Work on your handstand today, whether that means trying to kick up for the first time or going for the leaderboard on max length unassisted handstand

8-10 Rounds NFT of:
10 Russian KB Swings
5-10 Push-Ups

Capped at 15 minutes. Go Heavy on the Kettlebell Swings

Post experience to comments.

Team SBK

Hoboken Results

Congratulations to Team SBK who had a great showing at the CrossFit Hoboken Winter Challenge. Special shout outs to Coach Josh who came in 2nd place (after a tie breaker “Fran Off”), Coach Melo who came in 3rd, Mike M placing 5th and Coach Lady Fox coming in 6th.  Thanks to everyone who came out and represented! Full results will be posted once they’re available online

Strength Cycle Total Today

Coach Jeremy’s Strength Cyclers will wrap up their 8 week cycle today starting at 1:00pm. Over 20 lifters will be testing their 1RMs in the Back Squat, Press and Deadlift. All are welcome to come by and cheer on the lifters. Get ready for some massive PRs!

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George Carlin talks about experience, his career and aging on the View

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
30 Double-unders
15 Power snatches (75lbs / 35kg)

Post loads to comments.

This was the first event from the 2011 CrossFit Games Open

Coach Jeremy Goes For a Heavy Single On The Bench Press

Good Luck Team CFSBK

Best of luck to everyone competing in today’s CrossFit Hoboken Winter Challenge. We’ve got 12 athletes headed to Jersey for the event and cant wait to hear about how they did. Make us proud, team!

HERONDALE FARM GRASS-FED MEAT CSA

SIGNUP DEADLINE DEC 15!

Ask any of the 43 people who were members of the meat CSA this year, and they’ll tell you that the value and selection offered in this program is unmatched. You simply cannot buy grass-fed meat at retail at this price and quality anywhere in New York. And with monthly delivery direct to the gym, the convenience is unmatched. 

The next share will be four months: Jan-April. If you like, however, you can sign up for 4, 8 or 12 months – all at once.

The Farm is offering two mixed meat (beef, pork and lamb) options:

• 15lbs/month plan: $600 if you pay in full, $650 on monthly payment plan

• 10lbs/month plan: $460 if you pay in full, $500 on monthly payment plan

Full plan details and lots of info about Herondale Farm is here.

Here’s how to sign up:

1. Returning members: You can re-up by emailing to info@herondalefarm dot com. They’ll take it from there.

2. New members: Download this PDF, fill it out, and return it to the farm via email.

QUESTIONS? Email me. WANT TO SPLIT A SHARE WITH SOMEONE? Email me. mignyc at gmail dot com.

The farm is looking for 60 members in 2013 – let’s make it happen!

Gratitude 2012

CFSBK supserstar Sean P is hosting the Gratitude 2012 event at his night club, The Electric Warehouse tonight.  This event honors the winter solstice and welcomes the dawning of a new era of peace, love and harmonious co-existence for Humanity. Gratitude 2012 is a benefit for artists and families impacted by Hurrican Sandy as well as Figment, Dance Parade and other groups advancing participatory culture in NYC.

More information and tickets here
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The Meaning Of Kobe Bryant at 30,000 NYT
Choosing a CrossFit Gym Hardware CrossFit
Laurie Nelson Starts CrossFit in Her 60’s CrossFit Community

 

New T-Shirts and Hoodies are now in stock!

Hoboken Winter Challenge Tomorrow

Below are the three workouts announced for the CrossFit Hoboken Winter Challenge. Team SBK will be sending 13 athletes to compete this weekend. What is everyone’s strategy and thoughts on the events?

Event 1:
A progressive Bear complex Ladder with Bars loaded from 75 to 295. Athletes will perform 1 bear complex every 45 seconds.  A bear complex consists of completing the following without dropping the bar:

Power Clean
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Back Squat
Overhead Press

Continue until failure

Event 2:
5 Minute Amrap:
100 Double Unders
20 Ball Slams (35/25)
Max Shoulder to Overhead (135/95)

Event 3:
In 10 Minutes:
Row 1000 Meters
60 Kettlbell Swings (2 pood/1.5 Pood)
Max Burpees in remaining time

SFX Youth Sports is now open for spring baseball registration!

We already have hundreds of kids signed up.  This league just continues to grow,  which is a testament to how great the experience has been for the kids, and their parents.

