narrowing down crossfit

[Grace Patenaude]

Originally Posted by Sean Dunston

Agreed. The variety and seemingly random nature of the program is what gives the CF'er the best GPP.

Now - if you wanted to narrow down 10-20 of your favorite WODs that you would be sharing with your friends just to give them a taste of the koolaid, I think that is a great idea!

Heck- that (narrowing down your favorites) might be hard to do!

Helen
Murph
Cindy
Fran
Diane
Elizabeth
CFT
Tabata this (or something else)
Linda
Fight Gone Bad

That is only 10 of the "named" WODs - there are countless others that don't even have names!

Yeah! I've actually been following CF for over a year now and finally signed up (San Diego Cert I) after numerous SOLD OUT road blocks. I'm an Uncoached CrossFitter for a year (Pers Trainer for 10yrs and group for 18yrs)! I'm proud to say I did this past Tuesday's WOD (modified DU jump ropes) for freakin' 38 minutes (42 years old) at work areas at far end corners of a typical commercial gym and felt happliy wiped out!!! I do get a lot of attention...thanks to CF's WODs! I think CrossFit is CrossFit....scaling down way too much.... ain't CF anymore! Tried that and felt short changed.

[Franklin Shogie]

Originally Posted by Susie Rosenberg

You can tell yourself you have "no choice but to read as much as you can" or you can tell yourself you choose to do the reading to become proficient in this worthwhile endeavor.

Which attitude do you think will get you better results?

Susie

That I think is "the quote of the day"

[William Hutson]

I found this very useful randomization tool (built on 10 exercises) on this site a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.crossfit.com/journal/libr...e_training.pdf

It has grid-like tool where you can quickly generate a random workout (based on 10 exercises, but you could quickly create two of these grids, one for even days, one for odd) using the 8 digits in a dollar bill / airline ticket / stopwatch digits, etc.

Whoever designed this grid is a genius.

the first digit is the number of types of exercises to do that day (up to 4), then next 4 digits are used to select what those (up to 4 exercises are, throwing away unused digits on any given day), then next digit determines whether you're going to work for time or for sets...the next digit tells you how much time/or/how many sets..and the last digit tells you reps per set.

[Ron Fielder]

Originally Posted by James Neuman

When I said it was "daunting," I was not referring to the level of difficulty of each exercise, but simply to the prospect of learning what seems like countless different exercises AND then getting myself into the habit of checking here daily for WOD, scaling appropriately and possibly learning any substitutions that might become necessary for whatever reason.

To take just one example. I happened to look at the WOD for today (5K of rowing). Because I'm not an experienced rower, I checked out a video. Then I realized I have no idea how to measure 5K. Hoping to learn that, I read about half of the comments about that, and stopped before getting a clear answer. I saw some substitutions mentioned, and got diverted to reading about them. All along the way, I occasionally had to refer elsewhere in this site to understand abbreviations and terminology.

Now, I realize that many answers will be found in the FAQ and descriptions of the exercises. I'm also sure that many gaps in my knowledge will be filled quickly. But I'm a little concerned that - for the foreseeable future - I will have to do considerable reading on a daily basis, just to ensure that I'm on the right track. And that was why I asked whether it was possible to narrow down the program somewhat.

Based on the responses here, though, it appears that the variety and even the schedule is key. So I guess I have no choice but to read as much as I can, if I really want to commit to the program.

The first few months that I was starting out, I had to go through the learning curve. I had to re-learn basic exercises. I had to try new things that I had never done, like overhead squats. I changed the way I was eating. I read constantly and watched the videos everyday.
I was severely beat up everyday at the gym for months and the whole time people were looking at me like I was crazy. However, in as little as 3 months things were different.
Now at 1+ year into it I am an affiliate and the way I navigated through those first months is priceless when I help another person take their first shot at CF.
I have seen some amazing results but it has come at the cost of my time and effort and pain and not quiting.
Take the time you need, it will pay off in the long run.
Good luck!

