FRONT SQUAT / SINGLE-ARM RING ROW SUPERSET*
A1) Front Squat:
4 x 10-12
A2) Single-Arm Ring Row:
4 x 10-12
Use a heavy load (or degree of difficulty for the Ring Row) for the rep range that allows you to move with perfect form, heavier than last week. Keep rest to a minimum, 30-60 seconds between movements.
*Warm up and then perform a set of Front Squats, followed by a set of Ring Rows, heavier than last week. Repeat for 4 work sets of each, resting 30 seconds to a minute between movements.
Post loads to comments.
Exposure 6 of 8
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3 Rounds for Time:
15 Deadlifts 185/125
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Push Jerks
The barbell should be on the heavy side for you. Baller status for going unbroken, but definitely okay to break it up a bit, especially on the Hang Power Cleans.
Post time and Rx to comments.
Humans of Starting Strength: Bridget McBride
A new round of CFSBK’s Starting Strength Program cycles just started! Over the next few weeks, we’ll be bringing you some Humans of New York-style interviews with our Starting Strengthers. Who are these intrepid powerlifters? What brings them together? What is Starting Strength Program like? How is it different from other classes? What kind of funny stuff does Coach Jeremy say in class? Let’s find out! For our first installment, we talked to Bridget M.
What are a few of the biggest things you took from or accomplished in Starting Strength?
My biggest takeaway from SS is that I do belong at this gym. I don’t have an athletic background and have not been ‘fit’ for most of my life. I had only been a member at CFSBK for less than 6 weeks before starting SS. I attended group classes irregularly, and as a result, while the coaches and classmates were always welcoming, I felt like an outsider who was never going to figure this out. Attending SS gave me confidence by helping me focus on a core set of lifts and see the objective progress from week to week. The work was definitely not easy, but having a structured format helped me to relax and learn that I love weightlifting and how amazing this gym is with its people, space, and equipment.
My most important ‘a-ha!’ lesson from SS is a better understanding of the zones where ‘mind over matter’ comes into play with lifting. The first time I learned that I could “keep on driving” past the point where I thought my arms could go on Bench Press was a total mind-blower! Insert metaphor for missed opportunities in life here…
How has the Starting Strength Program impacted your capacity in CrossFit group classes or in other fitness pursuits?
I have seen the impact of SS in all types of activities. Beyond the obvious peripheral muscles, I didn’t always give enough credit to how much core strength I was building along the way. I can bike much longer without flagging, I resumed running, and my joints are doing fine. My Push-Ups show better form. And most of all, I’ve become that “fun” girl at work that talks about weightlifting all the time.
What’s the culture like?
Another great aspect of SS: you need a good rest between sets, and so does your rack mate. Having time to chat with the same classmates over the course of 90 minutes over 8 weeks develops a nice camaraderie. Class is chatty and chill with moments of really dialing in and “going to work.” I now have an OG partner and friends to cheer on at the SS Totals.
Coach Jeremy’s low-key but attentive teaching style is great. My favorite quote: It was my 2nd class, and after my Low Bar Back Squat set, he says, “Bridget, you have a gift.”
*My brain freezes and internal monologue begins* “O.M.G. Am I, like, a lifting prodigy, and I don’t even know it? Have I found my secret superpower?!”
“Bridget, you have a gift. The gift of short femurs. Excellent for Squatting.”
Womp womp and haha classic Jeremy—warmly sarcastic, a master observer and interpreter of biomechanics who gives you personalized feedback so that together you can optimize your performance. My femurs and I are so happy we found SS!
News and Notes
- This Saturday’s 11am Active Recovery class is cancelled. Coach David will be at the CrossFit Games East Regional in Albany, racking up his 8th (!) year as Competition Director. Check out this post from a couple of years ago in which he reflects on this experience.
- Missing something? It might be in our most recent lost and found dump! You can also now see photos of our lost and found clear outs via the link under Member Resources. Be sure to claim your stuff at the front desk before we donate it to CHIPS!
- Registration for Coach Keith’s upcoming Active Life Strength classes is now open. These classes are sure to sell out, so hurry! See Monday’s post for details…
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Yesterday’s Results Board: Rest Day
Treadmills Were Meant To Be Atonement Machines JSTOR Daily
Respecting Your Body’s Signs: Lifting Heavy and Listening Closely Breaking Muscle
Ha, classic Jeremy indeed. Love your shirt, Bridget!
(AR canceled on Saturday? My heart is broken, I was finally going to be back this week!)
I’m suspicious. I thought regionals in Albany take place 17-19th. What’s DO really up to?????
