CFSBKers Around The World!

Todd and Crystal in the Philippines at CrossFit MNL
“Just hangin’ around with the small 7AM crew. (Crystal wanted me to note that she is NOT standing on the box, it was merely a jumping off point!)”

Courtney H in Nicaragua
“My handstand isn´t as good as Melo´s or Marcos´s or many other folks, but this is on top of Cerro Negro in Leon, which we hiked (an hour) and then boarded down. Thank god for squats, because otherwise I wouldn´t have made it to the top. :)”

Krishnan V at Bryce Canyon
“Here’s a Photo of me hiking at Bryce Canyon, not too long afer hiking through a river at Angel’s Landing hike in Zion National Park. So awesome!”

Potential Evening Schedule Change

We’re considering modifying our evening class schedule in order to provide more group classes for our members to choose from. This will add an additional 4 classes per week as well distributing the same PM population into 5 classes as opposed to our current 4.  Please let us know what you think, especially if you currently attend 5pm or 8pm classes.

4:30-5:30pm
5:30-6:30pm
6:30-7:30pm
7:30-8:30pm
8:30-9:30pm

Skills Class: The Kipping Pull-Up

David will be running a Kipping Pull-up workshop on Sunday, December 1st at 1:30pm

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 David(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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22 Year Old Totals 2,166lbs Unequipped
The Danger Of Being A Woman 70’s Big
Cold Showers Really Are Good For You PositiveMed
16 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sleep

Performance: Take 15 minutes to work up to a heavy single.
Finish with a few singles at 85%

Fitness: Spend 15 Minutes working up to a heavy load on the complex of: 1 Clean Deadlift + 1 Hang Power Clean
If you’ve been well organized on the deads and feeling pretty good on the hang cleans then use today to practice from the deck. Only go as heavy as you can move well.

Post loads to comments.
PC e5/6
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5 Rounds NFT of:
8 Weighted Sit-Ups
8ea DB Unilateral Press (heavy), or 8 Handstand Push-Ups
12 Russian KB Swings, (heavy)

Coach David Power Cleans 225 for this week’s exposure

Don’t forget to check out CFSBK on the Flickrs, The facebook machine and on instagram @crossfitsouthbrooklyn

Holiday Schedule

We hope everyone at CFSBK is gearing up to see friends and family for Thanksgiving. Below is our schedule for this week.  There will be a special Thanksgiving day WOD at 9am which will probably go over the hour a little. Come in and work up a caveman’s appetite before the big meal. Maybe you’ll eat the entire Turkey this year? Also note that there are no AM classes on Friday.

Wednesday 11/21: Normal schedule
Thursday 11/22 (Thanksgiving): Special 9am CrossFit Group Class only
Friday 11/23: No 6am, 7am, 8am Group Classes. 12pm onwards is normal schedule.

CrossFit Spacial Memory Game:

Without looking at any pictures, answer as many of the following questions as you can. Write down your answers on paper before posting to comments so you don’t get influenced by other people’s responses.

1. How many stacks of bumpers are there against the back wall?
2. What color are the 12lb medicine balls?
3. How many ergs (rowing machines) do we have?
4. How many barbells fit in the upright holders?
5. How many rings hang from the ceiling?
6. What are on the shelves in each changing room.
7. Of the 6 leader boards up on the wall, which one is “Murph” on?
8. What do the jump ropes hang from?
9. There are 3 dumbbell weights that are all steel, which ones are they?
10. How many Black 20″ Jump Boxes do we have?

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A Picture Worth 500 Comments CrossFit
So You Want To Open A CrossFit Affiliate? CrossFit Rainer

As Many Rounds As Possible In 20 Minutes Of:
5 Kipping Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
15 Squats

Post rounds and Rx to comments.
compare to 5.6.12

Thanks to all who came out to CFSBK’s Double Feature Movie Night Last Night!

Next Book Club Book

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky!

High school freshman Charlie has a reputation for being a freak. He is socially awkward, cries easily, and his only friend just killed himself. Things turn around for Charlie when he meets seniors Sam and Patrick, who take him under their wing. They introduce him to their diverse, free-thinking, and sometimes wild group of friends. It is through these kids that Charlie is able to learn about friendship, love, and feeling safe, until a repressed secret from his past begins to emerge, threatening to destroy everything.

Let’s plan to meet on December 16 @5pm at Pacific Standard for our last book of 2012!

