The Filthy Fifty

Hello workout friends!
I hope you're all staying healthy and finding time to try some new workouts.

Two weeks ago Sonya and I were scheduled to give CrossFit a try. We almost decided to cancel. Sonya did the Copper Creek Triathlon the day before the shoot and I taught two classes at the Y the morning of the shoot. Needless to say, we were both pooped but we decided to show up anyway. I still don't know if that was a good idea, but we got one heck of a workout.

The first thing you notice when you walk into the CrossFit Des Moines location is that it doesn't look like a typical gym. There aren't a lot of machines and there isn't an aerobics instructor in sight. Instead, you find coaches like Mike Brown - a former Air Force Special Ops member who informs us that we've shown up on the day Crossfitters are doing what's called "The Filthy Fifty." The workout is so hard, it happens only a few times a year. It's a sequence of ten exercises and you have to do fifty reps of each one. What?!?! We raise our eyebrows and immediately start whining about how tired we are and how we're both nursing injuries, and Coach Brown allows us to do "The Dirty Thirty" instead. "That's the thing about CrossFit," Coach Brown explains, "everything is scaleable - no matter who you are or what level you are."

That's great and all - but it doesn't diminish the fact that this is really, really hard. We're doing things like box jumps and kettle bell swings and push presses that work your entire body. "It gets you functional strength for real things," says Mike, "we're preparing for our sport and our sport is life."

This particular workout is also timed. So you're not only pushing and pulling a lot of weight, you're also doing it as quickly as possible. That becomes tough when you get through about twenty reps of exercises like burpees, not to mention things we'd never heard of - like knees to elbows and wall ball (if you're curious, watch this workout online). And there is no slacking. The coaches in the room are counting, and they force everyone to do every rep. "Whatever we put on the board, we finish," explains Brown, and he means it. I couldn't get through another push press, so I had to do extra burpees to make up for it. No mercy.

We always ask the trainers we work out with how many calories we're burning, and people here seem to think that's a funny question. "We treat our bodies like machines," says Coach Brown, "we put good fuel in and we're gonna burn it off." We have no doubt about that. Our muscles are burning and our hearts are thumping and we know we've gotten a great workout.

If you're interested in giving CrossFit a try - drop in, check out the website or call:
3209 99th Street (behind Stella's Blue Sky Diner)
Urbandale, IA 50322
(515) 360-8209
www.crossfitdesmoines.com

Have a great week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com