Thoughts on Crossfit.

You may not know this, but I am crazy…I don’t know what else would explain my going to a Crossfit workout on Saturday at the crack of dawn. All joking aside, I went because it was “Buddy Saturday” at Norcal Crossfit and my friend invited me. 7 am was the only time slot he could make, so I obliged. After all, it isn’t everyday that you’re invited to a free hour of torture workout session at a gym that charges $220/month. 

I’ve actually wanted to join Norcal Crossfit for a year now, but I’ve been too lazy / scared. The class sizes are small (~12 this morning), the instruction is top-notch, and all workouts are “only” an hour. The first half of the class was spent going over the exercises in our workout of the day (affectionately known as the “WOD”) — burpees and wall balls. 

Both are pretty basic movements — as described in the Youtube video link, a burpee is just “getting down to the ground and back up.” Wall balls are a bit more technical since it combines a front squat with a shoulder press in a compound movement. I appreciated that the instructor took the time to show us what a proper squat looks like, and gave us some pointers as we tried a few.

Our WOD was a buddy relay consisting of 10 burpees, 20 wall balls, and a 100m run. You switch off with your buddy and the goal is AMRAP (as many reps as possible) in 25 minutes. 

I think we managed to go through 4 sets, and I was in the middle of the wall balls in the 5th set when time was called (I started blacking out in the middle so I had lost count). Afterwards I wondered whether I would ever be able to get through a Crossfit workout and NOT feel like throwing up. I felt fine an hour later, but still, it’d be nice not to be incapacitated for an hour afterwards.

Surely there must be some kind of happy medium between “I am barely sweating” and “I want to puke my guts out.” Maybe I should try out yoga next time (not bikram, that gives me nausea too), I hear that’s more relaxing. Or maybe I should just sleep in on a Saturday and not be crazy.