To get on the Book Club email list, please contact Peggy, pjeanlouis1 AT gmail.com

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The Importance Of What We Do Starting Strength
Mike Zoda, 21 Years Old, 156lbs Snatches 205 CrossFit
How To Pick Up A Girl At The Gym

Performance: Work up to a heavy 5
Try to add 2-5lbs from last week.

Fitness: 3×5 Across
Try to add 2-5lbs from your last exposure.

Post loads to comments.
LBBSQ Saturday e5/6
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For Time:
Row 650m
Rest 1 minute
100 Double Unders or 50 Attempts or 300 Singles
Rest 1 minute
Run 1 Lap around the block (530m)

The Jump Rope Portion of this workout should take about 2:00. Scale accordingly.

Post time to comments.

Front Squats and Chew Toys

Holiday Schedule

We hope everyone at CFSBK is gearing up to see friends and family for Thanksgiving. Below is our schedule for next week.  There will be a special Thanksgiving day WOD at 9am which will probably go over the hour a little. Come in and work up a caveman’s appetite before the big meal. Maybe you’ll eat the entire Turkey this year? Also note that there are no AM classes on Friday.

Wednesday 11/21: Normal schedule
Thursday 11/22 (Thanksgiving): Special 9am CrossFit Group Class only
Friday 11/23: No 6am, 7am, 8am Group Classes. 12pm onwards is normal schedule.

Member Question About “Rhabdo”

We recently recieved this question from one of our members and we thought it was blog-worthy.

Question:
Hi Jess,

response:
I can assure you that all of our coaches are aware of the dangers of Rhabdo not only for our newer members but to all of our clients.  The article that you linked to states:

“The real danger is to new athletes, like those who flock to the thousands of CrossFit facilities looking for a great workout. While the workouts can be performed by beginners, their immature muscles can’t tell the difference between training to failure and simply getting a good workout. In fact, most beginners don’t know when “too much is too much” and don’t understand the unique demand of an exercise session.”

That is one of the reasons why we have different levels of programming and distinguish between Fitness vs. Performance.  Additionally, we always provide scaling options particularly during high volume work (and especially for pushups and pullups the most common Rhabdo instigators).  While our coaches do our best to encourage appropriate scaling options, often even giving individuals specific recommendations, we also have to rely on our members to choose the most appropriate option for them.  However, if we see someone choose inappropriately, we are not afraid to stop someone mid-workout to correct form and/or reduce the volume/load.

The article also goes on to mention that:

This is unfortunately true.  CrossFit-land is a diverse place out there with varying degrees of qualified coaches. Like most things in life, you’ll have to do your research and find a place where you feel you’ve found a professional and inclusive training staff. We take pride in trying to be one of those.  While all of our trainers have completed a CF Level 1 Certification, we have also attended numerous seminars, courses and certifications to improve our knowledge base. (Feel free to check out our bios for more specifics.) Additionally, we have ongoing in-house continuing education sessions (including tests!) that keep all of our coaches on point. 

I hope that I’ve eased some of the fears you may have had.  Please also make sure you listen to your body.  This is often the most common mistake a beginner can make.  We are not a no pain, no gain type of gym.  If something feels off, it probably is.  Now having said that, and considering you have a history of slight kidney disease, please feel free to approach any of us if you have any more specific questions about your condition and/or how a workout may affect you.
 
Thanks for taking the time to be proactive about your health and fitness.  See you in the gym soon.

Thanks,
Jess

A note from David:
We’ve trained thousands of people and logged countless coaching hours over the last 5 years.  In that time there has only been one slight case of rhabdo which required medical attention. This was after a bout that included a very hot day, multiple workouts and alcohol consumption the night before. Kind of a perfect storm which led to some discolored pee and a trip to the doc. The athlete informed us and we went to Methodist as a precautionary measure. There was no pain or severe side effects other than discolored urine and soreness. Luckily for everyone he was fine and cleared to leave by the time the doctor looked at him. A much less severe example of too high a training dosage is folks getting so sore that they have a hard time extending their elbows for several days coupled with significant swelling of the arms.  This is still very uncommon but happens every now and again, usually when someone does too many strict pull-ups. (Notice how strict pull-ups are always 1/2-1/4 volume of kipping) This is relieved with some rest from training (3 days to a week), lots of water, good food and some restorative movement.  The reason strict pull-ups demand less volume relative to kipping pull-ups is because of the increased eccentric (lowering) phase of the movement. More time spent in the lowering phase causes more muscle tissue to break down (not necessarily a bad thing) which is ONE reason that the two have different applications and programming guidelines.

If you’ve got any questions don’t hesitate to ask a coach and we’ll do our best to provide you with the best answers and feedback we can.

