CrossFit HQ recently released coverage of the 2014 CrossFit Games, and we love the Triple Three event. The workout: For Time, Row 3000m, 300 Double-Unders, Run 3 Miles. The video starts around 7:25. We’re still not over seeing Rich Froning walk for part of the run.
News and Notes
- CFSBK’s Movie Night, featuring Fight Club, is TONIGHT after Open Gym at 8pm. Bring your snacks (i.e., takeout from Dinosaur BBQ), drinks, lounge chairs, bean bag chairs, whatever, and come hang!
- For the coders among us in the CFSBK community: Remember to get your team together for “Get Fit or Be Hacking” on May 2nd. Register on CrowdRise here. Questions? Send them to Rob at runderwood5+getfit [at] gmail.com.
- Happy birthday, Uzef G.!
Winter’s Articles, Interviews, and Media in Review
It’s only March, but 2015 has already been filled with fresh articles from our coaches and staff. In case you missed any of them, we’ve included this list for your Friday reading pleasure (starting with the latest):
Chasing Rx: When to Scale and When to Go Heavier Jess Fox and David Osorio
CFSBK’s Competition Team: Open Workout 15.3 Kate Reece
Heavy Thoughts David Osorio
Stomachs and Eyeballs: The End of the LFPB Challenge Chris Fox
How to Bring CrossFit to Work, Literally Kate Reece
Warming Up a Lift Noah Abbott
Introducing a CFSBK Poet: Jynne Dilling Martin
More Thoughts On Being an Athlete Who Doesn’t Eat Meat Whitney Hubbard
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail: Planning Your Lifts Before and During a Cycle Noah Abbott
Taking your Gainz Outside the Box Noah Abbott
All The Good Reps, and Only the Good Reps Chris Fox
Using CrossFit for Weight Loss Chris Fox
We also met February’s Athlete of the Month, Colleen Meagher, and the following Behind the Desk-ers:
Camille C.
Janelle B.
Josh S.
Charlie N.
Sarah M.
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We will be hosting an OutWOD again soon—a CrossFit competition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender athletes and their allies! Which LGBT organization/s do you like and think the workout should benefit?
Saturday's Programming
FITNESS
Front Squat: 3-3-3-3-3
Establish a new 3 Rep Max. Use spotters.
Post loads to comments.
e8/8
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AMRAP 8 Minutes:
3 Rounds of,
6 Russian Kettlebell Swings 72/53
3 Push-Ups
3 Rounds of,
12 Russian Kettlebell Swings
6 Push-Ups
3 Rounds of,
18 Russian Kettlebell Swings
9 Push-Ups
Etc., adding 6 kettlebell swings and 3 push-ups every 3 rounds.
Post reps and Rx to comments.
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PERFORMANCE
Open Workout 15.4
AMRAP 8 Minutes:
3 handstand push-ups
3 cleans 185/125
6 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
9 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
12 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
15 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
18 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
21 handstand push-ups
9 cleans
Etc., adding 3 reps to the handstand push-up each round, and 3 reps to the clean every 3 rounds.
Post reps to comments.
SCALED Open Workout 15.4
AMRAP 8 Minutes:
10 Push Press 95/65
10 Cleans 117/75
Post reps to comments.
No comment from me on this week's games WOD. I'm refocusing my energies on more productive endeavors, like self-loathing and commenting on Facebook posts.
That Open workout tho.
Going out of town, so I ventured into the unknown territory of 6am! At first I thought the people who worked out that early were insane… But leaving with the amazing endorphin rush made me envious! I'd be 10x more patient and friendly every day at work if I could do crossfit in the morning!
Anyway, Rx'd the open and got a whopping TWO REPS! Never would have happened if I wouldn't have done the kipping skills workshop! Take advantage of the workshops, people!! Maybe I would've got 3 if I wouldn't have done 2 workouts within 11 hours of each other…
Good luck on the open, y'all.
The scaled wod actually looks quite painful!
This may be a biased opinion because it stems from a family connection, but my cousin manages fundraising and development for the East Coast wing of the LGBTQ advocacy organization the Family Equality Council. They are based in Manhattan, and he says they are a great organization!
Somehow I've managed to be absent from the blog this week! All I have to say right now is that 125 pound cleans are going to get heavy!
Later post from 5:30 last night
The SMALLEST 5:30 class I've ever been to last night with a total of 4 people… HALF of whom were named Ben… just saying.
Worked up to 175# on the hip hinge snatch. First time doing this kind of snatch but I liked it. I need to work on getting full extension b/c I hop forwards a bit. Whit finally validated my thoughts that my arms are short b/c the bar is so damn close to my head even with a narrower snatch grip! Then she started bragging about her overly long arms to make sure I knew who had superior arms… I get it Whit, no need to rub it in!
