Bench Press
Performance: Low Intensity: 65-70% x 7 x 4
Go a bit by feel and perform 4×7 at 65-70% of your 1RM.
Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Start light enough to add weight throughout the 8-week cycle.
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Deadlift
Fitness and Performance: Work up to one heavy set of 10 using perfect form.
Aim for 60-70% of your 1RM. Dead start, no touch-and-go.
Exposure 1/8
Post loads to comments.
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For Time:
500m Row
400m Run
30 Burpees
Post time and Rx to comments.
CFSBK’s Swole Crew representing at CrossFit Virtuosity yesterday. There are only two events left in the Subway Series competition, one at CrossFit Long Island City, and the last one at home. You can still sign up here!
Did You See the Programming For Our Upcoming 8-Week Cycle?
At CFSBK, we program 8-week cycles that culminate in a Crush Week—when we bias longer, higher volume or benchmark workouts and overlap elements that were programmed on particular day. In training weeks one to eight, we work off a basic distribution of lifts and skills (which you can learn more about in an article Coach David wrote for his blog, Inside the Affiliate, called “Effective Programming Strategies For CrossFit Affiliates” and in an article Coach Fox wrote, pasted below). The intention of these next eight weeks is to target particular movements while still biasing general fitness as the overarching goal of training.
Training Cycle Dates: M 8/10 – Su 10/4
Crush Week: M 10/5 – S 10/11
Transition Week: Will be the first week of the following cycle, starting October 5, 2015
Cycle Goals:
- Add rep/set variety to barbell strength training
- Incorporate more gymnastics strength training
- One dedicated WOD day each week
Monday: Bench Press + Deadlift + WOD
Wednesday: Squat + WOD
Thursday: Snatch + Gymnastics Strength Bias EMOM + WOD
Saturday: WOD, no dedicated lift with a Clean and Jerk bias
Sunday: Squat + WOD
Get even more details on the Current Programming Cycle tab, which can always be accessed in the left-hand column under Member Resources.
The Underlying Philosophy Behind Programming at CFSBK
By Chris Fox
At CFSBK, we program for long-term health and fitness utilizing strength training, Olympic lifting, gymnastics, and mostly CrossFit-style couplet and triplet conditioning work. While some days look a bit different, a routine day at CrossFit South Brooklyn looks like this: DROMs, Warm Ups, Lifting, WOD prep, followed by a WOD. Let’s look at some of the reasons why we structure and program this way in terms of what each segment offers.
DROMs: A general, light, dynamic warm up of joints and soft tissue will get your heart rate up a bit and help you enter a training mindset. It starts to get the sleep out of your eyes or the emails in your inbox out of your head. It also offers time for the QOD [LINK], which can lighten the mood and let you get to know a bit about the people you’ll be working hard with.
Warm Ups: You need to be warmed up properly to move well and help prevent injury. Standardized warm ups move you through a wide range of motion, get you sweaty, and give you an opportunity to develop some strength in basic gymnastics and barbell movements you’ll regularly see in classes. Focused barbell drills review the positions and intentions of the lift you’ll be working on that day. We structure the drills so that you also get warm as you’re doing them.
Lifts: You need to be stronger, as strength is the physical adaptation with the greatest carryover to the rest of your training and to life in general. You may have noticed that we squat twice each week. We’ve been programming this way for years and for good reason. I can’t say it any better than Mark Rippetoe so here’s a quote from the man himself:
“There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that provides the level of central nervous activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.”
We agree.
The Olympic lifts train power, strength, coordination, flexibility, and overall athleticism. If you can throw a heavy weight overhead, catch it in a rock bottom overhead squat, then stand it up (PR bar slam optional), almost all of the other things we do will be easier. As far as the other lifts go, the bench is the best upper body strength developer and is simply fun. The press is another great upper body strength developer—it keeps the shoulder girdle healthy and works the muscles that stabilize your trunk extremely well. Every few cycles we’ll program an upper body gymnastics movement as a strength developer, as this allows us to have some fun and vary the stimulus a bit. The deadlift will get your back stronger like no other exercise can, and it’s almost always the lift where you’ll be able to move the most weight, automatically making it pretty cool. The average lifter should be able to deadlift more than they can squat. If that’s not the case for you, we recommend coming in on days when we’re pulling weights off the floor.
