Crossfit is fantastic. It’s the ultimate workout that helps build strength, muscle, power, and athleticism. It is true functional training that also carries over into everyday life. But there are a few issues with it, including:
- Finding one close to you
- It can be expensive
- Can be tough if you’re new to fitness
- More of a time commitment
So, if these things are an issue, but you still want a CrossFit workout, this is where you can start to do them at home. This article will look a little deeper into Crossfit, whether it’s best for you, and 15 Crossfit workouts you can do at home.
How Many Times Per Week Should I Do a Crossfit WOD?
WOD stands for Workout of the Day, and it’s the hallmark of the Crossfit industry. These are specifically designed workouts that vary over time that are meant to challenge you, progress training, and still provide a good workout.
The first thing to look at is your experience. If you have been involved in fitness for a while, are active in sports, or have been a part of Crossfit for a while, you can do 4 to 5 workouts a week.
These are full-body challenging workouts so you need to remember how important rest is to get results. You break down muscle tissue in the gym and repair it outside the gym with rest, sleep, nutrition, and hydration. In this case – if you’ve been doing Crossfit for a while – you can work your way up to a three days on/one day off routine in order to promote proper recovery.
If you are new to Crossfit, you won’t need as much frequency. A person in this situation may do better with a three day a week approach taking a day off in between workouts. This could mean doing a WOD on Monday-Wednesday-Friday, taking the weekend off, and then starting again on Monday. Remember, during an average Crossfit workout, you are getting strength training, metabolic conditioning, and endurance – so recovery will again be paramount.
Is Crossfit Good For Beginners?
If you’ve never stepped foot in a gym before, you may do better by learning basic strength training first. It’s important to learn how to control weights, feel the muscles you are working, and build up joint and tendon strength.
Crossfit is very challenging for strength and endurance, so if you haven’t done much physical activity in years, you also may be better off building your endurance through walking, jogging, hiking, cycling, or swimming. If you have been a regular athlete, you may be more suited to jump into Crossfit.
Some of the lifts in Crossfit are also very technical so they take a while to learn. Some of the Olympic style lifts can take years to master, so if you don’t have a lifting background, you may want to start more basic in a gym or get some coaching to learn these lifts.
Does Crossfit Get You Ripped?
Any physical activity has the potential to get your ripped if you pay attention to the following things:
- Consistency
- Adherence
- Work ethic
- Proper nutrition
- Rest and recovery
With all those things in place, Crossfit is a very good way to get ripped. These results won’t happen overnight, but if you look at people who have been doing Crossfit for a while, you’ll notice the great condition they are in. This is because they are burning a ton of calories and body fat to get through the workouts, while still building and developing muscle throughout the entire body.
So with all this in mind, let’s look at 15 Crossfit workouts you can do at home.
1. Dumbbell “100” Workout
This is a basic workout but it is still tough. You’ll need a timer and each round will be a minute. It involves starting with 5 burpees then complete as many hang squat clean thrusters as possible until the minute is up. You repeat this until you have hit 100 hang squat clean thrusters.
Here’s a YouTube video demonstrating the exercise.
RELATED: The Best Power Racks Under $1000
2. 30 Minute “Emom” Workout
EMOM means “every minute on the minute” and it’s a great endurance workout while still working the full body. It’s five moves, five times through and each round gets harder than the last:
10 push-ups
15 squat jumps
15 V-ups (YouTube video)
12 kettlebell or dumbbell swings
20 switch lunges
You have one minute to complete each exercise. You may be able to get them all done quickly to get a longer rest until the next exercise, but as you go through them you’ll find you need to slow things down to get them done in the minute.
3. No Equipment Crossfit 10 Minute Workout
40 second plank to push up
40 second jumping lunges
40 second mountain climbers
40 second side twists
40 second high knees
40 second shoulder taps
40 second jumping jacks
40 second bicycle crunches
40 second burpees
40 second flutter kicks
(take 20 second rest after performing each exercise, then approach to next)
This workout doesn’t require any equipment whatsoever, and can be performed by anyone whether its a beginner or an advanced exerciser. If you’re feeling good you can take a few minutes break then repeat the round 2-3 times.
