I survived CrossFit

April 12, 2012

Ok, ok, so I only tried it once. But hey, my WOD (workout of the day) was Running Fran. Running Fran, people!

What’s the big deal about Running Fran? As I learned at my trial class at Reebok CrossFit Liberty Village, CrossFit has certain benchmark workouts, which are named after hurricanes, and Fran is a renowned for being one of the toughest WODs — seriously, google it and you’ll see it strikes fear in many a CrossFitters heart.  And the one I did was a modified version as it also incorporated running, yo. Here’s the breakdown of our WOD (and your aim is to complete it all as fast as you can):

• 21 thrusters (a squat holding a 15-lb bar at your shoulders, and then when rising out of the squat thrusting the bar up overhead by raising arms straight)
• 21 pullups
• run (I forget the distance, 200 metres, perhaps?) (Correction: just found out it was 500 metres)
• 15 thrusters
• 15 pullups
• run
• 9 thrusters
• 9 pullups
• run

Whew! Tired just thinking about it!

Ok, full disclosure: I could not complete a pullup if my life depended on it — thankfully,  the moves in CrossFit are designed to be scaleable.  So we used resistance bands to assist us in completing pullups. Oh, and that 15-lb bar we used for thrusters? Women are prescribed to use a 65-lb weight, yowzers! I was plenty pooped with just the 15-lb bar.

As for the run, well, that part was a cinch (I am in training for a marathon right now, remember?); the run was a welcome break, in fact (although I was probably supposed to sprint it, oopsies…).

All in all, though, I’m pretty happy I was able to complete it with a decent time (decent in my opinion, anyhow).

Still not sure what CrossFit is or if you can handle it? Check out my article on Lipstick Powder n Paint for a more detailed description of the workout concept.

Filed under: Fitness Swellness

Tags: CrossFit, CrossFit Fran, CrossFit workout review, pullups, Reebok CrossFit Liberty Village, running, Running Fran, thrusters, workout review