WOD Prep and WOD: We discuss the intent of the WOD at the whiteboard, along with scaling options and strategies. The WOD is where we get our conditioning and develop the ability to work at high intensities for longer than a set of squats can take us. As stated above, we use mostly mixed modal couplets and triplets. Our conditioning tends to range from short, high intensity three- to seven-minute efforts, to medium intensity eight- 15-minute efforts on most days, with a lower intensity 20-minute-plus WOD thrown in once a week or so.
Even when the total time is above 15 minutes, we’ll often use interval work so that intensity stays high, given that high intensity (anaerobic) training has positive carryovers to low intensity (aerobic) training and offers other benefits. High intensity training can develop and preserve muscle mass, whereas long slow distance training can cause you to lose it if used exclusively. High intensity training creates EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption), which sets your metabolism up to burn slightly more fat after exercise compared to endurance-type training—a boon if you’re looking to lose extra fat. Plus it’s time effective. If you can get the same or better benefit metabolically with shorter high intensity training, then the only reason to do the long slow stuff is if you don’t want to work that hard.
Consider that maybe you don’t need more “cardio,” but actually need to work harder. I’d argue that hard work will also make you stronger in non-physical ways. We throw something like “Murph” at you a few times each year since we know you secretly love it and it’s cool to see that you haven’t lost your ability to go that long in spite of all your gainz. If we programmed hero type WODs all the time however, we’d likely have an oft-injured population with a narrow scope of fitness. Time and intensity have an inverse relationship in that the longer you work, the lower the intensity must be. By intensity, I mean power output. I know a marathon can be an intense experience, but you’re not working as hard on those miles as you would be while doing 800m repeats. Furthermore, the longer you go, the more reps you’re going to be doing and the more fatigued you’ll be. You don’t move better on the 69th deadlift compared to the 9th, trust me. Remember: we’re programming for our general population to be fit for the long term—not to crush a week’s worth of hero WODs followed by six weeks of PT.
Cool Down: This portion is largely up to you, but you really don’t need us to babysit while you run, row an easy 1000 meters, or spend some quality time with a foam roller.
To wrap up, CFSBK’s programming is designed to give you the most training value. We do these things because they are effective, not because they are in vogue or even because our members demand that we do things a certain way. We’ve withstood a few silly fitness trends in favor of what science and experience says works and will continue to do so, evolving as we learn. Training here is hard, it’s consistent, and it isn’t always exciting or sexy, but it works. We’re lucky to have so many of you who seem to agree and are willing to put in the hard work!
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How’d Crush Week go? What did you think of the programming last cycle? Give us your thoughts in the comments below, or through our online feedback form (always located in the left-hand column at the bottom of Member Resources). We love hearing from you!
I've always found dead lifting a really dangerous workout; I've seen some women doing it too and that scared me. What's the safest weight a woman can do?
Crush Week was a bust for me. I only made 1.5 workouts and even those killed me. It was a lesson in the restorative power of sleep. Because we're not sleeping much or consistently or for long stretches due to the baby, I was sore for days and days. We're looking forward to a gentler reentry starting today!
@Gym Rat: any exercise can be dangerous if you have poor movement standards and no or bad coaching, especially if you add too much weight too soon. Your question really has no right answer. If you want to explore barbell training, find a good coach. Good coaching is built into the cfsbk experience but it doesn't sound like that's an option for you.
Dude, Rich, having a baby is Crush Two Weeks or however long it's been, all by itself!
The coaches were great as always about helping me find ways around my stubbornly slow-to-heal wrist. I think I scaled a little too much, though, because I'm never quite sure about how to handle weight for a one-armed variant.
I am DELIGHTED that Meathead Mondays are back.
I benched the normal barbell! I want a coach to look at me next time I do it, because toward the end it started to feel the tiniest bit uncomfortable — I may be setting my right side up in weird ways to compensate for the wrist/thumb? Anyway, 95x5x3 — I'm not going to mess with performance programming this cycle.
Deadlift: 185×10. This felt so much heavier than I expected that weight to! The dead stop really changes everything (and so does deadlifting the day after you've done 40 strict chinups in a WOD).
WOD: 6:36 with 50 slam balls 20# instead of burpees. Still don't miss burpees.
6am with Melissa and McDowell
Bench Press
Performance rep scheme at 70% which is 165#. Felt quick and easy.
Deadlifts
70% was 255# so I went with that. 10 is a lot of reps. Got heavy toward the end but I didnt slow down too much.
WOD
Kept the row in the 1:45-1:48 range.
The run was a slog.
The burpees were speedy at the front end and slowed considerably at the end.
Total time 5:44.
