Both classes today are at 817 Metropolitan Ave.:
10am Beginners' Walk-in Class
11am WOD class

Saturday 080531

Post time to comments.

For those considering taking either of the two June Elements Workshops, please note that the Mon/Fri Elements only has one slot left and the Wed/Sat Elements has just four slots left. Pre-register to guarantee your space in class by paying with a credit card through MINDBODY Online. If you'd prefer to pay in cash or by check, email me at allison AT crossfitnyc DOT com and I can arrange for you to come pre-register in person.

Chillin' at the Cardboard Box: Erica, Boy Sam, Girl Sam, Coach Court, Martin, Dex.

CORRECTION: I had listed the Saturday class of the Wed/Sat Workshop as 9am-10am by accident. It should have stated noon-1pm, as it now states below.

Click through to sign up for whichever Elements Workshop best fits your schedule:

Joshua Newman, Wed/Sat Elements Workshop (Wednesdays, 8-9pm; Saturdays, noon-1pm). Begins this Wednesday, June 4th.

Court Wing, Mon/Fri Elements Workshop (Mondays & Fridays, 8-9pm). Begins this Friday, June 6th.

Please note that both Elements Workshops will take place in our new temporary Manhattan space located at 39 W. 38th St. (between 5th & 6th Avenues).

If you have a question for the instructor of the workshop, please email him directly: Josh@crossfitnyc.com (Wed/Sat classes), Court@crossfitnyc.com (Mon/Fri classes). If you have a general question about the Elements program, please email me at Allison@crossfitnyc.com.

Don't forget that it's also possible to do Elements Workshop one on one with a trainer if your schedule doesn't permit you to do either of these classes. For more information on scheduling one-on-one Elements training, please email me at Allison@crossfitnyc.com.

I was just thinking the other day that we were due for a Total. And here it is.

Friday 080530

Compare to 080127.

Andrew muscles it up


Jeff does his best Incredible Hulk impersonation

Inside voice, please, even at the gym
Am I a food elitist? Are you?
Primal blueprint for both men and women?
"I think if people's lives were a little more exciting they wouldn't need to eat so much to get some joy out of their day."
Exercise didn't keep us from getting fat

TODAY'S CLASS SCHEDULE at 817 Metropolitan Ave.
12:30pm WOD class
6pm WOD class
7pm WOD class

Posted by Hari Singh

Manhattan Location

On Monday, June 2, we will open our temporary location in Manhattan at 39 West 38th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues). We have given a great deal of thought on how to best use this space, and we are hopeful that you will like what we have come up with. Our top priority will be meeting the needs of our existing members.

Workout of the Day (WOD) classes will be Monday through Friday at 7:00 AM, 12:30 PM, 6:00 PM, and 7:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 AM. As both 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM weeknight classes are WOD classes, this effectively doubles the number of evening WOD time slots.

The two June Elements Workshops will be Monday and Friday at 8:00 PM, beginning Friday, June 6 (Dates: June 6, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30); OR Wednesday at 8:00 PM and Saturday at Noon, beginning Wednesday, June 4 (Dates: June 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 28). Please note that classes are NOT mix-and-match. You can only attend Mondays & Fridays OR Wednesdays & Saturdays. Any missed classwork has to be made up before the next class meets. Sign-up links for these classes will be posted in the next day or two. As we already have a waiting list, please sign up quickly if you'd like to secure a slot.

Beginner's Walk-In Classes, which are FREE, will be Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 AM. There will no longer be a free beginners' walk-in class on Wednesday nights.

"Open Gym" hours will be Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM. Open Gym Hours will be for experienced members with instructor's permission, and for members who have been to Level l Certifications. Less experienced members who wish to make up a non-technical WOD (e.g., "Cindy") should check with the instructor.

To make the most of the space, we ask that members not leave any personal belongings behind, that they register for each class in advance online, and that they arrive on time. We will try to run WOD classes as real classes--starting on the hour and ending at 50 to 55 minutes past the hour, with a warmup, skill practice, WOD and cool-down.

Brooklyn Location

For a business, cash is oxygen--deprived of it, permanent damage or death follows quickly. For the month of May, Black Box has been holding its breath.

