Fitness: Hang Power Snatch 1RM
Pressing out is a no rep. Catch lower as needed.

Performance: 1RM Hang Snatch
_______________________

Back Squat

Fitness: 3×5 Across
add 2.5-5lbs from last week’s weight.

Performance: 2×5, then 1 x max reps <10.
add 2.5-5lbs from last week’s weight.

Post loads to comments.
BSQ/Sn e6/6
_______________________

5 Rounds NFT of:
10 Push-Ups
15 Sit-Ups
20 Split Jumps or Lunges

Elisa’s SDHPs at Fight Gone Bad 2013

• Good luck to all the folks doing the rope climbing clinic today!
• If you didn’t read yesterday’s blog post about membership policies, please check it out.

___________________
Stop Juicing Slate
Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Epic Split for Volvo Is Insane Mashable
Totally Irresponsible Parents Remember To Drop Son Off At Football

Josh loves Wall Ball!

CFSBK Membership Policy Notes

As you all should know by now, Zen Planner–our new membership billing system, has been in effect for several months now. Not only has this given you all fancy scan cards but it offers us multiple administrative tools all under one platform. It’s been a great way for us to keep better track of everyone’s accounts and provide valuble analytics for management. We’d like to take this time to highlight some CFSBK membership and billing policies so that everyone is on the same page about how to handle different issues. There is a copy of this policy breakdown at the front desk if you’d like a paper copy as well.

Signing In

• All members should sign in at the Front Desk (FD) prior to your scheduled class.  This includes Foundations, Strength, Personal Training and Speciality classes.

• If there are multiple classes going on (Ex: Group class and Active Recovery), please let FD staff know which you plan to attend.  

• Active Recovery and Open Gym count towards your membership as normal classes and members need to check in accordingly.  If you plan to attend a Group class and then take Active Recovery (or vice versa), you must let FD know at check in so that attendance counts are accurate.

Upgrade/Downgrades

• Members looking to upgrade their recurring membership before their next billing cycle will be charged a $15 upgrade fee to offset the difference between membership rates.  Otherwise, you can simply wait until your next billing date to begin your new membership.  Upgrade requests should be made at least 3 days in advance so that we have time to make the necessary changes before your next bill.

Ex:  David has a 3x/week membership and gets billed on the 15th of every month.  Today is the 10th and he decides he wants to upgrade to a 5x/week membership.  If he wants that upgrade to be effective today, then he gets charged $15 and can start attending 2 additional classes per week immediately.  Otherwise, he can wait for his upgrade to be effective as of the 15th where his new 5x/week membership rate will go into effect.  

• Membership downgrades will be effective as of the member’s next billing cycle. Downgrade requests should be made at least 3 days in advance so that we have time to make the necessary changes before your next bill.  We cannot provide refunds retroactively for time prior to notification.

Ex: Jess is currently on a 5x/week membership that bills on the 1st of the month.  Today is the 10th and she wants to downgrade to 3x/week.  Her 5x/week membership will remain active through the end of the current month and her new 3x/week membership will begin as of the 1st of the next month.

Account Holds

• CFSBK will honor membership holds/suspensions of one week or more, provided that staff is notified at least 3 days in advance.

• Periods of suspension will extend the member’s current billing cycle by the total number of days absent, resulting in no financial loss for planned timed away.

• Memberships can be placed on hold for up to 3 months.  Any suspensions beyond 3 months and/or of an indefinite time period will result in a dropped (inactive) membership.  Memberships can easily be reactivated by purchasing a new membership online or by stopping by the front desk upon return.

Banked Classes

• CFSBK will allow members to ‘bank’ classes only from the prior week’s missed classes.   These banked classes are limited for use during the following week only.  Anyone missing classes beyond a week should contact us ASAP to set up a membership hold. Classes missed beyond one week without a request for suspension is at a loss to the member.  

• Members must alert the front desk staff at check-in when using the prior week’s banked classes.

• This policy allows us to offer flexibility for extenuating circumstances.  We do not intend for members to ‘bank’ classes liberally when they don’t make it into the gym.

Ex:  Noah is on a 2x/week membership.  His Grad school Finals unexpectedly kept him out of the gym and he missed his 2 classes this week.  

