Steve's Club

Getting stronger by the day.

Thrusters, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

                           

LOOK AT RICK GETTING 135 lbs OVER HIS HEAD!!!

Damu doing Thrusters. from steve liberati on Vimeo.

A Vision for Success (Part I)

According to camconnect.org, Camden has made the list of the most dangerous cities in the United States since 1998, and was ranked as the number one most dangerous city in 2004. As an area that is home to young people who are susceptible to the negative aspects of their surroundings, Camden's future is clouded by rampant violence, drugs, and unemployment. Just the same story year after year. 

In 2006, we began our mission to keep Camden youth off the street, and “equip (them) with the skills necessary for optimal health, nutrition and physical fitness, academic achievement, life management, and to learn the values of hard work and commitment.

As Buckminster Fuller once said, you never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. That is exactly what we are doing. Creating a new model for success. As the transformative learning theory says that paradigm shifts start with a ‘disorienting dilemma’- something that throws us off our game, pulls us out of our comfort zones, and forces us to scan for new solutions. Change your body, change your mind. The two work in tandem.

This is what we do: Our purpose is not only to lift its members spirits, but to teach these young kids to "press on." Push the mind and body to new heights. Not only exercising the body, but exercising the mind. Building the inner strength and character needed to succeed in life and have purpose. 

While many of the teens I've encountered have pride in where they come from, its obvious many of them feel stuck because they’re not exposed to the possibilities of life outside their hometown. Through one-on-one talks, I've heard over and over again how they would like to pursue their college education outside of Camden, then maybe come back to help fix the brokenness of that community. And of course with little or no opportunity, they realize they have to somehow find a way both to grow up in their community and to keep themselves away from it at the same time.

Steve's Club gives it members hope. Hope to find a way.  Find a way to a better future and change and positively influence the minds of the people around them.  

But I've quickly discovered that Camden youth, like all young people, want to be a part of a group, and are easily susceptible to joining a gang. I'm certain many of the boys can proudly say that Steve's Club is a family where they have a lot of fun, and its the structure and demand of what is expected of them is what keeps them coming back for more. I'm very confident that some day these boys will go on to work in gratifying jobs that help people, and make a positive name for themselves. My experience says when you give kids high standards, most will keep to it. So far, this has been true.

Wile many of our student athletes have high aspirations, its very unfortunate that the area schools lack the resources to help them reach their goals. Without a structure of support to help these young adults to succeed, some of the students may drop out, and the positive direction that Steve's Club provides is key to keeping them on the right path.

Reach for the stars and enjoy the journey,

Steve

"Every great dream begins with a DREAMER. Always remember, you have withing you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

-Harriet Tubman

Think of these guys the next time...

...you find yourself complaining how hard your workout is or the next time you make an excuse to skip your training session.

Once a week we have an optional day at Steve's Club, in which transportation is not provided and open gym is offered only to those who can find a way to get to and from club.

Notice the key phrase in there, "find a way."

Chris, Anthony and Rick...three of our club's most hard working and dedicated members of the club, who rarely missed a day since they started...actually walk a good 10 miles once a week each way, in the bone numbing, dark cold (temperatures here have reached below freezing recently) in order to satisfy their daily craving of CrossFit.

As much as Rick hates burpees, he finds a way to get them done.

   
Rick doing burpees from steve liberati on Vimeo.

"We will either find a way, or make one."  -Hannibal.

Progress takes work.

Four rounds for time of:

45 pound barbell Overhead walking lunges, 50 feet

15 Burpees

LOCK OUT THOSE ELBOWS, B!

 

Courtney LOOOOVING burpees!!

 

 

Welcome to the club, Ed!

 

Chris locks it out overhead, while keeping his chest up.

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” - Gandhi

Mr. Joshua: A Hero Workout

Steve's Club does "Mr. Joshua" from steve liberati on Vimeo.