It had been our hope to transfer directly from our old location to our new location, but as you know, that didn't work as well as originally planned, so we set up an emergency location in Brooklyn. We like Brooklyn. Many of you like it, too. We want to nurture and grow the Brooklyn location, but our resources are currently limited. We have to choose.

To carry the oxygen analogy one step further, consider the instructions we receive when we fly: If the oxygen masks fall, put one on yourself first before helping others--even your own children. Though the thought is painful, the reasoning is sound. If you can't breathe, you can't help anyone else.

During May, no cash came into the Black Box, but plenty flowed out. We had to move, rent the Brooklyn location, pay a security deposit plus rent on the temporary location, order new equipment, etc. As of today, we need to decide whether we are going to get a Manhattan location up and running correctly, or whether we are going to get both a Manhattan and Brooklyn location running half way. After much discussion, we have decided on the former. While we remain committed to Brooklyn, we remain more committed to surviving and thriving.

As of Monday, June 2, there will be no classes in Brooklyn. We intend to continue to pay rent on the Brooklyn location and to ready it for a proper reopening in the future. While we're targeting this summer or fall for a full-scale re-opening, we're also more than happy to run additional evening classes in Brooklyn sooner, to keep up with demand. We will also continue to share our plans and solicit your thoughts in these Rest Day posts. We're in this business to serve the needs of our members. We hear your interest in Brooklyn, and we're working on it.

How to get a rise from the congregation
How to prepare lentils to get the most nutrition out of them
How to improve your thoracic mobility
Because, frankly, your deadlift could use some improvement

TODAY'S CLASS SCHEDULE
12:30pm WOD class
6pm WOD class
7pm WOD class
(workout to be determined by the individual instructors)

Also, HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY to Mr. Rest-Day Discussion himself, HARI! How many other 50 year olds that you know can do a muscle up?

Wednesday 080528

Post loads to comments.

While teaching last night's class, a few people mentioned a little confusion over the schedule, so I've decided to start posting it in the blog postings, at least until the current situation is more settled (which will be soon enough, thankfully).

Today's schedule (all at 817 Metropolitan Ave.):
No morning class (7am classes resume this coming Monday, June 2nd)
12:30pm: WOD class
6pm: free beginners' class
7pm: WOD class

Tagg, mid-"Nancy"

What would Tyler Durden do?
Mind control by cell phone
Bruce Lee, The Musical?
Mobility training's role in musculoskeletal health
Lotus therapy

If you haven't already, be sure to read and comment on Hari's Rest Day Discussion # 2.

Tuesday 080527

The clock runs continuously for the ten minutes after the run.

The hidden benefits of the avocado
Thumbless RT lifting--video
Jon Gilson on Dedication
Amazing photoset of Chinese O-lifters
How and why to make your own homemade nut bars
Scientist discovers that only pills can control hypertension

Photo roundup, all-carnage edition:

Abby, one of our newest crossfitters

Rachel (another newbie), Erica (who doesn't even look tired), and Sam

Martin may be tired, but that doesn't mean he can't still give us his best Playgirl pose...awwww yeah!

Tom takes it outside post-WOD, as he feels Pukie knocking at the door. (Luckily, he didn't actually end up getting sick.)

Even if you've already read yesterday's post, Rest Day Discussion #2, please re-read it. I have posted a revised version of what Hari wrote that includes some very important questions that we need answers to from our members. Leave comments and/or email Hari with any questions/concerns you have. Thanks.

Monday 080526
"Jason"

Compare to 070802.

NOTE: Just in case anyone's wondering if the schedule's different today because it's a holiday, I wanted to mention that I'm teaching the 12:30 class and Court's got 6 and 7pm covered tonight.

In favor of cooking with tropical oils
"I don't want to become big and bulky. I put on muscle easily."
This is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain, and a 100% reason to remember the name!
Why you shouldn't eat breakfast

IMPORTANT: Please note this is the revised version of Hari's comments--please re-read and comment, thanks.

Posted by Hari Singh

Rest Day Update

Manhattan

Black Box Manhattan is scheduled to reopen on Monday, June 2 at our temporary location, 39 West 38 Street, just around the corner from our old Box (past the Cuban Restaurant that marked the half-way point on our 400 meter runs).

