AMRAP 30 Minutes:
10 Toes to Bar or 15 AbMat Sit Ups
20 Russian Kettlebell Swings 72/53
40 Double Unders

Partners alternate complete rounds until the 30 minute cap.

Post total rounds completed, partner and Rx to comments.

Karl gets his 14.4 on with Fraiser as his judge

Meat CSA: Free gift for new members and NEW refer-a-friend bonus! 

We are having a special sign-up bonus for new members who join the Herondale meat and poultry CSA in the months of April or May.

New 15-lb share members will receive three of our most-loved items: a juicy NY strip steak, a pack of pork chops, and a pack of our legendary bacon. That’s in addition to the regular share – a $50 bonus! 

New 10-lb share members will receive a NY strip and a pack of bacon in addition to the regular share – a $35 bonus!

Refer-a-friend: Any existing CSA member who refers someone to the program will receive 2 packs of the brand-new Jacuterie bacon – choose any 2 from Jack’s great new flavors (maple, honey garlic, or Italian.) All are mouth-wateringly good, so refer your friends today! Write to csa@herondalefarm.com to make it happen. Remember, you don’t need to be a member of CFSBK to belong to the CSA.

Sign up here.

Questions? Email mignyc at gmail dot com.

Bring Your Bike Out of Winter Hibernation!

Springtime weather is around the corner and CFSBK wants to help you prepare for bike riding season! Bicycle Habitat will be bringing their basic bike maintenance class from their 5th Avenue shop to 597 DeGraw specially for CFSBK, 2:30p-4p on Saturday, April 5. Course will include:

You’ll be able to roll in your own bike to use as an example during the class!  The class will be more instructional in nature, but bring any bike tools you already have in case there is time for tinkering!  $10 per person, class is capped at 25.  Sign up and pay in advance at the Front Desk by April 3. 
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Risk Vsauce
The beginning of everything

For time
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Thrusters, 95 / 65 lb.
Burpees

For the full workout description, click here.

To keep classes running on time, we’re going to cap this workout at 25 minutes. Athletes can assign themselves a one minute penalty for every rep they don’t finish under the cap.

Alternate WOD

For time
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Wall Ball Shots
Burpees

Eduardo C getting down with Wall Ball

Bring Your Shoes Back

We got our new shoe racks in from BLKWD inc. We think with the new space we’ll be able to fit most if not all the shoes we had originally. Here are some shoe storage rules:

• Please write your name on the heel of your shoe somewhere. The front Desk has gel pens that work great for this.
• To maximise cubby storage, please store your shoes on top of each other with one heel and one toe facing out.
• Shoes can be stored below the bottom steel framed rack on the floor. Do NOT put shoes ON the steel racks, those are for bags.
• The Front Desk has shoe spray, we will make occasional sweeps to all the shoes but please take the time to spray your own shoes about once a week.

Please fill out our Feedback Form!

CFSBK wants to hear from you! Please take a couple minutes to fill out this feedback form regarding your experience, opinions and requests for what we offer and do at CFSBK.

CFSBK Feedback Form

Shauna S wants you to know about the Pat’s Run

As many of you know, Pat Tillman played in the NFL for four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.  After 9/11, Pat declined a huge contract to enlist and serve as a Ranger with the U.S. Army.  Pat lost his life while serving in Afghanistan.

All New York-area residents have the opportunity to honor the legacy of Pat Tillman and support veterans, their families, and the Tillman Military Scholars program by participating in Pat’s Run NY Shadow Run on Saturday, April 26, 2014 at 12:00 pm.  Through a partnership with EY Veterans Group and the ASU Alumni Association, the New York Shadow Run will begin at Pier 84 near the Intrepid Museum and will continue south down the West Side Highway and finish at the World Trade Center.  To date, 290 Tillman Military Scholars representing 37 states and attending 74 academic institutions nationwide, including many here in New York, have been awarded more than $3.8 million.

