Michael A confuses his arms and legs again

• Beautify Rockaway Beach aims to beautify over a dozen of the buildings along Rockaway Beach Blvd which were devastated by Sandy. Beautify Earth is currently raising money to finance the painting of murals, provide street cleanups, and proposing a community garden / sculpture park in the neighborhood that will uplift the residents, stimulate the businesses, and create smiles on peoples’ faces. For more information and to donate, click here.

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CFSBK wants to hear from you! Please take a couple minutes to fill out this feedback form regarding your experience, opinions and requests for what we offer and do at CFSBK.

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14.5 Logistics

The final workout for the 2014 CrossFit Open has been released as:

For time
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Thrusters, 95 / 65 lb. Burpees

For the full workout description, click here.

To keep classes running on time, we’re going to cap this workout at 25 minutes. Athletes can assign themselves a one minute penalty for every rep they don’t finish under the cap. There will be an alternate workout programmed for folks not competing in the open with the same rep scheme but substituting Wall Balls for thrusters.

What will your strategy for 14.5 be?
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Super Strong 64 Year Old Great Grandpa
Super Strong 73 Year Old
Jacinto Bonilla 73 year old CrossFitter (and CFSBKer!)
I Think Divergent Is Secretly About CrossFit

1-1-1-1-1

Post loads to comments.
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3 Rounds NFT of:
400m Row
400m Run
25 Unbroken Hollow Rocks

Nick on Box Jumps

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CFSBK wants to hear from you! Please take a couple minutes to fill out this feedback form regarding your experience, opinions and requests for what we offer and do at CFSBK.

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General Informed Freestyling

A common theme from Mobility WOD is the idea of “informed freestyling”.  Basically, when you’re mobilizing, instead of remaining static and settling into a singular position, you’re actively moving around trying to loosen up the tissue and hunting for other restricted areas.  I’m a huge fan of total body informed freestyling in response to or as preventative maintenance for general stiffness.  One way to approach this is extensive DROMs, but my bias is towards ground based movement. Ideally this is accompanied by a foam roller, straps and a lacrosse ball.  More often than not, a mobility rx is reactive and targeted towards tissue you know is tight and preventing you from getting into positions you want to achieve.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and probably the way you should spend most of your time stretching out. The problem however, is that sometimes it’s at the expense of a more generalized approach to soft tissue health. 
Lets start with the mindset that general stiffness is not normal and that you can do something about it.  To make an analogy, if you walked around hungry all day, a light would go off in your head to do something about it.  We don’t often listen to our bodies in the same way when our joints feel creaky and muscles feel stiff.  This should be a huge red flag that you need to spend a little more time doing generalized restorative movement.  Here are some quick benefits of a short total body movement session:

• Increased blood flow = Increased nutrient transport and hydration to all your tissues
• Excess metabolites are pushed into the lymph (think of it like “cleaning” an area of excess junk)
• Synovial fluid is pumped into your joint capsules, lubricating them
• With dedicated a breathing strategy and a modest pace, you can increase parasympathetic nervous system activity and decrease anxiety

Okay so how do we do it? Well there’s no one right way to do this and how you’re feeling that day should dictate your session but here are some general guidelines.

1. Set aside some time and space to move.  10-15 minutes should be enough to feel a lot better, I often put on a record and go at least until one side finishes. My preference is before bed since you can attack a whole day’s worth of stiffness and it’s a great way to unwind mentally. In terms of space, I love love LOVE my square36 mat.  Yoga mats provide insufficient area to move around on and I constantly have to reposition myself or the mat. (use the discount code cfbrooklyn36 to get $10 off a S36 mat!).

2. Start low and work high (or vise versa).  Start by doing some D-Dog calve marches, manually rolling your feet around, stretching out your toes, maybe using a LAX ball on your feet. Gradually work upstream spending more time in areas that feel tight.  Use stretches you remember from Group or Active Recovery class, make stuff up, work basic splits, twists, bends and be creative. You’ll undoubtedly find positions that feel great and areas that are tight.  Keep your breathing consistent and deep.

Here are some videos from our buddies at Body Tribe that might give you some more ideas:
Quick Mobility Play
Tav’s Brutal Recess
Staying Loose

3. Pepper in some Foam Rolling, LAX work or band stretches.  You might even start here and then get into the informed freestyling.  If you’re not sure what to do, take an Active Recovery class!