We have tee ball beginning at 4 years old, and the upper leagues are great.  (I cannot believe how much I get into these spring and early Summer Saturday games!)

This year, I’ll be coaching two teams again, but am also running the tee ball, pee wee, and pony divisions.  The following link has all of the details around the programs, age cutoffs, and details to register your children. 

http://www.sfxyouthsports.com/

David recently mentioned his experience with kids birthdays, and we all know how important it is for children to be active, have fun, and of course, learn all of the intangibles that go along with a team experience.  We value these virtues greatly.  SFX is a non-profit, 100% volunteer organization.  We are ALWAYS looking for assistant and head coaches!  (At times we have to turn away kids, because, as strange as this may sound, we can’t get enough volunteers from within the group of parents to step up.)

Shawn S.  broke the CFSBK seal this year and coached soccer with me.  He was a fantastic coach, and the 6 kids that were on our soccer team really benefitted from his care and coaching.  I’d love to see more like-minded folks from this community, so filled with volunteers, and folks dedicated to fitness and sport, get involved. 

jimryan(AT)sfxys.com

See you at the ballgames!
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Announcing The Ranch Big Bob Winter Challenge CrossFit Games
CrossFit Cribs: CrossFit Malibu Tour
We Tried This: Strong vs Skinny TIME
Three Critical Elements to Sustain Motivation Scientific American
The End Of Everything

In teams of 2 complete the following work:
1200m Row (Alternate at 600m)
120 Wall Ball Shots (alternate every 12)
120 Burpees (alternate every 12)
1 Mile Run (Run together)

Each work station will also be coupled with a very special “rest” station where your partner will need to maintain a position until you finish the work.

Post partner, time and Rx to comments.

Not your typical “CrossFit Pain Face” from Jude

HERONDALE FARM GRASS-FED MEAT CSA

SIGNUP DEADLINE DEC 15!

Ask any of the 43 people who were members of the meat CSA this year, and they’ll tell you that the value and selection offered in this program is unmatched. You simply cannot buy grass-fed meat at retail at this price and quality anywhere in New York. And with monthly delivery direct to the gym, the convenience is unmatched. 

The next share will be four months: Jan-April. If you like, however, you can sign up for 4, 8 or 12 months – all at once.

The Farm is offering two mixed meat (beef, pork and lamb) options:

• 15lbs/month plan: $600 if you pay in full, $650 on monthly payment plan

• 10lbs/month plan: $460 if you pay in full, $500 on monthly payment plan

Full plan details and lots of info about Herondale Farm is here.

Here’s how to sign up:

1. Returning members: You can re-up by emailing to info@herondalefarm dot com. They’ll take it from there.

2. New members: Download this PDF, fill it out, and return it to the farm via email.

QUESTIONS? Email me. WANT TO SPLIT A SHARE WITH SOMEONE? Email me. mignyc at gmail dot com.

The farm is looking for 60 members in 2013 – let’s make it happen!

 

Tough Titsday Spots Still Available!

There are still a few slots left for the third ever “Tough Titsday Powerlifting Meet” at CFSBK. If you’re on the fence about signing up, consider this your push! To learn more about the event, click here.

TTDIII Roster:
Janelle Rooks
Cassie Xu
Worm Widman
Laura McElherne
Bethany Erskine
Mobina Hashmi
Jenna Jerman
Julie Barnard
Katie Mohrhauser
Hayley Gerkin
Jess Bailey
Lauren Borducci
Whitney Hubbard
Jen Stopka
Sarah La Rosa
Courtney Hart
Jude Geis
Marian Lai
Radhika Vaz
Shaye Lefkowitz
…you?!

Do you blog or contribute to any other websites? If so link them up in the comments with a description!
__________________
For Athletes, Risks From Ibuprofen Use NYT
I’m Truly Sorry For This, But You’re About To Hear All About The Last Marathon I Ran
Workout Routine Broken Down For Coworker

5 Rounds For Time of:
5 Front Squats 155/105
10 Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups
20 Double Unders

Post time and Rx to comments.

Even Coach Melo can’t believe today is her birthday!

Sandy Relief with JB and NB

The power team of Noah Barth and Julie Barnard are heading to Far Rockaways on Thursday morning, December 6th, to volunteer with AmeriCorps and New York Cares, the two groups Team Rubicon has passed the volunteer baton to. Want to come along? Email Julie at julie.barnard(AT)gmail.com for the details. Get dirty, feel good.