Noah will be back at the gym next week.  He’s planning on hitting 2 extra classes (4 total) to make up for this week and then he will resume to 2x/week the following week.

Outcome  = No net loss of classes.

Ex: Noah realizes that he needs additional time away during/after finals.  He informs our staff ASAP and we put his membership on hold effective from date of notification until he returns.

Outcome = No net loss of classes, as long as the request was put in 3 days before he wanted to take a hiatus

Ex: Noah let things snowball, didn’t make it into the gym and never notified CFSBK of his absence.  He returns 3 weeks later hoping to make up the missed classes.  Unfortunately, we cannot permit this since we were not notified in advance of his absence.

Outcome = Loss of classes

Refunds/Cancellations

• Membership cancellations can occur at anytime and for any reason without additional fees.  We do request that you provide a reason for cancellation for our tracking purposes.

• While cancellations can occur at any time, members looking to cancel prior to their upcoming bill must notify CFSBK at least 3 days prior the bill due date.  

• CFSBK will not provide refunds retroactively for any cancellation requests.

_______________________
Acrobatic Gymnastics Worlds 2010 Ukraine WG Combined
Which Came First – The Rain or the Rainforest?

PERFORMANCE

For Time:
700m Row
then, 3 Rounds of:
20 Dummbell Thrusters, 40/25
7/5 Muscle-Ups
then,
550m Run

___________________

FITNESS

For Time:
700m Row
then, 3 Rounds of:
20 Wall Ball Shots, 20/10, 14/9
15 Kettlbell Swings, 53/35
10 Burpees
then,
550m Run

Post time and Rx to comments.

Ring Rows and Kipping Pull-Ups

Yoga for Athletes

______________________
Finding Flow: Figuring out your (weight) Jumps Donny Shankle
CFJ Offline The Kipping Pull-Up
Here Are The First 4 Women In History To Complete Marine Infantry Training

Fitness:
1RM Below The Knee Power Clean + Front Squat

Hold the catch position after the BTK Power Clean, then finish the squat portion.

Performance:
Work up to a heavy single on the Below the Knee Squat Clean

Front Squat

Fitness: Work up to a heavy triple
Add 5lbs from last week

Performance: Work up to a heavy single

Post loads to comments.
CLN FSQ e 6/6
______________________

Assistance Work:
50 Ring Rows
50t Kettlbell Front Rack Reverse Lunges
550m Run

Distribute the work however you’d like.

Jess and Neal G. Father/Daugher CFSBKers

CFSBK Coat Drive for New York Cares

____________________
The Movement Fix Blog

Hi I’m Rachel D! Going 6 months strong at Crossfit South Brooklyn. My job as a hairstylist is the love of my life! But second place goes to all things Health & Fitness. McDowell brought those worlds together when he came in to talk hair + weights. Check out his gorgeous goldilocks lately & if you like, come see me too! Book all cut + color appointments at Fringe Salon (212) 674-8383. And check out my world at RachelDowningHair.com!

• The lost and found inventory will be donated to CHIPS every other week. Check out the what’s in there currently on our Flickr. 
• On Thanksgiving we will be running 3 morning group classes at 8am, 9am and 10am. The gym will be closed otherwise!

Kettlebell Kitchen at CFSBK!

Want to make eating healthy Paleo meals easier? Check out our in house paleo partners, Kettlebell Kitchen– your go to for Paleo & Zone meals! Food for CrossFitters by CrossFitters, Kettlebell Kitchen is an easy & convenient way to get top notch nutrition delivered right to the box. We’ve tasted the food ourselves, and we think it’s great!

The complete menu, along with ingredient lists and nutrition facts can be found here: MENU
Ordering instructions and FAQs can be found here: FAQs

_________________________
If you could take a year long hiatus from your life to learn as much as you could about any subject matter, what would it be?

3 Rounds for Time:
400m Row
21 Kettlebell Swings 53/35
12 Handstand Push-Ups

Modifiy the HSPUs by decreasing range of motion up to 2 abmats, using a piked box varient or by working on strict push-ups.

Post time and Rx to comments.
_________________________

Assistance Work:
75 Hollow Rocks
50 Dumbbell Presses
25-50 Strict Chins

Post loads and reps to comments.

