"It's Called 'The Bear' For a Reason!'

I did no formal working out with weekend. In lieu of CrossFitting, I packed. And packed. And took a break to hang out with friends. And packed some more. I'm not done, mostly because I ran out of boxes.

My legs think we worked out. Lost of lifting and bending and walking back and forth makes for tired legs.

In between packing boxes, I've gotten a chance to reflect on some of the actual workouts I've done thus far in CrossFit. Do you guys remember high school superlatives? "Most Likely to ________" or "Best _________," those sort of things. Well, in the spirit of that, I present to you my CrossFit Superlatives.

Longest WOD in the History of WODs: The Random Hodge-Podge Workout I Did On Friday 

Last Friday, Sarah and I went to CrossFit. Last time I went, I scanned the whiteboard and saw that it was going to be a partner workout, one that involved planks. I was excited and ready. But, when we got to class that morning, that's not what we ended up doing. The class was uncharacteristically large. And, the teachers we not the usual teachers. (The usual morning teachers were prepping for the CrossFit Regionals). So, they modified the workout. It was good. But so long. So very long.

First, they split us into 5 groups, one for each exercise (burpee pull-ups, wall balls, kettle-ball swings, lift-hand pull-ups, box jumps). Then, you alternate from station to station, spending a minute at each one. THEN, you do that 3 times. AND, they expected us to keep count (186 reps total). It was long. And brutal. But mostly long.

So, after that, I thought we were done. I had my water in hand, ready to go shower. BUT, then the teachers said, "Wait! You guys all need to cash-out!" New term for Jonna.

Our cash-out was squats and sit-ups. I did 115 and 78, respectively. I was sad and pitiful by the time I got to those sit-ups.

Most Fun Workout: CrossFit Baseball 

When I saw this on the board, I was pumped about it. I was going to be at that class. Well, we started with an extremely intense warm-up. It went a little something like this:

- 800m run
- 15 jump squats
- 400m run
- 15 jump squats
- 200m run
- 15 jump squats

Yeah. That's the WARM-UP. It took me 8:39. Not great, but I was lucky I finished. Running is not my forte.

Then, CrossFit Baseball finally began. The class split into two groups and we "ran bases."


- 1st Base - 20 lift-hand push-ups
- 2nd Base - 20 kettle-ball swings
- 3rd Base - 15 slam balls
- Home - 200m run

My team ... WON!! I contributed three "runs."

This workout wins the most fun award because it was actually a pretty good time. It was challenging, sure, but the competitiveness of it all made it more lighthearted and not so intense and scary. It helps that my team won.

Most Likely To Make Me Tear Up: The Bear 

Whe I first read this WOD on the board, I thought, "that doesn't sound so bad." I was wrong. I was so wrong. Sooo wrong.

Here's what you do:

You start in a deadlift. Then, you do a power clean. Then front squat, and push up to a push press. Then, put the bar on your shoulders and do a back squat. And finally, you do one final push press.

Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. You have to do this circuit seven times to equal one round. Oh, and you're supposed to do five rounds. AND, if you can't make it through a round, you are supposed to start over. Death. After I finally finished, I turned to Kale and Sarah and said "It's called the [expletive] bear for a reason!!"

I teared up. I welled. I held it together but it was definitely touch-and-go.

Most Likely To Make Me Push Myself: The Chipper 

Kale and I did this WOD together. It's a partner WOD. My first partner WOD. Here's what you do.

One partner does an overhead carry in the parking lot. I don't know exactly how far we had to hold the overhead carry, but it was three parking stalls. It was far. And it was hard.

Well, while one partner is doing the overhead carry, the other is inside "chipping away" at these:

- 100 air squats
- 80 sit-ups
- 60 kettle-ball swings
- 40 toe-to-bars
- 20 goblet squats
- 10 handstand push-ups

Well, that's hard enough as it is. But, if you can no longer hold the carry, you have to drop the bar, run in, get your partner, and do 10 burpees.

This wins my favorite CrossFit superlative because I really felt like I couldn't keep going. But I felt like I had to, for my own edification and because I did't want to let my partner down. My arms felt like jello by the end and I didn't' think I could make it but we did. We did a lot of burpees, but we made it. And that's all that matters.

This CrossFit thing is getting easier. So says the girl that hasn't been to CrossFit in two days but is drinking a glass of wine.