Search Results for: subway

Snatch | WOD 1.15.16

Posted on Sunday, May 15, 2016

Power Snatch

Performance
Every other minute on the minute x 8 (15min):
3 Touch-and-Go Power Snatches

Start at about 50% (of your best power snatch) and work up to a heavy load across the 8 sets. Notice how Christian Harris jumps and catches the bar at his hips on the descent after the first rep.

Fitness
Every other minute on the minute x 8 (15min):
3 Power Snatches

You can bail (with control) each rep. Start light and add weight as appropriate across the 8 sets. Newer athletes or those having trouble organizing the pull off of the floor can perform 1 Snatch Deadlift + 3 Hang Power Snatches instead.

Post loads to comments.
Exposure 5 of 8

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For Time:
50 Wall Balls 20/10, 14/9
40 Calorie Row or 25 Calorie Assault Bike
50 Wall Balls
400m Run

Post time and Rx to comments.

Did you do something different with your hair, Allie?

Today’s 2pm Anti-Gravity class is cancelled. Enjoy gravity and all it has to offer today!

REGISTER NOW FOR THE 2016 SUBWAY SERIES!

Another year has gone by, and it’s time once again for an NYC affiliate throwdown: the sixth annual Subway Series! All NYC affiliates are invited to participate—the affiliate with the best overall score at the end of four events wins the Subway Series Trophy and bragging rights for a whole year!

Event Schedule
Sunday, August 7th: CrossFit Virtuosity
Sunday, August 14th: CrossFit Gantry
Sunday, August 21st: CFSBK
Sunday, August 28th: CrossFit Queens

Scoring
Scoring will work “Open-style”: top 3 male and top 3 female athletes from each affiliate will score based on their place finish in each event. Athletes may score in any event regardless of attendance at other events.

The ultimate series winner will be the affiliate with the least points after all 4 events have been completed. In the event of a tie, a 5th tie-breaking event will be held.

As last year, an Rx division and Scaled division trophy will be awarded.

Registration
All athletes MUST register for each individual event in advance via the Subway Series website in order to participate. Each event will be capped at 100 total participants, so we strongly advise you to register ASAP. These events sell out quickly.

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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Front Squat | Rope Climbs, Push-Ups, Run
How To Do Better Wall Balls Movement RVA
An Avian Ballet of 2,000 Pigeons Streaks the New York City Sky Audubon

Rest Day

Posted on Friday, May 13, 2016

Michael A. recently dropped into CrossFit DC in Washington DC with some coworkers

This Week at CFSBK in Review

1. Speaking of dropping in, have you read Coach David’s “Reps & Sets Abroad: Some Thoughts on CrossFit and Travel”? Get after it!

2. This Sunday’s 2:00pm Anti-Gravity class is cancelled. Still looking to do something other than group class? Check out Yoga for Athletes with Coach Whit on Saturday at 10am or Active Recovery on either Saturday or Sunday at 11:00am.

3. Sign-ups for Murph Day, one of our biggest community events of the year, opened last weekend. If you’re thinking about doing it, do it!

4. Registration for the Subway Series started on Monday. These events sell out quickly, so sign up now!

5. Did you recently lose some protein powder, a t-shirt, a jumprope, or approximately 600 sets of wrist wraps? We just emptied the Lost and Found bins and want to give it all back. Please claim your stuff before we donate it to CHIPS in two weeks.

6. We’re giving away 4 free entries to the Rugged Maniac race in Brooklyn on June 25th. Go here to find out how you can enter, and get sandbaggin’!

7. There are still a few spots left in our upcoming Starting Strength Program cycles. What are you waiting for?

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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Clean and Jerky | Partner WOD
Tripping on Double-Unders? WODprep
Society is Messing With Your Sleep The Atlantic

Ring Dips | WOD 5.9.16

Posted on Monday, May 9, 2016

Ring Dips (or Close DB Bench Press)

Performance
Tempo Ring Dips (32X1):
4 x 6-12 Strict, 1 x Max Reps

Perform 4 sets across to 2 reps shy of failure, then 1 max effort set to failure. Perform a full range of motion on all reps. Rest as needed between sets. Goal is to add total reps each week by increasing the sets across and/or the max set.

Fitness
Tempo Close Dumbbell Bench Press (32X1):
4 x 6-12, 1 x Max Reps

Perform 4 sets across to 2 reps shy of failure, then 1 max effort set to failure. Rest as needed between sets. Start with a load that feels almost easy for 12 reps. Keep elbows in close to mimic the bottom of a dip.

The tempo note (32X1) means control the eccentric (down) portion for a 3 count, pause at the bottom for a 2 count, contract concentrically (up) as fast as possible, then hold the top for a 1 count before beginning the next rep.

