Unrelated, I think: Introductory crossfit workout, and best stopwatch/interval app?

[scootermaster]

Two questions:

1). I think I'm going to start some interval training for the upcoming beach vball season. I've got some ideas for what I want to do on the sand (both some drills I came up with on my own, and some that I've seen from other places...ideas welcomed!) but I also wouldn't mind doing some crossfit in the gym, since I go there with my girlfriend (I also have had a little knee pain lately, and want to give that some rest). I have no plans on giving up SS (or heavy weight lifting in general) but I need to get in better cardio shape. So, what's a good place to start (and I mean baaaaaaaasic) for, like, a crossfit workout? Do they have a "Day 1" workout? If at all possible, for now, if there was one that involved heavier weights, I'd like that (since right now I'm using to replace my SS workout, whereas later I think I'll do it on off days or alternate with) but it's not essential.

and

2). When I go to the beach, I'm gonna need either a stopwatch or something to notify me of my intervals. I was thinking of everything from an actual stop watch, or maybe a battery powered boombox + iPhone app. Or I could just clip up some music and mash it together and use headphones. I'm not exactly sure. Anyone have any bright ideas here?


Cliffs notes:
1). If I go to the gym in three hours, what crossfit workout to do?

2). What do people use for outdoor interval notification (stopwatch, iphone ap, music, etc).

Thanks!

 

[brikis98]

1). If I go to the gym in three hours, what crossfit workout to do?

There are two main requirements to do a Crossfit workout:

1. You can safely perform all the exercises in the workout. For example, if the workout contains the deadlift, you know to keep the back in full extension, the bar in contact with the body, and so on. Therefore, there aren't really any "newbie" Crossfit workouts, although depending on what you know how to do, some of the workouts will be more approachable than others. Most CF affiliates run newcomers through a "fundamentals" course that teaches them all the CF exercises; while in the course, they typically stick with workouts that only contain "simple" exercises, such as running, push-ups, box jumps, etc. Since you do SS, you should be able to do any CF workout that includes squats, deadlifts, and presses, but you may need lots of practice before attempting something with the snatch, muscle-up, double-unders, etc. Of course, for all workouts, you have the option of substituting the exercise for something similar: for example, the typical sub for muscle-ups would be 3 pull-ups and 3 dips; if you can't do pull-ups and dips, you could sub assisted pull-ups and push-ups; if you can't do those, you could sub jumping pull-ups and knee push-ups; and so on.

2. Your body must be adapted to the very high intensity nature of CF workouts. The nature of CF is that the intensity level is VERY high. This is usually achieved by timing the workout or having you try to do as many rounds or reps as possible in some fixed time period. Either way, you end up pushing as hard as you can possibly go. Most people are NOT prepared for this level of intensity when they first start. Therefore, most affiliates require new members to seriously scale workouts down the first few weeks and gradually ramp back up. You can scale the duration of the workout, the number of reps, the weight involved, the number of rounds, and so on. The Crossfit BrandX forum has scaled varieties of each day's CF workout. If you don't scale, you risk injury, overtraining, or - in rare cases - rhabdo. Leave your ego at the door and start slow!


So, having said all the above, jump onto Crossfit.com and grab the first workout that you can do safely, scale it down, and go at it. Unless you have a gymnastics background, the workout for Tuesday looks like a poor choice (requires a rope to climb, paralletes, HSPU's, pistols), so I'd instead recommend Sunday's workout "Helen". The KB/DB swings are very easy to learn (check out the exercise videos) and I'm sure you already know how to run and do pull-ups. Just for reference, Helen is intended to be a very short and fast workout - less than 10 minutes - so follow the BrandX scaling and reduce the weight of the KB/DB, the number of swings and number of pull-ups as necessary.

2). What do people use for outdoor interval notification (stopwatch, iphone ap, music, etc).

I use my iPhone with the UltraTimer app.

