Happy Mother’s Day:

We hope all of the amazing and fit moms in this group had the best Mother’s Day celebration this weekend. We are so lucky to be surrounded by a group of moms who are living proof that our bodies are capable of handling so much. The lyrics from Beyonce’s song, “Run the World (Girls)” sums it up very well:

“How we smart enough to make these millions
Strong enough to bear the children (children)
Then get back to business”

Happy AAPI Heritage Month:

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, which is a celebration to honor the contributions and rich cultural history of people of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander origins. We are incredibly fortunate to all of our AAPI members who really help to shape our community and bring richness through culture and traditions. We want to particularly bring everyone’s attention to and condemning the violence and hatred that has been directed at the Asian and Pacific Islander community. As of January 2022, hate crimes against AAPI community members in San Francisco was up 567%, with more that have gone unreported. This is a concerning statistic for our AAPI members and us. It is important to us that our AAPI members feel safe at our gym and in our community. If there is ever a concern, please let anyone on the Board know how we can step-up and be supportive.

In honor of this special month, we put together a number of resources (certainly not exhaustive) that might be helpful to our broader community to learn about AAPI Heritage month through art, performance, and storytelling:

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Foundation: established to coordinate and raise funds for San Francisco’s activities.

  • Live Performances

  • Arts & History

  • Reading & Learning

• San Francisco Public Library: hosting a number of readings, movies, and dedicated books for the month

• Chinese Cultural Center: free, open to the public. Art and design store.

• Chinese Historical Society of America: We are Bruce Lee Exhibition

• Oakland Museum of California: Remembering Artist Hung Liu

• Food & Cooking: (there are so many restaurants we can highlight here, let us know your favorites)

  • Indonesian Bazaar

  • Thai Buddist Temple in Berkeley (Wat Mongkolratanaram)

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WOD for the Week:

Age Group Online Qualifier Recap

As many of you know, our very own Kim Tom recently competed in the CrossFit Age Group Quarterfinals. She qualified by finishing in the top 10% worldwide in the CrossFit Open back in March. Over the course of the weekend, Kim completed 5 advanced workouts that included muscle-ups, rope climbs, so many burpees, handstand pushups, and max lifts in the deadlift, press, and back squat.

Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was Kim’s performance in Workout 2, where she finished 26th in the world! It was a long chipper: 50 overhead squats, 40 bar-facing burpees, 40 back-rack walking lunges, 30 bar-facing burpees, 30 cleans, 20 bar-facing burpees, 20 weighted box step-ups, and 10 muscle-ups with a 20 minute time cap. But knowing her strength with muscle-ups (an advanced movement that many in her age group would not be able to do), Kim pushed herself through the WOD and the many, many burpees to get to the rings. And once there, she fought for SEVEN muscle-ups! It was a gutsy performance and showed off the determination and passion that we love about her.

Overall, Kim placed 110th in the world – in the top half of the top 10% from the Open. We couldn’t be prouder of her. Congratulations, Kim, you are an inspiration to us all!!!!

Getting Personal with Kim Tom

We asked Kim a few questions to get to know her better and how can you not just love her more after her responses. 

Q: How did you get into CrossFit and into competing?

Back in 2012, I was doing lots of marathons and long distance triathlons in my 40’s and started to develop injuries so my coach at the time recommended cross-training which led me to Google, which led me to videos of Camille LeBlanc Bazinet doing multiple ring muscle ups. 

I did an onboarding at San Francisco CrossFit and after a few 10 packs and traveling across the city for 5:30am classes, I decided to find something closer to home. After just one 6am class with Rob and Sarah at Arena Ready, I was ready to pack away my bike and my swimsuit! I had so much fun that day, even with one of the movements being the dreaded wall ball.

The competing part came naturally, as I had played team sports through high school and then intramural sports in college. And when I raced triathlons or marathons, I was usually trying to qualify for something so I was always very goal oriented.

Q: Outside of working out, how do you spend your time?

Lately, Kathy and I have been doing more golfing. We also have our wonder dog, Ripley, who loves to go on long walks and enjoys her alone time without her kitty sisters, Tashi and Tomo hogging all of our attention. We also have senior parents who enjoy the food we cook for them and I feel lucky to have more time these days to visit and take them out for their errands! Oh, and I am an optometrist with a private practice in Noe Valley. I’m very lucky to love my work almost as much as my fun!

Q: What advice would you give to someone who is on the fence about competing in future CrossFit competitions?

The cool thing about competing is that we learn so much about ourselves and our capabilities when we put ourselves out there. It’s a way to measure how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go! The Open is always so exciting and filled with firsts.

