Jake L getting ready for his Oly meet in May
- Happy birthday, Noah O!
- As Matt K. noted in the comments on Thursday, some of you may have received a little bit of love from CFSBK in your email inbox. We’ve resurrected the long-dead SBK newsletter and will be sending it out at the start of every cycle. If you don’t feel like getting another one, just hit unsubscribe at the bottom of the email and we’ll never bug you again. And if you’ve got any big community news, announcements, births, weddings, whatever, email Mare [at] crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com and we’ll include them in the next edition.
Below is a short article we ask all our new members to read when they graduate from our Foundations program. Coach DO posted it on Inside the Affiliate a few weeks ago to encourage coaches at other affiliates far and wide to share it with new members—it’s that important! Whether you’ve been riding the SBK train for years or are just fluttering your wings fresh from the warm cocoon of Foundations, read through this article again in the spirit of Back Off Week. Remember to maintain your good habits and keep longevity in mind when you walk through CFSBK’s doors (PSYCHE—THE OPEN GATE! BECAUSE SPRING IS HERE!).
Good Training Habits
By David Osorio
While it’s our responsibility as coaches to teach you movement, program intelligently, and keep you safe, it’s your responsibility as athletes to develop good training habits. Here is an overview of three great habits that will significantly enrich your training experience.
1. Be Proactive With Your Movement Prep
Everyone needs to do a little personalized maintenance on their bodies. Even 10 minutes of DIY movement prep before class can go a long way in keeping you fit and pain free. After you’ve signed in and changed, take advantage of the time you’ve got and start moving.
Warm-up
Row an easy 300-500m on the erg. Get your heart rate up a little and try to get a light sweat going. We recommend holding 20 strokes per minute and rehearsing good form.
Stretch/Foam Roll
Many of us know where our tightest areas are—they’re the ones that make it difficult to squat below parallel or press a barbell overhead. Spend a few minutes mobilizing and doing some soft tissue work (foam roller/LAX ball, etc.) on your “problem areas.” If you don’t know where to begin, ask a coach what you should be prioritizing and we’ll help you out. We also regularly refer our members to out Active Recovery classes and MobilityWOD.com. This is great resource for folks who need simple, effective strategies to help them move better.
2. Log All of Your Workouts
Training without logging is like driving without a road map. You don’t know where you’ve been or where you’re going. Taking notes on each training session helps you track your progress and helps us make informed decisions about how to assist you in choosing weights and scaling movements. Each day should list some quantitative and qualitative notes about your training session. Here is an example:
Warm-Up:
3 rounds NFT
5 Snatch PP (22lb bar)
5 OHS
5 Muscle Snatches
10 Push-ups on knees
Move up to yellow bar
AMRAP 15 minutes:
Row 350m
12 Overhead Squats, 45lbs
4 Rounds + 320m
Kept rows at about 2:23 splits, felt hard but doable. Don’t shift forward during overhead squats…. Mid foot!
You can track your workouts in a journal or online. As coaches, we LOVE to read the details of your workout in the Comments section of CFSBK’s blog. It gives us a deeper perspective into your training and the programming in general.
3. Start Slow and Maintain Perspective
We take our training seriously at CrossFit South Brooklyn and with that comes with a good deal of responsibility. Our movement pool uses serious strength and conditioning exercises in order to develop broad, inclusive fitness. If we don’t treat these movements and workouts with respect, training plateaus and injuries are sure to follow. The best way to ensure your success and training longevity with us is by starting slowly and developing a rock-solid technical base. In fact, the first few months you start CrossFit, intensity should not be a significant concern. The movements are potent enough that just consistently performing them will create a favorable adaptation. After you feel really comfortable with most of our exercises and have a working knowledge of your weights, only then should you start ramping up the intensity.
Training with a lifelong perspective is incredibly important. Remember that you’re here to build yourself up, not break yourself down. Scaling workouts properly, listening to your body and checking your ego at the door will allow you to work out successfully for years to come. Most importantly, have fun with this stuff and enjoy the process.