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Rhabdomyolysis Revisited By Dr. Will Wright CrossFit Journal
From the FAQ: “What is your buisness model?” CrossFit

A Big WOD

Not For Time, A Primer

By: David Osorio

CFSBK programming often includes “Not For Time” (NFT) assistance work either on top of or instead of traditional CrossFit “For Time” conditioning.  We usually use this method of training 1-3 times per week as a supplement to our primary lifts and conditioning tests.  The value of this work can’t be overstated and in this article we’ll discuss the rational behind NFT work.

“Assistance Work”
Most NFT workouts generally fall under the title “assistance work” because their intention is to help develop the muscle groups and movement patterns used in our primary lifts and WODs.  Sometimes a lagging muscle group might prevent you from properly executing an exercise, especially at load or intensity. For example, if your chest regularly drops when trying to squat heavy, you might benefit from some concentrated low back/hip extension work like good mornings, RDLS, perhaps even heavy kettlebell swings. NFT work is our opportunity to program in different exercises that may not lend themselves well to being timed or performed at maximal weight, but do help you get into better positions when you need it most.

Work on imbalances
NFT work also uses more unilateral (one side at a time) bilateral (alternating sides) and stabilization exercises to promote symmetry and balance.  An imbalance in your pressing strength might not be apparent with a barbell, but it can become comically obvious when working with dumbbells.  Perhaps your imbalance is actually neurological, you know how to “set your back” but proper abdominal bracing strategies still elude you.  A healthy dose of hollow rocks, planks or a variety of other holds can help you identify how to engage and develop different parts of your body.  Mobility work would also fall under this category, if you’ve ever done a workout that included holding a stretch or performing something like an “inchworm” you know we’re sneaking in some active flexibility training.

Same movements, different focus
Sometimes we even will take movements that you regularly see in WODs like push-ups, jumping rope and rowing and take the clock away.  These are great opportunities to troubleshoot the movements themselves and aim for perfection with every rep without the stress of worrying about what your time or load will be. Instead, you can still get a significant stimulus by focusing on whatever you struggle with most about that movement. It could be coordination, range of motion or strength at a particular position in the lift. What ever your case may be, slow down and do it right so you can speed up and do it right later.

Not “Max Effort”, but still very heavy
That being said, if you’re looking good, start pushing! NFT work is usually 3-4 rounds with at least 1 dumbbell or barbell movement in it. Take this opportunity to work up to a top set of that exercise. If your form is dialed in, don’t be complacent to use the same weight for every set. A recent example would be the reverse lunges we did on Wednesday, each time you complete a round at a given weight go up in weight, you may be surprised at how much you can move.

The take home message is that the better you can become at a wide variety of exercises and types of workouts, the more well rounded and successful of an athlete you can become.  We hope this gives you some food for thought the next time a NFT workout comes up and what our thought process is behind it.  As always, we’re always experimenting with new concepts and protocols to help you guys and gals achieve get better inside and outside the gym.

Westside Intern Joe Lasko on the importance of Assistance Work

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If you havent started, try one day of Lumosity Brain Training
CrossFit wins court case, avoids corporate takeover Our Own Matt Ufford at SB Nation
Swagger Talk To Me Johnnie
Double Unders With Chris Spealer

Fitness: 3×5 across
Add 1-5 lbs to last week.

Performance: 2×5 across followed by a rep out capped at 10
Certainly should make 5+ but maybe not all 10. Leave a rep in the tank.

Post loads to comments.
Press e4/6
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Fitness:
AMRAP 7 Minutes
5 Dumbbell Hang Power Clean
5 Dumbbell Thruster
7 Strict Pull-Ups or 10 Ring Rows

Performance:
AMRAP 7 Minutes
10 Dumbbell Clusters
10 Kipping Pull-Ups

Post rounds and Rx to comments.
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2 minutes each side, Couch Stretch

Resident Poet Laureate, Dr. Mike Squatting 107.5×5. Mike started with the 33lb bar and has diligently been adding weight every week. Way to go Mike!

ABIDE

What are your weekend plans? CANCEL THEM. This Saturday CFSBK will be screening Raising Arizona at 7:00pm followed by The Big Lebowski at 9:15pm.  The gym will be providing White Russians for all!  We hope to have a great turn out.