Please register

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Can you spot the liar? NYT
SLOW LIFE
Chemists endorse marinating meat in beer

Michael A confuses his arms and legs again

• Beautify Rockaway Beach aims to beautify over a dozen of the buildings along Rockaway Beach Blvd which were devastated by Sandy. Beautify Earth is currently raising money to finance the painting of murals, provide street cleanups, and proposing a community garden / sculpture park in the neighborhood that will uplift the residents, stimulate the businesses, and create smiles on peoples’ faces. For more information and to donate, click here.

Please fill out our Feedback Form!

CFSBK wants to hear from you! Please take a couple minutes to fill out this feedback form regarding your experience, opinions and requests for what we offer and do at CFSBK.

CFSBK Feedback Form

14.5 Logistics

The final workout for the 2014 CrossFit Open has been released as:

For time
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Thrusters, 95 / 65 lb. Burpees

For the full workout description, click here.

To keep classes running on time, we’re going to cap this workout at 25 minutes. Athletes can assign themselves a one minute penalty for every rep they don’t finish under the cap. There will be an alternate workout programmed for folks not competing in the open with the same rep scheme but substituting Wall Balls for thrusters.

What will your strategy for 14.5 be?
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Super Strong 64 Year Old Great Grandpa
Super Strong 73 Year Old
Jacinto Bonilla 73 year old CrossFitter (and CFSBKer!)
I Think Divergent Is Secretly About CrossFit

1-1-1-1-1

Post loads to comments.
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3 Rounds NFT of:
400m Row
400m Run
25 Unbroken Hollow Rocks

Nick on Box Jumps

Please fill out our Feedback Form!

CFSBK wants to hear from you! Please take a couple minutes to fill out this feedback form regarding your experience, opinions and requests for what we offer and do at CFSBK.

CFSBK Feedback Form

General Informed Freestyling

A common theme from Mobility WOD is the idea of “informed freestyling”.  Basically, when you’re mobilizing, instead of remaining static and settling into a singular position, you’re actively moving around trying to loosen up the tissue and hunting for other restricted areas.  I’m a huge fan of total body informed freestyling in response to or as preventative maintenance for general stiffness.  One way to approach this is extensive DROMs, but my bias is towards ground based movement. Ideally this is accompanied by a foam roller, straps and a lacrosse ball.  More often than not, a mobility rx is reactive and targeted towards tissue you know is tight and preventing you from getting into positions you want to achieve.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and probably the way you should spend most of your time stretching out. The problem however, is that sometimes it’s at the expense of a more generalized approach to soft tissue health. 
Lets start with the mindset that general stiffness is not normal and that you can do something about it.  To make an analogy, if you walked around hungry all day, a light would go off in your head to do something about it.  We don’t often listen to our bodies in the same way when our joints feel creaky and muscles feel stiff.  This should be a huge red flag that you need to spend a little more time doing generalized restorative movement.  Here are some quick benefits of a short total body movement session:

• Increased blood flow = Increased nutrient transport and hydration to all your tissues
• Excess metabolites are pushed into the lymph (think of it like “cleaning” an area of excess junk)
• Synovial fluid is pumped into your joint capsules, lubricating them
• With dedicated a breathing strategy and a modest pace, you can increase parasympathetic nervous system activity and decrease anxiety

Okay so how do we do it? Well there’s no one right way to do this and how you’re feeling that day should dictate your session but here are some general guidelines.

1. Set aside some time and space to move.  10-15 minutes should be enough to feel a lot better, I often put on a record and go at least until one side finishes. My preference is before bed since you can attack a whole day’s worth of stiffness and it’s a great way to unwind mentally. In terms of space, I love love LOVE my square36 mat.  Yoga mats provide insufficient area to move around on and I constantly have to reposition myself or the mat. (use the discount code cfbrooklyn36 to get $10 off a S36 mat!).

