“Keep Hope Alive” CrossFit commercial with Constance Tillett from CrossFit South Brooklyn Directed by Robin C at CrossFit South Brooklyn with Constance Tillett and David Osorio. For CrossFit inc.
Here is the long format version of the “Keep Hope Alive” CrossFit commercial starring our own Constance T. A shorter version of this aired on ESPN all weekend during the CrossFit Games. A few months ago CFSBK film maker Robin C (check out his website) approached me about a video project. He said him and his colleague Joe had access to a really nice camera and wanted to know if there was anything interesting happening at the gym they could shoot. Constance’s journey immediately came to mind and I invited them to drop in on one of our sessions to take some footage and do a short interview. When the finished product came back I knew it was too good to keep to ourselves. I contacted Tyson Oldroyd with CrossFit Media and he loved it and asked us to not publish it so they could make it an official CrossFit commercial and premier it at the Games. Obviously we were all very excited and holding back from putting this on the blog was the hardest part! We’re excited and proud to finally show you all the full version!
The Constance Chronicles
If you follow us on Instagram, you’ve probably seen “The Constance Chronicles” where we show portions of Constances CrossFit workouts scaled for her needs and capabilities as well as updates on her progress. If you’ve missed out, here are the 6 parts we’ve posted so far.
Part 6: Lateral Walking and Burpees
Tomorrow is one year after Constance’s knee surgery before she started training. At her last check up her orthopedist said her knee looked perfect and just listening to her talk about #crossfit made him tired. Look out for the CrossFit Constance commercial during the 2015 Games!
Part 5: Pull Downs, Rope Pulls and Step-Ups
To date, Constance has lost 43lbs, is down to only one diabetes pill and no insulin shots per day from three insulin shots and 5 pills, her blood pressure meds are down to one pill every other day down from 4 pills a day. She went from a size 16 to a size 4 in her clothing. We’re impressed!!! Looks like hard work and clean eating actually works!!
Part 4: Sled Pulling
Today was @constance941 ‘s 11th session and she is down 20lbs from when she started! She came in excited about her muscles and wasn’t shy about flexing for us. ?? Here she is getting some basic pulling work in with the indoor sled. In this video she says “Im gonna try out for the Fire Department”
Part 3: Sled Dragging
Sled drags are a great way to program in some basic work capacity without requiring moving through long ranges of motion, something Constance struggles with.
Part 2: Deadlifting
Due to arthritis and several joint replacements, the deadlift is one of the few classic lifts Constance can currently perform. It’s functionality for her is obvious and we can start with an unloaded 15lb training bar for her first exposure. She said it felt “kinda heavy” but was up for it and excited to move a little more next time
Part 1: Medball Deadlifts, Carries and delivery over an obstacle
Here is an example of a WOD at the end of our session focusing on basic daily movements like picking things up off the floor, moving them and putting them on higher surfaces. Constance is working to regain basic motor patterns essential for independent living. We’ll be showing you all how we scale CrossFit for her in this series. Get stoked!
_______________________
Strong Will – Zach Krych
Tour De France Won By Rowdy, Tattooed Biker From Harley Davidson Team
WEDNESDAYS PROGRAMMING:
Squat
3-3-3
Work up to a heavy triple, 5-15 lbs heavier than last week's 3×5. Use this number to plan your attempts for this Saturday's CrossFit Total.
http://exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html
AMRAP 7 Minutes:
14 Kettlebell Swings
7 Burpees
Cash Out
Run or Row 800m
Skill: Rope Climb 101
Strength:
Strict HSPU
6:00 Max Reps @ 100% of last week’s
5RM
*Do all single reps, manage fatigue and
avoid failure
WOD:
50 Walking Lunges (each leg)
800 M run
50 Walking Lunges
That's an awesome commercial and great story! I saw a clip of it in the reflection of a window at a bar in Albany and said, "Hey, that's my gym! and I know them!"
Make up post from yesterday's 5:30 class
Press:
45×5
95×5
105×3
120×3
135×7
The 135 rep out felt good, I could have struggled out one more rep but it would have been all sorts of ugly.
WOD in 10:58, this felt really good. I like rowing and box jumps but more importantly I didn't try and crush the row. Kept it around 1000-1200 cal pulls at a 25 stroke rate then pushed through bounded box jumps in sets of 10 and 5 with very short breaks at the top.
Haven't back squatted in awhile so I kept this pretty conservative
235, 255, 275. All moved well. Last rep at 275 was a little slower.
7 rounds plus 3 swings on the metcon. 32kg American swings. Those were the tough part.
Love love love the commercial!!
6am with David and Whit
Press: 33×5, 53×5, 63×3, 73×3, 83×3, 93F, 88×1, 83×2
My shoulders were feeling good this morning, but I got a little too ambitious on what I thought I could do for three. My previous PR is 90lbs, so hoping to hit that during the total.
