5 attempts at a max load on the barbell complex:

7 Rounds of:
1 Power Clean
1 Front Squat
1 Push-Press
1 Back Squat
1 Push-Press

Rest as needed between attempts
Check out the WOD Demo

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Compare to 9.24.10

What Jimmy R Does when not taking pies to the face

Only 14 Days Remain to Register for the 2012 CF Games Open Sectionals. Register HERE!

The More You Know: Programming This Week

Today’s WOD is the second of three in this cycle’s shortened Crush Week.  We’ll be running four Back-Off WODs starting on Thursday each with a focus on Olympic Weightlifting technique before rolling into the next wave of the Wendler 5/3/1 Cycle. 

Butterfly in the Sky, I Can Fly Twice as High: Join the CFSBK Book Club

Shaye L., Peggy J-L, Teddi M, and Martina O have joined forces to create the CFSBK Book of the Month Club!

The first meeting will be held on Sunday, March 11^th at 5:00 PM at [location TBD].  Please feel free to bring Paleo-friendly snacks to share! The first BOM will be Super Sad True Love Story:  A Novel by Gary Shteyngart.

If you have questions or want to RSVP to the first meeting on Sunday, March 11th please email Martina O. at parisgirl30(AT)gmail.com.

For full details check here.

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What’s the last book you read?  Fiction or not, would you recommend it to the book club?
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I Am The Fittest CrossFit
Paleo Diet: Am I Losing Enough Weight? Robb Wolf
The Carbohydrate Loading Conundrum Robb Wolf
Sh*t CrossFitters Say Youtube
St*ff CrossFitters Say Youtube

Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
24 inch Box Jump, 12 reps
95 pound Thruster, 6 reps
6 Bar-facing burpees

Post rounds completed and Rx to comments.

U.S. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Gregory J. Rahoi, 38, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, assigned to the Hostage Rescue Team, based in Quantico, Virginia, was killed on December 6, 2006, during a live-fire tactical training exercise at Fort A.P. Hill, near Bowling Green, Virginia. He is survived by his parents, Natalie and Richard, sister Teri, and fiancee Paula Paulk.

Dan B. During 2011 Open Sectionals WOD #2

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do”*
or, Why I Should Sign Up For the Crossfit Open Sectionals

by Noah Abbott

For most of the year at CFSBK, our coaches and clients stay focused on Crossfit as it pertains to lifestyle.  Lifting heavy things, practicing new skills, moving with speed and accuracy- these endeavours make us feel better, move easier, and (wait for it…) look better naked. (Groan.)  With the advent of the “Open Sectionals” model for the Crossfit Games, our gym now has 6 weeks each year where we shift our focus, however briefly, to Crossfit, the Sport of Fitness.  

CFSBK prides itself in being first and foremost a positive supplement to people’s existing interests, activities, and lives in general.  We want to make your hikes easier, your kids lighter to toss around (gently), and your general sense of self-worth, confidence, and outlook to be bolstered by our humble living experiment in physical culture.  Rarely do you hear the words “elite” or “firebreather” thrown around- for chrissakes we’ve got a book club!  Why mess with that formula?  Why sign up for the Games at all, where I will have to attempt the same workouts performed by the same Crossfitters now starring in a Reebok commercial near you?

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” -William Shedd

So said William Shedd, theologian, presumably speaking not about the religion of Crossfit but about the religion of, you know, God.  Still, what Shedd said (say that 5 times fast!) holds true.  We spend all year training our bodies to run and jump and lift heavy things.  For 6 weeks we have an opportunity to examine that training, in an arena designed so that every athlete can do at least part of each workout.  Think of it as every baseball fan getting invited to spring training with the Mets and getting to take batting practice, regardless of ability.  (In fact, the Mets might want to consider this concept- they can use any help offered.)  

“That which we persist in doing become easier to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do so is increased.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

In seriousness, testing your ability in a competitive setting, full of adrenaline, support, and feedback, can help you break through plateaus, summon the courage to attempt what you considered impossible, and show how much you can achieve with the right motivation.  Many athletes at CFSBK have PRed lifts, WOD times, or miraculously discovered skills they thought were outside of their purview during competitions.  Beyond simple Crossfit metrics, competition allows us an opportunity to hone our determination, bolster our resolve, and find comfort in discomfort, mindsets applicable and useful in daily life, not just when we have to do burpees.

