Do you know how to mobilize your restricted positions? Knowing some basic self maintenance is both a right and a responsibility. If you’re still in the dark, check out any one of our weekly Active Recovery classes to increase the tools in your tool box to move and perform better! Coach Fox teaches one tonight at 6:30pm.
News and Notes
- We will now be offering Open Gym hours on Saturdays from 2-4pm at 608. Get psyched!
- There’s a new post over on Coach David’s blog Inside the Affiliate, called “Why Your CrossFit Gym Needs a Front Desk.” Those of you who have been with us for longer than a couple years will remember the days before our beloved Front Desk, and probably could have written this article for us. Check it out, and share it with your buddies who CrossFit at places that aren’t as cool as CFBSK.
- Happy birthday, Michelle B., Rachel J., and Peter M.!
Tonight at 7:30pm: Pilates with KH (a.k.a. Cage)
Have you ever been told by a coach or PT that you have a weak core? Are you not sure what “keep your ribcage down” means? Do you suffer from a tweaky lower back after lifting heavy weights? Help is on the way! The Pilates Method can be great “accessory work” for a Crossfitter, not only because it improves flexibility and strengthens the abdominal and back muscles, but mainly because it can help you figure out HOW to use these muscles properly. Come join Kristin Hoesl (KH) in CFSBK’s first ever weekly Pilates class. We’ll go over neutral pelvis, engaging the transversus abdominis (say WHAT?), stabilizing the rib cage, and finding good shoulder girdle positioning. So if any of this sounds intriguing to you, come drop in on!
Schedule: Tuesday nights at 7:30pm upstairs in the CFSBK Annex
Price: Individual classes and 5-packs can be purchased here, or you can use your regular CrossFit group class membership to attend
Learn more about KH in our interview with her, called “‘Mad Abs, Yo!’ How Pilates Complements CrossFit, and Getting to Know Kristin H.“
Get Hella Strong in Strength Cycle
We all want to get stronger. That’s because we implicitly understand that building strength is the foundation for increasing overall physical capacity. It has been proven again and again that lifting heavy primes our bodies to be more effective and efficient at metabolic conditioning workouts. Strength is the only mode of training that supports everything else we do in the gym and in life. Plus: it’s pretty badass.
Upcoming Cycle Times and Dates:
A cycle: Beginners, 7pm Mon/Wed and 6pm Fri | Monday May 18th – Friday July 10th
B cycle: Intermediate, 7pm Tues/Thurs and 10am Sun | Tuesday May 19th – Sunday July 12th
C cycle: Morning beginners, 6:30am Mon/Wed | THIS OPTION IS FULL
D cycle: Continuing Education, 6pm Mon/Wed | Monday May 18th – Wednesday July 8th
E cycle: Late mornining, all levels, 10am Mon/Thurs | Monday May 18th – Thursday July 9th
F cycle: Noon with Margie, 12pm Mon/Thurs | Monday May 18th – Thursday July 9th
Each cycle will culminate in a CrossFit Total on Sunday, July 12th.
Class Sizes: Space is limited to 4-8 participants
Class Length: 90 minutes
Cost: 3x Per Week Cycles:
$300 paid upon registration and then another $300 at the halfway point
Cost: 2xW Cycles:
$200 paid upon registration and then another $200 at the halfway point
Group Class/Open Gym/Active Recovery/Yoga/Pilates Add-On Option!
This add-on membership allows our 2x/week Strength Cycle to attend two additional classes per week, outside of the regularly scheduled strength cycle classes. This includes group classes, open gym, and Active Recovery/Yoga/Pilates.
Price is $100 per four weeks, first bill due at sign-up and second bill ($100) charged automatically to the card on-file four weeks later.
If anyone is confused as to which cycle they belong in or has any questions, they can contact Jeremy directly at Jeremy [at] crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com to discuss placement.
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King of CrossFit: Greg Glassman 60 Minutes
Shine Theory, and the Art of Humility Creative Mornings
Steve Quartz: The Neuroscientist Who Studies What’s “Cool” and Why The Guardian
Wednesday's Programming
Fitness: Front Squat 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Add 5-10 pounds to last week's exposure.
Performance: Back Squat 3 x 5, Volume Day
Add 5-10 pounds to last week's exposure.
Post loads to comments.
e6/8
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Fitness
Triple Tabata Mash-Up
1) Double-Unders or Attempts
2) Kettlebell Swings
3) Push-Ups
Rotate through the movements for six rounds of each, so 18 TOTAL rounds.