2. Start low and work high (or vise versa).  Start by doing some D-Dog calve marches, manually rolling your feet around, stretching out your toes, maybe using a LAX ball on your feet. Gradually work upstream spending more time in areas that feel tight.  Use stretches you remember from Group or Active Recovery class, make stuff up, work basic splits, twists, bends and be creative. You’ll undoubtedly find positions that feel great and areas that are tight.  Keep your breathing consistent and deep.

Here are some videos from our buddies at Body Tribe that might give you some more ideas:
Quick Mobility Play
Tav’s Brutal Recess
Staying Loose

3. Pepper in some Foam Rolling, LAX work or band stretches.  You might even start here and then get into the informed freestyling.  If you’re not sure what to do, take an Active Recovery class!

4. End with some deep breathing laying flat on your back, drink some water then go to bed!

Related Videos:
Gil Hedley: Fascia and stretching: The Fuzz Speech
Always Be Mobilizing
Informed Freestyling Always

What are you most looking forward to about the approaching nice weather?
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4 Things Astronauts Can Teach You About a Good Night’s Sleep
The Universe of Everything Zen Habits
Are you an elite CrossFitter, statistically speaking

Fitness: 3-3-3-3-3

Performance: 1-1-1-1-1

If you’re going to need a spot, let us know. All heavy singles should be spotted.

Post loads to comments.
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15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
Deadlift 225/155
Box Jumps 24″/20″

Post time and Rx to comments.

Ed kettlebell swings his way to fitness

• CFSBKer Candice C is in the running for this sexiest vegan next door contest, top prize is a free vacation to Maui, Hawaii. Vote here.
• Happy Birthday, Shaun C!
• Do you have Instagram? WE DO TOO!! Follow us @CrossFitSouthBrooklyn

Please fill out our Feedback Form!

CFSBK wants to hear from you! Please take a couple minutes to fill out this feedback form regarding your experience, opinions and requests for what we offer and do at CFSBK.

CFSBK Feedback Form
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Body Image & Bodyweight in Weightlifting Cathletics
Some Advice That Changed My Whole Career Cathletics
The Low Bar Back Squat Bar Position Starting Strength

Kristin H teaching her weekly Pilates class at CFSBK.
Come on down tonight at 7:30pm for some Hard Core Fun!

• Rich Fronings 14.4 Video Rich clears one whole round, plus the row and gets 17 toes to bars in round 2.
• Happy Birthday, Jared K!

Shoe Storage Update

CFSBK has commissioned local artisans, BLKWD inc to build out some new, sturdier shoe storage units for the coat room. Once the new racks are finished we’ll install them and have a dedicated cubby system where folks will be assigned specific stations for their Olympic lifting shoes to live. Unfortunately, the coat room isn’t big enough to hold Everyone’s shoes, and we ran into the problem of shoes beginning to take over where bags needed to go. Our solution is to have a limited number of slots that people pay a $5 monthly charge to store shoes in. We’ll be announcing a lottery system for first crack at shoe storage reservations at the gym.

Bring Your Bike Out of Winter Hibernation!

Springtime weather is around the corner and CFSBK wants to help you prepare for bike riding season! Bicycle Habitat will be bringing their basic bike maintenance class from their 5th Avenue shop to 597 DeGraw specially for CFSBK, 2:30p-4p on Saturday, April 5. Course will include:

You’ll be able to roll in your own bike to use as an example during the class!  The class will be more instructional in nature, but bring any bike tools you already have in case there is time for tinkering!  $10 per person, class is capped at 25.  Sign up and pay in advance at the Front Desk by April 3. 

Clothing and Book Swap at CFSBK

Press 1-1-1
Push Press 1-1-1
Jerk 1-1-1

Take about 25 minutes to work up to a 1RM for all three lifts. Try to keep increasing the weight as you go and stay strict to your three attempts meaning a missed lift counts as an attempt. Any version of the jerk is permitted.

