CFSBK Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
CFSBK @ Home: 7am, 12pm
Morning Mindfulness: 8am (with Sasha S!)
Fit55 @ Home: 11am Fit55 Zoom Room (Password: fit55)

Today’s Programming

CrossFit

CFSBK @ Home

Fit55 @ Home

Scenes from the new Normal

The First Guy To Ever Open A Restaurant

Virtual Class Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
Yoga in the Park: 7am
Pilates Happy Hour: 6:00pm
Kids: 4:30pm

Workout of the Day

STRENGTH

A1: Deadlift 3×8
A2: Two Arm Dumbbell high Pulls 3×10

Notes:
DL: No touch and go reps. Get about 3 warm-up and 3-4 work sets in, which can be across or progressive. Unless you were lucky and able to regularly barbell deadlift during closure, this will be your first time pulling anything substantial. Find some perfect, moderately challenging weights today.
HP: 2↑-1-2↓-1 tempo.

METCON

EMOM 15:00
A: 3-8 Strict Chin-Ups
B: :30 light Bike or Row
C: 6e Weighted Step-Ups

Notes:
Chins: 3-8 Strict / 8 Self Assisted on Rack
Bike/Row: Not a sprint, keep your heart rate up but be able to get off the machine and keep moving.
Step: Carry a DB or KB on the contralateral arm. Keep the working leg on top of the box for all 6 reps then switch sides.

We no longer have communal chalk buckets around the gym, if you’d like to use chalk you can purchase a bag-o-chalk for $2 at the front desk. A single brick will last an individual 6+ months. Also cute socks. 😉

Morning Yoga in the Park Today

Virtual Class Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
CFSBK @ Home: 7am, 12pm & 6p

Today’s Programming:

CrossFit

CFSBK @ Home

Welcome Back.

Training Notes

After almost half a year being away from the gym, your return to in house training should be a gradual one. Keep the loads and intensity of your first workouts conservative and listen to your body along the way. Unless you’ve been able to train with barbells and a variety of implements, we recommend you come in with the sole expectation of moving well and checking the box for hitting your workout. If you’re not used to masked training, this too will affect your respiration and pace. Take breaks as needed practice intentional breathing patterns while at the gym.

For those of you signed up for CrossFit sessions, we will be providing recommended workouts that cycle the 4 day split detailed below. Each day’s programming will provide a well rounded total body workout with particular movement plane biases to keep things balanced. Every 4 days the pattern will repeat itself so the weekday which they fall on will rotate.

A Day

Squat Day 1: Barbell Back and Front Squats. Mostly staying in the 5-10 rep range.
Overhead Press: Barbell Press and Push Pressing with some occasional variations.
Double Unders: Most workouts will feature Jump Rope variations

B Day

Hinging: Deadlifts and Sumo Deadlifts, occasionally some power cleans.
Pull-Ups: Mostly strict pull-ups with some kipping later on.

C Day

Squat Day 2: A second squat day with more variance in exercise selection. Full cleans will be a regular movement selection.
Horizontal Pressing: Bench Press and Wide Grip Bench press varitions staying mostly in the 8-10 rep range. Higher volume push-up workouts will be regular parts of the metcons.

D Day

Horizontal Pulling: Barbell and DB Rows or Ring Rows
Trunk: A variety of trunk strength and stability exercises.
Metcon Bias: Longer low skill workouts

CFSBK Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
CFSBK @ Home: 7am, 12pm & 6pm
Morning Mindfulness: 8am
Fit55 @ Home: 11am Fit55 Zoom Room (Password: fit55)

Today’s Programming

CFSBK @ Home

Fit55 @ Home

Wear a mask you must

5 Months and 2 Weeks Later

After 5 months and 2 weeks of closure, tomorrow we’ll finally be able to open our gates and welcome back the CFSBK community. During a pandemic, a time of economic insecurity and of civil unrest, the collective generosity of you all was paramount in getting us here. To go from a thriving small business to shuttered indefinitely overnight was a jarring transition; one that forced many permanent closures throughout the city. Although our facilities were closed, the CFSBK community and staff never stopped showing up. Through zoom and park classes, remote training, trivia nights and town halls, on social media and the blog, we were able to stay connected. We’re beyond moved and grateful for all the engagement and support over these long 5 months. While things will be a bit different for a while, with steadfast responsibility to the safety of ourselves and each other, we’re optimistic that the “new normal” will become a thing of the past.

