CrossFit Somerville May Newsletter


JT Scott | 05/23/2014 |

Hey CrossFit Somerville!  We’ve got a lot of exciting things happening in and around CFSV and the larger community and we want to let you know all about them.  The gardens in the back yard are all planted, and we’ll hopefully be seeing some fresh vegetables out of them soon!  We may also be getting a visit from the CrossFit Journal in June.  Keep reading to learn all about these things and more!

CONTENTS:

  • ANNOUNCEMENTS

    • Memorial Day Murph May 26

    • Sasquatch Trail Race July 13

  • PROGRAMMING NOTES

    • 1RM Front Squat and “The Girls”

    • Upcoming Programming

  • CFSV COMMUNITY PROJECTS

    • Urban Ag: Planting Party Recap

    • Urban Ag: Bounty Sharing

    • Community Cooks Moving to a New Night

    • Volunteer Opportunity: Harvard Recycling Center May 30

    • Your Input: Community Involvement

  • FUTURE NEWSLETTERS

Announcements

Memorial Day Murph May 26

CrossFit Somerville will be closed for regular classes on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26.  We will be running the hero WOD “Murph” at 11am.

“Murph” is a workout traditionally done on Memorial Day to specifically honor Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005, and more generally to honor all service members.  The workout will start at 11am on Monday, and is open to any and all who would like to participate.  Attendance for the workout is free, and friends and family are encouraged to join in.  Please email nick@crossfitsomerville.com if you are planning on attending so he knows how many to expect.  For more details on what “Murph” entails, click here: http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/000881.html

Sasquatch Trail Race July 13

CrossFit Somerville is putting together a team for the Sasquatch Trail Race, held on Sunday, July 13 at the Middlesex Fells.  The race is a very manageable 2.35 miles through the trails of the Fells, followed by a party afterwards sponsored by Notch, Slumbrew, Night Shift and Downeast Breweries.

Whether you are a seasoned runner looking for a challenge on the trails, or interested in testing out your fitness in a new way, this race is for you!!  More information and registration can be found here: http://www.vertraceseries.com/sasquatch/

When you register make sure to choose ‘CrossFit Somerville’ as your team so that we can compete for team prizes as well!!

Programming Notes

1 RM Front Squat and “The Girls”

We’ve done a lot of “classic CrossFit” over the past weeks, and really hammered our Front Squats, challenging both our raw squatting strength and our ability to maintain a solid core and upright torso position while under load. We will be re-testing our 1RM Front Squat on Friday, May 30 along with a final “girl” workout.  For those of you who have been with us at CrossFit Somerville since the last time we did a cycle of “girl” workouts, we hope you have seen an improvement in your performance with these classic benchmarks. Write them down, you’ll see them again
 and feel free to share your experiences of them with your friends on Facebook too. CrossFitters around the world have these benchmarks in common.

Upcoming Programming

As we finish up this current cycle and head into the summer, we will be taking a break from having focused “cycles” of training.  The programming will follow the “general physical preparedness” (GPP) model that is espoused by CrossFit in order to more fully accommodate a wide variety of athletes and their goals.  That being said, take this opportunity to think of your own personal goals and weaknesses that you would like to improve upon.  You can take this time to identify a portion of your fitness that is important to you (mobility, squats, upper body strength, running endurance, olympic lifts, etc) and use the programmed workouts to make strides towards your goals.  If you are unsure where to start or how to work towards a specific goal, talk to your coaches! We’ll be glad to help you formulate a plan and stick to it.

CFSV Community Projects

Urban Ag: Planting Party Recap

After and long and brutal winter, the weather finally let up and turned to spring, which meant it was time to plant!! On May 3, our Urban Ag team got together to plant our garden beds.  We started some plants from seeds, and transplanted others as seedlings.  We have a large variety of greens, herbs, and other vegetables growing, and they are all starting to come in strong!

In addition, the team finished setting up the rain barrels, so we will now be collecting the rain water run-off from the roof of CrossFit Somerville into two large barrels.  Our final phase of the Urban Agriculture project at CrossFit Somerville will be bees.  Materials and equipment for a hive are arriving next week, with bees to follow once it is all set up.

