Behind the Desk
You all love the Underneath the Hoodie series (stay tuned for more on that soon), but we’re bringing you a new series called Behind the Desk, about our beloved and much appreciated Front Desk staff. These CrossFitters take care of the important duties of checking in our members, handling walk-ins, tidying up after classes, and so many other things that it would take forever to list them. They are the glue that holds this gym together. 

There are seven of them, so expect a new post about a new person on the next seven rest days. Great to put their lovely faces with their names, and some weird, fun facts—since we know how much we love weird, fun facts at CFSBK. As you get to know them, make sure to say hi and thank you for all their hard work. Questions asked and answers compiled by Kate R.

Introducing…

Full name: Mathew Alan Katz

Where were you born and where did you grow up:
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, grew up in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

First album that you loved:
Weird Al’s Bad Hair Day

What are you up to when you’re not at 597 Degraw Street:
I’m a reporter on the internets!

“Ask me about that time I…”:
Had to carry around an old naked man at South by Southwest

Earth is about to implode but aliens on a previously undiscovered planet named Euripides want to preserve one artifact from humans. What would you offer them?:
A copy of Tommy Wiseau’s masterpiece, The Room.

Favorite shade of blue:
Bacon

Favorite lift:
Low bar back squat

We love you, Matt!
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CrossFit: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly Mark Rippetoe
Standardized CrossFit Practice CrossFit

Performance: 80%x3x5
Pause all your reps at the bottom for a 1 count. Work on your tightness and organization at the bottom of your rep.

Fitness: Work up to medium 5
Find your starting 5 for the cycle. Should be perfect with room to grow. If you’ve got time you can do up to three sets of this starting weight.

You’ll be seeing Bench Press on Mondays for the next 6 weeks!

Post loads to comments
Bench Press e1/7
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“Flight Simulator”
5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45-50-45-40-35-30-25-20-25-5
Reps of Consecutive Double Unders

Rest as needed between rounds of double unders. Must complete a round unbroken to progress to the next round. There is a 12 minute cap on this workout, see how far you can get!  If you don’t have doubles, use this as 12 minutes of practice on technique and efficiency.

Post highest rep round to comments.

Caption this photo of Julian V

• There is a new article up on Inside The Affiliate. Check it out!
• Don’t forget to bring in your lightly used jackets for our Coat Drive this week.

Back Off Weeks (Updated)

By David Osorio

For most of us, it can be quite difficult to hit the WODs hard week in week out ad infinitum. Your ability to successfully train at high intensity over a period of time is determined by genetics, recovery, nutrition, injuries, and training age.  At CrossFit South Brooklyn, we follow a 3/1/2/1 weekly microcycle which looks like this:

CFSBK Microcycle
Saturday: On
Sunday: On
Monday: On

Friday: Off

By allowing at least two non sequential days off, we can train at high intensity over the course of a week. Consistently training CrossFit more than three days in a row can lead to a decrease in performance due to accumulated inflammation and a lack of recovery. Many of you guys have been following our 3/1/2/1 schedule with great success.

But what about training over longer periods of time than a week?

The type of training we do as CrossFitters leads to degrees of adaptation much more closely related to competitive athletics than traditional “fitness” programs. That being said, it’s important to note that most organized sports teams map out their yearly programming goals based around a competitive season.  Conversely, CrossFit is a GPP program which aims to achieve a consistently high level of work capacity over a life time. There are many individuals who use CrossFit to train for their sport or occupation (MIL/LEO etc.) and an ever growing number of people who are competing in CrossFit as their primary sport. These individuals will generally modify variables of their programs to better prepare themselves for competition or deployment.

But what about boring old me?

The majority of us are training CrossFit without any regard to a specific competition or training goal other than health, longevity, and fitness. It’s therefore necessary for the average CF’er to take it upon themselves to consider their training over longer periods of time than a week. Especially for the folks coming in 5xW, we program every 8th week at less intensity and use it as a period to scale back and give your bodies a chance to clean house and manage any systemic inflammation.