We also want to acknowledge the CFSBK staff, who despite having limited resources and a severely impeded ability to generate income for themselves stayed professional, focused and prioritized the health and wellness of their clients and athletes above all else.

As mentioned, tomorrow is just the start of another chapter in the ongoing book of 2020. We’re not out of the woods yet, but are excited to show you all this new incarnation of CFSBK. We’ve worked tirelessly to get the facilities as well as our programs and protocols together to offer you the same world class training you expect in a SAFE and fun environment. But we need your help to further refine our services. We want your ongoing feedback so that we can adapt and evolve over time. Can’t ever get into a certain class? Tell us by waitlisting or posting a comment. Confused about a protocol? Tell us and we’ll explain or revise it. We’re watching the numbers over these first couple weeks and will adjust to the best of our abilities. As we survey how certain class times populate, we’ll reintroduce some park classes to help offer more options during higher-volume times as well as reassess the OG offerings to keep those folks with a schedule that works for us all.

Can’t wait to see you all tomorrow!

Equipment Drop off Today is from 11am-12pm

What do I need to do before I come to the gym?

• Make sure you RSVP ahead of time.
• Check the location of your training session (597 or 608) and report directly to that building. 597 folks queue up on the yellow line by the Front Desk, 608 folks queue up on the black lines in front of the former fencing studio.
• As you come in, there will be a QR code posted which your phone’s camera can read to pull up your health questionnaire. This process takes about :20
• Disinfect your hands at the stations provided
• A staffer will take your temperature,  check your questionnaire confirmation and assign you a training station
• Party time.
• At 10 minutes to the end of the session a staffer will initiate and oversee the clean-up and transition out of the building.

Don’t worry, we got you!

CFSBK Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
Thomas Greene Park: 7am, 8am (This is our last park workout! More info below)
CFSBK @ Home: 7am, 12pm & 6pm
Teens/Preteens: 4:30pm

Today’s Programming

CFSBK @ Home

Thomas Green Park

Griselle Overhead with the slamball

Equipment Drop Off Times

Monday 10-12
Tuesday 11-12

Report to 597 to process your equipment return.

Training Sessions Open for RSVP

Hey everyone! Our programs are officially live to sign up for. You can sign up on your phone via the zen planner app. A few notes

• If you agreed to EFT payments (Thank you!!!) you’re currently able to sign up for classes. Expect to get a phone call Monday or Tuesday by one of our Front Desk staffers to securely set that up.
• You’ll be able to sign up for classes one week ahead of time and classes become available on a rolling basis. For example on Monday at 7:30pm, the following week’s Monday 7:30pm class will go live.
• If you cant get into a class, make sure to put your name on a waitlist! This helps us know where we’ll need to add more class volume and how many people want to get in. We will be very closely watching this. Remember that we have our full virtual class schedule still available and we’ll consider reinstating some park classes should demand warrant them.
• We are doing our best to figure all this out! Please bear with us as we transition into our new schedule as we reopen
• The signup list for memberships is closed. We will reassess in a few weeks based on availability.

Eighty Years of New York City, Then and Now | The New Yorker

CFSBK Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
Active Recovery: 10am

Membership Updates

We are busy processing everyone’s requests and will be reaching out to people today, we’re doing some final adjustments and should have everyone ready to start RSVPing for classes by Monday. Please bear with us as we want to get this right and are also monitoring how many slots we have available relative to how many people are attempting to sign up. We are working hard behind the scenes on this all, thank you for your understanding!

Chadwick Boseman: Being The Hero In Your Own Story | The Daily Show

Virtual Class Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
CFSBK @ Home: 10am
Thomas Greene Park: 8:00am, 9:00am, 10:00am CANCELLED

With a 70% chance of rain and thunderstorms at the time of posting, we have decided to cancel park classes this morning. Color us bummed. Everyone RSVP’d should have received an email with this information as well.