Post loads/work to comments.
Exposure 5 of 8

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21-15-9 Reps for Time of:
Overhead Squats 95/65
Toes-to-Bars

The Overhead Squat weight should be light enough to cycle the reps into 3-4 sets. Substitute Hanging Leg or Knee Raises for Toes-to-Bars as appropriate.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Steph M. competing in last year’s Subway Series at CFSBK

REGISTER NOW FOR THE 2016 SUBWAY SERIES!

Event Schedule
Sunday, August 7th: CrossFit Virtuosity
Sunday, August 14th: CrossFit Gantry
Sunday, August 21st: CFSBK
Sunday, August 28th: CrossFit Queens

The ultimate series winner will be the affiliate with the least points after all 4 events have been completed. In the event of a tie, a 5th tie-breaking event will be held.

As last year, an Rx division and Scaled division trophy will be awarded.

News and Notes

Registration for Murph Day 2016 opened Saturday. Sign up now!
Did you recently lose some protein powder, a t-shirt, a jumprope, or approximately 600 sets of wrist wraps? We just emptied the Lost and Found bins and want to give it all back. Please claim your stuff before we donate it to CHIPS in two weeks.
Tom S. just got a really cool job as Global Chief Compliance officer at a company called ITG. Congrats, Tom! He’s making two hires and wants the CFSBK community to know about them. Check out the listings for Trade Surveillance Compliance Officer and Regulatory Audits and Inquiries Compliance Officer. You can reach Tom at Thomas.Shpetner [at] ITG [dot] com if you have questions or would like to send him a resume.

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Should I Give Up on the Split Jerk? Catalyst Athletics
Found: The Secrets of Lost, Underwater Egyptian Cities Atlas Obscura

Rack Jerk | WOD 3.28.16

Posted on Monday, March 28, 2016

Rack Jerk

1-1-1-1-1

Work up to a heavy single for the day.

Post loads to comments.

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5 RNFT or 20 Minutes:
5ea Split Squats (add weight with dumbbells as appropriate)
5 Ring or Bar Ice Cream Makers
270m Run

Post work to comments.

Underneath the Hoodie: Whitney Hubbard

Vital Stats
Height: 5’5’’
Weight: 135 lbs
DOB: June 2, 1986
Born and raised: Born in Mississauga, Ontario, raised in Lake Forest, Illinois
Place of higher learning: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

By Kate Reece

Whitney Marie Hubbard has always needed to be moving. Not through states, though she has done that, but with her body. Over the years, that’s looked like dancing ballet at Miss Jenny’s studio in the suburbs of Chicago; flowing through sun salutations and breathing deeply in her decade-long yoga practice; rolling around on the floor during modern dance class warm-ups in college; and learning to gracefully heave a barbell over her head at CrossFit South Brooklyn, back in the days of the high-ceilinged, bare-bone concrete of The Lyceum. Whitney’s language is movement, and despite her bones literally being stacked against her, she speaks beautifully.*

Whitney was born on June 2, 1986 in Mississauga, a large city on Lake Ontario, next to Toronto. She spent the first five years of her life there before her father’s job as a financial executive moved them to Lake Forest, a small suburban city on the North Shore of Chicago, abundantly dotted with ponds and creeks and green grass. After a trip to Canada, she remembers coming home to Lake Forest and on one of those old-school radios built into the wall of her family’s new kitchen, Neil Diamond’s 1980 hit “Coming to America” was playing.

She began dancing when she was three, which mostly looked like romping around a room and tossing her hands theatrically in the air. When she found a song she liked (think Minnie Mouse cassette tapes), she would rewind the song repeatedly and choreograph routines to it. Her strongest memories of this are in her maternal grandmother Nana’s house. A wooded backyard extended far behind the house, which they called the Uppy Uppy Yongo because when you yelled that out, it would echo. After she choreographed the perfect dance, Whitney would assemble her family around to watch her perform. Not a naturally extroverted or outgoing kid by any means, this was where she shined—dancing was where she came alive. She took up ballet and jazz, then also gymnastics, until her mother, Roxanne, made her choose around the age of nine. “You’re good at both of these things, but what if you put your energy into one thing?” she asked, already noticing that her daughter’s young body was being put through a lot. And it wasn’t just the physical activity in-and-of-itself that was taxing.