 

[scootermaster]

There are two main requirements to do a Crossfit workout:

1. You can safely perform all the exercises in the workout. For example, if the workout contains the deadlift, you know to keep the back in full extension, the bar in contact with the body, and so on. Therefore, there aren't really any "newbie" Crossfit workouts, although depending on what you know how to do, some of the workouts will be more approachable than others. Most CF affiliates run newcomers through a "fundamentals" course that teaches them all the CF exercises; while in the course, they typically stick with workouts that only contain "simple" exercises, such as running, push-ups, box jumps, etc. Since you do SS, you should be able to do any CF workout that includes squats, deadlifts, and presses, but you may need lots of practice before attempting something with the snatch, muscle-up, double-unders, etc. Of course, for all workouts, you have the option of substituting the exercise for something similar: for example, the typical sub for muscle-ups would be 3 pull-ups and 3 dips; if you can't do pull-ups and dips, you could sub assisted pull-ups and push-ups; if you can't do those, you could sub jumping pull-ups and knee push-ups; and so on.

2. Your body must be adapted to the very high intensity nature of CF workouts. The nature of CF is that the intensity level is VERY high. This is usually achieved by timing the workout or having you try to do as many rounds or reps as possible in some fixed time period. Either way, you end up pushing as hard as you can possibly go. Most people are NOT prepared for this level of intensity when they first start. Therefore, most affiliates require new members to seriously scale workouts down the first few weeks and gradually ramp back up. You can scale the duration of the workout, the number of reps, the weight involved, the number of rounds, and so on. The Crossfit BrandX forum has scaled varieties of each day's CF workout. If you don't scale, you risk injury, overtraining, or - in rare cases - rhabdo. Leave your ego at the door and start slow!


So, having said all the above, jump onto Crossfit.com and grab the first workout that you can do safely, scale it down, and go at it. Unless you have a gymnastics background, the workout for Tuesday looks like a poor choice (requires a rope to climb, paralletes, HSPU's, pistols), so I'd instead recommend Sunday's workout "Helen". The KB/DB swings are very easy to learn (check out the exercise videos) and I'm sure you already know how to run and do pull-ups. Just for reference, Helen is intended to be a very short and fast workout - less than 10 minutes - so follow the BrandX scaling and reduce the weight of the KB/DB, the number of swings and number of pull-ups as necessary.


I use my iPhone with the UltraTimer app.

Huh.

Thanks for the quick response!

I guess I was hoping for something that could be done in my gym. Actually, what I was looking for is a semi-analog of what I plan on doing on the sand. So maybe I could just do that, but I figured something more regimented, like CF might work. But I don't exactly have a rope, nor a 400m track, nor a lot of the other things I'd need, apparently.

So maybe CF isn't it, specifically (which isn't to say it wouldn't work). What I need is some sort of interval training for volleyball. More research is needed, I guess!

 

[brikis98]

I guess I was hoping for something that could be done in my gym. Actually, what I was looking for is a semi-analog of what I plan on doing on the sand. So maybe I could just do that, but I figured something more regimented, like CF might work. But I don't exactly have a rope, nor a 400m track, nor a lot of the other things I'd need, apparently.

So maybe CF isn't it, specifically (which isn't to say it wouldn't work). What I need is some sort of interval training for volleyball. More research is needed, I guess!

CF isn't really "interval work". It is a routine that develops general physical preparedness - that is, being ready for anything - and to do that, a very wide variety of exercises and modalities (including intervals) are used. It will definitely do a good job of improving your fitness for volleyball, but you'll need to understand how it works first. Start by reading What is Crossfit?, What is Fitness?, Start here, and the FAQ.

Having said that, CF is very accommodating to a wide variety of available equipment and can certainly be done in the gym. Hell, there is even a very long list of bodyweight only CF workouts. For individual pieces of equipment, there are plenty of substitutions. I gave the example with muscle-ups before, but this applies to anything: good running substitutes include running on a treadmill, rowing, biking and jump roping for comparable durations/intensities. Rope climbs can be replaces with towel pull-ups or normal pull-ups. Kettlebell swings can be replaced with dumbbell swings.