Strength: 7 x 3 Strict Pull Ups
Use assistance as necessary. Rest about 2 minutes between sets. 

or

Skill: 20 Minutes to Practice Sub Max Sets on the Kipping Pull Up, or Butterfly for Advanced Athletes
Buy-ins:
Kipping Practice – 3 Strict Pull Ups
Butterfly – 3 Strict Pull Ups + 10 UB Kipping Pull Ups 

Post what you worked on to comments.
_____________________

Kettlebell Clean and Jerk to Windmill
Work up to a heavy to a heavy set of 5 reps for each arm. 

Post loads to comments.

Samir C. getting scapjacked before class! Have you tried out our Crossover Symmetry bands yet? Crossover Symmetry is most effective when used pre- and post-WOD, and it can make a huge difference in shoulder health and performance. With regular use, you will quickly notice the difference in how your shoulders feel and move. Whether your goals are to set PR’s overhead or relief from shoulder pain, incorporating Crossover Symmetry can help. Follow along with the black placard or ask a coach for help.

Upcoming Events at CFSBK

• Have you signed up yet for the CFSBK Snowshoe Trip in the Catskills on January 31? There are still four spaces left, but your deadline to sign up is Friday! Learn more here.
• There’s another Meditation Workshop coming up this Sunday at 3:30pm. Learn more here and don’t miss your chance to get super Zen. Please RSVP on the event page!

Catching up with CFSBK Classifieds

Have you checked out CFSBK Classifieds recently? (Located in the bottom left-hand column under Member Resources.) It’s exactly what it sounds like: a specific forum for all CFSBKers to connect with each other on the level of services, housing, employment opportunities, items for sale or giveaway, lessons and classes, programs, etc. Also, please note that all posts will be deleted after one month(-ish), unless they are advertising long-term services, such as Camille’s work as a freelance Illustrator/Graphic Designer or Amanda Mc.’s work building websites.

The Classifieds idea is a result of our desire to find a better way to localize all the resources within our community. Head over there to play around and post (responsibly) to your heart’s content! If you have any questions, please email Kate at katharine [at] crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com. And here are some recent highlights!  

• Coach JB has been fostering a cute kitten and is trying to find it a loving home!
• Michelle B. is selling a Queen-sized iron metal bed frame.
• Jason F. is selling a 46-inch LED TV.

_____________________
Is a Climate Disaster Inevitable? The New York Times
The Most Important Three Words in Strength and Conditioning Eric Cressey
Kettlebell Clean and Jerk Technique TechniqueWOD 

In order to run a self-defense class, we need about 5-7 more interested CFSBKers. If you’re interested (and didn’t already tell us), please let us know in the comments!

Box Squats
Work up to a 3RM Box Squat on a box that allows you to sit at full depth. Use your regular stance and squat style and maintain tension throughout the pause. Aim for around 70% of a 1RM (or 80% of your best 3×5) and go up from there as appropriate. If you have time, watch this video before coming to class: How to Box Squat Properly.

Post loads to comments.
_____________________ 

Tabata Russian Kettlebell Swings, as heavy as possible

Post loads and total reps to comments.

Brian P. warming up his squat 

News and Notes

• Cruise Director Mare L. (who was responsible for so many great events in 2014) is interested in coordinating a volunteer project for CFSBKers. If you have any ideas for projects that could accommodate larger groups, email Mare [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com. 
• DON’T FORGET TO RSVP FOR CLASS: Go to the CFSBK Online Store, log in, click “Calendar” from the left-hand column, select the class you plan on attending, press the blue “Reserve” button on the right-hand side of the screen, and voila! It’s that easy. Learn more on the RSVP to CFSBK page (located in the left-hand column under General Information).
• Registration for the Airbnb Brooklyn Half opens at noon today, and sells out quickly. Don’t miss your chance to run through your favorite borough!
• Sending birthday love to Gina G., all the way from Brooklyn to Austin (read her Parting Love Letter from October)!