This was a rough Crush Week for me. I loved the intensity of the workouts, trying out a new Hero and hanging out with Fran. The only frustrating thing was that I tore early in the week during the snatch workout which made the rest of the workouts pretty miserable.I noticed a lot of other people on the blog and in class tearing their hands too.
I think it may be time for a CFSBK Media article on proper hand care. I would love to hear about ongoing hand maintenance, when and when not to tape, proper use of the chalk and how to treat hand tears. Pop blisters or let them be? Leave the flap of skin on or cut it off? Cover the tear at night or let it breathe? The interwebs is full of opinions but I would rather hear form the coaches on this.
I second @MattyChm on that hand care article. The latter half of the last cycle seemed to be particularly grip intensive and my hands seemed to never get a chance to heal properly. That's probably because of my lack of hand care knowledge. Drop some on us please, coaches.
I only got in 1x last week, for Fran. It was fun. I walked a way with a bloody hand.
I have been documenting my healing process and taping procedures. I hope to write something up this week about hand maintenance.
Ditto to MattyChm and Brendan's notes. I am pretty familiar with the usually hand care advice but still managed to tear the Shite out of my hands doing high-rep TTB. Is it simply a matter of conditioning your hands to the volume over time? I should point out that the Reingold men are renowned for their baby-soft skin . . .
7am with MelDowell
Deadlift: 145lbs x 10
Ok, moved quickly until the last few
Bench: 75lbs 2 x 5, 3
Failed in the last set because my leg cramped up. Maybe I should have gone five pounds lighter given the time restraints.
WOD:
row – ok/slow
run – leg burn/slow
burpees – #$@&%*!
6am with MeLo and McD
Bench: 45×5, 65×5, 75×5, 85x5x5
I haven't benched in a while, so I kept it light and easy to start.
Deadlift: 135×5, 185×10
185 is 60% of my 1 rm and it moved well.
WOD in 6:47. Burpees were the slowest part.
7AM:
DL first 275×10 Had the most trouble with my grip, as i have a few sore spots on my hands, first from last thursday's workout, and secondly from getting in between my 2 year old and a scissors!
Then Bench: Did 175x7x4. A little too high (closer to 75% of my 1rm- bad math) and my final warm up set was at 165 (which was dumb) So the fourth set I only got 5 reps.
WOD; 6:33 Not everyone passed me on the run!
Agree with hands worries. I love everything about CFSBK and the approach to fitness here but I'm frustrated with torn hands – I keep trying out different gloves for kipping, chalk/no chalk etc…
I thought the last cycle was great by the way. I made real progress on my OH press, my HBBS and my clean.
Overall, I was pretty psyched on my crush week performance – knocked over a minute off my Fran time, felt happy enough with my performance on the nasty front squat and 30 minute WODs, and then finally managed to get through all of the DUs on 12.4 for the first time (an improvement of 40 reps – I think – on that one from the last test). I also ended up doing 12.4 as a chipper with kipping pull-ups with Val and Tyler, so that was interesting. Yesterday, I ended up doing the NFL workout at Anti-Gravity, which was ten rounds of push-ups to failure followed by a 50 yard sprint. Best round of push-ups was 26 (surprising), and worst was 5 (not surprising). Even managed to slightly handstand walk about a foot away from the wall in class, too! PROGRESS. Not a bad week.
My hands have been a mess lately, too. I shave and file them frequently, so I think my issues are just needing to get some better bar gripping technique, and also trying to lessen reliance on chalk. I bought these last week, too, and have been pretty happy with them.
10am class
Bench
185x7x4
This was 70% and moved fine
Dead
315×10
This was 70% and also moved fine. HR was up by the end of the set.
WOD
5:51
Row under 1:50, slow run, steady burpees until the last 10 when I turned it on. Happy to be back in group class. Really looking forward to this training cycle.
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Re: Hand Care
Heard loud and clear. We've written and posted about this before but expect a formal article soon. I never shave my callouses, don't overuse chalk, and grip the bar in my fingers (as opposed to my palm) with a thumb around grip. I haven't had a bad tear in years and believe good callous maintenance and proper grip to be the largest factors in not tearing. The coaching staff have a few different ideas about this so we'll get you all something formally soon.
10am group class:
Bench:
(45×5, 75×5)
95x7x4
-this was a little over 60% of my 1RM and felt like a good place to start for this cycle.
Deadlifts:
(135×5, 165×3)
205×10
-again, just over 60% of 1RM but it felt challenging today. Maybe it's the 73 DL's I did at the subway series event yesterday.
