Final Parting Iron Maidens Thoughts from Margie
The first time we ran Tough Titsday in 2011 (Iron Maidens’ predecessor), we had no idea what to expect. I remember prodding our members to sign up (particularly those who had taken my Tough Titsday class), and feeling thrilled that we got about 20 to commit. That group of women was a mix of new and more experienced lifters, but none had ever taken part in a meet. There was a great sense of mystery about what it would be like to lift with commands and adhere to particular rules. Logistically, I modeled it after Jeremy’s Totals and the USAPL meets I had been to. My scoring system was the whiteboard. The day was absolutely electric. No one, including myself, anticipated the heart and grit those women would leave on the platform. I think we all felt we’d taken part in something profoundly special.
We’ve run five Tough Titsday meets since 2011, improving things along the way: Ryan Joyce designed a scoring program, the gym acquired a screen and projector, I slowly populated our judging and spotting team with more women, the flow of the event got tighter and, best of all, gym members signed up of their own accord – no prodding needed. It got to be quite a popular event, both to be part of and to watch. But it was ready to evolve.
Fast forward to Iron Maidens: 55 lifters from all over NYC, a judging and spotting team of (nearly) all women, 11 businesses sponsoring prizes, Mare Lai’s thorough planning assistance, a volunteer staff of over 15, and a crowd so large, I never quite believed what I was seeing. The sheer size of the experience was thrilling. But fundamentally, it was still the same event: new and experienced female lifters coming together to discover, share, and show their strength. I am proud that we were able to re-create that electric energy once again, and to extend it to so many women: veterans and first-timers, CFSBK-ers, and non. Thank you, CFSBK, for being home to such an experience. I hope Iron Maidens will continue to be an environment where women push themselves and each other, and have a boat-load of fun doing it.
Thank you to my volunteers, spotters, and judges for working so hard to make this event run as smoothly as I could hope the first time around. It was a pleasure to work with you. I think we learned a lot and next time will be even better.
Hats off to all you ladies for your heart and grit.
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Insane Feats of Athleticism
Masters of Love The Atlantic
Platform Spacing, Beginners, and the Google Self-Driving Vehicle Catalyst Athletics
Wednesday's Programming
Back Squat
Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Add 5-10 pounds to last week's exposure.
Performance: 92.5% x 2, 82.5% x 10
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e6/8
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"Annie"
50-40-30-20-10, For Time:
Double Unders
Sit Ups
Post what you worked on to comments.
Compare to 7.31.2014
Margie, it's so much because of you that CFSBK is a place where so many women have been inspired to be strong.
I was in one of those early Tough Titsday classes. This was back when Strength Cycle was mostly dudes. There were five of us learning to get comfortable going heavier than we had in group class. That class was my gateway drug to Strength Cycle. I don't know that I would have done it if I hadn't had Tough Titsday to get me comfortable with the idea of putting such a focus on strength.
Fast forward to last summer, when there were FIVE of us broads in the B cycle (the cycle with more advanced programming). That was an amazing two months on the platform, in which I can't believe how much stronger I got and how therapeutic it was to be around the other ladies. And then fast forward to Saturday, one of the most joyous events I've ever attended.
It happens in part because of the amazing positive peer pressure we have here. Raise your hand if Cam nudged you into signing up for Iron Maidens, right? And god knows I evangelize for Strength Cycle every chance I get. But all of that encouragement and love for women getting under the bar started with Margie.
So, thank you, Margie, again.
6am with Jess and McD
Yesterday's programming, Bench press: 45×5, 75×5, 90×2, 100x5x3
WOD: 5:34 on the couplet and 2:13 on the row
It was great to be back in the gym, but I can already feel how sore I'm going to be!
——
Crash-B's recap: I had an amazing time this weekend! It was a long 4 months of training, but I ended up finishing in 7:47.0, which was a huge improvement compared to my first 2k at 8:10. I almost dropped out twice, but Nick encouraged me to stick with it and those tough workouts over the last month really paid off.
Congrats to everyone on all of the fitness this weekend! Wish I could've been there to see Iron Maidens and the Totalers in person!
Just got home and realized I didn't put my wall ball away. I'm sorry!! Thanks to whoever cleaned up my mess đ
After two days of travel hell, I got to tackle 15.1 yesterday with J.B.
15.1: 123
15.1A: 287lbs
Wasn't feeling the best, but the workout went pretty much how I thought it would: lost my grip, lost my kip, and the T2B went slow. These are one of my biggest weaknesses and it showed in the workout, but I'm glad they're out of the way now.