As the story goes, when Whitney was a baby, she had three fat rolls on one leg and two fats rolls on the other. That’s how her mom first noticed. After a battery of tests and tracking her growth, Whitney was diagnosed with hemihypertrophy, a condition in which one side of the body grows larger than the other, to an extent considered greater than normal. Most of us are at least slightly uneven, but you could really notice the discrepancy between Whitney’s leg lengths. Her right side was clearly growing longer and larger than the other. After coming to America, Whitney traveled back to Toronto every six months to see her doctors, at a hospital unhelpfully named SickKids. By the time she was an adolescent, doctors predicted the final difference would end up around four to five centimeters, and to prevent that, they recommended surgery. Whitney’s parents agreed. The summer she turned 11, after a family trip to Australia, a surgeon made four incisions on her right leg and scraped the growth plates of her tibia and femur, telling the bones to stop growing. It worked—but then she had an unexpected growth spurt, and her left leg outgrew the right. Almost 30 now, Whitney’s right arm is slightly longer than the left, her left leg is about three-and-a-half centimeters longer than the right, and she has more muscle definition overall on her right side. “It makes things real interesting,” she says with a wry smile.

But if you know Whitney at all, you know she is rather competitive, and not one to make excuses, even when those excuses would be entirely justified. The girl wanted to dance and dance she did. “You grow up as a dancer, you grow up in a mirror,” she says, and for better or worse, she imbibed the subtle and not-so-subtle messages that perfection was the only option. Three to four hours a day, five days a week, she looked in a mirror and modeled her physical form after someone else—her teacher or the best student in class—and constantly worked to make her version match their version. In CrossFit or yoga, there are ways to mold or modify the movements to your body’s specific geometry but in studio dance, even if your right hip isn’t naturally as high as your left, it doesn’t matter. You get your leg up. You figure it out. And you don’t let anyone see you sweat.

Of course, Whitney did figure it out. She became one of the best dancers in the studio, figuring out how to pirouette or balançoire such that no one would notice she had a stronger side. Within a year of her surgery, she was dancing with the 16-year-olds and began performing in national competitions. She first experienced the nervous pees at one such competition, wearing a tiny crushed-velvet maroon dress, before going onstage to perform a dance called “Cherish,” set to a sultry Sade song. Being exposed to an older peer group roused Whitney’s desire for greater independence and she admits that she developed an attitude and experimented with being a bit stuck-up. She began assisting dance classes, demoing movement for younger girls and giving small movement corrections. By the time she was 16, she was spending her summers teaching and choreographing.

It was around this time that Miss Jenny, the owner of the dance studio Whitney grew up in and her beloved teacher, pulled Whitney into her office and said something along the lines of, “You’ve always had a great attitude, but lately that’s been changing. I know this isn’t who you are, and you can’t keep acting this way.” Whitney broke down in tears and apologized. It was complicated feedback for her to receive. While she changed her behavior in ways she sees as positive, yet again there was that insidious message: “Be perfect, little girl. Don’t mess up.”

Her teenage schedule looked like this: Wake up at 6 a.m., go to school, musical practice (yes, musical practice) from 4-6 p.m., slamming a roasted chicken breast Subway sandwich, dance from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the studio, go home and do homework until 2 a.m. As you might expect, Whitney was a quiet, diligent student, and got straight A’s. She floated around on the fringes of friend groups and didn’t party. She has a somewhat photographic memory and liked school to what she says was probably “an annoying degree.” Also, that competitive side again: from a young age, she not-so-secretly tracked her hockey-playing smart older brother’s GPA, and constantly checked whether she was beating him (they were both eighth-grade valedictorians).

Whitney knew she would study dance after high school. What else would I do? she thought. This is what I’m doing, this is what I love. Despite getting a full-ride to the University of Arizona’s prestigious dance program, she picked the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose dance program was smaller and had a heavier emphasis on modern dance. She joined a sorority and lived in the house, which on a 4,552-acre campus, was fortunately only a short walk to the dance department. Convenient, given her penchant for waking up at the absolute last minute. Also convenient given that in college, along with learning how to dance in a new style, she learned how to party. (Additionally, she learned things in college that led her to surrender chicken breast sandwiches and become a pescetarian, which we’ve talked to her about here and here.)

Whitney now says that her BFA in dance taught her how to be uncomfortable, how to be creative and express herself, and how to work with people—things that are different than sitting in a statistics class day after day—and that aligned with the kind of person she wanted to be in the world. She also found yoga her junior year when she took an 8am class three days a week as part of the dance program. She loved the disciplined process of repeating the same movements over and over. Her daily hours of dancing had birthed knee problems, bad plantar fasciitis, and arthritis in her big toe, and yoga helped temper those injuries.

After graduating from college in 2008, Whitney moved to New York. Why New York? She was scared of the city and figured that meant she should go there. Her boyfriend, who was living in California at the time, joined her and they found an apartment the South Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. When the boyfriend moved out a couple years later, Whitney walked over to her landlord and his wife’s apartment and asked them to lower the rent so she could still afford it. They said yes, and she told them she’d probably be here forever. She just signed her lease for her eighth year.