New Training Template and Standardized Warm-ups

Head over to our Current Programming Cycle tab (located in the left-hand column under Member Resources) to see what’s on tap for the next 10 weeks! Our new standardized warm-ups are listed below.

3 Rounds Not For Time:
10 Paused Overhead Squat (pause on tension at the bottom)
10 Ring Rows
20 Hollow Rocks 

3 Rounds Not For Time:
20 Lunges
10 Push Ups
5-10 Chin Ups

Introducing: CFSBK Kids Club 

Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey in December. Based on your responses, we are excited to launch the CFSBK Kids’ Club on Sunday, Feb. 1st!

This won’t be your ordinary kids’ watch program! This one hour drop-off program is designed for children ages 3 to 8, and will keep them engaged with hands-on activities. While you’re working out, your child(ren) will have the opportunity to explore arts and crafts, science experiments, games, and movement. You’ll get peace of mind and they get an hour jam packed with FUN!  

Drop-in: 1st child – $10/child (take 20% off for the older child when siblings are registered together)
5 Pack: $40/child (1 child), $55/siblings (2 children) 
RSVP Required, more details on this process coming soon!

Please note that CFSBK Kids’ Club is a separate program from CrossFit Kids. CrossFit Kids is under development and will be announced in the coming weeks.

Questions? Email Janelle [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com

_____________________ 
Team’s Mission: Beat the Boys (and Maybe Make Them Cry) The New York Times
Check Out This Woman’s Cool Pull-Up Routine UpRoxx 

Training Cycle Template

Training Cycle Dates: M 1/26 – Su 3/22
Crush Week: M 3/23 – Su 3/29
Back Off/Transition Week: M 3/30 – Su 4/5 

Cycle Goals:

• Maintain strength
• Prepare for the 2015 CrossFit Open
• Skill Warm-ups
• Barbell Complexes 

Monday: Bench Press + WOD/Assistance

Fitness 3×5 Linear Progression
Performance 90%x1, 70%x10 (increase percentages each week)

Wednesday: Back Squat + WOD/Assistance

Fitness 3×5 Linear Progression
Performance 90%x1, 70&x10 (increase percentages each week) 

Thursday: Snatch Complex + WOD/Assistance

Fitness and Performance – Varied exposures 

Saturday: Front Squat + WOD/Assistance

Fitness 3×3 Linear Progression
Performance 90%x1, 70%x10 (increase percentages each week) 

Sunday: Deadlift/Clean Complex + WOD/Assistance

Fitness and Performance – Varied exposures

Performance Percentages:

Week 1: 90×1, 70×10
Week 2: 92.5×1, 72.5×10
Week 3: 95×1, 75×10
Week 4: 97.5×1, 77.5×10
Week 5: 90×2, 80×10
Week 6: 92.5×2, 82.5×10
Week 7: 95×2, 85×10
Week 8: 1RM Test

Competitions/Events:

February 14: Flex in the City
February 22: 2015 NYC Experimental Open
February 28: The Iron Maidens Raw Open
March 1: C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints

Want to learn more about CFSBK’s programming? Check out these articles:

• The Underlying Philosophy Behind Programming at CFSBK Chris Fox
• A New Dawn for CFSBK Programming: Fitness and Performance David Osorio
• Low Bar and High Bar Back Squats David Osorio 

This is a good video of Coach Burgener doing some active mobility exercises with various lifters. Everyone’s issues will be different, but this video is a good example of how poor mobility can inhibit your ability to perform. Pay attention to where your range-of-motion limits you from getting into good positions. Focus on targeting your tight or immobile areas, both before and after class. You can also check out Active Recovery tonight at 6:30pm!

• Happy belated birthday, Tim G.!

Taking your Gainz Outside the Box

By Noah Abbott

Way back in the dinosaur days of CrossFit, Chuck Taylors were the “it” shoe, the mascot was a creepy/disgusting clown, and the CrossFit Games were held in some dude’s backyard. In a CrossFit Journal article called “What is CrossFit,” Greg Glassman used 100 well-chosen words to define a world-class fitness program:

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.

