Fitness: 3-3-3-3-3
Establish a new 3 Rep Max. Use spotters
Performance: 1-1-1-1-1 
Establish a new 1 Rep Max. Use spotters. 

Post loads to comments.
e8/8
_____________________ 

Partner WOD
For Time:
100 Pull-Ups
150 Thrusters 75/55
200 Kettlebell Swings 53/35
Break the work up as desired between partners. Have a plan but be flexible with it so you and your partner  don’t slow down.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Kate B. getting set to snatch at the CFSBK Oly meet last Sunday 

News and Notes

• Muscle & Fitness Hers wrote an article about Iron Maidens, called “The Iron Maidens of Brooklyn,” and interviewed Margie, Coach Jess, and Serene K. Check it out here!
• Happy birthday, Front Desk Superstar Camillionaire! (Read her Behind the Desk interview here.)
• Happy birthday to CFSBK Blog Maven, photog and managing editor, Kate R!

CFSBK Movie Night Is Back THIS FRIDAY

What: Movie Night, featuring cult favorite Fight Club
When: Friday, March 20th, after Open Gym at 8pm

Bring your snacks (i.e., ice cream sandwiches from Bierkraft), drinks, lounge chairs, bean bag chairs, whatever, and come hang! Just remember… The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club… But feel free to talk about watching Fight Club this Friday. That’s totally okay.

2015 CrossFit Open Leaderboard: Team CFSBK

The results for 15.1, 15.1a, and 15.2 are in, and here are our team’s leaders! Congrats to everyone who has been pushing themselves the last couple weeks with two tough workouts. We can’t wait to see what’s on deck this Thursday…

CFSBK MEN’S MASTERS (40+)
1. Pierre D. 
2. Peter M.
3. Bob S. 
4. Coach Fox
5. Michael R.
6. Andy M. 
7. Chris P. 
8. Carlos G.
9. Bjorn B.
10. James K.

_____________________
Diagnosis Radiolab
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of CrossFit Tim Ferriss 

Rio tackling 15.3’s muscle-ups on Saturday

• Pilates with KH is canceled tonight. Check out Active Recovery at 6:30pm instead!

Chasing Rx: When To Scale and When To Go Heavier

An interview with David Osorio and Jess Fox, edited by Kate Reece

If you don’t know why workouts are named after women, Greg Glassman, the founder and President of CrossFit, explained it like this: “I thought that anything that left you flat on your back, looking up at the sky asking ‘What just happened to me?’ deserved a female’s name. Workouts are just like storms, they wreak havoc on towns.” 

Regardless of whether you welcome or abhor that feeling of being wrecked (particularly when it doesn’t happen in your bedroom), we all know what it’s like to approach a nasty WOD from the mindset of wanting it to be over before it even starts. But sometimes, the desire to cruise through a workout can cause us to take shortcuts, maybe not go as heavy as we could, and ultimately sacrifice our long-term strength goals on the altar of feeling like a beast in the moment. Hopefully, we all do want to get stronger. In that case, it’s important to realize that the lifting segments of group classes are not your only opportunities to achieve your goal. You should aim to get stronger through the conditioning portion of class as well.

Maintaining excellent technique should always be your priority, but if you want to close in on the Rx-ed loads for a WOD, you need to gradually increase your base numbers—which might involve surrendering a bit of the metabolic stimulus of some workouts. (“Rx” refers to the prescribed, standard weights for a workout, or those scary numbers written after each weighted movement on the blog and whiteboard.) Simply put: you need to lift heavier and go slower so that you can eventually lift heavier and go faster. 

I sat down (i.e. emailed a lot) with Coach David and Coach Jess to ask them everything you wanted to know (but were too scared to ask) about chasing Rx in workouts. The bottom line: don’t be complacent about the weights you choose for any given workout. Getting stronger is a process. Here are David and Jess’s experiences with exactly that.

CFSBK: When did you start Rx-ing all the WODs? What did your journey look like to get there?

David: When I started CrossFit, I was self-teaching myself the movements, so I did what I could and then practiced the movements that I didn’t know how to do yet. It took me about a year before I was doing almost everything Rx-ed. I definitely was biasing a heavier weight and slower times in the beginning, which helped me develop the requisite strength to be able to eventually move the Rx-ed weights faster. I still occasionally scale some of the weightlifting loads in WODs when appropriate 

Jess: I’d say the first things I could Rx fairly quickly were workouts with deadlifts, double-unders, box jumps, and kettlebell swings. I knew my road to Rx-ing weights in the Olympic lifts would take some time, and honestly we weren’t doing as much of those when I started. So, I chose to target kipping pull-ups as my first big goal, since they tend to come up in so many WODs—and what girl doesn’t want to do pull-ups! My road to getting them meant practicing them EVERY time I was in the gym. I started out with thick green-band but over the course of a few months, I was able to get my rhythm down enough to get a few unassisted kipping pull-ups in spurts. They weren’t consistent enough though so I always resorted back to the band for workouts.  