Also in 2008, the yoga-inspired athletic apparel company Lululemon only had one store in the entire city, on the Upper West Side. They were about to open three more stores and Whitney got hired to work at the SoHo location. A big component of her job was to take an unlimited amount of classes throughout the city, in which she would wear the clothes, talk about the clothes, and give instructors or the person on the next yoga mat over the clothes. She took all the dance and yoga classes she wanted for free, and in her free time, went to dance auditions. She got certified as a yoga instructor in 2010.

Lululemon soon hired her to open a mini showroom in Brooklyn, and with her team, she began exploring the community—which would lead her to CrossFit South Brooklyn. “I found this weird thing called CrossFit,” one of her colleagues said. “We should go check it out.” It was late 2009, and Whitney emailed David and told her they were interested. David wrote back and offered to set up a teaser class. Whitney forgot to write back, and a few weeks later, she got an email that said, “I saaaaaaiiiiiiiddddddd, let’s set up a free teaser class. Thanks, David.” When they walked into the The Lyceum for the class, a 24-year-old David—donning a thick beard and flannel button-up—was sitting with his feet up on a desk. “We were all simultaneously like, ‘Who is this cute guy?’ and also, ‘Is he for real?’” Whitney says, laughing. She was taking at least one or two dance or yoga classes each day and though she’d never set foot in a gym, she certainly didn’t think she was out of shape. It only took a few CrossFit classes for her to realize that there might be more to fitness than she’d realized. After a longer conditioning workout, she even asked David if it was possible for her heart to explode. “No,” he said. “Take a break, but you’re fine.”

When Whitney was fired from Lululemon in December of 2012, she’d begun attending CFSBK classes more regularly. CrossFit had unexpectedly become important to her. She loved the absence of mirrors, and along with picking up the movements relatively easily, something clicked and she learned, yet again, how to be uncomfortable.

Losing her job would give her a new opportunity to practice that skill. “It was a shock, but a necessary push off a cliff,” Whitney says now, and she began to shed the parts of her identify that were tied up in her job. At CFSBK, David approached her and asked her to staff the new Front Desk, which replaced the old envelope that used to sit on a table at the entryway. Whitney accepted, and also began teaching a few regular yoga classes.

At a certain point, she began realizing a couple things: One, that CrossFit South Brooklyn was really a special place, and two, that she couldn’t help but see things. She’d be foam-rolling on the mat before class and see a person from preceding class doing a lift, and she’d wonder to herself, What would I say to them to make that lift better? What cue would I give them? Occasionally she’d share her thoughts with her bar partners, but she mostly kept her mouth shut, and trained hard.

Toward the end of 2013, apropos of nothing but her own initiative, Whitney got her Level 1 certification. She casually mentioned it to David, though she was committed to becoming a CrossFit coach regardless of whether he would hire her—which he did, in January of 2014. It was around that time that a few other big things happened. She picked up more consistent work as a yoga instructor. She adopted her dog, Penny, who watches over the meat CSA pick-ups and is almost as big a part of the community as Whitney (and certainly oft-photographed). And she started to realize that her skills had changed in the gym. She knew how to push.

“What’s so wonderful about CrossFit is that you can only work against your own edge,” she says. “You could try to work against someone else’s edge, but you’ll end up hurting yourself or underserving yourself. The best thing you can do is work against your own edge consistently, while also having the perspective of other people. It’s important to see, for me especially, other women in the gym whose strength you admire—and to say, ‘Damn, okay… let’s go.’” 2015 was the first year she didn’t dance, but everything is a compromise of some kind, she says. Training and coaching CrossFit happen to be what she loves the most.

*She’s had her fair share of wipeouts, of course. Ask her about a tuna fish sandwich and red grapes in grade school, or about her recently deceased toenail.

Parting Shots
How she likes her eggs: Either scrambled or over-medium. Three eggs a day!
Favorite book: Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections
Favorite lift: Snatch
Something she’d like CFSBK members to know: She really, really likes coaching, and when you tell her that something she said or did made a difference for you, it makes her heart swell with joy and contentment.

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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Sumo Deadlift | Kettlebell Swings, Box Jumps
The Accidental Powerlifting World Record Holder The New Yorker

Rest Day

Posted on Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Due to the plowing on Degraw Street, our bike rack is currently buried under a mountain of snow. We can’t offer bike storage inside the gym because it has the potential to create a fire hazard, so please make alternate plans until the snow melts and/or we’re able to dig it out. Sorry for the inconvenience!

