Andrew asked if I could write something for the website, with (I hope)
my best Crossfit performances ahead of me.
I thought I’d write about how I first met Crossfit, and got to my current
level.
Early 2008, I saw Crossfit being mentioned a couple of times in the blog
of a friend from the US. After the second mention, I got curious and
Googled it. I think the WOD on the http://www.crossfit.com
main site that day was Angie (100 pullups, pushups, situps, squats).
What insanity was this? I’d have bet on myself to get 3 pullups or 10
pushups at best. Was my friend, a programmer at Google, also some kind
of superman? Of course, at this point in time, I had no idea about
scaling a workout. For most people, Angie is scaled, so the goal is
less than 100 of each exercise. In any case, I was embarrassed and amused.
I was paying for a Globo gym membership, and I couldn’t even look at
my friend’s workout without laughing out loud.
Fortunately, as I stumbled around the website, I found the Crossfit FAQ,
and within it, the http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html#Exercises9 Crossfit
Warmup. This simple piece of wisdom says the following:
The “official” CrossFit Warm-up is in the April 2003 CrossFit Journal.
3 rounds of 10-15 reps of Samson Stretch (do the Samson Stretch once each round for 15-30 seconds)
Overhead Squat with broomstick
Sit-up
Back-extension
Pull-up
Dip
Note that for a workout that’s dip or pullup-centric, you might want
to do something else in the warmup.
That was clearly beyond my capacity at the time. But it was a reachable
goal. I decided to actually use my Globo gym membership.
And I decided that I’d do a scaled version of the warm-up, using
the Gravitron machine, each time I went to the gym before I did
whatever else I has planned, until I could do 3 sets of 10 pullups
and 10 dips.
So that’s what I did. I went on the Gravitron (the machine with pullup
and dip handles, plus a kneeling platform attached by a cable to the
tradition pin-selected weight stack. The weight stack acts as assistance
to reduce your body weight), and decided that I’d try to reduce the
assistance weight I needed each week.
It took about 8 weeks for this idea to work for me. And maybe, if you
are easing your way into Crossfit, this might work for you also.
Regards
Kieran
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