Post loads to comments.
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5 Rounds for max reps of:
:40 Thuster 115/75
:20 Rest
:40 Burpee
:20 Rest

Post total reps completed and Rx to comments.

It all starts with the air squat

• We’ve got a new post on Inside the Affiliate about how we run our weekly intro classes. Did you take an intro class at CFSBK or somewhere else? Let us know about your experiences in the comments section!
• Thank you to everyone who came out to the free meditation workshop yesterday!
• Happy birthday, Rebecca G-C!

Welcome Coach Whitney!

As many of you know, CFSBK has been fortunate to take on resident Yoga maven and CrossFit superstar Whitney H on board as the newest member of the CFSBK coaching staff. We’ve been working with Whitney to get her ready for group classes since the beginning of the year and she’s already exceeded our expectations in terms of professionalism, compassion and ability to spot movement issues and correct them. We couldn’t be more excited about having her on staff and know all of you will come to enjoy her presence as part of our team. Read below to learn a little more about “Dub Hub”:

Whitney’s love for movement started early in life. She began ballet at the age of three and went on to participate in (and occasionally win) national dance competitions throughout her teens. This passion continued into her college years, and she received her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois. It was there that she first studied anatomy and kinesiology, as well as started a yoga practice.

Whitney is a Level 1 CrossFit Trainer and a Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT-200HR).
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Don’t forget to get your 14.4 submissions in by 8:00pm tonight!
2nd Annual Crossfit Thump Throwdown Recap
Area Man’s Emotional State Completely Dependent On Outcome Of Professional Sporting Event

Mid Hang Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Catch as low as your flexibility and technique allow

Post loads to comments.
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4 Rounds for time of:
400m Run
15 Pull Ups
Rest 2:00

Post total time and Rx to comments.

Active Recovery!

CrossFit North East Regionals Update

Watch the next level of competition of the 2014 CrossFit Games at the NE Regionals, held at Reebok Headquarters in Canton, MA.  CFSBK and Cruise Director Mare L. are coordinating a group to head up and spectate during the May 30-June 1 event.   Click on the event page for more info and to book your hotel room — rooms must by reserved by March 28!

Meditation Workshop Today

A reminder that today at 2p is the meditation workshop.  The workshop is at capacity, but everyone who already RSVP’ed in the comments section on the event page is welcome to join.  If you can’t make it after all, please let Mare know at mare(at)crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com. This will be held in the upstairs studio.

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The nicest CrossFit Gym? Inside CrossFit Belltown

14 minute AMRAP:
60-calorie row 
50 toes-to-bars
40 wall-ball shots, 20 / 14 lb.
30 cleans, 135 / 95 lb.
20 muscle-ups

Read the full workout description and rules here.

Alternate WOD:

For Time:
550m Run
50 Sit Ups
50 Squats
50 Dumbbell Cleans
50 Burpees

Post results to comments.

Coach DO scores 180 with a 13:55 tie break

• Happy Birthday Janelle B., Jenna J. and Doug M.!

Winos Needed!

Like wine and good times! Brian Scott is looking for help pouring wine at The Hess Collection’s table during this year’s Wine Riot. This is a tasting geared towards cork dorks in their twenties and is always a great event!

There are 4 pouring passes available for each session:
Friday, April 4th: 7pm – 11pm
Saturday, April 5th: 1pm – 5pm or 7pm – 11pm

To pour you must be 21 years old and arrive at the venue 1hr prior to set up the wines. Everything will be provided and all that is needed is for one person to be behind the table at all times. You will not need to pay an entry fee ($60) for the event.

Note – if you work the Sat night shift you will get to keep any leftovers – provided you can haul it away.
Interested parties please contact Brian at bscott (AT) hesscollection.com

Reminder
A reminder that tomorrow at 2p is the meditation workshop.  The workshop is at capacity, but everyone who already RSVP’ed in the comments section on the event page is welcome to join.  If you can’t make it after all, please let Mare know at mare(at)crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com.  