January Athlete of the Month: Asha Banker

By Chris Fox

You may know her as the gal who spends time on the mat before and after class, stretching and prepping or cooling down. Or as the gal getting after it when the WOD gets tough, throwing down hard while still encouraging her classmates. Or maybe just as the gal with the perennial smile on her face. Asha has been training regularly at CFSBK for a few years now but has really progressed in leaps and bounds lately. Let’s spend some time learning a bit more about her.

Fox: Hey Asha, congrats on being our next featured AOM! When and how did you first start CrossFit?

Asha: Thanks! I’m surprised and excited! In 2011, a co-worker first told me about CrossFit. Although he was really into it, I was hesitant, having heard stories of injuries and such. In July 2012, my mom broke her ankle in a bicycle accident in the Boston suburbs, where I grew up. I went home to help take care of her and it turned out that her orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Rockett, (who also happens to be part of the CrossFit Games Medical Team) did CrossFit! I was sold and signed up for Foundations at CFSBK before even returning to Brooklyn. I realized later how fortunate I was that CFSBK happened to be the box closest to me. I did Foundations and have been hooked since! Because I like to stick to our programming, when I travel, I try to change things up, getting in running, yoga and AR. I did go to CrossFit Original Addicts in Paris last March so I could do 15.5, and over Christmas, tried out classes a couple classes at boxes near my parents. I may convince them to start training!

Fox: What a great story. We’re fortunate that you found us, too! What was your first impression of CFSBK, and what made you stay?

Asha: I’d always played sports growing up. In high school, it was field hockey, swimming, and lacrosse, and in college, I ran Div III cross country and track. Through patience and learning how to train smart, I became the fastest runner on the XC team my senior year, and was also co-captain. Since college, I have remained active. I have run one NYC marathon, done a bunch of half marathons in New York and Mumbai, and played in a large field hockey squad when I lived in London. I also did Muay Thai in Manhattan for a couple years, which I loved, but stopped when I moved to India in 2007. After coming to Brooklyn in 2011, I kept up running, as well as yoga, but was searching again for intensity and camaraderie. CrossFit filled those gaps and I immediately started to make friends in the gym. I remember early on, meeting Joy Mele and Julie Barnard (OGJB) when I was a 6am-er, and watching Jess Bailey kick butt at the Subway Series at Virtuosity. So many other cool people were supportive and inspiring, which soon extended to pursuits outside the gym. While CrossFit remains a big financial commitment, I justify it as group-level personal training. Having a committed and fun group is key — every marathon-distance run I’ve done has also been with training partners. I’ve never not wanted to come to the gym. Don’t get me wrong, I’m nervous sometimes, but it’s a fun kind of nervous and I know that others are feeling the same way. CFSBK always has a great vibe and it’s obvious that David has great hiring practices. I’ve learned from every coach and have been particularly impressed with how coaches prioritize proper movement, are incredibly thoughtful about managing injuries, and that we push everyone to keep the gym organized and clean.

Fox: Those are all such great compliments to the SBK staff and community alike! I’m glad we’re filling those roles for members. You were sort of coming in and flying under the radar for a while, but at some point you really kicked it up a notch. Was there something that changed?

Asha: I did 3x/week until the summer of 2014 when I took Coach Frank’s Next Level Olympic Weightlifting Cycle and added on the 2x/week CF option. The combination upped me to 4x/week, which was a good transition. After Frank’s class, I felt ready to become a 5-time-a-weeker. In 2014, I also started putting in additional time for skill work. Getting my first strict chin-ups that summer became a gateway to work on more bodyweight movements.

Fox: That’s great! I love to see people get their “firsts” in the gym. Can you tell us a bit about your life outside of the gym? Family and hobbies?

Asha: My family is Indian. My mom grew up in Mumbai and my father in Sri Lanka; they moved to the US right after they got married. I was born in Chicago, but we moved to the Boston area when I was two and a half. The year after we moved was the Blizzard of ‘78 – I remember seeing snow higher than me! Fun fact: CFSBK photog extraordinaire Thomas Hinton was in my fifth grade class. I also have an older sister who lives in Manhattan. Our parents always encouraged us to be active. We started skiing when I was three and my sister was six. My parents and sister were good role models for being active and healthy. I love cooking (and eating) good food and am fortunate to have friend groups in New York from different chapters in my life. I’m in a book club, and last summer, I took an improv class just for fun. And I am doing a ski trip to Italy in March, right around the Open.

Fox: Tell us about your work life. What do you do?

