CrossFit for Newbies

Rachel commented on my latest experiment “I looked into doing Crossfit but I have to admit I was intimidated! it really is as Charlotte says: you ahve to know what you’re doing, no kidding around. And they don’t give lighter options, so in case you can’t bench press 200 right now, you have to sort of figure everything out. Not that big of a deal but definitely not for the beginner!”

Noooo Rachel! That is exactly what they want you to think! They want you to be intimidated! It gives them bragging rights! Are you gonna let a bunch of law-enforcement personnel & military men tell you what to do?!? Wait, of course you are. As will I, being the law-abiding citizen that I am. Of course I’m listening to you, officer, and I swear I will never ever speed again. Thank you for this ticket. It is wonderful as are you. Ahem.

CrossFit is Hard
Those of you that checked out the WOD today on CrossFit might have been a little… worried. It was a Fearless Fifty routine (although I can think of another F word I’d use) & very challenging. Gym Buddy Allison and I finished in 40 minutes on the dot. She would have finished sooner except she had me, the sickie, slowing her down with the dizziness and the fainting and the impromptu dropping of the weights. (Kidding! Mostly…) And I hope that some of you tried it too!

Don’t Be Scared Little Girl, I Won’t Hurt You
I was so excited to read all of you in the comments that said you were going to join me for the CrossFit experiment so today I thought I’d follow up with a few tips to help you out – especially if you are new to weight lifting. CrossFit can be done! By you, even!

1. The WOD can be scaled back. This is not a contest. Okay, well, techinically it is. But that doesn’t mean you have to compete! Trust me, you won’t even come close to the amazons that post the top scores there. If you can’t do a pull-up (and like AT22 pointed out, crossfit is where they learned how to do a pull-up) then do a jumping pull up. Can’t do that? Do a 90-degree pull-up. Can’t do that? Get a wheelchair. (Kidding!) You can do a 90-degree pull-up, I promise.

2. The recommended weights are GOALS not starting points. I had to learn this the hard way. Start small. Work up as you get comfortable.

3. Practice the lifts to make sure your form is good. If you absolutely can’t/won’t find a trainer to help you, then check out the CrossFit videos (admit it, you love them for the music. But if one of those guys shows up in a mullet, we are done. Do you hear me, CrossFit??). Another good source is ExRx. Just type the name of the exercise into their search engine & you’ll get a video with all kinds of helpful tips. If you are a cute young thing, then just approach the beefiest guy in the gym and ask for pointers. Show a little cleavage and you’ll never have to pay for personal training again! (Not that I would know this. Ahem. I have no cleavage – you all should know this by now.) But please practice. Bad form will only get you injured.

4. You can rest. Most of the WODs say “AFAP” or as fast as possible. But that means as fast as is possible for you. Take a break if you need it. Allison and I certainly did today.

5. Warm up. You don’t have to do the official crossfit warm up but you do need to get your blood moving. Run a couple of laps. Bike for five minutes. It helps.

6. Know your limits. If it starts to get overly sore, stop working that poor muscle. If you don’t finish, you don’t finish. You can always try again tomorrow!

7. The WOD intensity varies greatly. Some days are so easy it’s a little unnerving. Some days will kick you until you can’t get up. And every 4th day is a rest day. So if the WOD is just too much – just know you only have to hang in there until tomorrow.

8. You’re gonna need a gym. Some workouts you can modify to do at home. But unless you have an Olympic set of weights in your garage, this is a gym workout. Oh yeah – get weight gloves. You’ll thank me later:)

9. Anyone have anything to add??

I Need More Data!
The more subjects in my admittedly not-very-scientific experiment, the more meaningful the results will be. I need you guys! You can do this:) And don’t forget – e-mail me your thoughts, feelings & results!

8 Comments

  1. This is perfect advice to CrossFit newbies. I just learned on my own, using the videos and scaled the weight to my comfort level.

    There is a site that scales the workouts for you – I think the link is in the CrossFit FAQs (I believe it’s BrandX Martial Arts website – and the FAQs are very helpful). There’s also a CrossFit forum on the site (most people are very supportive). And check for an affiliate gym in your area – you can always take a few “classes” or get some olympic lift help that way.

  2. I’m still scared! It sounds way beyond me! But maybe I’ll give it a try . . .

  3. Reading the FAQ will answer most of y our questions about CF. The forum is a goldmine of information. Charlotte, if you want to send me a bunch of your reader’s questions about CF I will send you the answers.