We expect to be at this location from June 2 until we move into our permanent Manhattan space. We hope to have a full normal schedule (including Element Courses) in place starting on June 2. Details to follow by the next Rest Day.

The space may get a bit crowded, and we are studying ways of alleviating that problem. We realize that people might be able to get in and out faster if we had more key pieces of equipment. We are doing everything we can make this work as smoothly as possible for all of our members.

We would like to know from our members whether they place a high value on our keeping the Brooklyn location operational once the temporary Manhattan space is up and running. If there is not much demand from our current members, we may at least temporarily suspend classes in Brooklyn once we get reopened in Manhattan.

We would also like to know whether Open Hours in Manhattan, from say, 8:00 to 10:00 weekday evenings would be of interest to experienced members. Please respond in the comments.

Brooklyn

Effective tomorrow, Memorial Day, there will be no 7:00 weekday morning classes in Brooklyn. Morning classes will resume in Manhattan on June 2.

For the week of May 26 through June 1, the rest of the Brooklyn schedule will remain unchanged. Beginning June 2 and until further notice, there will be no weekday afternoon or weekend classes in Brooklyn. If there is not sufficient demand for evening classes as reflected in the comments, we may temporarily suspend all classes in Brooklyn.

Shortly after posting my previous Rest Day rant regarding Con Edison, an executive from the utility contacted me and pointed out that our problems might not be the fault of the utility. I feel obligated to report that the willingness of top people at Con Edison to get involved rebuts some and perhaps all of my criticism of the utility. By the next Rest Day, we should have a clear explanation for what is going on with the electric.

Given our lovely weather, our regularly scheduled free beginners' class at 10am will indeed be occurring in Central Park at the Ross Pinetum Playground. Josh will be there to dole out the torture.

At 11am, two regular Workout of the Day classes will be happening, one with Josh in the Pinetum and the other with Court in our temporary space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 817 Metropolitan Ave. (L train to Graham Ave.; L train is running normally this weekend--w0ot!).

Our bad-ass graffitied door to the Brooklyn space


Post lunchtime workout

Raw meat. RAWR.
Avoiding food may beat jet lag
Pamela MacElree on "being enough"
NYT on rowing technique
Fruit smoothies rot your teeth

Saturday 080524

Post time to comments.

Friday 080523

Post time to comments.

Truth in the adage "Starve a fever"?
Stop paying rent...to your fat
Homemade clubbell--video
SFCF on universal recruitment patterns
Weight loss and faulty thinking

Happy birthday to a certain Mr. "Jack Bauer"

A little birdy told me that our very own Brian D. has his very last track meet this Saturday, May 24th. Here's the deets: the CHSAA City Champs at Icahn Stadium, Randall's Island. His first race starts at 9am (the 4x400m relay) and his second race is at 10:30am (400m). Good luck, Brian!

Thursday 080522

Post Deadlift loads and number of Handstand push-ups to comments.

A complete how-to: Bailing
Prosciutto therapy; Or, how to make one's own apartment-style dry cured ham
How to shop a farmers' market
Visualizing success
Mistressing the pullup

Jeff runs back to the Box for another round of "Michael"

Posted By Hari Singh

For the next few months, we'll be using the official Rest Days on the site to bring everyone up to date on what is happening at each and every Black Box location around the globe. (That would be one in Brooklyn and two that do not yet exist in Manhattan.)

Future Permanent Manhattan Location
As you probably know, a month or so back, we found what we expect will be our new permanent home in Manhattan. We have negotiated an acceptable lease and are ready to renovate the space, but there is a problem: the space used to be a "massage" parlor, the kind used by "clients" similar to but more frugal than our former governor.

After the NYPD shut the place down, the City decided to take a very by-the-book approach regarding how the space is used going forward. This means we are getting tremendous grief and are being forced to apply for a modification to the Certificate of Occupancy - a 'Physical Culture Establishment' permit - that is otherwise rarely actually required.

We were not made to go through this time-consuming process at the former Manhattan location, or in Brooklyn, and there's no way we could have anticipated this hassle, but we're doing our best to navigate our way through it. We're currently working with zoning lawyers to acquire the permit, and it appears the question isn't if we can get one, but when. Depending on who's estimating, the process should take somewhere between one and six months.

