ANYWAY, MUSCLE PAIN TOMORROW
JET GAVE A LESSON IN CROSSFIT
An hour of sweating
There I went. In May-Britt's Renault (I've got the shifting pretty much under control) towards Amsterdam Arena for a session of crossfit in the Reebok Crossfit BOX.
Crossfit is a circuit training with weights, cardio exercises, and gymnastics. The idea is to make as many repetitions as possible in a certain time. Or as many circuit rounds as possible. Well, I already train a lot, I'm quite fit, but when I stepped into this space, my heart immediately raced.
No cat pee
I don't know if it's intentional, but the trainers walking around (I think three of them) all have no hair on their heads and could easily participate in ‘The Strongest Man in the Netherlands’. In the corner, a woman was doing 500 sit-ups in 1 minute (insanely fast) and elsewhere someone was lifting so much weight that I had never seen before. Everyone I saw was wearing high socks. Okay, those were definitely NOT in my bag, so that made me a bit anxious. “Oh, that's for rope climbing,” said one of the bald men. And indeed, I saw someone climbing up like a little monkey. Something I had never done before.
Special outfit
There was a black pair of pants, a shirt, and Reebok shoes ready for me. No long socks then. Damnit. The shoes are specially designed for crossfit training. A very light shoe with good grip on the floor and for and during rope climbing.
Let’s go
I was with about 12 other people who clearly had done this before. On the whiteboard, under Thursday's date, this text was written:
23 Min AMRAP:
5 Dumbbell Burpee Box Steps (2×30#, 2×15#)
1 L-Sit Rope Climb
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pull 32/28/24kg
20 Sit Ups
5 Strict Hand Stand Push Ups
Probably completely clear for the die-hard crossfitters, but for me, it was abracadabra. Fortunately, the trainers explained all the exercises with examples, and I immediately noticed that they were incredibly nice guys and not as scary as I thought.
Let’s go
After a warm-up, we went for 23 minutes with the circuit training. As many rounds as you can. Doing burpees (a kind of frog jumps where you jump back, lie flat on the ground, push yourself up, and then jump up. Got it?), sit-ups, exercises with the kettlebell, handstand against the wall and then pushing yourself up and down (I absolutely couldn't do that) and climbing that rope. Luckily, I got a beginner's exercise.
I do have quite a bit of endurance, but I wasn't going as hard as everyone else. There were ladies who did all the exercises effortlessly and also at a high pace. I took it a bit easier to at least survive and be able to walk a little tomorrow.
I sound a bit anxious, and I was, but I still had a pretty nice workout. It's really not the case that you fall behind if you can't do everything perfectly. There are many pros among them, but also really just normal people like me who also find it a bit tough. Before I knew it, an hour had passed, and you had given your whole body a workout. All muscle groups are trained, and you feel incredibly energetic. Do this three times a week, and you can already be in your bikini in two months.
Will you join me once?
What I find nice is that there is a training session almost every hour starting from seven in the morning, so it's very flexible. It's handy to sign up before the class starts. Otherwise, check here for the schedule. A trial lesson is free, by the way. If you go, right? Then take me with you! This could become an addiction!