WOD:
6:45
-row in 1:54.1, run was slowish I guess and then burpees were just burpees.
Yesterday's Subway Series Event:
28 Deadlifts at 125#, 28 HSPU to 1 abmat
21 DL's at 155#, 21 HSPU to floor
15 DL's at 185#, 15 HSPU to 1" deficit
9 DL's at 205#, 9 HSPU to 2" deficit
-got through 1 HSPU with the 2" deficit as the 15min time cap was called.
-HOLY VOLUME! That's gotta be the most handstand pushups that I've done in a workout…and the first time that I've ever done a deficit. That is a game changer for sure. Happy to have gotten at least one rep at the 2" but man did that require a big ass kip and a slight prayer to my triceps.
The Subway Series is always fun and it was great to represent SBK with about 10 of us. If you're on the fence, sign up! Congrats to Kelly L. who placed in the top 3 for the scaled division and to Coach Katie Harpz for taking 3rd in the Rx'd!
Crush Week:
Missed most of the workouts, but PR'ed Fran. For some odd reason, Wednesdays' Deadlift/Front Squat/Push-Up workout really wrecked my quads, which are still recovering from that. Hands got all tore up. Would like an article about it, but I know the responsibility falls on me to moisturize and take proper care. Coaches will write a great article, I'll still be lazy and overlook hand care, and will still tear…
10AM:
Bench 3×5@150 moved very well. Good weight for 1/8
Deadlift 10 @ 135, 185, 205. Sets of 10 fatigued me a bit.
WOD:
Moved through everything with a steady pace. Always happy to run and do burpees 5:18.
6am.
Bench: 45×5,95×5,125×3,155x7x4. ~70% of 1 RM. This felt heavy and sluggish.
Deadlifts: 135×5, 185×3, 225×1, 255×10. I don't have a good read on a 1RM, so just went with something that would move easy.
Metcon: 5:21 Rx. Came off the erg w/ 1:44/500m pace, ran about as slow as I could, and hit the burpees. As I shrugged off McD's target of sub 5:00, it can be done if one doesn't sandbag the run.
Crush week: Shoulders are smoked, the movements biased alot of shoulders. I was hoping for more 5-7 min metcons since we seem to be focusing on these 20-30 min AMRAP / long chippers. I'm sure Fox is working his master plan. Re hands, my hands are beat up but nothing terrible. I use to tear during high rep metcons, but played around with my grip which worked. And, just back away from the chalk bucket– use as little chalk as possible.
This morning felt better than I thought I would post "Danny" (More on that later)
Deadlifts went in with 225X10 It felt awesome the first 5 then when I hit the 8th I really felt the weight but nothing heading to fail or grind. The two biggest factors I was mentally dealing with was my hands feeling like hamburger and my hamstrings burning from the box jumps of "Danny". The bench I had to scroll back to January in my log book to find my last benched weight. I dialed it back some so I don't burn out at the end of the cycle. The weight moved really easy and felt great (a first for bench in a long time). WOD done is 6:01. When I got off that erg and out to the street my legs felt like jello. I tried to catch the lead but just couldn't for the life of me. The burpees got done with no rests but man that was a mental push through the whole time.
Crush Week.
I really enjoyed what we got to do with crush week but 85% of the WODs were all bad for my jacked neck that sometimes doesn't like talking to my scapula. Fran, the second time I have ever done RX set me back 2 seconds from the last time I did the wod (8:58). It was under the cap but more like a slugfest than a burner.
Thursday's "Hate Boat" as I called it. was nothing short of total hand destruction. I try to make it a point to take care of my hands. They are important not only for work but for working out. I shave and trim calluses, use Burt's Bees Hand Salve (R.I.P.) and still I linked away from that WOD with 13 blisters. No rips but 3 really close to it.
I avoided Saturdays WOD since Wallballs are my biggest issue with making my head not talk to my shoulder. This I thought also would give my hands a needed rest. Danny did not help matters with my hands. Every pull-up was just pain. I also went with RX the first round and I should have went with 95 pounds. If I was fresh and not sore I could have handled it better but live an learn.
Fun times at the Subway Series yesterday. It was a lot more low key than I expected. Great to have a solid group of us together. I always get the nervous anticipatory dread pre-workout that makes me want to run away and throw up, but you know… it was cool.