It’s been a number of years since Glassman penned those words. Now everyone covets the hot new Reebok Nano 36.5.0, the mascot is… Chris Spealler (?), and the CrossFit Games is held in not one, but two honest-to-gawd sporting arenas AT THE SAME TIME. Astute readers will realize some other change—starchy carbs have enjoyed something of a renaissance and creativity is (thankfully) no longer the most prized element of your strength program. The absence of gymnastics in day-to-day CrossFit could be the subject of its own article (I’ll write it if people are interested!) but today I want to examine the last sentence of the credo:

Regularly learn and play new sports.

While the primacy of the CrossFit Games has turned CrossFit into a sport for a select few, for many, CrossFit is a fitness program used to complement and enhance other activities.  While these certainly can be mundane (picking up your kids, climbing the stairs to your 17th floor walkup studio, etc.) testing your increased strength, stamina, and force production through the lens of sport can be a great way to see your progress made real. Also, they are fun, a great way to meet others, and often lead to mass taco consumption (buyer beware!).

Some care needs to be taken when incorporating sports into your weekly routine. First, ease into it. Treat your (re)introduction into a sport the same way you did your first few weeks out of Foundations, and make sure everything feels easy and sustainable before testing your capacity. 

Next you’re (relatively) old! You will likely need to warm up more comprehensively and intensely than you did when you were the 3rd string JV point guard on your high school basketball team. Make sure that your warm-up is dynamic, and include some lateral movement prep. If CrossFit has a major hole in its “game,” it is in a lack of lateral movement training. The most common injury on this year’s (ahem, world champion) CFSBK Soccer Team was the lowly, but debilitating and lingering groin pull—a lateral movement strain. Remember, the dynamic and non-predictable nature of a sport, while great fun, brings with it heightened potential for injury. Warming up will shrink the window of opportunity for injury, but the risk remains, and its up to you to weigh the cost and benefit.

Here’s a great video of the LA Galaxy warming up, which combines body temperature increase, DROMs, lateral movement, and other elements.

Lastly, organization is your friend—an organized, competitive, officiated league will be more beneficial from a skill development and injury risk perspective than occasional pickup games.  Regularly scheduled exposures to the same stimulus (sound familiar) is more beneficial than random bouts of intense activity with unregulated opponents and little to no officiating or supervision. CFSBK has organized (world champion, ahem) soccer, softball, and football teams, with a new basketball team. Keep your eyes on the blog for these opportunities, and we always encourage people to start their own gym-based team if they have a sport they’d like to play.

Running and Other Monostructural/Endurance Pursuits
Many people find their way to CrossFit by way of endurance sports. Some find CrossFit scratches a very similar itch to endurance training—dedication to consistent training and steady progress towards a goal. For some, CrossFit totally replaces their endurance training, but for others, the meditative qualities of endurance work or the thrill and camaraderie of racing keeps them “serving two masters.” As with ball or team sports, we love to see members challenging themselves and pursuing diverse fitness goals. That said, endurance training is potent medicine, prone to overdose.

Think of your workout in terms of reps. Even a high-volume CrossFit workout will top out at around 500 or so total reps. Now, I challenge you to think of a 10 mile “training” run, and consider each step a rep. An ACSM Sports Journal study using a pedometer found average participants took roughly 1,000 steps per mile. Using that as a baseline, a 10-mile run breaks down to roughly 10,000 distinct repetitions. The sheer volume of repetitive movement translates to a wider window of opportunity for motor pattern dysfunction, training induced overtension, and subsequent injury. 

