Crossfit Update
As I wrote back on December 8, I've been giving Crossfit a try for my winter workout needs. From December 8 to the end of January, I'll miss four days out of a possible 24 (8 weeks * 3 days/week), and for those four I was traveling three times and the the gym was closed for Christmas Eve one. I've managed to get to work before 9:30 every day since I stated the goal (usually much before) so I've had time to leave work, walk Tulip and get to the gym for the 7:30 class on Mondays and Wednesdays. Saturday's I'm getting up and running errands before the 11am class. In short, it's working out pretty well from a schedule perspective.
The times cited are the beginner class, but that's sort of misleading. There are many regulars who have been working out that time for years because it works for their schedule. At this point I'm still one of the newest people there after two months, even with the usual New Year's attendance bump. The beginner class doesn't do some of the exercises that involve extra equipment (weights, dead lifts) but it's still a good workout. I could buy a membership and go any time I want, but frankly the other times that are available are not attractive (5am? Yech), and the membership doesn't seem to give me any other perks besides schedule flexibility and possibly different exercises. As it happens, it's also much cheaper to go to the beginner classes than to buy a membership ($100 for four weeks of beginner workouts versus $135 for a month), so that's a plus.
But what about the workout? Well, that's pretty good. My weight's been pretty stable in the 225 area but I feel lighter and look skinnier, so clearly I'm building some muscle. I'm usually exhausted by the end of the workout. All of these are pluses.
Crossfit alternates the exercise schedule every night so that your body can't get complacent. There's a wide pool of different exercises, and many ways to arrange them. Each night has a warm up, a Workout of the Day (WoD) and a cool down, and each section is different every time. I don't think there's been the exact same exercise sequence in any one section twice in the last 8 weeks, although certain exercises like burpees, push ups and various flavors of sit up recur frequently. The exercises seem to fall into three categories:
- ones that don't hurt my knee
- ones that hurt my knee when I'm exhausted and can't maintain form
- ones that hurt my knee if I do them
Thankfully, the last category is very rare. So far there's only been one exercise where I flat out can't do it without extreme pain, so the trainers suggested another exercise for me to do instead. The second category is somewhat more common, but as long as I slow down and focus on form it hasn't been a big deal. I do wear my knee brace to be on the safe side, but so far I haven't really had any more soreness or pain than I would riding my bike. Well, except for the time when I dropped off the pullup bar and landed wrong. Apparently my knee doesn't like direct impacts. Ouch.
One further note: the people here are still creepily nice. At the beginning of every workout we go around the room and introduce ourselves, which means that I know by first name a good 20 or so people. I've even run into a few of them outside the gym and greeted them by name, which is very unusual for me.
On the whole, the Crossfit experiment is working for me. I'm already trying to figure out how I can keep doing Crossfit once the weather is good enough to bike to work. The schedule for that is very dicey, especially when you throw in ultimate and gaming night, but at least I should be able to go on Saturdays.
The times cited are the beginner class, but that's sort of misleading. There are many regulars who have been working out that time for years because it works for their schedule. At this point I'm still one of the newest people there after two months, even with the usual New Year's attendance bump. The beginner class doesn't do some of the exercises that involve extra equipment (weights, dead lifts) but it's still a good workout. I could buy a membership and go any time I want, but frankly the other times that are available are not attractive (5am? Yech), and the membership doesn't seem to give me any other perks besides schedule flexibility and possibly different exercises. As it happens, it's also much cheaper to go to the beginner classes than to buy a membership ($100 for four weeks of beginner workouts versus $135 for a month), so that's a plus.
But what about the workout? Well, that's pretty good. My weight's been pretty stable in the 225 area but I feel lighter and look skinnier, so clearly I'm building some muscle. I'm usually exhausted by the end of the workout. All of these are pluses.
Crossfit alternates the exercise schedule every night so that your body can't get complacent. There's a wide pool of different exercises, and many ways to arrange them. Each night has a warm up, a Workout of the Day (WoD) and a cool down, and each section is different every time. I don't think there's been the exact same exercise sequence in any one section twice in the last 8 weeks, although certain exercises like burpees, push ups and various flavors of sit up recur frequently. The exercises seem to fall into three categories:
- ones that don't hurt my knee
- ones that hurt my knee when I'm exhausted and can't maintain form
- ones that hurt my knee if I do them
Thankfully, the last category is very rare. So far there's only been one exercise where I flat out can't do it without extreme pain, so the trainers suggested another exercise for me to do instead. The second category is somewhat more common, but as long as I slow down and focus on form it hasn't been a big deal. I do wear my knee brace to be on the safe side, but so far I haven't really had any more soreness or pain than I would riding my bike. Well, except for the time when I dropped off the pullup bar and landed wrong. Apparently my knee doesn't like direct impacts. Ouch.
One further note: the people here are still creepily nice. At the beginning of every workout we go around the room and introduce ourselves, which means that I know by first name a good 20 or so people. I've even run into a few of them outside the gym and greeted them by name, which is very unusual for me.
On the whole, the Crossfit experiment is working for me. I'm already trying to figure out how I can keep doing Crossfit once the weather is good enough to bike to work. The schedule for that is very dicey, especially when you throw in ultimate and gaming night, but at least I should be able to go on Saturdays.