I recently did CrossFit for the first time. As other condemned souls can probably attest, it is a humbling, nay crushing experience. We don't have an official "box" in my area, but there is a small group of people in my gym who incorporate CrossFit-like workouts and a PT planning a certification. Point being, I'm not sure if this is an official WOD, but here was my first CrossFit experience:
"M+M"
Sprint 400m
Lunge back from treadmill
Jump rope x100
Burpee x10
Kettlebell swing x10
Push-ups x10
Air squats x10
repeat all x4, increasing repetitions by 10 up to 50
Basically, I couldn't finish.
I haven't done anything like burpees since forever, but those were the killer. At one point I was pushing up with my legs to do the jump at the end of the burpee, and my feet weren't leaving the ground. My brain was making my muscles perform tasks, but they weren't getting done. There was simply no gas left in the tank.
This was really distressing since I'm currently doing 400x12, 600x10, 800x10, 890 x8 on the leg press without too much difficulty. I thought some of this strength would transfer, but it really didn't.
But I've done the "M+M" twice more since and two other CrossFit workouts, and I can already see a difference in overall tone and specifically abdominal flatness and abdominal and quad definition. However, pretty much all my joints are feeling strained. Being about 250lbs makes box jumps, etc hard on the skeletal parts.
The experience has thrown my workout routine into chaos. Do I do CrossFit exclusively now or incorporate it into my weight routine? How do I manage weightlifting, rest days, and CrossFit? Should I give up leg press and switch to squats, like Mike Rippatoe recommends? Should I concentrate on strength building or weight loss now? Arrrgh.
* Noted: Humorously, when I first wrote this post, under the influence of a martini, I wrote the title as "1st CroffFit." Apparently, gin makes your spelling/font choices regress by about 400 years.