Deficit Diane:
28 Deadlifts at 125#, 28 HSPU to 1 abmat
21 DL's at 155#, 21 HSPU to floor
15 DL's at 185#, 15 HSPU to 1" deficit
9 DL's at 205#, 9 HSPU to 2" deficit
I cleared 9 HSPU to 1" deficit by the 15:00 time cap. Had never done deficit before, and HSPU are not a great strength of mine, so I am overall relatively happy with how this went. I think I paced it well and was smart. The biggest thing is I just need to practice my HSPU kip — when I get fatigued, I don't use my legs/hips enough and start overusing my arms, which then fatigues me more and I start failing. Duh.
I spent most of the past cycle working strength in strict HSPU, since I didn't use to have any to full depth. I'm glad that base has been built, and I can continue that and now start practicing my kip more, too.
McD-Fit programming today:
FSQ: 4 sets: 1 Pause FSQ (4 sec in the hole) + 2 Front Squats, rest ~2:00
135, 145, 155, 160 (fail on 3rd rep… glad I went for it, but c'mon just keep it together!)
High Hang Snatch + Snatch — Every 2:00, 6 sets total
83, 83, 83, 88, 88, 88
overall pretty good, but not as crisp as last week. lower back and triceps are FRIEDDDDDD.
Didn't do BSQ's… will have to get that in tomorrow. Wanted to test the next Subway Series WOD…
3 Rounds For Time:
24 WB 14#/9'
400m run
12 OHS 75#
Time: 13:08
WB: 14-10, 14-10, 12-12
OHS unbroken each round
I got really overwhelmed and wanted to cry a little bit during the wall balls in that third round. Going from that into the run in rounds 2 and 3 is suck city. Legs feel like lead, gasping for air. The run feels like the weak link for me here, as always. I spend the first half trying to recover some semblance of breathing, and then spend the second half trying to move at an actual running pace.
Round 1
3:45
Round 2
8:15?
Round 3
13:08
Meathead Mondays! Yay! 🙂
I've been wanted to request a hand care article, too! I have no idea what to do to take care of my hands. They were pretty destroyed last week : /
Partnered with Jaclyn for bench and deadlift:
Bench: 75X 5X3
Deadlift: 125X10 (Jaclyn did 130) Walked away feeling like I could have done 130, too. Ro said leaving the gym feeling like you could do more is the best way to leave; I need to remember that!
WOD: 5:53. Tried my hardest on the row, ran pretty fast (could have been faster but I was thinking about the burpees), and pushed the burpees hard.
Also, my HSPUs have gotten so much better! I can do a few kipping without an abmat and a few strict with two ab mats if I don't press my head into the mat…Thanks, anti-gravity!!
Performance bench @75# (less than 65% of my max, but haven't done a 1RM in a while). I'm always inconsistent with my bar path, but Fox came over and gave me some tips which helped greatly! They key is looking straight up!
Deadlift @ 155# (~63%). Doing them from a dead stop definitely makes them feel heavier. Also, my back is sore from yesterday.
WOD in 6:36
Row: PR for my 500m which was around 2:00, but I didn't pay close attention to the exact time.
Run: Always a struggle
Burpees: unbroken, consistent pace. Tried to turn it on with 10 left.
I competed in the scaled division of the Subway Series yesterday. It was my first competition! I experienced the same pre-workout dread that Whit described. I was in the first heat which added to my nerves. I had a game plan, but was hoping to see at least one heat to see if I needed to modify that plan. The workout was a lot easier than the Rx version, so I def need to keep working on those HSPUs:
28 deadlifts, 95
28 incline push-ups, 36"
21 deadlifts, 115
21 incline push-ups, 24"
15 deadlifts, 135
15 incline push-ups, 12"
9 deadlifts, 155
9 push-ups, no incline
Completed in 6:57. Incline pushups were on a racked bar. All breaks were very short. I broke up the reps as follows:
DLs: 14-14, 11-10, 8-7, 9
Pushups: 28, 11-10, 8-4-3.
I'm not sure of the rep scheme of my last set of pushups because I got no repped at least 4 times for snaking, etc. They were very strict about having a strict pushups and rightly so, but I think at least one of my no reps was a rep.
I came in second overall (out of 6 competitors) and was happy with my performance. It helped to have the winner in my group to keep me moving (I am purposely slow about transitions sometimes so she forced me to keep moving). It was not intimidating at all, so I encourage others to sign up for the remaining Subway Series events. It was super inspiring to watch the coaches and other members do the Rx version of the workout which was INSANE.
I'm nervous about next weekend's Subway Series WOD bc it has two of my weaknesses which are wall balls and running. I think it's better do it and challenge myself than to cherry pick workouts! It's the only way I will improve!