Asha: I studied economics in college and was always interested in social and economic development. I have been working in education since 2009, but my path there was not typical. After college, I worked in finance in New York and then London. It was tempting to stay but I wanted to channel my analytical and people skills to help build organizations. So after business school, I worked first as a product manager in open source software, and in 2005, volunteered in Gujarat in India, working with a women artisan non-profit. Being able to apply my different expertise towards truly tangible work was exhilarating. I moved to India for three years, transitioning to the education sector while there. I then came to Brooklyn to develop the K-12 school turnaround practice for Wireless Generation/Amplify. After subsequently working for Newark Public Schools, I started an organization last year, Verdant Learning. Having seen top-down approaches to school improvement fail, I wanted to support schools hungry for grassroots change. Verdant helps middle schools (as CFSBK parents know, they are in particularly high need in New York), make parent engagement a core driver of school improvement. We help schools link parent engagement to learning outcomes, make communication easier and more meaningful, and build capacity within their community. Quick plug to our highly talented CFSBK peeps: I am looking for a visual designer to help with my website and some marketing docs, and am always looking to brainstorm with interested educators and philanthropic investor folks.

Fox: Sounds like you’re doing worthwhile work. Can you tell us one odd thing about you?

Asha: Hah! Ask me in person about all the cities and apartments I’ve lived in. Until finding my apartment in Brooklyn five years ago, I had moved a lot!

Fox: Alright, last question. What should we look for in a future AOM?

Asha: Humility, perseverance, and someone who is quietly progressing while genuinely cheering for the success of others. Also, they should have a sense of humor. We’re in this for the long haul!
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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Push Press | Push Press, Row
When Is It Enough? YouTube
This Is No Game The New Yorker

Clean | WOD 1.17.16

Posted on Sunday, January 17, 2016

Power Clean

Power Clean:
Work up to a Power Clean a bit heavier than the work weight you intend to use in the WOD.

Post loads to comments.
Exposure 5 of 8.
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In teams of 3, with 1 partner working at a time, complete 7 rounds each (21 total) of:
3 Power Cleans 185/125
6 Box Jumps 30/24
9 Push-Ups

Partners alternate full rounds. The Power Clean weight should be on the heavy side of medium. Cycle the reps if you can. The Box Jump is meant to be higher than you’re used to. Practice fast transitions between teammates.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Coach MeLo, Tina D., and Coach K Harpz with some photobomber named Rich Froning at Wodapalooza 2016 in Miami. At the end of Day 2, team Steel Magnolias is in 6th place out of 25 teams in the Intermediate Team Women division. They took 2nd place in the Swim Triplet!

Want to try something other than group class today? Check out Active Recovery at 11am, Anti-Gravity at 2:00pm, or Open Gym from 6-8pm.

Hand Care for CrossFitters, Part 2

By Chris Fox

Editor’s Note: We noticed quite a few questions about hand-related issues in the comments this week, so we’re re-posting Coach Noah and Coach Fox‘s terrific two-part feature on hand care this weekend. This is especially useful and important as we continue to train for the Open. See yesterday’s post for Part 1. Part 2 was originally posted on 11.1.15. —Josh

In Part 1, Coach Noah explained the why behind tearing, and offered some great tips for how to prevent tears and deal with them when they do happen. In Part 2, Coach Fox sat down with (i.e. emailed) CFSBK’s coaching staff recently about the topic. Here’s what the women on staff had to say about how to keep your hands from opening up and what to do about it if they do.

Fox: How often do you tear your hands or blister while doing CrossFit, and when is the last time you tore?

Jess: Sadly, I’ve torn fairly recently. Normally, I tear during high volume pull-ups WODs. I’ve also historically used a lot of chalk so I’m trying to cut back on that.

Whit: I used to tear quite a lot, maybe once a month? Now, I rarely do. I was sure I would tear during “Murph” with high volume this year, but I have built up a bit of a tolerance by doing higher volume pull-ups more regularly and more Olympic lifting. Yay! Also… I got a weird blood blister thing recently, like a callous that wanted to tear/pop but didn’t quite, and luckily when that eventually came off there was a good layer of skin underneath.

K Harpz: If I were to put a number on it, I would say about once every two months or less. Generally mine heal up pretty quickly too, unless that sucker is in the palm/crease of my hand. Those are the worst.

JB: I tear about two to three times per year, typically during high volume pull-up WODs. The last time I tore was during “Cindy.”

MeLo: I honestly can’t recall the last time I tore. I think I’ve gotten good at 1) maintaining my leathery hands and taking care of them regularly and 2) recognizing when my calluses are on the verge of tearing during a workout and changing grip, slowing down, or stopping. The disruption a bad tear causes to training consistency isn’t worth it.

Fox: Have you stopped or modified a workout in order to not tear?