Performance
For Time:
70 Double-Unders
15 Shoulder-to-Overhead 135/95
60 Double-Unders
12 Shoulder-to-Overhead
50 Double-Unders
9 Shoulder-to-Overhead
Post time and Rx to comments.
Saturday OG 2-4 will be great for me. I often work late on Fridays and feel pressured to come in tired. Thanks for this option.
Schweddy comp class:
Olympic Lifting
7X1 Snatch from blocks (just above knee) – work to a max for the day, rest as needed
95-135-165-185-205-225-225
Both reps at 225 felt GREAT. Got down in the hotel, didn't power it up. Love these singles.
Strength/Skill
1a) 5X2 Pullups + 3 C2B Pullups + 4 Bar Muscle-Ups (the goal is unbroken: if you cannot complete the complex UB, complete the reps in a way where you practice the transition between each movement) – rest 90 sec.
Not a good day for bar muscle-ups. Only did two total, had a really had time doing multiple reps due to sweaty hands.
1b) 4X10 Back Squats (timed sets) – work to a close to a true maximal set of 10 (go to failure or near failure) and note time for each set, rest 90 sec.
345-365-385-395
All felt pretty good.
Conditioning
“Randy”
For time:
75 snatches (75 / 55 lb.)
4:47 RX'd
Went a little too fast out of the gate, so I slowed myself down around 20 reps in. Liked this one.
6am. Back squat: 265x5x3. Reps felt slow on the last set, but McDowell said they moved well. Weight keeps moving up on volume day. Just need to get my intensity day numbers going as the two are about to meet. Perf metcon Rx: 7:55. Strung together a set of 50 DUs in the first round which is the best I've done recently. Generally felt good on the DUs, but was gassed by them and took too much rest. S2O was done as a mixture of push press and push jerk. Rounds were: 10-5, 7-5, 3-3-3.
6am, doing Monday's work with David. I did the fitness 3×5 presses at 115lbs. This was a five pound jump from last week (I just noticed that I posted 120 here last week, when it was actually 110 – just a typo, really). These felt good, though I took approximately a minute and a half to get the last rep all the way up. Everybody watching helped me to stick with it. I'd like to wind up the cycle above the 120 I left off at last time, so I'll probably attempt another 5 pound jump next week.
I did the metcon with 115# on the bar and finished in 7:32. Seeing Michael A. out of the corner of my eye absolutely rocketing through the final 9 burpees was solid inspiration for me to keep my pace up in the back half.
Two Snatch PRs from the hang last night. Having a much better cycle then the last 2 . . . Finally getting out of my head a bit and focusing on the jump. Amazing how much higher the bar flies when you do that.
Also, Melo solved a major issue I was having with kick-ups. All around good fitnice experiences the last two days.
Does anyone have any feedback to offer regarding the Catalyst seminar? Worthwhile?
6am w/ McDowell.
FSQ: 210x5x2, 210×3. The last set was a technical failure, barely lost positioning and couldn't rein it in. McDowell mentioned I almost recovered it. A bit disappointing, but happy to know it wasn't strictly strength.
Metcon: 11:22 Rx. This was spicy for me. All S2O performed as push jerks broken into sets of 3 for all the rounds. DU's felt good till the last round where I tripped up 4 times getting to 50.
I know! I can never make it to OG on Fridays and Sundays because of work- Saturdays are going to be just PERFECT!!! Looking forward to being coached by La Snisky too. Yay!
I love that 60 Minutes piece on Glassman. Saying exactly what you mean, and doing exactly what you think is right, are qualities I admire. He's certainly a bit of a nutter, but I (and anyone else reading this blog) owe him a lot.
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11am lifts
Squat
265x5x3
10# heavier than last exposure before vacation. Moved well.
Bench
242.5 x3x2
202.5 x6x2
Micro loading this progression now. It's probably 3RM territory. 240 for triples felt really slow and heavy before vacation, these were heavy but moved well. The second set felt even better than the first.
7am Oly Cycle/aka 80's dance party!
Snatch: from the (mid) hang, 2 shifts to the hip and back + snatch. 33, 53, 63×2, 73×2. Afterwards Frank had me work on keeping my hips at the same level during the shift, which helped to keep the bar path more vertical. It's going to take a lot of practice to get used to that movement.