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”-Pierre de Coubertin

Competing in “The World Series of Competitive Exercise” is no small feat.  Most non-Crossfitters will probably think you were on ESPN and they just missed your heat.  You can say you did the same workout that Annie Thoriskjewiofjwiofnvkerjnfijercfnrfv and other really strong people did.  Impress your friends!  Wow your neighbors!  You’ll be the talk of the watercooler!  

“Black Sea, what do I see?
(This) glimmer on the ocean, (is it you?)
Black sea for you and me
(So) close but far away
Na, na, na Can there be a chance?
Na, na, na, For you and me
Na, na, na, Feel my humble stance
You’re my swedish complete taboo”
-Ace of Base

Ok, so that last line makes no sense at all, but The Black Sea is awesome!  We at CFSBK make a point to travel to the Open Sectionals events, wear our super fierce Skull and Crossbones T’s and support our athletes loudly and semi-intelligibly.  That’s the Black Sea (I’ll leave the Swedish taboo part up to your own imagination.)  So, even if you decide not to compete this year, come check out the atmosphere at the events!  Lend your support, make some noise, eat and drink merrily when its all done.  Who knows, maybe it will inspire you to sign up for next years Games.  See you there!

Register for the Open Sectionals HERE Today!

___________________
WOD Demo with Jenn Jones CrossFit
A Whole New Person CrossFit
Jungle Tribes Untouched By Modern Civilization BBC
CrossFit Cribs: CrossFit New Haven
T-Rex Trying

75%x5
85%x3
95%x1x3 (no rep out)

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Compare to 2.4.12 and 1.20.12

then,

3 Rounds for time of:
35 KB Swings 24/16kg
25 Sit Ups
15 Push Ups

Post RX and time to comments.

True to his word, Jim R takes a pie to the face from a lost bet to DH3

Congratulations to Mike B and Janelle R on their recent enagement!

Have you registered for the CF Games Open yet? You can register right here.  Go Team SBK!

What Now? Upcoming Programming

Thus marks the end of our first two waves of the Wendler 5/3/1!  Starting tomorrow we’ll be doing a 3 WOD Crush week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday) followed by a 4 WOD Back Off Week (Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday).  This back-off week will have an Olympic lifting focus.  Then we will hop back right back into the next wave of the Wendler.  Onward and upward we go!

Update from Lana Z.: We Made It!

Lana Writes:

3 days ago, I was getting ready to lose hope on the project, we had less than 60 hours left to hit our goal – which was $2500 away at the time. I was feeling pretty grim and hopeless. But instead of curling up in my bed and crying which, I’ll admit, I kinda wanted to do…. Kristen and I grabbed our notebooks and went begging door to door for donations from the local businesses in the area. We wrote 7 thousand emails to friends and family members and sent the information to as many blogs as possible in hopes that somehow we could make it work.

Let me just say, WOW, what a tremendously supportive community we have here in Brooklyn! Our neighbors shared our project and threw in their last minute donations, which added up quickly. The local business owners dove right in – excited to help in any way possible – even those that weren’t able to help financially offered me lunch, donuts, coffee, or the option to have them cater our events throughout the summer. The project was published in lots of blogs including the Huffington Post! Our friends and families gave what they could, and the members of my Lana’s gym (CrossFit South Brooklyn) contributed almost a thousand dollars collectively! (talk about an amazingly supportive fitness community).

After all this, here we are! OVER our goal! What an amazing couple of days it has been! 

Seriously, thank you all SO much! We have a lot to do now 🙂
___________________

LaLanne Fitness Plans for the Open CrossFit
What Can You Do to Avoid Monsanto’s New, Deadlier Nuerotoxic Sweetner? Very Little Daily Kos

Allan E. Proud Dad!

Happy Eating to everyone attending The 6th Paleo Challenge Rest Day Dinner tonight at Casa Zellner!

Congratulations to Martina O. on completing in the Empire State Building Run

Martina O finished the 2012 Empire State Building run in 25:34.  That’s a total of 86 flights and 1,576 steps. Congratulations Martina!

Like Books?  Join the Book Club!

We all know CrossFitters love their acronyms, so we thought it was about time to throw another one in the mix – BOM (Book of the Month). 

A few members (Shaye L., Teddi M., Peggy J-L. and Martina O.) expressed an interest in forming a monthly book club that would be open to the CFSBK community.  As a start, the group will meet monthly to discuss a pre-selected work of fiction.  The first meeting will be held on Sunday, March 11^th at 5:00 PM at [location TBD].  Please feel free to bring Paleo-friendly snacks to share!