4. Dumbbell Power and Strength Workout
If you have dumbbells at home this is a great workout. You will want heavy dumbbells for these that you can still lift with strict form. The focus is on lower reps which studies show are more conducive to strength gains. If your dumbbells aren’t heavy enough, you can slow down the movements to really work the muscle:
Dumbbell cleans: 5 sets of 3 (rest 90 seconds in between sets)
Push press: 5 sets of 3 (rest 90 seconds in between sets)
Dumbbell front squat: 5 sets of 3 (rest 90 seconds between sets)
5. Dumbbell Muscle Building Workout
Dumbbells don’t need to be as heavy as the last workout, but you want to choose a weight that you can’t do too many more than 10 repetitions with good form:
- Dumbbell press
- Dumbbell row
- Lunges
you perform all three of these in a row for 10 reps each. Then, rest 60 seconds before doing them again and you will do 4 to 5 rounds of them. Lighten the weights on the last set if you aren’t able to complete the 10 reps.
6. Crossfit Core Workout
This involves doing full-body dumbbell movements – but ones that have an emphasis on core work. These exercises will make you tire pretty quickly, and breathe hard, and that’s when core work really comes into play.
- Barbell Hang Clean
- Farmers carry (walking with dumbbells in hand as shown in the picture above)
- Get up sit ups
- Renegade row
Since these are done with one arm at a time you will go through all these in a row with the left arm first performing 10 repetitions each. You will then go through all of them with the right hand all in a row for 10 repetitions each. That will make up one set. You then will go through that same routine again.
7. Crossfit Dumbbell Conditioning Workout
- Dumbbell squat to overhead press
- Dumbbell lunges
- Burpees
- Mountain climbers
Perform all of these exercises in a row doing each one for 30 seconds each. So, one round will take two minutes. Rest 45 to 60 seconds and repeat again, and you can do 4 to 5 rounds of this. Choose dumbbells that are challenging but not too heavy.
8. Rowing Machine Workout
Rowing, and rowing machines, are a fundamental part of Crossfit conditioning. If you have a rower in your house, you can perform some amazing workouts that are not only great conditioning, but work every muscle in your body, and are a great core workout.
RELATED: 6 Best Home Rowing Machine under $1000
Research from Ohio University shows that the lungs of rowers use oxygen more efficiently than those in other athletes aka they are FITTER…
- Start with a 5 – 10-minute easy-paced rowing warmup
- Row at a full spring for 30 seconds
- Slow down to a slower-paced recovery row for 90 seconds
- Repeat for 8 rounds
- Finish with a 3-minute cooldown
The whole workout should take about 25-30 minutes and you can do this 2-3 times per week.
9. High-Intensity Bike Sprints
A great workout if you have a stationary bike at home. This is a similar type of workout to the rowing one as it’s a great high-intensity workout that not only burns a lot of calories during but long after you’re done. This is called EPOC or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and studies show it can get you fitter in less than half the time of an hour of steady-state regular cardio such as walking on a treadmill.
- 5 to 10 minute light warm-up
- Increase the resistance to around an 8 for a full sprint for 30 seconds
- Lower the resistance to a 2 or 3 for a slower-paced 90-second recovery
- Repeat for 5-8 rounds
- Finish with a 3-5 minute lower intensity cool down
If you have a stationary bike that doesn’t have numbers on the resistance dial, just estimate where the number would be. The sprint phase would be about 80 % of the maximum resistance, and the recovery phase around 20-30%.
10. CrossFit Resistance Band Workout
Resistance bands are a great option for a Crossfit workout, and they can be taken anywhere you go. Most resistance bands come in packages with multiple variations of resistance. They are like giant elastic bands.
