THE BEST CROSSFIT WORKOUTS FOR BEGINNERS

Plenty of former players can fall into the trap of not exercising. Missing the environment of a team weightroom is normal. There are plenty of options out there to get you back into the gym and build a new team to stay healthy with.

Jul. 25, 2016 Men's Fitness

Why CrossFit? It’s incredibly effective as proven by the tens of thousands of ripped dudes hoisting barbells in “Nice Snatch” shirts. But you don’t have to know how to do a power snatch or a squat clean to reap the beneﬁts of CrossFit’s high-intensity, constantly-varied workouts.

Before starting any of these WODs (that’s “Workout of the Day” in CrossFit-speak), complete a warmup like an 800m run, ﬁve minutes on a stationary bike, a couple rounds of jumping jacks, air squats and lunges, or a 500-meter row. Follow that with some static and dynamic stretching, focusing on the muscles you’ll be using in that workout. And ﬁnish each workout with a long stretch and foam rolling.

These workouts are short but what they lack in total time, they make up for in intensity. So keep rest times short (or not at all if possible). Focus on good form and drop weight if you’re struggling to complete the prescribed number of reps.

Each of the following ﬁve workouts uses one of the main structures of a CrossFit workout:

Baseline, EMOM (Every Minute, On the Minute), AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible), Chipper, and Benchmark. You might notice that none of these workouts involve a barbell; as a beginner, it’s important to establish the cardiovascular base needed for CrossFit’s intense, fast-paced workouts ﬁrst. Nail all of these and you’re ready to hit your local box where a CrossFit coach can work with you on the barbell movements you’ll see in many other WODs!

Baseline
A baseline workout is used to establish, well, a baseline for performance. Try this workout ﬁrst and come back to it throughout your training to check your performance. It should improve each time. (Don’t forget to keep a record of your times.)

Row 500 meters

20 Air Squats

20 Push-Ups

20 Sit-Ups

Row 500 meters

AMRAP
Set a timer for 15 minutes and perform as many rounds as possible of the following sequence in that time. Try not to rest between rounds and deﬁnitely keep a pen and paper handy to record how many rounds you complete!

200 meter run

10 dumbbell overhead press

10 pull-ups

10 wall balls

To scale: Use a band for the pull-ups or perform jumping pull-ups.