The Monthly Catch - March 2025

Mandy Brezina • February 27, 2025

HAPPY 2025!

WRITTEN by MANDY BREZINA

Happy March and the Official Start of the 2025 CrossFit Open!

This is one of our favorite times of the year for community events where the BCCF Family comes together to celebrate, try new things, and support each other through some tough workouts! This year, CrossFit introduced the Community Cup, so all members who are officially registered for the Open will be qualified for the online competition taking place in June! If you aren't registered, get registered before March 3rd when the score is due for 25.1!

We're excited to have photographers again at each of the three Friday Night Lights, to capture the magic of the night and your hard work! We're also doing our very first, in-house BCCF Open Challenge where teams of three will work together to earn points through the three weeks of the Open. Don't miss out!

February was a great month for BCCFers. We wrapped up our first strength cycle of the year with the Deadlift and Front Squat, resulting in MANY personal records to kick the year off! We've also been retesting many of the past Open workouts, so that we could get a feel for the intensity of these workouts and for many, to retest old scores, which also resulted in some MAJOR PRs! We're excited to carry this momentum into the Open!

It's going to be a busy month with the Open, a seminar with Zach Woolever from Embark Phyzio Performance, and our annual event of serving dinner at the Ronald McDonald's House in Baltimore. We're excited to build each other up and push ourselves to new limits! See you this week!

The Committed Corner

The Blue Crab CrossFit Committed Club is for members who attend 15+ classes at the gym each month. Every quarter, if you make the three consecutive months in that quarter, you get added to the quarterly drawing as well! $20 monthly - $50 quarterly towards the BCCF store! We’ll be doing the drawing on the 3rd this month!

Why do we have a Committed Club?

Unlike big box gyms who have a business model of pay for a membership but don’t encourage attending, Blue Crab CrossFit WANTS you to USE YOUR MEMBERSHIP! The more consistently you attend group classes, the better you feel and the more results you’ll see. Our mission is to help you live a stronger, healthier life and in order to do that, you must attend class 3+/week.

What to Expect in March

Going into the middle of the CrossFit Open we start March with a lot on our plate but it is going to be an exciting beginning to the month! We will still run “normal” training weeks where the first 2 days will be higher intensity, with the rest of the week slightly tapering off to Friday. This is to ensure athletes participating in the Open or not will still have a well-rounded week, with Friday being the big workout to look forward to!

The other big focus of the month is Leading Ladies Week! This is our third year paying homage to the amazing women around the world with a week full of workouts named after some pretty famous women. This jam-packed week will come after the Open and will be pretty high on the intensity/RPE scale so get ready to get after this awesome week of workouts!

Lastly, we will be focusing on Strict/ Weighted Pull-Ups either in strength sessions or workouts once a week. This is one of the foundational skills to have in your arsenal, so we are going to get touches on it once a week to hopefully see some improvement! We will also work on higher volume Push-Ups and longer running distances in workouts to help us be proactive in our prep for Murph in a few months! There will still be strength days where we will be lifting to lift, not in a linear progression to lead to a 1RM. This entire month is going to be packed with fitness goodness, so get ready to work hard and enjoy those rest days!

March Monthly Highlights

(1x/ Week) Strict/ Weighted Pull-Up Strength

(3x/ Week) Extra Credit – Overhead Prep + Midline Work

(1x/ Month) St. Patrick’s Day Workout

(1x/ Month) Leading Ladies Week

(1x/ Month) Hero Workout – Laura

March Athlete of the Month

Carnation Winters

Congratulations to our March Athlete of the Month - Carnation!

We’re excited to share their stories with you!

Thank you, Carnation for showing up and challenging yourselves every day!

Tell us your story - where did you grow up and what kind of activities did you do growing up?

I've always been a Maryland girl! I grew up in a Greek American house in Rockville, MD. I played travel soccer my whole life, and I also played basketball for my church youth group! I've always loved playing sports, as well as spending time with friends and family. I went to Salisbury University to become a teacher, and had an amazing experience, meeting my husband and my very best friends at SU. I've been teaching in Title 1 elementary schools for the last 10 years and while it is a lot of hard work, I love teaching 5th grade and I love my students!

Tell us how you were first introduced to CrossFit? How long have you been doing CrossFit - any thoughts/comments on how it’s changed or influenced your life?