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“Gym” (Planet Fitness) tells woman she’s intimidating guests with ‘toned body’
“Ha!” Takes a serious look at humor NYT
Ira Glass on taste, creativity and drive

It’s our second installment of Behind the Lens, about our intrepid and freakishly talented photographers. Photographs don’t grow on trees, and our Flickr account is populated by the art of a number of wonderful CFSBKers. They’re so good at shooting us while we sweat that we sometimes even forget they’re there! Our first interview was with Bekka Palmer, and this one is with the marvelous Asta Fivgas. See some of her favorite photos and her interview with Kate below.

Behind the Lens: Asta Fivgas

Candid Shots

Where and when were you born? Keflavik, Iceland on May 25, 1985.

What color are your eyes? They’re actually the same color as my hair. Matchy matchy.

Favorite smell? Cinnamon and that super toxic smell when the A/C first comes on in the car.

Weird fact: Besides when people find out I was born in Iceland? I pronounce my w-h combinations in words, it’s not really weird but people point it out a lot.

What is your perfect Friday night? Something involving friends, laughter, and bourbon. Sometimes this devolves into just liquor by myself on the couch after a long week. And open gym. You can usually find me there when my Friday is going as planned.

Favorite photographer? I don’t know if I can really narrow this down, I appreciate a lot of different photographers for a variety of reasons but two of my favorite books of images are by Lee Friedlander and Geir Jordahl.

One of Asta’s favorite photos that she took at the MoMALonger Exposure

Kate: You’ve been around CFSBK way longer than I have, so other people might know the answers to some of these questions. Regardless, clue us all in, if you don’t mind. How did you start down the CrossFit journey and how did you find SBK? 

Asta: I was dating a guy who was super into CrossFit but always made it sound like the most bizarre thing in the world—so when I got the opportunity to meet some of these “CrossFit people” during a little potluck (complete with what turned into a really aggressive game of dodgeball and burpees), I was definitely going to be there. I decided that I, too, wanted to work out in the post-apocalyptic movie set known as the Lyceum and challenge myself more than my gym routine of peddling away on the stationary bike while reading The Fountainhead. I knew I had endurance, but I wasn’t very strong and I truly didn’t know what to do to get strong—so being around all these really interesting, diverse, strong people definitely called to me. My first teaser was with Margie and I started Foundations in January of 2009. 

Kate: Tell us about your journey with your camera. Do you remember your first photograph? What did you shoot with?

Asta: I don’t remember my first photograph but I know I always liked taking pictures. I have albums upon albums of developed images from my childhood through college. I ended up at an art school for college and was able to take a bunch of photography classes where I learned to develop my own film and really explore photography as a craft. Back then, I was really into black and white nudes and exploring ways to highlight the human body. I didn’t start taking a lot of digital photography until I traveled around Europe towards the end of college with my 5MP (laughable now) HP point and shoot. That’s when I started working more with trying to capture moments in a moving environment.

Dan got me started on the sports photography and using an SLR. Even though I had my digital point and shoot, I still turned my nose up at digital photography a bit since you weren’t really physically developing and the connection between photographer and piece… you probably get where I’m going with this. One day Dan just handed me the camera and said go for it, and it was HARD. Shooting people moving rapidly was a nightmare; I was so disappointed with my first shots, but also kind of responding with “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.” I then had the opportunity to shoot regionals upstate and everything just sort of clicked. I had explored the human form in black and white (and staged) and now I was getting to do the same thing but with color and speed and very little control other than to find the best shot/angle/moment.  

Kate: What do you shoot with now?The Preatures

Asta: Canon 7D with a 50mm/1.4 

Kate: What’s your favorite photo that you’ve taken?

Asta: This is kind of always evolving and changing depending on what I’m interested in at the moment. Sometimes it’s patterns, sometimes it’s monumental structures, sometimes it’s broken things I find on the sidewalk. The first thing that comes to mind though is a photo I shot at a show recently for CMJ (music festival) in NYC. I was put on an Aussie Showcase with about seven sets, and one of the bands was The Preatures. The female lead was really intense on stage, but had these great moments on interaction with her bandmates.