4. End with some deep breathing laying flat on your back, drink some water then go to bed!

Related Videos:
Gil Hedley: Fascia and stretching: The Fuzz Speech
Always Be Mobilizing
Informed Freestyling Always

What are you most looking forward to about the approaching nice weather?
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4 Things Astronauts Can Teach You About a Good Night’s Sleep
The Universe of Everything Zen Habits
Are you an elite CrossFitter, statistically speaking

Fitness: 3-3-3-3-3

Performance: 1-1-1-1-1

If you’re going to need a spot, let us know. All heavy singles should be spotted.

Post loads to comments.
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15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
Deadlift 225/155
Box Jumps 24″/20″

Post time and Rx to comments.

Ed kettlebell swings his way to fitness

• CFSBKer Candice C is in the running for this sexiest vegan next door contest, top prize is a free vacation to Maui, Hawaii. Vote here.
• Happy Birthday, Shaun C!
• Do you have Instagram? WE DO TOO!! Follow us @CrossFitSouthBrooklyn

Please fill out our Feedback Form!

CFSBK wants to hear from you! Please take a couple minutes to fill out this feedback form regarding your experience, opinions and requests for what we offer and do at CFSBK.

CFSBK Feedback Form
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Body Image & Bodyweight in Weightlifting Cathletics
Some Advice That Changed My Whole Career Cathletics
The Low Bar Back Squat Bar Position Starting Strength

Kristin H teaching her weekly Pilates class at CFSBK.
Come on down tonight at 7:30pm for some Hard Core Fun!

• Rich Fronings 14.4 Video Rich clears one whole round, plus the row and gets 17 toes to bars in round 2.
• Happy Birthday, Jared K!

Shoe Storage Update

CFSBK has commissioned local artisans, BLKWD inc to build out some new, sturdier shoe storage units for the coat room. Once the new racks are finished we’ll install them and have a dedicated cubby system where folks will be assigned specific stations for their Olympic lifting shoes to live. Unfortunately, the coat room isn’t big enough to hold Everyone’s shoes, and we ran into the problem of shoes beginning to take over where bags needed to go. Our solution is to have a limited number of slots that people pay a $5 monthly charge to store shoes in. We’ll be announcing a lottery system for first crack at shoe storage reservations at the gym.

Bring Your Bike Out of Winter Hibernation!

Springtime weather is around the corner and CFSBK wants to help you prepare for bike riding season! Bicycle Habitat will be bringing their basic bike maintenance class from their 5th Avenue shop to 597 DeGraw specially for CFSBK, 2:30p-4p on Saturday, April 5. Course will include:

You’ll be able to roll in your own bike to use as an example during the class!  The class will be more instructional in nature, but bring any bike tools you already have in case there is time for tinkering!  $10 per person, class is capped at 25.  Sign up and pay in advance at the Front Desk by April 3. 

Clothing and Book Swap at CFSBK

Press 1-1-1
Push Press 1-1-1
Jerk 1-1-1

Take about 25 minutes to work up to a 1RM for all three lifts. Try to keep increasing the weight as you go and stay strict to your three attempts meaning a missed lift counts as an attempt. Any version of the jerk is permitted.

Post loads to comments.
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5 Rounds for max reps of:
:40 Thuster 115/75
:20 Rest
:40 Burpee
:20 Rest

Post total reps completed and Rx to comments.

It all starts with the air squat

• We’ve got a new post on Inside the Affiliate about how we run our weekly intro classes. Did you take an intro class at CFSBK or somewhere else? Let us know about your experiences in the comments section!
• Thank you to everyone who came out to the free meditation workshop yesterday!
• Happy birthday, Rebecca G-C!

Welcome Coach Whitney!

As many of you know, CFSBK has been fortunate to take on resident Yoga maven and CrossFit superstar Whitney H on board as the newest member of the CFSBK coaching staff. We’ve been working with Whitney to get her ready for group classes since the beginning of the year and she’s already exceeded our expectations in terms of professionalism, compassion and ability to spot movement issues and correct them. We couldn’t be more excited about having her on staff and know all of you will come to enjoy her presence as part of our team. Read below to learn a little more about “Dub Hub”:

Whitney’s love for movement started early in life. She began ballet at the age of three and went on to participate in (and occasionally win) national dance competitions throughout her teens. This passion continued into her college years, and she received her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois. It was there that she first studied anatomy and kinesiology, as well as started a yoga practice.

Whitney is a Level 1 CrossFit Trainer and a Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT-200HR).
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Don’t forget to get your 14.4 submissions in by 8:00pm tonight!
2nd Annual Crossfit Thump Throwdown Recap
Area Man’s Emotional State Completely Dependent On Outcome Of Professional Sporting Event