Arnold Press / Romanian Deadlift Superset*

A1) Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Arnold Press:
4 x 12-15

A2) Barbell Romanian Deadlift:
4 x 12-15

Use a heavy load for the rep range that allows you to move with perfect form. Keep rest to a minimum, 30-60 seconds between movements.

*Warm up and then perform a set of Arnold Presses, followed by a set of Romanian Deadlifts. Repeat for 4 work sets of each, resting 30 seconds to a minute between movements.

Post loads to comments.
Exposure 1 of 8
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6 Rounds or 25 Minutes:
20/16 Calorie Bike/Row:
3-6 Strict Toes-to-Bars (3 seconds down)
6-8 Strict Ring Dips or Push-Ups (3 seconds down)

Scale to challenging Hanging Leg or Knee Raises as needed. Sub Matador dips if Push-Ups are easy for you but you’re not stable in the rings.

Post work to comments.

Well, the Open worked its magic. Look at all those accomplishments and new leaderboard entries! Be sure to write your goals and accomplishments on the board during this new cycle!

Upcoming Training Cycle Template

Training Cycle Dates: M 4/2/18 – S 6/3/18 (8 weeks plus Crush Week)

Goals: To stay strong post-Open with some back-to-basics strength training. We’ll use more supersets and EMOMs during strength work and play with barbell complexes on the Olympic lifts. We’ll also see more strict gymnastics work and weekly aerobic paced conditioning work, in addition to classic couplets and triplets.

Monday

Upper Body Push + Lower Body Superset

Weeks 1-4:
Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Arnold Press + Barbell Romanian Deadlift

Week 1: 4 x 12-15 reps
Week 2: 4 x 10-12 reps
Week 3: 4 x 8-10 reps
Week 4: 4 x 5-8 reps

Weeks 5-8:
SA DB Bench Press + Goblet Lateral Lunges (not alternating)

Week 5: 4 x 12-15 reps
Week 6: 4 x 10-12 reps
Week 7: 4 x 8-10 reps
Week 8: 4 x 5-8 reps

Use a heavy load for the rep range that allows you to move with perfect form. Keep rest to a minimum, 30-60 seconds between movements.

Wednesday

Squat + Upper Body Pull Superset

Weeks 1-4:
Back Squat + Three-Point Dumbbell Row

Week 1: 4 x 12-15 reps
Week 2: 4 x 10-12 reps
Week 3: 4 x 8-10 reps
Week 4: 4 x 5-8 reps

Weeks 5-8:
Front Squat (from floor) + Single-Arm Ring Row

Week 5: 4 x 12-15 reps
Week 6: 4 x 10-12 reps
Week 7: 4 x 8-10 reps
Week 8: 4 x 5-8 reps

Use a heavy load for the rep range that allows you to move with perfect form. Keep rest to a minimum, 30-60 seconds between movements.

Thursday

Snatch Complexes

Saturday

Metcon Mash-Up

Sunday

Clean and Jerk Complexes

You can always check out the template over on the Current Programming Cycle page! 

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Yesterday’s Results Board: Snatch | EMOM Work
In Conversation: Mike D Vulture
Do We Finally Understand How Acupuncture Works? NY Mag

Snatch

1-1-1-1-1

Warm up and work up to a heavy single Snatch. Press-outs are misses. If you’re feeling good, then go for a new 1RM. If not, then aim to make a few reps between 80-90%.

Post loads to comments.

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Every Minute on the Minute x 25 (5e):
1) 7/5 Calorie Bike/Row, as fast as possible 
2) 12 Russian Kettelbell Swings (Heavy)
3) 12 Wall Ball 20/10, 14/9
4) 30 Second Side Plank (Left)
5) 30 Second Side Plank (Right)

Post work to comments.

Next Sunday: WrestleMania at CFSBK

Next Sunday, April 8th, CFSBK will be showing WrestleMania 34 on our big, big screen! The big event starts at 7pm. Feel free to BYOB, snacks, and friends!

