Workout of the Day
For Time
3 Strict Pull-ups
50 Double Unders
6 Strict Pull-ups
40 Double Unders
9 Strict Pull-ups
30 Double Unders
12 Strict Pull-ups
20 Double Unders
15 Strict Pull-ups
10 Double Unders
Notes:
Intent <12 min
If strict pull-ups and double unders are not yet developed, intensity is less important than facilitating practice and technical refinement. If you are proficient in these movements, attempt to finish quickly with minimal breaks.
Pull-Up Scaling:
A. 2-4-6-8-10
B. Banded or Box Assist, full volume or 2-4-6-8-10
DU Scaling:
A. 40-30-20-10-5
B. 30 sec Practice after each set of pull-ups
ASSISTANCE
3-4 Progressive Sets
8-10 DB Bench Press @ 20X1
8-10 Goblet Slantboard Squats @ 20X1
Notes
Start with moderate loads you are confident holding the tempo on and work progressively heavier across your sets as technique allows.
Superset the two movements, resting as needed between each.
CrossFit Group Class Programming Template (WK1/3)
Interview by Julie Barnard
Turning the page to Caleb Crain, our March Member of the Month!
Caleb showed up to his first class in 2019 “in a state of more or less sheer terror” and hasn’t looked back since. CrossFit was exactly what he was looking for – hard, endlessly challenging, and, most importantly, something to push through alongside others. Whether he’s deadlifting, rowing, dreaming of handstand walks, or sharing his creative side in this year’s CFSBK Art Show, he brings curiosity, humor, and a deep appreciation for learning and growth.
We’re so glad you found your way here, Caleb! Congratulations! ::fist bump::
Name (and any nicknames):
Caleb Crain. My sister calls me “Cable.”
Where were you born, and where did you grow up?
I was born in Houston, and I grew up mostly in central Massachusetts.
How long have you been CrossFitting, and how did you find your way to CFSBK?
In the fall of 2019, I was feeling pretty down. Swimming, running, and biking had made me a little less depressed in the past, and I wondered if exercise that was more intense could do even more. A couple of new friends were singing the praises of CrossFit, including Sam Graham-Felsen, who belonged to CFSBK. These friends were younger than I was by a decade or two, but at 52, I was game for letting my physical self have one last hurrah. I started Foundations at CFSBK on November 5, 2019, and I went to my first class, in a state of more or less sheer terror, on Monday, November 19, at 4:30pm—a time of day from which I mostly haven’t deviated.
What keeps you coming back to CFSBK?
I thought CrossFit would make me stronger because it’s harder. But the important difference from my old exercise routines, I now think, is that CrossFit takes place with other people. A lot of gay men of my generation learned in childhood to be ashamed and afraid of our bodies, and almost as a reflex, sought out in adulthood ways of exercising that were solitary, if we exercised at all. But there’s something healthy-making about moving your body around with others, psychologically as well as physically, especially if, like me, you usually spend your workday alone.
The intensity of a CrossFit workout seems to force a sort of reboot of my brain, which I think helps keep my episodes of depression from spiraling too deep. But I wouldn’t be able to get to that intensity on my own. I need the mix of company and rivalry that only happens in a group—the mix of support and challenge. As Sam G-F said once, when I was marveling at how powerful the dynamic was, “It turns out that something as simple as a fist-bump after a workout is incredibly motivating.” So is the chance to see a lovely group of people regularly. It turns out that I like the feeling of being on a team.
I keep coming back for that reboot and also, somewhat paradoxically, I come back because CrossFit is hard! It’s been five years, and I’m still learning how to do cleans and snatches right, for example. You have to keep so many things in mind at once, and do them all quickly! I like a pursuit where there’s always something new to learn, a level you haven’t reached yet and maybe didn’t even know existed until last week. Which is a roundabout way of saying that what I love most about CFSBK is the coaching. The coaches here are encouraging in a way that’s both serious and light-hearted. That isn’t a note that every singer can hit, and they hit it consistently. I feel incredibly grateful for their knowledgeable and patient guidance.
What does CFSBK mean to you?