  4. I wish I saw a blog like this when I started out a few months ago. This was well put together and very accurate. I still get the urge to throw up and I love every bit of it. I guess you could never get use to dry-heav’n. Crossfit is great, motivational, encouraging and more importantly it gives you the balls to keep on going back and back for more. I would consider myself to be a Crossfit blog that agrees with you totally!!

    Great post,
    Shawn
    http://www.fitness102.blogspot.com

  5. Be warned – I am a crossfitter. But a newbie. I’ve been doing it ~8 weeks.

    My wife and I started together. She’s 5’6″, 110 lbs. My wrists are bigger than her shoulders. But where I’m a gorilla, she’s smart. She’s been scaling her workouts all along. In January, she could do 4 push-ups. A week ago, she did 16 without stopping — in a workout which called for 100 push-ups. She completed all 100.

    The Filthy 50, coincidentally, is the first CF WOD we did together. It was RXd 6 weeks ago, but we didn’t have the equipment we needed yet. We’re in Oman, in the desert. I had to make our pull-up bars at a local metal shop (they couldn’t read my plans and messed it up a few times, so I did it myself and they learned how to use the equipment they’ve based their ‘livelihoods’ on for ?? years.) We made our own wallballs, jump boxes, etc. We weren’t ready for the Filthy 50 until a week had passed.

    She did a Twinkie Twenty — 20 reps of each of the 10 exercises, instead of 50. We still don’t have a GHD (glute-ham developer, AKA roman chair) so I substitute Good Mornings with a standard 45 lb bar on my back.

    Those 6 weeks ago, she did these 200 repetitions (10 exercises, 20 reps each) in 20:50.

    Last night, having observed her incredible progress the last 6 weeks, she did a Thrifty 35, in 27:54.

    That’s a 75% increase in the work she did, with only a 33% increase in time.

    THE ROCKET SCIENCE OF SCALING
    Workouts may include only sprints & squats. How many variables? Distance, repetitions and speed. A benchmark workout might be as simple as GRACE, 30 repetitions of getting a weighted barbell overhead (standing straight up with locked out arms, to finish). How many variables? Weight, repetitions, and speed.

    But even as complicated a WOD as the Filthy 50, there aren’t really a lot of variables you can change: Load (weight), repetitions, speed usually covers it. Changing only 1 variable is usually a little unbalanced. It’s usually wise to adjust all three to maintain the balance which is part of the artistry of a well-designed WOD.

    From Filthy 50 to Twinkie Twenty, my wife obviously scaled down the reps from 50 to 20. But look at all her “subs” — substitutions:

    Instead of a 20 LB medicine ball, she used an 11 LB medicine ball.

    She used a 20″ jump box instead of a 24″ jump box.

    She did Kettlebell Swings with my 20 LB medicine ball, which (I don’t recommend this) has handles on it. I used a 35 LB dumbbell.

    She did Push Press with my 20 LB med ball, instead of a 45 LB barbell.

    When we started, neither of us could do Double Unders. First time, we subbed 3 single unders for each DU. Last night, we both did real DUs.

    She still can’t do Knees-To-Elbows; she subbed Knees-to-Chest.

    * * * * *
    HOW TO SCALE
    Check out what the CrossFit Kids are doing — my wife has been using this web site quite a lot. Kids’ groups are divided into “Big Dawgs”, “The Porch”, “Pack”, “Puppies”, and “Buttercups.” I’ve seen her do a lot of Puppies, a few Big Dawgs, and once or twice a Buttercup. YMMV.

    You can see it right here: http://www.crossfitkids.com/index.php/Workouts/

    * * * * *
    Another note specific to the Filthy 50: this is more of a LEG workout than you would expect… and when you get to those Burpees, tell them I said Hi. My sense is they’ve spent an absurd amount of time with me, sadistically ROFL at my expense.

  6. thanks for this great post, and for these comments. kirez, great stuff.

    I have been flirting with crossfit but haven’t taken the plunge and this post really makes me think I can do it. I do work out, yeah with a lot to learn but I am learning. I am a mom of 3 boys 7 and under, work full time, do a ton of community/volunteer work, love to cook, love my friends – result is, I need to make the MOST of my workout time as I don’t have much of it and I am really taken by the efficiency of the crossfit WODs. but yes, intimidated. like anything else, though, there’s nothing to be done except just doing it and this may be the inspiration I need. thanks.

  7. one more thing – reference for how to do 90-degree pull up please? googling not helpful. thanks!

  8. You guys are the best!! I put up a new post addressing your comments and answering your question Jill! Thanks for all the tips & inspiration!