One of my best friends, Haley, actually introduced me to CrossFit and brought me to BlueCrab! I had a sports related injury that required two ankle surgeries, one complete reconstruction. I also was struggling with some GI conditions that impacted my physical/mental health. I had tried to get back into a fitness routine on my own after these setbacks, but nothing stuck. I was looking for an outlet, both to help my physical health and provide a place for mental clarity! I asked Haley if she could drop in a class at a gym local to me (she goes to Odin in Frederick), and she immediately said we had to go to BlueCrab (her old gym before she moved) and the rest was history! Blue Crab and CrossFit were exactly what I was looking for, and I owe it all to Haley.

CrossFit has completely changed my life. I've built strength, confidence, and resilience I never thought possible. While I've been a bit shy at the gym, so many people have helped me come out of my shell and cheered me on, even on my hardest days. Everyone I've met at BlueCrab has been so welcoming and supportive, I am so thankful for all the coaches who've encouraged me and push me to be my best and strongest. I'm also grateful for others in my classes who have always celebrated every little win and all my progress, even when I find it hard to celebrate myself. I love Blue Crab because it is a place that I've been able to build my physical strength, mental toughness, and confidence, as well as a place I can find mental clarity.

What goals do you have within the next year - CrossFit and non-CrossFit?

My goals for CrossFit are to continue to stay consistent, continuing my weekly class streak (so far at 27 weeks in a row!) and trying to hit at least 3 classes a week. I also want to improve my cleans and do an unassisted pull up!

My goal outside the gym is home related. My husband and I are about to undergo a big home renovation, and my goal is to design and create the house of our dreams that works for our current and future family. Also, as the weather warms up, my goal is to walk our Doberman, Moose, daily!

Talk to us about your life outside of the gym - hobbies, favorite meal, music, job etc. Any random facts you want us to know?

I've been with my college sweetheart, Mike, for over 11 years, and married for 3.5. We have an adorable, loving, and very energetic Doberman named Moose. They are my world! We love to grocery shop and cook together, trying healthy, fun, gluten free meals together. We also love to travel and explore new places together. My favorite trip was one we took to Europe, exploring Greece, Spain, England, and Ireland!

I have amazing parents, great in-laws, the sweetest niece and nephews, and big extended Greek family scattered around the southeast! Family is so important to me, and I am so thankful to have them.

Baltimore is my favorite place I've ever lived! I love exploring my city, trying different restaurants, browsing the shops, just walking around and supporting the local community. My favorite days are spent wandering my favorite neighborhoods, like Canton, Fells Point, and Hampden with people I love. I am also on a mission to find the best espresso martini in the city!

I've been a teacher for 10 years and math is definitely my favorite subject. I currently teach 5th grade in Baltimore County and I love it! This year, I was assigned the advanced class, so I teach 6th/7th grade math to 5th graders. It is a new experience for me, and I am just amazed at the brilliance and resilience. My class loves to do "Brain Breaks" between lessons where they can move their bodies, and their favorites are when I bring in movements from CrossFit!

Do you have any advice for people getting started with CrossFit - what's helped you stay consistent and coming back day after day?

My biggest advice? Show up. Show up when you're excited. Show up when you're tired. Show up when the workout is hard. Show up whenever you can and the people at BlueCrab will cheer you on and help you get through. I promise you will never regret showing up after the workout is done.

Something that has helped me stay consistent is finding a time that helps me get the most out of my workout and being intentional with my schedule. I'm a 6am class girl, and it is what works best for me. I feel energized and ready for the day ahead after. Some days, I can't come because of early meetings/club at work. I know which days I can't do at the start of each week, so I make sure to do everything I can to make it the other days.

Keep going, not every day in the gym will be your best day, and some days, you'll achieve things you've never thought possible. Progress over perfection.

CrossFit Youth Kicked Off!

CrossFit Youth started on February 1st for an eight week course and it was so fun to have some of the same kids back as well as many new faces! We have a handful of spots available to sign up for the remainder of the course (7 more classes) or if you’d like, to drop in when you’re able to!

Each class is led by Coach Sam Harthman and she brings so much fun to the classes to help our kids learn how fitness can be fun! Build that foundation early and help your child understand the importance of moving their bodies at a young age!