Started with 5-5-5, 5-5-5, then lost everything in the third round and had to do singles and doubles, which really slowed me down. Deadlifts and snatches were all easy and unbroken.
C+J:
257
287
295F
C+J time went by quicker than I thought. Had a hard time gripping the bar, which was the limiting factor. If I did it again, I might do only two attempts with a lot more rest. Happy to get 94% of my 1RM.
All in all, not my best performance. My guess is we're going to see some heavy weight cycling at some point in the next few workouts, which will be my wheelhouse.
Thanks to Jason for judging me and suggesting I add fractionals (1lb plates) to my C+J to boost my score.
Guys, you RULE. Inside the Affiliate made it into Breaking Muscle's Top 20 once again! Thank you so much for all of your nominations! Winners will be announced on Sunday.
Raising my hand Stella. Cam literally forces me to do things that I'm too scared to try initially. Thanks for your peer pressure Cam!
I can't remember who forced me to sign up for the open- probably Cam. đ
Yesterday's workout was no fun.
I went easy on the bench and then half assed the WOD. oops- I need a rest day, should have taken it yesterday.
My report on the CrashBâs:
First, congratulations to all the Iron Maidens â I would have loved to have brought my daughters to the event as inspiration and motivation. Sounds like a great day.
CrashBâs: This was my second year in the training program and my first time in Boston. Last year I tried to do too much during Coach Nickâs 17-week CrashB program. The lifting was fine, but the crush weeks and too much ice hockey resulted in a strained back and several other injuries that kept me out of the final race. My goal this year was to cut back on hockey, stay away from crush weeks and try to avoid lifting heavy boxes of celery at the Park Slope Food Coop (the cause of one of my injuries).
I felt great through February. Then the flu came. Most of this past month was spent trying to just get work, resting, but hardly any rowing. So thatâs how I entered the race yesterday, with only two or three workouts in the past month, still feeling lousy with a cold, but in one piece with no injuries.
My heat, the Menâs Lightweight Veterans (under 164 lbs 50-54 yrs) went off at 10:20am. During my warmup, I was able to hear the announcer call the races of the disabled divisions. There are a variety of adaptive divisions â legs, arms, shoulders, and developmental disabilities. It was an aspect of the event that I hardly had thought about. That part was totally inspiring and helped me to stop complaining about my cold. Thereâs a ton of information on the web if anyoneâs interested in this part of the sport â just google âadaptive rowingâ. It truly is motivational and inspiring.
In any event, I finally settled into my erg and did my race. I certainly didnât set any records, PR or otherwise; but I finished. And my kids pointed out that I was dead last in my heat! By far, the most fun was having Nick as the coxswain. And I have to say, it was a singularly unique experience to have him over my shoulder, coaching for about eight minutes. My favorites were âBREAK THE FâG CHAINâ⌠and something like âYouâll never again sit on an erg!!!â. Iâm not sure I would have even finished the race without his help, and Iâm sure it saved me about 20 seconds.
All in all, the programâs focus on both technique and discipline were well worth the 17 weeks of agony. And Iâm sure, if Iâm healthy, and the program is offered, Iâll do it again!.
Thanks to Dave O and all of CFSBK for another great experience â so fun.
Iron Maidens was SO AWESOME, and I just want to give props to Margie for putting together an amazing, inspiring event, and to everyone who competed and helped make the day run. I don't think I've ever heard a room explode quite the way it did after Becca and Serene hit their final squats. That was a moment I won't soon forget.
On Sunday I tackled 15.1 with a nice crew at OG. Ro gave me some great advice on how to pace, and as a result I got 120 reps right at the buzzer. Wish I had switched to singles on the T2B earlier, could have maybe gotten a few more. I could barely feel my hands at the end of this. For 15.1a, I hit 206 for the clean and jerk, which is a 1# PR. Honestly, I feel like if I can hit that after 9 minutes of grip destruction, I think my ceiling might be a little higher.
Last night the Tacos breezed to a couple more wins in our basketball league, bringing us to 8-0. We're really starting to click as a team, and it's been pretty fun so far!
Hahaha thanks for the shoutout on my peer pressure skills! When I was a spectator at Tough Titsday last year (was just a gym newbie fresh outta foundations) I was like 'OK this vibe that's going on… I need that!! Sign me up!!' I am SUPER HAPPY to be a part of it this year and anticipating for the years to follow.
