My First Real Crossfit Workout

Today I went to check out Crossfit Southbay. I've been meaning to for a while and finally did. And I'm very glad that I did. I got there a little before 6a but nobody had arrived yet. It seems they just lost the regular Tue/Thu 6a coach to a move to Temecula. I was about to leave, but found out someone was on the way, so I waited for a little bit.

Once Forrest got there, we were off and running. He had me warm up with a 1k row. No problem so far. Then he asked me if I could do some kipping pull ups and other such Crossfit basics. I said not really, so he started to show me the principles of the kipping pull up. It was cool to actually have someone show me, because watching those videos really only got me so far. I was never able to produce the right energy heading in the right direction. I almost always ended up swinging and losing control. So now I kinda know how to kip, or at least what it's supposed to feel like - still a long way to go for actual continuous kipping.

So once the pleasantries were done, I was ready to start my sample WOD. For simplicity, introduction and a taste of the intensity Forrest had me do a Tabata consisting of 4 exercises each with 4 minute rounds of 20 secs. on and 10 secs. off. Pull ups, push ups, sit ups and squats. We went over the form for each before starting. A little different than I typically do, but all for the better and seemed easy enough.

It's hard to remember the exact details of what followed. I remember being spent after my 2nd round of pull ups (50 secs. into the workout). I can do pull ups, but without proper kipping (and overall weakness), I was worthless after a couple of sets with such a short rest. So he had me do some jumping ones off a box. Mind you we didn't take a break or anything, this was all somehow incorporated into that 2nd 10 sec. rest period. The jumping ones were easier (sort of). What they lacked in difficulty for my upper body, they made up in a leg workout and a growing cardio burn that I hadn't felt in some time. The intensity was already upon me.

I got through the pull ups and it was on to push ups. Probably my least favorite and weakest exercise. No matter how much I workout, I don't seem to improve my push up numbers. I'm hoping Crossfit can change that. Pushups were tough as expected. Those short rests didn't do much to get me kicking out more reps either. I think I was holding steady somewhere around 5 or 6 - God, I suck. Once those horrible 4 minutes were done it was time for sit ups.

Sit ups are easy. I have a pretty strong core (even when it doesn't totally look like it) and I truly believe they are much more mind than physical. But something bad started happening during the sit ups. Not the kind of bad that would make me stop - I still don't think I've figured out what that bad is really. But the kind of bad where the nausea started hitting. The combination of my lungs working non stop and the movement of the sit up was just kicking my ass. But I made it through.

On to squats. I always think my legs are the strongest part of me, so normally I would have thought - no problem. But at this point in the workout, I was pretty sure it wasn't going to feel good or easy or anything in between. The squats were hard and they just made my lungs burn some more. I was able to do about 9 reps each time which seemed like a lot. And I even pushed through on the last one and busted out 14.

All said and done, I did a total of 235 reps or so in the 16 minutes (10:40 of on and 5:20 of off). And I felt great...No, not really. I felt like shit. I could barely breathe for the next 30 minutes. I had to sit down for a long while and was holding back my last meal or 2. Talked with Forrest for a while during the recovery period, but I was really just spitting out a word here and there. That's all I could muster. My body was shaking, lungs and throat were burning and I came to the realization that this may have been the first time I'd ever felt what a Crossfit workout is supposed to feel like. I have worked out super hard before, but not like that.

So I'm pretty much hooked right from the start. I can't help it. I love that type of shit. Ever since I made the $1000 bet and started working out, I've been looking for better and tougher ways to challenge myself and to improve. I've always been a sport junkie and now I might be taking my first steps to being a Crossfit junkie as well. Bring on the WODs.

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