Meet the Girls

As we’ve briefly discussed, and will discover with time, Crossfit programming is an art within itself. Ensuring that Workouts of the Day are engineered to fit the needs of providing general physical preparedness for the unknown and unknowable while being symmetrical, exciting, intense, and measurable is almost a skill in itself. To help us measure our fitness, which will help you track your improvement and your performance, certain workouts have been deemed “benchmark WODs,” some of the more famous being “The Girls.” We just experience our first girl, “Chelsea,” last week, and it won’t be long until we are introduced to the rest: Angie, Barbara, Diane, Elizabeth, Fran, Grace and Isabel. 

“The Girls” refer to a set of benchmark WODs that represent the most ideal definition of “classic Crossfit” (functional movement at high intensity across broad range and modal domains) and are notable for their varied metabolic demands, their blend of elegance, simplicity, and obvious impact. Whether it’s a series of body-weight movements executed at a high intensity interval or a couplet that contains a gymnastics element paired with a weightlifting element, “The Girls” are universal to all Crossfitters as a measure of proficiency, skill, and dedication. Much like typical gym-goers inquire about each other’s bench press, Crossfitters are more likely to ask, “What’s your Fran time?”

These ladies do more than just intensify our workouts; they give us a clear path to improve our fitness through Crossfit. Being able to perform these benchmarks as prescribed will not only simplify your goals (being able to do unassisted pull-ups, handstand push-ups, being able to RX the thrusters, deadlifts etc.), they will help you measure progress through your varied aerobic and anaerobic modes.

I do stress that these benchmark workouts are meant to be used to guide progress, not as a complete Crossfit regimen; we perform these workouts every so often. It would not be wise to complete them all in a month. Stay patient and stick with a Crossfit program, and I ensure you will get your chance to meet with these ladies.

For your reference, I’ve listed out “The Girls” for you below:

Angie

For time:

100 Pull-ups

100 Push-ups

100 Sit-ups

100 Air Squats

  

Barbara

5 rounds for time with 3 minute rest between each round:

20 Pull-up

30 Push-up

40 Sit-ups

50 Air Squats

Chelsea

Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes:

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

15 Air Squats

Diane

Rounds of 21-15-9:

225# Deadlift

Handstand push-ups

Elizabeth

Rounds of 21-15-9:

135# Clean

Ring Dips

Fran

Rounds of 21-15-9:

95# Thrusters

Pull-ups

Grace

For time:

135# Clean-and-jerks

Isabel

For time:

135# Snatches

(Note: There are “new girls” in Crossfit benchmark WODs, but these are the classics that you are almost guaranteed to encounter throughout your Crossfitting. Why were they named after women? I won't get into that, but Greg Glassman has explains his explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAT6AFMiL14)