It was a rough WOD after Wednesday's partner WOD but finished the mile in 7:25 and the 2k in 8:02. No matter how hard I pulled on the erg my legs were just laughing at me.
14.4 looks like a fun one! I love cleans but need to work on kipping HSPUs.
Today is a much needed rest day!
I am very happy about the 185lb cleans. HSPU will be fun too, I guess. This new standard with the mark on the wall is a bit strange though.
Allie! That's awesome! I, on the other hand, am continuing to stay out of the Open 😛 So I did FSQ and worked up to 145. My hip was fine but now my wrist is janky. Dangit!
WOD: I got 156 reps? I think? That is a lot of math. Felt good to swing the big-girl kettlebell for the first time since pre-injury.
The YES (Youth Enrichment Program) at the Center! https://gaycenter.org/family-youth/youth Tons of amazing services for 13 – 21 year old young people, like support groups, academic help, summer camp, peer leadership opportunities and drop-in support. And they partner to run my ALL TIME FAVORITE, the Youth Pride Chorus (http://nycgmc.org/youth-pride-chorus/). Guys, I challenge you to see a bunch of queer 16 year olds earnestly belting out Firework by Katy Perry and not weep for days.
For the OutWOD beneficiary, I would like to propose SAGE, an amazing organization that provides services and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender elders.
They're on the forefront in working on issues like gay veterans, HIV and aging, discrimination against older people, and access to housing and health care. In NYC they run a drop-in center in Harlem, as well as run an extensive city-wide program of services, workshops and community center drop-in hours.
A very worthy organization.
On vacation in Georgia this week. 7:15am at Crossfit Grit on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Lovely box. Todd (the owner?) was very accommodating of drop-ins, probably because this is a vacation area. 15.4 Rx: 44 reps. This was a handstand push-up workout for me. Kipped all of the reps. Started with sets of 3, then quickly dropped to doubles and singles. The tape standard requires you to really extend your shoulders and get your head through at the top of the push-up. Had 2 or 3 no reps where I didn't maintain position. Did the cleans as quick singles. Didn't hit the cardio redline until the last set of cleans. Shoulders are thoroughly smoked.
Re: the OutWOD benefit, it is almost impossible to pick just one worthy program, but the Ali Forney Center is an amazing organization that helps homeless LGBTQ youth transition out of the shelter system. LGBTQ youth are eight times more likely to experience homelessness than their straight peers due to bullying at school and intolerance at home, and are nearly twice as likely to be victims of violence, sexual assault, and exploitation once they're out on the street. There are as many as 8,000 homeless gay and transgender youths in New York City. The Ali Forney center offers emergency and transitional housing as well as job training, medical care, and mental health counseling and is just doing really great, important, and difficult work in general.
Ali Forney Center
The Ali Forney Center sound amazing. Thanks for bringing it to mine/our attention. Working out is hard so I am just going to donate money to them today.
Still sore from Wednesday night, and then two nights of following the World Cup didn't help.
225×3, 230×3 (all shallow, I think), so dropped down to 165×10, 185×3
WOD @24kg bell. Got 8 swings deep into the first 24 round.
6am with Nick doing Thursday's work
Performance Snatch: Worked up to 135# and felt like there wasn't much room to go north from there. Felt snappy and quick today though.
Metcon: I ended up buying an SBK sweatshirt to run in, so this was easily one of the more expensive metcons I've done. Finished the mile in 7:45ish? I looked at the wrong clock when I came in from the run and thought that I only had 15 seconds to rest before the row. I couldn't believe I'd run that slow, but alas, we were on a different clock. By the time I figured that out it'd been a good 30sec to 1min and I had to just guess at the mile time. Row was 8:02. I felt like I could have pushed it more on both, but since this was supposed to be 85%, I think that effort was pretty close to being on target for me.
This new HSPU standard seems very odd to me. We'll see tomorrow, but it seems overly complicated compared to other body weight movement standards (like chest to bar pullups – pretty simple). I get the point about having a tape mark, but why set the mark based on some weird 3" relationship to the wrist when standing in a certain position. Seems like that has potential to penalize certain body types? Why not put the athlete into an acceptable lockout position (and set some standards about what that is) and then mark the wall?
Ali Forney is a great place and they were really hurt by Hurricane Sandy – they get my vote.
I second Ali Forney Center as well!
I third (fourth?) Ali Forney. i got to go to their benefit last summer and learned about the incredible impact they're making. awesome, hard-working staff, as well.
another idea would be callen-lorde, they've done a slate of amazing things for a lot of people i know and are just generally pretty rad in their care of all individuals, particularly in trans community.
10AM lifting with DO running the show and Penny the pup in tow.
Hip Snatch
63x1x3, 73x1x2, 83, 93x1x2 (first one was a save; out in front, but managed to stabilize it!), 98 (felt solid)
-love working from these high positions. felt good power and speed, esp at heavier weights.
