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Decoding CrossFit #2 — Apparently WOD was only the beginning
So...In the first episode of Decoding CrossFit, I confessed something slightly embarrassing...When I first started, I had absolutely no idea what WOD meant. I just nodded and pretended I did lol
Eventually I discovered it simply meant Workout Of the Day, and I thought.."okay...easy...I'm learning the language..."
Oh, sweet innocent me!
Because then I walked into the box and saw things like:
AMRAP 15' / E3MOM 15' / AFAP
Excuse me? Did I join a gym or accidentally enrol in a military communications course?
Apparently knowing what WOD means only gets you through level one of CrossFit language lol
And since I teased this particular board at the end of my last post...
Let's start there:
AMRAP — As Many Rounds (or Reps) As Possible
This one sounds much more complicated than it actually is.
On this particular day, the board said:
AMRAP 15'
Which means I had 15 minutes to complete as many rounds as possible of the exercises written underneath.
In this case:
10 alternating DB Snatches 60 Rope Jumps (or 15 D.U.) 6 Cal or 100mts or 10 Burpees
Finish one round? Lovely..Start again!
Finish another? Congrats! Do it again!! lol
And you keep going until those 15 minutes are over! If the clock stops while you're halfway through another round, those extra reps still count towards your score.
So instead of simply saying "I finished", an AMRAP score might look something like:
5 rounds + 17 reps
Five complete rounds, plus another 17 reps before the clock rescued you. And yes, I deliberately said rescued hehe
Wait...what's DB?
See? This is the problem with CrossFit...You explain one acronym and accidentally uncover another one!
For now:
DB = Dumbbell - So DB Snatch simply means Dumbbell Snatch.
And if you're looking at D.U. on the board:
D.U. = Double Unders - That's when the skipping rope passes underneath your feet twice in one jump.
(If you're currently learning them like me, the rope may also repeatedly attack your legs..Apparently that's part of the experience lol)
We'll save the full CrossFit alphabet soup for another episode!
For now, back to workout formats.
Because AMRAP isn't the only way our coaches like to torture us...
E3MOM — Every 3 Minutes On the Minute
Here's another one from one of my actual workouts:
You've probably heard of:
EMOM — Every Minute On the Minute
You start the programmed work at the beginning of every minute.
But E3MOM means:
Every 3 Minutes On the Minute
So a new round starts every three minutes - You complete the programmed work, and whatever time is left before the next three-minute interval begins is your recovery.
For example, if you finish the work in 2 minutes and 10 seconds...You get 50 seconds to breathe, reconsider your life choices and prepare to do it all over again...How generous! Then the next three-minute interval starts and off you go.
The annoying part? As you get tired, the work tends to take longer and somehow that lovely little recovery window starts mysteriously disappearing. Funny how that happens!
And then there's AFAP...
You already saw this one in my last WOD:
AFAP — As Fast As Possible
This one requires considerably less translation..You have the work, you have the goal.
Now...GO! (ugh.. lol)
In my case, I had:
10 rounds
5 Barbell Snatches 5 Push-ups 5 Down & Ups
with a 16-minute time cap.
So the goal was to complete those 10 rounds as fast as possible, without going beyond the 16-minute limit...Simple! Not easy...Simple! There is a difference lol
So... what's the difference?
This was probably the part that took me a little while to understand when I started...They can contain similar exercises, but the way you approach the workout changes.
AMRAP - How much work can I get done before the time runs out?
E3MOM - Can I complete this work and earn myself some rest before the next interval?
AFAP - How quickly can I get this whole thing done?
And suddenly:
AMRAP 15'
doesn't look like a secret code anymore...Which is kind of funny because now I walk into the box, look at the board and understand most of this stuff without even thinking about it!
Then I post the picture online...and completely forget that someone else might be looking at it exactly like I did when I started.
What. The hell. Does that mean?
That's exactly why I'm enjoying making these posts! I'm not trying to teach anyone how to do CrossFit..There are coaches for that, and mine know considerably more than I do!
I'm just translating some of the language I've picked up while learning!
Because not that long ago...I didn't speak CrossFit either hehe
Next time on Decoding CrossFit...
We've already accidentally met:
DB / D.U.
And there's plenty more where those came from.
BB. WB. Cal. T2B. HSPU...
Apparently CrossFitters have something against complete words!
So I think it's time for:
"The CrossFit Alphabet Soup"
Wish me luck...We're going to need it ;)