See Anise Perform Tonight!

A message from Anise:

I wanted to let everyone know that I have a performance on the evening of Easter Sunday. That’s 8pm Sunday, April 1st. Some of you saw me perform part of my original work Apostate at the CFSBK Art Show. It is a multidisciplinary performance piece about a postmodern understanding of spirituality, faith, and community. The full-length version of Apostate is being featured at Empty Tomb//Fertile Womb, a fundraising event for my theatre group Sacred Circle Theatre Company. If anyone is free, I would love to see you there and show you what I do! Below are the facebook event and the direct link to buy tickets.

Saturday Metcon Mash-Up

1) AMRAP 9 Minutes:
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18… +3 reps per round of:
Toes-to-Bars
Burpee Box Jumps 24/20

Scale the Toes-to-Bars to Hanging Leg or Knee Raises as needed, or use this as an opportunity to work on them, knowing that you will be saved by the clock at 9 minutes.

Rest 3 minutes, then..

2) AMRAP 9 Minutes:
21 Squats
15/9 Push-Ups
9 Hang Power Cleans 115/80

The Hang Power Cleans should be on the light-medium side for you, unbroken on the fast end.

Rest 3 minutes, then…

3) AMRAP 9 Minutes:
50 Double-Unders
20 Sit-Ups

Scale the dubs to 100 singles or 20 attempts, or use this as an opportunity to work on them, knowing that you will be saved by the clock at 9 minutes.

Post rounds, reps, and Rx to comments.

Bid farewell to Coach Melissa, Alex, and Lily today at Pig Beach at 4pm. All are invited! 

Open Intramural Team Rankings: Final Results

Congrats to Make America Blue Again on taking home the gold in this year’s Open Intramural Team Competition! This is the first time in 3 years that it hasn’t ended in a tie, which is very cool. Thanks to everyone who participated and made it extra fun!

Current Ranking – Team – Final Average

1. Make America Blue Again: 33.7
2. Kippin’ It Real: 34.33
3. Going Dark: 36.17
4. Amino Disrespect: 36.7
5. The Incredible Hulks: 37.53
6. 50 Shades of Gainz: 39.13

Upcoming Events at CFSBK

The Open may be over, but we have some more fun stuff coming up! On Sunday, April 8th, we’ll be showing Wrestlemania 34 on our big, big screen. The following Friday, April 13th, we’ll be hosting a CFSBK Mario Kart tournament on that same big screen. Click the links to check out those event pages!

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Yesterday’s Results Board: Rest Day
The Lost Tradition of Playing Ball in Church to Celebrate Easter Atlas Obscura
What Causes Press-Outs and How to Fix Them Catalyst Athletics

Come out to the gym TONIGHT at 8pm to celebrate the end of the Open and gear up for Regionals with a screening of The Redeemed and the Dominant: Fittest on Earth, a documentary look at the 2017 CrossFit Games. Bring your own drinks and snacks to share!

Open Diary 18.5

By Brett Ferguson

I felt much more at ease going into the last week of the Open than I had for the previous four workouts. Mentally, I was in my best head space yet. No excited anxiety. No regret from the previous week. Physically, I was tired. Doing each of the first 4 workouts twice had taken its toll. As a result, I did have thoughts that wavered between, “Let’s just get this over with,” and, “This is it! Let’s crush this one!” I knew the combo of Thrusters and Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups was going to hurt. And not just a little.

I loved running Friday Night Lights this year. The energy was awesome! Tons of people came to the gym to hit the workout and probably even more came out each weekend just to watch and cheer people on! What an awesome, supportive community we have! As much as I loved it, I realize now that coaching group classes from 8am-1pm, setting up the gym from 1:30-5:00pm, and then starting the first heats of Friday Night Lights at 5:30pm didn’t leave me much for mental relaxation or physical preparation. The stress (not bad stressed-out stress, just stress) of all of this along with redoing every workout, losing sleep because of anxiety, and not recovering as fast as I used to, and I wasn’t always set up well for my best performance on the work outs. Learning.

