Radhika Vaz Performing for Charity at CFSBK This Saturday!

You may have seen Radhika Vaz around; she tends to hang about the lifting platforms but is occasionally known to stray. The people who have suffered her most are members of Coach Fishers strength intensive program, she clings to that class like her life depends on it and we hear that she will not shut up between lifts.
And so we have decided to give her an opportunity to speak uninterrupted for just one hour on JUNE 15 @ 8PM when she will perform her one-woman comedy show for CFSBK members and friends.
Radhika’s show has sold out shows in New York, LA, and several Indian cities that white people have not heard of. Except for Dave Turnbull who has heard of everything.

Unladylike: The Pitfalls of propriety.
Some women just don’t have the heart, mind or body to be a lady. Presenting one woman’s struggle to achieve propriety from adolescence to about now.

Written and performed by Radhika Vaz, directed and developed by Brock Savage.

“…the Indian Wanda Sykes…” The Huffington Post.
“Vaz looks like an angel but is a rebel in disguise.” Time Out Mumbai.

For tickets. $10 per ticket at the door or online here.

All proceeds benefit Women’s Education Project so they may continue to develop resource centers for young women from the poorest families in India to succeed in higher education.

Just so you know $250 sends one woman to college for a year. That means just TWO tickets pay for ONE full month of school. It also means you will have fans in India. For more information email radhikavaz(AT)gmail.com OR cfsbkinfo(AT)gmail.com

Born This Way

Coach Nick’s brother Josh edited a documentary called “Born This Way” that will be screened at the Human Rights Film Festival on Friday, June 21st (9:15 PM), and Saturday, June 22nd (7:00 PM). The film, which provides “intimate access to the lives of four young gay Cameroonians…steps outside the genre of activist filmmaking and offers a vivid and poetic portrait of day-to-day life in modern Africa. Lyrical imagery, devastating homophobia, the influence of western culture and a hidden-camera courtroom drama mysteriously coalesce into a story of what is possible in the global fight for equality.” Check out the trailer and get your tix here!
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Beer & Biodiversity
The Final Nail In The Cardio Coffin TNation

Teams of 2 alternate rounds to complete as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
3 Power Cleans 185/125
6 Ring Push Ups
9 Squats

The ring push-up is a far more advanced version and requires high levels of shoulder strength and stability. Perform a standard push-up if you can’t organize the ring version perfectly.

Post partner, Rx and rounds completed to comments.

Izzie hitting Squats at the gym

CrossFit In The Dark

Izzie is our first visually impaired athlete at CFSBK (he describes his level of sight as looking through a coffee straw in the dark) and Gais is his friend and CrossFit partner in crime. Izzie is using CrossFit to improve his game in a sport called Goal Ball. Below he talks about what its like to take Group Classes at CrossFit.

I hear coach Fox say “lean towards your right side and actively push your knee over the toes of your right foot from this bottom of a squat position” and my nerves start to fire. He then goes on to lead us with more ballistic stretches and before I know it, he accompanies three chimes of a timer with a “3, 2, 1”, count down. Before I know it, I am amazed at how quickly my imagination of the childlike contour of his body vanishes. Almost instantly Gais starts dragging me to help carry the bumper plates from the front of the gym to our assigned rack. Time passes and warmup sets are completed. I ask Gais to read me how much time is left on the clock and he says “9 minutes”. It’s at that very moment when my Goalball instinct starts to kick in. For you see, in Goalball, all players are blindfolded and therefore cannot read the scoreboard. Therefore, players must rely on their time management skills to help them make favorable decisions on the court.

I think to myself “9 minutes, its crunch time”. In fact, almost every minute spent at the box is crunch time. Soon after our work sets are complete, we move on to a WOD where I start to tell myself that this is where my endurance for Goalball will come from. It’s in these next 10 minutes of double unders bounded by blindly following Gais around the block that I’ll become the best Goalball player New York can offer. The exhilaration of running feels amazing to say the least. Every crack on the street and and every change in texture feeds a my body with an unparalleled sensation of information. I never imagined being able to run around south slope with my visual impairment. Nevertheless, after nearly running into a tree and off a tangent on Degraw, the WOD is finally finished. My lungs burn and remind me of the time I played against the Russian Goalball team for the Bronze Medal in 2011. That game made it to overtime and with barely any energy left, , USA scored the winning goal in the last minute of OT.