The CrossFit Journal has shown interest in our project at CrossFit Somerville, and they will have a representative come to visit the facility and garden some time in June to write an article about Urban Farming and the Farm to Gym Movement.  Details are still being set up, but look for an announcement coming soon!

Speaking of which, the CrossFit Journal is a really cool online magazine that lets you get a look at more of the “why” of what we do, and how other people around the world are doing it. Check it out at http://journal.crossfit.com

Urban Ag: Bounty Sharing

I’m sure many of you are also wondering how we are going to share the wonderful fresh eggs that the chickens will be providing us, as well as the produce that will be coming out of our gardens once we plant them.  We are going to have a rotating schedule with teams of 4-5 people.  Each week, one team will be responsible for cleaning the chicken coop and doing the garden maintenance for the week.  That team will then be able to split all of the available eggs and produce at the end of that week.  Obviously we cannot guarantee a certain amount to each person every week, but hopefully over the course of the entire season, everyone will have 4-5 chances to collect their bounties and it will even out.

(It’s been just shy of 2 dozen eggs per week so far!)

This is going to be an opt-in system, and the benefits of the chickens and gardens will be going to those community members who put in the work to take care of them.  If you would like to be a part of a care team and reap the delicious benefits of all of your hard work, please email brian@crossfitsomerville.com and I will make up teams.

Community Cooks Moving to a New Night!

Our monthly Community Cooks event is moving to a new night, the first Thursday of each month.  We will be cooking for a new community center in Somerville for those with mental disabilities.  In addition to providing a good service to our community, the cooking events are a great way to spend an evening with your fellow CFSVers.  The next event will be on Thursday, June 5; if you are interested in getting involved email projects@crossfitsomerville.com

Volunteer Opportunity: Harvard Recycling Center

We have a wonderful opportunity to help a dozen worthy charities, rescue lots of reusable items from the landfill, and get a great work-out at Harvard.  Friday, May 30, from 2 – 8 PM, hundreds of Harvard students will be moving out of the River House area at the intersection of JFK Street and Memorial Drive. The Harvard Recycling Center tries to gather their discarded goods and get them to those in need. They anticipate picking up an estimated 10 truckloads of furniture, clothing, books, cosmetics and other goods. The Friday after graduation on the 30th is an especially difficult day getting around in the Commencement Week traffic.  This is where we can help!

They need “boots on the ground” to march their handy 6-wheel hampers from JFK St to Mill St to Plympton St to Cowperthwaite St to Flagg St to fetch all those goods from the Donation Station bin boxes, load ‘em up and bring them back again to the truck-accessible pickup spot. They will already have 20 Harvard students from the Dorm Crew. They need an additional “Resource Force” to pick up, monitor, and safeguard goods. To do the job right, they need another 80 volunteers on these two days.

Volunteers will get a small token of their appreciation plus whatever donated items you can carry home. Can we put together a CrossFit Somerville Team to wade into the mayhem of move-out day? JT in particular thinks this is going to be great fun; email projects@crossfitsomerville.com if you’re interested in joining him for the single most chaotic day of the year on Harvard campus!

Your Input: Community Involvement
As you can probably tell, we do a lot! As the summer starts up, there will be even more opportunities for us to get involved in friendly competitions and other community events.

Crossfit Somerville is a place where community members come together to do some pretty awesome things. Do you have ideas for ways that Crossfit Somerville can improve? Are there specific programs or seminars that you would like us to offer? Do you have ideas for volunteering opportunities, projects, group trips, or social events?

If you are passionate about making something happen, we will work with you to find the resources to make it a reality.  Contact projects@crossfitsomerville.com to start making the most of your CFSV experience!

Future Newsletters

Now that you’ve read what we had to tell you about, tell us what YOU would like to read about!  In addition to announcements about events happening at CFSV and schedule updates, what would interest you in a monthly update from your Coaches?  Tell us what you think and why!  Email projects@crossfitsomerville.com with ideas and suggestions.