Decoding CrossFit #12 — Because apparently “just finish the workout” needed a deadline.
Welcome back to Decoding CrossFit, the series where I try to understand what is written on the board before the workout makes me forget how to read!
After learning about AMRAP and EMOM, today we have another way for the clock to interfere with my life:
For Time.
The idea is simple: complete all the work written on the board as quickly as possible.
Not as many rounds as possible. Not a new task every minute. There is a fixed amount of work, and your mission is to finish it.
Preferably before it finishes, you...
What does “For Time” mean?
In a For Time workout, everyone has the same list of exercises and repetitions to complete. Your final score is the time it takes you to finish all of them.
For example:
- 30 calories on the bike;
- 30 D-ball over-the-shoulders;
- 30 calories on the rower.
You start the clock, complete the three tasks in order and stop when the final calorie is done. That sounds straightforward, but it creates an immediate problem: how fast is too fast?
Starting aggressively can save time. It can also leave you staring at the rower halfway through the workout while your lungs attempt to resign! So a For Time workout is not only about speed. It is also about choosing a pace you can actually survive.
And what is AFAP?
Sometimes the board uses AFAP, meaning As Fast As Possible.
In practice, it carries the same urgent energy: finish the prescribed work as quickly as you can!
It is a very polite abbreviation for: Please hurry. The clock is watching.
Then comes the time cap
A time cap is the maximum amount of time allowed to complete the workout.
If the cap is nine minutes and you finish in 7:30, your score is 7:30. If nine minutes arrive while you are still working, the workout stops and your score may be recorded as the number of repetitions you completed.
This is where the clock stops being a measuring tool and becomes a villain...It also changes how you approach the WOD. You are not only trying to finish quickly; you are trying to decide how hard you can push without completely collapsing before the end!
Two days, two very different endings
Two consecutive workouts gave me a perfect example of both sides of a time cap.
On 14 October, the board said AFAP 10’:
- 21-15-9 barbell cleans;
- 21-15-9 box jumps.
I used 30 kg for the cleans and adapted the box jumps to step-ups. Scaling the movement did not change the goal: complete all the work as fast as possible.
I finished in 6:30.
That left three and a half minutes before the time cap. For once, I beat the clock comfortably!
Then the clock returned for revenge on 15 October...
This time, the WOD was AFAP 15’:
- a 500-metre buy-in;
- five rounds of 12 pull-ups and 7 barbell push jerks.
I used my usual adaptation for the pull-ups and 30 kg for the push jerks.
When the 15 minutes ended, my official result was four rounds plus two repetitions.
Technically, the time cap had caught me. But I still finished the round after the clock stopped, because apparently “finish what you started” is now part of my personality!
One day, I finished with plenty of time left. The next day, the buzzer arrived before I was done — and I carried on anyway!
The exercises change everything
This is why a time cap means very little until you see the movements underneath it.
Barbell cleans and step-ups are not the same challenge as pull-ups and push jerks after a 500-metre buy-in.
One combination may suit your strengths. Another may include the airbike, which continues to be one of the most toxic relationships in my life!!
The number on the clock matters, but so do the exercises, the weights, the adaptations and how your body feels that day. Finishing inside the cap can feel amazing. Not finishing does not mean the workout was a failure. Sometimes the score shows exactly how close you came — and gives you something to compare if the workout appears again!
The real challenge
For Time looks like a race against everyone else, but most of the time I think it is really a negotiation with yourself...
Can I move faster without losing my technique? Can I take a short break without allowing that break to become a holiday? Can I keep going when the clock is getting dangerously close to the limit?
And, most importantly, can I avoid looking at the person beside me and suddenly making several terrible pacing decisions? lol
Sometimes you finish with time to spare. Sometimes the buzzer arrives before you are finished — and you finish the round anyway!
The score still stops at the time cap, but the effort does not have to :)