7am w/KHarpz & Ro
Coming off some travel days of poor sleep, nutrition, H2O so immediately felt sweaty, uncomfortable, and generally like I was being squeezed out like a sponge.
FSQ: 95x12x4 – legs aren’t the issue here, have to work to keep braced and 100% upright. Stayed solid on position.
SA ring row: 12ea x4
WOD: 9:20 @ 95#
Terrible cramps kicked in during set-up. Gave myself a pep talk in the bathroom and then just slogged through it.
The blog wasn’t letting me post this yesterday, so, here goes:
Wow- thanks to everyone for all of your kind words- I’m thrilled to have been named AOTM!
The commitment to quality from David and the outstanding coaching staff make it such a welcoming place for anyone to achieve their goals. I’m often in awe watching other members work so hard.
Thanks to Fox for asking such thoughtful questions and making my words more coherent than the ones I spoke.
I’m so lucky to have found CFSBK- being part of this community is a major positive force in my life.
Bridget!! Killer interview and shirt. Also, are you holding a donut/pastry? I must know.
Hi! Yes that’s my National Donut Day 2017 memorium, complete with jelly lipstick. It’s June 1, only 22 days to plan your macros…🤩
Love it!! I will most definitely be participating, since it’s a national holiday and all…
A) Snatch
SDL+PS+HS
perfect positions, build to a moderate complex in 3-5 work sets
65/75/85/95/100
Felt pretty good! Rusty but best I could do while staying moderate.
B)Back Squat
@2011 8-10 reps, 3-4 sets, rest 1-2 min
150×8, 160×8, 170×8, 180×4 (racked it)
Knew I wasn’t going to be able to make all 8 (would gotten 6 or 7 at best and I wouldve lost tempo) so I racked it. Trying to play around with pushing myself a little bit to see if its actually strength or a mental barrier. When I realized it was definitely strength I decided to take a chill pill and rack it! haha. Looking forward to getting under the bar more this year.
C)FT @aer/clean movement
18 min
2:00 run
1:00 walk
+
4 sets
4 sHSPU
4 SBC, 80lb
6 box jump overs, 20″
Felt great! Tried to breathe easy. I didn’t really keep track of my run but I think I did 4+ 500M
Tried to slow down pace on 4 rounds as well. Esp with those sandbags! It’s crazy how easily those spike my heart rate
Bridget also took some cold showers! Cold Lyfe
12:00pm Group Class with Ro
FSQ
165×10
165×10
165×8 ( I should have had this, mental tap out)
Did 3x10e on the SA Ring Rows
Metcon
7:59 scaled to 135
Had illusions about doing this Rx’d this morning but everything felt so heavy so I made a reasonable decision and scaled it.
First, CONGRATS to Charles. A wonderful AOTM pick. Charles embodies what it means to attack your weaknesses and commit to progress in the long term, step by step. Hell yeah!
Second, @Kate tk — UGH. been there so many times. just the worst. I’ll never forget during one of the chipper Open WODs several years ago… I got terrible cramps that day. and while slogging and suffering through a bunch of wall balls, David came over and tried to encourage me to pick it up and keep going. and after it was over I explained why I was just dying… and he got super awkward and closed off his ears and ran away 😉
pre-class work:
2x: 1:00 ski, 1:00 bike, 2:00 line drills and movement prep
2x: :30 ea psoas march hold, 1:00 ea band clamshell hold (ugh), 20 heel drops, plus some other stuff
10am class w/ Keith
FSQ @ 115×12 – felt like enough for my first exposure to the higher volume. first couple sets felt like my L leg wasn’t awake yet. started to dig in a bit more in set 3-4 and picked up the pace as well. really have to focus on bracing ribcage DOWN, even as i’m driving my elbows UP.
SA RR @ 12L, 8R with slow eccentric to work on my imbalances and bicep issue
WOD: 8:30 RX’d
ugh. in hindsight, i could’ve/should’ve pushed a bit more. just took more rest than i needed to, particularly going back into the DL after the jerks. i’m capable of doing this well under 8 min, and I just let myself be slow today. that’s ok.
first round in just around 2:00. obviously did not keep a steady pace throughout this one!
DL: 8-6-1 x 3
HPC: 4-4-1, 3-3-2-1, 4-4-1
PJ: unbroken
I LOVE that the jerks were the part of this that I wasn’t afraid of! Heavy overhead used to be my goat and I am so much stronger and more confident there, now.