WOD in 11:39. The rowing was smooth and did jump up/step down on the box jumps. It was nice to get my body moving again after being sore and scraped up from playing 3 days of ultimate.
6am with David
Press
Hit 3×3 at 130# easily enough. By that calculation I should 1RM around 140 in the Total. We shall see.
WOD
13:03. Those box jumps went on forever!
6am with David
Perf. Press:
45×5
75×5
95×3
105×3
120×3
135×7
Press felt great. KHarpz's black magic dumbbell trick has worked wonders for my left shoulder pain over the past few days. Pretty sure I got 7 on the rep out, but it might of been 6. I didn't wake up till half way into the metcon. Speaking of…
Metcon: 12:17. Was pretty consistently between 1100 and 1200 cal/hr on the rows, although it was definitely a struggle to stay there in the last two rounds. Started the box jumps as step downs but went to bounding after a while because I actually find that rhythm less tiring for some reason.
The ad is really, really great. No wonder HQ wanted to use it. Well done, all!
Full commercial is great! I still find the Constance story amazing and wish my mother could have found someone like David before it was too late.
6am with Whit and DO
HBBS – 175 x 5 x 3 Kept up with my linear progression since still a ways off my numbers and figured keeping with my plan was a better idea. Moved well enough although my right hip was really tight this morning and I felt and Whit noticed a lot of side hip tilt at the bottom.
WOD
5 rounds + 2 burpees with the green KB and American swings. Hot and sweaty. And I mean sweaty. Kept all the swings American and unbroken but that last round was tough.
I love the full video. Go, Constance! I wish my mom (who's the same age) lived around here so I could send her to train with DO.
Squattin': 185×3, 195×3, 200×3! This is a high bar 3RM for me. Woo!
WOD was a comedy of errors. I started out doing 5 strict pushups per round but after 2 rounds that started to feel a little squirrely. Whit brought me a pair of DBs at which point I rediscovered why I can't do pushups on DBs (it's my thumb position, not my wrist position, that seems to decide whether I can do a movement or not these days). Then Fox brought me a towel, hoping to get me to do two-armed KB swings using the towel to keep my wrist neutral. Once again my thumb was, all, "HAHAHAHA NO."
Anyway, I got…6 rounds and change? with one-armed 16kg swings and 14 situps/round after I gave up on the pushups.
Constance is awesome! That video is great! I felt so proud of SBK when I saw that spot during the Games.
Last night at 7:30pm
Performance press at 105×3, 117×3, 130×4. I think I was feeling a little bit rough from doing 75 toes to bar at Antigravity the day before, so the rep out was not as successful as I would have liked. [Side note – the first two Antigravity classes have been really great! This is an awesome addition to the schedule.]
WOD RX'd in 11:41. Box jumps are usually not my jam, but I just tried to keep moving here and rest at the top as infrequently as possible.
Just a heads up to all the folks that plan on attending the Anti-Gravity class tonight, make sure to wear high socks. The rope can be brutal on exposed skin…
That Constance video makes me very misty every time I watch it!!! She is an inspiration… and David is, too. I'm so fortunate to be a part of this incredible place.
10AM session after coaching all morning. Fueled by black coffee and a croissant!
20 min mobility: t-spine, lats, hip mobz
Barbell work:
3-Position Clean + 1 Jerk (5×1 @ 65%)
(warm up, 83: 3 pos clean + 3 jerks)
103x1x5
-Todd and I noticed that I jump back when doing the high hang clean. This is consistent, and I'm not exactly sure why. Things felt good today, focusing on moving my feet in the clean and pushing under in the jerk. Nice and snappy.
Snatch Balance: 4×3 around 80% of best 3
63×3, 83x3x4
-felt great today! finally! brought my eye focus a bit lower on the wall and committed to down. nice not to go too heavy and just improve technique.
Ring Dip: 3×8 strict
FRANNNNNNNNN! 5:16 RX'ed
So, I can't find my log of the last time I did this (which was my first RX), but it was at least a year ago, maybe more. I was doing regular kipping pull-ups and thrusters still felt like murder. I don't remember exact time, but I think it was right around 10 minutes. So we'll call this close to a 5 minute PR??
I wanted sub-5 (and leaderboard) SO BAD, but alas. Glad I recruited Fox to coach me through it, because I would've rested more if he wasn't standing right next to me.
Thrusters: 13-8, 9-6, 9
Pull-Ups: 7-7-7, 5-4-3-3?, 3-3-2-1
I think the biggest place I lost time was with pull-ups in rounds 2/3. First set felt so steady and smooth, butterfly kip was right on for 7's. After the first set of 5 in the 15's, my kip fell apart a bit. Lost rhythm, mainly with the kick/hollow… then it becomes a question of do I keep trying to butterfly, or do I switch? So, just got a bit messy there and lost time/efficiency. Think I had one no rep in the 9's.
