CrossFit, My First Impressions

This past weekend I did my very first CrossFit workout. My older brother is a member of CrossFit Frederick and I joined him early Saturday for a holiday themed WOD at their facility. The WOD was as follows:

1. L-Pullup
2. Man-Makers
3. Box Jumps, 24"/20"
4. Ring Dips
5. Air Squats
6. 1 pood (35#) Kettlebell swings
7. Mountain Climbers (4 count)
8. Dumbbell Clean
9. Push-ups
10. Thrusters (45/30#)
11. Burpees
12. Glute-ham Sit-ups

Similar to the Twelve Days of Christmas song, we would do 12 sets with each set adding a new exercise and working our way back through the other exercises. So the first set was simply a single L-Pullup. The second set was 2 man-makers and a single L-Pullup. By the 10^th set I was beat, arms quivering and breathing fairly hard. The last two sets were killers and I was delusional trying to remember what to do next and keep proper form. It felt really good to finish and even today, two days later with every muscle aching, I am glad I pushed so hard.

I was thoroughly impressed with the gym. The instructors were very knowledgeable, were very good at being drill sergeants, and worked with me to make sure my form was correct. Having never tried many of the exercises, I really liked how they showed each exercise and how to scale it down before we got started. They also explained what muscles were worked by the different exercises between frequent interruptions by the group joking around. You could see the camaraderie among the members and see how they were there to have fun. Once the WOD began it was all business.

I can definitely see the appeal of CrossFit and if there was a gym close to me I would be a member without question. I am hoping to make morning CrossFit sessions a part of every visit with my brother. We followed our workout with a large breakfast of pastured eggs, bacon and scrapple I brought with me. My knee held up surprising well, so we followed breakfast with a long hike in the nearby mountain range with our dogs. Good times.