Guest Post: 5 Terms to Know Before Trying CrossFit

Hi Simply Nicole Fans! I’m so excited to be able to guest post for her today as she is on her way to Jamaica! We got married around the same time so it was always nice following her wedding planning.

Let me introduce myself: I’m Danielle. I blog over at It’s a Harleyyy Life (<– named after my cute little dog). I blog mostly about CrossFit, food, meal planning and my daily life. My husband and I are currently in the middle of buying a house so life is a little hectic at the moment but definitely FUN!

Today I am here to tell you about one of my favorite things in the world… CrossFit! Before you start thinking… “oh she is one of thoseeeee girls.” …wait…I guess I am. Everyone finds a workout they love and mine just happens to be this amazing sport that consists of different workouts everyday and lifting heavy things off the ground just to put them down again! (Yah, I make weird faces when I lift.)

CrossFit is a little bit different than most sports. The owners and CrossFitters use these strange words that can be pretty intimidating at first but if you are prepared before you go in you are good to go and will feel more comfortable.

1. WOD= Workout of the Day. This is probably the most important one. All CrossFit gyms are set up differently but at my gym we start by stretching, then we work on a skill and end with the WOD. The workout changes everyday and is usually never the same unless it is a benchmark WOD.

2. AMRAP= As Many Reps/Rounds as Possible. You might see this one in a WOD. You see WOD’s can come in all different shapes and sizes. There can be rounds or you count how many reps you did in a certain amount of time. There really is no set workout (which is why I love it so much. I never get bored). Here are two examples of AMRAP’s with rounds and reps:

AMRoundsAP in 8 minutes
5 Pushups
10 Situps
15 Squats
(Doing all of that is 1 round. See how many rounds of that you can do in 8 minutes.)

AMRepsAP
On the Minute for 8 Minutes
10 Pushups
10 Situps
Max Effort Double Unders
(Here you would count how many (reps) double unders you did and that would be your score.)

3. EMOM= Each Minute on the Minute. We have been seeing a lot more of this style workout pop up lately in skills and WOD’s. In skills, I think it is placed there to just keep you moving at a good pace. In WOD’s, it is definitely to make it harder. An example of this type of workout would be:

EMOM for 8 Minutes
10 Pushups
20 Double Unders
10 Situps

You would need to complete all of those reps in one minute. If you finish early, you can rest until the top of the next minute. Your “score” at the end of the WOD would be how many rounds you completed.

4. Lifts. The thing I was most confused about when I started CrossFit were all of the strange lifts. Clean… Snatch… Deadift… the only thing I understood was a squat.

Click the links below to see how the different lifts are performed:
Bear Complex
Clean and Jerk
Deadlift
Overhead Squat
Power Clean
Power Snatch
Push Press
Thruster

5. Box= CrossFit Gym. Since many gyms opened up as little holes in the wall they were more like boxes. This is another one of those “it is only at some places” thing.

Welp, that is all my friends! I hope you enjoyed my post. You can follow me several ways: 

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I hope to see you around!

Now tell me: Have you tried CrossFit? Did you enjoy it? What is holding you back from trying CrossFit?