The longer end of that is unacceptable to you and to us, so we have now formulated an interim plan.

Future Temporary Manhattan Location

Our new landlord very much wants to close the deal with us. As a show of good faith, he is offering us a temporary ground-floor retail space right around the corner from our old location, at 39 W 38th St. The space is not as large as the one slated to be our permanent location and even with a discount, it costs more than we want to spend. But we think we can get it up and running by the start of June. (Yes, it has water and electricity.)

We are now waiting on a draft of the temporary lease from their lawyers, and with any luck we will be able to come to sign and get the keys within the week. We are trying to figure out what equipment to move from Brooklyn, what new equipment to buy or lease, and how best to get the space online fast.

But, in short, by early June, we should again have regular classes with real equipment in a ground floor, dropping-friendly Manhattan space.

Brooklyn Location

At the same time, we also intend to maintain the Brooklyn location. We are currently in a special ring of hell with Con Edison, a place reserved for locations that dare to turn off their electric for several years and then ask for it back. Let's just say that there is an entire bureaucracy at Con Edison staffed with people who hate the people who don't have electricity. It's a novel approach--hating potential customers--but it something that monopolies get to do.

In the mean time, we think we can provide sufficient lighting using battery-powered lamps, plus the abundant light from the street. And now, the plumbing works.

Once the Temporary Manhattan location is on line, we will eliminate the morning and afternoon classes in Brooklyn, and run only evening classes there. This will relieve some of the overcrowding that might otherwise occur, if we tried to move everyone into the temporary Manhattan space. We may run our June Elements Classes in Brooklyn, Manhattan, or both. We need to gauge the demand.

Summary

The Black Box is important to us, and we know it's important to you, our members. The amount of work right now is a bit overwhelming. We are meeting three times per week, trying to work through all the details. Please be patient a bit longer. We promise it will be worth it.

If you have questions, comments, encouragement, or complaints, feel free to post.

Tuesday 080520

Post time to comments.

And in other news, please note that the bathroom is fully functional now!

Ironmaven on 2008 USA weightlifting Olympic tryouts
Escape from vegan island
Using exercise to balance the nervous system
US fructose consumption trends
From Atari Joyboard to Wii Fit: 25 years of "exergaming"
How does your culture move?
You've heard of burpees. Now try crunchees.

Slamball in silhouette

Monday 080519

Post time to comments.

Monday morning links, Noo Yawk-style:
New York bicycle commuters face an uphill climb
Dressed for a meeting, ready for mayhem
Why do New Yorkers seem rude?
...Plus something from Dr. Z-Health himself, Dr. Cobb

CAPTION CONTEST!
What are Coach Court and Jeff discussing?

Sunday 080518

Post rounds completed to comments.

"Who cares if I look stupid?"
"Obese people make corporations happy"
The rise of bodysnarking

Many of you may have heard rumblings about this, but as of yesterday, it's official: Coach Keith Wittenstein (aka "Tyler Durden") is departing the Black Box and starting his own CrossFit affiliate, CrossFit Virtuosity.

Keith has sold his shares in CrossFit NYC to Hari Singh, in a deal that has been approved by the other three owners (Court, Mike, and me). Most of you know Hari. He is an avid CrossFitter and will bring his years of business experience to nurturing and growing the Black Box.

While Court, Hari, Mike and I are sad to see Keith go, we wish him the absolute best. Those of you who have been members for any length of time know what a critical role Keith has played in creating the Black Box, and we have no doubt that CrossFit Virtuosity will be a great success.

Fortunately, this was a completely amicable departure, so you can still expect to see Keith around the Box, us around Virtuosity, and future events that include both organizations.

You can contact Keith at crossfitvirtuosity@gmail.com.

You can contact Hari at hari@crossfitnyc.com.

Saturday 080517

Josh will be determining today's WOD for the 11am class since it's a rest day on the main site. In addition, he will be teaching the 10am free beginners' class at the Cardboard Box (and NOT at Ross Pinetum Playground in Central Park) because of the bad weather.

How to eat seafood ethically
San Fran CrossFit on why it's important to develop mad skillz
A chain that pigs would die for
Time magazine on the raw milk controversy

Friday 080516

Compare to 080418.

