Summer time CFSBK, “Murph” 2014
Handstand Clinic, WOD, and Beer Social, Courtesy of lululemon in Brooklyn
This Saturday (tomorrow!) CFSBK is hosting a complimentary handstand clinic followed by a short WOD from3:30-4:30pm followed by drinks courtesy of our friends at lululemon athletica in Brooklyn. The beer social afterwards will be held one block over at our new neighbors Threes Brewing. If you’re interested, please RSVP to brooklyn-store (at) lululemon.com as space is limited for the class. If you don’t make it into the class or can’t make it, folks are still welcome over for some drinks afterwards.
Stretching the Space-Time Continuum, or, How to Get the Most Out of One Hour at CFSBK
By Noah Abbott
Fresh out of Foundations, the world of Crossfit and CFSBK can seem a bit overwhelming, full of jargon, percentages, and acronyms only a government employee could love (“This is an AMRAP WOD of T2B and DUs!!!”). While things can seem to move pretty fast, there are some specific strategies and considerations that will make your daily hour of fitness better spent. Equally important, it will make for a more pleasant experience for your fellow members, and allow your coaches more time to spend doing what they love (yelling “Knees Out”) and less time in an administrative or cat-shepherding function. To be fully awesome, do this:
Read the Blog
Aside from inspiring/funny pictures of your fellow members and links to Prancercise videos, the CFSBK blog contains some very important information—the daily programming. We take the time to write out the lifts, WODs, and accessory work you will see when you get to the gym, often with some editorial comment, helpful links, or videos related to their execution. Taking a few minutes to review your expected toils will let you plan your approach, think about possible scaling or substitutions, and save everyone time when you get to the gym. Also, make sure to comment, and add your voice to our community.
Be a Data Geek
Those crates near the whiteboard? The ones filled with notebooks? Those aren’t our 7th grade diaries (although that would be totes funny). They are training logs, and you are encouraged, nay, expected, to keep one. Dutifully logging your numbers will allow you to track progress over time, so you will know when to give yourself pats on the back (assuming you have to mobility to do so, see below.) Further, almost all of our programming is referential in nature—it is based upon work you have done before—whether that’s last weeks squat numbers, a bench press 1RM, or your time and scaling on a benchmark WOD. Even days that seem self-contained—a novel WOD or a lifting day where we “work up to a heavy 5”—can be better understood if you have the context of similar WODs or previous lifts. If you are following the Performance track this is especially important, as much of the programming is percentage based. You will earn the undying love of your rackmates and coaches if you have worked out your percentages before you lift, trust me.
Be Fashion Forward
Shoes, wraps, belts—somewhere along the line CrossFit evolved from the hobby of sweaty dudes in Chuck Taylors and board shorts into the sport of spandex clad meat robots (props to Kelly Starrett) sporting enough neon colored accessories to make Jem jealous. With some exceptions, good gear can be a true boon to your performance, and as such we at CFSBK encourage members to take advantage of it. That said, at the very least you should have your gear within immediate arms reach when it comes time to use it. Having to dash to your bag to grab your jump rope or switching shoes during lifting time eat into everyone’s time. Part of the blog review mentioned above is to make sure you know what gear you need to bring, and when you will need it. Be prepared.
Be a Loving Partner
So now you’ve read the blog, prepped you numbers, laid out all your sparkly fitness gear, and its time for *gasp* actual human interaction! The biggest difference between CFSBK and a globo gym is that ours is a communitarian fitness experience, and our conduct at the gym can enhance and embellish the experience of our fellow members. So when paired with someone to lift, introduce yourself, chat for a bit about what you have planned for the next 15 minutes, and then be an active and encouraging partner. Watch your partner’s lifts, offer kind words and feedback, and be ready to lift when it’s your turn. Nothing is worse than waiting around for your bar partner, who has unexpectedly disappeared to go pet a dog.
Show Up Early, Stay Late
We pack a lot into an hour at CFSBK, but we can’t do everything everyone wants to do within the relatively short time we have allotted. If you are feeling beat up, have specific mobility concerns, or want to practice a specific skill, feel free to come before class, or stay after, to work on your goals. The coaches are always happy to point you in the right direction to get you started. Incorporating Active Recovery class will also give you the tools and know how to address your problem areas. Making sure that you are physically prepared for class will reap immediate performance benefits. Our most successful athletes make sure their are properly warmed up and mobilized before class and make sure to cool down and work on skills afterwards.