However, that changed when I visited my other “home” CrossFit in Ohio. The WOD was “Cindy” and although I knew that I could get a few rounds Rx-ed, I still set up a band. During the workout, when I started to slow down on pull-ups, I reached for the band. The coach there stopped me and just told me it was okay to move a little slower. Sure, I didn’t get a high number of rounds but it allowed me to continue to work on that skill and it gave me a baseline for “Cindy” Rx-ed. After that experience, I got rid of the band. That didn’t mean I did every pull-up workout Rx-ed right away though. Until I got better at them, scaled volume was my friend. 

CFSBK: If I’m moving fast and getting a good workout in the WODs, why should I worry about what weight I’m doing? 

David: The balancing act between performing workouts with their intended metabolic stimulus, versus going heavier or sticking to a calisthenics version that slows you down considerably, can be somewhat nuanced. Ideally, you want to be able to keep moving at a somewhat reasonable pace. If you’re shuffling your feet, looking at the pull-up bar for a minute, you’re probably not getting the most out of your time on either end. But if you’re not at the Rx-ed weights and want to start pushing toward them, you’ll just have to accept that you’re going to be slower and the workout probably won’t be as spicy. In my opinion, that’s fine. Recently, I told a member that would have rather her go with a heavier dumbbell and get capped versus going lighter and getting a good time. As long as you can perform about 3/4 of the workout before getting capped, you should be fine. If you want to get stronger in the WODs, you’re always going to have to bias a little heavier and slower, technique permitting. 

Jess: As CrossFitters, we’re all a little Type A and want to move fast through workouts. However, our training should include different stimuli and heavier weights—higher skilled movements can provide that. As I mentioned before, it took a little nudging from coaches, and a little/lot of swallowing my WOD pride to not scale those pull-ups in “Cindy.” Looking back though, I’m so grateful for that intervention. Not just because it was my first Rx-ed “Cindy,” but because I didn’t really realize that I had the strength and skill to do it. I see this a lot with push-ups in workouts as well. Though I see many of you work your strict push-ups like a boss in our warm-ups and even start a workout with strict pushups, as soon as the going gets tough, the knees drop down. Sometimes you just have to gut it out (provided your movement is technically sound), knowing that you might need to scale volume and accepting that you might be the last person to finish.   

CFSBK: How do I know when to go heavier during WODs?

David: When you feel like you “own” a weight that is below Rx-ed, then it’s time to bump it up. Don’t get complacent with certain loads. For example, if you’re a guy and you always do 65-pound thrusters, even if it still feels difficult, you need to start gradually adding five to 10 pounds to push your strength and comfort level with the movement and load. If you always swing the 16 kg kettlebell, start voyaging out to heavier territory. As long as you feel confident in your technique, which might mean going a bit slower or breaking up reps more, then the weights or your modification should feel heavy.

Jess: This is where logging your workouts comes into play. Early on in your CrossFit life, you will and should start lighter than you think. Use the warm-up time to pick a load that you know you’ll be able to move consistently well through. Then, take note of how that felt in your logbook so that you know what to aim for next time. Also, listen to the advice your coaches give you. I think we do a pretty good job of talking about the intention of the workout and providing scaling options or percentage markers to help guide you in determining an appropriate weight. If it’s ever not clear, just ask! 

CFSBK: If I want to set a goal to get to Rx or heavier weights (and I know I should!), what should my battle plan or strategy be?

David: As Jess mentioned, make sure you’re logging and writing down both qualitative and quantitative data! You’ll never remember to go heavier on that barbell if you can’t refer back to previous experiences. Focus on writing notes specific to how heavy things felt and if you think you could have gone a bit heavier and kept your technique together. You’ll have to dip into loads or movements that intimidate you a little if you want to get better.

Jess: Be consistent in your practice. If it’s barbell lifts, then aim to make each rep at lighter weights perfect and slowly increase the weights from week to week or from WOD to WOD.  If you did the past three thruster workouts at 75 pounds and flew through them, then go for 80 next time. If you’re training a skill, then lay out a specific plan to help you get there.  Also, tell a buddy and have them help keep you accountable, or better yet, have them join you! Note though, that skill is singular. Don’t be the person that has a list of 10 skillz and can never really devote enough time to any one of them. 

CFSBK: Any parting thoughts?

David: Use your coaches as a resource! We want you to improve and always will let you know how a movement looks and whether you should scale up or back down. Let us know you’re trying to get stronger and we can give you some thoughts about how to modify your workout intelligently.

Jess: Know that for most of us, this stuff doesn’t come naturally and that some of us might never hit Rx-ed weights. We’re now in the CrossFit Open season, so now you can compare your WOD scores to people around the world. But just remember that ultimately you’re competing with yourself. In the beginning, focus on establishing your baseline. Keep a good logbook, set realistic goals, set time aside to practice, and then use your training to beat yourself. 

