CrossFit Elements

I completed this three day program today. I had to take a week-long hiatus due to injury and illness. It's a great way to overview and practice some of the basic components of the WODs (Workout Of the Day) safely, and getting one-on-one instruction on any new movement or exercise is crucial, especially when lifting heavy weight is involved.

Day One focused on proper form for squats, which is as basic to CrossFit as learning the alphabet -- everything builds off of it. We also looked at proper form for rowing on the Concept 2 rower. Something I noticed on Day One, and would notice on following days, is that there are multiple steps to rowing the right way. It's really a lot to think about! Once I practice these movements enough, I know they will become muscle memory and feel more instinctual. For now, though, it's a mental and physical workout to remember all the steps.

WOD for Day One: "5-4-3-2-1": 500m row, 400m run, 30 air squats, 20 push-ups, 10 pull-ups. My time was 8:06, but I wasted a few seconds between the squats ad push-ups. Rowing 500m doesn't sound like much, and at first you think, "Wow, this is going to be a breeze!" But let me tell you that, around 300m, your quads start to burn and you have to will your legs to keep moving. Pacing my breath and concentrating on my rhythm worked well to keep a good pace. Transitioning from the rower to running was nearly comical. Talk about jello legs! And running past the donut shop nearly proved fatal -- the smell of the hot grease was so nauseating that I almost lost it. My coach met me for the last 100m and had me tail her in to complete the WOD. She is a great motivator and does a great job at getting me to push a little harder.

Day Two began introductions of some of the lifting, such as the push press and thruster. The form that I learned on Day One for the squat was crucial to setting yourself up to do these lifts safely. It is very understandable how poor or incorrect form can result in a serious injury to your back, at the very least. It's also amazing to discover how you can use momentum and strong muscle groups and joints to do some of the heavy lifting. Just because you're taking a bar over your head doesn't mean that your arms are the only things working to move that weight. A lot of explosive energy comes from the hips which seems to me to make the lifts not feel so intimidating. We'll see if I still feel this way after adding real amounts of weight, haha... I also learned that rope climbing is not my strong area. Let's just say I have the grip of a 90 year old woman. Heaven help you if you're hanging on the edge of a cliff and I'm the one designated to hold onto you to keep you from slipping to your death!

WOD for Day Two: Four rounds for time of 10 thrusters and 250m row, resting for 3:00 between rounds. Since I had never done a WOD with real weight, I used 15# dumbbells for my thrusters. I forget my exact times now... The first one was around 1:57. Round two was only slightly longer. Round three was the "worst" time around 2:13. I actually improved and got a better time in round four, just under two minutes.

I have to say that, out of all the Elements WODs, this was by far the hardest. By the end of round three, my form was really starting to suffer on the thrusters in that I was allowing the dumbbells to collapse down. It was increasingly harder to control them as they came down. (Over the weekend, I was in debilitating pain in my neck, down to my left trap and shoulder. I actually couldn't even turn my head for a week and was prescribed muscle relaxers!) What I have learned is this: if my form is starting to suffer from muscle fatigue or failure, utilize "planned rest" (stop and rest and tell myself I'm starting up again in X number of seconds) and focus on form rather than time. Doing each exercise, especially one involving weight, in the proper form keeps you from getting hurt, so it's worth taking the time to do the full range of motion in the right form. Lesson learned.

Day Three happened a full week later (today). As I mentioned, I had a menacing injury to my neck. In addition to that, I came down with a virus (not flu but close enough!) that had me laid up in bed for an entire week. We had a lot to cover in a short amount of time. We worked on pull-up progressions, which was everything from various assisted pull-ups to the crazy kipping pull-ups. The kipping motion will definitely take some practice to feel more natural. We worked various lifts for the majority of the time, from cleans to snatches to deadlifts and so on. The form came very easy to me. While I am enormously intimidated by lifting heavy weight, I am really anxious to try some since I have learned the right way to do them. I did use a 45# bar for deadlifts and sumo deadlift high pulls.

WOD for Day Three: 1/2 Tabata. Since there was a lot -- and I mean, a LOT -- of squatting in today's practice, and I had been doing yardwork for over an hour before I even got there, I had been experiencing some pretty sharp pains in my left knee. My coach substituted push-ups for air squats to have a little mercy on my Rice Krispie-sounding knee. So, my 1/2 Tabata consisted of four rounds, 0:20 each of push-ups and ab-mat sit ups. My best score for push-ups was 11, and sit-ups was 13. As time went on, the push-ups were fewer and fewer, but I actually improved each round with the sit-ups. Crazy, huh?

So, the bottom line for CrossFit Elements for me is: focus on form and range of movement. Overall I feel pretty strong and am a little surprised at how well I could do some of the things she asked me to do. For a beginner, that is. I join up with my class on Wednesday.

Get the motrin and ice ready!