After a few weeks of waiting for an open spot, I finally got to go to my first Crossfit class! On the way there, I was nervous, excited and a tiny bit scared to see what I was getting myself into. When we got there, a couple of the the trainers were doing the WOD, and wow, it was amazing to watch them go! Not to mention, a bit intimidating!
My Crossfit Box, Crossfit Dynamix, makes you take 6 foundations classes before moving on to the daily WODs and on the first day we focused on squats and pushups. I had always thought I had been squatting correctly, but it turns out I was way wrong! We started out with air squats, which are just regular squats with your hands out directly in front of you. Our trainer and box owner, Justin, showed me how to get into proper squat position and how low you need to get to complete a squat, not just a half squat like I had been doing before!
After air squats, we used PVC pipe to replicate a bar to learn proper for on back squats and overhead squats. It’s not as easy as it looks folks!
Once we had the squats down, kinda, we turned to pushups, where we showed how to do a proper pushup, as well as pushups with release. Even though everything is modifiable in Crossfit, Justin said that pushups on your knees or without the full range of motion were not acceptable. They had done some studies with box members and they showed that the people who modified to knees, eventually grew much better at doing the knee pushups, they never got closer to doing the actual pushup. I found this to be incredibly interesting because I can knock out knee pushups like nothing, but regular pushups are nearly impossible. Instead of knees, I had to do a regular pushup pretty poorly, but I can only go up from here!
Once we finished the basics, we got to put our new skills to the test by doing a mini WOD. Our WOD was AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 6 minutes:
-400m run
-10 air squats
-10 pushups
I only got through about 1 1/2 of the WOD when time was called, but it kicked my butt nonetheless.
I cannot wait until tomorrow, except for the part where we are going to be doing burpees. Yikes!
Have you ever tied Crossfit?
Way to get out there and try something new! Maybe I’m an odd case because I successfully converted from knee to normal push-ups. My old trainer had me do knee push-ups until I could easily do 30+, and he refused to let me do them again afterwards. The first normal push-ups weren’t nearly as “pretty”, but I could get out a decent amount. You will get a ton better before you know it, without you even realizing!
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Thanks! It is so exciting, yet so painful at the same time. Either way, it feels great. You never really know what your body is capable of, until you go out and push!
When I started, squats were a surprise as well. I had no idea how low you had to go for it to be “real.” Now I always go super low and actually like squats (weirdo, I know!) but it’s interesting what you say about push ups. My box does allow knee push ups but what your coaches say makes sense. I think I will start minimizing those! I just wrote a Crossfit love post today as well if you want to check it out! Glad you got started…best of luck! And now…I’m off to my 6am Cfit class!
Squats were a huge surprise for me. I\’ve worked out with different trainers before and no one ever said anything about my squats, but my legs are feeling the difference, even three days later! Kick butt! 🙂
That’s so exciting! I haven’t tried Crossfit, but I’m considering doing it this year. Good luck!
Try it if you can! It is like nothing I’ve ever done in my life!
I love reading CrossFit stories. I am definitely trying it out this year!
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Try it! Its really like no other workout I\’ve ever done, and I haven\’t even started the real WODs yet!
I’m so interested in CrossFit! It’s my plan to get into it this fall once I finish training for my first marathon. I love hearing stories about it. So strong and badass!
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I was slightly obsessed with reading other people\’s post about it before I tried Crossfit. I agree with you on it being badass. I feel exhausted when I leave, but strong and just amazing in general!
Congrats on your first day of crossfit! I’m actually another example of a successful transition from knee to regular pushups. I started off doing half reps on my toes, but my trainer told me to do them on my knees at full range of motion instead. Now I only do pushups on my toes and always get my chest to the floor. It’s interesting how different trainers follow different methods. I’m looking forward to hearing more about your crossfit journey!
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Thanks! It was intense! My coach said the full range of motion was the most important part of the push-up. It\’s not easy, but I\’m working at it!
I’m dying to try Crossfit and plan on it once I have my baby!! It looks so kick ass!!!!
It totally kicks my butt!
I’ve never tried but I’m definitely intrigued!
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If you ever have the chance, try it!
never knew that about knee push ups! But i have been trying to do them all on my toes recently…gotta get stronger somehow!
Exactly! They aren\’t pretty now, but hopefully one day they will be!
Well now! Looks like I will be forgetting the knees when it comes to pushups. I wonder how they suggest strengthening to get to full blown push ups? I’m a sloppy push-upper, and I’ve got to change that. I’ve never tried Crossfit, but I want to so very badly!
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My coach basically said, no matter how ugly it looks you have to be on toes and doing the full range of motion, to where your chest touches the ground. My pushups are basically me falling to the ground because I\’m not strong enough to lower myself all the way down, and pushing myself back up to starting pose. Not fun, but hopefully it will be worth it!
Awesome!!! Good for you for trying out CrossFit! I have been doing it for a while now and absolutely love it! It is so motivating and really pushes me! You are going to love burpee day! Good luck!!!
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Strangely enough, I enjoyed the burpees. I even taught my son to do them, it is too cute.
Congratulations on your first workout! I’m going to be starting a cross-fit like workout program next week with my friend that is a police officer. I’m scared and excited.
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Thanks! Good luck on your new program – kick butt!
That sounds like a great first day of fundamentals! I’m not too surprised to hear that your trainer doesn’t think that knee push-ups can get you stronger for real push-ups. I know that one of my boxes has folks who can’t yet do full push-ups banding up under the pull-up bar (making the stretchy resistant bands into a harness and then doing push ups on the floor while the bands help lift their body) as a modification now. I think learning the right way first is best. My butt now sags a bunch when I get tired, which I think is a result of too many knee push-ups. Looking forward to hearing more about your crossfit experience!
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Those bands sound like they would help a lot. Right now my pushups sucks, big time, but I know if I work at it, one day I\’ll be able to do a proper one! It\’s all about the journey.
Ahh I’ve yet to try CrossFit. I’ve done CF-inspired workouts ,but haven’t had the chance to go to a box. But I love reading recaps!!! Thanks for sharing , good luck with tomorrow!
Thanks! If you have the chance, try it. It\’s like nothing I\’ve ever done before!
Congrats on finishing your first day at CrossFit! Interesting about the pushups… i’ve been doing knee pushups because I was told it was better to have a large range of motion than to barely do a regular push up. and Burpees…. ugh, i hate/love burpees! can’t wait to hear how it goes.
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I have a love hate relationship with burpees too. At first I love them because I\’m pretty good at them, but one I do a bunch, they.suck.so.bad!
Love this! I tried Crossfit for the first time last Monday and have taken 4 classes so far. I walked into a WOD on the first day called “death by burpees” um, yeah…that was fun. Or not.
Actually- I’ve loved it and can’t wait until I’m done with the intro classes and can do the regular ones as many times a week as I want!
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Death by burpees sounds scary but exciting! Good luck with your classes!
I’m absolutely DYING to try it… hoping to this fall!!
Corrie Anne recently posted..Pride Comes Before A 3 Second Fail
Try it girl! You will love it!
Sounds like an awesome workout! I’ve never tried crossfit but would like to!
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Try it if you can! It\’s really like no other workout I\’ve ever done!