Send us an emal to reserve your spot!i

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Previous WODs

The Monthly Catch - February 2025

By Mandy Brezina • February 1, 2025

The Monthly Catch - January 2025

By Mandy Brezina • January 2, 2025

Introducing a new benefit to BCCF Members - Embark Physical Therapy

By Mandy Brezina • November 16, 2024

We’re excited to announce a new partnership with Embark Physical Therapy! We’re always looking for ways to continue to add value to your BCCF membership, so we’re excited to announce that Zach will be offering FREE in-person consultations at Blue Crab CrossFit (aiming for every 1-2 months) in our recovery room. Whether it’s stretches you can do or a specialist you can see, Zach’s goal is to help you feel and move better, so he’s graciously offered his time to help BCCF at no cost to you! Starting November 23rd, you’ll see availability for 15 minute consultations with Zach in Wodify for you to book. Come prepared with questions about what is bothering you or what you’d like to learn more about to help you feel better. Don’t let that lingering pain become a bigger problem. Be proactive and learn how you can feel better therefore perform better during workouts! In 2024, we’ll also start to put some seminars on the calendar, led by Zach, to help you learn more about various subjects that’ll help you feel and move better!

November Blue Crab CrossFit Newsletter

By Mandy Brezina • November 1, 2024

What to Expect in November Looking back on October, we had a lot on our plate! We started our final strength cycle of 2024, working through a Deadlift, Back Squat, and Push Press 5-3-1 cycle that although shorter, it effectively built athletes up to new PRs. We saw one Oly complex a week to keep our skills sharp, and we began to see prep for our Veteran’s Day workout, Chad. We hit some big retests of DT and Jackie, tackled a new Halloween workout, and got after Mary and Cindy for the gymnastically inclined. We saw a broad distribution of workout types throughout the week, meaning that we weren’t focusing on specific time domains or workouts types like previous Phases - October and the next 2 months will be all about as much variety as possible. Looking ahead to November, we have some BIG benchmarks to get us excited. The first thing we have on the agenda is Chad…1000 Weighted Step-Ups is a great way to pay tributes to any and all Veterans around the world and has become the staple workout on such a special day. We will also finish off our 5-3-1 strength cycle right around the same time and take note that because Chad falls on a Monday, we will be splitting the retest days (2 retests the week of Chad, one the week after) to ensure everyone is primed to hit some PRs. On top of these two exciting things happening almost simultaneously we will be doing the NCFIT Lift-Off right around this time as well. Think of this similarly to the Mid-Year Challenge…3 consecutive Fridays (11/8, 11/15, 11/22) that will prioritize a longer strength session. This is just for fun and no extra work has to be done, just getting excited to lift heavy! For the rest of the month, we will still see a broad range of workout types to get us as much variety as possible. We will end the month with a 12 Days of Thankfulness and Black Friday workout. We have stuffed a lot into this month, so hang on for the ride! 5-3-1 Strength Cycle 10/7-11/18 (Deadlift/ Back Squat/ Push Press) W1 - 1RM Tests W2 - 3x5 @ (RPE 7) W3 - 3x3 @ (RPE 8) W4 - 5-3-1 @ (RPE 7-8-9) W5 - Deload W6 - 1RM Retests November Weekly Workout Commitments (3x/ Week) Back Squat/ Deadlift/ Push Press Strength (1x/ Week) NCFIT Lift-Off (11/8, 11/15, 11/22) (1x/ Week) Workout of the Week or Benchmark/ Classic workout (1x/ Week) Optional Partner Workout Chad Hero Workout 11/11 12 Days of Thankfulness + Black Friday Workout

October Blue Crab CrossFit Newsletter

By Mandy Brezina • November 1, 2024

Happy 11th Birthday, BCCF! Blue Crab CrossFit just hit 11 years of helping people become healthier, stronger versions of themselves. Many members have recent celebrated a decade with us - thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years and made it possible to keep our doors open so we can continue helping people live healthier lives! Here’s to many more years of fun workouts with the Blue Crab CrossFit Family!

Thinking of the Hofstetter family - thank you, Kyle for the beautiful photos.

September Blue Crab CrossFit Newsletter

By Mandy Brezina • September 6, 2024

September events, athletes of the month, what to expect in crossfit group classes.

