Charlie N. at her first USAPL meet last Saturday. She took third in her weight class, and shared some thoughts from the experience with us below!
- Happy birthday, David G.!
- If you’re not too wiped from Crush Week already, check out AntiGravity tonight at 7:30pm (or Sundays at 2pm). This class focuses on gymnastics skill and strength components that are most commonly demanded in CrossFit workouts, using a variety of skill exercises, progressions, weighted and strict practice, and other techniques to teach, develop, and perfect your bodyweight movements. Hit up Coaches Noah or Arturo with any questions!
- Or check out Active Recovery at 6:30pm, or Pilates with KH at 7:30pm!
August CrossFit Preschool and CrossFit Kids Classes Are Now Available For Registration!
CrossFit Preschool and CrossFit Kids emphasizes physical development through games and kid appropriate “workouts”. Most importantly, we’re all about having FUN! Developing a positive association between fitness, physical activity, and the joy of movement is the primary goal of our program. Our classes are comprised of obstacle courses, relay races, basic gymnastics, games and other engaging physical activities. Think of it like the gym class you wish you had growing up!
Mondays (8/3 – 8/24):
CF Kids – 4:30p – 5:30p
Wednesdays (8/5 – 8/26):
CF Preschool – 3:30p – 4:30p
CF Kids – 4:30p – 5:30p
Fridays (8/7 – 8/28):
CrossFit Preschool – 10:00a – 11:00a
Sundays (8/9 – 8/30):
CrossFit Preschool – 10:00a – 11:00a
Pricing:
Non-member:
1x/week – $120
2x/week – $200
Member:
1x/week – $102
2x/week – $170
20% for older sibling
Email Janelle [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com if you have any questions or need help registering.
Charlie N. Shares Thoughts From Her First USAPL Meet
Congrats to all our CFSBK folks who competed in the USAPL meet last Saturday, including Coaches Fox (read his post-meet reflections in yesterday’s comments), Jeremy, and Margie, and Rob Is. Front Desk superstar Charlie N. also competed, and sent us this cool write-up about her first experience at a meet.
Saturday was a crazy, intense, emotional, nerve-wracking but incredible rewarding experience. To say I was out of my comfort zone would be a massive understatement.
I somehow came third in my weight class. (72kg) Because it was my first big meet, I assumed I would be somewhere near the bottom or floating in the middle of my weight class and I had no idea how well I was doing because I wasn’t looking at anyone else’s numbers at all. This was how I missed them calling my name to give me my medal- I was upstairs eating sardines at the time. I really couldn’t believe it when the woman who came second found me and told me to go get my medal.
There were so many people and the whole meet felt extremely disorganized and chaotic. Luckily Coach Margie had made it easy for me and given me my attempts beforehand with Plan A if I felt amazing and Plan B if things did not feel so great, so I really didn’t have to think very much about anything. All of my attempts aside from the last ones, were weights I had done recently.
I had all of my warm-up sets figured out in KG and even color coded so I would know exactly what plates to use so the warm-up would be easy but unfortunately the warm-up area was a disaster. There were not enough plates there at all, so I had to wing it a bit and I am not sure I warmed up very efficiently at all.
I thought I would be completely freaked out with that many people watching but in the end it was just me and the judge in front of me. In a way I want to do this again and get better at that part. Everything felt heavier to me on the day because it was such unfamiliar territory. I feel it is something I could learn to do a lot better with more practice.
I missed my second squat attempt on depth, but still added weight. I sank my last attempt as much as I could and it was a very ugly squat, but I fought with everything I had and somehow made the lift. That was definitely one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, but there was no way I was missing that lift. Pretty sure there was an American Record attempt happening at the same time on the platform beside me so there probably weren’t even many people paying attention but I could hear Coach Jeremy shouting behind me to keep going. He later said something along the lines of that that was more of a test of will than of physical strength.
I also missed my first bench press attempt. The safeties were high and the bar hit them at the same time as my chest which distracted me and so I missed the rack command. I went with my Plan B after that and made the following two lifts after getting the spotters to move the safeties down.
By the time we got to the deadlift I was really tired. I did the warm-ups too fast and could probably have done with a couple of extra sets and rest between. I just felt the pressure of so many people sharing the space. Everything felt heavy and I was sore from the other lifts but I did it and I went with my Plan B and PRed. It wasn’t the PR I wanted but it was the right decision on the day.
If I do this again, which I probably will, I will take my time—not only warming up but also setting up for each lift. I think that might have made my Plan A more achievable.
I want to thank Margie for not only believing in me and helping me to get so much stronger but also for being the voice of reason throughout my training and all day on Saturday even as she was participating and kicking ass herself. I have a tendency to want to always go heavier but I have learned in the last while that just because I can lift something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I should. And of course thanks also to the Squat Whisperer for his squat whisperin’.