Jess: Yes, recently I had to modify a 30-minute AMRAP with toes-to-bar because I knew that my hands couldn’t handle it.

Whit: Yes, not recently, but after my first few tears, I realized it really wasn’t worth it to keep going if I knew I was about to tear. I would be in a lot of pain and end up having to modify my training for a week or so afterward, which is stupid and a potential loss of GAINZ!

K Harpz: Yes. In my opinion, a gnarly tear is not worth ruining your training week.

JB: Yes, but sometimes I get a little too gung-ho and ignore a tear (hence the two to three tears per year). Like Whit and HarpZ said, it’s never worth messing up a week of training.

MeLo: Yes, agree with the ladies above and refer to my answer to #1.

Fox: What is your routine to maintain your hands/calluses? Include stuff like home care as well as how you choose to grip a bar, chalk use, etc…

Jess: I use a pumice stone and foot file combo in the shower, but not as diligently as I should.

Whit: I use a pumice stone in the shower or right afterward, maybe two to three times a week. I know it’s not ideal, but on high volume pull-up or toes-to-bar work, I use a thumbs-on-top monkey grip most of the time, and then alternate using thumbs-around grip here and there. I don’t use nearly as much chalk for that stuff as I used to… but I still use a decent amount, esp. for Olympic lifting. When gripping a bar for pulling (deadlift, clean, snatch), I try to line up the bar in the crease of my first knuckles, not in the middle of the palm of my hand.

K Harpz: I like to grip the bar with my thumbs around, as close to the underbelly of my knuckles as possible. The less skin I bunch up in the palm of my hand, the less likely I am to tear. Once I start to notice callus buildup, I shave it down with a pumice stone after allowing my hand to soak in water/applying hand balm. I also have the tendency to chalk up as an excuse to rest, and am trying my best to kick that habit.

JB: I don’t do much hand care, unless picking at my calluses when I am bored or anxious counts. In workouts, I try to be diligent about grabbing the bar right under my knuckles and avoiding bunching up the skin in the middle of my hand (that’s where my worst tears always happen). For the most part, I wrap my thumbs underneath the bar.

MeLo: I use a pumice stone in the shower regularly plus a callus remover/razor to shave down my calluses two times a month, then smooth them out with a pumice stone. For pull-ups, I tend to use a thumb-over grip to get better purchase on the bar, but that comes at the cost of skin bunching up and making you more susceptible to tears. If I haven’t been diligent about hand care, or if my hands feel at risk, I’ll use a thumb around grip with conscious effort to flatten out the skin on the bar so it doesn’t bunch (that sounds really gross). For barbells, I’ve only had a problem with my thumb using a hook grip, so I tape around my proximal phalange (aka, thumb).

Fox: How do you care for a torn callus or blister when it does happen?

Jess: I immediately wash my hands and cut off any loose skin. I apply an ointment like Aquaphor on the tear to keep it from drying out and then cover with a Band-Aid. I tend to keep it moist so that it doesn’t dry out and crack. Antibiotic ointments tend to dry the wound out so I reserve them for when a tear actually becomes infected, which shouldn’t happen if you keep it clean with soap and water.

Whit: Wash hands immediately, cut away loose skin with clippers. I use a bit of bacitracin and cover with a Band-Aid for the first couple nights/days. Either keep using a little bacitracin or Aquaphor as it heals so it doesn’t keep splitting.

K Harpz: Immediately disinfect/wash the area, take sterile manicure scissors, and cut back all of the dead skin. Apply Neosporin and leave the wound open as often as possible, generally I’ve found healing is optimal if it is moist and uncontained. (Unless I’m going on the subway and need to grab onto them slimy poles, of course.) I have Burt’s Bees Hand Balm but also have this stuff for rock climbers that I occasionally use.

JB: I immediately wash my hands (so painful!) and cut away the loose skin. I’ll apply Neosporin and a Band-Aid. I generally keep a Band-Aid on until it heals.

MeLo: Same as the gals above.

Fox: Any other advice or thoughts you think would be helpful?

Jess: Don’t have sissy hands like mine! But really, apply less chalk during WODs and try to grip the bar a little higher in the hand (fingers) instead of the palm. Don’t let calluses get big and out of control.

Whit: Gymnastics grips!!! These have made a huge difference for me in high volume workouts and training. I have torn so much less since I started using them.

K Harpz: I know how to make a cheap/reusable hand-wrap made of elastic self-adhering first aid tape. I find it doesn’t really mess up my grip and it adds a nice protective layer for a higher volume pull-up WOD. If anyone would like me to show them how it’s done, I’m happy to help anytime!