Coaches Lady Fox and Melo about to teach a class on their motorcycles.

Got Meat? New CSA Options!

For all the details, plus updated information on our vegetable and egg CSA programs, please visit the revised CSA info page.

Inside The Affiliate

There’s a new post on Inside the Affiliate (ITA) if you’re interested! Just in case you didn’t see my note about it last Monday, ITA is a blog where I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned over the last six years running a CrossFit gym. In the spirit of CrossFit’s open source affiliate model, I’ll be discussing our class management principles, continuing education programs, and the lessons our coaches and I have learned since starting CFSBK. The goal of the blog is to promote strategies that help affiliates create professional, inclusive, and effective training experiences for their members. Please share this new  post with anyone you know who is interested in CrossFit, if you feel so inclined!

__________________________
The Truth Behind Lulu’s Lemons? CrossFit Journal

Performance:

In 5 minutes, run 400 meters then perform max reps:
Muscle-Ups

______________________
Fitness:

In 5 minutes, run 400 meters then perform max reps:
Deadlift 225/155

Rest 2 minutes

In 5 minutes, run 400 meters then perform max reps:
9 Squats
6 Push-Ups
3 Pull-Ups or 6 Ring Rows

Score total number of deadlifts and rounds completed on the couplet/triplet

Mattzilla

A Crossfit Shoe Primer
By Coach Noah

If you’ve been Crossfitting for a little while, odds are you’ve noticed that most of our athletes tend to sport some footwear that many would consider unconventional, old-school, or just plain weird.  While you can Crossfit in any pair of shoes, some types of shoes will optimize your ability to get in good positions, protect your body, and ultimately perform better.  Since among our coaches I own the dubious honor of being the resident shoe-ho, I will be your tour guide through the always controversial world of Crossfit footwear.  3, 2, 1, GO(d I am lame)!

Training Shoes

For most of the population, one pair of shoes should suffice to get us through 99% of Crossfit workouts.  These don’t have to be incredibly expensive, and may in fact be cheaper than the over-engineered running shoes currently on the market.  Rather than give you specifics about one shoe over another, following a few general rules should get you into something appropriate:
A (relatively) flat and (relatively) non-compressible sole:  Most of the activities we perform require the ability to “feel” the floor.  Many athletes have trouble keeping their heels down when they squat or shifting their weight forward when they swing a kettlebell simply because their shoes are so built up and cushioned that they simply have no concept of their foot’s relationship to the floor.  Look for a shoe with a sole that is flat and low, without any zany cutouts or hollows.  Ideally, the shoe will be close to “zero drop” a term which means that the heel and toe of the shoe are of the same height.  The sole should also be made of relatively firm rubber.  Some shoes, in their quest for greater cushioning have embraced such plush materials that you may as well be squatting wearing a pair of sweet potatoes on your feet, which while delicious, is not ideal.

Lightweight aka the Single Digit Rule: An easy rule I’ve come to embrace is that any show I wear to work out in should weigh under 10 ounces.  Many weigh under 8, and there are some under 6 and even a few under 4.  The lighter the better, although I personally question whether your feet know the difference between 4.6 and 5.3 ounces.  Mine certainly don’t, but they, like their owner, are stupid.
Rad colors:  This is a personal sentiment, but c’mon folks, this isn’t black tie footwear we’re talking about. 

Most of these shoes fall into the “racing” or “performance” running shoe category.  Manufacturers use these terms to signify that when trying to run fast (like, say, for a race), people will want light shoes that don’t make their feet act stupid.  Since we are Crossfitters, and are ALWAYS RACING, we can just wear them all the time.

Weightlifting Shoes

Dedicated weightlifting shoes take the concept of a firm sole to the next level, using either ultra hard
synthetic (EVA or similar) or real-honest-to-paleo-god wood(!) for maximum stability and to better transmit force from the lifter to the floor.  These are purpose specific shoes, which violate the “no heel” rule above- most weightlifting shoes have a heel of about ½ to 1inch high, to allow for more ankle flexion at the bottom of squats, which helps mobility/positioning under heavy load.  Consider:

Pros:
Incredibly stable
Aids in mobility and positioning at the bottom of squats and in force transmission
Can “add” weight to your lifts (somewhat illusory/placebo, but whatever)

Cons
Most are expensive
Extremely purpose specific.  If you wear them to a bar, people will laugh at you.  Ask me how I know this.
Look like they were designed by a team consisting of my grandpa, Frankenstein, and a Hell’s Angel (except for the super sexy Nike Romaleos, which cost approximately the GDP of Belarus.)