(An important caveat: Rx is not an advisable goal for all athletes. It can serve as a point of reference to make the process of choosing your weights easier, and enables our coaches to help you scale appropriately at the whiteboard.) 

_____________________ 
Kevin Ogar 15.3 (1 rep)
Kara Webb 15.3 (624 reps) 

Fitness: 3-3-3-3-3
Establish a new 3 Rep Max. Use spotters
Performance: 1-1-1-1-1 
Establish a new 1 Rep Max. Use spotters. 

Post loads to comments.
e8/8
_____________________ 

10 Rounds, AMRAP:
:30 Burpees
:30 Rest

Post highest and lowest reps to comments.

Molly and Tucker came to cheer on their dad, Coach Fox, yesterday. Congrats to all the lifters that participated in Frankie Murray’s Olympic Lifting Program Mock Oly Meet! Photos from the snatching portion of the event are up in Flickr.

News and Notes

• Pilates with KH is canceled this Tuesday. Check out Active Recovery at 6:30pm instead!
• Sunday’s Kids Club is canceled this week (3/22), and will resume on March 29th. Email Janelle [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com with any questions. 
• CFSBK’s Movie Night returns this Friday night after Open Gym with Fight Club! 
• Ever wonder why CFSBK programs rest days? Check out Coach David’s new article, “Why Your Gym Should Program Rest Days,” over on his blog Inside the Affiliate. 
• Don’t forget to submit your Open scores for 15.3 by 8pm tonight. And ICYMI, we made a video of CFSBK’s competition team crushing the workout on Saturday. 
• CFSBK’s Hoopin’ Tacos have a game tonight at 9:30pm at John Jay! Come cheer them on!

Community News

• Congrats to Samir C., who just released his new book, Eye on Cricket: Reflections on the Great Game. Check it out!
• Rachel H. is our resident handstand whiz! Check out this cool video she posted on Instagram!
• Stella Z.‘s choir, the Oratorio Society of New York, will be performing the Verdi Requiem with the Manhattan School of Music chorus and orchestra on Thursday, March 26 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on the Upper West Side. It’s an epic piece of music and a really gorgeous space, and she would love it if some SBKers showed up! Tickets and full details available here.
• Happy birthday, Lauren B.!

_____________________
The Time You Have (in JellyBeans)
The Australian Meat Pie, with CFSBKer and Owner of Sheep Station, Jason C. Tasting Table 

Fitness: 2 Position Clean (High Hang + Hang) + Front Squat

Performance: 3 Position Clean (High Hang + Hang + Deck) + Jerk

Post loads to comments.
e7/8 
_____________________ 

Deadlift

Fitness and Performance: 1 x 5 Linear Progression
Add 5-10 pounds to last week’s exposure. Dead starts, no touch and go. Use a hook grip if you can. 

Post loads to comments.
e7/8
_____________________ 

For Time:
400m Run

Then,
5 Rounds For Time:
15 Box Jumps
30 Sit-Ups

Then,
400m Run

Post time and Rx to comments.

CFSBK’s competition team tackled 15.3 yesterday afternoon, and Kate made a video of the first heat. There are also photos of the 1pm class hitting the workout up in our Flickr account!

News and Notes

• Coach Frankie Murray’s Olympic Lifting Program has their Mock Oly Meet today at 2:30pm. Come check it out, and cheer on participants as they 1RM their snatch and clean and jerk!
• Coach Noah’s Kipping Pull-Up Workshops are today! The regular workshop is at 2pm and Random Kipping Skillz is at 3pm. There are still a few spaces in both. REGISTER HERE (scroll to the bottom).
• DON’T FORGET TO RSVP TO CLASS: Click on the Class Schedule and RSVP tab in the left-hand column (under General Information) and select the class for which you’d like to RSVP. 
• Want to work out today at 9am and bring your kid/s? Now you can! Sign them up at the Front Desk for CFSBK Kids Club, and learn more here.
• Don’t forget to submit your Open scores for 15.3 by 8pm tomorrow night.

Get Hella Strong with Coach Margie: Schedule Change for Strength Cycle F

We are moving the M/Th, 12pm Strength Cycle to different days/times. The cycle will begin the week of March 23rd and run for seven weeks in order to participate in the Total with the other cycles. The cost will be two payments of $175, or $350 total. Class size is capped at six.

If you are interested, please email Margie before Monday, March 16: Margie (at) CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com, and include the following:

+ Two preferred choices of 2x/week 
+ Best time of day for each choice, specifying: early morning; mid-morning; noon; mid-afternoon; or evening. 

Example:
1) Tues/Thurs; noon or mid-afternoon
2) Mon/Wed; evening

If you don’t know Margie, learn more about her awesomeness by reading Coach Noah’s Underneath the Hoodie article about her. 

