Friday was our last WOD at Fay Street. Our CrossFit group has grown so much over the past year that we’re bursting at the seams in our old meat packing refrigeration room. Weird place to work out? I Googled, and apparently before that it used to house mules and livestock for auction. I guess I’m not helping my case. Anyhow, because I was still really sore from Thursday’s WOD, I sat out and snapped a few photos. I thought it’d be cool to take you visually through a workout. When I talk to people about our workouts, it’s almost impossible to describe, and most people only know CrossFit from what they see on TV, which is very different from what Neil and I experience day-to-day.
To commemorate the occasion, Nate chose to do one last “Cindy.” While she is comprised of the usual mix of exercises, being named means she’s a Benchmark CrossFit Workout. These named workouts are used to monitor your progress as you get stronger. Cindy is one of the “girls,” a group of benchmarks that all have girls names. Because they are known to be more intense, they are sometimes called “The Nasty Girls.” Don’t worry, there are WOD’s named for men as well, but we’ll cover those another time.
“Cindy” is as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 20 Minutes:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats
To start, the group did a loose PVC warm-up. We’ve done several types and combinations of exercise in our warm-ups. I’m completely in love with them. They not only increase body temperature and heart rate, but provide practice and work-through for movements involved in more difficult olympic lifting exercises. This was a very basic warm-up of pass-throughs, overhead squats, and samson stretches (if I remember correctly).
After warm-up, it was time to set-up, which means collecting any equipment and bringing it to where you are going to stage. This is Carrie, who just happens to run an amazing design and letterpress shop called 1Canoe2.
Nate begins the countdown. Typically he takes about 5 minutes to explain each WOD and set-up scales for those who need them, but “Cindy” really doesn’t require much explanation.
I love this picture I got of Ron. I so hope to be in as good of shape when I get older. He’s inspiring and possibly our best cheerleader.
And they’re off! Beginning with pull ups…
Push ups…
and squats.
Each round is tallied with chalk. It seems like such a small thing, but those tallies are sometimes what keep me going when it gets tough.
My favorite exercise to watch is kipping pull-ups. Say what you will, I think they are so much more fun than strict, and the motion is incredibly beautiful. Ironically, they are also the exercise I’m having the most trouble with.
It reminds me of the same power movement used to do the butterfly, my favorite swimming stroke.
Push ups however, are not beautiful, and it’s really tough to keep your core straight and strong for 15-20 rounds of 10 reps. That’s Severin, awesome athlete and probably more of a geek (respect!) than Neil and I. He has a PhD in Biochem (specifically plant biochemistry). So. Strong.
I love the moments immediately following a WOD. Everyone is completely exhausted, but thrilled about what they just accomplished, even if they can barely stand or are full-on laying on the ground. This is about the moment when we told them we wanted a group shot.
One last mobility stretch first. This is “Paleo Chair” and it’s definitely a favorite, honestly because it’s one of the only things I can do really well at this point (as seen here, because we all need one brag right?). It’s essentially sitting in a full squat position. The goal is to get your ass as close as you can to your ankles, and then try to get your ankles and knees as close together as possible.
Group photo! Luckily the guy I pulled in to do the photo knew more about posing then I would have. WOD’s at the new gym start tomorrow, and we can’t wait!
If you are local and interested in trying CrossFit or enrolling in an On-Ramp (introductory classes), call or email Nate Bacott at 573-239-7438 or nateb@crossfitunited.com. He has been completely fundamental in helping us exceed what we thought we were capable of and I completely credit his advice and guidance with how good we feel. It only took our neighbor telling us once a year ago to try it, so now we’re paying it forward.
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