Back Squat/Front Squat

Post Rx to comments. 

Kate R. at the first-annual CFSBK Art Show in 2014 | Photo credit: Asta Fivgas 

Farewell, Kate R.!

By David Osorio

I reached out to Kate Reece in August of 2013, when I was looking for someone to help me get my ass in gear and finally start writing this Inside the Affiliate blog I’d been talking about for a well over a year. Out of about 20 candidates who offered to help, Kate immediately stood out as the ideal blog maven, especially because she was a “writing coach,” something I didn’t know existed before I met her. After successfully launching ITA and realizing that we had a great rapport, Kate eventually took over the CFSBK blog, where I had been posting daily content since 2007.

In that time, as our Managing Editor, she has contributed countless articles, photographs, interviews, and even a couple of art shows. For CFSBK, the blog is sort of a digital watering hole where members go to post accomplishments and frustrations, check in on upcoming events and goings on, and learn more about our community and training ethos. To get a sense of the importance of her work, check out the ITA article we wrote on “Building Community through the Blog.” 

I think of the blog as a garden that needs to be cultivated, and for the past couple of years, Kate has been an excellent gardener. She has worked tirelessly to help the blog grow beyond what is was, all while maintaining the spirit and tone of the blog I originally created. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Kate is headed to Montana to take on a teaching position and to focus on other professional ventures. So I’d like to publicly thank her for all the heart and passion she’s put into this blog and into the CFSBK community as a whole. Let’s wish her well in her next adventure. She’ll be missed!
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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Rest Day
Underneath the Hoodie: McDowell Meyers Kate Reece 
Underneath the Hoodie: Melissa Loranger Kate Reece
Underneath the Hoodie: Arturo Ruiz Kate Reece 
CrossFitting While Pregnant Kate Reece 
Grand Opening of 608 Degraw Kate Reece  

Grace D. sets up for a clean

Tell everyone you know! The Iron Maidens Stay Strong Scholarship

You probably know that The Iron Maidens Raw Open, our women-only powerlifting meet slated for March 5th, is one of our most anticipated events of the year. 60 women, from CFSBK and beyond, will test their strength at back squat, bench press and dead lift.

This year, the stakes are even higher. Through competitors’ fundraising efforts, Iron Maidens will create the inaugural annual Iron Maidens Stay Strong Scholarship.  Iron Maidens is thrilled to partner with Grace Outreach, a Bronx-based nonprofit that works with women to further their educational goals and gain financial independence. Our own Danae M. recently appeared in a New York Times video profiling Samantha Delgado, a Grace Outreach student who recently graduated from the College Prep program and is headed to LaGuardia Community College. The Iron Maidens Stay Strong Scholarship will assist women like Samantha in paying for their college tuition.

And now we’re asking the whole CFSBK community to join us in our effort to raise enough funds to help 10 women continue pursuing a college education. Rather than selecting recipients based on common criteria such as grades or academic achievement, this scholarship rewards persistence—the grit and determination to keep going during hard times. We believe this recognizes and addresses the reality students face, and also captures the essence of the Iron Maidens Competition.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 to pay for 70% of college tuition for 10 students in the College Prep program at Grace Outreach, and we need your help to reach that goal! 

There are two ways to get involved:

1.     If you’re a participating lifter make sure you sign up on Crowdrise today and start asking all your friends to donate!

2.     If you’re not lifting in the competition show your love by donating to our favorite lifter’s campaign!.

We hope that the whole community will spread the word by telling everyone you know about the Iron Maidens competition and scholarship by sending out an email to your network, a tweet, a Facebook post, or even an Instagram using this donation  link: https://www.crowdrise.com/ironmaidensstaystron/fundraiser/graceoutreachbronx

To learn more about Grace Outreach and the Stay Strong Scholarship, check out the Iron Maidens website here!
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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Rack Jerk | Double-Unders, Squats, Push Ups
Legendary Artist David Bowie Dies at 69 The Hollywood Reporter
That Time David Bowie Was Arrested for Pot, Resulting in the Most Beautiful Mugshot Ever The New Republic
50 Years of David Bowie in One GIF Helen Green Illustration

Rack Jerk

Rack Jerk
5-5-5-5-5

Build up to a max set of 5 jerks for the day. These can be power or split but the intention is cycling. Catch the bar in your jerk rack, ride directly into the dip and drive of the jerk. Think about wanting to get the last 5 reps of a heavy shoulder-to-overhead WOD done without having to pick the bar back up.

Post loads to comments. 

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10 Rounds for Time 
24 Double-Unders
12 Squats
6 Push Ups

The sub for double-unders is 1/2 attempts. In lieu of the WOD, if you don’t have doubles somewhat dialed in, then consider spending the 10 minutes practicing instead. 

Post time and Rx to comments.

A busy night at 597 Degraw: Paola L. squats as Jihan S. and Natalia D. look on

Perfection Is the Enemy of Good Enough

By David Osorio 

As the Look Feel Perform Better Challenge enters full swing, many of you are diligently working to count your macros and make better decisions at the checkout line and in front of the fridge. We commend your diligence and are here to support your efforts in the online forums, during the bimonthly nutrition lectures, and in person around the gym.