_________________
How to Make Small Talk With Strangers Art of Manliness
What if the Moon was a Disco Ball? VSauce
The Culture of Shut Up The Atlantic
Abs/Back: What Does it All Mean? Catalyst Athletics
Fitness: Clean Segment Deadlift + Clean + Jerk
Spend 15 minutes working up to a moderate load on the complex. If you have a hard time organizing the pull off the floor then perform the clean from the mid-hang.
Performance: Work up to a 1RM Clean and Jerk
Try and set a new PR but take no more than 5 attempts over 90%. Misses count as attempts.
Front Squat
80% x 3 x 3
Saturday
C&J: Worked up to 155
FSQ: 175#
Feeling sluggish. Attributing this to clean-shavenness.
Did Thursday's workout at the 7am class, ah what an amazing way to warm up! Wallball is still a work in progress but the 20#/10' standard is getting better & better.
Feeling super weak today and took it easy with 25# push presses and medium effort rows/runs. Looking forward to c & j tomorrow! I want to drill good split jerk positions, last time I did this I went for weight and it was uuugly.
6am with McDowell and Jess Fox
Was glad to take it a little easy today as it's my 5th day on in a row.
C&J: 95, 135, 155, 165, 175, 185, 195, 200F, 200F
195 matches a PR
On the earlier lifts I felt like I was getting under the bar better than usually, but I couldn't apply this when it got heavy. I feel like I went in retrograde on my cleans today and actually got worse at getting down. Got some good cues from McDowell, though. Gonna try to reprogram my oly lifts this cycle, working positions more than weight.
Front Squats: 175 x 3 x 3, no trouble at all
Sally up/down: this alleged "song" goes on for way too long, both musically and in terms of pushups. Deep plank fell apart about half way through and I could only get through the remaining pushups by resting at the bottom.
Alex: You had to do it as PUSHUPS?! I saw the 7 AM'ers doing it as squats and it looked terrible, but pushups sound even worse!
I did not realize I actually have this song in my music collection. I think I may have to use it to force myself to spend more time in a Paleo chair.
I did yesterday's work though so no squat song for me. DB push press at 25-30-35, unbroken except for the last set. Chinups were…not unbroken.
After A LOT of calf mash and a little couch stretch, stuck around for 5×2 ring dips. I think I'm going to just keep adding as many microsets as I can each time I practice these, until I can do 3 at a time, and then start over again with sets of 3.
6am with McD and Nick. Made up Thursday's workout.
Warmup was sweaty, still feeling the 150 wall balls from Saturday (I think).
Did the performance WOD.
For Pullups, did 20, 25, 30.
For HSPU's, did 12, 12, 12. It's hard to rep out a ton of these given the blood-rushing-to-head thing.
Love running outside when I'm not breathing ice in and out of my lungs.
I think that the CFSBK garage door is like the Groundhog of BK; when it's up, Spring is here.
6am with McDowell and Nick. I did Saturday's work, worked up to 130# on the clean & jerk. That felt heavy, but more or less moving as it ought to. The splits are starting to feel a little more intuitive and a little less awkward. Hooray for muscle memory. 135# x3x3 on the front squats. I like front squats and I'm glad to see them in the rotation this cycle. I did the Sally up/down as squats. The last time I tried this, it was as pushups and that was one of the sorriest displays of nincompoopery I've ever put on, so I opted to play it reasonably safe this time around. It still sucked, but I made it through.
Weird morning at the gym. I went out late last night – broke all diet restrictions – ate bread and butter (mmm.. delicious), bread pudding, wine.
Woke up at 5AM with a splitting headache. Decided to go the gym at 6 just because I was up anyway even thought I felt sick..
Broke my C&J personal best by 63 pounds! Kind of surprising.
I guess I've never really pushed myself on C&J weight. Stayed at around 135# working on getting good positions. But today I decided to see how far I could go. I was working with the Kg plates so I went from 40 kg to 50 kg to 60 kg then 70 kg then 80 then 90.
90kg (198 lb) was not very pretty at all – in fact, it may not have counted as valid, since I essentially did a press out in order to lock out my arms, but I definitely felt like i could do it. Still – so weird – does it mean the training here is actually working? Or was it the combination of bread pudding and white wine?
It definitely changes my sense of what my potential limit could be.
Really liked this blog.