CFSBK Movie Night Is Back: FIGHT CLUB

What: Movie Night, featuring cult favorite Fight Club
When: Friday, March 20th, after Open Gym at 8pm

Bring your snacks, drinks, lounge chairs, whatever, and come hang! Just remember… The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club… 

_____________________
Gratitude Louie Schwartzberg 

FITNESS

Front Squat: 3 x 3 Linear Progression
Add 5-10 lbs to last week.

Post loads to comments.
e7/8 
_____________________  

AMRAP 14 Minutes:
20 Burpees
30 Dumbbell Thrusters
40 Kettlebell Swings 

Post reps and Rx to comments.  
_____________________

PERFORMANCE 

Open Workout 15.3 

AMRAP 14 Minutes:
7 Muscle-Ups
50 Wall Balls
100 Double-Unders

Post reps to comments.

Coach McDowell getting ready to jerk during 15.2

News and Notes

• Come watch CFSBK’s Competition Team crush 15.3! Our gym’s strongest will be tackling 15.3 this afternoon. They’ll start warming up around 2:15 and the first heat is at 2:45pm. Come cheer them on!
• Coach Noah’s Kipping Pull-Up Workshops begin today! The regular workshop is at 2pm on Saturday and Random Kipping Skillz is at 3pm. If you can’t make it today, there’s still space tomorrow. REGISTER HERE (scroll to the bottom)!
• DON’T FORGET TO RSVP TO CLASS: Click on the Class Schedule and RSVP tab in the left-hand column (under General Information) and select the class for which you’d like to RSVP. 
• Want to work out tomorrow at 9am and bring your kid/s? Now you can! Sign them up at the Front Desk for CFSBK Kids Club, and learn more here. 

Attention: People Signed Up For the Open 

The Games system will not let you enter a zero as your score for an Open workout. We know many of you don’t want to do the Scaled version of 15.3 and had planned to attempt a muscle-up for 14 minutes and take a zero if you didn’t get one. If you want to attempt to get a muscle-up and end up not being able to, you will also have to complete the Scaled workout and enter your score for that version.

Get Hella Strong with Coach Margie: Schedule Change for Strength Cycle F

We are moving the M/Th, 12pm Strength Cycle to different days/times. The cycle will begin the week of March 23rd and run for seven weeks in order to participate in the Total with the other cycles. The cost will be two payments of $175, or $350 total. Class size is capped at six.

If you are interested, please email Margie before Monday, March 16: Margie (at) CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com, and include the following:

+ Two preferred choices of 2x/week 
+ Best time of day for each choice, specifying: early morning; mid-morning; noon; mid-afternoon; or evening. 

Example:
1) Tues/Thurs; noon or mid-afternoon
2) Mon/Wed; evening

If you don’t know Margie, learn more about her awesomeness by reading Coach Noah’s Underneath the Hoodie article about her. 

_____________________ 
An Aerial Tour of the World’s Largest Cave 

Morton having a moment with the bar

News and Notes

• There’s still time to sign up for Coach Noah’s Kipping Pull-Up Workshops! Regular workshop at 2pm on Saturday and Sunday, Random Kipping Skillz at 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. REGISTER HERE (scroll to the bottom)!
• Congrats to CFSBK’s Hoopin’ Tacos, who went 1-1 on Wednesday night. They lost a tough one to the second-place team, and then blew out another team. With four games to go, they are 9-1 and tied for first! 
• There are a whole bunch of new items in Lost and Found. Seriously, it’s surprising you’re not leaving the gym in the nude given how much clothing gets left behind. Shirts here, mixed apparel here, and mostly shoes and hats here.

Announcing: “Get Fit or Be Hacking”!

As our community at CrossFit South Brooklyn has grown, it’s been noteworthy the large number of members who work in the NYC technology and start-up community. We’ve been impressed by how these members have taken it upon themselves to self-organize to support programs that teach coding in local Brooklyn schools, which is very much in the community spirit of the gym.

Now, we’re taking the next step and putting this—coding and fitness—together into a single event: “Get Fit or Be Hacking!” REGISTER HERE.

What is “Get Fit or Be Hacking”? When and where is it?
“Get Fit or Be Hacking” is part coding contest, part fitness competition, and part fundraiser that will take place at CrossFit South Brooklyn on May 2, 2015 at 2pm to 8pm. Afterward, there will be a post-party at Threes Brewing for all participants. They have beer there.

Do I have to be a member of CrossFit South Brooklyn?
No! 

People are coding AND working out?
Yes! Each participant will be part of a team of four. Each four-person team will complete two fitness workouts, lasting about 10-15 minutes each, together, as well as several coding challenges between the two work outs. There will also be mobility and active recovery work done during the event to warm-up, keep loose, and cool down. 

Do we have to register as a team?  Can we register as an individual and will you place me on a team?
Ideally we would like people to self-create and join into teams of 4, but we are prepared to organize some teams for people who register as individuals. We will also re-balance teams if some teams do not have at least one woman on their team. We are capping the registration to 100 participants (25 teams). We will keep registration open until we hit capacity.   

