Happy New Year! (see you at 26th St.)

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Allison Bojarski

NOTE: We’re on a holiday schedule today and all classes are at our 25 W. 26th St. location ONLY! (Also note that there are NO CFE WOD classes today.)

Black Box WOD/Beginner WOD:
A:
Black Box Scaling: 5 sets: 1 snatch balance + 2 overhead squats — 2-second pause at the bottom of each movement
Beginner scaling: 5×3 hang snatch — hang power snatch if mobility-restricted

B:
Black Box scaling: Snatch deadlift 5×5
Beginner scaling: Snatch deadlift 3×5

A recent 8am CFE class. From left: Geoff, Megan, Jonny, Matt, Brian, Mai, Mira, & Arthur:

Here’s what’s on tap for Wednesday’s classes:

Black Box WOD/Beginner WOD:
Black Box scaling:
A1: Bulgarian Split-squat 3×8-10/side – weaker side first; A2: Scapular wall-slides 3×8
Beginner scaling:
A1: Reverse lunge 3×8-10/side (no alternating) – weaker side first; A2: Scapular wall-slides 3×8

B: 5 sets: 30 seconds jump switch lunge, 30 seconds rest, 30 seconds, maximum strict pull-ups, 90 seconds rest

NOTE: No CFE WOD classes on Wed., Jan. 2. Regular CFE schedule resumes on Thurs., Jan. 3.

  • Hari Singh

    Even if a class appears closed out, we will do our best to accommodate you if you show up today.

  • Hari Singh

    We are now starting our second year at 28 Street, and we are still not done with construction. Our members have been remarkably patient, and only rarely do we see posts expressing frustration with the slow pace of progress. I’d like to not only acknowledge our members disappointment, but also express my own.

    It is insanely difficult to build anything in the City. I can now literally write a book describing the ways in which this town makes it almost impossible for businesses to follow its laws.

    It has taken a full year and well over $100,000 in professional fees for us to become licensed as a gym. (The required “Physical Culture Establishment” permit is essentially the City’s way of acknowledging that we are not running an illegal massage parlor.) We also had to retain a firm to do an environmental impact statement.

    Then comes the endless inspections. We have had our plans “audited,” and then been sent from one department to another, while we were held at a virtual standstill. The building’s management company has its say as well. Then there is the ongoing debate about whether there needs to be fire sprinklers in the bathrooms. No one can provide an adequate explanation, but the upshot is that we will be putting these in (after the fact in the women’s locker). This despite the fact that there were no sprinklers in the newly renovated bathrooms provided by the building.

    We know that none of you really care about all this. To a large extent, I am writing this comment primarily for myself. That and to offer support to our claim that this is not about an unwillingness on our part to spend money; nor is is not about our failure to monitor, push, and scream on a daily basis.

    If we had it to do over again (and we will, at our next location) we would have done things differently. (For example, we would have gotten the environmental impact work done even before we signed the lease. Who knew?)

    For now, the final stretch of this process will be heavily monitored by the individual voted by the CrossFit NYC Competition Team as being “most likely to give Hari a heart attack:” Me.

    Court, Josh, and I are absolutely committed to having both locker rooms fully operational by January 31. We restart screaming at the contractor tomorrow at 10:00 AM.

    • http://www.ryanshell.com/blog Ryan Shell

      Thanks for the update. May I add something to the “Easy To Do” list? We’d love some coat hangers or something in the bathrooms at 26th st. This is where most people change and it would be great to have a place to hang coats, shirts and things of that nature. Happy New Year!

      • Hari Singh

        Our experience over the last four years with putting hangers in the 26 Street bathrooms has not been successful. These typically end up on the floor. We have settled on a row of plastic hooks as the best compromise.

        If, for example, you carry a suit to the gym, it makes sense to hang that suit on the coat hooks (using the hanger that comes in with the suit) and then take that hanger with you when you leave the shower. If you bring clothing without a hanger, then that clothing should be able to hang on the plastic hooks.

    • T-Money

      Appreciate the update. I guess I don’t see why some of the smaller updates (water fountain, clocks on the walls, directional speaker system) haven’t gone through though. Thanks.

      • Hari Singh

        We have been charged for and had delivered two water fountains. Both were sent back, either because no one was there in the middle of the day to take delivery (back when we were running mid-day WOD’s at 26 Street) or because the manufacturer is an idiot. (We are trying to figure out which it is.)

        The additional details you listed will be done after the bathrooms. We have had so much difficulty with the contractor that we don’t want them working on anything but the showers until they are done.