Local, live competitions run well and are thrilling and adrenaline can help you add an extra 10 or 20 lbs to the barbell! Team competitions are so fun as you just try so much harder not to let your teammate down. In addition, you can let them do the stuff that you can’t do as well and vice versa! I promise that you and your teammate will likely be friends for life after doing a comp together!

I love having a goal to work towards, it keeps me focused and especially during the winter months, when it’s really hard to drag myself out of bed, I know that working hard on all of the things will reap rewards come “go time”.

Q: Which CrossFit athletes inspire you? 

I’ve always felt that Annie Sakamoto embodies the spirit of CrossFit. Her mini size, her big heart and her never give up/never let anything scare you attitude make her a great inspiration to me!

Q: If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be? 

Wow, I did this exercise back in 2017, just before I had rotator cuff surgery. The thing I remember the most was this. The road ahead may not be filled with butterflies and rainbows. Some of the people that are here right now that you love and that love you, are not going to be here in 20 years, so love them hard and love them often. 

Despite all of this, you will make new friends, develop stronger relationships with your loved ones and you will do things you never imagined as long as you keep an open heart and an open mind. 

Q: What CrossFit movement is your Achilles heel as in you really struggle with it or have to work extra hard on it?

Whoa, how many paragraphs do I have??? Wall balls, double unders, snatch, rowing, HSPU, omg the list goes on forever, but I suppose that’s what keeps it so fun. 

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WOD for the Week:

Hope everyone had a great weekend! The gym was buzzing this week with Kim Tom competing in the CrossFit Games Age Group quarterfinals. We are so proud of her! There will be a deeper writeup of her performance and placement in next week’s blog, so stay tuned for that. 

Scaling:

We heard from many of you about the changes we have made to the scaling guidance. We’re so happy to learn that the scaling is resonating with you. Please share your feedback with us or your coaches to let us know what is working or not. Our goal is to ensure you are making progress in your fitness journey and this format is set up so that you can see your own progress. Don’t forget to track your workouts in Beyond the Whiteboard!

Scheduling:

We have made scheduling modifications for our evening classes. We have added a 15-minute buffer between classes to ensure classes start on time and end on time. The new time slots are 5:15 pm and 6:30 pm, Monday-Thursday. On Fridays, we have one evening time slot for 5 pm with Open Gym hours before and after. We will continue to keep the Foundations class at 6:30 pm on Wednesdays.

June Event Save the Date: OutWOD

Finally, SAVE THE DATE for our Annual OutWOD event to take place on Saturday, June 4th! In partnership with the OUT Foundation, Fog City will be hosting a WOD to ensure LGBTQ+ communities have access and participation in fitness, health, and wellness to ensure their success. Similar to last year, the event will start with a WOD, fundraising and raffles, and then an EPIC Pride Party to kick-off the month of June! We can’t wait! More details to come soon.

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WOD for the Week:

For everyone who celebrated this past weekend, hope you all had a lovely Passover and a Happy Easter Sunday!

Have you noticed the new scaling on the whiteboard at the gym the last couple of weeks? Many of you have asked us to provide you with more scaling guidance during workouts. In response to your feedback, we’re changed things up a bit.

Going forward, you will see 3-levels of the workout written on the board: 

1. RX (also known as “As Prescribed”): this is the workout of the day (WOD) as written without modifications. 

2. Scaled: offers a middle ground for each part of the workout, with the option to scale rounds, reps, weights, and/or movements.

3. Foundations: is for our newer members who may be unfamiliar with movements or anybody returning from a break and will help them ease into class workouts.

While each scaling level provides a complete workout, they’re really meant as a starting point for helping you think about how to adjust the workout and each movement for yourself. We want you to learn about yourself as an athlete and understand your strengths and weaknesses, so you can own your fitness experience. These 3-levels also align with the CrossFit Open, for those who are interested in monitoring their progress.

Keep in mind, scaling is a continuum and the levels on the board aren’t written in stone! Feel free to go in-between movements, reps, and weight based on your skill level or how you’re feeling in the moment. For example, you may choose the rep scheme of an RX workout, but the movements of a Scaled workout. Talk to your coach after the whiteboard brief or as you progress through the warm-up. Coaches are a great resource and have lots of options for you.  

Give us feedback on how the scaling guidance is working out! We want to see you continuously making forward momentum in your fitness journey. Also, keep your eyes out for a reference poster for how to scale common movements and weight loading.

