Fitness: Halting Clean + Hang Clean Pull + Hang Clean + Jerk
Work up to a challenging load on the complex.
Performance: Halting Clean Deadlift + Hang Clean Pull + Hang Clean + Jerk
Work up to a heavy load on the complex. If you have time before class, review Catalyst Athletic’s demo of the Hang Clean Pull and the Halting Clean Deadlift.
Post loads to comments.
e5/8
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3 Rounds For Max Reps of:
1 Minute Max Calories Rowed
1 Minute Rest
1 Minute Max Double Unders
1 Minute Rest
1 Minute Max Wall Ball 20/10, 14/9
1 Minute Rest
Post reps completed for each movement and Rx to comments.
Margie at the Iron Maidens Raw Open
News and Notes
- Meet the Veg CSA Farmer Today! Tess from Common Hands Farm, our new vegetable CSA partner, will be tabling at Brooklyn Boulders today from 6:30-8:30pm. If you have questions about the new vegetable (plus fruit and eggs!) CSA program, stop by Brooklyn Boulders and introduce yourself!
- Congrats to Spirit and Jared D. on their new addition: Zev Sunny D. came into the world on April 19th, at 8lb, 6 oz. See some super cute photos here!
The Original Iron Maiden: Getting to Know Coach Margie
The Iron Maidens Raw Open was Margie L.’s latest contribution to CFSBK, but it’s far from her first. Margie was the third coach on staff at CFSBK, and she is Starting Strength-certified. Back in 2011, she created Tough Titsday, an all-women powerlifting meet. She also started the Herondale and Sol Flower Farm CSA partnerships, and she came up with the Underneath the Hoodie series, penning the first one about Coach Jess. (Coach Noah eventually turned the tables and wrote Margie’s.)
Margie is happy to return to CFSBK after a two-year hiatus, during which she earned a masters degree in Wisconsin (and wrote a series of articles for us about why you should join a CSA)—and she’s now returning to CFSBK with a bang. Iron Maidens was a smashing success, and in addition to coaching a few group classes, she will also be heading up the F Cycle of the next Strength Cycle. Since many of you weren’t around before Coach Margie left, we wanted to provide an opportunity to learn more about her. Read her interview with Kate below!
All cycles of the upcoming Strength Cycle will be posted next week, after the Strength Cycle Total this Sunday at 2pm.
CFSBK: Hi Margie! It’s been a while, but officially: Welcome back. Tell us a little bit about your athletic background.
ML: As a child, I excelled at slow swimming, mediocre tennis, and above average sit-and-reach scores.
CFSBK: Ah, the infamous sit-and-reach. May it rest in peace. How did you find CrossFit, and CFSBK?
ML: About nine or 10 years ago, I became a gym junkie for the first time in my life. I went to Slope Fitness six ays a week. I frequented the treadmill and elliptical, and religiously toted a Shape or Fitness magazine to consult with on my dumbbell routines.
One day a new trainer there approached me, asked me about my goals and if I wanted to workout. He taught me how to squat and then proceeded to lead me through a tabata squat session. I was impressed with his focus on form and how freakin’ hard it was. So, we started to work together; he kept telling me about getting certified in this thing, which is what we were doing, but I didn’t know was he was talking about. After he moved away from NY and I finally realized “this thing” was CrossFit, I got into the website and tried doing it on my own. That wasn’t very motivating, so I found CFNYC and went through their Elements class. I really loved it and worked out there for a few months until one day Court mentioned there was some guy in Brooklyn who had just started an affiliate. Turned out it was in Park Slope where I lived.
David had just moved from St. Mary’s Park to the Lyceum. After a surprisingly personal email exchange with him, I went to a class. I really dug the vibe David set, as well as the funny little group of members. As he added classes to the weekly schedule (there were only two or three at the beginning), I slowly stopped going to CFNYC in favor of SBK.
CFSBK: How did you decide to become a coach?
ML: Oh, I just got addicted. To CrossFit, to CFSBK, to the people, to the lifestyle. I was interested in movement quality—not so surprising given my theater background. I also enjoyed motivating others to discover the athletic side of themselves, as I had. I was very involved with helping David to grow and represent the gym (as were Jeremy and Shane), so it seemed like a natural progression to take on a coaching position. It was fairly informal at first, but as I learned more through attending seminars, reading and practicing, it became a serious focus in my life.
