We all got a little soaked at Murph Day, but we had fun! The first set of photos from the day is now up on Flickr

This Week at CFSBK in Review

1. CFSBKers donated over $3,000 (including $5 from each t-shirt we sold) to K9s for Warriors this year. Thanks to everyone who donated to provide service dogs for veterans! You can still contribute to this terrific organization here.

2. Rachel H. is planning to go to the Power Monkey Fitness Camp in October and would like to assemble a group of CFSBKers to go with her. Groups of 5 or more people get a sweet discount, and she needs just 2 more people! The camp takes place October 1st through 7th in Crossville, TN. Contact Rachel at rthsiung [at] gmail.com if you’re interested!

3. In case you missed it, Coach KHarpz has begun writing a fascinating series for Beyond the Whiteboard on her progress toward qualifying for the 2018 East Regional! Check out the first installment!

4. Coach Nick and Coach MeLo completed their CrossFit Level 2 Certificate Course last weekend. Congrats, you two! We’re lucky to have some of the best coaches in the business.

5. On Wednesday, we told you about a new business called Fabric that Steven S. just launched. Check it out!

6. Behind the Desk returned this week, and we learned more about Karina S. You can look forward to more interviews with your favorite front deskers in the coming weeks!

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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Clean and Jerk | Single-Arm DB Thrusters, Box Jumps
Boost Your Workouts with Caffeine, Even if You Drink Coffee Daily NY Times
When Spellers Became Athletes The Outline

Clean and Jerk Complex

Every 90 seconds for 10 rounds:
Clean High Pull + Low Hang (1″) Clean + Push Jerk + Split Jerk

Post loads to comments.

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3 Rounds for Time:
10 Single-Arm Dumbbell Thrusters (Left)
10 Single-Arm Dumbbell Thrusters (Right)
30 Box Jumps 24/20″

Rx the dumbbell at 20-25% of your body weight. The Thrusters should heavy but unbroken. The Box Jump is Rx’d as a two-foot take off. Jump down or step down is allowed.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Behind the Desk: Karina S.

Over the next month or so, you can look forward to new installments of our Behind the Desk series, about our beloved and much appreciated front desk staff! These CrossFitters take care of the important duties of checking in our members, handling walk-ins, tidying up after classes, and so many other things that it would take forever to list them. They are the glue that holds this gym together.

Last time, it was Lynsey R. And now (drum roll, please)…

Name (and any nicknames):

Karina; RinaKrack (emblazoned on my pair of Nike Dunks in high school); Kareesh, and its various iterative diminutives only Russian can express.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?

Born in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. Grew up in Kiev, Ukraine. Came back when I was 12, experienced hardcore culture shock and puberty at the same time.

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

Since September 2016, so like 9 months. I was doing a lot of pole and aerial silks when I realized all my teachers were doing Crossfit (Sam Star and Sadie Durante, for example). Then I saw Fittest on Earth and was like “I wanna be a monster.” CFSBK was just down the street from where I worked, so I moseyed my way down!

Program your dream workout: 

AMRAP 10 minutes:
10 Toes-to-Bars
30 Double-Unders
3 Rope Climbs
15/12 Calorie Row

Heaven.

What are you recommending right now?

The Great British Bake Off (The Great British Baking Show on Netflix). That show is visual Xanax. Rick & Morty (other than the weird episode).

What are three things you can’t live without?

1) Cooking my own food/eating fermented things: I like cooking maybe a little too much and get anxious if I can’t make my own meals regularly (need to have kitchen access in dem Airbnbs). I make a lot of “garbage” like tarte citron/various pies, and they sit around the house until I eat it or until I can lure unwary travelers into my apartment to consume them. Fermentation wise: cheese, yogurt, kefir, tvorog, kraut, kimchi, sourdough (baking it but not necessarily eating it). My family has always made our own kraut and tvorog, but since moving here I’ve gone full Brooklyn and started making my own yogurt, kimchi (aka “ruining the apartment”), cider, and mead. If anyone ever wants hella healthy sourdough, I always make too much and it’s so fermented you can usually eat it even if you have a gluten intolerance. Take care of your gut biome and your gut biome will take care of you!