August Blue Crab CrossFit Newsletter

By Mandy Brezina • August 22, 2024

What to Expect in August July was a jam-packed month, so before we start looking ahead at what’s to come, let’s first take a look back at everything we accomplished last month. We have to start off by highlighting the start of our third strength cycle, which is all about the Snatch and Clean & Jerk. We kept things simple, working on building percentages week to week with triples, doubles, and singles before testing a 1RM for both movements in August! We also changed from Phase II, which was focused on longer GRIND workouts, to Phase III, which is going to be all about SPRINT workouts. We will still see a variety of workouts across the weeks, but the focus will be dropping the hammer 1-2 times per week. We saw a focus on the Pull-Up, chest-to-bar, and Bar Muscle-Up, along with tests of a new Benchmark workout/ Hero workout and a retest of the Filthy 50 from April. Looking at August, let’s first mention the three things that will carry over into this month. First, we will be finishing our Oly cycle with our heavy 1RM tests the week of 8/12. We also will be continuing with our Phase III SPRINT focus, which means we will see 1-2 faster workouts each week to build everyone’s anaerobic base. Lastly, we will still see 1-2 Flex Finishers per week to carry us through the second half of summer. Looking at some changes in the programming, we will have a greater emphasis on the Push-Up and the kipping handstand push-up. We focused on Strict HSPU in June, took a slight break in July, and now we are going to use that shoulder strength and add in some kipping! We will also test Nancy as our Benchmark for the month and retest Kelly from back in May. On top of those workouts to look forward to, we will also see an NCFIT Classic, Supersonic, and a new Hero workout for this month! Let’s keep our foot on the gas this month and keep training hard! Weekly August Workout Commitments (2x/ Week) Oly Strength Cycle (1x/ Week) Deadlift or Back Squat (1-2x/ Week) Sprint Workouts (1x/ Week) Workout of the Week or Benchmark/ Classic workout (1x/ Week) Push-Up/ Kipping Handstand Push-Up Capacity/ Focus (1-2x/ Week) FLEX-style Finishers

July Blue Crab CrossFit Newsletter

By Mandy Brezina • July 29, 2024

What to Expect in July We are OFFICIALLY in the second half of the training year, but before we talk about what is to come let’s reflect back on the month of June! Everyone got after the three Mid-Year Challenge workouts that highlighted some of the themes we will see in the second half of the year. We completed a few named workouts - a test of Cali Bear and a retest of Fran. The Handstand Push-Up was our main gymnastics focus. We saw it once a week to help continue building confidence and capacity. We also saw two GRIND workouts a week during the final month of our “Towing Capacity” cycle. This solidified our more anaerobic system (shorter duration, higher intensity), so we can now switch gears and build our aerobic (longer, lower intensity) system during our next phase. Lastly, we saw a barbell complex once a week to set us up for our next strength cycle (Oly Cycle) that will be all about the Snatch + Clean & Jerk! In July, our strength cycle is going to start in the second week of the month. This is to account for the Fourth of July holiday week(end), when we traditionally see lots of athletes traveling. The first week of the month will see some nods for what’s to come, but the cycle won’t officially start until the following week, 7/8! This Oly cycle will center around the Snatch + Clean & Jerk, culminating in a 1RM test! Week 1 will be an opportunity to build to something heavy that can be used to base percentages on for the remaining weeks. From there, we will see triples, doubles, and single reps leading into a deload and a 1RM test! We will also see alternating weeks of Back Squats and Deadlifts, which are supplemental lifts - the stars of the show are our two Oly lifts! Our conditioning phase will switch to a focus on shorter, more explosive efforts, which means we’ll see more sprint workouts each week. The intent is to take the long-distance base we established in the last phase and now work on dialing up the intensity with these shorter, more explosive workouts. Getting uncomfortable with speed in a workout is required and that's what this phase is all about! Our first benchmark, Jackie, highlights this concept perfectly! We will also see a retest of the Filthy Fifty, a hero workout on July 4th, and the classic Crossfit workout: Fight Gone Bad. The last big note for this month is a higher exposure to Pull-Ups, Chest to Bars, and Bar Muscle-Ups! Olympic Lifting Cycle 7/8-8/18 (Snatch + Clean & Jerk) Week 1: 3-3-3-2-2-1-1* (Sets of 3 in 60-70% range. Sets of 2 in 70-80% range. Sets of 1 in 80-90+% range) Week 2: 5x3 @ (60-70%) Week 3: 5x2 @ (70-80%) Week 4: 5x1 @ (80-90+%) Week 5: Deload Week 6: 1RM Snatch + Clean & Jerk July Weekly Workout Commitments (2x/ Week) Oly Strength Cycle (1x/ Week) Deadlift or Back Squat (1-2x/ Week) Sprint Workouts (1x/ Week) Workout of the Week or Benchmark/ Classic workout (1x/ Week) Kipping PU, C2B, Bar Muscle-Up Capacity/ Focus (1-2x/ Week) FLEX-style Finishers