As someone who is pretty easy going I am kind of shy when it comes to my self-confidence and self-worth. Being at CFSBK really got me out of my shell for that, and Iron Maidens made it even better!! I just think we have the coolest women at our gym and so happy to see people recognizing that! Thank you again Margie and all of CFSBK!!!
Also loving the Crash B recap with Nick's words of encouragement haha yesss!
Time for some AR love tonight! God knows I need it!!
Cam, you're great.
Nice job, Tacos! I'm sorry I forgot to put your game on the blog yesterday!
Hit the 10am class with McD and Jess today.
Perf. bench: 45×5, 85×4 with pause, 105×2, 115×1, 130×2, 115×7 (failed on 8th). Happy with this.
WOD: 21-15-9 Rx in 5 min flat, then 40 calories in 2:47.
Fun one. Loved being in the gym in the morning, especially for the positive peer pressure it exposed me to regarding the fact that I don't have T2B. đ
The parade of 2-lb PR's continues in Frank's Oly lifting cycle. Being a beginner is so much freaking fun, I need to think about what new thing I can tackle after this so I never find myself in the rut of "intermediate" ever again.
We love you Margie! What you've built is amazing and inspiring, and SO IMPORTANT.
Belated report back from CRASH-Bs…
The weekend was, simply put, an amazing experience. As others have said, being able to workout (including the guided tour of the tanks and varsity room by noted alumnus Coach Nick) at the Harvard Men's Boat House was incredible. The icing on the cake were the pictures of Nick hanging on the walls.
During the warm-up at Harvard, I felt really good. Everything was clicking — I was keeping my heels soft, catching the wheel, etc. It felt good enough that I started to think "What if it doesn't feel this good tomorrow? What if I've wasted my good row right now?" The panic faded a bit because I was there and I was going to finish the race — regardless of how good/bad it felt.
Race day came and I was nervous, but really excited. The atmosphere in the arena is just insane. My anxiety started to fade once I saw the other SBK folks kicking ass and was almost gone after being the coxswain for Mo (and possibly scarring him for life with my yelling).
I sat down on my erg with two goals: 1) my realistic goal of under 7:10.0; 2) my stretch goal of a sub-7:00. The race started and, thank goodness, everything felt just as good as the day before. I felt like I was settling into my pace nicely, even with the excitement of the race telling me "GO FASTER. YOU WILL FEEL THIS GOOD FOREVER. YOU ARE INVINCIBLE."
Nick was my coxswain and was the master of saying the right thing at the right time to keep me going. Highlight for me was at some point near the end and hearing him tell me to "row so hard, you can't see!" and I did just that — concentrating on making those last few seconds count as tunnel vision set in and I approached the finish line.
I finished at 7:03.7, a new PR, and promptly rolled onto the floor beside the erg (as I do after any race) until the CRASH-B volunteer kindly said "Sir, we're going to need you to clear the floor."
I can honestly say that the past 17(!) weeks have been amazing. I have never trained for an event like this and am already mourning the end of it a little bit. Most of all, this was an amazing opportunity to get to know an amazing group of people from the gym. I wouldn't have made it this far without rowing next to people who pushed me to go faster and, toward the end, just to finish the workout… even when the only thing I wanted was to walk away. Thank you Nick & CRASH-Beasts!
I look forward to breaking the 7:00 barrier at CRASH-Bs 2016.
12noon
Tomorrow's Squats Today
w/ Coach McDowell
LBBS:
255x5x3
Didn't add weight from last week, but managed to complete the 15reps. Psyched.
Annie:
>10:00 cap using Shaolin Drunken Double-Unders Style
Terrible. My first 50 took ~3mins.
Ended with some much needed strict MU work.
Was today's WOD named after that pretty lady with the big shoulders who's last name (appropriately) sounds like "Thor's daughter"?
Chris Y! Naw actually Annie Sakamoto one of the original Nasty Girls
I've been on this productivity kick lately so haven't be able to read blog comments 100 times per day, and by 100 times per day, I mean, this isn't actually something that I do, rather something I heard from a friend.
Anyhoo, on Saturday I walked my lil furlady Juniper down to see the Iron Maidens in order for her to have more strong female role models and it paid off. Super awe-inspiring to see women move all the weight. I have no idea why DO was cutting onions next to me during Serene's record-setting squat but if you want to see video of our resident Professor of Swoleology perform her impressive feat it's here. No spoilers, but on the 18th time you watch, maybe switch your focus to Jeremy's reaction. It's pure gold.
