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WOD = Workout of the Day, the basic workouts at CrossFit gyms are called WODs, they are instructor led, should have a solid warm up before hand, and should exhaust the crap out of you.  MOB told me after my first WOD “you will be sore in fun and exciting new ways!” One of the most accurate statements that has ever been made.

In addition to WOD, CrossFit is riddled with abbreviations and lingo that is very hard to understand at first, but after a few visits they become second nature.

My favorite is “pood”.  I’m not sure exactly how it’s pronounced, but I pronounce it like any 5th grader would.  Pood is a unit of measure which typically is reserved for kettlebells.  In the picture above, I’m using a 1 pood kettlebell.  Which means 16 kilograms which is about 35 pounds.  A 1.5 pood kettlebell weighs 24 kilograms (1.5 * 16 = 24) and so on.

There’s a great resource on CrossFit.com which has all sorts of awesome FAQ’s and A’s ranging from a full list of acronyms to equipment to nutrition.  It’s a must read for the beginner, and really for advanced CrossFit’ers too.

The key jargon that you should know, in addition to WOD, are as follows:

• AMRAP = As Many Rounds As Possible for a given time
• BS = Back Squat
• C&J = Clean and Jerk
• CL = Clean
• DL = Dead Lift
• E3M = Every Three Minutes
• EMOM  = Every Minute on the Minute
• FS = Front Squat
• HCL = Hang Clean
• MOB = Awesome Trainer, especially for the newbies like me
• PR = Personal Record
• Rx = Prescribed; this is very important, this will dictate the recommended weight or rounds or reps and is typically targeted at the more advanced CrossFitters, if you are  a beginner, you will need to scale.  For more info on scaling, check out this great post by Douglas Chapman “CROSSFIT ANN ARBOR: SO YOU UNDERSTAND SCALING“.
• SN = Snatch
• SQ = Squat
• TABATA = For twenty seconds do as many reps of the assigned exercise as you can then rest 10 seconds.  8 Rounds.  The scoring seems to be varied, either lowest number of reps in an interval or total reps if you are doing multiple exercises across multiple TABATAs
• TTB / T2B = Toes to Bar
• WOD = Workout of the Day

BeyondTheWhiteboard.com Results

Looking around class today, it may have looked like I was in last place when it came to the front squats.  However, I’m feeling like the big winner.  Every time I step up to the bar with more weight than the last time, I feel good.  And every time I put up more than I ever have (a.k.a. Personal Record or PR) I feel great.

This little lightning bolt has become one of my favorite things to see pop up. It shows up when you record a PR on BeyondTheWhiteboard.com. And it just looks so damn good.

115 pounds for a front squat @ 3 reps might not seem like a lot to many people, but to me it’s as good as a world record, and I can’t think of a better way to start the day.

One of the best things about CrossFit (a phrase I find my self using more and more) is the progress.  If you just follow the instructors, or as MOB says “you just show up consistently, and do what ever the hell we tell you to do” you will see progress.  Fast.

4 months ago I couldn’t do a single air squat.  Not 1.  Today I banged out 3 squats with 140 pounds on my shoulders, during my 5th round of back squats.  In total, I squatted over 1900 pounds in 7 minutes.  Once again, 4 months ago, that number would have been 0.  This program is just awesome.

When I originally signed up for CrossFit I thought it would be great to do this a couple times a week.  The first few weeks, I was in too much pain needing some solid recovery time between workouts.  I was astonished when I learned that some people would go two days in a row.  And frankly, hearing that people go every day sounded made up to me.

But then, one day it hit me.  I found myself doing the 6:30PM WOD on a Thursday, and thinking about hitting up the 7:30AM WOD the next morning.  I asked my instructor (MOB) if that would be ok.  His response was simple, and perfect: “Yes.  You just show up every chance you can get, and we’ll take care of you.”  So I did, and I learned that I could do two days in a row.  And that worked for a couple weeks.

Then I had to do some traveling for work, and I was going to miss a few days.  So I really went for it because I was kinda scared to miss that many workouts.  So I made it in 4 days in a row. 4!! I wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but I survived.  I was pretty sore and tired, but it was manageable.

Once I got over that hurdle, things really started to come together.  The general soreness is actually less now than when I was going 2-3 days a week.  And it just keeps getting better.  I’m now going Tuesday – Saturday.  That’s 5 days on, two days off.  I’ve been doing that for a few weeks now, and I couldn’t be happier.  I really miss it on Sundays and Mondays.