Being a CF novice (and perfectionist spaz) I need constant reminders like this to keep me on track and keep my head in the right place. Number 3, especially talked to me.
I am actually visiting my family in Orange County, CA right now, and went to Crossfit Tustin to workout with my brother. I was nervous going into unfamiliar territory, so I kept my weight really conservative and focused a lot on my technique and keeping things moving. Although I could have absolutely added more LBs, I decided not to and was happy with that decision. Still got an amazing workout and DRIPPED. SWEAT.
WOD was: 15 minute cap
21 DL
21 HSPU (I scaled to push ups)
21 BSQ
21 Burpees
21 power C&J
I used 55#. Finished in 10:32, then bought some swag to wear in the South BK. Boom.
6am. Clean & Jerk: 115, 135, 165, 185, 205, 225, 235, 245, 255F. Cleans and jerks both felt good today. A few weeks ago I struggled with 225, missing both cleans and jerks at that weight. Today 225 felt smooth. So did 235. The jerk at 245 was ok. No press out, but didn't feel snappy. Failed the clean at 255 (which would have been a 5# clean&jerk PR). Bar was way out in front from the moment I pulled it off the floor and I never had a chance. Really happy with the numbers today as I've felt off on my oly lifts recently and haven't hit 245 for a jerk in many many months.
Front squats at 205. Easy peasy. Managed to make it through all of the cash-out (push-up variation). Barely.
Management: I'm really loving the DIY olympic lift warm-ups for the performance folks. Gives me time to put a bit more focus on the cues I need. Please keep this format.
Love that, Laura!
I won't abuse my privileges by posting this on the actual blog, but this video of dogs "praying" before they eat is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
Hi folks –
I believe that there are a couple of spots still open for the Rings/Gymnastics session.
You will take inversions on the rings farther, balance on your hands, fall, laugh and do it some more. And generally get stronger doing fun body movements.
happy spring friday!
8am class with Noah – Thursday's workout. Getting the opportunity to work on kipping and T2B this week not in a timed WOD was REALLY helpful. With some quality coaching from Noah today, I came very close to stringing two T2Bs together. I now feel like doing T2B in a WOD is totally within reach.
I definitely went too light on the push press in the WOD (15#). I think I had strict press in my mind when I was selecting my weights.
Hello. Lets just say someone stepped in something. Their shoes were on the rack where we keep our bags. Said something ended up on me.. hence now I'm a sad handbag. Riddled with strange poo. And its gross. I know MGMT has stated it before but please please please street shoes under the rack and not on. Pleeeeeeeeeease.
I wish I could do rings class this time! It's so much fun!
Strength Cycle last night.
LBBS
45 x 5
95 x 5
165 x 3
185 x 2
195 x 1
200 x 5 x 3
So happy!!! I was really nervous about this all day and when the first set happened, I was so relieved. My second set was really a struggle and it felt like the bar was too low on my back. My third was a bit better as seems to be the case most of the time. Jeremy surprised me by letting me know I only had one rep left when I thought I had two. I was really pitching forward at the bottom and also found it difficult to stand up straight with that much weight on my back so I'll have to really focus on that next time. Very happy to hit 200lbs for the first time though.
Press
45 x 5
50 x 4
55 x 3
60 x 2
65 x 4, 65 x 3, 65 x 5
I think the squats ate my brain and I just didn't feel like pressing afterwards. I didn't even try to press the 5th rep of the first set. We tried the touch and go (?) method for my second set but I couldn't wrap my head around it. The third set was fine. I probably just needed more rest.
And my shoulder is still giving me trouble. Poop.
Chin-ups- 5 x 5.
Got Saturdays work in at noon.
C&J: 80KG, 90, 100 (very shaky), 100 (press out), 100 (pretty solid)
Good cues from Ro and McD on my dip in the Jerk. I tend to go to fast and lose connection between my rack and the back. Keeping my hands more open and relaxed and trying to consciously "hold" the bar with my shoulders helped for the last jerk. Excited to try and get my jerk to match my 1RM clean this cycle, or at least to narrow the gap.
FSQ: 230x3x3, felt good, despite having a coughing fit in the middle of the first set and almost passing out.