This will be our first WOD at the Cardboard Box that involves running where we can just step outside and run--no 4 flights of stairs to go down and then back up again. Should be awesome.

"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

OR

"Mary"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups

Post your choice of girls and rounds completed to comments.

Compare to 080305.

Stay tuned over the next few days for news about Elements sign-ups, the return of the Manhattan Box, and other assorted goodness.

Yesterday's lunchtime crew, post-WOD, left to right: Tagg, Jon, Bin (visiting from Charlottesville), Brian G.


Post WOD, Bin took advantage of getting to drop weight. He does CF at his college gym with some friends, and is used to having to do o-lifting with metal plates and a no-drop policy.

Wednesday 080514

Compare to 080410.

A view of the Cardboard Box from across the street

Brendan gets his muscleup on

The astute amongst you may noted that our site has a brand new, considerably chicer look.

All thanks go to Samantha "Girl Sam" "Good Sam" Orme, who rescued us from my prior two muddled-together iterations. Sam, you rock.

Post to comments your thanks to her, and links to photos you think deserve a place in the header bar rotation.

While we're giving thanks, let's also thank...

The local firemen who helped remove a jammed lock on our rollup door

Court, Erica, Hari, Juan, and Moon--the re-assemblers of our beloved pullup bar

All of our members who have paid us a visit, despite the lack of amenities and/or necessities

As per the usual, our CrossFit instructors will be choosing the workout for you since it's a rest day on the main site. So come on out to 817 Metropolitan and get some!

What's that spell? C-R-O-S-S-F-I-T-N-Y-C!

The tiles never stood a chance

The last WOD ever at the Box, Version 1.0: Brendan and George do 50 burpees for time on the day of the move

Monday 080512

30 Muscle-ups for time

Post time to comments.

If you cannot do the muscle-ups do 120 pull-ups and 120 dips.

Ah plans...we make plans and the Universe the laughs.
Currently, we are awaiting approval from ConEd to get the electricity going, but we are expecting it to go on within the next couple of days; very frustrating but we remain hopeful. Plumber is supposed to come tomorrow to get bathroom up and running. The landlord is removing the equipment that was still stored there.
Josh is planning to lead our "Park WOD" tonight at 6pm at Ross Pinetum in Central Park
, come rain or shine. Thanks to everyone that has come out to Brooklyn to Get Some! Open Hours haven't been implemented yet due to electricity issues (jeez!) and instructor scheduling but will be implemented ASAP.

So we've decided to opt against a park workout for tomorrow (Saturday, May 10) because of the rain and cold.

Tomorrow we'll be having our free Beginner class at 10am and our regular workout of the day class at 11am. Josh will be teaching both.

(Please note, we're still waiting on electricity and water for the gym, so do consider yourself warned. We'll be sure to let everyone know when each of those is up and running in case you're waiting for those amenities before coming by for a workout.)

And you thought we were going out of business.

Tomorrow, we'll be moving into our temporary space (the 'Cardboard Box'?), a concrete floored (drop from overhead to your heart's to content), roll-doored garage at 817 Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn, a block from the Graham St. stop on the L Train.

Move In: Thursday May 8th

12:00pm-6:00pm: Truck Unpacking. If you're free, swing by 817 Metropolitan and help us unload.
6:00pm & 7:00pm: "Brooklyn Gone Bad", our inaugural workout, featuring everything we couldn't do in our prior space.

Full Schedule in Brooklyn: Friday, May 9th, and Onward

That's right. As of Friday, we'll be holding WOD classes at 817 Metropolitan at 7am, 12:30pm, 6:00pm and 7:00pm (plus, shortly, open gym from 8:00-10:00pm) every weekday, plus Saturday at 11:00am and Sunday at 10:30am.

Come on down.

Central Park Workouts

It turns out our Brooklyn space isn't nearly as much of a pain in the ass to get to as I would have thought. (And I have a long-standing record of referring to Brooklyn as 'Manhattan's waiting room'.)

Still, it's probably further than some of you lazy bastards are willing to go. So, in the short term, we'll be holding classes in Ross Pinetum in Central Park, Monday evenings at 6:00pm and 7:00pm, Wednesday evenings at 6:00pm and 7:00pm, and Saturday morning at 11:00am.

