A Normal Day at CrossFit South Brooklyn
Announcing The 2013 Look, Feel, Perform Better Challenge!!!
It’s that time of year again…New Years Resolutions time. While we think that it’s best to live healthy all (or at least, most) of the time, we also recognize that many of us use markers like the beginning of the year to try and kick start positive changes. Some of you did this in years past, some of you are new to it so here’s the overview.
Who? The entire CrossFit South Brooklyn Community
What? A two month challenge meant as a collective kick start into healthier nutrition and recovery habits.
Where? Right where you are. We’ll be hosting a big potluck in the gym a few weeks into the challenge and there will be Rest Day Dinners meant as continual support for each other, but the key is consistent practice every day.
When? Tuesday January 1, 2012 through Tuesday February 12, 2012.
We’ll wrap up with another potluck and challenge wrap-up on Saturday February 16th.
Why? To look, feel, and perform better! And, for awesome prizes!
Wait, did you say prizes?
Yes. The grand prize for both the men’s and a women’s category is two months of FREE unlimited training at CFSBK, plus cash money and some shweet shwag. There are also 2nd and 3rd place prizes for the men’s and women’s categories. Last year there was more than $1000 total value in cash prizes and gifts including Lululemon gift cards, Beirkraft gift cards, grass-fed steaks from local ranchers, and other cool stuff. This year promises to be even better.
Alright, I’m in!
Great! Here are the guidelines of the challenge and how to participate.
Once you complete the following steps we’ll check them off as such. All steps must be completed by January 5th in order to be eligible for prizes.
REGISTRATION
Buy-in: $20. This must be cash in an envelope (labeled with your name) and must be handed to a coach.
Online Registraition: Answer 3 brief questions and submit your “before” (Front, Side, Back) photos. This information will all be private will not be published or seen by anyone but the judges without your consent. Register Here!
Photo Recommendations:
+ Wear a bathing suit or something similar that will allow body composition changes to be clearly observed. + Stand against a bare wall and make sure your photograph is well lit. At the end of the challenge you’ll replicate these pictures with identical lighting, angles and clothing.
+ Set up your camera about 5-7 feet away from you so that it can capture your whole body from head to toe. Feel free to block out your head and face.
+ You’ll be submitting front, side and back view photos
Point System Overview
The LFPB Challenge will involve scoring points in a system. This allows us to gauge compliance of healthful choices regardless of everyone’s specific body composition objections and performance metrics. We’ve narrowed the field down to things that can help everyone.Points are earned as follows:
3 Points= Full Compliance to guidelines
2 Points= 1 Action outside guidelines
1 Point= 2 Actions outside guidelines
0 Points = 3+ Actions outside guidelines
Guidelines:
Avoid Grains: Consume no grains or gluten products. This means bread, pasta, tortillas (sniff), beer (sniff, sniff), pastries, cookies, etc… Check labels for wheat/gluten containing items. Generally, try to avoid packaged foods.
Avoid Sugar: Consume no refined sugars. This means honey, fructose, coconut sugar, agave, etc. If you’re craving sweets, eat some fruit.
Hydrate: Drink ½ oz of water per lb of bodyweight daily. Herbal tea and seltzer are Kosher too. Diet drinks are not.
Sleep: Sleep at least 7 hours per night
Considerations
SOME alcohol in the form of wine or liquor. Beers contain gluten, except for a few. The refining process of liquors leaves the gluten out, plus tequila is kinda paleo? If your goals include losing bodyfat then minimize this or cut it out completely. Alcohol can also impair sleep. If you know alcohol is significantly impeding your progress, set a specific goal for yourself and include it in your guidelines.
SOME coffee. Yeah, I don’t want to know what you act like without your morning cup either but consider cutting down, especially if you’re sensitive to it and/or sleep and hormonal recovery are large parts of your challenge.
SOME dairy allowed – cream in coffee and full-fat, fermented, unsweetened dairy. Most dairy will help with gaining weight so consider this depending on your goals.
