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There's fit and then there's really fit and then there's insanely buff, crazy-assed fit. And at some point beyond that, there seems to be the platonic idealized state of physical perfection that is exemplified by the followers of CrossFit. Being billed as a kind of new physical religion, CrossFit members log on for their WODs, which read like my worst nightmare, and then post in the comments their total time. Because they don't take a break between each action. Let's check in for the instruction for Tuesday, March 25:
Actually, that doesn't sound SO crazy, does it? And if it stops you from making excuses, then that's a good thing, right? But then consider that you're expected (encouraged) to post your time in the comments section, so you're competing with the rest of the CrossFitters. And compare this to Friday's 64 pullups and 64 handstand pushups, and you can see that they are serious about their mantra of "forging elite fitness." Maybe I'm too much of a pansy because I didn't time myself when I did an inaugural seven push ups last week. In fact, I gave myself a pat on the back. If I managed to complete that circuit and it took me 30 minutes to do it (ha! more like 30 minutes plus 300 minutes), I would be sort of crushed then to read about muscleheads who did it in 13 minutes. In fact, after about Has anyone tried this? Maybe it's just because the weight lifters at the gym really scare me but I'm staying far away from the CrossFit crowd and sticking with sane workouts that make me feel good about myself for what I can accomplish. 3 CommentsLeave a comment |
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Me and my 5 wall push-ups every commercial and bathroom break may look paltry compared to those folks at CrossFit, but soon I'll have my tickets to the gun show!
I was skeptical at first but I really love CrossFit. And you don't have to do the WODs as they are written - it is perfectly fine to scale them down to what is doable for you. There are tons of good sites that scale them down (every day!) for kids, women and everything in between (don't ask me what that is - um, tweens?). Really - you should give it a try! It's a blast!
Also, another fun WOD-type workout that's better for beginners is The Monkey Bar Gym. Love that one too!
Hey, I just wanted to follow up on this and say - after you linked this, I went to the site, looked around, and have started doing a (extremely scaled down) version of this! Looking at the BrandX scalings helped a lot - for instance, the scaling for the workout you posted would have been this:
Five rounds, each for time of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
20 Squats
Rest precisely three minutes between each round. Post time for each of five rounds to comments
Which is still pretty intense, but it's 25, 50, 75, and 100 reps total instead of 100, 150, 200, and 250 (which makes me sore just thinking about it!)
What really convinced me was going there, watching the videos, and seeing the emphasis on strict form and the idea of functional movement. That was what I always struggled with in regular exercise. Plus, most of the workouts (though this particular one would probably be an exception for me) are under 20 minutes or so - which means I can warm up, work out, stretch, and shower in about an hour. And it's low-equipment, especially when you're just starting and working on form. You just need a pull-up bar, a stick for practicing olympic lifts and some heavy things to lift, really. (Though having access to a gym would certainly mean not having to be as creative with substitutions.)
So far, I'm enjoying it and starting to see some results already. Plus, it's sure nice to have someone else figure out what my workout should be for me!