The platforms continued to radiate inspiring energy today during our Oly class, and thanks to a new cue from Frankie to do an exaggerated tilt during the pull, I was finally able to move a little more weight for the snatch, 80#. Really psyched about this. Green plates, I see you and I'm coming for you.
In short, the way I feel about Iron Maidens, this gym, the barbell and Oly cycle is very much the stuff that Whitney sang of.
"Interesting" article. These guys proceeded to build their racks close together, and then came up with this gem of a quote in an attempt to justify it:
wut?! Okay then.
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In other news, I (don't) look forward to a Pilates class tonight.
Got in tomorrow's work this morning:
HBBS 235x5x3 – felt good. A little stiff from sitting around being sick this weekend
Annie: 5:36 Rx'd – this was a PR by ~0:14
Off to Southeast Asia vacation – see you all in 2 weeks!
Ah yes, an OG NG. Thanks, Cam!
Inspiring tales of domination and camaraderie this weekend. Congrats all.
Noah, glad you're ok. Careful buddy.
After a yoga class, completed Monday's WOD today –
Bench Press
3×5
80-80-80
Failed on last rep in final set but this is a PR so I'll take it. Pretty psyched how open my chest is after 10 days of yoga teacher training. Really noticed it improving my form on these.
21-15-9
Wallballs @ 16#
Burpees
4:50
5min Rest
40 calorie row
3:20
This article made me think of all the badasses at CFSBK.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/02/on-being-a-badass.html?mid=facebook_nymag
As one of the competitors at The Iron Maidens this past weekend, I not only want to give Margie a shoutout for such an amazing event, but also the incredibly awesome spotters who were really the stars of the show! It was a lonnngggg day, but they were just as sharp in the end as they were in the beginning (and probably did more lifting than the rest of us!) You guys were the best!
Go Tacos! đ
Amanda! I had that same onion problem during the squats (and again during the deadlifts) And here I just thought it got really really dusty for a minute (or ten) in the gym. đ
So so incredible to see these amazing strong women lifting all the weight! I am so happy that CFSBK is my home.
15.1 last night
132 reps; 125# (+85% of my 1rm)
I got really out of it by the 4th round.
The cleans felt kinda crushing, but the jerks were surprisingly snappy.
I tried 138# but my chest caved at the bottom of the clean and I gave up.
I'm predicting this will have been my favorite open workout this year.
Oly practice today
Snatch
39kg (85%) x 1 x 5 – I liked all of these. Particularly the last one.
– smooth acceleration from the floor
– land and punch at the same time
C&J
55kg (85%) x 1 x 5 – These felt good, even though my body is tight everywhere.
– keep balance in the jerk
I'd like to incorporate some more conditioning so the open work-outs don't kill me…
Otherwise, I'm really happy spending most of my training time on oly stuff.
4:30 Monday with Jeremy:
WU: 3 rds
25# OH reverse lunges- 20
5 strict HSPU -first 3 without an abmat!
7 strict chins (5 in round 3)
Bench: 97# 3×5
A little shell shocked from my "mishap" on saturday….going back to my nice little conservative progression until I have more control in this movement
WOD: 3:52 RX
21-15-19 WB/Burpees
40 cal in 2:37
I have a KILLER Fran cough right now. I tried really hard on that first part. Wanna try to press my cardio beyond my comfort zone so I can really get a feel for how to push myself during the open WODs….spent about 20 minutes lying on the ground, felt just a little bit ill. i'm also running on about 4.5 hours of sleep. woof.
^scratch that 19…..21-15-9 hehe
Close-grip bench press: 162.5x5x3
WOD: Finished in 11:53, I think. I was painfully slow throughout.
Yesterday
FSQ: 374x2x4
Pendlay rows: 220x8x3, 242x6x2
Today
Snatch
220
242, 253, 264
242, 253, 264
Clean+FSQ+Jerk
308x(1+1+1)x4
Clean pulls w/ pause below knee
407x3x3
Monday's work today with Jess:
Bench at 150 x 3 x 5. Missed the last rep, though Jess said it was a technique problem and not a strength problem. I'm not sure I believe her, I may repeat this weight next week.
Wall balls and burpees Rx in 6:32.
Row in 1:45. The double calorie click is one of the best feelings in the world.