Dear CrossFit, Who Knew You Could Be FUN!! (Getting Horizontal and Upside Down With Karen)

Who knew that CrossFit could be fun! Yes Fun! Like a shrieking six year old doing cartwheels and playing tag with a puppy fun. Like long summer days and running through the sprinkler and throwing water balloon fun. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time, maybe not since summiting Seneca with my best friend. Anyway, today Karen Hawley took on the challenge of teaching an old rotund guy with zero gymnastics skills. Thanks Karen for sharing your talent, experience, and great sense of humor. I usually dread hearing the word “Karen” when associated with CrossFit, but today changed all that. This is one of the best parts of CrossFit, people like Karen who share what they know so that people who want to can get better at something. Unlike some of the girls of CrossFit (thank Fran, think Grace), this “Karen” is more fun than a barrel full of monkeys. She helped us understand “hollow body” and how to achieve it. Then she gave us progressions for handstands, escaping from a handstand, chest to bars, bar muscle ups (for the better CrossFitters) and pistols. I even got the first progression on a pistol. I have to admit, I was scared senseless about some of these inversions. I was certain I was going to fail and break something. But then I figured if I’ve got a skilled gymnast at the helm, who also happens to be an M.D., then if I’m going to break every bone in my body, at least there will be a physician there who witnessed it and who can start putting the pieces back together.

Part of CrossFit is the constantly varied voyage of discovery. For example, today, I discovered the difference between propelling the head upwards in a straight line and propelling the syphoid process straight up to the bar. And I discovered the difference between “maintain angles” and “break angles.” I had never been exposed to either of these concepts before. There’s a lot of CrossFit I’d been exposed to before (e.g., wind sprints, lifting, calisthenics, puking), but this gymnastics stuff was downright fun. There’s moments of weightlessness when you kip just right, it really is like flying. If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend getting horizontal on a bar and getting upside down (with a spotter).

Here’s a couple of short videos that show just how much fun it can be. Thanks again Karen, thanks. I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Kicking Up To A Handstand And Then Escaping (without breaking anything…)

http://www.facebook.com/v/10151183670326794

Chest to Bar Pullup (it hurts if you whack it too hard)

http://www.facebook.com/v/10151183664341794