Let’s Talk About The Girls
In CrossFit, there are workouts that are called “girl workouts”, this doesn’t mean this workout is only for us ladies to enjoy. The girls are fast and effective. They are lighter weight and highly cardiovascular; usually having an element of short length and high intensity distances; which quickly become a sprint. These girls are more than just a CrossFit WOD, they are benchmarks. Benchmarks that, when you are at the grocery store and someone walks up to you repping their CrossFit gym shirt, asks your final time. These workouts are always for time and they can definitely give you a great feeling of accomplishment.
My First Experience with the Girls
Fran
My first girls workout was the infamous Fran. Fran is a set rep scheme of 21 repetitions the first round, 15 repetitions the second round, and 9 repetitions the third and final round for each movement. Fran consists of two movements; thrusters and pull ups. To give you a good idea of how intense this workout is; the time cap is around 10 minutes and the elite level athletes do it in around 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The weight for the thrusters is 65 pounds for women and 95 pounds for men. My first time doing this WOD; I just did the bar (35 pounds) with round wooden plates on the sides and my pull-ups were scaled to jumping pull-ups. I did the WOD in 8 minutes. The last time I did this WOD; I did 55 pounds and was able to get stuck around 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
Nancy
Nancy is two things to me. Firstly, she’s the hardest girl WOD; if you ask me. Secondly, she’s the first WOD that ever made me grunt. Let me tell you folks, grunting is not something I do very often during my workouts. Nancy is five rounds for time and consists of two movements; a 400 meter run and 15 overhead squats. The overhead squats are 65 pounds for women and 95 pounds for men. The first time I did this WOD, I used the 18 pound bar and now, I only use 35-45 pounds for it. Overhead squats are a movement that requires great amounts of mobility and stability in the joints. From your hips to your shoulders and elbows. It can be a compromising position if you don’t do it correctly; so, when attempting it, it’s good to go light on the squats.
Annie
Annie is my favorite girl workout. She’s got a lot of reps and body weight. She has a 50-40-30-20-10 repetition scheme and it consists of two movements: butterfly sit-ups and double unders (jump rope). She is my kind of girl! I unfortunately don’t remember my time for her; but, I do try to do this WOD at least once every two weeks. She’s great cardio and you can add a 400 meter run between each set, making her (Annie on the run) even more challenging than the others.
Linda “Three Bars of Death”
This lady is as tough as she sounds. The three bars of death signifies the three bar movement patterns that you will be doing during this WOD. This includes a deadlift at 1.5 times your body weight, bench press at your exact body weight, and a clean at ¾ of your body weight. Like anything in CrossFit, you can modify all the movement patterns and weight that you are using. I would never expect someone off the street to come in and bench press their own body weight for a fast WOD that is used as a benchmark. The WOD is all these movements at 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps for time. When I first participated in this WOD, I’m sure my numbers were not exact to RX. If it was exact; I would be dead lifting 187.5, benching 125, and cleaning 94 pounds. I’m sure that the most common factor in modifying here is bench press. Even if you modify this workout, it will be a challenge and you will walk away from the gym feeling like you got a great workout in. So, if you find yourself in a time crunch; but, you need a good lift for the day; try the three bars of death and you’ll get a great amount of barbell work in with Linda.
There are many girl workouts in CrossFit. They are cardiovascular and a great benchmark if you're looking for something to compare with others in CrossFit. This way, when you’re walking through the grocery store and you’re repping you’re favorite CrossFit gym shirt; you can have a solid answer when asked “What’s your Fran time?”.
