Benchmark Review: Elizabeth

Elizabeth is another one of "The Girls" a group of Crossfit's benchmark workouts know to be very challenging.  I am personally a huge fan of this workout because I kicked butt at it and you get to throw around some pretty heavy weight and you get a little rest by switching from a pulling to pushing movement. 

When I asked a trainer from Crossfit Smithtown about this workout they shuttered "Elizabeth is one of those workouts that exposes weaknesses because it's only two movements and if you can't do either very well you're screwed" they told me.

I asked a trainer from a Crossfit gym in New Jersey and they said "It's not necessarily a highly skilled workout but it is high on the strength scale.  The Ring dips get a lot of people if you don't have a strong upper body and the cleans are taxing.  Since it's for time it's what we call a burner, it's quick but you have to keep moving and you'll feel it after" That's what Greg told me and boy was he right.

Elizabeth Clean 135 lbs Ring Dips 21-15-9 reps, for time

I went into this workout feeling good because I love ring dips.  I've been training my arms for years bodybuildiong and doing strength workouts so they are a strong pushing muscle.  I also got a lot better at cleans so I was ready to go.

I murdered this workout. I finished less than a minute under my coach who is 4 year Crossfiter who competes in RX events and is in the top 10% of Crossfitters in the Northeast.  "That was very impressive.  This workout plays to your strengths and you pushed yourself I can tell.  Your upperbody strength and form on the ring dips has you way ahead of the curve...but now it's time to work on your weaknesses" A praising statement from Coach Anthony Escandon with a motivating jab at the end

Final Thought- I felt so good after this workout I trained a lit bit more and thought. Wow I finished in under 5 minutes,I only worked out 5 minutes and I did well, I'm not even going to feel this tomorrow.  I felt kind of guilty like I didn't workout. Ha boy did I feel it the next day...Viva la Crossfit!!

Overall I give this workout an 8
Skill- 6
Strength-8
Endurance-6
Fitness Rating 7.5

Benchmark Review: Cindy

Cindy was one of the first workouts I tried at my crossfit gym.  It is also one of the first workouts I beat much more experienced and let's be honest here 'better' Crossfiters at.  The reason I was able to beat those other Crossfitters that smoked me in previous workouts is simple.  Cindy is very low skill workout but it pushes your strength and endurance to levels you couldn't imagine.

Cindy

5 Pull-ups 10 Push-ups 15 Squats

As many rounds as possible in 20 min

So if you're someone who is fit but new to Crossfit this is a great workout to test your physical fitness level and it is an encouraging workout because it will instill the fact that you just need to get your movements down and you'll be banging out the more skilled workouts in no time

The workout does involve pull-ups but in low amounts at one time. So even if you haven't mastered kipping pull-ups like myself you may be able to get by on strict pull-ups which are much, much more stressing on the body.

For Cindy you will perform these movements consecutively for rouns dor twenty minutes.  That means 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats.  The sxore you want to go for if you want to be considered a solid competitor is 20.  The real advamced athletes will get around 25 but beginners should be around 15.

I asked my coach his opinion on the workout and where he thought I should be "Cindy is a great workout to test out volume and endurance.  It is a true test of a strong mind to to keep fighting through the pain that will surely come.  A round a minute is where someone fit should be so shoot for 20.  Anything more is gravy unless you're planning on competing" Coach Ben told me this with some confidence so I felt good. 

 When I completed a little more than 20 rounds I couldn't have been more pumped.  At round 15 it was a struggle. I asked a fellow Crossfitter what he thought of the workout "The rest is really when you're doing the squats because your legs should be able to handle the volume of the workout as a crossfitter.  The hard part should be the upper body stuff because of the stress on your shoulders"  said Blake Morelli an experienced Crossfitter and coach.  Funny thing is for me the hardest part were the squats which I had to break up into 5's while I could bang out the pull-ups and push-ups unbroken.  Years of weightlifting paying off!

Overall I give the workout an7.5
Skill level-3
Endurance-8
Strength-4
Fitness rating-9

The Best Crossfit Follows on Social Media

Social Media and Crossfit...two things that are taking the world by storm.  I've compiled a list of the best follows in the world of Crossfit.  The accounts made the list for various reasons.  Some are entertaining, some are interesting and some give some great work out tips.

Crossfits Official Accounts

Instagram- @Crossfit
Twitter- @Crossfit
Facebook- Facebook.com/Crossfit

Crossfit's official pages keep Crossfitters up to date on recent news in the Crossfit world.  they also post a WOD every day and inspirational quotes.  The instagram page posts at least one pice
 per day

Best Athlete- Annie Thorisdottir

Annie's last name translates to "Thor's daughter"  that tells you all you need to know about how she works out.  The former back to back Crossfit Games champ reportedly beat NFL running back in a push-up contest last year.  The Iceland native posts her training daily along with other funny and interesting things.