Otherwise, very happy with how this went. I think I paced well through first half of it, and just wish I kept the kip together. REALLY wanted to put the bar down on the set of 9 thrusters, but thanks to Fox I felt pressured to stay on it. woof.
I think I got on the pull-up bar for the 9's around 4:40… so again a bit more efficiency and capacity under stress could've squeaked by closer to 5:00.
awesome video – well done d.o. and constance! also fun to read a david post – they're read like a conversation with him 🙂 cheers!
I love the Constance Chronicles! The commercial is amazing!
LBBS: I missed last week's back squat exposure so my first set of heavy 3s was my 3×5 from two weeks ago.
45×5
95×4
145×2
165×1
170×3
175×3
180×3
Got awesome cues from Jeremy during each set. I swear his presence just makes you stronger!
WOD with 16kg American KB swings. 5 rounds + 9. Really wanted to get 6 rounds. Having trouble pushing myself this week.
AWESOME PR, Whit!
4:30 w/ Coaches Jeremy & Whit
That commercial made me so proud to be a part of this thing called CFSBK. Hell yeah.
I took a week off to see if my shoulder would feel any better. It did not. I may need to switch-up to an all OG & AR routine for the next month.
WOD in 1440 (the year I was born)
Fun sweat sesh with Ro today. Little brother stopped by and one of my math students/middle school athletes hung out and watched for a bit. Look at for her in CFTeens!
Clean EMOM 5 mins @ 118
Clean Pulls @ 132 3×3
Pause Squats @ 95 2×3
HCDL @ 118 2+1+1 x3
"Beach Body" 3R
10 weighted glute bridges #25DB–probably should've gone significantly heavier
15 weighted sit ups #25DB
10e banded lateral walks—oof
All the mobz after. Be back at it in the morning before jetting my way to CA for my first vacation in 2 yrs. Major dog separation anxiety building. I'll be dropping it CrossFit Dana Point during OG hour to get my lifts in. Will keep ya posted on tv experience.
Constance, David, Robin– the commercial is incredible! So well done, and Constance, you are just an inspiration.
I'm so proud to be a member of CFSBK!
Anti-gravity programming sounds awesome. I haven't been able to make it yet, but I hope to soon.
@Whit H – hell yes you rock! Congrats!!
I took a personal day today. I tabled everything and will deal with the fall-out tomorrow.
2-hour nap
1-hour upper body lax mashing while singing loudly
5 rounds as fast as possible but not timed
(20) squats
(20) sit-ups
(5) hspus – 1 abmat, strict, unbroken
20 min DIY Pilates
10 min meditation
Ready to get back to work and back in the gym tomorrow
1. Haven't seen Colleen since her surgery! That was a pleasure!
2. The Zach Krych article was worth the watch! And obviously, the Constance video is super inspiring and beautiful!
3. Wow, whit! That's an amazing PR
4. Antigravity class is so fun. Everyone should try it out!!! I was able to fully climb a rope with Russian wrap for the first time. I might be obsessed. I will def be rope climbing at OG!
HSPUs with KLove (her second workout today!!!): started with two abmats/ strict, then ro suggested to just try one. I did and got 3 push-ups. Then did 4 with a 10 pound plate/1ab mat, then about 5 more with two mats. Eventually, I couldn't do any more 🙁
The lunges and run was way crazier on the quads than I anticipated! Felt the burn for sure.
This class is so fun!!!!
Zach krych video*
Round 2 today for Anti-Gravity:
Learned how to rope climb using the Russian wrap. It will take a bit of practice, but I like it better than the Spanish wrap which was the only way I knew how to climb a rope before today!
6 minutes of HSPU with 2 ab mats. Stopped counting, but somewhere in the 15-20 range.
Full WOD in 13:44. I have weak quads so this was good for me.
Heading upstate and won't be back until Monday! Good luck to everyone doing the total this weekend! Wish I could do it!
Awesome Whit!!! Super impressive!
Just loved the Constance video – working in rehabilitation now, I see so many people struggle through simple movements that affect activities of daily living, holding them back from full independence. So many struggle with intrinsic motivation and commitment, not our girl Constance.. she is truly an inspiration to all (DO you look good too)!
PR'd my 3×3 Press yesterday at 67. Really heavy put felt awesome to get my head through on the last one. Did a drop set of 8 at 53 after that.
Looking forward to finding my new heavy triple tomorrow on the LBBS, and totaling this Saturday. Been an awesome cycle for me, especially Upper body strength and kip pull ups. Next up, I want to be able to butterfly my pull ups.. life goals, people!!
Amazing Video, very inspiring! Bravo Constance, great job Dave!!