June Blue Crab CrossFit Newsletter

By Mandy Brezina • June 16, 2024

What to Expect in June We are officially at the halfway point of 2024, which means the Mid-Year Challenge is right around the corner! Let’s first recap May to celebrate everything we accomplished! In the first week of May, we tested our 3RM Bench Press and Overhead/Front Squat, capping off our volume cycle with some great PRs and leading into a phase of general physical preparedness (GPP) lifting! We had a big bunch of named workouts that we tackled - our Mother’s Day partner Workout and a retest of The Chief! We saw Kelly as our Benchmark of the Month, so expect to see her again in three months! Leading up to Memorial Day, athletes had the opportunity to get some last prep work in with the Optional Murph Prep, which spanned four weeks and led right into Murph. Lastly, we really got comfortable with an uncomfortable amount of toes to bar (T2B) with our capacity focus showing up in workouts in various ways! As we shift into June, we have some exciting things on the horizon, so let’s see what’s in store! Let’s kick off this review with the main focus for the month…our Mid-Year Challenge! On Friday, June 14th, and the following two Fridays, we will complete an Open-style workout that is completely unique to the NCFIT programming! Weaved into the month, we will also see a retest of Fran and our Benchmark of the Month: Cali Bear! We will also see Barbara, another Hero Workout, and a Father’s Day workout! Our Toes to Bar volume from last month will shift gears, and we will see a greater focus on Strict/kipping Handstand Push Up(HSPU) practice/volume. The goal will be to build more reps of both Strict and Kipping HSPU into workouts, similar to how we did with T2B last month. This will be the last month of our Towing Capacity Cycle, so we will continue to see 2 Grind workouts each week to finish this phase of training off strong! Lastly, you will see at least one Oly complex per week to prep us for our Oly cycle that starts in July…this will run in tandem with a continued focus on GPP strength work. And finally, we’ll be adding in 1-2 FLEX bodybuilding finishers per week to keep the pump alive going into summer! Weekly Workout June Commitments 3 New Mid-Year Challenge Workouts (2x/ Week) Grind Workouts (1x/ Week) Workout of the Week or Benchmark/ Classic workout (1x/ Week) 1 Oly Complex (1x/ Week) Strict/ Kipping HSPU Capacity/ Focus (1-2x/ Week) FLEX-style Finishers

May Blue Crab CrossFit Newsletter

By Mandy Brezina • May 17, 2024

What to Expect in May We’re closing in on the halfway point of 2024, but before we talk about May, let’s review April and everything we worked on! First, we saw the beginning of our Volume/ Capacity cycle for the Overhead/Front Squat + Bench Press that carried through the month. Each week the reps got a little lower with the intent of increasing the weight.…we also got the opportunity to retest Death Row and see the engine improvement! The Strict Handstand Push-Up (HSPU) showed up a few times during the month, both as a skill session and in workouts…the goal was to develop strength/awareness while inverted, and even if this didn’t result in your first Strict HSPU, it still helped get some practice upside down! We saw a change in the conditioning focus, too…we are working on rowing capacity for the next few months, which means 2-3 GRIND workouts per week! Lastly, we saw the beginning of our four week extra credit Murph Prep, which will lead us up to Memorial Day and make sure everyone is ready to rock! Since we’re talking about Murph, let’s see what May has in store! The first full week of May is going to start on a high note as we test our 3x Rep Max for the Overhead/Front Squat & Bench Press! Once the strength cycle is done, we go back to General Physical Performance lifting, which will consist of barbell complexes and strength days, but there will not be a linear progression behind them. We will continue to get stronger by varying our strength movements! We have a special Cinco De Mayo workout, a great Mother’s Day Workout, our Benchmark workout: Kelly, and of course, we are tackling Murph on Memorial Day weekend! Throughout this month, we will see the gymnastics focus shift from Strict HSPU to building confidence/capacity in the Toes to Bar. This will take the form of skill sessions and higher volume TTB workouts, so prep those lats and midlines! We also will be prepping everyone for the Mid Year Mini Comp that will take place in the final 3 weeks of June! We will see some “Open Style” workouts to help us get ready for the 3-week event! We will still be focusing on longer GRIND workouts 2-3 times a week, so let’s get ready to keep building those engines through the month of May, especially with one of the best examples of an engine workout, Murph, right around the corner! May Weekly Workout Commitments Overhead/ Front Squat + Bench Press 3RM Test (2x/ Week) Grind Workouts (1x/ Week) Workout of the Week or Benchmark/ Classic workout (2x/ Week) Extra Credit Murph Prep (1x/ Week) Toes to Bar Capacity/ Focus