The bottom line is, at first 1 day a week hurts.  Then you get to 2, then 3, then… you just keep showing up and the more you show up, the better this whole thing gets.

The thought of just dropping in on another Crossfit while I’m traveling scares the sh*t out of me.  I love Hyperfit USA because I really feel like the know me, and I feel like I have nothing to prove except to myself, and that’s ok.  So I hear a lot about the Crossfit culture, and everyone tells me dropping in is no big deal.  But I still feel like after 4 months of working out, I’m just not ready.

CrossFit NYC Lobby

So, as I’m standing in the lobby of CrossFit NYC at 6:30 AM on Wednesday this week, I’m asking myself, “are you ready for this?”  I’m pretty sure the answer is ‘no’, but a little voice in my head is telling me part of the CrossFit experience is being prepared for the unknown and unknowable.  So, f*ck it, I proceed.

After figuring out the intermediate WOD is in another building, I pay my $25, sign my waiver, and run two streets over.  Their site did not make this clear, to show up at the other location, but I think I could have.

The instructor, Will, was nice, and so were the regulars.  It was really interesting to see the things that were the same, like everything was made by Rogue, and there was a lot of squatting.  But it was more interesting to experience the differences.  These folks were super competitive.  After each round of exercises in the WOD, your score was talleid and your class rank was given.  At the end, I awarded myself with “participant”, and I was pretty damn proud of it.

The exercises were all the same, but the warm up was different.  The best part of the whole day, was that during the warm up, there were sets of T2B (toes to bar), and in there, I actually started doing them for real, for the first time.  It was a very proud moment in my CrossFit journey.

Gathered around the Whiteboard, checking out the scores

It ain’t pretty, but it was damn effective.

Today was Eva.  Which for me resulted in a 46 minute AMRAP of 800m run, 30 Kettlebell swings, and 30 pull ups.  The thought of that many pull ups made my hands cry a little bit.  So, on the advice of a very wise friend, I taped them up following (as best I could) his instruction.  46 minutes, and 94 pull-ups later, the tape did not look pretty, but my hands were actually still together, with almost as much skin on them as when I started.

 

 

Every now and again there are moments that come along, and change your life for ever.  You have a child, you get that job offer, you get accepted to the school you wanted, you get the idea.  But then there a moments that come a long that are so innocent, and so simple, and so unexpected.  This past March I was having dinner with a good friend in Pasadena, I was traveling there for work and he was able to get away for the evening.  During the conversation, there was one moment when I was talking about a nice benefit at my new job.  They subsidize a gym membership.  My friend leaned in and in a very still tone said “if you are serious about getting in shape, do Crossfit.”  He paused for a moment to let it sink in.  In that moment, he changed my life.

We spoke a bit about it and within minutes were looking up “Crossfit Ann Arbor” on my phone and the top result was “Hyperfit USA”.  My first question was, is there a difference between Crossfit and Hyperfit?  (Turns out that was a silly question.) Longer story short, I signed up online when I got back to Ann Arbor, got an email from Mike (a.k.a. MOB) and showed up for my intro session a couple days later.

During my intro session, I recall explaining to MOB how I can do any exercise except for squatting, due to a skiing injury.   I remember he stared at me for a sec, and then said something like “we can figure that out.”  Boy how silly I must have sounded to him.

I never could have dreamed that after 40 of the most fun workouts you can imagine, I would be in the best shape of my life at 34, and improving every single day.

Scene from my first WOD at Hyperfit USA in Ann Arbor

So today was supposed to be my 7 of 10 intro session, but I guess an instructor called in hungover sick.  So I was given the option of coming back, or jumping in. What is going through my head is the sad fact that I spent the last 7 years actively avoiding working out my legs due to a ski injury to my right knee (huge and stupid mistake to avoid working it out btw), and the 6 work out sessions plus the free intro/paperwork session left a lot of doubt in my mind going in.  I still am not doing a full 30 unbroken air squats (more like 15).  So obviously, I went for it.

Now I’m glad for a few things.  Frist, I’m glad it was good ol’ MOB leading the class, and second, I’m glad I didn’t know that was going to happen until I got there, otherwise I might have chickened out at this point.  It all worked out, and I didn’t get hurt.  And now this mystery of the “WOD” has been pulled back a bit.  Everything scales, weight, reps, rounds, breathing, etc.  I’m looking forward to the next one.