The Crossfit Experience

I stumbled upon Crossfit on Twitter. I saw a tweet from Joaquin Valdez (of Breakfast fame) about almost "puking" doing this mysterious thing called "Crossfit". Then another tweet from Gabe Mercado (of the "Okay ka ba, yan?" fame) about feeling, in his words, "...ni rape ng dalawampung elepante na drug adik. Ganyan ang pakiramdam ko pagkatapos mag cross fit workout".

A few google searches after, I found the CrossfitMnl website offering free trials. I gave it a shot, and luckily they emailed back saying they'd love to see me for a trial workout. It was a Monday night.

Photo credit: http-//www.pinoyfitness.com

I went in through their quirky, huge, red door. Exchanged pleasantries with Ferdie and off we went to the what he calls, "Intro workout". He said 15 minutes and I was all, "15 minutes, really. Just 15 mnutes" in my head. I thought, "Dude, I do 3-hour marathon workouts with weights and crazy cardio, and you're giving me just 15 minutes?! Sana nag-yoga na lang ako." Buti na lang I did't say it aloud!

Shet, I was dead meat by the end of 15 minutes. LONGEST 15 MINUTES OF MY LIFE. Dude, I've never been THAT tired in my life. My knees were wobbly, I was sweating like a pig, I was tired as hell and I couldn't decide whether I wanted to puke or cry.

For the unitiated, here's a rundown of what that infamous 15 minutes consisted. Probably looks like chicken feed from the photos but I tell you, SHET, ANG HIRAP. 

There's a W.O.D. (Workout of the Day), which for the trial version, you have to do in circuits. It's 15 full minutes of non-stop circuit of 7 wall balls, 7 pull ups, 7 box jumps and 7 burpees. 

Photo credit

diablocrossfit.com

Wall Balls
For the wall balls, you stand across a wall and start with a squat squarely on your knees. You rise and throw a weighted ball (mine was 5kg, lighter than the recommended 7kg for females; 9kg for males) aimed at a line on the wall, and then catch it back down. Then back to squat again. One set is seven wall balls.

This was fairly doable. The squats were manageable since we do a good number of weighted squats in Pump. But right around the fourth circuit, I really felt my form deteriorate from confident stance to "Sheeeet, are we there yet?"

Photo credit
games2008.crossfit.com

Pull Ups
You then run to the poles to do pull ups. You hang by your hands on the monkey bars and pull yourself up so your chin touches the bar. As luck (or my weight) would have it, doing unassisted pull ups was impossible for me. Crossfit anticipated this and installed rubber bands to assist in the pull ups. You slip one foot into the loop and the elastic recoil helps hoist you up to the bar. Again 7 reps for this bitch.

(I think this killed it for my shoulders. It's been 3 days since the Crossfit trial and my shoulders are still burning. I wonder how this'll turn out during stretches for my yoga class. Hmm.)

Photo credit

games2009.crossfit.com

Box Jumps
Next up is the box jumps. I just wish with all my heart I looked as nimble as this graceful girl with the washboard abs as I did my box jumps reps. For shame, with all the jiggle I felt as I jumped atop the box, I knew I was waaay far from this

You stand squarely at the bottom of a box, jump to the top of the box (I did the 12"-box, lower than the recommended 16") and then jump back to the floor. Again seven times over. (Buti na lang hindi ako nagmaganda at pumili nung 16" box. Death.)

Photo credit
physedclass.wordpress.com

Burpees

To complete the circuit, you have the burpee. In a nutshell, it's a push up and jumping jack rolled into one bitch of a movement. You start with a plank position (I did mine on my knees) do one push up, jump  to your feet, do a jumping jack and then jump back on the floor. This was tiring as hell.

While the others are fairly easy at the beginning, this baby is DIFFICULT since set 1. My first 3 circuits were fairly fluid, but come circuit 4, I was literally crawling. This officially took away any semblance of poise I thought I had.

I was told I did pretty impressively, with 6 rounds of the circuit in 15 minutes. Apparently, the standing average was 5 rounds for boys and girls. So, "Yay, self!" Hahaha. And to cap the (very tiring) night off, I get to write my name on the board and put "6" beside it! What up!

I seriously wasn't exaggerating when I said I wanted to cry AND throw up. i was surprised at the shock it gave my body considering I do pretty intensive cardio. Crossfit IS something. I'm giving it thought.

I'd just like to give a shout out to the he very nice, Coach Ferdi. I trained with the very nice Coach Ferdi on Monday night, who I found out from searching for Crossfit MNL on the internet, is a seriously badass elite athlete. I'm thankful that he was very nice in guiding me through the workout, pushing to a strong finish and answering ALL (and I asked a LOT!) my questions after the workout.

So, if by any chance he stumbles upon this, thank you very much Coach Ferdi for my very nice experience at Crossfit MNL.

Now the big question is... to Crossfit or not to Crossfit. Hmmm.