MeLo: Consistent hand care. Don’t let your calluses get so big that they get in the way of your training, file them down regularly and keep them smooth. If you feel a tear coming on in a workout, modify your grip, take the time to tape, or sub a different movement.
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Yesterday’s Whiteboard: Squat | Wall Balls, Deadlifts
3 Misconceptions About Juice Cleanses YouTube
Area Dad Stares Longingly At Covered Grill In Backyard

Clean and Jerk | WOD 11.26.15

Posted on Thursday, November 26, 2015

Clean and Jerk

Work up to something heavier than you’ll use for today’s metcon.

Exposure 7/8
Post loads to comments
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Partner WOD:
1000m Row
10 Rounds of “DT“
1000m Row

Partners can complete the rows however desired, but must alternate full rounds of “DT.”

One round of DT is:

15 Deadlifts 155/105
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Jerks

Post time and Rx to comments.

Mirko and Ozzy wish you a Happy Turkey Day, or whatever holiday you happen to be celebrating!

Constance’s segment on CBS News will re-air this morning around 8-8:30am! Tune in and show your friends and families the gym you work out in!

Thanksgiving Schedule Changes

Thursday (11/26) THANKSGIVING:
ON: 8am, 9am, 10am
CANCELLED: 6am, 7am, 12pm, 4:30pm, 5:30pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm, Active Recovery, Comp Class

Friday (11/27):
ON: 10am, 11am, 12pm, Open Gym 5:30-8pm
CANCELLED: 6am, 7am, 8am, CrossFit Kids

Saturday (11/28):
CANCELLED: 8am, Yoga for Athletes, Active Recovery

Sunday (11/29):
CANCELLED: Active Recovery

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 subway 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. Happy Thanksgiving!

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We turned off the comments today so you can turn off your devices and spend time with people you love!

Front Squat | WOD 11.14.15

Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2015

Front Squat

Performance: Medium Intensity, 75-80% x 5 x 4
Heavier than your last Medium Intensity exposure.
Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Heavier than last week.

Exposure 5/8
Post loads to comments.
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AMRAP 12 Minutes:
8 Dumbbell Power Snatch, alternating arms
12 Pull-Ups
24 Double-Unders

Choose the heaviest dumbbell that you can handle. You should be able to do the sets of 10 with not much more rest than the second that the dumbbell is on the floor for the switch. Sub bands or ring rows for pull-ups, 15 attempts + makes for doubles.

Post rounds and Rx to comments.

Throwback to the Subway Series this summer, with lots and lots of pull-ups

Good luck to Bob S. and Pierre D., who are competing in the the WODFather 3 Masters Competition. Let us know how it goes!!
Want to try something other than group class today? Check out Yoga for Athletes at 10am, Active Recovery at 11am, or Open Gym from 2-4pm!

Travel Gym Recommendations

Have you traveled to another affiliate recently, or do you need recommendations for your upcoming holiday travels? Check out our Travel Gym Recommendations forum (found in the bottom left bar under Member Resources). Check out these two recent ones and add your own:

Colleen M. visited CrossFit Paradiso in Venice, CA.
Stella Z. visited Brick Boston in Boston, MA.

Coach Noah wrote a great guide last year about how to be a good visitor at other CrossFit gyms, titled “On the Road, and Sweaty: Visiting Other CrossFit Affiliates.”

If you do hit up another affiliate, be sure to take a cool photo so we can give you some blog love! Send it to Managing Editor, Kate R., by emailing her at Katharine [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com.

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Is the Game of Thrones Workout the New CrossFit? New York

Press | Deadlift | WOD 11.2.2015

Posted on Monday, November 2, 2015

Press

Performance: Low Intensity, 65-70% x 7 x 4
Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Add a few pounds to last week

Exposure 4/8
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Deadlift

Work up to one heavy set of 3 reps
Go heavier than last week’s set of 5.

Exposure 4/8
Post loads to comments.
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4 Rounds:

In 2 Minutes:
Row 250/200 Meters

then,

Max Thrusters 95/65

Rest 2 Minutes between rounds.

The rows are meant to be fast and the thruster weight should be on the light to medium side.

Post total reps of thrusters and Rx to comments.
Compare to 2.23.2015.

60 minute CrossFit group class in 60 seconds!

Hand Care for CrossFitters, Part 2

In Part 1, Coach Noah explained the why behind tearing, and offered some great tips for how to prevent tears and deal with them when they do happen. This week, we’re back with Part 2 in our Hand Care for CrossFitters series. Coach Fox sat down with (i.e. emailed) CFSBK’s coaching staff recently about the topic. Here’s what the gals on staff had to say about how to keep your hands from opening up and what to do about it if they do.