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WOD for the Week:

By now, you’ve noticed that there are some time slots in MindBody labeled “Open Gym” on Mondays (3 pm), Wednesdays (3pm), Fridays (4 & 6 pm), and Sundays (9 & 10 am). We want you to use these time slots and we understand you may have questions about what to do when you get to the gym. 

The intention behind Open Gym is simple: come work on the things that you just haven’t been able to get to during the week or that you want to spend extra time on. Open Gym is time that we have allocated to the community to come work out under the guidance of our experienced coaches. There are a few ways to use your time effectively during Open Gym.

Here are some ideas:

• Complete a workout you missed: All of the WODs are posted in this Blog or on Beyond the Whiteboard. If you’ve missed a workout from the week, look through them and pick one that looks fun or the most challenging and get in a good sweat. Let the coach know your plans and they can help you with scaling guidance or set a timer. 

• Work on skill building: We are all working to master something in our functional fitness journey. Whether it’s getting your first pull-up or muscle-up, getting a deeper squat, or refining your Olympic lifting technique, investing this dedicated time to further your fitness and skills will only make the daily WODs more fun for you. The coach can help you with a plan of attack.

• Mobility/PT work after injury: Perhaps you’ve been avoiding the gym all together because you’ve been injured or recovering from a surgery. We completely understand this. We also know that some injuries and surgeries require you to mobilize or complete your physical therapy exercises. Come into FCCF and use the space to perform those PT exercises or talk to a coach about mobilizing specific parts of the body or doing simple workouts to build confidence before you rejoin class.

• Train for future events: Many of our athletes participate in fitness-oriented activities outside of FCCF. Whether you’re a distance runner, volleyball player, or an ultimate frisbee player, building strength to further advance your game is important to you. Using the Open Gym time is a great way to work on movements that allow you to stay on top of your game, all season long.  

Now that we’ve energized you about coming into Open Gym, don’t hesitate to talk to the coach on duty about your plans. The coaches are there to provide guidance, watch your form and technique, and even set the clock for you. We love watching all of you make progress, so come on into Open Gym and work out with your fellow athletes.

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WOD for the Week:

Hi everyone – I’m Laika Kayani, a member at Fog City Community Fitness and currently serving as a Board member. As one of the few Muslim members of the community, I’m excited to tell you a little bit about Ramadan, it’s significance, but most importantly, how I make it fit with my Fog City workout routine.

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is considered one of the holiest months for the almost 2B Muslims all around the world. It was in this month that the Quran was revealed to the people. Ramadan also falls on the 9th month of the lunar calendar, which is why it feels like Ramadan happens earlier and earlier each year. Ramadan lasts for about 30-days. You can greet your fellow Muslim friends by saying “Ramadan Mubarak” or “Ramadan Kareem”.

What is Fasting?

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims participate in Fasting. Similar to intermittent fasting, there is an extended period of no eating or drinking for several hours (yes, not even water). The fasting period begins at dawn and ends at sunset. In San Francisco, fasting begins around 5:40 am and ends around 7:40 pm, which makes it a 14-hour fast. 

What’s the value of fasting during this time?

During fasting, you’re encouraged to find inner peace, patience, and mindfulness. Fasting isn’t just about abstaining from food or water, but about practicing good habits, spirituality, and generosity. 

Working out while fasting?

The 6 am class time is the most optimal time to workout the days I’m fasting. I eat a huge breakfast around 5 am – a good balance of protein and carbs and a TON of coffee and water. During the WOD, I try to maintain an intensity level that’s ~70% of what I typically do on a non-fasting day. By maintaining a moderate intensity, I’m able to avoid feeling thirsty during the workout and manage my energy levels throughout the day. In fact, I feel way more energized after a workout on a fast than on other days. Don’t be surprised if I pop-in at other time slots!

What happens after 30-days?

After 30-days, we celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, which is the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. After morning prayers, we enjoy a big feast – everything we’ve been craving all month long. We greet each other by saying “Eid Mubarak”. For me, after indulging in all of the yummy food and taking a really long nap, I like to squeeze in a good workout. Last year, my husband and I created a WOD to represent the last 10-days of the 30-days of Ramadan, which are considered the most important days of the month. The workout was 10 different movements for 30 reps each – it was brutal! <update, we maybe programming this into a Sweaty Saturday WOD — stay posted!>

Thank you for letting me share more about this lovely month! Please let me know if you have questions.

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WOD for the Week:

Q1 2022 is wrapping up and this week is a mad dash for many of you to hit your goals, meet your targets, or perhaps nail some workout goals. Whatever your motivations are for this quarter, remember to keep your eye on the prize. You may not have a ton of things you’re working on and that’s okay too.