Another is an older photo from an exhibition at MoMA years ago. I like the pattern and I remember getting in a lot of trouble from the security guard for sticking my camera “into the piece.”

Kate: What captures your eye over everything else?

Asta: Human connection/touch and lines that form patterns.

Kate: If you had to spend the rest of your life photographing one thing or one type of scene, what would you choose?

Asta: People exploring Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Cemetery or Castelvecchio in Italy. Hands down the most incredible spaces I’ve yet to be in.

Kate: Tell us about your life outside of the gym. Word on the street is that you’re an architecture buff. How do you spend your days beyond barbells and skulls?

Asta: Ghost in the machine at a big global engineering/architecture firm. Well, not really ghost—I just say that because sometimes people don’t understand what architects do.  Which is completely understandable, we are such mysterious creatures (haha). 

I moved from a design-heavy small firm to a technical-minded large firm a couple of years ago and am really enjoying how hands-on my current job is. I get to travel, I get to break open walls and investigate damage, hang off really tall buildings on scaffolds—it’s fun and it’s challenging. I’ll probably go back to design full-time at some point and I still do freelance architectural design on the side to scratch that itch, but for the time being I think it’s important I keep nerding out on the technical side of our built environment to improve my capacity as an architect.

Otherwise, I try and travel as much as I can. Sit on beaches. Eat exciting food. See the stars.

Kate: One of the things I always love about your photos for CFSBK is how they capture bodies in motion so beautifully, and in a way I feel like I haven’t seen before, at least not with “ordinary” people. Talk to me about shooting athletes and people who are sweating all over the place and often not looking their conventionally sexiest. How do you capture CrossFit in your photos? What’s the hardest part about shooting athletes?

Asta: Bad lighting?  😉

I see it this way, bodies are these incredible and beautiful mechanisms, especially in motion when they are experiencing the struggle and elation of performing a really hard task. I’ve had to really let go of expecting people to be in the right spot or making the right face, which is what all my previous work was about. I think that when people are performing and not paying attention or worrying about how they look, that’s when the good photos happen. I mean, I take thousands of photos and parse them heavily to find the shots that work. At the end of the day, you’re telling someone’s story and I want that story to be relatable, to mean something, to mean many different things to many different people. Occasionally there is a creepy moment when someone makes direct eye contact with me through my lens which is my cue that I’m not being mindful. If I’m distracting them, then I’m not catching the really good shots, and they aren’t focused on the task at hand. Photo ninja, it’s a work in progress.  

Kate: What’s your favorite event or day that you shot at SBK?

Asta: Events with multiple gyms involved (Subway Series, games). The shots of people giving it their all with their whole support network yelling it out on the sidelines, the energy in those shots is palpable. Uhm, and anything with a self-service photo booth, since I get to take all the photos home.

Kate: If you had to give a piece of advice to blossoming photographers or people who want to take better photos, what would it be?

Asta: Take a lot of shots, even if you’ve set up the scene/still-life—take a burst of frames. You’ll soon realize that one in 50 will actually be worth going in your “really good” album and that is completely normal, frankly I would consider that a good day. Also keep track of your images, rank them, compile your favorites, see how your own story develops. Last, my personal thing is, I don’t take photos of people where I wouldn’t be okay having my photo taken if roles were reversed. Empathy can be helpful.

Kate: Where can we see more of your work? Can I hire you?

Asta: My photography portfolio is available by request. I take on jobs every now and then (headshots, events, concerts/shows)—if you have something that you want to collaborate on, get in touch! Also I post all the CF photo content on the CFSBK Flickr account, so if you want some photo overload, go poke around there.

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What is your 14.4 strategy?
Happy Birthday, Dan E!

Snatch Analysis video with Pendlay