A brief interview with Yasmen…

1. Where are you from originally?
   • Bombay India
2. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
   • Teach Pilates for over 20 years as well as mobility and Yoga Tune up.
3. What is something most people don’t know about you?
   • I had a crush on Donny Osmond
4. How did you get started doing Crossfit
   • Cycling on Chrissy Field and saw someone doing wall balls in the open air of a full squat to press.  It was so juicy I had to try it.
5. What inspired you to become (a coach/a member/an intern)?
   • I absolutely did not want to teach CF even after talking Level 1 Cert.  What changed was when Roop was teaching in India, they asked me to fill in for him after he left.  I had such a great time doing it I knew I had to pursue it.  It put a fire underneath me.
6. What is your best advice for first time Crossfitters?
   • Don’t let it overpower you (intimidate you).  Keep at it and you will absolutely love it. Don’t worry about what other people are doing.. Just focus on you and your workout.
7. What workout do you hate the most?
   • The Olympic lifts are the most challenging.
8. What weakness are you working on now?
   • Chest to bar pull-ups
9. What types of connections would you like to make through Crossfit?
   • As a teacher – on a very human level to inspire others to be their best.  Bringing to life the beauty of human movement.  To want people to enjoy being strong and flexible
   • Personally – A ton of friends that I hold dear to my heart.
10. Is there anything you want other members to know about you that I am forgetting to ask?
    • I compete as a Masters Woman’s Division Speed Skater.
    • I volunteer for Maitri – an aids hospice once a week for the last 8 years

Halloween 2013

Make sure to introduce yourself to Yasmen around the gym!

Max Conserva has been a member with San Francisco CrossFit since 2011. In the new year of 2014, he sent us a beautiful letter of gratitude. Here Max tells us about how he started CrossFit and how SFCF has changed his perspective on what is physically possible for him. In return, San Francisco CrossFit would like to extend much gratitude to Max, not only for being an awesome member of our community, but for sharing his story with us. You can read more about Max’s story and all the projects he is working at GoodLeg.org. If you know anyone who may be interested in Max’s case please pass this information along.

December 31, 2013

Kelly & Juliet,

Happy New Years to you both. I have been remiss up to this point for not taking the time to tell you how large of an impact you have had on my life. With a new year upon us I thought that it would be a great opportunity to do so. I am sure you get these types of emails frequently, so at the risk of boring you, I’ll focus on the special facets of my particular case in the hopes of paying you an original complement.

To put it as simply as I can, I came to San Francisco Crossfit as an individual with a tactically managed disability and came out the other side as, for the first time in my life, an athlete. It contributed to a complete change in perspective on how I viewed my disability as it relates to my life and most unexpectedly my interaction with others. Over the months and years that I’ve participated, crossfit routinely exposed my physical and mental compensations. At SFCF there was no place or time to hide from them. Never in my life had my vulnerabilities been on display to so many.

Up to this point in my life I had become an adept controller of my environment. The activity I was willing to take part in was solitary and narrow. Nothing outside of my comfort zone. I took every measure to conceal my disability. I didn’t wear shorts. I didn’t swim. I didn’t run. I didn’t hike. I didn’t engage in any activity that would expose my limitations to others and on a subconscious level to myself. SFCF was the catalyst to becoming aware of how confining, self defeating and exhausting this parade had been. Kelly, I credit your skill as a PT and coach for convincing my rational mind that your perspective on fitness would be beneficial for even my compromised state. Combined with the culture you both developed, for the first time I let my guard down. The results became apparent immediately.

Crossfit begin to slowly chip away at what I thought I knew to be possible. Almost every movement on the programming I had never attempted in my life. Somethings came easier, pressing, gymnastic bar work, etc. Slowly things I though to be impossible begin to come as well. I went from hardly being able to air squat to box squatting close to 300 pounds. I went from not running, ever, I mean not at all, to running to the dock and back. Then twice, then 4 times in a workout. Then a mile. I begin to run on my own. After 6 months, I ran a 10k. I went from avoiding long distance walks to hiking a 16,000ft mountain.

Up to this point I haven’t even mentioned the specific physical knowledge which has been imparted on me. While this is obvious for anyone that is involved in crossfit, I want to make sure that you fully appreciate what it means to someone living with a life long condition. Dealing with a disability for 20 years is physical compensation writ large. I had no normal movement patterns and I had no idea. The knowledge I have acquired has influenced not only my physical activity, but how I move on a daily basis and has guided the design of my latest orthotic gear. It will be a tool that I use for the rest of my life.

