If you’ve just recently set foot in a box for the first time, you might be so inspired to join the athletes repping out muscle-ups and max snatches and double-unders that you forget to start at your own level. The beauty of functional fitness is that it’s for everyone, which means you can easily find a WOD suitable for you that will give you one hell of a workout.
For those just starting out, it can be helpful to first focus on movements that are more basic, fundamental, and simple to execute. But don’t misunderstand: “basic” does not equal “easy.” One of our favorite WODs to accomplish this is a half Cindy.
Cindy is a benchmark WOD that goes as follows.
As many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 2o minutes
- 5 pull-ups
- 10 push-ups
- 15 air squats
A half Cindy quite literally cuts Cindy in half, meaning you perform the aforementioned workout for a 10-minute AMRAP.
These three movements truly help form the foundation of fitness. Without them, your fitness journey will suffer. If you can’t yet execute them fully, don’t stress, because there are many ways to scale.
Scaling Pull-Ups
If you don’t yet have strict/kipping pull-ups — very likely, if you’re new to the sport — you have many other options.
- You can use a band, which helps remove some of your own body weight so you can more easily pull yourself up over the bar.
- You can perform jumping pull-ups, where you jump over the bar and then lower yourself down in a slow and controlled manner, thus practicing the negative (the downward part of the movement), which indeed builds strength.
- You can opt for ring rows instead — another challenging movement!
Whichever scaling option you go for, don’t forget to protect your hands with either grips or tape.
Scaling Push-Ups
There is no shame in not yet being able to do push-ups! Instead, you can try doing push-ups on a box or bar. This puts you on an incline so you don’t have to push up as much of your own weight. Remember to keep your elbows tucked into your sides — not flared out!
Scaling Air Squats
Because this is squatting your own body weight, usually, the only trouble people run into is mobility: they’re not yet able to squat past parallel. If this is you, try squatting onto a medicine ball or a box. This cuts the range of motion short and helps you stop your squat at a more manageable place.
Will you give half Cindy a try?