This is what a day at CFSBK is like for me. It reminds me of every loss and win I experienced on the Goalball court. It reminds me that there’s still a ton of things for me to learn about my own fitness and capabilities. In fact, a few days ago coach Jessica guided me to do a cat skinning. (Forgive me if I misquoted the exercise name). Never in my life did I think I would be able to make such gains in strength, mobility, flexibility and endurance both in the Crossfit box and on the Goalball court. I would like to thank the coaches at CFSBK for their patience and support in my athletic and weightlifting endeavors. A couple of weeks ago, my team brought the gold medal home for New York in the Western regional competition. It has been over 10 years since New York has brought home a gold medal from a regional tournament and I believe that Crossfit deserves much appreciation for this accomplishment. I am now preparing for my last competition of the season, the Goalball Nationals, which will be held in Vancouver Washington through the dates of June 20-23. I will be competing with my team the New York Knights and hope to contribute towards bringing home another gold medal.

In conclusion, Crossfit has brought me to a profound realization about my visual impairment and it’s that my blindness is nothing more than a nuisance. it’ll sometimes make things more difficult for me, but it’ll never make them impossible. So thanks to all the CFSBK members and staff who choose to light a new candle with me instead of blindly cursing away in the dark.
– Izzie
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Check out the trailer to “A Shot In The Dark” a documentary about Goal Ball Featuring our own Izzie

4 Rounds For Time of:
500 Meter Row
5 Back Squats, 225/135

Today’s workout has a 15 minute Cap. Scale the squats to no more than 65-75% of your max, even less for beginners. The sets should be done unbroken and un-belted. Go hard on the row, then take your time setting up and executing each squat as perfectly as possible.

Post time and load to comments.

Coach Fox making corrections

• Attention CSA Members! Don’t forget that your vegetable and egg pick-up is today between 6-8:30pm

So Long Grant!

Grant Werle will be leaving Brooklyn on June 14th and heading to  LA for a new job. We wish him the best of luck moving forward!

“Thankfully the timing works well and in true CFSB nature, I won’t be missing this cycle’s Crush Week, and will be sent off soar but in shape!

Thank you CFSB for everything… the fitness knowledge, the support, the callus’ and resulting sweaty t-shirts. In only one year, I felt so at home in the Box and have made numerous friends for life.” -Grant W

Samir Chopra in the CrossFit Journal

I was recently contacted by the CrossFit Journal to see if there was anyone in our community who could possibly wax poetic about the parallels between writing and CrossFit. I knew just the man, “The Professor”, Samir Chopra.

Check out the free CrossFit Journal article, “The Written Word” where Hilary Archer discusses writing and CrossFit with two authors. As an added bonus, CFSBK photog Asta Fivgas shot the pictures of Samir for the article.

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See the worldwide rankings comparing results at this years CrossFit Regionals (One guess who won the men’s division..)

This Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Matt Katz and I completed the GoRuck Challenge. We worked as a team with 40 other people to complete Special Forces-based drills, fitness challenges, dips in the East River and treks around the city — all with about 50 pounds of bricks on their back. Brotastic!! -Dave Fung

Avi’s Testimonial

Skills Class: The Kipping Pull-Up

Noah’s Kipping Pull-up workshop will be Sunday, June 16th at 5pm

Kipping pull-up require a significant amount of integrity in the shoulder girdle and as such this class requires a buy in of  1+ Strict Pull-Up (women) or 3 Strict Pull-Ups (men).  The class will be a $15 drop-in and space is limited to 8 participants.  Email Noah(AT)crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com to sign up, make sure to mention your max number of dead hang pull-up and issues you’ve had learning/perfecting the kip so he can better prepare to get you swinging smoothly.

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Lingua Fran-ca CrossFit
How To Do A Perfect Handstand

For Time:
Run 800m
30 Burpees
Run 550m 
20 Burpees
Run 400m
10 Burpees

Run hard and fast, chip away at the burpees without taking any long rests.

