CrossFit WOD sponsored by Reebok
The CrossFit WOD was led by Crossfit Reebok One coach, Matt and local CrossFit Affiliate coaches from the Portland area on the 6th floor of the Nines Hotel from 9:30-10:30 on Saturday June 29th. All levels were welcome to participate in this great fitness experience and interact with excellent coaches. There were roughly 50 participants.
MATT: Welcome! Can you guys all hear me? Welcome to your crossfit workout. I’m Matt and I’ll be leading you guys through a workout demo along with coaches from Crossfit Mt. Hood, Stumptown Crossfit and Crossfit Immense. I’ll have everyone introduce themselves:
JOON: Joon, Crossfit Stumptown
BRANDY: Brandy, Crossfit Mt. Hood
JORDAN: Jordan , Crossfit Stumptown
MEGO: Mego, Crossfit Stumptown
LYMAN: Lyman, Crossfit Immense
HOLLY: Holly, Crossfit Stumptown
TONY: Tony, Crossfit Stumptown
LINDSEY: Lindsey, Crossfit Mt. Hood
KELLY: Kelly, Crossfit Mt. Hood
MATT: And I’m Matt with Crossfit Reebok One. I’m formerly of New England Crossfit. I’m stoked to be here, I flew out from Boston. Now, for who here is this your first Crossfit experience?
(about 75% of the room raises their hands)
MATT: And how many people are scared to death?
(about 50% of the room raises their hands)
MATT: So what is Crossfit? A lot of you have an image of what it might be. Crossfit is defined as constantly varied functional movement performed at a high intensity. Varied; so it always changes. Everyday you do a crossfit workout it’s different, whether it’s load, distance, time… When your goal is to be good at everything you need exposure. Functional movements are essential to human development: stand, sit, lift, move, run, climb. Functional movements are what allow us to not live in a nursing home. Performing these movements unloaded is inherently safe. Intensity for Crossfit is relative. It depends on your fitness level. It’s also a shortcut to results. It’s the corollary in physics: results and getting results faster – How cool is that?
(applause)
MATT: Also, Crossfit is HUGELY FUN. I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t fun. I left a career in law to do this, which my parents were not happy about. Everyday is different and I love it. It is universally scaled so everyone can have the experience. It’s community based. I didn’t know any of these coaches before I came out here but immediately I formed a bond. Let’s get a round of applause for these coaches.
(applause)
MATT: We’re gonna just do it. We’ll start with a dynamic warm up. 30 seconds each of some light warm ups. Take a shoulder width stance. Alright, jumping jacks.
(jumping jacks for 30 seconds)
MATT: Trunk twists. Pivot on the opposite foot to make it more dynamic.
(trunk twists for 30 seconds)
MATT: Arms up and back.
(arms up and back for 30 seconds)
MATT: Now cross them.
(arm crosses for 30 seconds)
MATT: Move the feet a little wider, reach on down and bend up. You’re gonna get to know the person in front of you really well.
(bends for 30 seconds)
MATT: Arm crosses.
(arm crosses for 30 seconds)
MATT: Arms up and back.
(arms up and back for 30 seconds)
MATT: Trunk twists.
(trunk twists for 30 seconds)
MATT: Jumping jacks.
(jumping jacks for 30 seconds)
MATT: Nice job . So we’re gonna talk through our movements first, and run them all together. We’re doing three movements today: push up, sit up and a squat. Three functional movements you need to be able to do if you want to continue walking this earth. Luke here is going to demonstrate. We’re looking for a full range of motion push ups.
(Luke demonstrates)
MATT: Fully extend the elbow, drop to the deck, and push back up. If you don’t have full range of motion you can drop down to your knees. We’ll practice first. Five reps on the push up. Find some space. The coaches are gonna come around while you do those push ups.
(everyone does five push ups)
MATT: Nice push ups! After the push ups, sit right on your butts. Next movement is gonna be a sit up; normal sit up. Shoulder blades will touch the ground, stomach touch the thighs.
(Luke demonstrates)
MATT: Get however high you can get. Cool thing about that is that you can do a sit up with an arm throw. The goal is to do more work faster than someone else or than you’ve previously done. Higher power, higher intensity: faster results. Go ahead and do five reps.
(everyone does five sit ups)
MATT: The air squat is the most foundational movement in Crossfit. Lower below parallel, weight in heels, shoulder width stance, and wiggle your toes.
(Luke demonstrates 5 air squats)
Matt: What we’re looking for is you’re going to sit your butt back and down. Butt and hips are gonna go back. Do just that.
(everyone practices)
Matt: Butt and hips go back, and then stand up. As you continue to go down, we’re going to have to drive the knees out. That gives you a nice support system. The body works really well that way. As you continue to sit back and down drive the knees out. We’re going to do a half squat right now. Squat and stand.
(everyone practices)
MATT: We want to try to maintain a nice natural curve in our spine as we squat, chest up. Keeping the arms up will help you do that; I see a couple athletes doing that already. The last thing here is we’re looking for range of motion, and if you can get the hip crease below the top of the knee, that’s where we’re looking for. Go as deep as you can while maintaining knees driving out ,and the weight in your heels. How many of you feel like you’re gonna fall back on your butts?
(a few people raise their hands)
MATT: That’s what we want Are you guys ready to workout? Let’s do a little warm up. Our workout is only gonna be 4 minutes long, its going to consist of the 3 workouts: 5 push ups, 7 sit ups, 9 air squats. As many rounds as possible in 4 minutes. The key here today guys is to listen to your own bodies. You guys know yourselves better than I do. If something feels funky, call a coach over or cut it out and do something more your speed. No judgment today. Sound good? Ready to rock?
(cheers)
MATT: Every workout starts with athlete set, 3-2-1, and go. I’ll say athlete set, all together everyone will say 3-2-1, go. Let’s try. Athlete set.
EVERYONE: 3-2-1, go
MATT: That kind of sucked. Let’s try it again. Higher energy, let’s go! This is the real one, athlete set!
EVERYONE: 3-2-1, GO!
(workout begins and lasts 4 minutes)
MATT: Find someone and give them a high five. Gather in the circle in the center.
(everyone gathers in the middle of the room)
MATT: The coolest thing about that is everyone got a great workout. My grandma could walk into any Crossfit gym in the country and get the same workout. If it was hard today, push yourself harder tomorrow. Anything that scares you; Crossfit or life, it’s just exposure. If this was your first workout, is it less scary?
(cheers)
This is something that would be done in the gym. Maybe the movements would add weight or a longer timed AMRAP. Good job today you guys, I left time to ask questions of myself and the staff. Thanks!
This session was captured by Sam Bangs of LifeIsBangin.com where she blogs about her bipolar adventures in recovery, training and acting.
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