Crossfit

Recently, the MWR facility out here put together a "Crossfit Competition." I learned about it 3 days before the competition and was very excited. Crossfit is becoming a new craze back in the States as well as out here. Crossfit competitions are when athletes from all over the world come together to compete. It's said to comprise of the most well respected type of workouts all into one event. I'd suggest going online to crossfit.com to check out the workouts and see videos of the exercises.

Our competition started with 5 stations. Me and 4 other teammates started at each of the 5 stations.  Each station had a judge counting or critiquing your lift.  We lifted at each station for only a minute and did as much as we could until body failure. We would then switch to the next station, NO BREAK. That's right we went through all 5 stations before we had a break for 1 minute. That concluded round 1. There were 3 rounds. Each rep is a point. The most points by the Team of 5 wins.

The 5 stations included
1. Thrusters ( like standing military press but you can use your legs) - 75 pounds
2. Standing High pulls to the chin and it needs to touch the ground - 75 pounds
3. 24" High Box Jumps
4. Row Machine- Points for how many calories burned. The harder you pulled- the more calories burned.
5. Squat 20pound Medicine Ball then throw it 15 feet on marked wall.
(weights varied for women).
Needless to say, my body is still very sore 2 days later. Doing this competition for the first time, I learned a lot about my threshold for pain and how out of shape I am.

It was fun to do but would suggest pacing yourself if you have plans to take this on. I know I did 27 reps at Station number 1 at the beginning of round 1 and it went all down hill from there. I spent a lot of my energy doing that and probably did around 15reps in round 3. If you can stay in the "teens" your doing pretty good.

I tricked my good friend, Chike, to be on the team and we've been walking like old men ever since. He keeps saying that I'm a "competition freak" because I sign up for every activity they hold here. It's something I really enjoy. Competing! Surprise, surprise. It gives me something to look forward to.

I'd like to continue working out "Crossfit" style until I get home and see where it goes.

Pics to come.