I could go on about how all of the technical knowledge is utilized for my specific dilemma but I don’t want to dilute the main point. I didn’t realize at the time and it has taken a while to come to terms with it but the sobering truth is, I came into San Francisco Crossfit ashamed of my disability and I came out proud.

Your friend always,

Max

Mental Toughness and the Crossfit Games Open with Coach Stevo

The Games Season is almost upon us.  We will be hosting an Informational Meeting Thursday, February 6th at 8pm. The meeting is geared towards those who have never participated before. If you were in the Open last year, the event will function the same.  The way the Open will work at SFCF:  We will host the Open WOD every Saturday evening through the Open Season from 4-6 p.m.   This is a really fun, competitive, and supportive event and we have a potluck during/after.  We will have the SFCF staff on hand to judge and cost to participate is $10/WOD or $50 for the whole Open Season.  If you want to try out the Open Workouts but don’t care to do it in a formal judged environment, we will be programming the Open WODs as the Saturday Morning Level 1 classes.   If you want to participate in the Saturday evening Group WODs, you will need to:

 1.  Register for the Open starting on January 15th.   We will circulate the registration link once it is posted.   The cost to register for the Open through Crossfit last year was $20. Expect a similar charge this year.

2.  Email Lara to sign up to participate in the Saturday night WODs – [email protected]

You can read more about the upcoming Open Season HERE.

This weekend, on Saturday, July 6th, 2013 from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.,  San Francisco CrossFit will be participating in the CrossFit for Hope WOD. CrossFit for Hope is a non-profit organization that funds research for terminal children’s illnesses.

This year, San Francisco CrossFit’s goal is to raise $1000 for the organization.  Please help us reach our gym goal!  There is a $10 minimum donation to participate.

To participate:

1.   Register on the Crossfit for Hope website – you can use the same login information you used for the Crossfit Games Open.
2.   Sign in for the class on MindBody
3.  Bring a minimum of $10 donation to participate – cash or checks are fine.   100% of your donations will go directly to Crossfit for Hope.

The Workout:

“Hope for Cures” WOD

THREE ROUNDS OF:
BURPEES
75 POUND POWER SNATCH
BOX JUMP, 24″ BOX
75 POUND THRUSTER
CHEST TO BAR PULL-UPS

“Hope” has the same format as Fight Gone Bad. In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for a good score. One point is given for each rep.

Regular Class Schedule:
SFCF will be having our regular level 1 class at 830am.  The 930 and 1030am classes will be designated for Hope WODing fun.

The Crossfit Open and Mental Toughness Since childhood, athletics have been a strong presence in my life. I did gymnastics till age twelve, experimented with water polo, swimming, cross country and track and field in high school and spent my college years as a pole vaulter and thrower on my Division III track and field team. I’ve always enjoyed sports, but excelled at strength and conditioning. So after college, when I stumbled upon Crossfit, the “sport of fitness,” I knew it’d be right up my alley.

In the most concise terms Crossfit is “constantly varied, high-­‐intensity, functional movement.” In a typical Crossfit workout, or WOD, you will see any combination of Olympic weightlifting, power lifting, bodyweight exercises, kettlebell work, basic gymnastic skills, running, rowing or jump roping. When you walk into a Crossfit gym, or box, as we like to call them, you won’t see any machines. Barbells, dumbbells, ropes, kettlebells, chalk buckets and pull-­‐up rigs dominate the scenery. Intimidating to the newcomers eye, it’s a seasoned crossfitter’s playground.

This year was my second time competing in the worldwide Crossfit Open. The Crossfit Open lasts for five weeks. At 5pm every Wednesday one workout is released. Registered athletes must attempt the workout, and have it judged, scored and validated by a Crossfit coach before Sunday at 5pm. Come Sunday evening, you can go online and check your rank in your respective region or in the entire world, if you dare. This year over 120,000 athletes living in 118 countries took on the challenge. The newbies compete with the veterans, the beginners compete with the elite, all in the same five events; it is a truly unique opportunity.

The Open for most is a humbling experience. When you are competing against thousands and thousands of other participants, you are bound to be better than some, but you may get a shake to your ego when you realize that hundreds or even thousands are better than you! The Open is an opportunity to challenge yourself and push your limits, to compete amongst a supportive community, and to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. The majority competes in the Open for fun, but for those competitors wishing to make it to the individual competition at Regionals in May, it’s a fight for the top 48 in each region.