C&J: from the (mid) hang, keeping it light. 73×5
HBBS: 165×5, with a controlled descent and slight pause at the bottom. Probably should've gone heavier, but haven't tested out my 5 RM in a while and wanted to leave time for mobilizing.
Shower: new PR! I love the new showers/facilities, plus it allowed me to get to work by 9!!
Yesterday at 7:30pm
Not a great day, press-wise. Last week I hit 120x5x3 without much of a problem – it was challenging, but not a terrible grind. I went for 125 for my first work set, and called it after 3 reps – I just knew the 4th was not going to go very far. Backed down to 120. First set there was GRINDY. Second set actually felt good and moved well. Probably a combo of too big of a jump at this point in the cycle, along with some general shoulder fatigue due to snatches and a bunch of handstand/inversion stuff I did at OG the day before. Smart move would have been to give myself a break on Monday and do the press work today, but I am not particularly intelligent a lot of the time. Oh well.
WOD was fun – did it rx'd in 6:32. Was chasing Joe W. in front of me and Brad L. out of the corner of my eye, but couldn't keep up. Cleans were broken down 5-5-5, 6-6, 5-4. Burpees were sloppy at first, but after a reminder about keeping my feet wider, they felt better. Fine with the time, but I didn't FEEL as fast as I wanted to on this, if that makes any sense.
Make-up from 6:30 last night.
Press 85x5x3. Will be getting into PR territory next week for sets across.
Modified WOD:
9/15-6/12-3/9:
Pull-ups
DB thrusters 25#
My plan was to do the full volume but my shoulders were fried from Sunday and I knew it wouldn't happen in a way that would create the intended metabolic stimulus of the original workout. Finished my version in 5 min and then made up the missing 18 pull-ups plus a few more. Hamstring felt fine while I was doing the thrusters, but it still hurts afterwards. I might lay off squatting at all for a week or so.
Thanks to all the lovely coaches who've helped me brainstorm substitutions!
nooner with jeremy and mcd!!
did monday's workout with the tfba strong moms: lauren and bethany.
press: 62x5x3 moved mostly well!
wod: 6:53 with 70# cleans, probably i could have gone a tad higher in the weight with this but i was sweaty enough.
cashed out with catching some vitamin d!
5:30 with Jeremy and Whitney, first class in 10+ weeks! Been feeling really out of shape so glad to be back in the gym.
Eased back into things with Wednesday's fitness work, fsq 165x5x3 felt totally fine. I'll probably jump to 185 next week.
WOD: 239 total reps: 131 DU, 62 russian kb @ 20kg, 46 pushups.
Pushups are the only thing I'm better at than when I left, so I was kinda hoping that I'd do a little better there. BUT doing pushups while winded is a whole other ball game. 20kg was a little light, the swings were a bit of a recovery round between DU and pushups.
Fun!
DAVE P! welcome back!!!
Monday's workout:
3×5 Press @ 65# but failed the 5th rep of the first set. I've always plateaued at 65# on a 3×5 progression which is why I chose performance for the press on this cycle. Excited to see how the remaining weeks play out.
WOD done in 6:22 with 83# cleans and really slow burpees. I wanted to do 93#, but my touch-n-go weren't very organized today. Plus my arm is still bothering me. And I had a fever the last two nights. Hot mess this week.
Night session
Snatch Pull + Snatch
Worked up to 75kg
Tomorrows WOD
7:12 @135
Doubles were better than as of late but gassed me.
Warm up x1
16 pistols
12 v-ups
8 ring rows
Press
33×5, 43×3, 53×2
58×5, 60×5, 62×5
Moved fast.. Upwards
15-12-9
Power Cleans @103#
Burpees
Singles on cleans and suuuuper slow burpees.. Not pretty but love the post work out jittery pumped feeling
7:52
Thanks to the coaches (all three on premises – Fox, McDowell and Jeremy) for the encouragement w Rx weight
5×10 hollow rocks
Fun to partner with Cam and Bethany and to take class w Jeremy today — I now have a new favorite Jeremy comment
SQUATS, 4×10
135×10, 150×10, 160×10, 170×10
woof. as much as I dread these, 170 actually moved well. never really got sticky/slow, just fighting to maintain tension, as always.
took the opportunity to sleep in this morning so this was all I left myself time for this afternoon. will get back on track with programming tmw.
*did a few freestanding HS holds through the course of the evening
*before leaving the gym: three angles of banded hip distraction (extension, flexion, ext rot/flex)