Still can’t believe I went home with a medal. 🙂
Charlie’s Numbers:
Squat: 275.6
Bench: 137.8
Deadlift: 325.2
Total: 738.6
_________________
Natural Gatorade Electrolyte Eixir Ginger Newtrition
Robbie Maddison’s Pipe Dream Transworld Motocross
Wednesday's Programming
Performance
3 Rounds, For Time:
5 Deadlifts 365/255
10 Alternating Pistols 35/25
then,
30 Handstand Push-Ups
Fitness
5 Rounds, For Time:
8 Deadlifts 185/125
8 Front Squats 185/125
8 Feet Elevated Push-Ups 24/20"
Post time and Rx to comments.
Holy crap Charlie, that's awesome. You really hung in there. Well done.
SO AWESOME, Charlie!
Great write up Charlie. Congrats on a great performance!
Amazing, Charlie. Really amazing. Congrats!
Charlie! You rock! Congrats on an amazing performance!
Congrats Charlie!
Gave the Triangle Triplet a go this morning. Figured I'd see how far I could get in 10 minutes.
Thrusters were super-heavy. Bar muscle-ups went away in round 2. Got 2 Bar MUs into the round of 10. Started those with about 3 minutes left and failed too many to count. First time doing those in a workout and it's something I'd like to see more of and work on.
Overall I was hoping I'd get a little further in 10 minutes, but glad I decided to give it a shot.
So awesome Charlie! I love that pic and your write up is great too. It's been great hearing about your training and learning through all of your preparation and clearly it's paid off! Congrats!
Charlie those numbers are huge!
Congrats on the medal and for keeping your composure under less than ideal conditions.
Charlie xoxoxox
Congrats Charlie!!
6… I mean 7am with McD and Jess. Storm woke me up in the middle of the night, which I used as an excuse to sleep in, but then pulled it together and made it to SBK anyways.
Fran in 5:55. That sucked. It's a minute and a half off of my PR. I have a big rip on my right hand from all the T2B in Sunday's Subway Series workout, and I'd like to blame it on that, but really I just wasn't feeling it this morning. Looks like I'll get another shot at it at the end of the month though.
Awesomeness Charlie!
AG
Skill: Toes 2 Bar
Strength:
Deficit HSPU
3 Sets, Max Reps @ 90% of Week 1
5RM
*2:00 Rest between sets
WOD:
20 minutes of
10 Bench/Matador/Ring dips
10 Box jumps
10 Lunges (each leg)
Rack Jerk PR of 175# last night. GAINZ!
Congrats, Charlie! You are amazing!
Last night at 7:30pm
Fran RX'd in 7:40. This is a 1:04 improvement over my last attempt in October. The part of me that is never satisfied thinks there is still room for improvement and will continue to push towards that. The mellow part of me is like, "Cool." I think I definitely shaved off the time in the thrusters – I'm more comfortable with bigger sets and less rest in between them than I was 10 months ago, so much so that I was able to do 14-7, 10-5, 9. Next time, I think I might just try to do all these unbroken.
Pull-ups are still where I struggle on this workout, however. I really need to get to a point where I can do more than 7 or 8 at a time while under fatigue. I think my reps last night were something like 7-5-5-4, 6-4-2-2, and then 4-3-2-2. Still, over a minute improvement, and no tears in my hand = successful day.
Congrats Charlie!! That's so awesome!!
6am with McD and Jess
Burpee dodgeball to warm-up! This was so much fun!
Wednesday's fitness WOD in 12:02 at 123# and a 20" box
This looked easier on paper. Did 7 deadlifts, put the bar down to reset my grip, then deadlift and power clean to the front squat. All unbroken, although I had a hard time at the end catching my breath and bracing for the fsq's. Push-ups were 4-2-2, until the last round which was 3-2-2-1
Congrats Charlie! Those are uber impressive numbers!
6am with Jess and McDowell
Wednesday's fitness programming in 13:21 at 155#. Oofff. A lot harder than I was expecting. Clean is definitely the limiting factor and those last sets the last thing I wanted to do was drop the bar during those front squats and have to clean it again.
Deadlifts all unbroken and easy
FSQ unbroken first 4 rounds, then 6-2 besides my determination to not drop the bar
Push-ups unbroken rounds 1,2, and 5, took a quicker breather on 3 and 4.
Also, burpee dodgeball is amazing. The only time you will ever hear me say the words burpees can be fun.
