Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Crossfit 1, Dustin 0

So I'm like most people, in that I talk a lot about working out, but don't do a lot of working out. I suppose there's a fraction of the population that doesn't just talk, but actually does work out. Show offs.

I've had stretches of time where I've worked out quite a bit. You might remember this post. That was a great time for me because I was working out with a great guy named Sean. He used to be a personal trainer and would really push me to work out harder every time we worked out. Sadly, Sean moved a little bit further away, I got lazy, and our schedules made it a little harder for us to get together regularly, so I quit. Sean is still going strong.

So then I joined another gym. It's pretty close to our house and it has a program that somehow scams your insurance company so that you get personal training for pretty cheap. I went a for a couple of weeks and even tried going before work. Eventually, I stopped going. I hate working out by myself, and I was intimidated by the personal training thing. It's been months since I've been back. The next time I go, it's to cancel that membership.

Our friend Rachel has been raving about her gym called Crossfit Pittsburgh. After she had her third beautiful baby, Rachel decided to go all out and lose the baby weight (and then some)Crossfit is kind of like a gym franchise. You have to be Crossfit certified in order to open a Crossfit gym. It's basically personal training, but in a class like setting.

You say, "Dustin, if it's a class, it's not really personal training."

True, but it's cool because there's some one running the class pushing you to work out your hardest.

"So it's like aerobics? What's so hard about that?"

It's NOTHING like aerobics. A long time ago (seriously...12 years ago) I played high school football. (I know I know... it was a small town, no cuts...but I was actually good enough to get on the field) Football workouts were tough. Lots of weights, and miles upon miles of running. Now I know I am not in the shape I was back then (round is a shape), but this workout was HARD.

Allow me to explain:

Stage 1:


2 Minutes of Sit ups, no rest then 2 minutes of Jump Rope (Double unders if you can)
no rest
90 seconds sit ups, no rest, 90 seconds jump rope
no rest
60 seconds sit up, no rest, 60 seconds jump rope
no rest
30 seconds sit ups, no rest, 30 seconds jump rope
In case you're counting, that's ten minutes straight going as hard as you can on sit ups and jumping rope.

Stage 2:

There are 4 stations for this stage. For each station, you complete 8 sets. Each set is 20 seconds long. For each set, you do the exercise as hard as you can for the full 20 seconds, then take a 10 second break. After all 8 sets are complete, you move to the next station.

Station 1:
Station 2:
Station 3:
Station 4:


I made it through Station 1, got very dizzy, and then sat through stations 2 and 3. After I cooled down a bit, I decided to go for station 4, the line jump. It's a pretty easy concept. All you have to do is jump side to side over a line. Well, it becomes more difficult when both of your calves cramp up. Which happened to me! Awesome.

By the way, there was a woman there who was at least 60 years old. She did both stages and all exercises. Yeah, I felt like a man.

I'm going to go all out this week and go to as many classes as I can. I'll keep you posted! Wish me luck!

3 comments :

  1. Thanks for the shout out, Dustin! The older woman is my buddy Ann. I think she's 63??? But, give yourself some credit...I'm sure you were moving a bit faster than her!

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  2. Nope. I was about the same pace as her. There was no quit in that girl.

    Update: Crossfit 3, Dustin .5

    Apparently, Crossfit wins everytime!

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  3. Dustin I missed the .5 there and thought you were doing really good for a second! So sorry - but great that you're working out that hard!

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