The workouts we post on back off weeks will generally be of lighter total volume with less emphasis on load or time, if at all. Additionally, we’ll use it as an opportunity to prep for the upcoming cycle by workshopping the movements in longer formats. It is simultaneously the end of the previous cycle and the beginning of the new one.

CFSBK Mesocycle

Week 1: Training
Week 2: Training
Week 3: Training
Week 4: Training
Week 5: Training
Week 6: Training

Week 8: Back Off/Prep Week

Autoregulating
If you train with us less frequently, perhaps once or twice a week and are not considerably active outside of CrossFit, you can still benefit from some cyclical recovery. How much recovery and fluctuation in intensity you need is highly specific and you should always be listening to your body and adapting accordingly. Folks who are living hard and fast outside the gym should be especially sensitive to how they’re feeling.

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Ben Smith Squatting 480lbs
Gold Medal Moments: Kerri Strug Lands on her Feet at the 1996 Summer Olympics

5 Rounds for Time of:
Run 400m
21 Deadlifts, 185/135

Today’s deadlifts should feel medium/light given the total volume. Scale accordingly.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Ian P’s excellent Front Rack

CFSBK Coat Drive for New York Cares Starts Today

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How Heavy is Too Heavy? Choosing Training Weights Cathletics
CrossFit Cheaters Anonymous: “Rx’ing” WODs CrossFit 781

1-1-1-1-1

Post loads to comments.
________________

“Isabel”

For time:
30 Snatches, 135/95

There is a 10 minute cap on this workout.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Andrew M and Rickke M

Strategies for Movement Development:
The Olympic Lifts, Part 1

The quick lifts are notorious for their perceived complexity and many athletes struggle developing capacity in the lifts. To the undeveloped lifter, the Olympic lifts look like a blur of movement and often feel even worse. Putting it all together seems overwhelming and often frustration and dismay ensue.  The good news however is that with the right approach steady progress can be made.  Below are three things to consider that I gurantee will make your training more productive.

Mindset
The Olympic Lifts (Snatch & Clean and Jerk) are different than the Power Lifts (Deadlift, Back Squat, Bench Press). While both are barbell exercises, the Olympic lifts are demonstrations of power expressed through a technically sensitive sequence movements and positions. Their inherent speed decreases your margin for error unlike the power lifts (misnomer anyone?) which are performed at slower tempos and are easier for your nervous system to process.  We often harp on gradually increasing the loads on your power lifts to develop strength and many in our gym have been quite successful getting strong through gradual progressive increases of weight on the bar.  We cannot however expect the same linear development of the olympic lifts. Your emphasis when approaching these lifts should be “as heavy as technically proficient today” instead of “a little heavier than last time”.  If you’re feeling good and the positions are clicking, then by all means push a little that day, but if you’re missing positions and starting to deviate from good form, you need to pull back and work on the skill component of the lifts.  This mindset helps produce productive training sessions where you can focus on getting better, not necessarily moving more weight. Instead, each time you train, focus on one to two aspects of the lift you want to develop that day. Even if you moved 10lbs less then the previous week but your rack delivery became a little smoother and quicker, you’ve moved in the right direction.

Positions
The biggest mistake I see athletes make is not taking the time to develop PERFECT starting and rack positions. The beauty of these is that they’re static positions you can take the time to work on and get right every time. There are a lot of things happening quickly in the Olympic lifts, but if you focus on achieving mature start and end positions a lot of the blurry stuff in the middle will naturally begin to work itself out. 