-98# is 87% of my max, happy with that
had to get home with the pup before heading back out to teach so no WOD. maybe i'll row a 2k tonight…
I uncharacteristically hit the 10 am class with McDowell and David today to do 15.4. I opted to go Rx'd, despite never having done a handstand pushup or cleaned 185 lbs. I'd gotten close enough on both that I figured it was worth the shot. Thanks to a private mini-hspu-workshop from McDowell, and some helpful cheerleading from my judge, Emily, I managed to bang out three of them, with only one (very) near miss.
At that point I had about 5 minutes to try to PR my clean. I think I made about 6 or 7 unsuccessful attempts, a few of which were actually pretty close (I got the bar up and got under it and then just went soft and let it crush me). I was getting pretty damn frustrated with myself by the time I made my last attempt with 10 seconds left on the clock. Apparently frustration is the magic ingredient because I actually pulled one rep off – it was a weird power clean (I thinkI just got pissed enough to pull really hard) that surprised the hell out of me when I caught it, but it counted. So, boom, 4 reps. I'll take it.
@Shawn. That.is.awesome!
@shawn Badass!
That's the benefit of tough movements being in the RX- people like shawn can get TWO PRs in one day 🙂
I was going to suggest the Ali Forney Center, but it seems plenty of people got there before me. Elisabeth's suggestion sounds pretty great too.
I had never even tried to get a HSPU before, but I came into today and… and…
This should be the place where I report I got my first ! But Jay-star we know that dreams don't always come true, not for broken-down old men like us at least.
No HSPU for me today.
However, in frustration afterwards, I did get a PR on my power clean (195) so that saved the day. Tomorrow I'll do the scaled 15.4 and next year I'll be popping off the handstand pushups like a flippin' upside down kangaroo… right?
Came in at 6am for 15.4. Tried to get a HSPU for 8 minutes, and got close a few times early in the process, but it was not to be today. Frustrating since 185# power cleans are something I was very excited to see in a WOD.
I jumped right into the scaled version and got 84 reps. A good portion of my time was spent changing weight, and I was somewhat uninspired after the failed attempts.
Thanks to Joy for staying late and judging.
You have to change the weight on the bar for the scaled? I saw people online speculating (and assumed this was the case since there are no specifications otherwise in the standards) that you could use two separate bars for this. The scaled workouts continue to be kind of goofy to me.
I will also echo the vote for Ali Forney! Seems like a cool org!
Crumsho — I think this was poor planning again. Maybe the standards allow you to use two bars, but that screws over affiliates that are trying to run the WOD with lots of members at the same time. Can you imagine letting everyone have two bars at SBK? It would have been fine this morning when there was hardly anybody doing the WOD, but tomorrow, in a giant Saturday class…I shudder to think of how many barbells that would be!
Thanks @Joy and @Jenny M! This one's going to be a logistical challenge, no matter how you slice it. The standard for the hspu requires measurement and placing tape or chalk lines on the wall, which is going to be time-consuming (before the workout, at any rate). The weight switching between movements in the scaled version can actually be done pretty quickly (and the 117 above is a typo, I think).
Thanks @Joy and @Jenny M! This one's going to be a logistical challenge, no matter how you slice it. The standard for the hspu requires measurement and placing tape or chalk lines on the wall, which is going to be time-consuming (before the workout, at any rate). The weight switching between movements in the scaled version can actually be done pretty quickly (and the 117 above is a typo, I think).
Thanks @Joy and @Jenny M! This one's going to be a logistical challenge, no matter how you slice it. The standard for the hspu requires measurement and placing tape or chalk lines on the wall, which is going to be time-consuming (before the workout, at any rate). The weight switching between movements in the scaled version can actually be done pretty quickly (and the 117 above is a typo, I think).
I wasn't going to attempt a HSPU because I can't do them strict and have only practiced kipping them one time which was over a year ago, but I think I've been inspired by all of your posts. If I can do strict with two ab mats- is there hope for me? I literally rushed home from work to watch videos and try them out! Ha! Haven't gotten one yet, but I don't know if I'm kipping correctly. Did anyone receive good cues that helped them get it?
I would imagine gyms with less members are using 2 bars on the scaled version of 15.4. Maybe I will wake up early and attempt to make it to an earlier class and not one with 45 people (yes, I know there are more classes offered on Saturday) in the hopes we can use two bars.
Went to OG tonight with the plan of doing some squats and pull-ups but Erin musni peer pressured me into suffering through 15.4 scaled with her.
Definitely a tough one! 76 reps and I was dead. Can't decide whether the push press or cleans were worse.
We ended up using two bars which definitely saved time but only because we did it in OG. I presume regular classes will use 1 bar.
Loved the comments today. Thanks for all the great suggestions!