And, to re-clarify, these are on top of the classes in Brooklyn.

For Beginners

Beginner's classes are on: Wednesday at 6:00pm in Brooklyn, and Saturday 10:00am in Central Park. Both are free, and open to anyone who wants to stop by.

As soon as we're settled in, we'll also be kicking back off our Elements classes - Monday and Friday evenings, and Sunday mornings, in Brooklyn. If you're interested, and not already on the waiting list, shoot us an email.

And, Finally

We're still pushing ahead full speed on our Manhattan space, shooting for move-in late this month.

At the same time, if enough of you guys like it, we're also considering keeping the Brooklyn space longer-term, as a foothold in northern Brooklyn, and a first step towards world domination.

As ever, let us know if we can answer any questions, and see you at the Box.

Good news: wrecking apparently begins Thursday in our permanent space.

Bad news: still no keys for our LIC temp space. And, even stranger (though not necessarily worse), it appears we may be temping at another space owned by the same landlord in Williamsburg.

I'm being told we're getting those keys tomorrow, though by now I have as little a clue as any of you. Please direct any wrath about the delay at me, and check back in for any and all news as it emerges.

josh

View Larger Map

Hey, kids. Just got an update from Josh that he's expecting to get a hand-off of keys to the new, temporary space in LIC at 5pm. So it looks like the soonest we could possibly have classes would be tomorrow (Tuesday, May 6th) in the evening. Hopefully sooner, possibly later, but most likely in about 24 hours from now. Unloading of the equipment will go extremely quickly as it's just a matter of backing up the moving van into the space (which is ground floor and has a garage door) and pulling stuff out. We won't wait to have all equipment set up before we start teaching classes. We want to get things up and running ASAP, so we'd do some sort of modified WOD if need be until assemblage of the pullup bar, etc, can be done.

P.S.: We want to resume our regular schedule of free beginners' classes (Wednesdays at 6pm, Saturdays at 10am) as well as Elements Workshops, so please keep your eyes here on the blog for info on both of those things. Once the LIC version of the Box is open, we'll definitely resume free beginners' classes. Scheduling Elements may be a bit more complicated but do check here periodically for info and/or email me at allison AT crossfitnyc DOT com if you want to be added to the email list for info about Elements. Danke shein.

Doug, Katie, Audrey, Moon, Sarena, Paul S., Hari, Alex, Brian, George, Tom M., Brendan, Justin, Leslie, Josh R., and Gavin--thanks for helping the move go so well.

Mike, Josh, and I could not have done it without your hard work, patience, and strength. It sure was nice to put all that training we've done over the past year to a good purpose.

Tomorrow we will be setting up at our temporary Long Island City location which is just 2 blocks from the Vernon-Jackson station (the first stop the 7 makes in Queens, just 3 minutes via subway from Grand Central). So no classes tomorrow and check here on the blog for updates. I haven't been able to extract the exact address yet from Josh (details, details) but as soon as I do I'll make sure it gets posted here or in the comments.

Thanks to all of our members for your patience and good will through this challenging time. We appreciate your support!

Some LIC Links:
Wikipedia on Long Island City
New York magazine on LIC & Astoria
The Long Island City cultural alliance
New York Times on LIC
Gantry State Park (a block away from the gym)
P.S. 1 MoMA

Tomorrow, Sunday, May 3rd, we'll be moving our stuff into a moving van starting at 10am. Please do come down and help, even if you can only stay for a bit and even if you can't get there at 10am. There's a lot of heavy stuff that needs to go down 4 flights of stairs and the more hands to help, the easier it'll be.

We'll be doing the pizza and beer and eternal gratitude thing again, and I just wanted to thank those who made it out today (from memory, although I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody): Moon, Sam F., Erica, Leslie, Justin, Dan R. (photographing for posterity), Dan Def, Brian D., Ewen, Hari, Marisela, Audrey, Jonathan R., Martin, Jacinto, Coach P, and Rick Deckard. Keith was there in spirit, texting me to make sure all the "knuckleheads" could handle the packing job. Well we did a great job packing but obviously moving stuff takes a bit more effort, but seeing as we're all big and strong because of CrossFit, what better way to honor that than by lifting heavy shit and moving it, for time?

