Wall Balls on Workout Wednesday

 Hello Readers!

I hope you all had a great weekend. This was a tremendous weekend to be a Baylor Bear because yesterday we beat The University of Oklahoma (OU) in football for the second year in a row! My friends and I drove from Waco to Norman for the game this weekend and it has been so much fun. It has been great to connect with friends that go to OU these past couple days and to represent Baylor all the way in Oklahoma. 

This week, I attended a few CrossFit classes and have also been training to run the Austin Marathon in February. It has been a lot of cardio this week but I have also had lots of fun going to CrossFit as well. Like I have said in previous posts, I believe that having a good fitness balance (such as taking one day to go on a runs and the next day to go to the gym) is a great way to stay stimulated and excited about the workouts ahead. It gives you the opportunity to be social in different fitness settings and to also train your body physically in many different aspects. 

This week, I would like to talk about the partner workout I attended at the CrossFit gym on Wednesday. As Wednesdays are primarily workouts that you complete with a partner, I was able to recruit one of my closest friends to come try out CrossFit. A lot of people are intimidated by the 'intensity' and 'hard work' that CrossFit is notorious for, but many people do not realize that they are workouts that can be scaled to any fitness level. In this case, my friend had never been to a CrossFit class and was pretty nervous. I assured him that he would be fine as the coaches would make sure they scaled his workout to his beginner style and level. Sure enough, he had a great time and got a great workout! 

Here was the partner workout of the day: 

Primer:

• 1:00 Pigeon 
• 1:00 Hip extensions to 90 degrees 

Then...

6 Minute AMRAP 

• 3 Negative Squats 
• 5 Ball Ground to Overhead 
• 7 Calorie Row
• 9 PVC Passes 

Conditioning:

Partner Trade Movements 

20 Minute AMRAP 

• 15 Calorie Row 
• 15 Wall Ball 
• 15 Situps 

Finisher:

3 Rounds:

• 1:00 Plank 
• 30 Second Flutter Kicks 
• 3 Y-T-W on the floor 
• Rest 1:00

This was a great workout for a first-timer because nothing was too technical. There was no barbell use which would require knowing how to clean, deadlift, etc. The only thing my friends really had to learn how to do was use the rowing machine which is pretty straightforward. It was a day of lots of cardio for a 20-minute period. The conditioning was most definitely the hardest part of the workout because even though it was just three different movements, they get your heart rate moving very fast. Basically, I would start by rowing 15 calories (which is pretty hard), then my friend would row the 15 calories, then I would do the 15 Wall Ball throws, then he would do them, etc. It got very tiring but it was well worth it in the end. 

As not many of my friends like to come to CrossFit workouts, I am so glad I was able to get one of my friends to come because he really enjoyed the workout overall. It gave us time to hang out during the middle of the day in doing something productive with one another, and we even went to get lunch afterwards. As college life can get super busy with everyone running their own school/class/work schedule, I believe fitness is a great way to get together with your friends for an hour throughout the day for a quick stress reliever, to get some endorphins running through your system, and to feel accomplished together. I hope me bringing him can help show some of my other close friends how awesome (yet challenging!) CrossFit can be in hopes of getting more of my friends to start coming to classes. 

Stay tuned for next week to see if I recruit anyone new! 

Luke