I feel really lucky to be able to take part. Institutions are delicate organisms, and I’m impressed by how many different kinds of balance are maintained at CFSBK—between rules and flexibility, between growth and stability, between camaraderie and competition, between learning and goofiness. CFSBK has a distinctive spirit, and I’m happy that I’ve been able to experience it. It means a lot to me, too, that CFSBK has been so consistent in its support of trans and queer athletes, especially lately.
How has the gym changed your life?
My husband shamelessly objectifies me now, and I did not expect that to happen in my late fifties. A more serious answer is that I think my psyche is a little steadier. As is my physical balance. About a year ago, my bike skidded out from under me on a patch of black ice, and while the bike went sideways, I landed on one foot, stunned but unharmed, which I 100% attribute to CrossFit. Also I have a somewhat revised relationship to pain. I still don’t like it, but a couple of years ago, when I dropped a window sash on a finger and had to go get stitches, the syringe-full of anesthetic the doctor emptied into my finger had no effect but I remember telling myself: It’s okay, it’s just four rounds of one rep each of having a piece of twine sewed into your finger and then tied in a knot while your mind explodes with pain. You can do hard things!
Can you share a memorable experience or achievement from your time at CFSBK?
A couple of years ago, my friend and neighbor Bo Bishop (whom I ensorceled into joining CFSBK) shared with me a theory he’d read about: a person sometimes can’t fully access memories of a difficult experience unless his body returns to a state of excitement that matches the state it was in when the trauma happened. The next day, in the gym, while I was doing a 1000-meter row—in other words, pretty sweaty and miserable—I remembered something that had happened to me long ago, an episode I had always narrated to other people as a joke, and suddenly I realized that in fact it wasn’t a joke, it was very sad, and that I should write about it. I started crying, without stopping my rowing. But crying in a good way, if that makes sense. That became the kernel of the first short story of mine to be published in the New Yorker.
What are your current fitness goals?
Someday I want to be able to do a handstand walk.
Program your dream workout:
3 rope climbs, 20 push-ups, and a 1000m row.
Program your nightmare workout:
A large number of overhead squats, L-sits, and dumbbell windmills.
Favorite and least favorite lift:
I think the deadlift is my favorite. If the Sots press is a lift, then it’s my least favorite.
How do you spend your time outside of CFSBK? Do you have any hobbies?
I started birding during the pandemic, and for a while I was in Prospect Park taking pictures of birds almost every morning, though I’ve been slacking off lately. Also during the pandemic, a switch flipped in my brain and I started listening to classical music, which I was serious about when I was a kid but had drifted away from. I’ve written two novels, Necessary Errors (2013) and Overthrow (2019). I’ve been working on a third for the past five years or so, but I keep changing my mind about what it’s going to be about.
What are you currently recommending (books, shows, food, etc.)?
Michael Joseph Gross’s Stronger: The Untold Story of Muscle in Our Lives, which comes out in a few weeks, is about the science of muscle from the ancient Greeks to the present day and explains, among other things, that no one even thought people my age were capable of getting stronger until fairly recently. I think the novels I most enjoyed in the past year were Emma Cline’s The Guest and Eça de Queiroz’s The Maias. My nonfiction favorites lately are my friend Richard Beck’s Homeland, about how the War on Terror distorted and darkened American politics; Emily Witt’s Health and Safety, a memoir of rave culture and a difficult break-up that explores what it means to live according to aesthetic principles; and Kerry Howley’s Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs, which is about what America does to the people who tell the country the truth about corporate and government surveillance. The tuna melt at Winner Bakery is five stars. Lately I’ve been listening in bulk to Janet Baker’s and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s versions of the songs of Franz Schubert, and I loved Ian Bostridge’s book about those songs. The Caspar David Friedrich show at the Met will make you want to stand on a clifftop and stare moodily at the horizon.
Any advice for new CFSBKers?
Just lift light weights at first; form is the most important thing. You probably need to eat more protein—try sardines! If you sand down your calluses a little with a pumice stone in the shower, you’ll be slightly less likely to rip your palms during kipping pull-ups. Wear a long-sleeve shirt when you do ring dips, and wear long pants (or high socks) when you do rope climbs. Fist-bump generously!
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