[Tom Brose]

There are some fundamental movements you must do. Learn those correctly, work on them and see where that gets you. Once you have a degree of comfort, you may decide to expand your options. No one can learn everything right off the bat.

squat- the foundation of it all. Master this at all costs.
front squat
overhead squat- this will test the form of the squat to a much higher degree (less room for misalignment) and connect the body via midline stabilization aka "core".
Deadlift- essential life skill and a must in the gym.
press-make sure to get bar truly "overhead", press to behind the ears
Push press- learn to deliver full body expression of power.
pullup- this is CrossFit, ya heard?
pushup

There are more, but I think you must get these down. If you don't ever delve into a wider variety, you can create a lot from these.

[Justin Herring]

Originally Posted by James Neuman

When I said it was "daunting," I was not referring to the level of difficulty of each exercise, but simply to the prospect of learning what seems like countless different exercises AND then getting myself into the habit of checking here daily for WOD, scaling appropriately and possibly learning any substitutions that might become necessary for whatever reason.

No question, it is daunting when you start. You'll have to spend a fair amount of time learning new exercises. As some people have already suggested, I would focus on the fundamental moves. If you can't do a particular exercise yet or just aren't sure how to do it, no big deal--substitute something similar. Work your way up, you'll get there eventually.

Especially as a beginner, you'll get plenty of results even if you can't do every prescribed exercise for a few months. There's no rush--you've got a lifetime to work on it!

[Brent Kinmore]

JUST DO IT.

--Nike

[Robert Olajos]

I started CF 18 months ago with 5 exercises (aka the CF Warmup). At that time the official warmup was a pretty good workout for me. Nowadays, I do met con WODs unscaled, and it's only on things like Diane (21-15-9 225# deadlift/handstand pushups) that I scale down. For last week's Diane I did 205# DLs and HSPUs against a wall, and still got a PR. Every time I get closer to "as Rx'd", even though I only weigh 145# (less than the "175# typical male CFer").

My advice: Take things one step at a time. Add one new thing every weeik. You'll get where you're going.

[Jared Ashley]

Originally Posted by James Neuman

When I said it was "daunting," I was not referring to the level of difficulty of each exercise, but simply to the prospect of learning what seems like countless different exercises AND then getting myself into the habit of checking here daily for WOD, scaling appropriately and possibly learning any substitutions that might become necessary for whatever reason.

I'd say take it one day at a time... I had to learn as much as you did at first, and it was a lot at once, but on any given day you'll probably only have to learn 1, maybe 2 new things and it should only take a few minutes.

If you need help scaling, go to BrandX (on the "start here" tab)... then you won't have to think about subs for everything.

But as others have said, there are lots of routines, but not THAT many individual exercises... for the month of january, we've seen:

Handstand push-ups
L-pull-ups
Walking lunge
Deadlift
Running
Overhead squat
Bench Press
Pull-ups
Box Jump
Jumping Pull-up
Kettelbell swings
Knees to elbows
Push Press
Back extensions
Wall-ball
Burpees
Double-unders
Clean
Ring Dips
Sit-ups

That's exactly 20 things in about 20 days... 10 of them appeared on a single day, which is occasional. Many of those should already be familiar (bench, running, sit-ups, pull-ups...) and others are variations of the familiar or are fairly easy to figure out. The only things that really require you to put a lot of work into learning are the olympic lifts (clean, snatch, jerk), and to a lesser extent the deadlift and the squat (and squat variations), and kipping. But each of these can be taken slowly, and the warmup is a great time to take 5 minutes to work on something unfamiliar.

[Daniel Hubbard]

I've been doing Crossfit for probably 9 months now. I was in the same place except I just recently started in on the message board. For me, my research and reading accelerated the longer I was doing the daily workouts. At first it was, check the site, go to the gym, do what I can, sub/scale the rest. Then it got to be, do the workout as rx'd but my times were slow. I slowly started working on technique stuff, specific skills and every day I watch a few videos, read a few articles, and add to the library. The more you start to unravel Crossfit, the more you begin to understand that it's going to be a long journey. I think the key for you is to take a deep breath, be patient and start in. Learning the Crossfit style is a journey. Don't worry if you don't learn everything in one day. Just be steady about it.