At the very, very least, be on time. Running into a class late is disruptive for other members and the coaches, but more importantly you are gambling your personal safety by coming in cold and underprepared. Remember, we have a five-minute grace period for class attendance. Any member arriving over 5 minutes late will only be permitted at the coach’s discretion. If you show up 10 or more minutes late you should start planning your extended warm-up, make a Lego sculpture, or ask your beloved coaches how they like their coffee!
That’s it, kids. Print this list out, tape it to the inside of your eyelids, and I’ll see you at the gym!
- Happy birthday, LF DOOM and Dr. Mike!
- Today is the last day to fill out our survey regarding the upcoming CFSBK Kids Club Program!
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A Letter to New CrossFitters: Good Training Habits Inside the Affiliate
Valgus Knees and Why RG3’s Career is At Risk Volt Athletics
Saturday's Programming
Back Squat
Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Performance: Work up to a Heavy Single (80-90% of 1RM), then Max Reps at 50% of 1RM (capped at 20).
Post loads to comments.
e1/6
_____________________
For time:
100 Russian Kettlebell Swings
Every Minute on the Minute:
5 Burpees
*At the call of "go" and the top of each minute, perform 5 burpees before moving directly to the kettlebell.
Post time to comments.
Request for DO and KR Editz:
As cold and flu season is on us — I could swear there was an article on the blog at some point about guidelines on when it's OK to train while sick. If it exists, could you repost it? (And if it doesn't, can we have one?)
Sadly, I could use the advice right now — I didn't come in either today or yesterday because I'm not so sure it's a good idea. And yet my cold is mild enough that I feel really guilty about it. But maybe I shouldn't.
(I also feel really guilty about the fact that I'm going to take my cold on an airplane today, but there's no getting out of this work trip. See you all on Wednesday!)
is the handstand clinic designed for people that cant get a handstand? like never been inverted? like scared of being upside down? Like me?
6am. Squats: 135×5, 185×3, 235×1, 265×1, 285×1, 155×20. Metcon with a 32KG KB: 4:42. Got 27 swings the first minute, but couldn't hold that pace. Definitely going to feel that one tomorrow.
Coupla make-ups:
Wednesday, 7:30pm
For front squats, I did 135×5, 185×3, 225×1, 245×1, and then 20 reps at 125. These all felt really good, and I mentally broke up the rep out into little sets of 5 to get through it (i took a few seconds to recenter every few reps). I did the fitness side of the WOD and ended up with 4 rounds + 10 pull-ups and 2 push-ups. Push-ups always slow me down. It's a major issue for me.
Thursday, 8:30pm
For power cleans, I did 115×3, 145×5, 155×5, 165×5, and 185×4. Resetting the hook grip on the way down is TOUGH, but it was working okay on 145-165. That was the major issue on the 185 – with each reset, it felt a little more "off," so that by the time I finished my 4th rep it was just gone. The bar hit the floor, and I knew if I pulled I was going to go up without it. I also ended up doing a rep at 195, as I had some vague notion that I was going to do a fitness three at that weight, but then I thought better of it. I did the WOD rx'd with 50# dumbbells in 10:45. Everything was decent to good until I got to the clusters. DUs were "trippy," but I got through them in a minute or so. Burpees were steady. The row was a little over a minute and change. The clusters were a nightmare – spent about 3:30 or 4:00 doing 20 reps. Had to break them up massively (5-5-3-3-2-2), which sucked. 50# is pretty heavy for me, but it is the 45% rx, so I always feel compelled to try it. Ugh. To sum up, cluster = great German band, terrible dumbbell movement.
Thursday group class – back to normal programming for the next week and a half:
Touch-and-Go Power Cleans
225×5
245×5
255×5 – last rep felt wonky, but all felt good. Definitely can go up.
WOD – 7:18 with 50 pound dumbbells.