Some other quick thoughts

LSD Shoes: No, these are not shoes to wear while attempting the Dark Side of The Moon/Wizard of Oz mashup- I’m referring to Long Slow Distance.  If you are planning to run substantial distance, or are training for a long race and logging significant miles, you may want to invest in some purpose specific running shoes.  Especially if you have not practiced (or suck at) minimalist/POSE/Chi running, you may want to avoid super-minimal shoes.  While a super-efficient runner may get away with a length of tractor tire duct taped around his foot, most of us could benefit from a little bit of cushioning in our shoes.  There are plenty of models out that split the difference between the conventional Staypuft Marshmallow Man meets Cadillac Biarritz shoe and dipping your feet in candle wax before your marathon.  Ease into it.

Chuck Taylors: Worn by the everyone from Wilt Chamberlain to Kurt Cobain to toddlers everywhere, Chucks are in many ways the perfect Crossfit shoe.  They’re flat, non-compressible, fairly light, and cheap.  Plus, you can wear them in the “real” world, which cuts down on WOD to “first beer of the weekend” transition time on Friday.  The only real downside is that they are a bit clunky to run in, and don’t make you feel like a ninja.

Vibram Five Fingers: I’m going to take some flack for this, so I will be gentle, but I don’t particularly care for VFF’s (yes, in the name of science, I do own a pair.)  VFFs arose from well-intentioned folk who wanted a more minimalist training shoe when there weren’t many options out there.  Now there are plenty of shoes that blend minimal/lightweight design and the benefits of modern technology.  Five Fingers are offer poor stability during lifting, and are inadequately padded for box jumps, double unders, and sprints.  I do think Five Fingers can be useful for training runs or to practice minimalist running, as they do offer great ground feedback, but as I mentioned earlier, that feedback comes at a price.  If you can run fast in Five Fingers, you can run faster in real sneakers, trust me. 

Ok!  Enough about shoes already!  You get the drift- light, flat, not squishy.  Cheap and colorful are pluses.  If you have any other questions, want my thoughts on Shoe A vs. Shoe B, have specific training goals or injury history to consider, or just want to talk about feet, email me at noah(AT)crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com

______________________
MIT Invention Lets You Reach Through Computer Screen & Play With Stuff Gothamist
How To Improve your Kipping Pull-Ups Tabata Times
Technical Glitches I’m Seeing A Lot These Days, Pt.2 Cathletics

Fitness: Hang Power Snatch 1RM
Pressing out is a no rep. Catch lower as needed.

Performance: 1RM Hang Snatch
_______________________

Back Squat

Fitness: 3×5 Across
add 2.5-5lbs from last week’s weight.

Performance: 2×5, then 1 x max reps <10.
add 2.5-5lbs from last week’s weight.

Post loads to comments.
BSQ/Sn e5/6
_______________________

NFT:
50 DB Bench Press
50 DB Curls
50 Knees to Elbows or 100 AbMat Sit Ups

Chris A Muscle Ups

Calling all potential CrossFit coaches!  

Brooklyn CrossFit : South Williamsburg and Brooklyn CrossFit : Columbia Street are looking for coaches, assistant coaches and interns.  If you have ever thought that you might like to try your hand at becoming a CrossFit coach; now is your chance!  Both boxes have part time slots available and are willing to provide on the job training and instruction as needed.  Please send an email to crossfitsouthwilliamsburg(AT)gmail.com for more information and to set up an interview.