Instagram- @Anniethorisdottir
Twitter- @IcelandAnnie
Facebook- Facebook.com/Anniethorisdottir

Best Male Athlete- Jason Khalipa

Kalipha won the 2008 games and has been a top competitor every year.  He is a bear of a man and it is awesome watching him perform endurance workouts.  He posts workouts but also posts tips to instagram and twitter.  I find these very useful and I think most will.

Twitter- @JasonKhalipa
Instagram- @JasonKhalipa
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Khalipa/206063636103969

Best Gear follow- Rogue Fitness

Rogue is the standard in Crossfit gear and equipment so it's natural they'd be the best follow.  Lot's of pics posted daily of cool new gear and newly released equipment.  Plus posts from sponsored athletes.  The best reason to follow is to find out about sales!  crossfit stuff is expensive!

Instagram- @ROGUEFITNESS
Twitter- @RogueFitness
Facebook- Facebook.com/RogueFitness

Wildcard- WOD Talk

WOD Talk is a Crossfit magazine that does a great job on Social Media.  They market deals for subscribing to their mag and website but they also use their social media to keep the Crossfit world updated on recent events.  You will actually get more information here on competitions and other fun crossfit community things like the Lurong Living Challenge.  they also share any contests that followers can enter for free stuff and who doesn't love free stuff!!!!!

Instagram- @WODTALK
Twitter- @WodTalk
Facebook- Facebook.com/WODTalk

My First Crossfit Competition Experience: Epic Showdown Report

Last Saturday I was supposed to compete in my first ever Crossfit competition. This competition was called Epics Showdown and it was taking place at The Sports Arena in St. James Long Island.  The Sports Arena is an indoor sports complex that hosts all different sports events including hockey, soccer, and flag football.  This was their first Crossfit competition.

Due to an injury I decided not to compete but I was still pumped to attend the event and see what it was all about.  I decided to follow a few competitor's and watch how the handled the event.  It was an interesting and fun experience.  The intensity and level of commitment from the competitors was astounding.  Remember, These "competitors are not professionals, they are regular people with regular jobs training for fun...but boy did they give it their all

Event One was a true test of Crossfit strength.  It was a clean ladder starting at a lighter weight working up to as heavy as a competitor could go.  Cleans are known as one of the main moves in Crossfit and are worked on multiple times a week by Crossfitters.  I would say it is the most used olympic lift in the world.

Event 1

Clean Ladder:
Score = Max weight + deadlifts (each deadlift = 1lb added to your score)
30 seconds per station
When you fail, max reps deadlifts in remaining time
2 attempts allowed before deadlifts, but you may just make 1 attempt if you'd like
If you are able to complete the HEAVIEST weight, you have the option of deadlifting the remainder of the 30 seconds (each deadlift = 1lb) OR attempting an additional clean (each additional clean = 10lbs)

Men’s Ladder:
155, 170, 185, 205, 215, 225, 235, 245, 265, 275, 285, 300, 315
RX begins at 185
Scaled begins 155

Anthony Escandon, a Crossfit coach with 3 years of experience was nearly able to complete the ladder as he cleared the 300 clean for a new personal record.  He completed it on the first attempt and was able to bang out 11 deadlifts for a very impressive showing.

When asked about the workout Anthony said "The cleans weren't the hard part really.  What made made it hard was we were the last group so every in the place was watching us.  I just had to channel my nerves into pulling the weight." He seemed nervous about the attention at first but in the end having everyone's focus on his lifts  seemed to help.  "By the time I got to the deadlifts I was shot but everyone was screaming not to drop the bar so I felt like I absolutely had to keep moving"

                                        Anthony Escandon pictured in the front getting in the zone.

                                        Anthony Escandon making the quick work of the clean ladder


 Event Two was quite different from the first by design.  If the number one was a true test of Crossfit strength than event two was a true test of Crossfit stamina.  It's basically you, a kettlebell and lots of open space.  Competitor's performed the movements below and in between had to drop down for some burpees followed by a broad jump.  I actually demo'd this at the gym I work out at and it was killer.  By the end of the workout I wasn't able to jump.  Serious stuff.


Event 2

Field WOD:
Score = Total reps with time as tie breaker

10 min cap:
Men’s/Women's RX:
50 KB SDLHP (53/44)
20m burpee broad jump
40 KB swings (53/44)
20m burpee broad jump
30 Goblet squats (53/44)
20m burpee broad jump
20 KB snatches (10 per side) (53/44)
20m burpee broad jump
10 KB pistol squats (5 per leg) (53/44)

I caught up with first time competitor Ty Gomes from Selden, NY before and after the workout.  Before the workout Ty, who is a collegiate football player who just picked up Crossfit a few months ago, seemed confident.  "I practiced this workout a few times at my gym and I did well.  I just hope my legs will hold up"  Ty said.  Ty informed me he sustained a serious knee injury 7 months ago that he is still rehabbing. 