Muck and gut jobs are fun! Look at the good time JB is having doing Hurricane Sandy relief with Team Rubicon.

Preparing to 1 Rep Max
By Coach Fox

        “What are you hoping to hit for the CrossFit Total?”. When your mate asks you this question you may exaggerate a bit but when it comes time to get under a bar you’d better have a plan. Here’s how.

1- Take it easy in the gym or rest completely for a day or two prior to doing a CFT. If you were going to total on a Saturday it would be a good idea to work at 70% or so effort on Thursday, rest completely on Friday (maybe some light mobility work or active recovery type stuff) and go for it on Saturday. Make sure your nutrition is in line with your goals. Do you want to perform well on the total? Do you think that boozing it up the night before and eating offensive (for you) foods will help, or hinder, that performance? If you take your training seriously and want to better yourself then act like it.

2- Have goals. Know what numbers you’d like to hit. You can take numbers that you’ve been working at recently and extrapolate 1RMs using a nifty 1 Rep Max Calculator. Preferably you will have some rep maxes in the 2-5 rep range since the further away you get from that the less reliable the predictions become. If you haven’t been training long and don’t yet have any 2-5 rep max then use the CF Total to establish those and wait until next time around to do 1RMs. There is still so much learning to do on the lifts and hence no sense hitting 1RMs with such little experience, ego be damned.

3- Have a plan. Map out your warm ups. Today is not the day to be doing a metric ton of warm up reps. Let’s take a hypothetical lifter with a previous 1RM of 355 hoping to establish a new 1RM on the squat of 365lbs, his or her time under the bar should look something like this.

45×5, 135×5, 185×5, 225×3, 275×3, 315×1, then

1st attempt – 335
2nd attempt – 355
3rd attempt – Set a new 1RM at 365

Establishing a new 1RM of 185 with a previous best of 177.5 might look like this.

45×5, 75×5, 105×5, 125×3, 145×1

1st attempt – 165
2nd attempt – 177.5
3rd attempt – 185

This is obviously subject to change depending on how the warm ups feel and how the 1st two attempts go. Maybe you have more in you than you and the 1RM calculator thought you did, but maybe you don’t. As Rip says “Don’t be pig-headed. If your first attempt tells you that you need to lower your second, do so, without a misplaced sense of diminished self-worth. It’s a test, and it’s designed to measure what’s there, not create something that’s not. That’s what training is for.” There is a world of difference between training and testing, but that is an entirely different topic. Just remember that today is a test day.

4- Realize that the press is a finicky lift. Gains made are often small and hard won. To go from a 1RM of 85 to 87 represents a 2.5% increase. If you have been training long enough you may (read should) be thankful for this type of increase. My point is to say that you should not be greedy with the press. Instead be frugal and take small rewards. Also, don’t overdo the warm ups as this lift fatigues quickly. Usings the example above of hoping to set a new 1RM of 87, here’s a possible warm up scheme.

33×5, 53×3, 63×2, 73×1, 77×1

1st attempt – 81
2nd attempt – 85
3rd attempt – 87

5- The deadlift will be largely warmed up by the squat and will not need a lot of warm up reps on it’s own. Here’s an example of the above 365 squatter hoping to establish a new 1RM of 405 with a previous best of 395

 135×5, 225×3, 315×1, 365×1

1st attempt – 385
2nd attempt – 405
3rd attempt – Go for it, it’s the last rep of the day!

6- You need to rest between attempts (possibly 3-5 minutes) and if you are doing the CrossFit Total in a group class, you also have time constraints. During the warm ups is not the time to dilly-dally and wonder what you should load on the bar next. Having a plan allows you and your rack mates to move smoothly through the warm ups and into the reps and allows time to rest between attempts. If you don’t have a plan you will also cost your rack mates valuable time…don’t be that guy or gal.

The CrossFit Total should be a fun day where you get to move some heavy weight around but that doesn’t mean don’t take it serious, too. Approach each lift with intent, unrack each squat from the uprights with authority and readiness, set up with a BIG BREATH for all your att

empts today. And if you don’t 1RM but gave your all, then celebrate that as well and live to lift another day. You’re a TFBA for showing up regardless.

What are are your opening numbers for the CF Total? Even if you aren’t participating in this weekend’s total what is your perceived 1RM and how would you approach finding 1RMs in the three lifts?

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How to Recover From a CrossFit Total