Post time to comments.

Thanks to everyone who particpated in and volunteered at the LGBT WOD yesterday!

• Front Desk Maven Lisa F took a bunch of shots at the Total yesterday. Check out our Flickr page to see them!

Zen and the Art of Crush Week!

In traditional meditative disciplines you aim to cultivate mindfulness in a physically neutral setting. Often the practitioner sits in a comfortable position and tries to bring attention toward their breathing.   In Yoga, we see a more dynamic approach where rhythmic breathing becomes interwoven with a controlled flow through a series of postures .  In both of these instances, the intention is for the pilot to become more tuned into the “now”.  At CrossFit, we achieve something very similar through a very different approach.   During an intimidating lift or difficult conditioning piece you’re forced to deal with the moment at hand. The high discomfort level of what we do takes that moment and amplifies the physical inputs to the point where you can’t help but focus on what’s happening. You know this intuitively and it’s why you get nervous before a 500m erg test or 3 rep max Back Squat attempt.  You know that once you start you’ll be forced to deal with the “now” until it’s all over. Every second gets dragged out and every moment to rest or doubt yourself becomes amplified against what needs to get done.  Take this opportunity to set your intention for the approaching workouts.  Whenever you find yourself deep in the agonizing “now” embrace it and stay on task.  Don’t look around the room to see where everyone else is, don’t check the clock to see how much time has gone by and don’t make excuses to try and avoid what your feeling. Just keep fighting the barbell up or chipping away at reps until you’ve completed the task.  If you lose focus and get derailed, don’t let it mess with your head, just come back pushing harder. Remember, you’re here to get stronger, both physically AND mentally.

Enjoy Crush Week!
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MLB Unsure Why It Ever Agreed To Hold League-Wide ‘Teeny Tiny Boy Shorts Day’
Weightlifting Tips – Staying Back on the Snatch California Strength
Mark Bell Discusses Rippetoes Squat Style
CrossFit WOD 100623 Demo with Miranda Oldroyd

Back Squat 1-1-1
Press 1-1-1
Deadlift 1-1-1

This is a CrossFit style powerlifting meet in which you have three attempts to find a 1 rep max in each lift listed. Your CrossFit Total is the sum the highest successful lift in each section. For a detailed explanation on the event and standards for each movement, please read Mark Rippetoe’s CFT overview here.  To see how you rank, check out these strength standards.

Don’t forget to show up during your scheduled sessions. If you haven’t registered yet, there are plenty of spots left in the 8:00 and 12:30 slots.

Post loads to comments.
Compare to 12.11.11

Coach Laurel and Max

CFSBK LGBT WOD Today!

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After Stonewall

3 Rounds For Time of:
Run 400m
21 Kettlebell Swings 24k/16k
12 Kipping Pull-Ups

Post time and Rx to comments.
compare to 10.13.12

Cassie Xu getting her front rack position ready during standardized warm-ups

• Don’t forget to sign up for your CrossFit Total session tomorrow on the google doc. Also, please read yesterday’s post about what the Total is and what to expect.
• Happy Baby shower to Malcolm and Coach Laurel! They’ll be celebrating the upcoming birth of their first child at the gym this afternoon!
• Due to the LGBT WOD, we will not be hosting Teaser Class tomorrow.

Nike Casting Call

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“OPT” does the first recorded sub 7 minute men’s “Helen” in 2008
The Psychology of Motivation Explained (in under 300 words) PSYBLOG
John Merritt Can Carve Almost Anything Out of a Single Piece of Wood Colossal

Serene and I took some time away from our feminist philosophy conference & did a pretty difficult Snatch WOD at CrossFit Bergen. CFSBK was a famous gym to one of the coaches who’s coming to NY in July & will definitely attend a class. Here’s a funny photo of us. – Danae

• Happy Belated Birthday Ellie June Myers!
• Coach Nick is looking for a male rower under 165lbs who would be interested in particpating on team CFSBK for Reebok CrossFit 5th Avenues Row For Boston fundraiser. Please email Nick(AT)CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com if you’re interested.

