Major CFSBK Holidays
January: Potluck & Karaoke
March: CrossFit Open
May: Murph
June: Stonewall
July: Iron Maidens Raw Open
October: Fight Gone Bad
December: Art Show
Smaller or once off events
Cornhole Tournament
Potluck in the Park
Dog Rescue + Calendar
Mario Kart 64 Tournament
Movie Nights
Comedy Show
Prepare a Chicken
Canned Food / Coat Drive
Potluck & Karaoke
Intention: Ring in new year as a community, address community, recognize key people
Additional Considerations: Name tags, Best entree and dessert voting, bounce house/kids area very helpful, karaoke after announcements
CrossFit Open
Intention: Celebrate competition and connect to the worldwide CrossFit community
Additional Considerations: Weekly update show / Intramural Teams / Fright Night Lights / gaffers tape!
Memorial Day Murph
Intention: Celebrate memorial Day / Raise $ for a good cause
Additional Considerations:
Every year we host our annual Memorial Day Murph event benefiting K9’s for Warriors which supports the training of support dogs for veterans suffering from PTSD. Donations from Murph go directly from members to K9s for Warriors.
Gym provides grilling, meat and beer, members bring sides
Stonewall
CFSBK has celebrated LGBTQ Pride Month in a variety of ways over the years. In 2013 we wrote and started hosting a workout named “Stonewall” in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. Stonewall was a weekend-long riot and protest at the end of June against police raids and harassment of LGBTQ people at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, which many mark as the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
What is lesser known about the Stonewall Rebellion and the growth of the LGBTQ rights movement is that it was led by transgender women of color, such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. While the LGBTQ rights movement has made a lot of progress over the past few decades, there is still a long way to go, particularly for members of the trans community who face significant discrimination and violence. For this reason, CFSBK’s annual Pride workout benefits 2 nonprofit organizations serving the trans community: the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. CFSBK has been a proud supporter of these organizations over the past 3 years and supports them in the centering of Black trans lives and, in the spirit of Stonewall, the fight to end police violence.
“Stonewall”
AMRAP 15 Minutes:
6 Squat Cleans 135 (Marsha) / 95 (Sylvia)
28 Double-Unders
6 Shoulder-to-Overheads 135 / 95
9 Burpees
The suggested loadings will be named after the late Sylvia and Marsha in honor of their contributions to the LGBTQ movement.
Iron Maidens Raw Open / Stay Strong Scholarship
Since 2016 CFSBK has been hosting the annual Iron Maidens Raw Open which was founded by CFSBK coach Margie Lempert. This event is an unsanctioned, women only powerlifting meet that aims to bring together women at all stages of training to inspire each other with their commitment, effort, willingness to fail, and drive to succeed. The event, which is completely women run, also aims to have a social impact via the Iron Maidens Stay Strong Scholarship created in partnership with Grace Outreach to help women who don’t have access to financial aid pay for higher-level education.
The money we raise pays for 70% of college tuition for undocumented students, Dreamers, and women who have been victims of predatory for-profit colleges. Students in these financial situations have no access to financial aid dollars and the undocumented students are ineligible for most scholarships.
Rather than selecting recipients based on common criteria such as grades or academic achievement, this scholarship rewards persistence—the grit and determination to keep going during hard times. We believe this recognizes and addresses the reality our students face, and also captures the essence of the Iron Maidens Competition.
Since Iron Maidens and Grace Outreach started the Stay Strong Scholarship we have raised over $115,000 and graduated four students with Associate Degrees! We recently had our first student to complete a Bachelor’s Degree at Lehman College with continued support from the Stay Strong Scholarship.
We currently support six students: three are making their way through Hostos Community College, Bronx Community College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College, and three have moved to Lehman and John Jay Colleges. The women pursuing degrees are studying in the fields of criminal justice, business administration, sociology, early childhood education, and health sciences.
Funds raised from Iron Maidens
2016: $30,250
2017: $35,028
2018: $27,445
2019: $22,516
Total Raised: 115,239
Fight Gone Bad
Intention: Have fun!! / Raise $ for a good cause
Additional Considerations:
Have teams set up 1 month out to have time for fundraising
get local sponsors for the event
teams of 5-7 people with two teams going at a time
Have an MC
Have playlists specific to event
capture team pictures
do this around halloween
Fight Gone Bad is one of our oldest and largest community fundraising events. This event originally started via an affiliate fundraising competition initiated by CrossFit to benefit sportsgrants. After three years, the program ended but we decided to continue the tradition and make it our own. Since 2008, we’ve raised over $372,000 for a variety of charitable organizations. Most notably the Brooklyn Community Foundation which works with local non-profits to strengthen underserved communities and more recently the Sunrise Movement Foundation which is a youth organization that aims to stop climate change and create new and sustainable jobs for our future.