What are we fundraising for?
CSNYC, the Computer Science Foundation in New York City, a non-profit organization, which supports programs that teach coding and computational thinking in NYC public schools. 

Is there a registration fee?
Yes, there is a $20.00 registration fee for each participant, which will be paid when you first sign up in CrowdRise. This covers event costs including food, drinks, and swag. The remainder of the registration fees will go into the fundraising pot, adding to the massive check that we will be giving CSNYC on May 2! 

Then how do we fundraise? Do we have to?
The expectation is that you’ll raise money individually which in turn will aggregate into your team total. Some people don’t like fundraising and will raise just a bit. That’s cool. Other will get creative, either individually or as a team, and raise a bunch. We hope you’ll come up with some clever and innovative ways to raise money for CSNYC—getting competitive is okay too!

The key idea is that each four-person team will work together to raise as much money as they can from their friends, work, family, and other legal sources. Each team will have its own page on Crowdrise that they can customize.  While there is no minimum, we are hoping each team will be sign on to raise at least $500. Of course, we hope some crazy Type A fundraising competition ensue. There will be a grand prize “mystery surprise” given to the team that raises the most money. It will be once-in-a-lifetime experience.   

What kind of coding will we be doing?
There will be at least one JavaScript challenge, as well as at least one other where you can choose your scripting language 

Do I need to know how to code?
Yes, you need to know how to code, at least a bit. Ideally you’d know at least some JavaScript plus one other scripting language such as Ruby or Python. You’ll be a competing as a team so if you don’t feel completely comfortable in certain parts of a language, you’ll likely have a team members whose skills will complement yours. 

What will the fitness portion be?
There will be two 10-15 minutes workouts, one at the start of the event and one towards the end. The workout will be composed of body weight type exercises—think push-ups, planks, etc. We will also be likely do some stuff on an erg (rowing machine) and with dumbbells. We will NOT be doing “barbell stuff”—i.e., power lifting or Olympic lifts often associated with CrossFit. There will also be warm-up, cool-down, and mobility activities. 

“Get Fit or Be Hacking” is at CrossFit South Brooklyn. Do I need to be CrossFitter?
No, but you should be someone who exercises regularly and has doctor’s permission to physically exert yourself. Ideally you’d be able to do a couple push-ups unbroken, a 30-second plank, and know how to row a bit. (Please note that all participants will have to sign a health and liability waiver from CrossFit South Brooklyn on the day of the event). 

What should I bring?
Your laptop, your charger, workout clothes, and something to wear afterward at Threes Brewing. 

How old must I be?
18 to participate in the event. 21 to join us at the after-party at Threes. 

Great I’m ready to participate! How to I start?
Go to our Crowdrise Event page (Log-on to CrowdRise, and create a CrowdRise account if need be, when you first arrive) and, once logged on, hit REGISTER. When you click REGISTER, you’ll be asked to complete some basic information in CrowdRise, asked to join or create a team, and pay the registration fee. Upon successful registration, you’ll be redirected back to CrowdRise where you can begin fundraising! From there, it’s time to raise money, practice your algorithms, and train! 

Questions? Send a note to Rob at runderwood5+getfit [at] gmail.com.

_____________________
How Your Smartphone Can Improve Your Sex Life
Human Extinction VSauce
Volcanos 101 National Geographic

Fitness: 2 Position Snatch (High Hang + Hang)
You can also Power Snatch. Catch as low as your mobility allows.
Performance: 3 Position Snatch (High Hang + Hang + Deck)

Post loads to comments.
e7/8
_____________________ 

18 Minutes, Not For Rounds:
270m Jog (because it’s nice outside!!!)
5 Hang Muscle Snatches 
10 Kipping Pull-Ups 

Post rounds and what you worked on to comments.

Steph M. (third on CFSBK’s Lady Leaderboard for the Open!) locks out her deadlift at Iron Maidens

Crush Your Pull-Ups With Coach Noah

There’s still space in Coach Noah’s Kipping Pull-Up Workshops. Sign up now, as these workshops always sell out! REGISTER HERE (scroll to the bottom)

What: For those who have yet to accomplish their first kipping pull-up or need significant work organizing the movement and linking them together
When: Saturday and Sunday at 2PM
Buy-in: 3 chin-ups or pull-ups (special cases can be considered, email Noah [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com) 

But wait, there’s more! Noah will also host his first Random Kipping Skillz Workshop. 

What: Kipping Toes-to-Bar, Kipping Handstand Push-ups, Kipping Ring Dips, and possibly Butterfly Pull-Ups.
When: Saturday and Sunday at 3PM
Buy-in: You should have the ability to do at least five strict versions of each movement to enroll

Each class will cost $20 and run one hour. REGISTER HERE (scroll to the bottom)

2015 CrossFit Open Leaderboard: Team CFSBK

The results for 15.1, 15.1a, and 15.2 are in, and here are our team’s leaders! Congrats to everyone who has been pushing themselves the last couple weeks with two tough workouts. We can’t wait to see what’s on deck this Thursday…

CFSBK MEN’S MASTERS (40+)
1. Bob S.
1. Pierre D. (tied with Bob)
3. Peter M.
4. Coach Fox
5. Chris P.
6. Michael R.
7. Carlos G. 
7. Andy M. (tied with Carlos)
9. Bjorn B.
10. James K.

Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Add 5-10 pounds to last week’s exposure.
Performance: 95% x 2, 85% x 10 
You’re getting into territory where 10 reps might not be a given. Use spotters, but try to leave a rep in the tank.  

Post loads to comments.
e7/8
_____________________ 

Partner WOD
For Time:
2000m Row
100 Box Jumps 24/20
100 Wall Ball 20/10, 14/9
Break the work up as desired between partners.

Post time and Rx to comments.

Coach K HarpZ at CrossFit Solace’s “February Fling”

News and Notes

• There are still a few spots left in the A, E, and F cycles of Strength Cycle. Learn more on Monday’s post and sign up now to secure your spot! If you don’t know Margie (who’s leading the F cycle), learn more about her awesomeness by reading Coach Noah’s Underneath the Hoodie article about her. 
• Thank you again to everyone who nominated Inside the Affiliate in Breaking Muscle’s Top 10 Fitness Blogs of 2015 contest. Sadly, we were defeated. But, the winners are pretty excellent, so we’re happy we were in such great company. Check them out here!
• The undefeated Hoopin’ Tacos have a game tonight at 6:30pm at John Jay. Come cheer them on!

Introducing Katie: CFSBK’s New Coach!

David here! Please join me in welcoming our new coach Katie Harper (better known as “K HarpZ”) to CFSBK’s staff. I’m extremely excited to bring Katie on as one of our group class coaches. Katie approached me months ago regarding her interest in coaching at the gym, and as we transitioned to a point where we were looking to expand our staff, her name was at the top of the list. She’s exhibited good long-term training habits at the gym and she’s been an active member of the community since she joined (she penned an excellent article about her experiences being injured back in May of 2014). She’s dedicated herself professionally to working with human movement as a full time physical therapy student at LIU. Katie has been working closely with Coach Fox to build up her coaching skill set and we’re excited to welcome another strong female coach to our staff. ICYMI, she won the Ladies division at Iron Maidens and is currently second on our female leaderboard for the CrossFit Open.

Look forward to getting to know Katie in a group class near you, and through her first interview with Kate below…

CFSBK: Welcome, Katie! Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up and what are some interesting things we should know about you? 

Katie: I’ve bounced around to various suburbs, but I guess I would have to consider Columbia, Maryland home. Believe it or not (definitely believable), I was one of those kids always digging in the dirt, climbing whatever I could, building epic forts, and coming home covered in cuts and bruises. I’m relatively the same, except now I’m a little taller and all of my bruises are at the mercy of a barbell. 🙂

I attended the University of Maryland to pursue my Kinesiology degree, knowing full well that I wanted to end up working with athletes. I’ve tried on a few jobs for size: physical education, athletic training, and eventually I found my way into physical therapy. I was accepted into the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at LIU in Brooklyn, so I moved here in July of 2013. Being a student takes up the majority of my time, but other than the gym, I enjoy listening to music, taking photographs, being in the company of good people, and having a nice refreshing swim in the Gowanus Canal.

CFSBK: Yes, the Canal is excellent for a long swim or kayaking adventure. What’s your athletic background?  

Katie: I wish I could say I was a gymnast, but I wasn’t. Apparently I attended gymnastics for a year when I was four because I was so clumsy that I kept running into walls. After conquering that feat, I was mostly into field sports. I got into lacrosse when I was seven, which I stuck with all the way into college. That was my best sport. Other than that, I did a few seasons of field hockey, track and field, as well as swimming and diving.

CFSBK: How did you find CrossFit? 

Katie: I was at one of my stepdad’s powerlifting meets taking photographs, which happened to be at a local CrossFit gym. I was watching this insanely fit blonde girl doing a “skin the cat”—okay, watching is an understatement. It was more of an open-mouthed stare. My stepdad nudged me in the ribs and said, “It’s called CrossFit…you should try it sometime.” Coincidentally, it was also Thanksgiving weekend, so after several helpings of stuffing I decided I might as well sign up to help burn off all of the extra holiday food.

CFSBK: And now you’ve done a powerlifting meet of your own! What was it about CrossFit that compelled you so much?  

