Five things I wish I'd known as a functional fitness beginner
Joining the gym can be a daunting task full of questions and doubts. Can I physically do this? Will I like it? Is it worth the money? Despite these reservations, once you make the leap, it can be an amazing journey. You find new goals and personal records you never thought possible on day one.
I don’t regret starting functional fitness one second, but I do have a few things I wish I’d more fully understood when I walked in that first day.
Breathe
I can’t stress how much breathing can affect a workout. You don’t think about it much while still a novice. Honestly, you are just trying to stay focused on finishing a WOD (work out of the day) without dying. While you’d think this would include taking breaths, it really doesn’t. You quickly get out of cadence with taking in oxygen and it dampens the progress you will make that day.
If you refocus on taking in breaths with each movement, or even every other move, you will find your workout will be much better. From running to wall balls, keeping a pattern of oxygen intake will lessen fatigue and avoid that dreaded rib bubble cramps we all remember as kids while in gym class.
Pace matters
Adjacent to the breathing matrix is pace. It really makes a huge difference once you learn to have an internal clock of realistic workout timing. I tend to rely on this more in AMRAPs than I do EMOMs but it applies to both.
One of the worse habits I had as a beginner was to blow through the first two rounds of something like an eight-round session. You feel great about certain movements or events and really hit it hard. It will only take midway through that fourth round to realize you’ve made a drastic mistake. By rounds six and seven you wish you’d stayed at work and never made the drive to the gym.
Pace matters. Don’t let that eighth round be complete hell out of poor mental preparation.
Weight is relative
If you join a box with several seasoned members you will most likely see folks throwing around some serious weight. Some may even be similar in size and build to you. This doesn’t mean you should start slinging the same barbell on your first day or months. The worst thing you can do early on is hurt yourself by doing too much weight.
While you are still getting used to the proper form and techniques I’d suggest staying with lower weights. It can be discouraging to watch others hit the prescribed poundage, but you should take the time and effort to build up to a good PR and then step up in weight in small increments. You’ll get there. I promise.
It’s ok to cut the WOD short
Similarly to weight, you also have to take the time to condition your body for the cardio of functional fitness. I love that it marries both strength and endurance training, but both take investment to get your body ready.
When you are creating this muscle memory you shouldn’t be afraid to call it a day or skip rounds during a WOD. If you’re unable to catch your breath or have an extremely high heart rate, listen to your body and give yourself an out.
Log your progress from the first week and beyond
Keeping up with your progress is key to building a foundation of growth at the gym. I didn’t really take it seriously those first few weeks and immediately regretted my decision. As you start to hit new landmarks for success you need that backlog of data. Many gyms offer an app for this like Wodify or SugarWOD.
Not only can you document how far you’ve come, but you can also better assess future workouts. Many WODs will have a progressive ladder of weights. Having your one-rep max handled in the past makes it much simpler to do the math on sessions where you’ll start lighter and add to a heavier weight each round.
I hope some of these suggestions can help those that are considering functional fitness as an option. What about those already using Crossfit and its relatives? Let us know some of your tips in the comments!