HPC were a bit of a mess and I have the collarbones to prove it. Did the first round as a quick cycle from the shoulder, but that started to get ugly in round 2 and I was starting to catch really low. So shifted to the hip recovery and then back into hang before next rep. Fluctuated back and forth between those techniques in the last round. Good news is my elbows felt fast throughout.
good one! would love to re-test that in a couple months.
8am at NC Fit, California
15 x EOMOM CJ+PJ+SJ
Started off with 185, which was too heavy to begin with (valid reps, but poor form). Decided to move down to 135 for a few reps, then 155, then back to 185. Got to 205 by the end, but the push jerk wasn’t there anymore.
3×10 SA DB Bench Press @ 55lbs – fine, should have done 60lbs but there were no DB.
3×10 Goblet Lateral Lunges @ 16kg – tough, I can’t seem to keep my chest up when squatting with the left leg, so the KB weight is all in my arms.
Ran out of time for a metcon :-/ (also working out in the morning with no breakfast before is exhausting/sleepy)
Love this interview Bridget! Strength Cycle changed my life and that’s no exaggeration.
A)
Conventional Deadlift
@2211 6,4,2,6,4,2, rest 3-4 min
255 x 6
280 x 4
300 x 2
260 x 6
285 x 4 (belt and two reps with switch grip)
310 x 2 (back to hookgrip)
First four sets felt great, fast. Rounding a little again on the top set- must be fatigue I guess. Need to practice switch grip because it feels unfamiliar these days.
B)
Bench press
@2011 6,4,2,6,4,2, rest 3-4 min
120 x 6
130 x 4
145 x 2
125 x 6
135 x 4
147.5 x 2
C)
20 min ski @EZ
e5 min
5 TTB
5 kHSPU
15 kbs, 24kg
Unbroken- felt good.
8am with Ro
FS – 4 sets 73X12
SARR – 12 with the feet staying forward a squig more than last week.
I worked with Molly with whom I usually like to chat while lifting but we were both pretty quiet. I just couldn’t breath! These long sets are really informative. The weight feels heavy but it still comes up well at this point. I just find it hard to set a pace and manage the standard of taking a good breath at the top, keeping solid at the bottom and exhaling on the way up or at the top.
The WOD. 6:18 with 63#. Big sets on DL, medium, small the medium on cleans, all jerks unbroken (and my favorite part).
Then some fun short circuit with special guest coach Keith.
Highlights were the farmers/over head carry. Once I saw Leslie demonstrate that you can get one kettlebell overhead and then grab the farmers carry one from a box, I managed 16kg. Other highlight was Cage pressing down on my feet while I was holding hallow to help me gain extra fitness!
In unrelated news, the new cake bites at the front desk are FUEGO. (Peanut butter)
That is all.
Lol!!!
Well, I think I really 100% do have an issue. Seeing Brett and Whits PT next week hopefully.
FSQ: 83×12, 88×12, 93×12, 98×12
Wod: 103#
15 dls
9hpc
12 push-ups
7:06
So sad how my shoulders-lats-something have impacted my Iron Maiden’s training. 🙁
Also, I’d like to say thank you to all the coaches for being so helpful and accommodating! It’s made feeling bummed out way easier.
THANK YOU!!!
7:30 with Brett and DO
Front squats: 105,110,115,120
Woof!
Wod at 88# in 6:30. Overhead was feelin mighty weak today. Power cleans felt on point though!
Back squatted across the street instead of front squatting with group class because IM. I’ve been continuing the back squat progression from this cycle and decreasing the reps each week.
145×4
155×4
165×4
175×4
Felt WAYYY heavier than it should have. These should have been easy. Legs are strong but weight feels SO heavy when I walk the bar out. Hoping some AGS pump will straighten that out.
WOD: 8:25 @103#
Didn’t form a solid plan ahead of time and took too many breaks. Didn’t sleep much last night, had a stressful day at work, and felt sluggish from eating a bagel today so overall happy with my first DT-ish experience considering the circumstances.
Dead lifts: 14-1. Went steady to start so my heart rate wouldn’t spike and then realized it’s better for me to go faster and save my grip because weight was so light and taking my time just meant holding onto the bar longer.
HPCs: Had trouble resetting my hook grip on these. Knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain 8-1 but didn’t make a plan and just wasted a lot of energy by making mistakes. On my first round I dropped the bar after rep 9 by accident (duh) so had to do an extra clean before push jerking. On the second round, I finished with reps 8 and 9 before moving on to jerks and then of course couldn’t do as many jerks because I ended with two HPCs instead of one. Got my sh*t together on the last round.
Jerks: solid and did 4-2, 3-3, unbroken. Not super efficient at cycling these tho so just took my time setting them up properly.