I am by no means suggesting that you discontinue your endurance training (although I’ll be sitting over here on this lawn chair sipping a margarita while you do so). Instead, I’d hope you take two things into account:

1)    Reduce total training volume. Think of your CrossFit workouts and endurance work as complementary. Believe it or not, you are getting a solid metabolic stimulus during CrossFit workouts, and increased strength allows you to more easily move your body over distance. Despite the relatively short timeframe, your training is much more efficient than long, slow distance training. This classic CrossFit Journal article, more than any other, totally changed the way I thought about “cardio” as I transitioned from a “traditional” training mentality. CrossFit Endurance has some good templates for training for endurance sports like a CrossFitter, but in reality its simpler than that. Run less, prioritize sprints and intervals, and take it easy on your body! 

2)    Double Down on Mobility. Most running injuries are not traumatic by nature. Instead, they are insidious, creeping, overuse injuries that result in compromised ability to achieve some of the vital positions necessary for safe and effective CrossFit training. Most often, this manifests itself as severely reduced ability to dorsiflex the ankle, leading to ruinous squat positions. Here’s how you should look. If you run or cycle a lot, here’s how you probably look. Spend some time working on your ankles, and likely on your soft tissue as well, as your hip flexors, piriformis, and calves will all be brutally tight from the constant pounding.

Other Fitness Modalities (?!?!?!)
Indeed, there are other ways to feeeeeeel the burrrrrrrn than CrossFit training. Try them! This holds especially true for disciplines that bias mobility, proprioceptive, and meditative practice, like Yoga, Pilates or Gymnastics training, which will only make you a better, stronger, stretchier CrossFitter. Other pursuits vary widely in their usefulness, but always look for programs that quantify your output and give you something to build on, as opposed to just getting you sweaty. For example, while I find being sitting on a fake bicycle and listening to really loud EDM inherently silly, I’d much rather go to a Flywheel class than a SoulCycle class, because the former includes performance metrics like “RPM’s, Torq, Speed, Power, Distance, and Estimated Calories,” while the latter offers better curated playlists. If you’re gonna sweat, make it count.

In conclusion, play sports, don’t run yourself into the ground, and prioritize quantifiable fitness pursuits that enhance, rather than destroy your ability to “perform constantly varied functional movements at high intensity.” Or, just do Prancercise.

_____________________
The Calm Conversation—How To Deal With Pain The Science of Running
Squat Mechanics: A Deep Analysis T Nation

Paused Bench Press
Work up to a heavy single for the day on a paused bench press. Maintain tension as you lower the bar to your chest and pause with control for a 2 count. At the command of “Press” from your spotter, drive the bar as fast as possible to lockout.

Post loads to comments.
_____________________ 

AMRAP, 20 Minutes:
Calories Rowed
Hold between 20 and 25 s/m. 

Post calories to comments.

Ben W.’s last day at CFSBK was Thursday (pictured above, between Dave F. and Luca L.). He wrote to tell us his CFSBK story: “After years of uninspired, on-and-off again lifting sessions at New York Sports Club, I needed something different. I played rugby with Luca, and he was the first person I ever heard talking about CrossFit. I was intrigued, but hesitant to try it because I was coming off a serious back injury. Eventually I ended up in Foundations with Coach Fox in Feb/March 2011, back when Noah and Jess were Foundation trainees. I was hooked pretty quickly. I’ve tried it all over the years—Strength Cycle, C.R.A.S.H.-B.’s, the Olympic Lifting Program, Rings/Backflip/Double Under classes, etc. I really enjoyed Murph, Fight Gone Bad, and other gym events, strategizing and comparing WOD performances with Luca and Dave E. during the day, joking around with people after class, and playing softball. When my job moved up to Stamford and we decided to move, I was slow to put our place on the market. I loved my time in Brooklyn and the gym was no small part of that. I met a lot of great people and I will definitely miss the gym. David’s attention to detail sets the tone for a great group of coaches. I’m sorry to miss out on the expansion but I’m grateful for my time at SBK. I feel like it was a transformative few years for me.” We will miss you, Ben! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!