Palm The Bar

When setting up to Low Bar Squat the first part of your body that makes contact with the bar are your palms. We often see people making the mistake of loosely grabbing the bar before ducking underneath to rack it.  Often in an attempt to compensate for shoulder tightness the hands will move again in an attempt to find a more comfortable position.  If you’ve got to adjust your grip, come back out from underneath the bar and find the grip that allows your to keep your palms flush and wrists straight (like this).  If you’re not sure what’s going on with your hand and wrist, just look over your shoulder to make sure everything is in order before taking the bar out of the squat stands (like this). If the bar feels unstable on your back, it probably is.  Solid hand placement keeps the bar secure where it needs to be and saves your wrist and elbows the undue stress of carrying some of the weight. The Low Bar rack can be confusing and uncomfortable for many folks in the beginning, experiment and learn where your hands need to go every single time on the barbell to provide you the best rack position. Your coaches are here to help you with them so if you don’t feel 100% confident in your set up, ask us.

Here is an 18 minute video or Mark Rippetoe explaining everything you need to know about the rack position

Here is an MWOD with Kelly Starrett providing some mobilizations to get a better rack

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The Hiden Truths About Calories
The Big Lebowski Drinking Game
How To Coach Women Cathletics

Fitness: 3×5 Across
Add 2.5-5 lbs to last exposure

Performance: 2×5 Across Followed by a Reo Out at 10
Certainly should get 5+ but may not make 10. Leave a rep in the tank.

Post loads to comments.
LBBSQ Wednesday e4/6
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4 Rounds NFT of:
6 Front Rack Reverse Lunges, Left
6 Front Rack Reverse Lunges, Right
12ea Dumbbell 1-Arm Rows
12 V-Ups or 20 Straddle Sit Ups

Finish in under 20 minutes. Go as heavy as you can organize on the reverse barbell lunges.

Congrats to Thom H and his wife on the birth of their first daughter, Matilda Brice Hook
“Born last Thursday, November 1, 2012 and weighed a whopping 8 pounds 13 ounces.  I have attached a photo of this beautiful little girl!”

Thoughts on Scaling Pull-Ups in “Barbara” (And in general)

by David Osorio
Originally posted on 2.26.11

“Barbara”
5 Rounds for time of:
20 Pull-Ups
30 Push-Ups
40 Sit-Ups
50 Squats

Rest precisely 3 minutes between each round.

This benchmark girl is a high-volume interval workout comprised of body weight movements. Completed as prescribed, it calls for 100 Pull-Ups, 150 Push-Ups, 200 Sit-Ups and 250 Squats.  To preserve the intended stimulus of “Barbara”, scale the movements such that you can complete each round in about 3-5 minutes. For many people this will mean drastically scaling the pull-ups.

Scaling Pull-Ups, Strict versions versus Kipping Pull-Ups
If you don’t have well developed kipping pull-ups then you’ll need to drop upwards of 1/2 to 3/4’s of the volume on this movement.  Kipping pull-ups and strict pull-ups are very different exercises with different training outcomes.  The kipping pull-up is a dynamic movement used for conditioning purposes while the strict pull-up is a slower movement used to develop pulling strength & stamina. If you’re doing a strict variant (For example: Strict pull-ups, Banded Strict Pull-Ups, Leg Assisted Pull-Ups or even Ring Rows) choose either 5 or 10 reps per round.  If you choose 10 reps then you should be able to accomplish every set in 2-3 micro sets. For example, if your reps look something like this: 3-2-1-1-1-1-1 then the scale is too difficult! 
What you don’t want to happen is for the these to slow you down so much that you spend most of your time at the pull-up station staring at the bar and shaking your arms out.  The small danger is that it could ruin the intention and balance of the workout while the larger danger is that this kind of training will leave you unreasonably sore and could ruin the rest of your training week.  Because strict variants have a controlled lowering phase (unlike kipping pull-ups) they have the potential to do a lot of structural damage on your muscles. While we want enough of this “damage” to make your body a little sore for a few days  we certainly don’t want so much damage the putting your shirt on two days later because a workout in itself. Trust me on this, sometimes less is more. Scale to make these challenging but doable.

If you’ve got kipping pull-ups then it becomes more a matter of how many reps you can do unbroken.  If 20 reps is something you can bite off in 1-3 sets then go for it Rx’d. If you work mostly in 2’s and 3’s then scale to 10 reps per round.

Here is a programming summary with scaling options for you to choose from:

Strict Variant: A: 10 reps, B: 5 reps
Kipping Pull-Ups: A 20 reps, B: 15 reps, C:10 reps

As always, you can scale on the fly whenever you feel like you’ve bit off too much or perhaps not a big enough chunk.  If you start with 10 reps but by round three have “lost your pull-up”, swallow your ego and drop the reps. Remember you want to keep the workout moving and not hit a wall on any particular movement.