Start position basics
Whether you’re starting from below the knee, the floor or anywhere else take the time to make sure your back is arched, your weight is balanced and the bar is touching your body with your arms hanging straight. On top of that, remember that you’re about to rapidly accelerate a barbell and you need to get TIGHT. This means taking the slack out of the barbell/you system by taking a big breath in and bracing your muscles.  You upper back should feel engaged and your hamstrings should be on tension (like our “gillie” stretch). A simple way to think about this would be to imagine you’re about to jump as high as you possibly can from your start position. Another way to think about it is to imagine you’re going to throw the barbell as high as you can towards the ceiling. These mental cues often help people achieve the positions and tension they need to initiate an efficient pull (does this guy look soft?). Never, ever (ever) rush through your start position. If you’re soft or out of balance, the barbell’s trajectory will deviate from where it needs to be and the lift will be missed or botched.  You simply cannot lift well from a bad start position, so take the time to learn exactly where you need to and get there every-single-time.

Rack Position
I don’t think there’s anything that makes me want to pull my hair out more than people who try and stand up a lift they haven’t properly racked on their shoulders or overhead. It’s understandable that this portion of the lift can be difficult for folks because of mobility restrictions or general apprehension about the movement but once you’ve got that barbell in the rack position, take the time to make it perfect before standing it up. If it’s so heavy that you can’t troubleshoot your position here you’ve jumped the gun and gone too heavy too fast. Developed lifters will need to troubleshoot minor errors and occasionally chase a lift but it’s never because they don’t know how to properly rack the barbell. Think of if this way, every time you do an Olympic lift there are three positions you need to get through.

A. Your Start Position: On tension, in balance and ready to explode
B. Your Rack Position: In the clean, this means the barbell is on your shoulders with your hands open and elbows as high as you can get them. In the Snatch, the barbell is locked out overhead above the middle of your foot. These can be received anywhere from a 1/4 to full squat.
C. Your Finish Position: Fully stood up with the barbell and you in balance and under control.

Often I see people want to go straight from A to C in an effort to simply complete the lift. If there is no distinct rack delivery position in the early stages of your learning progression you will NEVER (ever) move heavier weights well and you’ll never lift anywhere near as much as you’re truly capable of. The “B” should be a quick, distinct and crisp moment where the lift is won or lost.
Have you ever really pressed out a snatch overhead? YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Have you ever stood up a clean with your hands still clenched to the barbell and your elbows low? YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Stop doing it wrong, it’s really not that hard. Just fucking take the extra time to fix the position every time you get there before standing up.  If you practice this consistently it eventually won’t be a problem because a smooth and complete rack delivery will be so intuitive to you you’ll get as mad as I am right now when you see people rushing through this portion. These concepts also hold true for Olympic lifts in conditioning workouts. Every rep should be executed with intention of hitting A-B-C-A-B-C-A-B-C… as consistently and correctly and quickly as possible. The newer you are, the longer you’re going to need to take at each position before moving to the next. If your WODs look like A-C-A-C-A-B²-C-a-q-C-A-W?-C you need to chill out out and slow down.

In conclusion, don’t stress about your numbers every time you train the O-Lifts, learn what a good start position feels like and never stand up a lift you haven’t finished racking. Easy peasy.

Okay, movie time

Califorina Strength on Cleaning and the Rack Position
Watch Cal Strength at Catalyst Athletics. Get used to seeing the A-B-C for each lift.

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Training CrossFit vs. CrossFit as Sport Chris Spealer

Brandon gets under the bar

• We are operating under a normal schedule today.
• Thanksgiving: Judgement Day  Holidays force many CrossFit athletes to leave the comfort of their boxes and face questions about their workouts, eating habits and bloody shins from friends and family
  who think they’re completely insane. Hilary Achauer reports.

Trivia with CFSBKers this Sunday

WHAT: Smart in DUMBO trivia night with Quizmistress Stella and Charlie tending bar. Test your wits against other Brooklynites answering trivia questions, naming that tune, and more to win boozy prizes!
WHEN: Sunday, December 1 at 7:00 PM
WHERE: 68 Jay Street Bar (Jay St. at Water St.)
HOW MUCH: Costs nothing to play! Just buy some drinks from Charlie and enjoy the fun.

