We’ll be celebrating July 4th with a traditional "Jacinto Storm". For those of you who don't know, Jacinto is an NYC CrossFit legend -- the fittest 76-year-old around!  He turns 77 on July 3rd; we'll be completing his birthday WOD on the 4th!

Please take note of the following class schedule changes for the 4th of July holiday weekend!

By Spenser MesLast summer, CrossFit Virtuosity member Ivan Dimov was at a party in his native Bulgaria. "I'm outspoken," Ivan says, "and it became kind of obvious that I'm gay." Later that night a teenager approached him, fumbling, nervous. He said he was gay too, and that he didn't have anyone to talk to. "I was probably the first person he ever told," Ivan says.The moment was pivotal for Ivan, who left Bulgaria after high school to attend Williams College in Massachusetts and has since spent more than 20 years living and working in the United States. “Of course I knew that Bulgaria is not an easy place to be gay,” says Ivan, “but that was when I started to think seriously about what I could do to make things better.”

By Spenser MesAndrew Bielawski says it was easy to find a squad for the masters division of last year's CrossFit Team Series competition. "We just gathered all the old [sic] people from Virtuosity," he laughs. The CFV team, which included Maibritt Jensen, Lucas Rooney, and Elizabeth Wipff, brought the heat. As Andrew remembers it, their only hiccup was a workout that opened with jump roping: "Rooney and I both struggled. The ladies finished their portion of the entire workout before we had even finished our double-unders." In the end, though, "Old Dawgs, New Trix" placed a very respectable 69th in the world. Encouraged by that success, Andrew and Maibritt decided to compete this year at the Long Island Masters Team Competition in Hauppauge, New York.Andrew is 47, but since the youngest team member determines the age bracket, they competed with the 40-44 year-olds. While the second workout brought back Andrew's old double-under nemesis, thankfully the rules allowed Maibritt to complete most of them. For Andrew, the real struggle came later during the fourth workout of the day, a six-minute max distance sled push, which he described as, "the most brutal thing I've done." "Please Please Please," he posted on Facebook, "NEVER program sled pushes."

We’re pleased to announce the winners of our Beach Season Whole30 Beginner/Rx Challenge!

By Spenser MesOur toes, especially our big toe, which bears twice as much weight as the other four combined, rarely get the love they deserve. When we run, our toes maintain contact with the ground 75% of the time, elongating the foot and allowing us to go faster. And when we deadlift, squat, or do kettlebell swings, they help stabilize the body. Yet we often forget about our toes, which Joey compares to forgetting about your fingers when trying to hold a handstand.

This Saturday is our annual CrossFit Virtuosity Prom! To facilitate clean up (and recovery!), we'll be making the following slight schedule changes.

By Spenser MesLike the rest of CrossFit Virtuosity, James Kozlakowski did Murph on Monday, and like those of us who were able to fight through the lingering soreness, he also worked out on Wednesday. The major difference between James and the rest of us is that, days before, he placed 10th at the CrossFit Games East Regional.Only in his second year of CrossFit, James was a reluctant convert. "Looking at it from an outside point of view, it looked pointless," he says. He'd been doing these kinds of workouts for most of his life: as a football player and wrestler in high school in Lynbrook, NY and then as a lacrosse player for Long Island University, where he studied childhood education. After he graduated in 2012, though, he missed competing, and a friend suggested he try CrossFit. What hooked him was realizing he wasn't as well conditioned as he'd thought. "CrossFit opened a new goal in my life — not to be the most ripped or best looking, but rather to be in the best shape possible."

Stop by on Saturday, June 25th during any Level 2 class for our annual "Pride" WOD to celebrate NYC Pride! All proceeds will benefit Equality Florida's Pulse Victim's Fund.