Bonus Points:
1 Point: Fish Oil
1 Point: 9 Hours Sleep
1 Point: Workout
1 Point: Active Recovery or Meditation
Fish Oil: Taking 2-4 grams of EPA/DHA in fish oil tabs. Your grandmother was right, fish oil is really good for you. Take this daily and you’ll cruise in some easy points.
*If you are eating all grass-fed/pastured/wild caught animal products this may not be necessary. If you eat nuts, any veg oils, or any conventionally raised animal products however then stick to a minimum of 2-4g per day.
9H Sleep: You’re balling out of control on restoration. Good for you. I bet you feel great.
Working Out: You trained today! Could be a WOD at the gym, yoga class at a local studio, jog in the park, long hike in the woods. You’re moving with intention and rigor.
Active Recovery: Spending 20+ minutes with a foam roller or a lacrosse ball or some other tools working on myo-fascial release and mobility. Become a supple leopard. 10+ Minutes practicing meditation also counts as a point.
Winners will be selected based on their results which will include consideration of: before and after photos, total points earned, improvement on the capacity test (TBA) and the written testimonials.
We’re looking forward to huge, community-wide success once again with this year’s challenge. We recommend beginning to rid your pantries now of things that are off the list, and not going off the “deep end” by over-indulging in the weeks leading up to the challenge. In years past some members have had a real tough time with the first few days to 2 weeks of these things. Starting to move in the right direction early can ease some of the ‘detox’ symptoms that may appear. Consider eliminating gluten this week, and maybe adding fish oil next week, or something similar depending on where in the guidelines you’re at currently.
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Deadlift, Handstand Push-Up, Air Squat Demo CrossFit
Mystery Wednesday preview post –
Worked up to 215 but failed on the last rep. Could have fought through it but am trying not to reinforce bad positions. That's only 10lbs off my heavy single from September so I'll take it for 4.
61 and 70 reps respectively on the metcons
Good working with Marcos for the first time today!
6am with Jess and McDowell. Partnered with Isaac for Monday's workout: 23:26. My 400m splits were 1:13, 1:18, 1:20 and 1:22. Ring dips and toes-to-bar were unbroken until the 4th round. Felt like crap for about an hour afterwards. Good workout.
Nice to see Joy in the house again.
Post from yesterday:
Partner wod with Krazy Kanadian Matt Katz.
We finished in 18:43. Row's went pretty well, stayed at 1:30ish for first 2, then 1:40 ish for next 2. Had to breakup last 2 sets of ring dips and lest set of toes 2 bar.
Like the squat snatch warm up. The drill was quick fast paced seemed like David had just watched full metal jacket and was in his R Lee Ermey routine. (without all the yelling and such)
meat csa stragglers: email the farm if you want in
two more signups came in today and the Farm extended the deadline for them. so if you want in, email them ( returning members write to info at herondale farm dot com; new members should fill out the form at herondalefarm.com/csa/ )
Definitely looking forward to the LFPB Challenge. I've been paleo-ish for about six months, and this seems like a great opportunity to go all the way and see what it is like.
Couple questions:
1) What is a "full-fat, fermented, unsweetened dairy"? Cheese? Yogurt?
2) Diet sodas = minus one point or simply does not count toward the hydration goal?
3) Is fruit juice a refined sugar for LFPB purposes?
4) This is a dumb one, but corn tortillas would be considered a "grain", right?
6am with McDowell, did Monday's partner WOD with Steph.
Rowing started out pretty well: something like 1:14, then dropped to the 1:30's by the last set. Dips killed me though. I had to get off the rings and do the stationary dips to finish the first set, and it was like pulling teeth each round. By the last round I dropped down to singles for the last four or five dips. Knees to elbows were also broken up, but a little better than the dips.
Not sure what our time was, but my part of it was relatively slow. Probably should have scaled the dips since I knew I did a lot of pushups yesterday.
Nice workout though. Also, it feels so good to be back in the gym after a two-week stint single-dad-ing it.
Excited about the LFPB Challenge, but (I guess I am coming out) as a vegan I will have to stick with non-meat proteins but do I get a point for plant based fish-oil alternatives like Udo's (http://amzn.to/UHWc13) or Vega (http://bit.ly/UHWEMZ)? This heretical?