Katie: I’ll never forget my first day of Foundations. I started out at an awesome affiliate back home called CrossFit Critical Mass. I hadn’t done my research, so when I arrived at the doors of somebody’s three-car garage, you can imagine I was very confused. I walked in hesitantly, only to find it occupied by a man in a sweat suit aggressively shadowboxing in circles. Needless to say, I was a bit intimidated. But that’s what I think I liked the most about it—the entire concept of CrossFit was challenging, both physically and mentally. The barbells were painful and I was constantly sore. But as a whole, I not only felt physically stronger, I was also more driven and confident in the ability to accomplish my goals. The community that’s associated with CrossFit is incredible, which is why I think the sport is so infectious. I had no reserves when it came to packing up my bags and heading to Brooklyn, mostly because I had researched CFSBK and knew it would be filled with a boatload of awesome people.

CFSBK: We’re so glad you did. What are you up to when you’re not at 597 Degraw?

Katie: Like I said, student life is time consuming, so mostly finishing up my Physical Therapy program over at LIU. It’s been a lot of fun figuring out how to connect CrossFit to what I’m learning in the classroom. Before getting into graduate school, I worked with a very inspiring therapist, who emphasized functional movement as his main philosophy. No matter what the age or injury, every patient was guaranteed to learn to squat, deadlift, farmer’s carry, and all of the other essentials needed to lead a healthy lifestyle. I remember thinking, “This is exactly the kind of therapist I want to be.” Not only will I be able to use this style of training for the high-level athlete, but also as a tool to empower those who simply want to improve their quality of life. I truly look forward to coaching at CFSBK, where I can continue to bridge the gap between rehabilitation and fitness throughout my career.

CFSBK: Any hidden talents, weird things, or bizarre parts of your life history we should know? Since we’re family now and all. 

Katie: Lets see… I can curl my tongue into a three-leaf clover, I have webbed toes (with the tattoo to prove it), I’m unnaturally good at Tetris, and I have a prettyyy decent Alanis Morissette impression. All contenders on the karaoke stage are welcome.

Master Your Kipping Pull-Up This Weekend at Coach Noah’s Famous Workshop! 

Coach Noah’s Kipping Pull-up Workshop is back with a vengeance and some added wrinkles! This weekend, he will be holding two Beginner Kipping Pull-Up Workshops. These classes are for those who have yet to accomplish their first kipping pull-up or need significant work organizing the movement and linking them together. By the end of the hour class, everyone will have gotten their chin over the bar, will likely have strung a few together, and will definitely have a plan for practice and perfection of their kip.

When: Saturday and Sunday at 2PM
Buy-in: 3 chin-ups or pull-ups (special cases can be considered, email Noah [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com) 

But wait, there’s more! Noah will also host his first Random Kipping Skillz Workshop. We will cover Kipping Toes-to-Bar, Kipping Handstand Push-ups, Kipping Ring Dips, and if time permits, Butterfly Pull-ups.

When: Saturday and Sunday at 3PM
Buy-in: You should have the ability to do at least five strict versions of each movement to enroll

Each class will cost $20 and run one hour. REGISTER HERE (scroll to the bottom)

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The Trick to Successful Self-Coaching Juggernaut
The Comma Queen: Series Premiere The New Yorker
Meet ‘Jazzbo’: He’s a 76-Year-Old Clown in a One-Man Band The Atlantic 

Sam P. PR-ing her back squat at 245lbs at Iron Maidens (she PR-ed her bench at 140 and deadlift at 290)

• Our beloved Coach Arturo had surgery on his knee yesterday. Please join us in wishing him a speedy recovery!

Tweet The Deets

We’re totally crushing on all you guys and we love to hear what you’re up to. Got something of note going on in your life? Let us know! We want to hear about your promotions, events, art, personal victories, discoveries, media campaigns, and small government coup d’états, or you can just share interesting links. We also always love hearing about any CrossFit/athletic-related goals and accomplishments. Send awesomeness to Kate, our Managing Editor, at Katharine [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com.

Heavy Thoughts

By David Osorio
Originally posted on 12.19.2013 

We’re currently in our seventh week of our 10-week cycle, which means that the weights for all of your lifts should probably feel pretty heavy. In previous posts, we’ve discussed having a ritual and cultivating confidence when approaching your work in the gym. Today, lets talk a little about visualization. 

Visualization is simply a mental rehearsal of what you’re about to attempt. Many studies have show the efficacy of this practice and countless successful athletes will attest to the importance of being able to “feel or see” an event in their minds eye before attempting it. While the action may seem somewhat intangible, it is still a skill that needs to be practiced in order to be of any real utility. If you’re not already visualising your lifts, here are some tools to get you started.

1. Get into the habit of replaying the physical sensations of each lift AFTER they occur. The best time to summarize what just happened is immediately after you execute movement so try to “feel” it again, making note of anything that seemed to stick out. Try to create a physical memory of movement basics. Where was your weight? What kind of tempo did you feel through the movement? Did you feel braced and engaged? How did the weight feel? Walk yourself through it again in your head and try to recreate or slightly augment that sensation before your next attempt. Learning to review what just happened is the best way to start developing the internal resources to properly visualize. 