Did about 2/3 of Sally with pushups. Shoulder starting feeling very tweaky in the bottom position and I called it. This felt worse than doing it with 135 pounds on my back.
10AM group class
Warm-up was fun. Worked 14# to 10 foot target. going back to 9ft after that feels lovely.
Performance:
Kipping PU's: 11, 8, 10. Never really tested this before, which is kinda lame. Since I've "gotten" kipping pull-ups, I just almost always do them in sets of 5 or 3 in the workouts. Obviously, I need to work my endurance on this and stringing more together. Grip felt like a big limiter, surprise surprise. Working to stay hollow/tight arch and use hips instead of legs.
HSPU: 7, 6, 5
THANKS McD for helping me organize these better. I tend to want to stay more "upright" instead of letting my knees tuck way in and using my hips. Much better the latter way. This was fun and have good work to do in terms of linking them a bit faster once they're organized.
I did not do the last row.
Then, some coaching/gymnastics work with Senor Fox, including some muscle up progression stuff. I think one of the reasons I love CF so much is that no matter how many tricks you think you have in your bag or how you progress… there's always more to explore and learn, skills to develop, and ways to get more proficient, stronger, and fitter. I'm feeling inspired 🙂
Made up yesterday's work –
Pull-ups: 31, 26, 27 – didn't really go all out on any of these as my hands have been a little prone to tearing lately and it is back-off week
HSPU: 15, 12, 10 – kipped. Heart-rate was kinda high for doing strict by the time I got to these.
10am class – Saturday's work
C&J (kgs)
198-209-220-231-242(F)
Really only clean pulled the 242 with no attempt at a third pull, so a huge F. No PR today but the jerk got better from 90kg on thanks to some eyes and cues from Noah.
FSQ
220x3x3
I hate front squats. If I was better at them I would have a bigger clean and jerk though, so…
Afterwards I played with butterfly pull ups and kipping handstand push ups.
Unfortunately, it seems that there are no gyms in Tilburg that will take me and Adrian 🙁
The place I went to last year changed management and no longer allows drop ins, same policy goes for the two other gyms we attempted to drop in at. (all globo gyms, no CrossFit gyms in Tilburg)
So we went to the park and did
Alternating with a partner, perform 20 rounds of:
1 Round of Cindy (5 Pull-ups, 10 Push-Ups, 15 Squats)
Run ~200m to a tree and back
1 Round of Cindy
We didn't have a clock so not sure how long it took, felt like a long time since it meant 20 rounds of cindy each plus runs plus rests.
__________________
As a side note, I notice this every year but there are so many more active older folks here. Today while we were working out a grandmother was at the park showing her 5 year old granddaughter how to jump rope including two step, backwards and jogging with the rope. There are also a ton of older folks riding bikes here, something I never see in New York.
WE NEED MORE PEOPLE BIKING IN THE STATES
___________________
Kate R is killing it on the blog
___________________
Miss everyone at the gym, excited to eventually come back.
Heavy squat day
Hbbs
95×5 135×4 185×3 225×2 265×1 272x5x5
I was nervous but I made it through pretty easily!
Snatch grip RDL
155×5 220x5x4
SIGNIFICANTLY harder than regular RDLs. I think I want to do more snatch grip work.
C2b pull ups
6×6
45# plank
3×1:00
I was riding an adrenaline high from the squats. I'm going to be feeling all of this tomorrow, I'm sure.
Taxing OG tonite.
Snatch-Max for the day
220
242
264
275
286
295M
295M
**This would have been a 5lb pr. In retrospect I should have just gone for a 2 lb pr probably.
Clean and Jerk-Max for the day
220
264
286
310
332
352M
343M(Made the Clean, missed the jerk)
**My jerk continues to be the weakest link in my lifting.
Front squat-Max for the day
330
353
375M
364(a 4 lb PR)
7am with Nick, c+j at 63/83/93/98/100 (PR!) Tried 103 but failed on coming out of the squat–good thing we are training front squats this cycle. Fox was hanging out nearby and said it was because I didn't rest enough after the last attempt. Probably right…
3×3 at 80 on the front squats, felt solid. That song went on way too long, and I've been walking like my grandma all day.