Crossfit = Pain in the best way imaginable

Well my life has finally allowed me to enter a world of pain I have been itching to dive into for a while. I am back home in the Comox Valley and everything is finally in order for me to explore Crossfit at local Titanium Crossfit! I had a beauty meeting with the owner named Mark Mazzocchi and he layed out all the basics. It is a perfect fit at this point in time in my career/season and it will definitely take me to the next level and beyond in terms of fitness and mental strength. GAME ON!!!

So I showed up today expecting to get my butt handed to me; it happened. We did the warm up and were introduced to the WOD (work out of the day). It was a 4 exercise Tabata workout which is a series performed under the following protocol. You exercise for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and repeat that sequence 8 times. 10 seconds of rest before you move onto the next exercise. One word, BRUTAL!!!!

The four exercises to be performed in sequence went from Pull ups to Push Ups to Sit ups to Squats (body weight). All reps performed in the 8 sets were added up to make a total for each exercise and then your exercise total was added to give you your final workout rep count.

Well the first 3 exercises weren't too bad because I don't possess the muscle mass to really work beyond my cardio system. My muscles gave out before my respiratory system was hyper taxed so I just had to deal with giving out and fully trembling muscles. After the second rep in Pull Ups and Push Ups I aspired to get 2 and eventually 1 successful rep in a row. It got to the point where 1 rep was a struggle; the burn was intense and I risked falling on my face while pushing up. It was fun.

The sit ups weren't all that bad because once again I wasn't able to really explode through them to get enough reps. I definitely fatigued but because my upper body weights more than my legs I struggled to get through a lot of reps in each 20 second split. I was tired and huffing but the pain was manageable.

Last came the squats; these were the kicker. Since I am a large human being the medicine ball placed under my bum to check proper depth had to be elevated! We placed a thick plate under it and I was then ready to get heavy. I knew this was the exercise I could really push my total on and I committed to going harder than I ever have gone before.

My goal was to perform 20 squat reps per 20 second split. I hit that on my first few attempts but then my pace declined as the INSANE burn beat me down. I resisted and persisted and those 8 sets of squats were worse than the other three exercises combined. I managed to push to 123 reps and for the next 10 minutes I was queezy and my legs shook like a 10.0 on the richter scale. Driving home wasn't safe at this point.

I tried doing some roll outs but my body wouldn't allow me to perform anything other than breathing and stumbling to my car! That was it for the day and I wasn't about to rebel against my body!

All in all my first Crossfit work out went like so

If you can spot my name, I scored 314 repetitions in a 16 minute maximal workout. Lets just say I am going to be sore tomorrow but guess what? I am doing a strength workout at 10:30 to get a baseline understanding of my 5 rep maxes in the Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

I was warned Crossfit is addictive and I must say that after a single beating, I am in. I will become the best athlete I have ever been should I continue, although, I will monitor my body as Crossfit is hyper taxing. I will write a blog on each of my workouts so keep checking back for more stories of me getting destroyed by one of the most effective workout regimes available. It is a cult and I plan on getting my hands very dirty.

Keep pushing. Martin