Seriously?! The first thing that an IFBB women’s physique pro is going to talk about is CrossFit? What the hell is the world coming to? Well folks, give me a minute to explain and you’ll understand why a bodybuilder has done the unspeakable.
Weakness.Yes, going to a CrossFit gym will help me work on my weaknesses. Going into my off-season this year, I wanted to work on the things that I suck at the most and the things that I hate doing the most (I usually hate the things I’m not good at). More specifically, I wanted to improve my flexibility, mobility, explosiveness, and sprinting. By the end of the season, I want to be a more well-rounded athlete and a better bodybuilder, and I want to make my prep for the upcoming competition season as easy as possible.
So why pick a CrossFit gym to reach these goals? Well, in November, I participated in a “CrossFit” inspired obstacle course 5K to benefit the Wounded Warriors Project. When I looked around the facility, a light bulb instantly went off in my head. This place had the resources that I needed to work on all my weaknesses.
My programming in the box
I'm working one-on-one with the co-owner of a CrossFit gym in the town I live in. Luckily for me, my trainer Josh is multidimensional and loves to learn. He’s created a program just for me that took into account everything I'm looking for. Going into this type of training, I have a number of concerns. First and foremost, I refuse to do anything that will risk injury and potentially affect my normal training. For me (and my wonderful shoulders), that means no snatches, jerks, cleans, or overhead pressing at all.
Also, I want to be sure that we don't do anything that would interfere with my normal training and recovery time. I train five days a week using John Meadows’ Mountain Dog training, and I need all the recovery time that I can get. This meant that Josh’s workouts had to be quick, efficient, and effective.
The introduction
Coming into my first session, I didn’t know what to expect. I met with Josh and we spoke for a few minutes. He did the typical trainer inquiry regarding past injuries as well as my expectations and limitations. He then explained what we would be doing next.
We began with some hurdle drills to work on hip mobility. We then did a series of dynamic stretches in which we moved across the floor, both walking and lunging, as we stretched our hips and legs. After that, we moved onto some work on the floor. Josh had me lay on my back with two lacrosse balls underneath my rhomboids while moving my arm in a series of directions. He tested my shoulder mobility before and after, and there was a definite increase afterward. We then did similar work using a softball for my upper glutes and tested my squat form and range of motion. I'm very familiar with foam rolling, and this gave me another tool to use every day.
Next came the cardio portion of the work. I did a lot of cardio in my competition preparation this year with a lot of interval sprints. It has now been a few months with much less cardio and very little sprinting. I knew that this was going to hurt. It was made of up five rounds. Each round began with 150 meters of rowing on a rowing machine followed by twenty “wall ball squats.” This is where you throw a medicine ball at a particular spot on the wall and then lower into a squat position as you catch it. You then push upward through the squat at the same time as you throw the ball at the wall again. I had eighteen minutes to complete the five rounds, but the goal is to go as fast as possible to get the best time that you can. Easy, right?
Well, the first round was easy enough. I completed it without a hitch and quickly, except for a little hiccup where I couldn’t get my foot out of the strap on the rowing machine. In the second round, I was a little more winded but still going strong. “I’ve got this.” And then I hit the wall.
My body remembered that it doesn’t normally do anything resembling this. I couldn’t catch my breath, and the ball had tripled in weight. It was hard to hit the spot on the wall. “Uh oh.” Then it was the fourth round. I just wanted it to be over. My energy was gone and I was done, but I continued on. Strangely enough, the rowing portion in the fifth round seemed much easier than I thought it would be. I had gotten a “second wind” of sorts and actually felt pretty strong until I met that damn medicine ball again. So after another hellish round of wall ball squats, it was over. My final time was just over twelve minutes. Certainly no record but not bad for my first shot. I definitely learned a thing or two about my conditioning (or lack thereof) along the way.
We concluded the session with more stretching for both the lower and upper body. We did more lunging stretches as well as a bunch of work using bands. It felt great to stretch everything after the previous workout, and I can best describe it as a feeling of “release” when everything was over. I had learned a lot and felt like I had a new piece to add to my training puzzle.
The aftermath
Well, as stated earlier, it's important to me that this “auxiliary” training doesn’t cut into my recovery time. I have improvements to make in a fairly short amount of off-season time and every day counts. Thankfully, things worked out just as I had hoped. I had a few sore muscles here and there but no lasting fatigue or anything that would affect me in the gym the next day.
I look forward to continued work with Josh. I don't have any doubts that his stretching and mobility work will aid me greatly as I move forward, not only with training and exercise form but also the long-term health of my joints and connective tissue. And I guess a little cardio doesn’t hurt either.
The future
The program will evolve as I move forward just like any other type of training. The things that we're including into the program include sprints (both banded and natural), Prowler pushes and pulls, sled pulls, rowing, running intervals, parachute sprints, weighted drags, sledgehammer drills, stretching, hurdle drills, and other mobility drills.
I'll be keeping you guys up-to-date on these sessions, and I’ll be posting videos reviewing some of the work that we do during our sessions. This video is from the Wounded Warrior 5K. Enjoy!