The first BOM will be Super Sad True Love Story:  A Novel by Gary Shteyngart. 

From Publisher’s Weekly: 

Shteyngart (Absurdistan) presents another profane and dizzying satire, a dystopic vision of the future as convincing—and, in its way, as frightening—as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. It’s also a pointedly old-fashioned May-December love story, complete with references to Chekhov and Tolstoy. Mired in protracted adolescence, middle-aged Lenny Abramov is obsessed with living forever (he works for an Indefinite Life Extension company), his books (an anachronism of this indeterminate future), and Eunice Park, a 20-something Korean-American. Eunice, though reluctant and often cruel, finds in Lenny a loving but needy fellow soul and a refuge from her overbearing immigrant parents. Narrating in alternate chapters—Lenny through old-fashioned diary entries, Eunice through her online correspondence—the pair reveal a funhouse-mirror version of contemporary America: terminally indebted to China, controlled by the singular Bipartisan Party (Big Brother as played by a cartoon otter in a cowboy hat), and consumed by the superficial. Shteyngart’s earnestly struggling characters—along with a flurry of running gags—keep the nightmare tour of tomorrow grounded. A rich commentary on the obsessions and catastrophes of the information age and a heartbreaker worthy of its title, this is Shteyngart’s best yet.

And the New York Times Book Review is HERE

If you are interested in selecting a fiction book for an upcoming BOM meeting, please bring your suggestions to the first meeting where we’ll pick the books for the next three meetings by random drawing.  We figured it would also be helpful to have a discussion leader to keep the conversation flowing, so if your book is selected, you should also be prepared to be the discussion leader that month.  All this means is that you need to attend the meeting and have a few questions prepared about your book. Easy stuff!

If you have questions or want to RSVP to the first meeting on Sunday, March 11^th please email Martina O. at parisgirl30(AT)gmail.com.
___________________

Read Pat Sherwood’s “Lesson’s Learned” article.  What lessons have you learned about training and life from CrossFit? 
___________________

Lana Z.’s ‘Art Not Arrests’ Would Memorialize Crown Heights Violence Huffington Post
The Manimal is Back: Pat Barber CF Games Profile CrossFit
Arkasia, or Why You Act Against Your Own Better Judgement Mark’s Daily Apple
All 47 Sports and Fitness Activities, Ranked Gawker

75%x5
85%x3
95%x1+

Post RX and reps to comments.
Compare to 2.2.12 and 1.18.12

then,

Tabata Power Cleans
155/105

Post RX and reps to comments. 

Melissa L. Jumps Around

2012 CF Games Open Sectionals: Do You Have What it Takes?

Registration for the 2012 CF Games Open Sectionals is going on now and that means anyone across the country can register and compete!  We currently have 12 athletes signed up to compete and after last year we’re looking for another strong showing of participants!  Just like last year CF will be posting Sectional WODs each week starting on February 25th and if last year is any indication the WODs will be programmed with the idea of getting as many athletes to compete.  That means this is a competition not only for the battle-tested WOD-hardened firebreather but for any one who can participate Rx’d (No scaling is allowed)! 

Athletes interested in competing must register no later than February 26th at 5pm

Just to get an idea of what HQ programmed last year, the first WOD of last 2011 Sectionals was:

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
30 Double-unders
15 Power snatches

The Power snatch loads were as follows:
Men and Masters Men 45-49, 50-54: 75lbs/35kg
Women and Masters Women 45-54: 55lbs/25kg
Masters Men 55-59, 60+: 65lbs/30kg
Masters Women 55-59, 60+: 45lbs/20kg

We’ll be hosting one WOD from competition and sending members out to our friends at CF Virtuosity, CF LIC,  CF Queens. 

These events will be open for registration starting 2/18.  There will be prizes and all kinds of fun and we want to have a ‘Black Sea’ of supporters to cheer on our athletes!

Can’t travel?  We’ll be giving members a chance to do these workouts at CFSBK during the week! 

This is an incredible event and great way to test yourself along with tens of thousands of athletes around the world!  We hope you’ll join us in representing CFSBK!

Check out the Promo Clip for the Open and get pumped!

___________________

Did you compete in the 2011 Sectionals?  Will your represent Team CFSBK in 2012?
___________________

What are the CrossFit Games? Youtube
Inside the Cult of Crossfit Yahoo Health
Mindful Eating as Food for Thought NY Times