By the time I hit the workout on Friday at 7:30pm, I was pretty fried. I took way too much time transitioning from the barbell to the rig and back again (About :08-12, but who’s counting. I certainly didn’t go to the office on Saturday, put on the NestCam video, and obsessively write down all of my transition and rest times. Who would do that?). Besides that, I kept to the strategy I had planned on. Thrusters unbroken until I had to break them up based on feel. I finally broke them up in the round of 15. A positive result of the longer rests in my transitions was that I was able to keep these unbroken deeper into the workout. This was also the point that I started getting tunnel vision. I heard someone behind me say, “Why is everyone facing the other way? We can’t see any of their faces.” Between the tunnel vision and allowing myself to be easily distracted by someone talking, I had a feeling the wheels might start coming off. I know that my gymnastics endurance on the Pull-Up bar disappears quickly, so I broke them up early. Not early enough, though. In the round of 15, I started with a set of 4. I got back on the bar and after 2 more my lats just said, “No.” That was it. I did everything I could to keep hitting sets of 2 until I couldn’t do that anymore and ended with 3 quick singles on a lower bar. Pierre was yelling at me to get back to the Thrusters, but I just wasn’t in the right head space. Most of the time, I can tell myself, “You can do one rep. Just get started and do one” and get the work going.

This was not one of those days. The 18 Thrusters that were ahead of me might as well have been 100. A voice in my head said, “Even if you get through the Thrusters, your Chest-to-Bars are already failing so you won’t do well there.” Helpful. Thanks, brain. I grabbed the bar and battled through the Thrusters. One minute left to do as many Pull-Ups as possible. A set of 3, then 2, then singles. As the clock hit the 7 minute mark I had gotten through 15. I shook my head as I kneeled down. My goal had been to get to the 21 Thrusters. My frustration quickly became secondary as all the work that I had just done caught up with me and I rolled on the ground, unable to get comfortable no matter how I laid on the floor.

“Well, that strategy didn’t go very well. Let’s try something else,” I wrote my coach on Saturday. 12 hours later, I felt a little detached about my score. I had done the best I could given the circumstances, and the strategy that I had used. However, I knew my score wasn’t going to help my standings in the Region, so I felt some self-induced pressure to do better on Monday. Not because I necessarily had the confidence that I was able to do better, but I just had to do better. Logic there? None.

I decided to break up the Pull-Ups int0 even smaller sets than before in hopes of saving some energy there. I also changed my set up to minimize transition times so that hopefully I would buy myself some time for more Chest-to-Bars. I mentally prepped the shit out of this attempt. I was 100% ready to get to the next movement as quickly as possible. So, instead of :10 of transition, it was more like :03. Awesome! Right? No. Too Fast.

You know how in group class I always say, “Don’t come out too hot”? Well, I came out too hot. Without the extra transition time to recover, things fell apart even faster than on Friday: the Thrusters in the set of 12 this time. Even though the sets were smaller, I rabidly got back on the bar and kept moving. Getting to the barbell for the round of 18 Thrusters, I was :30 ahead of my time from Friday. Then, total body shut down. I put out too much energy too quickly. and it caught up to me. In my head I said, “Hold onto the bar and finish,” but my body just wouldn’t comply. I haven’t felt my body actually stop functioning in a long time (Well, not since 18.2, but before that, a long time, I promise). I let out exertion yells for the last three reps, just like I had done with a 315lb dead lift a week earlier. Singles right away on the Pull-Ups. My arms wouldn’t leave my sides. Dead weight. I felt like I was flopping limp limbs around in the air. On Friday I had done 15 Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups in 1:00. On Monday, I had 1:27 for the CTB. I got 14. One rep less.

