty plates ready. We can’t wait to see you there!

News and Notes

• Our new 8-week training cycle starts today! We’ll have the full template up on the blog tomorrow.
• Are you participating in the 2019 Open? Please take a minute to fill out this short survey, so we know if you’re interested in participating in our Intramural Team Competition!

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Yesterday’s Results Board: Clean | Wall Balls, Kettlebell Swings, Row
Why Should I Even Still Do The Open? Morning Chalk Up
Can Low-Impact Sports Like Cycling Be Putting Your Bones At Risk? NY Times