See you tomorrow!

P.S.: In other good news, it seems we've got a new temporary location for the month of May out in Long Island City, Queens. Before you freak out and tell me how far away that is, let me assure you how quick and easy it is to get to. LIC is the very first stop on the 7 train in Queens, putting it a mere 3 minutes away from Grand Central Station. You can catch the 7 train at Times Square, 5th Ave & 42nd St., and Grand Central. Josh has been working on this and hasn't given me the address yet but I do know it's just 2 blocks from the Vernon-Jackson subway station, which is the first stop in Queens. As soon as I know more I'll post more. CLASSES ARE CANCELLED FOR MONDAY MAY 4th because we'll be moving our stuff in on Monday (we can't move it in tomorrow) but hopefully classes should be up and running on Tuesday. Keep your eyes on the blog for more info. Also, all those interested in taking Elements Workshops, we're going to try to get those scheduled ASAP, so keep checking here for more info and if you're not already on the email list for Elements info and want to be, email me at allison AT crossfitnyc DOT com.

Saturday 080503

Compare to 080408.

10am is the last free beginners' class at the Black Box 1.0.
11am is the last WOD class, Version 1.0.
Noon is time to pack up for the move.
Sunday move time is 10am.

All-

The moving process seems to be going about as smoothly as we anticipated, which is to say, it's a total mess.

We're still waiting on a change to the Certificate of Occupancy for our new space (with a special permit to be a 'Physical Culture Establishment') so we can move our stuff in and start knocking down walls. As odds are good that won't happen today, our Sunday move will be to put our stuff into temporary storage for a couple of weeks. We still need your help, so join us at the Box starting at 10:00am on Sunday.

After that, we're still scrambling for temporary space for workouts starting on Monday, so very worst case scenario will be a few days of working out in the park before we lock down an indoor temporary spot.

And, following that, we're still gunning for a mid- or late-month move into the new, large, permanent space at 30 W 37th. Hopefully, 5000 square feet of our very own will make the couple weeks of mess worthwhile.

Apologies to all, thanks for your patience, and if we can answer any questions in the meantime, certainly let us know.

josh

Friday 080502

Compare to 071012.

To add to the ongoing thread regarding torso position on squats:
My argument is that Olympic weightlifters and everybody else who squats to get as much muscle as strong as possible should use the low-bar position to do it most effectively. It affects more muscle mass, it allows the lifting of heavier weights, and it therefore gets us stronger. And stronger is why we squat. Strength is a general characteristic, one that is trained as opposed to a specific skill that is practiced. Therefore strength can and should be developed in as general a way as possible, because greater strength can be better produced by as many muscles working together as possible. Skill practice and development takes that strength and applies it through the specific motor pathways used in the skill. The lowbar back squat is a perfect example of a way to develop general strength, through training, which can then be applied to a specific skill like a squat clean, through practice. If we rely only on the clean itself and the front squat to develop strength for the clean, we lose the opportunity to develop greater strength with an exercise more capable of allowing more of our bodies to lift more weight and thus become more strong more generally. The front squat is specific to Olympic weightlifting; the low-bar back squat produces posterior chain development and greater strength. Choosing to squat with a high-bar position is choosing to train less rather than more muscle mass.
--Mark Rippetoe, Low-Bar vs. High-Bar Squats, CF Journal May '08

All onboard the pullup train

Thursday 080501

Rest day on the main site. Come down for one of the last days of Black Box Version 1.0 to find out what's cooking.

Remember:
We're planning to have a breakdown party on Saturday afternoon, May 3rd after the WOD. Come help us pack all of our stuff up and get it ready for moving on Sunday.

Details of the Sunday, May 4th move will be posted here on the site as soon as we know more.

And most importantly: PLEASE REMOVE YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS (BY FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE LATEST) FROM THE BOX OR THEY WILL BE THROWN AWAY.

Mr. Durden at the Black Box before we spent a year's worth of blood, sweat, tears, and scuff marks there

Sprinting technique drills from our very own Brian D.
Obama? More like Air Bama!
Is estrogen testosterone for women?
Why your elbows must be in front of the bar on the overhead press
A too-good-to-be-true nutrient?