• There are still five spaces left in the AM cycle of Coach Frankie’s Olympic Lifting Program. Don’t miss your chance to perfect your snatch and clean and jerk! Learn more and sign up here.

Seeking: Volunteers for Free Class This Friday at 3:30pm

This Friday (1/23), Coach David will be offering a free class to CFSBK members of all abilities and sizes. The class will include standardized warm-ups, bench pressing, deadlifting, and a WOD. The class is free, but there will be a videographer (fellow CFSBKer Nate P.!) filming, and the footage will be used on Coach David’s blog Inside the Affiliate. If you’re interested, sign up by emailing David [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com. The class is capped at 16 participants.

Deadline to RSVP to CFSBK

Starting today, CFSBK requires our members to preregister online before coming to CrossFit group classes (including Open Gym), Active Recovery, Pilates, and Yoga for Athletes. While we’re not actually capping classes, registration allows you to know how many people have signed up for the class you plan to attend, which will add another level of transparency to your membership. You may decide to modify your class selection based on your class-size preferences. We hope this will more evenly distribute attendance, help us plan ahead for larger classes, and inform our consideration for which classes to add when our new space opens.

Exciting side note: You can now attend Pilates on Tuesdays at 7:30pm and Yoga for Athletes class on Saturdays at 10am using your CrossFit membership! (Each class is capped at 12 participants)

You are required to participate. The process only takes a couple minutes, so start now:

Steps to RSVP to CFSBK:

1. Go to the CFSBK Online Store.
2. Log In. (Save your log-in information to your cookies if you want to skip this step moving forward.)
3. Click “Calendar” from the left-hand column.
4. Select the class you plan on attending.
5. Press the blue “Reserve” button on the right-hand side of the screen.

Learn more on the RSVP to CFSBK page (located in the left-hand column under General Information).

_____________________ 
If you have any questions about the new RSVP to CFSBK process, please post in the comments!

“Isabel”

For Time:
30 Snatches 135/95

Post time and Rx to comments.
Compare to 11.30.2013.

Lauren B. holding strong at the bottom of her snatch at the last Oly Program Total

• Happy birthday, Front Desk superstar Lindsay S.! (Read her Behind the Desk from last year here.)

Tomorrow Is Your Deadline to RSVP to CFSBK

Starting tomorrow, CFSBK will require our members to preregister online before coming to CrossFit group classes (including Open Gym), Active Recovery, Pilates, and Yoga for Athletes. While we’re not actually capping classes, registration allows you to know how many people have signed up for the class you plan to attend, which will add another level of transparency to your membership. You may decide to modify your class selection based on your class-size preferences. We hope this will more evenly distribute attendance, help us plan ahead for larger classes, and inform our consideration for which classes to add when our new space opens.

Exciting side note: You can now take Pilates on Tuesdays at 7:30pm and Yoga for Athletes class on Saturdays at 10am using your CrossFit membership! (Each class is capped at 12 participants)

You are required to participate. The process only takes a couple minutes, so start now:

Steps to RSVP to CFSBK:

1. Go to the CFSBK Online Store.
2. Log In. (Save your log-in information to your cookies if you want to skip this step moving forward.)
3. Click “Calendar” from the left-hand column.
4. Select the class you plan on attending.
5. Press the blue “Reserve” button on the right-hand side of the screen.

Learn more on the RSVP to CFSBK page (located in the left-hand column under General Information).

_____________________ 
Why Pay Money To Go Through the Pain Of CrossFit? CBS 

Performance
7 Rounds for Time:
3 Muscle Ups
7 Thrusters 95/65 

Fitness
7 Rounds For Time:
7 Thrusters 95/65
14 Russian Kettlebell Swings 72/53

Post time and Rx to comments.

Coach McDowell at full lock out over the rings

Have You RSVP-ed to CFSBK Yet?