2. Start practicing! Visualisation takes time and a specific kind of mindfulness that doesn’t necessarily come easily to most folks. Set an intention to practice visualizing your lifts during your warm-ups and especially before work attempts. In essence, you want to try and experience the lift in the most idealized way possible before you start. There won’t be an internal dialogue to guide you through, simply perform the act in your mind. If you’re aware of a movement fault you’re working on, correct it in your head and then attempt to recreate a similar sensation when you actually go to lift. This also doesn’t need to be limited to the gym, you can do it right now. Pick a lift, close your eyes, and feel yourself doing three reps of it in “real time” in your head. You’ll note that you might want to rush through it, but don’t; instead, take your time to feel it. 

3. Practice visualization from different perspectives. Some people prefer to simply close their eyes, “tune out” of reality, and experience the movement from a first-person perspective in their heads. Others might benefit from seeing themselves perform the movement outside of themselves, noting key elements they’re focusing on. Another way would be to not only see it but feel it as well, by miming the lift physically while maintaining a careful presense-of-mind. Finally, you might even consider focusing on the sensation of executing a perfect lift, seeing yourself stand up with the heavy barbell as if it wasn’t a big deal. This final method ties into what we wrote about developing and using confidence as a training tool.

Play around with this and let us know how it works for you. What you definitely don’t want to do is allow non-productive thought streams to seep into your training time. And remember: Performing a lift, and then immediately focusing on a conversation with your partner, checking the time, looking around the room at something interesting, or just zoning out, can actually be detriments to your training. Stay focused, and stay present.

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The Cost of Paying Attention The New York Times
What It’s Like To Go Without Complaining For a Month Fast Company
The Happiness Conspiracy The New Republic 

Do you practice visualization techniques, in CrossFit or other endeavors?

Fitness: 3 x 5 Linear Progression
Add 2.5-5 pounds to last week’s exposure.
Performance: 95% x 2, 85% x 10 
You’re getting into territory where 10 reps might not be a given. Use spotters, but try to leave a rep in the tank. 

Post loads to comments.
e7/8
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Fitness
AMRAP 10 Minutes:
5 Unbroken Double Unders
10 Unbroken Double Unders
15 Unbroken Double Unders=
20 Unbroken Double Unders
… Add 5 reps per round until time is called. 

Post reps to comments.

If you don’t have double unders then use the 10 minutes to practice you jump rope skills. Check out these Gymnastics WOD progressions: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Performance

Flight Simulator

10-20-30-40-50-40-30-20-10, For Time:
Double Unders
All sets must be done unbroken.

Post reps to comments. 
Compare to 12.3.2013 and 12.13.2012 

Many of the movements we do can be broken down into a “start position,” “transition,” “end position,” and a “transition” back to the start. To build solid, consistent technique, always hold the start and end positions for a one count. Whether in a WOD or dedicated lift, taking the time to stabilize and brace your end positions gives you a greater sense of where you are in space and helps develop your technique. The newer, or less athletic you are, the more you should be looking to optimize your end range positions. 

News and Notes

• Don’t forget to submit your Open scores for 15.2 by 8pm tonight.
• On Inside the Affiliate, we profiled CrossFit Solace, a new affiliate in Manhattan. Head over to “CrossFit Solace: Inside a Manhattan Gym” to learn everything you wanted to know about how they got started, and see some beautiful photos of their facility.

Strength Cycle with Coach Jeremy and Coach Margie Is Already Almost Sold Out!

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 offering six 8-week strength programs that will involve the following:
* Small group training designed to increase your competency with the lifts.
* Consistent and repeated exposure to the powerlifts along a linear progression of weight
* Short and intense complementary conditioning workouts.
* Group discussions on lifting topics including: planning warm-ups, the mental aspect of lifting, and elements of the adaptive response to strength training.
* New PRs. 

Upcoming cycle times and dates:

A cyle: Beginners, 7pm Mon/Wed and 6pm Fri | Monday March 16th – Friday May 8th
E cycle: All levels, 10am Mon/Thurs | Monday March 16th – Thursday May 7th
F cycle, Midday with Margie: All levels, 12pm Mon/Thurs | Monday March 16th – Thursday May 7th

The B, C, and D cycles are FULL.

Each cycle will culminate in a CrossFit Total on Sunday, May 10th.

Class Sizes: Space is limited to 4-8 participants
Class Length: 90 minutes
Cost: 
3x Per Week Cycles:
$300 paid upon registration and then another $300 at the halfway point

2xW Cycles:
$200 paid upon registration and then another $200 at the halfway point

We are also now offering an add-on membership, which allows our 2x/week Strength Cyclers to attend two dditional classes per week, outside of the regularly scheduled strength classes. This includes group classes, open gym, Active Recovery, Pilates, and yoga classes. Sign up here.

If anyone is confused as to which cycle they belong in or has any questions, they can contact Jeremy directly at Jeremy [at] crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com to discuss placement. 

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8 Critical Health Reasons For Getting Enough Sleep Whole9