If you've take a Sunday class recently, you already know that our own Lauren "Snickers" Snisky has joined the coaching staff at CFSBK! While Coach Snickers has been proctoring Saturday Open Gyms since we opened 608, she will now also be working Sunday group classes as well. We're so excited that she'll continue to expand her role at the gym and help our community achieve its fitness goals. Snickers received her Level 1 Certification in January of 2015 and has been at CFSBK since May of the same year. She has also been coaching group classes at CrossFit Union Square since September of this year. Congrats, Coach Lauren!
The Open Is for Everyone
By Josh Schneiderman (Managing Editor, CFSBK Blog)
Originally posted (as a slightly different version) 2.20.16
For a while now, we've been urging you to register for the CrossFit Open—counting down the days, posting promotional videos, and just generally prodding you to get in on the action. Still, you might reasonably ask, "What's in it for me? Why should I sign up to do a bunch of crazy workouts?"
There are a lot of reasons! As we've already explained, as of last year, the Open includes both Rx'd and Scaled divisions, so you don't have to fret if you don't have Muscle-Ups yet. And registering for the Open is good for the whole CFSBK community. As befits our spirit of inclusiveness, we usually have a big team, and we'd love to have an even bigger team this year! Even if you do only one rep for one of the WODs, it won’t bring the team down.
But, to step out of the editorial "we" for a moment, I can only speak to my own experience (hi, this is Josh). I've never really been competitve in the traditional sense. I played high school baseball and rowed in college, but looking back, I did it more for the camaraderie than anything else.
My first Open Workout was 13.3, which was a 12-minute AMRAP consisting of 150 Wall Balls, 90 Double-Unders, and 30 Muscle-Ups. I hadn't registered, because I'd only started attending group class a week or two before 13.1. I had just graduated from Foundations, and I was terrified. I definitely couldn't do Double-Unders, and I'm not sure I even knew what the hell a Muscle-Up was before I came into class that Saturday. Coach Jess led my class, and I remember her saying that most of us woudn't make it to the Muscle-Ups. Hell, I won't even make it past the Wall Balls, I thought.
I did make through the Wall Balls, though, and I picked up the jumprope with a few second to spare. In the grand scheme of things, there's nothing exceptional about this story. But I had proven something to myself that day: I can do this thing that I didn't think I could do.
The Open expresses the fundamentally democratic spirit of CrossFit. It's easy to forget about that when you watch incredible athletes doing incredible things in the Games. The Open Workouts are designed such that anyone can do them, and that's what this whole enterprise is really about. Everyone has a chance to prove something to themselves, and at CFSBK, we're lucky to be able to do that in an environment in which your fellow athletes will cheer you on, whether you're a veteran, a rookie, or somewhere in between. There are just 16 days left to register. If you're thinking about doing it, do it!
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The CrossFit Open: No Excuses Northstate CrossFit
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