Breathe Magazine

Have you heard of CrossFit?  Picture this: Beautiful park, two beautiful level 1 Cross Fit trainers (husband and wife) offering free workouts in the park for “all levels and all ages”.  The flyer said “a high intensity boot camp style workout” and guess who showed up?!

Yes, that’s right me.

First order of business was to prepare our bodies for the work ahead with a range of motion drill for the entire body.  Ok, this is manageable..feels weird to move my head around but I’ll do whatever they say.

Second, lessons taught on proper technique for the Squat, Push-up, Tri-cep Dips, and Plyo-Jumps.  Do more than 10 of each just to warm up.  I was thinking, this is hard, but nothing strenuous….

Finally, we get to the main W.O.D. of the day.  W.O.D. stands for workout of the day.  Run 400 meters, followed by 100 squats as fast as you can, followed by a 400 meter sprint, followed by 75 push-ups, 400 meter run, 50 Tri-cep Dips, 400 meter run, 25 Plyo-Jumps up a wall.  Drop to the ground and collapse!

This so far has been the hardest workout I have EVER DONE.  And, I was sore for 6 days!  My quads were screaming like I ran a marathon or something.  Since then, I’ve done one other workout in the park and 3 foundation classes at the Cross Fit location in my town.  (I am still a very green rookie) AND YET, I already feel much stronger, faster and just generally great.  The workouts are wicked hard, fast and effective.  Most of the work you do in CrossFit is anaerobic and strength based rather than aerobically based.  Knowing my body and how I workout, I am able to really push myself in these workouts whereas in a daily run, I might run only 12 minute miles!

So, why do I think it’s great for moms?  The workout is short.  You can be in and out in 45 minutes without any “mind numbing” cardio work.  You will always workout under the supervision of a trainer.  They can keep an eye on YOU and make sure you have correct alignment, working hard, offer adjustments and generally help you stay motivated.  You can’t slack off if people are watching you! Every single workout can be modified to fit any level…a push-up can be modified in many ways to help you complete the workout.  In all my years of exercise and fitness, this is by far the hardest, most challenging style of workout I have ever done.  And who else is going to teach you how to do a proper pull up?!

Best part is I am going to have the most fabulous buffed out arms, ever!

Fit Mom is the creator of Fit Mom’s blog.  She is a Physical Education and Yoga teacher and is passionate about exercise and food.