Help PS 282 get to Nationals

A core CFSBK value is community involvement. We like to support causes with a local focus and neighborhood institutions such as schools. Last year, the chess team (of which Rob U’s two boys are members) at The Park Slope School PS/MS 282, the gym’s “zoned” school, were national chess champions.
With the support of NYC VC Fred Wilson, the team just launched a Donors Choose campaign to help fund this year’s trips to states and nationals. Because 282 serves a large economically disadvantaged population, it is not always easy to find the money so the entire team can travel. You can help by making a tax-deductible gift to support the team right here.
Better still, your gift is matched if you use the code INPSIRE at check-out on Donors Choose.

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Workout: A Woman in Nascar NYT
Archeologists Sigh Over Paleo Diet

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Post total reps and Rx from all 32 intervals to comments.

Air Squats with Chris Spealer

We are ONLY holding 8am, 9am and 10am Group Classes today

We’d like you to meet Albert William “Billy” Forsythe, born 11/3/13 at 6:35 am. Born to two CFSBKers and delivered by another, midwife extraordinaire Jessica Goldman. Now an advanced three weeks old, Billy is already tired out from his PRing with his barbell rattle.

CFSBK is Thankful for you!

We’ve posted this as an athlete of the month article however the language and sentiment keeps being appropriate! We coaches would like to honor you all, and this is the forum to do it in. You come to  Degraw street from near and far, even spending up to an hour on a bike or a subway car to train with us. You come to us early in the morning before work or school, you make time in your lunch hours to WOD with us, and you even make it in in the evening after a long day spent at a desk or caring for kids. You do ‘shifts’ at the gym, caring for your children while your spouse gets their WOD on. You’re willing to hold someone else’s kid so that their mom or dad can finish up at the end of a class. You make time for not just the fitness aspect of CFSBK but you also put in hours and energy to volunteer at events both in-house and on the road. You do your best to learn the names of the people who are squatting and skipping rope next to you. You cheer, hoot, and holler encouragement at your people. SBKers are YOUR people…You lift hard, you row hard, and you push yourself and everyone around you to be better. You are coachable. You are humble, and eager to help a new member feel right at home. You travel and visit CrossFit gyms around the country and world at large and represent South Brooklyn well. You are proud, if not even a little conceited, that you work out at CrossFit South Brooklyn. You bring your dogs into the gym so the dog-less among you can get a little canine love in the form of a belly rub or a lower leg tongue bath. You socialize outside of the gym with other SBKers and know how to show love the Brooklyn way, whether or not you were born here. Most of all, you ‘get it’. You are not selfish and you love to see people do well, which is a big part of why we do well.

Thanks to all you special people who make CFSBK what it is and are part of our team. It doesn’t exist without you.

What is one thing your’e thankful for and where do you find yourself on Thanksgiving/Hanukkah today?
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The Benefits if Bulletproof Coffee
10 Things I want my daughter to know about working out
A Stroll Around the World

Work up to a 1RM clean in 7 or fewer attempts.

Post loads to comments.
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“Elizabeth”

21-15-9 Reps for time of:
Squat Clean 135/95
Ring Dips

Post time and Rx to comments.
compare to 10.13.11

Jen S doing a hang Squat Snatch

• Happy Birthday Ryan J, Melissa P and Stephanie H!
• Happy belated 30th, Alan L!
• Another reminder, tomorrow we’ll only be running classes at 8, 9 and 10am.

Got Meat? New CSA Options!

For all the details, plus updated information on our vegetable and egg CSA programs, please visit the revised CSA info page.