On our end, we have a few things lined up and keeping an eye on for the Q2 2022:

• 4/2/2022 - 5/2/2022: Ramadan kicks-off — you’ll hear from one of our members on how they manage fasting and staying active at the gym.

• 4/10/2022: Fog City Town Hall at 8 pm — mark your calendars to hear important updates about the gym!

• 5/20/2022 - 6/12/2022: Crossfit Semi-finals

• 5/30/2022: Memorial Day Murph WOD

• June 2022: TBD — FCCF hangout to officially kick-off the summer!

This list is not exhaustive — we’ll continue to add to this as the quarter pushes forward.

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WOD for the Week:

End of CrossFit OPEN Party:

Thank you to everyone that attended the End of OPEN Party on Saturday! We had a great gathering. We missed many of you and hope to catch you at the next Fog City CF event.

📣 A special shout-out to our top finishers in the Open:

Men:

1. Alex Garcia

2. John Robinson

3. Greg Sands

Women:

1. Brianne Cannon

2. Liz Terry

3. Casey Jones

Spirit of the Open: Jen Clarke

Big congrats to Coach Alex and Coach Kim for finishing in the top 10% of their divisions and qualifying for the CrossFit Quarterfinals!!! Congratulations to everyone who competed!

Huge THANK YOU to Allice Pollard for organizing and decorating for the party and Greg Sands for helping with food, drinks, and setup!

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Upcoming Programming Focus:

We’re starting our next programming cycle this week. It will last about 9 weeks. Expect that we will be doing a variety of strength work, focusing on things we haven’t done in a while (starting with Monday’s push presses). We’ll also have a strength plus metcon day and a long workout each week to help build your conditioning. Besides those, expect some classic couplets and triplets and a variety of accessory work.

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WOD for the Week:

Congratulations to everyone for wrapping up the final week of the Open! That workout was a tough one, but it was exciting to see everyone push hard through the different sections. A special shout out to those who got their first of a movement during the workout. Thank you all for the energy and passion you brought to the gym these last three weeks. And thank you to our coaches, facilities team, and board members who helped run this week to week.

If you ordered Open swag, they are upstairs. Grab your item(s) and check your name off of the list.

Don’t forget, we will be celebrating the end of the Open this Saturday, 3/19 from 1-3pm at the Bungalow at Parklab Gardens (1379 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94158). We can’t wait to hang out with you all outside of the gym.

WODs for the Week: 

It’s the last week of the Open and to no one’s surprise, there are thrusters and pull-ups! This workout is a burner and gets progressively harder as you go. Hopefully we will see some firsts today – a double under, pull-up, chest-to-bar pull-up, bar muscle-up or even a heavy thruster. Come ready to have fun, breathe hard, and celebrate your accomplishments throughout the Open.

Open Workout 22.3

For Time:
21 Pull-Ups
42 Double-Unders
21 Thrusters (95/65 lbs)
18 Chest-To-Bar Pull-Ups
36 Double-Unders
18 Thrusters (115/75 lbs)
15 Bar Muscle-Ups
30 Double-Unders
15 Thrusters (135/85 lbs)
Time cap: 12 minutes

Logistics

Sign-up and come to class as normal. We’ll be running several heats per class, so you’ll do the workout during one and judge/cheer during the other. The coach will start with a quick briefing and make sure everyone is in a heat and then we’ll get after it.

Don’t forget that scores will need to be submitted by 5pm Monday to show up on our Fog City and CrossFit games leaderboards.

Strategy for 22.3

 Your strategy for this workout will vary depending on what your sticking point is. For many, it will be the bar muscle-ups. For others, it could be the chest-to-bar pull-ups or one of the thruster weights or double unders. Advanced athletes will need to keep moving to finish this. Plan to push the pace or dial it back to help maximize your ability to complete the most challenging movement.

Pacing

• There is a tiebreaker time on this workout: it’s the time you complete the most challenging set of thrusters. Use this to your advantage. If you can’t do a movement or know that you are going to struggle, think about pushing the pace to get a good tiebreaker time and then taking a brief break before attempting the next movement.

• Advanced athletes should consider performing the double unders, pull-ups, and lighter thrusters in large or unbroken sets to push under the time cap.

• For everyone: starting off with manageable sets will be key to not hitting the wall. You’ll feel great in that first round, but be careful about going out too hard. 

