Steve's Club Camden

Caring matters.

"We think your program is amazing.  We are both full time law enforcement officers

here in Florida- I am at a high school that is in a very low income area and

Anthony works on a robbery/drug suppression team in the projects.  We see youth

daily challenged with the streets and which way to turn.  I sat on duty in a gym

rec center on Friday night and watched some of our kids play basketball.  I called

home to Anthony and said this is Steve's club.  I took of my gun belt and joined

them on the court.  Now I stand 5'3 and cannot play bball to save my life.  But I

had more fun laughing and playing with them.  So often these kids just need to see

that someone does care about them. 

 

Your program is incredible and has helped me grow as a cop.  I look at the kids

that you deal with, much greater level than ours, and think what a true hero you

are to these kids. 

 

We are proud to help support your club and hope to continue to help your kids.

Not to mention your products are very yummy!!!

  

We thank you for giving us as a box to help your kids!" - Alison D.

Thanks for the awesome testimonial Alison. You've hit the nail on the head!! Sometimes its really hard to convey on this blog but I couldn't agree more with her statement. Caring goes a long way. Just being there is not enough either. You must genuinely show interest and care about kids like they are your own. I think this is a huge part of working with kids and young teens. I think at the end of the day they respect and look up to me for that. They not only see that I care by taking the time to train them, but they know that I care by taking an active interest in their lives and taking the time to let them know I'm here for them if they need advice or guidance. 

Beating the Streets With Steve’s Club - CF Journal

Steve's Club- Republished with permission of the CrossFit Journal from steve liberati on Vimeo.

In May 2007, Steve Liberati opened Steve’s Club, a non-profit CrossFit affiliate for urban youth in Camden, N.J. His goal was simple: improve the lives of the area’s youth through fitness and community. After several years of consistent effort, Liberati has established a name for himself, and his community is thriving. “Steve’s Club is a DisneyWorld … a place where dreams are made and happy times are had; where they can share stories, experiences, ideas, and goals with your friends; where a kid can be a hero for a day and finish a workout that adults do; where they can learn new skills, new movements and a new way to look at health and fitness; where everyone comes out on top and walks about feeling accomplished and proud; where they can run around outside without having to worry about stray bullets or stepping on dirty needles or crack pipes; where they can confide in someone who respects and cares about them, someone who is willing to offer advice whether it is fitness related (or) about nutrition, school or life,” Liberati says. Steve’s Club relies heavily on fundraising to keep their efforts alive, and on May 15 they held their second annual Beat the Streets fundraiser. Again Faster was there with cameras rolling.

"Beating the Streets With Steve's Club" by CrossFit Again Faster, CrossFit Journal preview video [wmv] [mov]

selling knives.

Strength:

Handstand Pushups (strict DB presses-->HSPU-->HSPU on parallettes), 3x5

Metcon:

3 Rounds:

Dumbbell Overhead Walking Lunges, 20 steps

Burpees, 20 reps

 

The other day an unemployed member of Steve's Club who is in desperate search of finding a way to make money told me he had an interview coming up for a job making $15 an hour. I asked what the job was for and he told me it involved selling knife sets door to door. I remembered looking into this same company years ago while attending the local communty college as flyers were advertised all over campus with $15 an hour pay. It certainly sounds very attractive to a young person who the ads are targeted to. Of course we know it is a multi level marketing company where you have the potential to make $15 an hour IF and that is a big IF, if you sell X number of knive sets a month. Selling one knife set is no small feat but if you can some how pull off selling hundreds a month, it works out to where the person selling the knives gets $15 an hour or more. Sure it's deceptive marketing targeted to the uninformed and unknowing. And quite frankly a huge waste of the person's time to go through the interview and hiring process only to find out it is NOT what they thought it was. These companies prey on desperate individuals looking for money and a good number of people fall for it.

So after a long talk explaining to him what multi level marketing was and what the job was really about, it became very clear as day that this job was not for him and he was much better off moving on to search for another job. We also talked about the possibility of selling PaleoKits to local businesses, fire departments, police stations and stores as a way to earn some money. He was very excited about it and walked away with a hundred ideas of how he was going to make it work. I'm confident that he will follow through and take the initiative to sell kits locally and I'm really hoping it works out. Not for my sake, but his. I see how difficult it is right now for these young kids to find work and there is no better feeling then being able to offer a young kid in need a job to make money for himself.

I would rank giving a young kid (who desperately needs a job) an opportunity to make money up there with giving an out of shape young kid the tools, motivation and guidance to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle.

Hopefully, I can continue to offer both of these opportunities to our young members.

How strong? Strong enough.

Strength:

Squats, 3x5

Metcon:

“DT”

3-5 (depending) Rounds for Time:

(155/105)

12 Deadlifts

9 Hang Power Cleans

6 Push/Split Jerk

How strong do we need our young athletes and Steve Clubbers to be?  Well, let's see...if they are playing a sport and that is the only reason they are lifting weights then we need them to be strong enough for them to excel at their chosen sport. Of course we know that strength is relative and what is strong to one person is not strong to another. For example to tackle a 200 pound fully charging running back you better be strong and fit to bring the opposing athlete down. Of course the stronger you are the easier it will be to bring the person down. But does squating 500 lbs automatically give an athlete the ability needed to successfully tackle players? No I don't think so.  There are many factors involved in playing the defensive position well to tackle a hard charging running back and being crazy strong is that all that is needed. However, being strong will certainly help and make for a better athlete on the field but that strength needs to be applied and used in the right manner if the goal is to train for a chosen sport. Same case would apply to a baseball catcher who would certainly benefit from getting stronger to drive the ball further, block runners to the plate and throw the ball down second base on his or her knees. Strength helps and certainly aids a player for most sports but how strong do we really need kids to be? 