Today’s Programming

CFSBK @ Home

Equipment Drop off today!

Come by between 1130am and 3pm today to drop off borrowed equipment. We’ll be in 597. Thanks ya’ll!

CrossFit South Brooklyn

Last June I and many others made the decision to part ways with CrossFit. The catastrophic response to the murder of George Floyd, as well as allegations of sexual impropriety drove this decision. Responsible for these offenses was the now former-CEO and founder, Greg Glassman.

Shortly after the mass exodus from the brand, I was asked to be on a BTWB panel discussion hosted by Pat Sherwood. Also on the panel were several long time affiliate owners like Chris Spealer, Annie Sakamoto, Jen Marshall, Rich Froning and others who had devoted their personal and professional lives to CrossFit. For all of us, the decision was gut wrenching, but I felt confident that standing in solidarity and in support of marginalized communities was far too important to not take a definitive stance on. I was not unique in this decision nor do I think it was the only way to enact change, but it proved to be effective. We’re here today with new leadership and a new, more inclusive vision for CrossFit; not because of bad global press, but because our own community stood up and said a line had been crossed.

While this event was a tipping point, to anyone who has been around long enough, the position we were in came as no surprise. In the aforementioned panel, we lamented the long history of self-inflicted wounds, public gaffs and the lack of transparency and communication from the company. We also had concerns about the direction CrossFit was going given all the radical changes we saw around social media, the games, and mass layoffs at HQ.

After the fallout from the community, the previously-unthinkable happened; Greg sold the company to new owner and CEO, Eric Roza. I was cautiously optimistic, but wanted to wait and see what Eric’s vision for the company was. Leaving CrossFit was a decision I didn’t make lightly and in order to recommit to the brand, I needed to trust that our new path would address the concerns of the community. In July I sat in on and contributed to a series of panel discussions over two days that Eric hosted covering different topics related to CrossFit like race, inclusion, affiliate support and how the company can do better. I was encouraged by what I heard there and again at the more recent town hall. We’ve seen announcements like the appointment of a leader of culture and inclusion, a council on DEI, more diverse representation and course corrections on the games and athlete relations. This is the first time many of these conversations are being had. I feel more optimistic than ever about the potential of CrossFit and know we can accomplish more together than apart. CrossFit is a community, now not beholden to one person, and I believe these changes and more delegated leadership will ensure that we keep each other accountable to reflect the brand we deserved all along. I want my gym’s values, culture and best practices to be part of this transformation and am excited to be reopening my gym after 5 months of closure this Wednesday back as CrossFit South Brooklyn.

CFSBK Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
CFSBK @ Home: 7am, 12pm
Morning Mindfulness: 8am (with Sasha S!)
Fit55 @ Home: 11am Fit55 Zoom Room (Password: fit55)

Today’s Programming

CFSBK @ Home

Fit55 @ Home

We recently received this wonderful testimonial from CFSBKer Stacey T. Really, this is what its all about, health and happiness. Community and self discovery. We thought others might relate or appreciate Stacey’s sentiments and wanted to share.

Re posted with Permission:

I was thinking yesterday after class in the park and then the farewell for Jess and Chris about the amazing community that you’ve created and how profoundly it’s affected my life and Arend’s life.

When we joined I was pretty out of shape. My father had passed away a few months prior. The installation I did in the art show was largely a tribute to him.

Losing my dad was devastating. The grief was overwhelming. I was nervous all the time- quite literally I would go to sleep at night and think that I wasn’t going to wake up in the morning/that I’d stop breathing- I mean, it was nuts. I was tired and bloated- I called it my grief weight. I’ve always been able to bounce back from things and I wasn’t bouncing back from this. I remember taking my first short circuit class and thinking I’ll never be able to do this, I’m not an athlete, I’ve never been an athlete. Then finishing that class and then finishing another class. Meeting amazing people that I call my friends now. Being cheered on by people in class. Such a different experience for a kid who had asthma and was picked last in gym class.

