Never Get Bored

Today I did a WOD (Workout Of the Day) that consisted entirely of monostructural modalities (i.e., "aerobic / cardio"):
Run 1 mile
Row 2 kilometers
Run 1 mile

This was the mainsite (www.crossfit.com) WOD from 2 days ago... I fell behind on my schedule and wanted to catch up. In particular I made myself make-up that WOD because I hate to run.. if that makes sense (?!)


At the same time my husband who is a stickler for regimen and rarely falls behind on the mainsite schedule did today's prescribed WOD:
10 sets of 2 bench presses for a total of 20 heavy bench presses.


Simultaneously my step son (who is the furthest thing from a stickler for regimen) was making up the WOD that I did yesterday, which he missed:
50 weighted backsquats + 5 fifteen foot rope climbs
40 weighted backsquats + 4 fifteen foot rope climbs
30 weighted backsquats + 3 fifteen foot rope climbs
20 weighted backsquats + 2 fifteen foot rope climbs
10 weighted backsquats + 1 fifteen foot rope climbs
adding 10 - 20 pounds of weight to the barbell each round so that as the number of reps goes down, the weight on your back gets heavier

                                                                                                         [PHOTO: David just finishing his bench presses (20 x 215 lbs) and Cody on his 14th rope climb]

As I coached and cheered my stepson on to his own personal finish line I marveled at the constant variety that CrossFit offers, and how, after over a solid year of CrossFit WODs, I never get bored.  

Evidence Based Fitness

"CrossFit believes that meaningful statements about 

safety, efficacy, and efficiency, the three most important 

and interdependent facets of any fitness program, can be 

supported only by measurable, observable, repeatable 

facts, i.e., data. We call this approach evidence-based 

fitness”. 

- CrossFit Training Guide, page 2

Today I experienced, once again, CrossFit's empirical methodology. 

The WOD (Workout Of the Day):

Run 1 mile

Row 2 K

Run 1 mile

I started off at an easy pace. I did the run through my neighborhood, which is rural. Very rural. About 1/4 mile out my dog got attacked by a pack of dogs. I had to detour and chase the wild dogs off before continuing on my run. Then I got onto the row. It was my first time on my new rower. It took a moment to figure out the control panel. After the row I had to search around the garage to find the mace I often carry when running. Then I hit the road again. And by "road" I mean rocky dirt and gravel with hills. 

By the time I finished the WOD and hit the stop watch I had completely resolved that I would just have a poor time/score for my records and be happy with the fact that at least I got in a workout today. Last time I did this same workout I ran a loop around a quiet neighborhood that was mostly flat, paved, and with little to no traffic & the rower was one I used often and was very comfortable with. 

I wrote down my sorry time/score for today, then looked up the last time I had done the same workout 5 months ago with premium conditions and had given it my all..  and guess what -- I actually bettered my time/score by almost 2 minutes without even trying and including all those distractions. What a great feeling! 


If that's not empirical evidence of improvement in fitness then I don't know what is.