CFSBK: Tell us about starting Tough Titsday, and how that evolved over the years.
ML: When I first started at SBK, my role models included David, Charmel and, of course, Jeremy. The tone they set had a tremendous impact on the affinity I developed for barbells: push hard, go after it and do it well. I was completely one of the gang, even though I had a minimal athletic background, and often was the only female. Lifting and strongman style work made me feel like a badass. I was a lifelong theater nerd who’d always related to my body primarily as a comedic tool (and repository for chicken sandwiches). Getting stronger was a real departure, and one of the few things I’ve built for myself entirely on my own: no one can put the work in for you. That process imparted a sense of self-possession I’d never experienced before. Ultimately, strength training became more fulfilling than CrossFit.
I think the kind of transformation I went through is common among women for a variety of reasons. I wanted to facilitate, support and push other women to engage with this perhaps unknown part of themselves. Several years ago, there were few women in Jeremy’s Strength Cycle because many were intimidated and didn’t see reflections of themselves over there on the platform. I believed they just needed the right environment, so I created two mini-workshop series for novice and intermediate female lifters. We refined technique and explored the mental fortitude necessary to embrace heaviness. I was very pleased that many of my attendees went on to join Strength Cycle. Their visibility on the platform encouraged even more women to join, and now there are sometimes more ladies there than men.
The other aspect of Tough Titsday was the powerlifting meet, of course. I wrote a bit about that as wrap-up to Iron Maidens, so I’ll stop here.
CFSBK: What took you away from us to Madison?
ML: After working in the non-profit arts for about 12 years, I was becoming restless. I had developed this real passion for nutrition, particularly pastured animal products (read: former paleo zealot). I befriended some farmers, worked at the farmers markets, explored farm apprentice programs and was sort of the de facto food person at SBK.
Shortly after I left New York Foundation for the Arts in 2011, and I was working more regularly at SBK, I started the Herondale and Sol Flower Farms CSAs. It was a catalytic experience for me. I kind of woke up one morning and said to Jeremy that I wanted to go to graduate school for agriculture. I didn’t know what Agroecology was at the time, but when I found the program at UW-Madison, it really resonated with my sensibilities. In exchange for a free education, I received a project assistantship to develop a consumer education program about the benefits of pasture-based farming for a local non-profit. It was a fantastic vehicle for learning about environmental impacts, grassland ecology, animal welfare issues, the economic structure of our industrial farming system, and how different farming communities operate.
Interestingly, the original driver for my fascination with animal agriculture, nutrition, has become one of the least compelling reasons I believe in the value of pasture-based systems.
So, now I have a Masters of Science in Agroecology. If you want to hire me to develop programming for and/or communicate with your community about livestock agriculture, let me know!
CFSBK: What is about strength training that has maintained your interest for this long?
ML: I’m still weak.
Introducing: Noon Strength Cycle with Coach Margie
We all want to get stronger. That’s because we implicitly understand that building strength is the foundation for increasing overall physical capacity. It has been proven again and again that lifting heavy primes our bodies to be more effective and efficient at metabolic conditioning workouts. Strength is the only mode of training that supports everything else we do in the gym and in life. Plus: it’s pretty badass.
We are adding a new time slot for Strength Cycle, taught by Margie. This class will run concurrently with the other morning and evening Strength Cycles, beginning May 18. The noon cycle is open to all levels, and will follow the standard barbell program: squat, bench press, press, deadlift, and some assistance lifts. It will culminate in a Total to test your one rep maxes in the squat, press, and deadlift. Limited to 6 participants.
When: Monday and Thursday at 12PM | Monday May 18th – Thursday July 9th
Cost: $200/4 weeks; $400 total. You also have the option to add on a 2x/week Group class pass for $100/4 weeks.
The cycle will wrap up with a CrossFit Total on Sunday, July 12, 2015.
Questions? Contact Margie [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com
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Have you taken Strength Cycle before? If so, what did you gain (besides your gainz) or learn from it?
