HAPPY NEW YEAR
Todays Schedule 12,1 ,4 ,5 pm
This is an excerpt from the article “The Benchmark Workouts,” in the CrossFIt Journal Issue 13, September 2003.
“Barbara demands roughly 3 minutes of ALL OUT work punctuated by 3 minutes of rest repeated for a total of 5 intervals. At about 3 minutes of work and a 1:1 work to rest ratio this is an aerobic interval. Though three-minute efforts reach into aerobic turf they are short enough to still have a strong anaerobic character. For Barbara each round takes a little longer and consequently increases aerobic demands while the rest remains constant.”
This explains the desired stimulus and effect we are looking for when we do Barbara. If we are off from the 1:1 work to rest ratio the workout is not fitting the purpose of doing it. If it takes you 6 minutes to go through the work portion with a 3 minute rest cycle, you are now at a 2:1 work to rest ratio and have altered the metabolic demands of the workout and the stimulus we are receiving from it.
There are two things that effect the work interval to make it longer. Improper scaling and not working hard enough. When choosing what version of the workout to do, keep in mind that almost all reps should be able to be completed unbroken or with very short breaks during this workout. At least in the earlier rounds. Remember we are going for all out work during the working intervals. However, we are not looking to work too hard. Meaning, if we are working so hard that we end up resting more time during our work interval than we are actually working, what we are doing needs to be scaled down so the work can be more constant all out.