CrossFit Total Details

This Sunday we’ll be running four CrossFit Total sessions. Each session will be 90 minutes long to accomodate the warm-up and lifting time. To familiarize yourself with the event, please read Mark Rippetoe’s official write up on the CrossFit Total here.

Schedule
We’ll be running 90 minute sessions at 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am and 12:30pm. Please sign up for a session on this google doc so that we can distribute athletes evenly throughout.  If you can’t make the Total on Sunday, you can make it up at open gym on Friday or Sunday. We will NOT be allowing people to Total on Tuesday or any other Group Class times.

What to Expect
You’re expected to get there early and do a DIY warm-up and movement prep. The actual 90 minute session will look like this:

• Intro (what is a CFT, movement standards demo, and spotting): 10min
• Squat 1-1-1: 35min
• Press 1-1-1: 20min
• Deadlift 1-1-1: 20min

Ring Strength Class

Join guest Gymnastics Coach Ken H. as he takes you through 4 weeks of gymnastics strength training with an emphasis on developing a rudimentary ring routine and Crossfit strength movements.  Each class will include a proper warm-up, stretching and then use both isometric and dynamic strength exercises to develop: core strength while learning transitions on the rings, levers, muscle-ups and planches.  Students will also have strength and flexibility assignments to do on the outside of class. 

Ring Strength Class Dates and Times:
Saturdays from 2:00pm – 3:00pm
6/8, 6/15, 6/22, 6/29

Ken Haller’s Bio
Ken was a nationally competitive gymnast in Newton, MA and at the University of Michigan. After graduating, Ken coached for eight years at Capital Gymnastics in Northern Virginia where he coached regional and national champions. His students have gone on to be NCAA champions and members of Cirque du Soliel. In searching for an activity to replace gymnastics, Ken filled the void with rock climbing and yoga for the past ten years and recently found CrossFit to round out his training.
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Preparing to 1RM Chris Fox
Getting Ready to Squat Margie Lempert
Heavy: A Response Margie Lempert
Dude, Where’s My 1RM? Jeremy Fisher

Fitness: 75%x5x2
(75% of last week’s working weight)

Performance: 40%x5, 50%x5, 60%x5

Power Clean

2 reps EMOTM for 10 minutes
Perform 2 reps OTM at 80-90% of heaviest load used (successfully) this cycle.

Post loads to comments.
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For Time:
100 Sit-Ups

Jay Reingold Gets his Murph On

Happy Birthday to the “Swan”, Ellie June Myers!!

New Equipment Ordered

2 new Indy Squat stands
More HG Snap Collars
Red Voodoo Bands
MobilityWOD Gemini Roller
2 more Trigger Point Grid Rollers
3 new 20″ plyo boxes
Magic Carpet Sled + Attachments
MobilityWOD Posters

Tough Titsday Powerlifting Meet IV

To the ladies of CFSBK:
We are hosting our fourth powerlifting meet!

What: 3 attempts at a 1 rep max of Backsquat, Bench Press and Deadlift
When: July 14, 2013 at 2:30pm; weigh in and registration at 1pm; rules review at 2pm
Who: SBK women who have been attending group classes for at least 3 months

How much: $25 Includes participation
Bonus: Celebrate post meet with your fellow lifters and friends. Drinks on us!
25 spots available. Registration deadline is July 7, 2013. 
Register Here!

The Details:
Each woman will have 3 attempts to hit a max single in Squat, Bench and Deadlift, in that order. All lifters will make their attempts in each lift before moving to the next.

First, second and third place winners will be awarded in each weight class based on total combined weight of best lifts.

There will be 4 weight classes:
Pixies: Under 125
Ladies: 126-140
Dames: 141-155
Broads: Over 156
In the event of a tie, lowest weight wins.
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Third Place CrossFit Games
Broflex, Dan Bailey Is Ready CrossFit Games

Fitness: 75%x5x2
(75% of last week’s working weight)

Performance: 40%x5, 50%x5, 60%x5

Post loads to comments.
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In teams of 3 with one partner working at a time. row as many meters as possible in 20 minutes. Use one C2. No partner can row more than 500m at a time.

Post total meters to comments.

The Mobility Cert Participants

MEAT, VEG and EGG CSA PICKUP is TODAY!