A few months ago, I saw a video on YouTube that featured men and women performing Olympic lifts, pull ups, box jumps and all sorts of other physical feats that I’ve always wanted to try. It was the first time I’d seen CrossFit in action and it left me curious. After posting the video on Facebook I realised CrossFit wasn’t some underground movement, it’s huge and, judging from the avalanche of comments I received, everyone has an opinion on it.
My Facebook friends mainly suggested that I don’t get involved because it’s like joining a cult, but I ignored them and set off for a free trial class at CrossFit Ten 500 in Silom. The 7am class was quiet with just five of us taking part. Typically, I was assured, the evening classes are jam-packed with people of all shapes and sizes pursuing their individual delusions of grandeur.
I’d read a lot about CrossFit and its AMRAP (as many reps as possible) approach used in their WOD (workout of the day), so I was psychologically prepared to puke. I even bought a toothbrush along.
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The warm up consisted of using a cable machine that emulated skiing to warm up our shoulders, a few pull ups (with a resistance band should you have no upper body strength, like me) and a few cleans with a weighted ball.
After that, our instructor, a truly badass woman who demonstrated better pull ups than the guys in class, showed us the WOD. Since I was new she offered me an easier alternative, but my proud side wouldn’t allow it and I submitted myself to equal treatment.
The WOD involved two exercises – alternating kipping, which is basically swinging off an overhead bar, and Olympic clean and presses, which took me ages to learn because I’m used to ‘aerobics class’ cleans. We started with three of each then move to six, nine etc until seven minutes was up on the clock.
The idea is to go as fast as possible, but I was still struggling with the form for the Olympic clean, awkwardly shrugging my shoulders and squatting down too quickly. I used a 15kg bar with no weight on it. After three of those, I switched to kipping, which was fun, except for the fact my silly baby soft hands wouldn’t cooperate. I tried very hard to be all Michelle Rodriguez about it, but I kept dropping off the bar because it really hurt *whine*. I showed the teacher my red raw hands and she breezily said ‘oh yeah – I ripped mine open this morning, too.’
Looking back at the workout I can admit I was pretty slow, but I think I completed the sets of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 before the seven minutes was up. While the rest of the class had been grunting and screaming, I’d mainly been looking confused about my form and powdering up my hands.
I hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Since I KNOW I could have pushed harder and showed off a little bit, I left disappointed with myself. I had taken my time to learn the form and then been shy about adding weight.
My workout aside, I liked CrossFit. It’s different every time, you can challenge yourself, compete against others and you can improve your endurance, strength, flexibility and power. If you truly want to get super fit, what’s not to love? I’m already considering going back tomorrow even if it is, you know, a little cultish.
Difficulty rating: If I’d challenged myself as much as I could have, this could easily be a 5/5
Suitable for: those with a competitive side looking to really challenge themselves
CrossFit Ten 500
KCC Building, Silom soi 9
Silom Road, Bangrak
Bangkok, TH 10500