As one of those crazy crossfitters trying to qualify for Regionals, my feelings surrounding the Open covered the broad emotional spectrum. The grand revealing of each workout every Wednesday evening brought with it a plethora of mixed emotions: the relief of knowing, excitement, at times disappointment, and undoubtedly the fear of the pain and suffering I knew was to come. I was physically prepared for the workouts of the Open, but the mental game was a whole different beast.

Every Friday evening during the Open, my San Francisco Crossfit community would gather for a night of friendly competition to take on that week’s daunting workout, followed by plenty of food and drinks. Whenever you have a group of people so dedicated and excited about something, a strong community is bound to blossom from it, and that is definitely the case with Crossfit. On these Friday evenings, my stomach twisted in knots, I always felt some relief in the fact that we would all suffer together. When you cheered your fellow teammates on, you knew how they were feeling… there was empathy… and I think that’s why the camaraderie and support always felt so strong and genuine. And if my teammates weren’t enough motivation, I always looked forward to my “post-­‐workout recovery drink” of beer or wine, and later I’d top it off with some delicious burgers and milkshakes with my boyfriend.

I can’t tell you how many times in my relatively short Crossfit career I have questioned why I enjoy doing Crossfit. It is a love-­‐hate relationship at its finest. No matter how much I mentally prepare myself beforehand, there comes a point in every difficult workout when a flood of negative thoughts and emotions infiltrate my mind: ” I hate this,” “I can’t do this,” “Why did I ever think this was a good idea?,” “I can just stop now and all the pain will go away.” It feels like it takes the will of every molecule in my body to disregard those negative thoughts and keep pushing until the bitter end. But one Open workout in particular reminded me of why I continue to push myself. The workout was a repeat from the previous years Open. It had a 12-­‐minute time cap, with the goal to get through as many reps as possible of the following: 150 wallballs, 90 double unders and 30 muscle ups. A wallball consists of squatting to full depth with a medicine ball (14lbs for women), throwing it up to a 9ft target, and catching and repeating (only 150 times!) Double unders are a jump rope skill in which the rope must pass under the feet twice before the feet touch the ground. And lastly, to perform a muscle up in Crossfit, a person hangs on a pair of rings and uses a kip to get their upper body over the rings and then extends the elbows straight.

There are exercises I dislike in Crossfit, but few I hate more than the simple wallball. Double unders can be my friend or foe, depending on the day, and muscle ups, in fact, are one of my favorite Crossfit skills. But in order to get to the glorious muscle up, I’d have to endure a mountain of suffering beforehand. About midway through the wallballs, already feeling quite exhausted, that devil on my shoulder began its negative rant. There were so many reasons I wanted to quit and in the moment they seemed awfully convincing. But somehow I kept going. I didn’t want to let down all the people cheering me on. I especially didn’t want to let down myself, and frankly, I didn’t want to do this workout ever again, so I better suck it up and give it my best shot now. Fast forward through the rest of the wallballs and double unders, I finally reached the muscle ups with two and a half minutes to spare. Three by three, two by two, and one by one, I eked them out until time was up. The time cap freed me and relief set in as I collapsed on the ground. My final rep count was 256…150 wallballs, 90 double unders and 16 muscle ups. It was 10 more muscle ups than I had gotten the previous year. My score ranked me 13th in the NorCal region out of 2000 plus girls.

It was in that moment that I remembered why I continue to compete in Crossfit. I couldn’t wipe a smile off my face. I literally blew myself away with what I had just accomplished in a mere twelve minutes. I pushed through the suck and emerged on the other side victorious. I’m sure marathoners, triathloners, swimmers, rowers, and other athletes have felt the same way. You endure a lot of suffering for those few moments when you sit there afterwards, truly in awe of what your body can do.

Now the Open is over. I qualified for Regionals by the skin of my teeth and a new and exciting challenge waits. The better I get at Crossfit, the more I have to suffer, and that’s an intimidating thought. And many times I push myself to the finish and the end result is just mediocre. But that’s the beauty of any real challenge in life. You work tirelessly; persevere through uncomfortable situations, sometimes to no avail. But when you finally see the results, or maybe even just a glimpse of progress, like I did after that 12-­‐minute workout, it makes every second of the difficult journey worthwhile.

Just a reminder that the gym will be closed this weekend (April 6-7) because we are hosting Coach Brian’s Crossfit Endurance Seminar.   We WILL be hosting Open Gym on Saturday evening from 5-7 p.m. so you can get your workout on with Coach Tyler.

Our final Open WOD will be on Friday evening as usual and Tonya will circulate the heat schedule later today or tomorrow morning.   If you cannot make Friday night, feel free to drop in on Saturday at Open Gym to do the workout.   Good luck to everyone on the final WOD!