I was dumb on jumped on the erg after the double unders – didn't realize my mistake until Whit yelled at me.
Everything felt good until the clusters, which have always been an awful movement for me. Wanted to split it up into 2-3 sets, ended up doing it in 4 sets. Felt like it took forever and definitely felt my recent lack of conditioning. Something to work on.
6am. BSQ: 135×5 / 185×3 / 225×1 / 255×1 / 135×20. Pitched forward a bit at 255 but overall felt fine. WOD with 24kg KB and parallette burpees: 4:36. Had some hopes I might finish this before the 4 min mark but alas…
10am w/ Coaches Noah & McDowell
Future Back Squats: Fitness:
225, 225, 225#
First time in a while, but felt good.
WOD:
9:59, Green Kettlebell
My wrists are an absolute mess.
Begged and pleaded to substitute deadlifts for power cleans and the coaches relented once my tears started flowing.
DL: 275 x 5. Good starting point for this cycle.
WOD in 9:13. Started with 30lbs DBs. Should have stuck with them but dropped down to the 25#'ers. Clusters were a mess.
BTW – Witnessed MeLo do this WOD at 6:30. Sickness. . . so F#*&^ing fast.
@Stella! So sorry to hear you're not feeling well. I hope you get better soon.
I can't remember a specific article about that, but I do know some advice in that vein has been written in some other articles. The latest reference I can think of is from Coach Fox in Part 2 of the pregnancy series:
"So, training depends on how you feel. It’s just like any other day—if you woke up with the flu, you wouldn’t train with as much intensity."
And then this from David's "Beat the Heat" article:
"Listen to your body. If you're feeling lightheaded, dizzy, nauseous, begin to cramp or display anything resembling fever symptoms, it's time to stop, cool-down, and hydrate. Sometimes during hard workouts we try to "push through the pain" but remember that putting yourself at risk in order to shave off an extra :15 seconds is both dangerous and contrary to why you're here in the first place (to get fit!)."
Hope that helps a bit!
Also, not related, but while I was hunting around, I found this quote from Samir in the comments on 9.25.11:
"Anyone that's smoked weed knows one's subjective experience of time is affected by the herb. Well, the good news is you can get the same effect by doing a wall-ball/burpee workout."
To further Samir's point, I found during the last Crush Week that the bear complex produces the same effect. Never in my life have I ever felt time moving so fast ("Holy shit how has the next minute already come?" and so slow ("Holy shit how do I still have 13 more minutes of this?") SIMULTANEOUSLY.
I've been thinking about writing the training habits pt2 article for YEARS now. Thank you to Noah for not only writing it but nailing it! Take heed CrossFitters! All golden points!
Rob,
I'll start slow and ramp up on progressions. I can accommodate for anyone.
yeaaaahhh happy birthday LF and dr mike!!!!!!!
back to noah's article i am 100% guilty of rushing to get my gear as seen last night when i was lurking in the back of the group picking out a jumprope (because i forgot mine at home) and did not get partnered up for the sod (which turned out to be ok for me)! need a better habit of doing this!
also i see wods where people just fall to the floor and really lie down for some odd mins and last night was the first time i had to do this!
lastly, omg samir's comment!!
sod? wod!
Great energy at OG tonite
Snatch, Max
220
242
253
264
286
301F
301F
301F
**All attempts so close. Its there
CJ, Max
220
264
308
330
367PR
Front Squat, Heavyx2x3
365x2x3
Lax ball on shoulders, traps, glutes, hamstrings
HSPUs x 6 x 3 w abmat
100 assorted KB swings w 16 kg
2 rounds for time:
40 wall ball (14#, 9')
50 goblet squats (16kg)
60 box step ups (20")
100 DUs or 300 SUs (did 50 DUs + 150 SUs, then 300 SUs bc rope was frustratingly long but this killed my calves and feet — crazy cramping, had to do little sets)
19:25
I haven't been doing much conditioning so wanted to get this in. The cramping slowed me down more than anything else.
Lax ball on feet and calves
Lower back distraction on pull up bar
Also.. This week I've been carrying any bags I happen to have on my wrists (including meat share Wed night) mimicking a false grip… It just might work for my kipping muscle ups