I Missed Getting To The Box!

I couldn't think about what I wanted to do.  Once in awhile, we are charged with working out on our own.  Now sure, some of you who read this are seasoned crossfitter's.  But, if you follow the mainsite, even today's WOD raises some eyebrows in regards to being able to perform all these movements:
http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/007281.html


You wanted to go to CrossFit so bad tonight.  You were like a little kid waiting for a movie ticket in line . . . only to get to the counter and find out that they are all sold out.

So here is the scenario, you got thirty minutes to workout, no time for class.  Maybe you got kids, maybe you got plans for the evening.  You barely have time to change, so what do you do?  You can get super creative and use chairs for dips, not exactly ideal, but it gets the job done.  You can use the rug to perform sit-ups, push-ups can be done anywhere, running is possible - but you get all scared being by yourself and it's oh-so cold outside on these New England frigid nights.  You could do burpees, but who does burpees on their own? 

There are hundreds of workouts that can be performed without weight, I encountered this last night when I chose to be social instead of just getting a workout in at the CrossFit gym I was at.  So, I got back to my place and quickly whipped up a little workout - 50 squats, 50 sit-ups, 3 rounds for time.  One caveat to that, which I bestowed upon the individual watching, - if I didn't do the squats unbroken, every time I stopped it was 5 burpees.  A little incentive to just keep moving, regardless of how much it burned.  A couple of times I came up on the ball of my foot only to scream at myself internally "Stay on your heels!"  It was a little burner, but one that I can come back to at a later date and perform, hopefully outperform. 

You see for many people, they look at the weights that they move and that is the gauge with which they use to measure themselves.  It is more than that!  CrossFit isn't just about weights. You can gauge yourself on a whole slew of things.  It's as easy as seeing how many unbroken push-ups you can do, how many sit-ups in a minute, how many pull-ups, how many squats you can do in a minute, etc.  As we develop strength over time from our programming it is our hope that we are also developing the ten recognized general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. 

If you can't make it to the box and can't perform the mainsite WOD, there are travel WOD's available that you can perform at home.  Easier said than done.  Working out by yourself is a trial in and of itself.  You have to have a lot of internal motivation or as someone in my past once said, "intestinal fortitude", aka, balls.  Imagine if you randomly pointed at a computer screen as you scrolled through travel WOD's and it came up as 150 Burpees For Time - would you really do it and show it to your Coach the next day?  Which you hold yourself accountable for your reps?  Chest to deck, hip open at the top, jumping a full 12" off the ground (a CrossFit standard), and clapping at the top of the movement? 

Would you?  Really?

Accountability drives action, therefore, if you miss a day at the box, and it's 3 days on and 1 day off, go ahead and look up a travel WOD, for examples you can look at:
http://www.crossfitrelentless.com/node/374

Go to your Coach the next day and show him/her what you did.  Hold yourself accountable, put on whatever music you want, and grip it and rip it!

“Guts are a combination of confidence, courage, conviction, strength of character, stick-to-itiveness, pugnaciousness, backbone, and intestinal fortitude. They are mandatory for anyone who wants to get to and stay at the top.”
    - D.A. Benton