Yours in Health and Fitness,

70 River St. Brooklyn, NY 11211
brooklyncrossfitsouthwilliamsburg.com

_________________________
Man Who Drinks 5 Diet Cokes Per Day Hoping Doctors Working On Cure For Whatever He’s Getting

Becky and I are excited to introduce Graham Bradley Kellogg. Graham was born on 11/11/2013 at 3:23 am. He weighed 6lb 15oz and 18.9 inches

In the Zone? Cavemanning it?

by Chris Fox

    There was a time not too long ago when every CrossFitter was told on crossfit.com and at our Level 1 seminars that the most efficient way to get your nutrition in order was to follow the Zone Diet. We understood that our health and fitness were dependant on a solid nutritional approach. And so we Zoned, and it was good. Weighing and measuring made sense since it was quantifiable and repeatable, and lord knows that CrossFitters love to measure stuff! What’s your Fran time, brah!? Weighing and measuring our meals led us to fitter bodies. Excess fat was shed, lean muscle gained, and shirts would quickly come off during the WOD even in the dead of February. We were shredded and sexy beasts! If we felt like we were getting too lean or if we started to drag in energy we would up the fat blocks or up the total blocks to meet the needs of our larger, more muscular, super charged selves. It was the quantities that mattered above all else. A 12oz can of Bud, 18 peanuts, and 3 ounces of beef jerky was a healthy balanced meal! Zoning made sense and worked well…until it didn’t. We became neurotic about food. Counting raisins, macadamia nuts, and canned tuna made us crazy. We became lazy about food prep and wanted a new approach. The Paleo Diet provided it. Sure, we had to ditch our morning breakfast sandwich and forgo the beans and rice with our roasted chicken, but we could relax about how much we were eating. We were told that an “unweighed, unmeasured, Paleo gig” was all we really needed to follow. It was easy and mindless. So, we relaxed. And we ate. We convinced ourselves that bacon was an everyday kind of health food, that we could eat as much meat and vegetable and coconut milk as we wanted, and that since we gave up those devilish grains all would be ok. It became strictly about food quality over food quantity. And it was good…until it wasn’t. It was hard to eat out with friends. We obsessed over procuring local, grass-fed, artisanal, grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, everything. We couldn’t enjoy a cupcake or a beer without feeling guilty so when we did we would binge the whole day, or weekend, or week, or month.  How do we deal with that?  We binge and purge in a sense and “go paleo” for brief periods of time to “get back on track”. We devour the paleo special (all 2 pounds of it) post lifting session since we earned it, or add in extra “conditioning” workouts to combat fat gain. We convince ourselves that wine and tequila are Paleo enough since they aren’t made from grains…Grok would surely drink a Nor-Cal Margarita! Red wine and 85% dark chocolate have anti-oxidants! Pass them over! Mostly what we did is eat more than we needed to. Too many calories, whether from pastured chickens or bagels, is still too many calories. A net surplus of calories will over time cause weight gain, there’s no way around that. Some of us begin to drop weight too rapidly since we can’t get enough carbs (sweet potato again?) in to fuel us properly. Sure some of us have found a happy place with eating and exercising that brings success. Bravo! But for a lot of us we constantly ask the question “What the hell should I be eating !?” Next week we’ll take a look at what’s good from both of these approaches and consider a few ways to find out what works for best for us as individuals.

Hint: If you won’t do it, it won’t work.
___________________________
When You Train and What It Might Mean About You and Your Exercise Breaking Muscle
Rich Froning and Sam Briggs at ESPN
Words of Wisdom for CrossFit Rowers CrossFit One World

Fitness: Work up to a heavy triple

Performance: Work up to a heavy triple

Post loads to comments.
__________________

For Time:
60 Double Unders
500m Row
400m Run
30 Burpees
20 Thrusters 115/75

Post time and Rx to comments.

Charlotte K doing her Inversion skill work in Rockport, MA this past weekend

Andy Milk’s Show Tonight

Hey guys, I’ve got a show tonight with my new music project Put Together just down the road at The Rock Shop.  I’m on early at 7:30pm. Check us out!

Rope Climb Clinic SOLD OUT!

Want to relive the anxiety of 8th grade gym class? Maybe you’ve just always wanted to touch that weird brown stuff all over the ceiling. Regardless, we’re hosting 2 FREE rope climbing clinics for CFSBK members on Saturday, November 23rd at 1pm and 2pm.  This event is limited to 8 participants per session and will review rope climbing 101.

To register, email David(at)CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com, first come first serve.

Rope Climbing Demos with Annie Sakamoto
_____________________
NASA Releases First Ever Photograph of Saturn, Venus, Mars and Earth
The Innovation of Loneliness