2) Sleep mask + ear plugs:  Used them both once—deepest sleep ever, now I can’t do without.

3) Exercise: If I go longer than a day without exercise, I become highly unpleasant.

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

Teaching Pilates—hit me up. Doing Improv. Sitting around a table with a bunch of fellow weirdos writing jokes and laughing till I cry. The Internet. Spiralizing vegetables with my new spiralizer.

Any front-desk public service announcements ?

Put your dumbbells back in the right place. My fingers can’t withstand any more crushings. Let that weigh on your conscience. Kettlebells, too! But I haven’t lost a fingernail to a kettlebell yet.

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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Back Rack Reverse Lunges | Toes-to-Bars, Overhead Squats, Double-Unders
Ditching All My Running Gadgets Made Me a Better Runner NY Mag
Will Someone Please Tell Me What They Think a “Toxin” Is? The Awl

Back Rack Reverse Lunges

3 x 8

Heavier than Week 3’s 8s. Perform 8 reps on one leg, then perform 8 reps on the other.

Post loads to comments.
Exposure 6 of 8
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2 Rounds
AMRAP 6 Minutes:
6 Toes-to-Bars
9 Overhead Squats 115/75
15 Double-Unders

Rest 6 minutes between rounds.

The goal is to score the same and feel the same on each round. Scale the Toes-to-Bars to Hanging Leg or Knee Raises as needed. You should be able to do at least a few sets unbroken. The Overhead Squat weight should be on the medium side for you, unbroken, and something you could Snatch into the first rep. Scale Dubs to Singles as needed, or to 5 attempts to keep yourself moving.

Post rounds, reps, and Rx to comments.

Coaches Nick and MeLo completed their CrossFit Level 2 Certificate Course over the weekend. Congrats, guys! We’re lucky to have some of the best coaches in the business!

Fabric Launches in New York!

CFSBKer Steven S. recently launched an exciting new company called Fabric! If you’re a parent like Steven or his co-founder Adam, you’ve probably considered buying life insurance. It’s a smart way to help ensure that, even if something were to happen to you, your family would be taken care of financially. But with so many other things on your plate, it’s easy to push getting coverage to the end of a never-ending list. It’s understandable: the process is often intimidating, slow, and complicated. The problem is bigger here in New York where the world seems to move at lightning speed and every second is precious.

Fabric not only makes getting life insurance easy, it make it fast, affordable, and convenient. You can now go from start to covered in two minutes on your phone, tablet, or desktop. No pushy agents or meetings, and no impenetrable legalese. Check out Fabric here!

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Odd-Object Lesson CrossFit Journal
Why It’s So Hard to Keep a Secret Scientific American

Push Press

3 x 8

Heavier than Week 3.

Post loads to comments.
Exposure 6 of 8

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30 Minutes Not for Rounds:
20 Russian KBS
50′ Sled Push
20 Calorie Row
10 Burpees

Just move around today and don’t look for intensity if you did “Murph” yesterday. The Kettelbell Swings should be light to medium-heavy and unbroken. The Sled Push can be on the heavy side, but you should be able to complete it without stopping. Easy row, easy Burpees.

Post work to comments.

 

3… 2… 1… Go! Here’s yesterday’s 10am heat taking off at Murph Day. Thanks to everyone who participated, coached, grilled, worked the front desk, or helped out in anyway. How did “Murph” go for you? Let us know in the comments!

Today’s the Last Day to Sign Up for AG Strength!

Are you struggling with your Pull-Ups? Are you stuck at the bottom of your Handstand Push-Up? Check out Coach Arturo‘s critically acclaimed Anti-Gravity Strength class. Class starts tomorrow, so act fast! There are still some spots left in the AM cycle.

Each AG Strength class will be an hour-and-a-half long, focusing on the strength and skills needed to improve Pull-Ups and Handstand Push-Ups. This will include a variety of skill exercises, progressions, weighted and strict practice, and other techniques to teach, develop, and perfect your Pull-Up and Handstand Push-Up. This fundamental strength work will carry over into other CrossFit gymnastics movements, including the coveted Muscle-Up.

