Crossfit For Beginners – 5 Workouts You Can Try Before You Sign Up

Ask any Dad (or guy, for that matter) what their fitness objectives are and upwards of 85% will answer: build muscle and lose fat. Gaining some strength may be bundled in there, too.

Well, there are workouts for that. It’s called Crossfit.

If you can get to a Crossfit gym three to four times per week and follow the prescribed workout, it’s almost guaranteed that you will achieve your goals.

There are, of course, plenty of ways to skin the same cat and all require disciplined adherence but, for busy Dads, especially, Crossfit provides a great ROI. There aren’t many other training modalities that give such great all-round bang-for-the-buck.

Plus, there is a Crossfit box in virtually every suburb these days which means you don’t need to look or travel very far.

I first tried Crossfit on my own in 2010. I first set foot in a Crossfit box in 2015. Go figure. [You can read about my first ‘proper’ Crossfit experience here.]

What I did in 2010 was: hear about this new exercise protocol; study it on the internet; watch endless cool videos; practise the moves I could actually do; learn to do double-unders (more of that later); get some PT sessions from top Crossfitters; do the (admittedly) few workouts containing moves I could actually do.

For 5 years. Am I fucking insane?

Well, yes and no, I guess.

Yes, for lacking the minerals to get down to a box and learn the basics via a foundation or on-ramp course.

But, also no, because Crossfit can seem intimidating with all of its jargon and hubris and jacked guys lifting monstrous weights on ESPN. T2B, DUs, S2OH, AMRAP, EMOM, Met-Cons…

WTF is this freaky-deaky shit, right? Isn’t it just circuit-training and weights?

Read this for my personal experience with some of the myths surrounding Crossfit.

So, my first advice is this: don’t do what I did and become an armchair expert but get down to a box and try it. Many gyms will throw in a session or a sometimes even a week as a trial, especially if you’re new to it.

But if it still seems a bit daunting here are some workouts you can do at home or in your regular globo-gym to build a base level of fitness, test your mettle and see if you’re ready to go and throw down with the big boys and girls.

1. Annie

50-40-30-20-10

Double-unders

Sit-ups

The requires you to be able to do double-unders (skipping with two turns of the rope per jump) which are a tough nut to crack but also do-able anywhere. I spent 5-10 minutes per day learning them for three months. It was super-painful and frustrating but worth the time.

With Annie you do your 50 DUs followed by 50 sit-ups and follow that pattern down to 10 of each.

This was the first full Crossfit workout I ever completed. 

2. Angie

100 Pull-ups

100 Push-ups

100 Sit-ups

100 Squats

If you’re anything like me when I started Crossfit training, this would be fine but for the darned pull-ups, which I’d consider scaling back to 20 if you’re a novice at them (like I was) or 50 if you’ve done a few before.

100 pull-ups is a lot of work for anyone.

You could also consider breaching official protocol by mixing up the exercises [Angie officially calls for them to be completed in full, in order] or doing a half-Angie or even a quarter-Angie.

3. Cindy

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Squats

20 Min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible)

Occupying a pull-up bar for 20 minutes is the only requirement here which can make it tricky on an outdoor gym. In a regular gym you should be fine.

You can scale your pull-ups as necessary. I started with 3 per round and am now up to the full 5.

Anything over 20 rounds is reasonable. My best is 22 rounds.

4. Barbara

20 Pull-ups

30 Push-Ups

40 Sit-ups

50 Squats

5 Rounds For Time – Rest 3 Mins Between Rounds

The only requirement is a pull-up bar [spot a pattern yet?] and the heart of a lion. 250 squats, 200 sit-ups, 150 push-ups, 100 pull-ups. Makes you sick, doesn’t it? It probably will.

That 3 minute rest will be like an oasis in the desert.

5. Row Intervals

Row 500m x 4

Rest 3 mins Between Intervals

This one doesn’t have a name [I don’t think]. It also looks fairly benign; easily achievable for a fairly fit Dad.

Don’t be fooled. It’s an easy trap for young players. This hits everything and those 3 minute rests get shorter with each round. Good fun though.

If you’re giving some thought to Crossfit but haven’t yet taken the plunge, I challenge you to these workouts a go and you’ll be more than ready to hit the box. Even if you’re not considering Crossfit just yet, have a go at ’em. They’ll work you over pretty well.

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