Unfortunately, the city of Camden (the poorest city with the highest crime rate in the nation) is stuck in this deep black hole with very little hope of getting out (at least anytime soon). If Camden is saved, it will not be by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all. To make this dream a reality, a bold VISION must be enacted to get the city back on track and headed in the right direction. Since vision can take on different meanings to different people, let me clarify my definition of vision. For sake of argument, we’re using it how a business would use it in a vision statement. In this context, it’s basically defined as a long-term goal. Fair enough?   

We can all probably agree that a strong vision of the future can be tremendously powerful. Just think of the success of the Industrial Revolution. A self-spreading gene that rested on a single principle: Confer benefits on those who do the spreading.

For the Industrialists, those who improve on something and put it out there for others to improve on are rewarded with respect, fame and wealth.

In a nutshell, that’s the power of vision.

To say that the Industrial Revolution is a terrific example of what people can do without programs is an understatement. Not one single program was ever needed to forward the Industrial Revolution. Rather it was forwarded by the confident realization in millions of minds that even a small new idea, even a modest innovation or improvement over some previous invention could improve their lives beyond imagination.

 Worth noting, over a few brief centuries, millions of ordinary citizens, acting almost entirely from motives of self-interest, have transformed the human world by broadcasting ideas and discoveries and furthering these ideas and discoveries by taking them step by step to new ideas and discoveries.

One must stop and ask at this point, with so much creativity our side, how can we not imagine a world a better future for the city of Camden?  Better yet, what is stopping us from trying something different this year that didn’t work last year or the year before?

 Who can argue its time for a change?

Over the next week or so, I will broadly outline our vision here at Steve's Club and our  plans to foster real change in the community we serve and making a real difference in our member's lives.

Perceptible progress is Camden's only hope for change. Progress, as we know, invites participation, fuels change and inspires hope.

More to come.

Rising above the herd.

4 Rounds for time of:

25 Box Jumps
7 Shoulder Presses

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

What's Wrong With Government Programs?

When someone has received life-threatening injuries in a car accident, the medics in the ambulance do whatever they can to keep him alive till they reach a hospital. This first aid is essential but ultimately inadequate, as everyone knows. If there’s no hospital at the end of the road, the patient will die, because the ambulance just doesn’t have the resources a hospital does.

The same is true of programs. There are many programs in place today that are staving off our death – programs to protect the environment from becoming even more degraded that it is. Like the first aid in the ambulance, these programs are essential but ultimately inadequate. They’re ultimately inadequate because they’re essentially reactive. Like the medics in the ambulance, they can’t make good things happen, they only make bad things less bad. They don’t bring into being something good, they only drag their feet against something bad.

If there’s no hospital at the end of the road, the patient in the ambulance will die, because first aid (useful as it is) just doesn’t have the capacity to keep him alive indefinitely. If there’s no new vision for Camden at the end of the road, then they too are going to die, because programs (useful as they are) just don’t have the capacity to keep us alive indefinitely.

Heart of Darkness

"Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still."

"No matter how dark the night, somehow the sun rises once again and all the shadows are chased away."

-David Mathew

Youth of the Nation

Youth of the Nation from steve liberati on Vimeo.

Thurs Night face-off at Steve's Club between Pooh and Mere.

Pooh and Mere go head to head. from steve liberati on Vimeo.

Snatching your way to Crossfit.

Skill work:

The Snatch.

 

 

 

 

After class, I asked Anthony and Chris to sit down and write today's post. Here's what they wrote:

Today was an optional day, and also a skill learning day where we learned how to snatch. Snatching is an intense sport, gathering all of your skills used in crossfit to one movement. Snatching intentionally takes years to master to perfection. The best way to learn snatching is by teaching it in progressions. As the late great Vince Lombardi said "Perfect Practice Makes Perfect". A snatch is a combination of many different movements which are starting with a romanian dead lift then tranfering to a overhead squat in one single but fast motion. A snatch gathers the most power than from other movements, into a movement that throws the weight over your head in a safe and harmless way when performed correctly.