After a solid performance Ty looked beat, he could barely catch his breath to speak to me.  "That workout's a burner, it's all about endurance and the volume your legs can handle.  You can squat 400 pounds but if you don't have the gas in the tank it doesn't matter with all of the lower body movements consecutively" he said emphatically.

                                          First time competitor Ty Gomes in the middle getting ready for the kettlebell circuit.

                                           Various participants shown exhausted from the workout I nicknamed "hell by kettlebell"


Event Three was more of a skill + stamin workout.  Handstand pushups or HSPU are very hard to master along with the vaunted double unders.  You wouldn't think swinging the jump rope twice before you landed and stringing them together would be so hard, but it is.  NOBODY and I mean NOBODY likes to practice double unders; they're tedious, annoying, you get whipped by the jump rope, and they're tiring.  Mention them in a crossfit conversation and all you will here are sighs.



Event 3
Score = Total reps (jump rope + HSPU) with jump rope time as tie breaker

4 min:
Men's/Women's RX:
100 double-unders
HSPU in remaining time

This was a quick but very tiring workout it seemed. It looked like basically the equivalent of a full body sprint.  I was very impressed by the skill of the participants at their double unders.  I was able to catch up with the competitor who finished his double unders first, completely unbroken mind you.  "I started Crossfit 4 months ago and I want to be the best.  I hate losing and double unders frustrated me the most so I practiced them every day.  I bought my own jump rope from Rogue (Rogue Fitness sells popular Crossfit gear) and it helped a ton" Ray said in a confident tone. So there you have it I guess not everyone hates double unders.  Ray was a division one soccer player who is looking to feed his competitive nature and love for fitness.  Later in the conversation he showed his competitive fire ever more after getting his time and seeing that a lot of competitors caught up to him on the HSPU.  "This made me realize I suck.  I finished my HSPU almost a minute before the guy who won the event because he did 20 more."

All in all witnessing my first Competition was a lot of fun and I cant wait to join in the sweaty, exhausting madness!  The competition ran smoothly and people were giving their blood sweat and tears while also cheering on everyone else.  What a great atmosphere, I can see why Crossfit is so popular now!

WOD is today's workout?

In my previous posts I mentioned the term "WOD" which stands for 'Workout of the day'  Today I want to outline what exactly a WOD looks like and the science behind the short intense workouts that fuel the Crossfit community.

Above is an example of a WOD from Crossfit Centereach's WOD BLOG.  The WOD BLOG is updated every night with the contents of tomorrow's workout.  I picked this particular one as an example because "Jackie" is one of Crossfit's benchmark workouts.  This is part of a series of workouts called "The Girls" (here is a full list courtesy of Crossfit 208).  I will have a future post discussing these workouts and why they are so special.

Most Crossfit workouts will consist of 2 parts.  A strength or skill workout followed by a short (3-30 minutes long) intense workout with little to know rest.  On this day the strength workout is a Front Squats 5 sets, 3 reps per set.  Since this for strength you'll want to rest anywhere from 90 seconds to 3 minutes between sets for maximum results.

Now that the strength workout is finished the blood will be flowing and muscle fatigue will set in.  There will be a few minutes to get your muscles back up to full strength and get set-up for part B of the workout. 'Jackie' requires a rowing machines, an empty barbell (no weight, this is one of the rare workouts that the prescribed weight for women and men is equal), and a pull up bar.

The workout starts when your coach starts the clock.  It begins with a 1,000 meter row.  Rowing is one of the less skilled movements in Crossfit but it requires strength, stamina and a ton of willpower/mental strength. 1K meters requires pulling with your whole body for around 4 minutes at a good pace or longer for a beginner.

After a long, intense rowing session you'll grab the empty barbell you set aside and immediately perform 50 thrusters.  A thruster is a true test of full body strength and endurance. It is essentially a front squat into an overhead press! That mean your ENTIRE BODY is being used...for 50 reps on this one!

Now that your whole body has been taxed it's pull-up time.  Ever since gym class in elementary school we've been taught the pull-up is the ultimate test of pound for pound upper body strength.  In Crossfit there are multiple acceptable variations of the pull-up.  You'll notice a couple of these don't look anything like the one's you performed with your peers in that cold gym with all the kids in your class watching.

These 'kipping pull-ups' are designed to get your body over the bar efficiently and quickly as possible.  Strict pull-ups should still be performed for overall strength when not performing workouts for time.