For months I've been telling Nick, "I'm not doing the paleo challenge this year." I've done three of 'em and I sorta feel like I get it now. But as December grinds on with its desserts and eggnog, I'm starting to crave a reset button. I like this challenge because it's only six weeks and because I can set my parameters. E.g., I turn 40 (!!!) on Feb 5 so, um, my guidelines are going to include some birthday partyness. My issue w/ past challenges is that I've been uber-strict and then struggled to find a way to stick the 80-20 lifestyle that I know I can keep forever. So I'm thinking about using this challenge as a way to discover tweaks that will get me (finally) to practice regular mobility work and some other little things I need to work on. Plus dropping some holiday fluff. We'll see.
Fun, and giant, 6am with Lady Fox & McDowell. Although us Wednesday-WOD-ers were just three strong, so it was almost like the old days. Fun to be front squatting again after…who knows how long. (Logging my workouts is something I definitely need to get back to!)
FSQ: (45×5, 95×5, 115×5)
135×5, 155×5
I went down really slowly on the first rep at 155 and almost got stuck, so then I was very scared of the next 4. Worked on speed and bouncing out of the hole and got through them all. I'm happy with that–I think I've done 155 for 3 before, maybe 2 years ago, so especially after six weeks of no squatting this was pretty good.
WOD:
6x Tabata box jump 55 reps
6x Tabata pullups 22 reps. Ugh. Pullups are my goat. The end.
last post was eaten. again.
meat csa folks – herondale just accepted two more members today, so they will take stragglers if you meant to sign up but haven't.
new members need to fill out the form on the herondale site; old members can just email the farm and say "i want back in."
email me with questions, mignyc at gmail dot com.
Jonathan,
Heretical? Perhaps 😛 but most of factors in the guidelines and bonus points can be applied to anyone.
-Avoid Grains
-Avoid Sugar
-Hydrate Enough
-Sleep Enough
-Workout etc.
DJ,
1) What is a "full-fat, fermented, unsweetened dairy"? Cheese? Yogurt?
Ask Fox.. I dont know much about dairy other than I love lattes and heavy creme in my coffee.
2) Diet sodas = minus one point or simply does not count toward the hydration goal?
– one point. I could live off diet coke. that delicious, metallic and chemically tasting elixir of pure refreshment. That being said, the stuff is poison
3) Is fruit juice a refined sugar for LFPB purposes?
Fruit juice is high in sugar and If you can, I'd avoid it. If it's a segway away from diet coke or other highly processed beverages, you might make that okay for yourself. Again, I'd try to avoid too much or water it down if possible. (it's possible)
4) This is a dumb one, but corn tortillas would be considered a "grain", right?
yeah- gluten free but a grain. See if you can eliminate grains, if you fall off the wagon go tortilla over bread.
The end of challenge dinner is the day before Crash Bs. Bogus.
Fermented dairy: yogurt, some cheese, kefir. I think buttermilk and sour cream are also fermented. Full fat means don't go for anything made from skim or reduced fat milk.
Fermented cheeses include: aged goat cheese, bleu cheese, brie, cambozola, Camembert, cantal, cheddar, Cheshire, cultured dry cottage cheese, edam, emmenthal, feta, Gorgonzola, Gouda, Gruyere, muenster, parmesan, Pour du Salut, Roquefort, Romano, and Stilton.
if i leave some fresh mozz in the back of my fridge for a few days til it gets a bit funky, does that count as fermented?
I'm looking forward to the challenge this year for a lot of the same reasons Charlotte mentioned. Been there, done that, but I could use a post-holidays kick start. I'm also psyched for the capacity test since I'm much more concerned with performance improvements than looking better in my trunks.
The challenges parameters are custom made for me to DESTROY.
Speaking of destruction there are currently 6 of us headed to the Rockaways Thursday. Please consider joining in on the fun/work. noahbarthATgmail to coordinate.
I find that (when I don't let myself drink excessive amounts of coffee) Kombucha is a great (emotional) alternative to diet coke. No caffeine or light-poisoned high though.
What about legumes/soy? I know they're banned in a true Paleo diet but I don't see them mentioned here.