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Ask the Doc: I Have Lower Back Pain! Tabata Times

Emma Lisa at Fight Gone Bad

• There is NO AR and NO COMP CLASS today

Food Quality and Quantity: They both matter

By Chris Fox

    We’re going to take a closer, non-dogmatic look at both the Paleo and Zone diets that the majority of CrossFitters have been exposed to. Last time we looked at the downfalls of both, and rightfully so. A low calorie, carefully weighed (I asked for 10 almonds, not 12!) Zone has it pitfalls as does a potentially restrictive, or overindulgent (paleo desserts and bacon always abound at parties) Paleo approach. Any neurotic approach to eating can not lead to a healthy relationship with food and in the end that’s what we’re after. So, what’s good about:

The Zone Diet

• It’s quantifiable and repeatable. It removes the question “how much should I eat?”. You have a “prescription” for your daily calories and macronutrients and can measure food to adhere to it. It makes it simple. If you lose too much weight you can tweak your “prescription” as needed.

• It balances macronutrient intake since in a Zone meal you eat measured amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats together. This creates healthier, more balanced (i.e. not solely carb based. Hello, bagel and coffee for breakfast guy) meals without having to think too much about it. Most unaware people tend toward a heavy carb bias, and furthermore toward processed carbs and sugars.

• It encourages you to eat vegetables. We can clearly see that 3 cups of broccoli or greens is going to make you feel fuller and more satisfied than 5 french fries. These both represent 1 carb block. (check out this blocks chart). The Zone Diet encourages you to take in the bulk of carbs from vegetables and fruits.

• For many people, it’s a boost in protein intake. This is good.

• It aims to balance hormone levels. Balanced hormonal levels in response to food is the crux of Dr. Sears’ work.

• It gives you an idea of what a portion looks like. This is the greatest value in a Zone approach in my opinion. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot of food, and that’s the point. If you’re overweight you eat too many calories, if you eat too many calories you’ll be overweight, plain and simple. We can’t ignore the most basic law of thermodynamics in the human body. If you take in more calories than you use for energy your body will store them, likely as fat since it’s the most efficient way to store excess calories in adult mammals.

The Paleo Diet

• It focuses on food quality. You start to become aware of the crap thats involved in commercially farmed animals and produce. You read labels and realize how much shit is in a package of (insert your favorite treat here).

• You look for locally produced, grass-fed/pastured/wild caught/organic foods. This is good for you, the purveyor, and the environment. You eat real food.

• Your omega-3 to omega-6 ratios improve since you’re eating naturally raised animals who ate their natural diet, too.

• It removes gluten from the diet. Most people will do better to remove this anti-nutrient from their diets, even if they aren’t intolerant to it.

• Inflammation levels in the body reduce in large part to removing gluten and balancing fatty acids. This starts to resolve some auto-immune issues for many people.

• It encourages vegetable consumption. You’ve ditched the grains and have to get carbs from somewhere.

• It encourages healthy fat intake. No need to fear saturated fat! (provided that the bulk of it comes from healthy animals) You’ve ditched the grains and have to get calories from somewhere.

    So, how can we begin to take the good from both of these approaches and individualize our diet is the question. Here’s a quick start guide:

1. Especially if you never have done this, weigh and measure and eat according to your Zone prescription for two to four weeks. It’s an experiment. Pay attention to what a serving of protein, fat, and carbohydrate looks like on your plate.

2. When you’re out to eat do your best to stick to a Zone prescription. Don’t use every meal out as a cheat.

3. Scale up, do a Paleo Zone. See if you can get 90% of your food to be grain-free and natural and adhering to Paleo guidelines, again it’s just for two to four weeks.

4. Keep a journal during this experiment and take brief notes on how you feel a few times throughout the day, particularly when waking and around meal times.

5. *Bonus experiment – Do a 24 hour fast (if you’re diabetic then skip this). Get in touch with true hunger. Most people don’t really know what hunger feels like. We know when we should eat, we know that we crave foods, but we may not really know the feeling of true hunger like your body (not your brain) telling you to eat. Try eating dinner, and then not eating any calories until dinner at around the same time the next day. You can still work out (you may feel a bit lower in intensity but you may not) and you won’t die. In fact, you may feel just fine after the first few hours. Drink plenty of water and herbal tea, and have a black coffee or two if you want. If you’re terrified of catabolizing muscle then down some BCAAs before and after a workout. Journal this experiment also and plan sensible meal to break the fast, not a victory dinner.