Once your final pull-up is performed you are officially done.  You can let your coach know your time and he'll write it on the wall next to your name so you can compare with everyone else.  What I failed to mention is that you will most likely be spread out on the floor chugging water and unable to catch your breath enough to speak actual words.

This is what a WOD is designed to do, more specifically what a benchmark WOD is designed to do.  It is a test of progress and a work out all in one.  As always each workout and movement can be scaled down.  If you can not perform a pull-up there are ways to use a resistance band for assistance or you can start with ring rows

However if you do not perform a workout to scale you do not get a shiny Rx next to your time.  That Rx means you used the prescribed weight for a workout and it is worn as a badge of honor in the Crossfit Community.  I'll leave you with a video of Crossfit pro Dan Bailey performing his first ever Jackie workout.

Getting started with Crossfit: My first experience

Getting started with Crossfit seemed somewhat intimidating to me and I'm a someone who has been an active my whole life.  I've played sports as a child and have been working out in some form since I was a teenager.  With that said I couldn't even imagine the anxiety felt starting Crossfit by someone who is out of shape.  Couple that with the relatively high price and you could see people would be hesitant to sign up.

But Crossfit is growing at an amazing pace.  At least doubling every year from 2005-2012. And Jumping from about 5,000 affiliates in 2012 to over 10,000 today.

What makes this even more impressive is the relative growth to other popular gym chains across the country.

So how is Crossfit growing so rapidly? It starts with clever marketing and ends with results.  Not to leave out the group setting that has a community...dare I see cult like feel.

This brings me to my first Crossfit experience.  I had been exposed to "The Crossfit Games" on ESPN and the youtube videos of crazy workouts with hundreds of thousands of views.  Being a competitor I said to myself "I could do that stuff."  I would continuously put off joining because I didn't know what gym to join, the price and the relative unknown.  Unknown of how to properly perform the exercises and how I would do them. 

Lucky enough I came across a Groupon for a discounted rate of $59 for a month of unlimited visits at Crossfit Centereach.  That's over a 50% discount of the $125 going rate.  A monthly gym membership at your run of the mill gym most likely costs $30-$60 with amenities varying.  Despite paying $30 monthly for my regular membership I couldn't resist.

I immediately headed to the website and read the gym rules and what I should bring.  There I found the holy grail of for Crosfitters.  The "WOD Blog" and it might as well have been written in ancient hieroglyphics.  The WOD aka the workout of the day is the entire workout performed by the class.  This includes  a warm-up, strength workout, and metabolic conditioning workout that is performed with no rest, usually timed. 

The anxiety I felt when going to bed that night knowing I would wake up and head to this new gym was comparable to the jitters of starting a new job combined with the adrenaline boosting anticipation before a big game I was performing in.  How'd it turn out? Well I'm wrote this post today didn't I?

What is Crossfit? No seriously what is it?

        I've seen posts titled "What is Crossfit?" on a large number of blogs and Crossfit sites. I used the title because I will answer this question BUT as a humorous reminder only a couple months ago I was asking "What is Crossfit?" 
       
        This blog is going to be a combination of my own personal memoir of Crossfit experiences along with some facts and opinion's about the sport...err...or is it a type of exercise? Don't worry we're getting there.

         My goal is to give my readers an unbiased glance into the world of Crossfit and the notorious cult like culture.  I have no affiliation to Crossfit other than being a member at my "box" (what Crossfitter's call a gym.)  Told you it was a like a cult, they even have their own language! bet you don't know what a WOD or AMRAP is yet...

                                             So he we are...What is Crossfit? 

            Crossfit was founded by a former gymnast named Greg Glassman in Santa Cruz, California circa 1995. "It's designed to enhance a wide array of physical characteristics simultaneously such as cardiovascular endurance, power, flexibility, speed, agility, and balance, the popularity of CrossFit has truly taken off in recent years. The number of affiliated gyms grew from 18 in 2005 to almost 1,700 in 2010." according to many Crossfit websites. 

            So in short Crossfit is a vastly growing workout routine based that uses varied training (different movements almost every day),  and short but intense workout's that challenge every level of fitness a human has, supposedly.

            You will constantly hear that Crossfit is "functional training" what this means is that the strengthm power, flexibility, gained is from movements that you will use in every day life, therefore being functional.  Unlike isolation exercises that you may perform when body building.   This of course doesn't mean you will not gain muscle, lose fat, lose weight or just flat out look better, while doing Crossfit. 

             All of that is very possible and I will get to it in my next blog post, which will be about my personal experiences so far.  And I will state that I think there is A LOT to the "functional" term. again, that will come in the next post.

             For now here is a short Youtube video posted by the official Crossfit account to help understand it even better.