Starting on Monday, January 19, CFSBK will require our members to preregister online before coming to CrossFit group classes, Active Recovery, Pilates, and Yoga for Athletes. While we’re not actually capping classes, registration allows you to know how many people have signed up for the class you plan to attend, which will add another level of transparency to your membership. You may decide to modify your class selection based on your class-size preferences. We hope this will more evenly distribute attendance, help us plan ahead for larger classes, and inform our consideration for which classes to add when our new space opens.

Exciting side note: You can now try a Pilates class on Tuesdays at 7:30pm or Yoga for Athletes class on Saturdays at 10am using your CrossFit membership! (Each class is capped at 12 participants)

You are required to participate. The process only takes a couple minutes, so start now:

Steps to RSVP to CFSBK:

1. Go to the CFSBK Online Store.
2. Log In. (Save your log-in information to your cookies if you want to skip this step moving forward.)
3. Click “Calendar” from the left-hand column.
4. Select the class you plan on attending.
5. Press the blue “Reserve” button on the right-hand side of the screen.

Learn more on the RSVP to CFSBK page (located in the left-hand column under General Information).

_____________________ 
Luci Romberg’s American Ninja Warrior Submission 2015 (Featuring Kacy Catanzaro!) 

Coach David hopes you’re having a great Crush Week!

Introducing: RSVP to CFSBK

Starting on Monday, January 19, CFSBK will require our members to preregister online before coming to CrossFit group classes, Active Recovery, Pilates, and Yoga for Athletes. While we’re not actually capping classes, registration allows you to know how many people have signed up for the class you plan to attend, which will add another level of transparency to your membership. You may decide to modify your class selection based on your class-size preferences. We hope this will more evenly distribute attendance, help us plan ahead for larger classes, and inform our consideration for which classes to add when our new space opens.

Exciting side note: You can now attend Pilates class on Tuesdays at 7:30pm or Yoga for Athletes class on Saturdays at 10am using your CrossFit membership! (Each class is capped at 12 participants)

You are required to participate. The process only takes a couple minutes, so start now:

Steps to RSVP to CFSBK:

1. Go to the CFSBK Online Store.
2. Log In. (Save your log-in information to your cookies if you want to skip this step moving forward.)
3. Click “Calendar” from the left-hand column.
4. Select the class you plan on attending.
5. Press the blue “Reserve” button on the right-hand side of the screen.

You can do this on your computer or phone. The attendance display on your computer shows how many people out of 50 have signed up and will be displayed as such: (e.g., 10/50) while the mobile version shows how many are left based on a hypothetical 50 members. So 40 would mean 10 people have pre-registered.

RSVP to the Following Classes:
CrossFit Group Classes (including Open gym)
Active Recovery
Pilates with KH
Yoga for Athletes with Coach Whitney 

DO NOT RSVP to:
Strength Cycle with Coach Jeremy
Olympic Weightlifting with Coach Frank
Personal Training

Details:

+ When you get to the gym, you’ll still need to swipe in as usual.

+ If you can’t make it to a class you signed up for, please cancel as soon as you know you can’t make it. If you don’t cancel within one hour of class, the system will think you attended and you’ll need to ask Front Desk to uncheck you from class.

+ Classes can be reserved as early as three days in advance and as late as an hour before. If you forget toRSVP, you can still come to class, but please be aware that our aim is for 100% participation. If you fail to participate, we will notice, we will be bummed, you will be bummed about being hassled, and you may incur a “Karen” penalty. Don’t be that person. 

+ Do not RSVP if you’re using a banked class. Discuss it with the Front Desk as normal.

Seeking: Volunteers for Free Class Next Friday at 3:30pm

Next Friday (1/23), Coach David will be offering a free class to CFSBK members of all abilities and sizes. The class will include standardized warm-ups, bench pressing, deadlifting, and a WOD. The class is free, but there will be a videographer (fellow CFSBKer Nate P.!) filming, and the footage will be used on Coach David’s blog Inside the Affiliate. If you’re interested, sign up by emailing David [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com. The class is capped at 16 participants.