I don't think there is a right or exact answer to this question but I do think (especially if the kid is playing one of the 4 major sports in the US or doing track and field) that strength matters A LOT and getting stronger while keeping fit and staying well conditioned will only give the athlete an advantage on the field or court. I don't think we need to get kids deadlifting 4 times their bodyweight or squatting over 2 times their bodyweight, but a certain strength level and base is needed to succeed in sport and prevent injuries from occuring.

For the kids who do not play sports, our goal is to get kids as strong as possible while putting extra emphasis and priority on lifting the weights correctly and safely before loading the bar up. Form is critical and is the first line of order always.

We also carefully craft workouts so our young athletes are lifting weights to get stronger but also lifting weights faster over long distances and with a high but controlled level of intentsity.

When it comes down to it, I make sure the kids are always learning new movements and skills, getting stronger each week and being able to express that strength in a safe and fast manner which we call power.

Power is a byproduct of Strength. The two work hand in hand.

So while we push to get kids stronger, we push even harder to get kids to become more powerful...moving heavy weight FAST!

Crowded with kids.

Deadlift, 3-3-3

rest 5...

10 min AMRAP

10 Deadlifts

10 Pushups

10 Lunges

Again Faster is currently in town filming our club and conducting interviews. Today Patrick Cummings asked me a very good question that I wanted to expand on a little. He asked why do the kids come to Steve's Club?  What is the main reason they come here when there is so much action going on in their neighborhood. I don't know if there is a main reason they come to Steve's Club. They come because Steve's Club is a safe haven, an escape from the reality of their everyday life. When they arrive at Steve's Club, it is their time to shine, their opportunity to go outside of the negative environment loitered with drugs, abandoned houses, and gangs that becomes all too familiar in their daily life.

Steve's Club is a Disney World...a place where dreams are made and happy times are had. Where they can share stories, experiences, ideas, and goals with your friends. Where a kid can be a hero for a day and finish a workout that adults do. Where they can learn new skills, new movements and a new way to look at health and fitness. Where everyone comes out on top and walks about feeling accomplished and proud. Where they can ran around outside without having to worry about stray bullets or stepping on dirty needles or crack pipes. Where they can confide in someone who respects and cares about them. Someone who is willing to offer advice whether it is fitness related, about nutrition, school or life.

There are many reasons kids come to Steve's Club, but everyone comes here to get away from it all. Get away from the hustle and stress of everyday life, growing up in the crime capital of the world.

Life is certainly not easy for many of the kids that come here, but that hour in the day that they spend here at Steve's Club working out and crossfitting...many of them will tell you firsthand that even crossfitting through the hardest WOD (workout of the day) is a nice break from reality of livin in da hood.

Strength matters.

Skill work: Push Press

Strength work:  Handstand pushups, 5x5

WOD:

5 Rounds

7 Push Presses (DB)

7 Burpees

praying to the floor gods!

Squat, 3x5

3 Rounds

250 meter row

1 minute plank

"Inventiveness and creativity need to be driven by insane believers with a clear vision. Commit to who you are and what you're doing, believe in it, guard it from being squashed, and then put it out into the world - people can sense vision, and you'd be amazed at how quickly your belief becomes theirs." -Jon C.

Torture Chamber

For time:

Buy in: 100 Double Unders

3 Rounds

10 Deadlifts, 215

50 lb sandbag run (100 meters)

Buy out: 1000 meter ROW

The Steve's clubbers refer to the Concept II Rower as the torture chamber. And for good reason. It does not forgive. If you're a big strong guy with poor stamina and no endurance, you'll get crushed. If you're a small short guy lacking power and strength, you'll get crush. Unless, your seat comes to a halt, you're working hard. You're working to keep the flywheel turning and the chain pulling back and forth. It is a full movement, requiring every muscle and ounce of heart to keep a steady pace. Try it following a tough workout as the one above, and you'll quickly discover what makes the Concept II Rower so special. 

As Special K (on the rower to the left) was struggling to finish his 1000 meter piece, Jose (pictured far right) kept reminding him that he just finished doing the same workout and he got through it himself, so there was no excuse for giving up and quitting was not an option. Special K kept yelling how much it hurt, how his legs were going numb and he was cramping....but with Orlando to his one side pulling like he was rowing himself off a deserted island and Jose on the other side reminding him to "suck it up" we all start and finish this workout as a team...Special K stayed in there and mustered through the short term pain and muscular fatigue.

While mental toughness played a large part, Special K really owes it to Orlando and Jose each at his side for help getting through today's workout.

On the those days when the going gets tough....it certainly helps to have a good crew around you to get you through.

Quote of the Day:

"As the going gets tough, the tough lean on others to get going." 

We simply need to get our kids moving more and eating right. Simple but not easy.

SQUAT THERAPY!

Strength: Back Squats, 5x5

Conditioning: 3 rounds for time: 50 yard sprint 50 double unders.

"JUST SQUAT!"

When you're feeling weak...SQUAT!

When you're feeling fat...SQUAT!

When you're feeling sad...SQUAT!

When you're feeling sore...SQUAT!

When you're feeling mad...SQUAT!

When you're feeling strong...SQUAT!

When you're feeling happy...SQUAT!