Those classes and working with Brett, Whit and the other coaches as well as doing PN twice now with the Foxes, quite literally brought me back to life. Becoming physically stronger helped me to be emotionally stronger. It changed the way I view myself, and forced me to release old narratives about myself that just weren’t true anymore. It’s still a work in progress but the gym holds me accountable.

CFSBK is a space where it’s okay to ask for help because we all need it at some point in our lives. That’s huge.

So thank you and happy Sunday.

I’m very sore from yesterday’s 8am 🙂

Virtual Class Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
Yoga: 7am (On ZOOM today due to rain)
Pilates Happy Hour: 6:00pm (CANCELLED!)
Kids: 4:30pm
Thomas Greene Park: 5:30pm, 6:30pm

Thomas Greene Park

Strength

3-5 Sets of:
8-12e Single Arm Ring Rows
10e Single Leg RDL

Conditioning

4 Intervals of:
10 Burpees
20 Wall Ball Shots
1 Short Lap

Rest as needed between sets

Join CFSBKer Paola L’s Panel on Family Separation Tonight

Hey everyone, Paola L here. I’m the Director of Families Belong Together and tonight at 8 PM EST we’re holding a free webinar/panel to update folks on family separation and hold a discussion on the documentary, Immigration Nation. The panel will feature a number of activists, including yours truly. Check out the information below to learn more and click the registration link if you’re able to make it. Hope you can make it!

———

This month, Netflix debuted a new documentary series called Immigration Nation that excruciatingly examines ICE’s cruel policies and their effects on families.

Countless raids, an agent illegally picking the lock to an apartment, and so many families torn apart by an agency gone rogue — Immigration Nation is both informative and infuriating. But it leaves a lot of open questions.

What’s happening to families in ICE detention right now? What has to be done to stop family separation for good? What roles can each of us play from where we live?

That’s why next Thursday, August 27th, Families Belong Together will host an online call to debrief the Immigration Nation documentary series, get the latest direct from the front-lines of the fight, and find key opportunities to help.

Click here to register now for next Thursday’s call to learn more about how you can help end family separation for good.

Virtual Class Zoom Room (Password: CFSBK)
CFSBK @ Home: 7am, 12pm & 6p
Thomas Greene Park: 7am, 8am

Today’s Programming:

CFSBK @ Home

Thomas Greene Playground

Farewell Coach Brittany

In a roller coaster of a year, we have more big news for you all. Our beloved Coach Brittany will not be returning to New York City. Coach B will be exploring other opportunities in different parts of the country, but you’ll still see her wonderful face in virtual classes! We’ll miss you analog Brittany, thank you for all your hard work and talented coaching!

From Brittany:

To all my CFSBKers,

It’s with sadness but gratitude, that I express my departure from CFSBK as a full time coach. I will continue on staff virtually at present, so I will see some of you around and am thrilled about that. Thank you for welcoming me with open arms, making classes beyond fun and enjoyable to coach, and your general attentiveness, respect and eagerness to learn.

Special shout out to my Wednesday night classes for enduring my Justin Bieber playlists. 🙂

I look forward to seeing your continued growth as you hold down the gym in NYC. Find me on IG if we already haven’t, and please feel free to stay in touch! I’ve gotten to know so many of you so much more, oddly enough, during these 5 months we have been virtual; it’s been very meaningful to me to connect with you all in such a way.

Move well, work hard, believe in yourself, and have FUN! See you online!

With love,

Coach Brittany

This Thursday: Yoga… in Prospect Park!

@ 7AM, near the Bandshell

This week we’re taking our virtual mobility moves out of the living room and into nature! The plan is to meet near the bandshell in Prospect Park (see picture below). There are a few flat, grassy patches between there and the main road/loop. Arrive a few minutes early to get situated, and look for Coach Whit in purple pants waving her arms excitedly at you.

For folks who haven’t joined us before, in this class we typically incorporate basic yoga poses, passive stretching, active range of motion work, restorative movement flows, as well as some breathwork and mindfulness practice. All are welcome and no previous yoga experience is necessary!

What to bring: Your mask and your mat! No other props needed.

Weather plan: We’ll decide by 9PM the night before if we need to cancel due to rain. In that case, class will go back to being virtual in the usual zoom room! Check the blog for updates.