But a public service announcement, perhaps even a warning, is warranted at this early stage of the Challenge. This Challenge is three months long—about as long as a college semester—and the reality is that motivation can wax and wane over a period of this length. The New Year finds everyone on their best behavior, feeling impervious to temptation and carefully planning each and every meal. And then you know how it goes: things get complicated. Life happens. You’re starving after a long, brutal day at work and end up grabbing a couple slices of pizza on the way home.

Remember not to lose sight of the forest for the trees. What’s important is your cumulative effort. Overarching trends—not any particular day, night, and certainly not a single meal—will be the key to making sustainable changes and ultimately looking, feeling, and performing better. 

Changing your nutritional habits is like practicing free throws. On different days, because of different circumstances, your success rate will fluctuate. A bad day where you missed 30 shots out of 50 doesn’t negate the next day, when you creep up to a 90% success rate. If you’re out there, practicing and putting in the work, the sum of your efforts will add up to a higher average success rate, which is what we all want.

Maybe you didn’t get any points today. Maybe you went over by 30 grams on your fat intake. Maybe you had a few slices of pizza and a couple of beers with your friends last night. The world won’t end! There are far more important questions to ask yourself. Are you eating cleaner overall and making more intentional decisions than you were last month? After a couple of weeks, is it getting easier to look at meals and assess how they’ll fit into the bigger picture of your goals? Do you have more “go-to” healthy meals that you enjoy and have become staples of your diet? Do you feel better than you did before you started the Challenge?

In these first couple of weeks, take a moment to remind yourself why you’re doing this and what you’d like to say you accomplished three months from now. It probably won’t be something like, “I didn’t eat a single grain of sugar.” It should be something more like, “I learned how powerful nutrition can be and can confidently say that I’m healthier and happier than I was before I started.” 

Are you doing LFPB this year or have you done it in the past? If so, what was the biggest challenge and how did you deal with it? 
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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Clean | Row, Burpees, Run
William James on Habit Brain Pickings
Embrace the Suck Zen Habits 

Power Clean 

1a) Work up to a max for the day in 12 minutes.
1b) AMRAP Power Cleans in 3 Minutes at 80% of your max from 1a. 

Only 47 thrusters to go until Maya O. gets that cupcake

Want to Improve Your Gymnastic Skillz?

Back Squat/Front Squat

Performance
Back Squat 65% x 8-12 x 2, Front Squat 65%x8-12 x 2
Leave 2 reps in the tank.

Fitness
Back Squat 2×3, Front Squat 2×3
Load is 90% of what you used on Wednesday.

Post loads to comments.
Exposure 8/16
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Performance
AMRAP 10 Minutes
1 Muscle Up
1 Hang (full) Cleans 205/135
2 Muscle Ups
2 Hang Cleans 205/135
3 Muscle Ups
3 Hang Cleans 205/135
4 Muscle Ups
4 Hang Cleans 205/135

Add 1 rep per round until time is called.

Fitness
AMRAP 10 Minutes
2 C2B Pull Ups
2 Front Squats 185/125
4 C2B Pull Ups
4 Front Squats 185/125
6 C2B Pull Ups
6 Front Squats 185/125
8 C2B Pull Ups
8 Front Squats 185/125

Add 2 reps per round until time is called. Bar comes off the floor and should be a medium heavy load for you. First reps can be full cleans off the floor.

Post rounds and Rx to comments.

Have you complimented Penny on her new vest yet? Why not?

All The Good Reps, and Only the Good Reps

By Chris Fox
Originally posted on 1.12.15 

We’ve almost all been there before. You’re tired, it’s your 50th pull up, handstand push up, power snatch, or whatever. You sort of, kind of, maybe executed full range-of-motion—but then again, maybe you didn’t. Then, you maybe even tried to squeeze in another (no) rep! Coaches see this, your fellow athletes see this, and you see this.

With a judge in front of you—whether it’s a regular group class, during the Open, or at a local throwdown—you’ll have a harder time getting away with garbage reps. I’d suggest that you shouldn’t let yourself off the hook in your daily training either. Your continued progress over the long haul is the ultimate goal. You want your movements to be truly quantifiable. If you count reps where sometimes your chin gets over the bar and sometimes it doesn’t, then you’re left comparing apples to durian fruit.

At CFSBK, we strive for virtuosity—the principle that you should aim to perform even the simplest movements exceedingly well. With effort and practice, your 300th squat in “Murph” can and in fact should be a mirror image of your first. Be honest about your reps and if you’re not 101% sure, then don’t count them. It sucks, yeah, but don’t be that person who moves really fast but really poorly. Don’t be the person who the next class coming in looks at and says “Uh uh… that’s not a rep.” Be the person with whom you’d be impressed, even if it slows you down a bit. Consider that you may need to scale WODs sometimes. The Rx isn’t for everybody, and even if you do some or most of our WODs Rx’d, there may be some that you should scale load and/or volume. Then, even when you really, really tried to do a good rep but didn’t, resist the urge to count your effort as execution. Only count the good ones.
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Ned Overend Is the Champion Cyclist Who Never Grows Old Outside 
6 Hacks for Better Chest-to-Bar Pull Ups Boxrox