2008: $7,303 (Sportsgrants, defunct)
2009: $26,826 (Sportsgrants)
2010: $48,052 (Sportsgrants)
2011: $62,216 (Special Operations Warrior Foundation)
2012: $34,081 (Brooklyn Community Foundation)
2013: $40,926 (Brooklyn Community Foundation)
2014: $38,925 (Brooklyn Community Foundation)
2015: $26,949 (Brooklyn Community Foundation)
2016: $24,077 (Brooklyn Community Foundation)
2017: $22,069 (Brooklyn Community Foundation)
2018: $17,797 (Brooklyn Community Foundation)
2019: $22,986 (Sunrise Movement)
2020: Cancelled due to Pandemic
TOTAL RAISED: $372,207
Community Art Show
Intention: Celebrate talents of members / unique event
Additional Considerations:
special lighting
use the gym equipment in novel ways
Education Front Line
In 2020 we created a brand new home-brewed hero workout entitled “Education Front Line”. Our intention was to honor the contributions to society our teachers and administrators make every day in service of our children and the future of this country while raising funds for Operation Backpack. Now more than ever, we also want to acknowledge the obstacles that every teacher faces going into this new and unprecedented school year. Last March, with essentially no prep time educators pivoted to distance learning with limited resources and experience to finish out the school year. This Fall, many are going back into school buildings risking their own safety and that of their loved ones to provide for their students and communities. In our discussions with teachers and administrators, anxiety is high, stress is prevalent and each district has offered varying levels of support, communication and thoroughness in their safety plans. With this workout we honor their personal sacrifices and acknowledge their profound importance to society.
Operation Backpack
CFSBK is partnering with Operation Backpack which has the goal of providing brand new backpacks and grade-specific school supplies to children living in homeless and domestic violence shelters throughout the five boroughs of New York City. In 2020 we raised over $2,000 for children in need.
“EDUCATION FRONT LINE”
AMRAP 20:00
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8…
SA DB Hang Power Clean
SA DB FSQ
SA DB Push Press
Round 1: 1 Left arm Clean, 1 Left arm FSQ, 1 Left arm PP, 1 Right arm Clean, 1 Right arm FSQ, 1 Right arm PP
Round 2: 2 Left arm Cleans, 2 Left arm FSQs, 2 Left arm PPs, 2 Right arm Cleans, 2 Right arm FSQs, 2 Right arm PPs
Etc.
There is some symbolism built into the programming of this workout.
Ascending rep scheme: The workout starts at one rep per arm and moves up through the 20 minutes. Each round represents a new grade (3rd grade, 4th grade etc) and the idea is to see how far you can make it. Can you clear 12 rounds and make it into higher learning?
Single DB: The workout is intentionally austere with only one DB to work with. This represents how teachers across the country have to be creative and versatile with limited resources to get the job done. With one DB we’ll do three different movements (Hinge, Squat, Press) in order to create a well rounded workout.
Single Arm: This represents the uniqueness of each student and how teachers need to distribute their effort among varying levels of learners to get them through their education.
Dogs of CFSBK Calendar Benefiting Pupstarz Rescue
We love dogs at CFSBK and since 2016 we have been putting out a “Dogs of CFSBK” Calendar with 100% of the profits going to Pupstarz Rescue. This organization is run by fellow CFSBKers and we have also hosted adoption events at the gym to help place pups in their forever homes. Each year we raise around $1,000 for this great organization.
At PupStarz, we have a track record of rescuing some of the hardest cases from high kill shelters regardless of age, breed, and temperament—in fact we have saved over 530 this year alone!! But with so many rescues, come many medical bills.
- This year we have spent over $150,000 in medical care – and due to COVID we have had some of the most challenging medical cases since our inception.
- Your donations can directly help say yes and fund the surgeries and medical care for deserving pups and kitties like Pongo featured here, who needed both eyes removed.
- We are volunteer-run and rely 100% on individual donations so please consider making a tax-deductible donation on this very important day for us.