 Movement Tips

 Pull-ups/Chest-to-Bar/Bar Muscle-ups

• Think about the different kips for each movement: Chest-to-bar pull-ups will require a bigger arch, press-down, and push away than the chin-over-bar pull-ups. 

• On the bar muscle-ups: focus on pushing down on the bar and getting your hips as high as possible before bending your arms and transitioning over the bar. This post breaks the movement down well. 

 Double Unders

• There aren’t a lot of these, so take your time and aim to get through these in as few sets as possible.

• If you trip up, stay relaxed. A few misses aren’t going to take up a lot of time, but getting flustered and missing a lot will. So take a deep breath before you restart them.

 Thruster

• Know yourself: if these are a lighter weight, aim for big sets (1-2 sets). If the weight is heavy, breaking them into 2-4 sets will help save your shoulders for the other movements.

• Stay tight at the bottom of the squat and DRIVE with your legs before finishing with the arms. 

 Scaling

• If you are officially registered, you can always do 1 thruster at the RX weight (or a few pull-ups) to register an RX score and then complete the rest of the workout at an appropriate scaling level for you.

• If you’re not entered, pick the heaviest thruster weight and the hardest pulling movement that you can perform and build backwards to select the weight and pulling movement for rounds 1 and 2. The coach can help you with options for this.

Other Resources:

• Official workout description and standards: https://games.crossfit.com/workouts/open/2022/3 

• BTWB 22.3 Blog: https://btwb.blog/2022/03/11/crossfit-open-22-3-preliminary-analysis-strategies/

What a week! We started with front squat PRs and ended with some great performances on 22.2. Congrats to everyone! Don’t forget to submit your score for 22.2 by Monday at 5 PM PST – don’t wait until the last minute!

Only one more week of the Open remaining. Odds are we’ll see something on the rig this week, but what else? A repeat of a previous workout? A heavy barbell? The dreaded thruster? Multiple gymnastic movements? Lots of options remain…

Don’t forget to SAVE THE DATE for the end of CrossFit Open Party on March 19, 2022 at 1 pm at the Bungalow at Parklab Gardens (1379 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94158)

WODs for the Week:

22.2 is here and so are the burpees and the barbell! This week’s workout is a couplet of deadlifts and bar-facing burpees with reps that go up and then back down. The time cap is aggressive, so just about everyone will be cut off before finishing. Focus on moving steadily through the workout, accumulating as many reps as you can in the 10 minutes – it will be over before you know it!

Open Workout 22.2

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps for time of:

• Deadlifts (225/155 lbs)

• Bar-facing burpees

Time cap: 10 minutes

Logistics

Sign-up and come to class as normal. We’ll be running several heats per class, so you’ll do the workout during one and judge/cheer during the other. The coach will start with a quick briefing and make sure everyone is in a heat and then we’ll get after it.

Don’t forget that scores will need to be submitted by 5pm Monday to show up on our Fog City and CrossFit games leaderboards.

Strategy for 22.2

Pacing

• Start at a steady pace and settle in around rounds 4-5, aiming to control your breathing. When you hit the 7 minute mark, start to push the pace a bit for the last 3 minutes

• Transitions: keep them short! There are a lot of transitions in the workout. Move quickly into the next movement and if needed, try to keep your longer breaks to every few rounds.

• Make sure you get your heart rate up before the workout starts so your system is ready to go

Movement Tips

 Deadlift

• Set your back and brace on EVERY rep – no rounded backs! High rep deadlift workouts are no joke, so coaches will be keeping a close eye on your form and ask you to stop/take weight off if things start to look sketchy

• Break up your rounds early with only a short break in between sets (depending on the athlete, this may be in rounds 6 to 8)

 Burpee

• Aim for a smooth consistent pace. Try not to spike your heart rate too much at the beginning. 

• Just keep moving! Even if you are stepping back, flopping, and stepping up, you are making progress.

• The standard is slightly different this year: you do not need a two foot takeoff or landing. Here’s some examples of different types of burpees: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cap6JEivhfF/

Scaling

• Think about your recent deadlift workouts and what weights/reps you have done. Use the warm-up to test how the weight feels. You should be able to do a set of 6-8 unbroken when fresh.

• Remember, you can always do 1 deadlift at the RX weight to register an RX score and then complete the rest of the workout at an appropriate scaling level for you.

If you want to read more about strategy, here are a couple of resources:

• Official workout description and standards: are at https://games.crossfit.com/workouts/open/2022/2 

• Beyond the Whiteboard’s 22.2 Blog with results and video links: https://btwb.blog/2022/03/04/crossfit-open-22-2-preliminary-analysis/