    The goal here isn’t to turn you into someone who always has to weigh and measure meals and brings along a scale to restaurants (I’ve seen this), neither do I want you to feel that you must forever live a life absent of pizza and full of burgers sans bun with extra salad on the side. The goal is to become more aware of both quantity and quality and develop an honest dialogue with yourself about how food makes you feel, and how much you really need to feel full.

A few references:

CrossFit Journal Issue 21 – Meal Plans
Zone Block Calculator
Paleo and Auto-Immune Disease

Next time we’ll take a look at how nutrient timing matters, and how exercise, carbohydrate and fat are related.

Hint: Breakfast may not be the most important meal of the day for fat loss, and all grains may not be the devil…

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Plate Organization with Dr. Kauflin Practice CrossFit
CrossFit – A Competitor’s Zone Prescription: Part 1

10 Rounds For Time of:
3 Handstand Push-Ups
10 Burpees
30 Double Unders

– Box piked HSPU or Push-ups as appropriate. If you can’t perform a full range of motion press on the box, it’s not going to be as productive of an exercise. Prioritize range of motion and control.
– Substitute 15 attempts or 100 singles per round
– There is a 20 minute cap on this workout.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Mare L’s picture perfect Front Squat

• There is no Yoga For Athletes this Friday, 11/29. Thanks to everyone who filled out the survey regarding more times for Yoga at CFSBK. If you haven’t cast your vote, please check out the Yoga Schedule Survey.
• We will only be hosting 8, 9 and 10am CrossFit Group Classes on Thursday, 11/28 for Thanksgiving. All other days will be on as normally scheduled.
• Love Handstands? There are two upcoming Handstand Fundamentals workshops taught by Yuri Marmerstein coming up in the city on December 7th and 8th. Anyone interested?
• Crush Week starts today through Sunday. Get stoked.
• There is a new article up on coach DOs new blog, Inside The Affiliate. Please share this post with anyone you know who is interested in CrossFit, if you feel so inclined!

CFSBK Coat Drive for New York Cares

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“Grace” with an Atlas Stone CrossFit
Instamotivation
What the Heck Is Insulin and How Does It Affect Blood Sugar and Fat Loss? Greatist

5 Rounds For Time of:
15 Kipping Pull-Ups
15 Box Jumps, 24/20″
15 Kettlebell Swings, 32/24kg

Post time and Rx to comments.

Alan C shows off his rope climbing skillz at yesterday’s free Rope Climbing clinic

• We forgot our own birthday! Happy belated birthday (6 years) to CFSBK!
• Don’t forget that on Thanksgiving the gym will be open for 8, 9 and 10am Group classes with a special T-Gives WOD.

CFSBK’s First Blog Post Ever! (8.18.07)

CFBK is still in its developmental stages as our affiliation application is processed and i continue to purchase, make or take equipment as it becomes availible.  Classes should be starting in St. Mary’s Playground located on Smith Street between Nelson and Luquer in Beautiful Carrol Gardens. St. Mary’s is equipped with plenty of places to do pullups, open area for running or tire flipping and not to mention our trusty F line right overhead to protect us from the elements.

Due to work constraints classes will only be offered Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  A concrete schedule will be developed once things get rolling and i see what times have the highest potential for people to come out and get fit.

In the meantime please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have at osoriod84@hotmail.com and don’t forget to check out Crossfit HQ at www.crossfit.com

Stay tuned for more updates!!

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Ben Smith Snatches 300lbs (in nanos)
The 50 best images from the sporting highlights of 2012 Telegraph
Take a Vertigo-Inducing Walk into the Infinite Inside Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms at David Zwirner in New York