Some are shorter and meant to wrap around the legs, others are longer so you can stand on them and stretch them over your shoulders.
The different colors can indicate their thickness with black usually being the thickest and strongest resistance. There are also the banded tubes that are one length with handles on each end.
Here is a Crossfit workout with the longer style of resistance bands:
Perform 4 Rounds:
- Band squat jumps (stand on the band feet shoulder-width apart and loop across your
shoulders) - 5 band push-ups (lay the band across your lower back and hold each end on the ground
in the push-up position to create the resistance) - 5 band high pulls (stand on the band feet shoulder length apart, grasp the top of the
band with your grip just outside your legs and pull up to your chin) - 5 squat presses (stand on the band holding the top part at shoulder level, palms facing
forward. Squat down, drive upwards and press the band overhead) - Overhead squat (start with the band pressed upwards over your head, hold it in that
position and then perform the squats)
Take a break in between each round if you need it.
11. No Equipment Tabata Workout
Tabata workouts take high-intensity to the next level and studies show how it’s one of the best ways to burn calories and get the ultimate exercise intensity. Tabata is 20 seconds of hard work followed by ten seconds of rest. It often doesn’t seem like much when you start, but that’s the point. The intensity – and minimal rest – make this extremely challenging by the end.
Each exercise will take you four minutes following the 20-second on/10 second rest style. There are many free Tabata apps you can get that will time this properly. When you’ve finished each exercise for the four minutes, rest 1 minute and go to the next movement. This whole workout would take about 20 minutes.
Here are the exercises:
- Air squats
- Push-Ups
- Lunges
- Plank Knees to elbow
- Mountain climbers
12. Full Body Crossfit Workout – No Equipment
Warm-Up (30 seconds each)
- Jumping Jacks
- Side Lunges
- High knees skips
Exercises (45 seconds each 15-second rest in between)
- Jumping jacks
- High knees
- Burpees
- Squat pulses
- Jumping lunges
- Tabletop toe touches (YouTube video)
ABS (45 seconds on, 15 seconds rest in between)
- Flutter kicks
- Russian twists
- Leg Raises
- Knee to elbow crunches
13. Crossfit Rowing WOD
This is a classic workout of the day that makes use of your rower. If your rower has a display, you will want to be using the distance in meters rowed. This mixes other exercises – including ones with dumbbells – with rowing in between trying to get the best time possible:
-8 push-ups
-300m row
-10 dumbbell shoulder presses
-300m row
-12 squat to overhead press with dumbbells
-300 m row
-4 jump squats
-300m row
14. Timed WOD
You will need to have a timer or stopwatch on hand, but this WOD is all body weight-based. The exercises go from a longer time period down to shorter ones, and look like this:
High knees while running on the spot: 60 seconds right into
Jumping jacks: 50 seconds right into
Mountain climbers: 40 seconds right into
Tabletop toe touches: 30 seconds right into
Burpees: 20 seconds right into
Squat jumps: 10 seconds
That is one full round. You want to start your timer for 3:30 and try to follow the exact times. Rest for a few minutes before repeating. Beginners can do 1 to 2 rounds, and if you’re more advanced you can go for 3+ rounds.
15. Outdoor Crossfit Intervals
If you’re tired of being inside and want some fresh air, you can move your Crossfit workouts outside. This is a full-body workout that also involves sprinting. It’s short bursts of movement, but with a high amount of rounds to build endurance. You will need a track, or area that is at least 200 meters long:
This will be 7 rounds trying to get each round done in as quick a time as possible. It’s three exercises and they are all done in a row:
- 10 push ups
- 10 air squats
- 200 m sprint
If you need to take a break in between rounds, do so. Keep track of your time to complete all 7 rounds so you have a target to beat the next time you do it.
References:
- Crossfit.com: WOD’s – https://www.crossfit.com/workout/
- Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25853914/
- The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657417/
- Exercise Intensity and Energy Expenditure of a Tabata Workout – : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3772611/