On Sunday, I took Megan to my CrossFit gym for her first ever CrossFit workout.



My gym is offering a series of free classes on Sunday mornings this month in partnership with City Sports, and I figured it was the perfect opportunity to show some of my friends why I love CrossFit so much.

We got there on the earlier side and Megan had a chance to meet some of the coaches before we got into the heart of the workout.

The free class followed the same basic format as a regular WOD class: Warm-up/agility work, lifting and sweating (aka the WOD).

We tackled lots of crawling patterns during the class. That meant lots of bear crawling. Ick, one of my least favorite things, probably because it requires more coordination than I'm sometimes capable of exerting.


Bear crawling

The lift portion focused on the basic foundational movements we do in most CrossFit classes: squats, hinges and planks.


Colin, one of the coaches, working with Megan on a hinge

The coaches spent time demonstrating each movement and then worked with each person checking out form and correcting any issues they saw.


Coaches Colin and Marcos demonstrating proper plank form


Colin correcting form on a plank

Once the class had mastered the basic movement patterns, it was time to put them all together WOD-style.

Our WOD for the day:

• 5 squats


• 5 hinges


• One lap of bear crawl


• Kettlebell carry

As many rounds as possible in eight minutes

The movements might seem basic and the workout might seem overly simple, but if you used the right weight and pushed yourself, it was definitely a butt kicker.

We actually did a very similar workout in my very first CrossFit class several months ago. This time around though, I was able to increase my weight on all the movements (by quite a bit on the carries, actually) and I was definitely feeling it by the time we were done.

That's one of the best parts about CrossFit -- it doesn't take a bunch of strange or complicated movements to get a really great butt-kicking workout in, and it's scale-able to any fitness level.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the class and lots of people stuck around afterward to ask questions and learn more.


Group shot!

Megan told me the class was the "best worst idea she's ever had." I'm not totally sure what that means, but I'm just going to assume that means it was awesome. She also texted me last night to say she was fairly sore in a hurts-so-good kind of way.

Success!