_____________________
20 Aphorisms That I Thought Were Dumb as a Boy But Now Appreciate as a Grown Man The Art of Manliness
When You Burn Fat, Where Does it Go? SciShow
Literary Quotes That Double As Excellent Mantras During A Final Set (Or: Things I Have Whispered Quietly To Myself At The Gym) The Toast

Tabata This! (For Reps):

Tabata row
Rest 1 minute
Tabata squats
Rest 1 minute
Tabata pull-ups
Rest 1 minute
Tabata push-ups
Rest 1 minute
Tabata sit-ups

Post reps to comments.

Coach Whitney recovers during the rest period in Fight Gone Bad. We often program interval workouts at CFSBK with rest periods as short as :10 and upwards of a couple minutes. How do you spend that time? Do you tune out and relax? Strategize for the next round? Lie on the floor?

News and Notes

• Nate P. and Coach McDowell are playing with Nate’s band Union Oil Company at Strong Place on 270 Court Street in Carroll Gardens tonight at 8pm! Come hang out!
• On February 15, neighboring Crow Hill CrossFit is hosting the 2015 Crown Heights Open. Athletes must be current USAW members (as of February 15) and must compete in a singlet. Contact Kurt Roderick at CoachKurt [at] CrowHillCrossFit.com with any questions, and learn more here.
• Good Eggs, a farmers market-meets-online grocer, would love to deliver food to your home! The company works with 200 local farmers and foodmakers to deliver fresh food, pastured eggs, grass-fed meats, seafoods, locally-prepared meals, gluten-free and paleo options directly to people’s homes in Brooklyn for free. Check them out!

Upcoming Mindfulness Meditation Workshop on Sunday!

“It seems we all agree that training the body through exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don’t we think about training our mind?”
-Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche 

Kevin Townley from The Shambhala Meditation Center in Chelsea will be visiting us to teach two 90-minute workshops: the first this Sunday, January 18 at 2:15 and then on the following Sunday, January 25 at 3:30.

Both sessions will introduce basic principles and techniques for shamatha or mindfulness meditation. Learn how meditation works to deal with stress, anxiety, and habitual mental patterns and is a way to make the mind more stable and clear, less caught up in fear and avoidance. And how, on a deeper level, meditation is a system for deeply familiarizing yourself with how the mind works in general, and for developing a more authentic and compassionate outlook on life. You can attend either session or both if you’d like Kevin to address any questions you may have after your first week of practice. Cost is $5/session, which will be collected at the start of the workshop, but please RSVP in advance in the comments on the corresponding event page (found in the right-hand column).  

If you RSVPed and can no longer attend, please note that in the comments on the corresponding event page. 

_____________________ 
Risks, Decisions, and Courage Catalyst Athletics
3 Medical Conditions That Bacon Can Cure Mother Jones

4 Rounds For Time:
500m Row
10 Front Squats 185/125
10 Burpees

Post time and Rx to comments.

Ellie June takes on wall balls, a little over four months after giving birth to Vesper!

News and Notes 

• The AM and PM Olympic Lifting cycles will both run, and there are a couple spots left in each if you’re still interested! The AM cycle will start next week, and the Total will now happen on March 15, so both cycles can Total together. Learn more here!
• Alex W. is designing some cold weather running apparel for lady runners, and she wants to hear from you about what you love and what you hate about your gear, and what you wish your apparel could do for you. Anyone interested can email her at abwoolfson [at] gmail.com.
• Kevin G. and his wife welcomed their baby boy into the world on Monday, January 12, at 9 pounds 4.5 ounces, 22 inches long. Congrats, Kevin! 
• Happy belated birthday, Jacob B.!

Tired of Freezing in Brooklyn? Come Play in the Snow!

_____________________ 
Ship Your Enemies Glitter
Sebastian Seung’s Quest to Map the Human Brain The New York Times
You can’t detox your body. It’s a myth. So how do you get healthy? The Guardian
Understanding Crossfit and the Intensity Prescription The AF Project