Closing Thoughts
Even if you drop to 5 pull-ups per round, the rest of the workout (even scaled) can pack a pretty serious punch. If it’s your first time with “Barbara” we highly recommend doing a 3 round version of the WOD.  Interval workouts like this, especially THIS one, have been known to make people “not right” afterwards.

As Rx’d, Barbara gives you 700 opportunities to choose to do a movement correctly or rush through something with questionable form.  Our goal is to increase your work capacity while strengthening your muscles, connective tissue and discomfort tolerance.  Scale wisely, move well and enjoy your date with Barbara today!

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Cheri Chan Teaches The Kipping Pull-Up Free CrossFit Journal Video

Resting

• Happy Birthday to CFSBK OG and photog extraordinaire, Dan R!

CFSBK Double Feature Movie Night

Don’t forget CFSBK will be screening a Cohen brothers double feature:  Raising Arizona at 7:00pm followed by The Big Lebowski at 9:15pm.  The gym will be providing White Russians for all. If you’re coming, let us know in the event page comments section so we know roughly how much drink mix to get. Abide.

Next CFSBK Book Club Book

The CFSBK Book and Movie Clubs had about 20 folks come out for the joint screening and discussion of “Cloud Atlas” this weekend. Some books being thrown around for the next go around are listed below. Many of which have movie cross overs. If you’ve read any of these let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

The Silver Linings Playbook
The Heart Is a Lonley Hunter
My Bright Midnight
The Perks Of Being a Wallflower
The Life of Pi

Coffee From Traci

Traci John is selling Organo Gold Coffee infused with Ganoderma. If you’re interested you can check out her website here.

JB On The Radio

Our resident beer nerd Julie Barnard, aka JB, is back on the Heritage Radio Network to yammer about brew on Beer Sessions. This episode is all about Belgian and Spanish beers, exciting!, with some very special guests. Sneak Peek: Wendy Littlefield of Vanberg & DeWulf will be discussing their upcoming Coast to Coast Toast as well as their efforts to aid in Hurricane Sandy recovery. Good stuff.

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Affiliates Reeling from Hurrican Sandy CrossFit Community
Transforming a Reservation CrossFit Community

Fitness: Spend 15 Minutes working on the complex:
1 Clean Deadlift + 1 Hang Pull + 1 Hang Power Clean
Focus on a solid spinal set up, a good rack position, and proper footwork. Add weight to last week’s top set if appropriate.

Performance: Spend 15 minutes working up to a heavy 2 rep Power Clean.
If you miss a rep you MUST take 10% off the bar for the next attempt.

Post loads to comments. (e4/6)
Compare to 11/5/12.
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For time:
In teams of 2-3, Partners alternate for 4 rounds each of:
15 Ring Push Ups or Pushups
270m Run or 300m Row
*All out efforts on each. Rest no more than 3:1

Post individual times to comments.

Congratulations to Jen S. on winning the meat raffle held by Herondale Farm on Sunday in their visit to the gym. She won a 15-lb bag of grass-fed meat – a $150 value.

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Shoulder Health-Part 1 70’s Big
Meat Raffle Probability Calculator

Fitness
AMRAP 12 Minutes
4 Hang Power Snatch*
8 Box Jumps
12 Squats

Performance
AMRAP 12 minutes
3 Power Snatch* 135/85
5 Overhead Squat 135/85
7 Box Jumps 30/24

*Focus on getting in to good positions on the snatch and overhead squat. Don’t be in a rush to stand out of a poor receiving position and do the next rep. Instead, use these 12 minutes to practice moving better 🙂

We bet Mr. T wears a Cloyde shirt on the weekends.

Scheduling Reminder

• There is no Comp Class today but Teaser class is on!
• Resident Massage Therapist, Inka Hodes will be offering Complimentary Range of Motion Testing from 11:30am – 1pm today!  She’s all booked up for today but feel free to contact her for about a future session, inka.hodes(AT)gmail.com.

Movie Night Double Feature!

This Saturday November 17th starting at 7pm

This is a free event for all CFSBK members including friends and family.  We’ll start Raising Arizona at 7:00pm and then The Big Lebowski at 9:15pm.  You’re welcome to stay for both or just come for one if you’d like.  CFSBK will provide White Russians and everyone is welcome to bring snacks or food if they’d like however nothing is expected.

Abide.
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Power Snatch Demo Catalyst Athletics
Mr. T’s prediction of Today’s Wod YouTube
Sunday Funday Urban Dictionary