This week wasn’t as mentally challenging for me as it was physical challenging. I knew that going in. I showed up and battled, but it just wasn’t there. Good to know for next year. I need to try to treat each Open workout like just another workout. It’s hard with all of the hype around the announcements, the excitement at the gym, Friday Night Lights, the leaderboard, and so forth. But I allowed myself to get too amped up about it in the first several weeks, and it caught up with me. That much energy and output wasn’t sustainable. There is a scientifically controversial thing called Adrenal Fatigue that is believed to happen to people after long period of stress, or, more related, after rigorous competition. Dr. James Wilson, who coined the term, believes that during these periods of stress, the body’s adrenal gland is overworked, continuously producing more and more cortisol to try to keep up with the demands of the body/mind. When the system can no longer keep up with the demand, there is a crash. I don’t know if this is a real thing. But it sure as hell felt real on Tuesday. Completely exhausted. I felt hollow. Not empty. I wasn’t depressed. It was more that I had been in such an adrenaline, anxiety-driven state for so long that as soon as it was over, I completely shut down. I think I’ll take a few rest days.

How did I do this year? Goals: I was hoping to be in the top 250 in the North East Region. I’m currently sitting in 291st place. Last year I finished in 379th place. I can let myself be disappointed for not reaching my goal, or I can reframe that bullshit and see how much I improved. Physically: I worked my ass off this year, and I can see that it is paying off. Not because of the results on the leaderboard but because of the improvements of both weaknesses and skills, and knowing my body better than I did before. There will always be more to work on, skills to improve, PRs to try to break, but I’m happy with my growth this year. Mentally: This was more of a challenge than I expected. As you read in my first three Open Diary entries, I have some deeply engrained habits of being hard on myself. Writing these entries each week really helped me to see this pattern. I’m going to continue more of this honest evaluation each week to see how I’m doing with it. Only 47 more weeks until you get to read about it again. You: Take a second and honestly assess how you did this year. Put your mental bullshit aside and really be honest. I’ll bet you are doing better than you give yourself credit for.

New and Notes

• This is the final entry in Coach Brett’s “Open Diary” series. Be sure to check out the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th entries if you haven’t read them yet!
• Farewell party/drinks for Coach Melo, Alex, and Lily will be this Saturday at 4pm at Pig Beach on Union St. All are welcomed!

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Yesterday’s Results Board: Clean and Jerk | NFR Work
Respect the Bar Breaking Muscle
The Great Sadness of Ben Affleck The New Yorker

Clean and Jerk

1-1-1-1-1

Warm up and build to a heavy single Clean and Jerk. If you’re feeling good then go for a new 1RM, otherwise get as close to 90% as you can and try to make a few reps there.

Post loads to comments.

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20 Minutes Not for Rounds:
270m Jog
100′ Low Bear Crawl
5 Strict Chin-Ups

Keep the runs and crawls at a maintainable pace and aim to just keep moving. Use bands or add weight to the Chin-Ups as appropriate.

Post work to comments.

Some fun stats on 18.5 from Robert C.! CFSBK collectively Thrusted 450,455 pounds, which is the equivalent of 2 blue whales. We collectively performed 9,927 reps, which is the equivalent of dying. “You can see that men and women track very evenly at CFSBK,” Robert writes. “There’s nearly identical completion rates throughout the workout.”

KHarpz at BTWB

Check out this snippet from Coach KHarpz‘s latest post for Beyond the Whiteboard:

At the end of the day, it’s a matter of self-confidence and believing that I am a winner. Belief, just like anything else in the gym, is a skill that I need to train. I have begun this process by taking out my little brown notebook, identifying my “can nots”, so I can eventually kick them in the arse, and turn them into “cans.” Let’s just say, I plan on continuing this habit throughout the open, and will have that little brown notebook full by the end of 2018.

It’s from “Developing An ‘Open Mind’: A Positive Outlook for a Positive Performance,” and it’s about the head game aspect of competitive fitness, a common theme on the blog lately. Give it a read!

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Yesterday’s Results Board: Rest Day
An Open Letter to Those Who Need to Lose Weight CrossFit Journal
Homeopathy Explained Kurzgesagt (video)