Man, I could definitely DESTROY this paleo challenge, BUT, I'm probably doing Strength Cycle with Jeremy and want to put on some serious pounds, which I have found to be very difficult if I maintain strict paleo.
Speaking of, does Jeremy have an email @CFSBK that I can reach him at? Tried jeremy@ but I don't know if it went through. I guess I'll be in tomorrow but I wanted to be sure to secure my spot.
Love the format for this year's challenge. Thanks to the coaches/management for developing something that fits our community.
6PM AR with Fox and Herschel
Lots of barbell mashing and banded pulls.
7PM with Melo and Josh
First group class back after 9 weeks of strength class.
8 rounds of:
400m row
10 elevated pushups
20 sit-ups
Partnered with Pierce. After the first round of rowing, it hard to breathe. Felt like I was sucking air through a straw. Took it easy after that. Need to ease back into conditioning.
Good to see you peeps. Thanks for the well-wishes….
Still sore from my first WO back on Saturday! Took some long walks Sunday but not much help… Back at it tonight:
Paused Squats: 240x5x2
Bench: complicated and precise Steel warm-up and then:
180x2x2, 195x2x2, 205x1x2, 170×4 and 145×10 (week 1 of 5-week program)
Triceps rollbacks: 17.5 DB's w/ 12-15 secs rest: 8, 8, 8, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6
I lost count really, but I think that was about it which was over sixty. I'll see if next week I can get 7 sets of 8.
Curls: 25x10x4
I was going to pull and do some conditioning, but I don't know who I was kidding. I tried to move fast too, but to no avail so I chose to do arms instead. Very functional indeed.
I'll definitely have to go to a split layout to get all the work in I want to do. Maybe after the new year. I would like to do some pressing, but to be honest, I'm not missing it that much since my shoulder is feeling pretty good (and really better) without it.
Solid workout. Bench felt decent. Paused squats are man-makers. Those things are just brutally hard, even at light, light weight.
Wow, I'm really loving today's photo on the blog. Bear mask! Awesome tshirt! Biceps! Tres chic.
Backsquats, this week is 3×5, and bench press, 3×5 +2#'s, felt great. Its quite nice, really really nice to be super honest, to be feeling strong again.
Snatch from blocks (knees)
60kgx2x5
Clean and Power Jerk (2+1) from blocks (knees)
90x1x5
worked a few client hours and classes and then,
BSQ
225×10
245×10
265×10
Skipped out on some acc work and a WOD. Tomorrow is a rest day, and needed. Jess is threatening to get us Chinese massages.
Congrats to the many Comp Class PRs tonight, even the ones that came via mathematical error 😉
Totally in for LFPB Challenge.
Stella – Soy is always highly processed and usually GMO and so doesn't really fall within the parameters of the challenge. Exceptions would be if you were a vegan and needed high density protein sources like tempeh and tofu. A few legumes are, in my mind, a healthy addition to a whole foods diet. Treat them as a carb, a slow digesting one that helps control insulin. David and BW did a great job of answering the other few challenge related questions.
Got week 2 of Wendler in. I must say, lifting heavy and going "balls to the wall" in a WOD are two completely different animals. Getting strong after a couple of Strength Cycles is awesome, but after doing some conditioning work last week, I miss having the endurance to burn through even the most brutal WODs. I'm thinking this young Padawan needs to find balance. Maybe strong like an ox and supple as a leopard?
Nice seeing folks I haven't seen in a while tonight, especially some regular morning peeps (JB! Looking strong. Who know's? Maybe there's a Strength Cycle in your future).
I've gotta chime in on something I see pretty much every Tuesday night, and that is the Comp Class crew. It's always a privilege seeing these guys and gals, balancing their day to day lives, then coming in and giving it all they've got (and then some) time and time again. Right f*@$ing on folks.
6pm AR w/Fox – much needed, my calves were still a little tuned up from flight simulator on thur.
7pm class- Wed workout
(45×5, 95×5,135×3) 155 x5, 175×4 (failed on the last rep, lost my rack position)
55/53 on the tabata (20"box, kpus)