Hard work and dedication

Benchmarks WODs (workout of the day) are ways to measure performance and improvements in the 10 physiological components of crossfit: strength, flexibility, agility, balance, power, cardiovascular endurance, stamina, speed, accuracy and coordination. When performing the WODs, the idea is to do them as fast as possible while maintaining proper form. At our box, we have recently started doing a benchmark every week. This week we did Karen. It was the most horrendous workout I have done for a while… and that is not an overstatement. Karen is 150 wall balls for time, with a weight of 10kg for men and 7.5kg for women. Yes, that is heavy! especially if you only weigh 56kg!

Karen involved an incredible amount of cardiovascular endurance as well as strength, stamina, speed, accuracy and flexibility. When doing wall balls, there is a specific spot on the wall that men and women have to throw to otherwise it is a no-rep. Obviously it is slightly higher for men and being taller is definitely an advantage. strength comes in when you have to basically do 150 squats (below 90 degrees might I add flexibility!) as well as 150 over-head presses (throwing that ball up). You need to do this at a pretty decent speed as you obviously want to try beat the person next to you and get the best possible time for yourself. All of this ends up being a couple of minutes of complete torture. BUT, the best kind of torture you could ask for because afterwards you feel incredibly proud of yourself for being able to complete 150 wall balls.

Mitch was definitely much better at this than me. He was able to maintain a great rhythm by splitting the reps. Me on the other hand, once I got to 30 I just wanted to stop. I could not comprehend how I was going to finish. But I pushed on and eventually made it to that last wall ball. My problem was my cardiovascular endurance. It definitely hindered my performance, but at least I know what I need to work on.

Our Times:

Mitch: 8:38

Emma: 9:55

If you are keen to try it or have already done it, please post your times and how you felt about dear Karen.

WOD (Karen): 150 wall balls for time