10am w/ McDowell & Jess
Wednesday Performance: 8:23 275#/12kg. The deads were quick and easy, I made sure to set my back for each one to avoid a foolish injury. Weighted pistols are much easier than "normal" pistols. I alternated the KB from arm to arm so it was over the pistol leg. Finished the 3 rounds in under 4 mins. The HSPUs were a different story: 5+5+3+3+3+3+2+2+1+1+1+(f)+(f)+1. The first 19 were quick, the last 11 took the majority of the time, especially frustrating failing the last rep twice.
Charlie!! You are so inspiring! I'm equally amazed by your mental strength as your physical. Killer!
Stop making the programming so fun! We're supposed to take rest days…but both anti-gravity AND tomorrow's class look great. : / I can't resist.
Yeah Charlie!!! Awesome work. TFBA. Moving forward I think you should wear your medal everywhere at all times. Maybe consider affixing it somehow to your weightlifting belt, and then just wear that all the time? Just a thought.
Congrats, Charlie! Great work on both the physical and mental components!
Amazing Charlie- so proud of you and all your consistent, patient (sometimes:), and dedicated work on the daily that made this moment possible. So inspiring to watch you push through each challenge our gym has to offer. I def agree with Laura's suggestion of the medal belt!
Wow, Charlie! Super proud of you, and way to represent CFSK!
So proud of you Charlie! Keep being amazing.
*CFSBK
Congrats Charlie! I think as much as the raw physical strength, your consistency and determination is an inspiration. Super happy for you.
I… Had an unexpectedly good day at the gym today. Originally I was planning on waking up early and coming in to do Fran this morning, then Wednesday's workout tomorrow. But I flaked out and slept in.
Stopped by my work gym after work today, prepared to do db press and bridge repeats instead of Fran. Walked in as one of my colleagues, a TFBA, was strapping on a weighted vest… Turns out a few people were doing Murph. They invited me to join them and I laughed it off… I mean, I haven't done Murph in two years, and never the full thing, and I just have this little baby kip and I've barely been practicing pushups anyway. So they got started and I went to change… And as I changed I realized that of course I had no choice but to join them.
Took it very conservative. Didn't set a clock, which I now regret. 25 rounds: { 4 pushups, 4 pullups, 4 pushups, 12 air squats }… And it was fine. Just small rests every other round. Didn't lose my pushups, or pullups, although they weren't all beautiful. I even ran the last bit of the run at a good clip, and finished before some of my coworkers, after starting 5 minutes later (of course one of them was wearing a vest :p ). I don't even feel that bad right now, just hungry and sweaty and a little shaky. Maybe just one of those days where you're on the ball? Weird/awesome.
If I don't feel awful, tomorrow's workout looks fun. Hoping I can come in and do it!
Thanks for the kind words, everybody!!
Wow Charlie. Congratulations. Such an awesome effort.
Short and tough workout today
3 rounds for time
5 deadlifts (1st set 185, 1 @185 switched to 165 for remaining)
10 pistols
(5:17)
Then..
30 kipping hspus (14, 5, 3, singles)
9:08
Yay Charlie!
Got out to the beach today. Surf was looking fun, but also a bit rough. Decided to go for it. Had a couple of challenging paddle outs, luckily not too too hard… my arms are TIRED!!! Caught three waves, and that was enough for the day. Heading back out tmw morning!
Wanted to squat tonight since all I've done since Thursday was bike with my Dad in Chicago. We did about 15 miles on Sat and then about 20 miles on Mon; nice easy rides.
Warm up:
3 rds: 15 hollow rock, 7 push up, 5-10 squats or lunges or hip stuff
HBBS:
45×5, 95×4, 135×3, 160×2
170x5x3
-right hip feeling a little touchy… want to be careful b/c it feels close to the same stressed feeling I had right before I hurt it back in Sept last year
-this felt a lot heavier than it did a few wks ago. backed off to 165 last week after failing after 3 reps at 185, so this is me ramping back up. but i feel a bit lost in the wilderness. I'd like to think it was just heavy b/c I was tired from surfing/beaching today.
Tried a few strict HSPU… shoulders are smoked!
Charlie, you are amazing! Congratulations!
Did Wednesday's fitness WOD at noon. 10:32 @93#. Whined a lot about the front squats, but they weren't so bad. It was actually fun!
Anti-Gravity
Kipping T2B progressions. These helped tremendously. I came really close to stringing them together!
Max HSPUs with 2 ab mats. 6 strict, 6 strict, 3 kipping. Didn't quite have the strength to touch the mat fully because I was tired from the noon WOD so just did the best I could without pushing it.
NFT work. Box jumps- focused on landing lightly on the box. Dips- started off doing bench dips, then decided to give the matador a shot even though I haven't done dips on them in many months. Managed to get three reps for three rounds and finished those rounds off with 7 bench dips. It was nice not to rush through this.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Charlie. Inspiring!