I have no words for this, except HOLY SHIT! My body is STILL sore, and my workout was 3 DAYS AGO!! I don't think I ever want to go back to a "normal" gym ever again. I don't think my body had this good of a workout since college, or maybe EVER! Let me give you a bit of an idea:
CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program. CrossFit is not a specialized fitness program but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of ten recognized fitness domains. They are Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy. This fitness is demanded of military and police personnel, fire fighters, and many sports requiring total or complete physical prowess.
My first visit: And believe me, there will be more. But I worked with Raquel, who was AWESOME. She was extremely motivating and took time to teach me about the warm-ups on the board at the beginning of each work out, where the WOD's (Workout Of the Day) would be, and what they were really all about. They teach you such great foundations at first, so the workouts that you're doing, not only benefit your body in the right way, but protect your body so you're not performing the tasks in the wrong way. Even the warm up get's your blood pumping for the actual work out:
10 seconds of Samson stretches
10 push-ups
10 pull-ups
15 air squats
10 sit-ups
10 reach arounds
**Repeat 2 or 3 times**
During these exercises, Raquel made sure I was properly executing each stretch, because these basic stretches, are the foundations for harder and more complex tasks.
Raquel wanted to see where my endurance was, where my body was at, where my mind was at, all in the aspect of "working out!" She told me I would be doing 1/2 of CINDY.
1/2 of CINDY: If you have ever been to CrossFit, or heard about it, for some reason the majority of the work outs are named after WOMEN. From what I've heard, these workouts are all made-up by World Class CrossFit women, so hell yea for having an exercise named after them! Either way, CINDY is a damn biotch, but I love her for it! :) This exercise consists of:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats
Seems simple enough right? Except a FULL CINDY is actually 20 minutes long, and I only did 10 minutes. Now, I'm a women who has NO arm strength. I've never been able to do pull-ups, hang times, consecutive push-ups more than about 10, so that part of the workout SUCKED. Raquel had an alternative to regular pull-ups, I used gymnastics rings. You gripped onto those damn things, with tape wrapped around them, completely tearing apart my hands, leaned back, and found a way to pull your damn body up. I realized that even though I was doing it correctly, with a bit of a swing, it made it a little easier. Raquel assured me this was acceptable. I could do the 5, no problem. Until the push-ups. This is where my workout struggled. I would do all ten, and then each set, would end up being 7 and 3, 5 and 5, and then by 2's. With breaks in between, but this is a CONSTANT workout. You do not stop. Unless you need water. Air squats ended up being my time to bang out, but my time to relax. I ended up doing 5 or 6 full sets in the 10 minutes. I jokingly asked Raquel if that was even GOOD, she gave me the "yeaaaa (high voice). I'm sure I could do better. SO I'll definitely be going back, to make those sets better, and find out exactly how far I can push my body.
The thing about these workouts, is it's completely just YOU AGAINST THE WORKOUT. It's not you against everyone else. It's all about you giving 100% and you knowing how and when to push yourself. You're in control of what kind of workout that is going to be for the day. Some days you have bad work outs because of your attitude, stress from work, family, life and some days you have the BEST workout ever. I think that's what makes CrossFit so successful.
I STRONGLY recommend atleast trying CrossFit in your life, because it's extremely beneficial and a great alternative to an everyday workout in the gym. Or the same run around the same lake.
FYI - I took CINDY and actually altered her slightly, to be able to still do the workout in a studio apartment. Which is definitely something I liked. I could take this workout home with me and without going into the CrossFit Fire Base, I knew I could still get a great workout.
ALSO, for all the ladies out there, I saw results, especially in my arms, after just this ONE workout. NOW THAT'S DAMN IMPRESSIVE!!!!
Information:
CrossFit Fire Base - Winter Park, FL
CrossFit Evolution - Longwood, FL