Schedule

Cost and Eligibility

The cost is $160 per month. This cycle is open to all CFSBK members as well as CrossFitters from other affiliates.

What Happens in a Class?

The first class will begin with an assessment of each individual’s upper body push, pull, and core strength. Once the assessment is completed, each AG Strength class will consist of skill work, strength development, and flexibility training based on your personal needs, weaknesses, and strengths. If a member chooses to do a CrossFit group class on the same day, we recommend doing the skill and strength work from the AG Strength cycle first. Arturo can advise on this on a case by case basis. Just ask!

Testimonials

“There are a lot of good specialty workout options here at CFSBK, and I am happy to say that AG Strength has earned its spot at the top with the best of them. For any good program to be effective, it needs two components: an excellent coach and coach-able participants. Coach Ro brings his meticulous approach and his dedication to the integrity of his craft. Its up to you to bring the latter. In this class, great emphasis is placed on the proper execution of movements. Suffice it to say. this class is not about building egos but rather overall strength. Rest assured, by the end of the cycle you are guaranteed to see results. I did! Apart from having loads of fun while working extremely hard (this may be paradoxical but it’s the truth), I have seen improvements in my Bench, Overhead Press, Chin-Up and Pull-Up (I couldn’t do a Pull-Up prior to this class). Love this class! Thanks, Coach Ro!”—Wendy S.

“AG Strength brought marked improvements to my upper body pull and push strength, and it was impressive how it translated into gymnastic gains/z. During AGS I got my first Handstand Push-Up, my first Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up, and went from doing a 15 lbs weighted strict Pull-Up to a 60 lbs one! It’s a great class to focus on targeted upper body strength, and Arturo’s programming helps you see constant week-after-week improvements.”—Daniel R.

News and Notes

• We raised over $3,000 (including $5 from each t-shirt we sold) for K9s for Warriors this year. Thanks to everyone who donated to provide service dogs for veterans! You can still contribute here.
• In case you missed it, Coach KHarpz has begun writing a fascinating series for Beyond the Whiteboard on her progress toward qualifying for the 2018 East Regional! Check out the first installment!
• Rachel H. is planning to go to the Power Monkey Fitness Camp in October and would like to assemble a group of CFSBKers to go with her. Groups of 5 or more people get a sweet discount, and she needs just 2 more people! The camp takes place October 1st through 7th in Crossville, TN. Contact Rachel at rthsiung [at] gmail.com if you’re interested!

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My Relationship with Pain Training Think Tank
Jupiter Is Even Weirder Than We Thought Atlas Obscura

“Murph”

For time:
1 Mile Run
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Squats
1 Mile Run

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.

This workout was one of Mike’s favorites and he’d named it “Body Armor.” It is now referred to as “Murph” in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.

Partition the Pull-Ups, Push-Ups, and Squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you’ve got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

If you’d like to learn more about Michael Murphy and the origins of “Murph,” this is a great place to start. There is no charge for the workout, nor will it be deducted from your weekly class limit. There are still a few spots left in several heats, and you can sign up here! If you decide not to do it at the last minute, please delete your name from the spreadsheet so someone else can take your place.

Murph Day 2017 Is Here!

All regularly scheduled classes (including AM Open Gym) are cancelled today for Murph Day. Here’s all the other important stuff you need to know!

• Since there’s no charge for this workout (the class won’t be deducted from your weekly limit), we suggest that you make a $20 (or more!) donation to K9s for Warriors in lieu of class payment. So far we’ve raised $1600. Thanks to all who have donated! Go HERE to support this terrific cause.
• For scaling options and game plans, see Coach Fox’s very useful post from last week, “Murph Is For Everybody.”
• Shooting to get on the leaderboard for “Murph”?  You’ll have to do it in a weighted vest (20/14 lbs), and be sure to let a coach know that you’re going for it before your heat starts. 
• CFSBK will provide one keg, burgers, and sausges, but please bring more delicious foods, especially side dishes!  Leave a comment on the event page to let us know what you’re bringing!

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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Snatch | Deadlift, Run
5 Keys to Forming Any Habit Zen Habits
Memorial Day Dos and Don’ts NPR