Crossroads - Crossfit on the fly! Free and Convenient WODs!

 One fact that is most likely universally true for everyone is that life can get crazy, sometimes unpredictable, and even occasionally uncontrollable. So how do you make sure you get your crossfit WOD in when traveling, away from home, or just too busy to make it to your home box (crossfit term for gym). There are tons of options and online resources to help ensure that you get that fitness fix for the day. Some of these are also great alternatives if affording the expensive box membership is an issue. In this post I'll just talk about one of these great resources, but never fear there's more where this comes from and will continue to share soon.

            In this last year, life for me has become significantly more insane and I have often found myself away from my home box, out of state with limited free time, and out in the middle of a third world country. This past summer I went on a medical mission trip to Cambodia for three weeks and of course one of the first things to come to my mind was….”Are there crossfit boxes in Cambodia?” For those of you racking your brain over this question, the answer is NO, there are definitely no crossfit gyms in Cambodia, not where we were anyways, which was out in makeshift clinics in churches in the middle of rice patties. Panic ensued….three weeks of no crossfit, no sticking to my paleo diet, and eating rice and French baguettes with every meal. Just thinking about the deconditioning, losing all the strength I had built back up after my back injury, and of course the potential weight gain were all subjects contributing to my angst. Luckily I found the solution I was looking for…The Traveling WOD! This site is great because it has TONS of workouts posted that you can pick and choose from, making it easy to get a quick workout in when you happen find yourself somewhere with no or limited workout equipment, like at your home/apartment, at a hotel, or at a bungalow in the middle of Kampot, Cambodia. They post daily WODs if this is something that you want to follow long-term at home or for extended travel, but personally I just used their travel WOD library so that I could make my workout fit my environment each day. Of course having the most amazing boyfriend who knew and understood my concern for going three weeks with not being able to adhere to my current workout and diet regimen surprised me with my very own workout care package for my trip, which only increased my workout options even more.

            

I would highly recommend slowly (or all at once) investing in at least some of these items just because of the variety it could add to your WODs and strength building movements that can apply to your Oly (Olympic) lifts and gymnastic skills when you are able to make it to a box. Some ideas include: an abmat for sit-ups and handstand pushups, rings and straps for ring dips, ring pull ups/ring rows, ring pushups, muscle-up progressions, muscle-ups themselves, and toes to rings, a jump rope for a good cardio alternative to running, and of course resistance bands and a roller for mobility and recovery. There are obviously other accessories that could be useful for traveling by road, but all of the things I named were able to fit in my gym bag and were not too cumbersome to take with me to the other side of the planet. Where there’s a will, there’s a way so check out this link and make fitness and crossfit work for you and whatever life throws your way!   

http://www.thetravelingwod.com/p/traveling-wods.html

Rings hanging from the second story railing at the Natural Bungalows, our home for the 2 1/2 weeks we stayed in Kampot, Cambodia....they also look great hanging from rafters!  The resistance band can be used to assist in ring dips until you build enough strength to do multiple ring dips in a row.

Handstand pushups with an abmat at the resort we visited one weekend in Kep, Cambodia. Definitely had to rearrange the furniture to get the space we needed, but you do what you gotta do!

Don't forget that you can use nature, which is always free, to get a good workout. While in Kep we hiked several miles of mountainous terrain to see the temples that had been built at the top. Very awesome and obviously lots of hard work and sweat went into to this adventure. 

On Rabbit Island in Kep, Cambodia getting ready to kayak in the Gulf of Thailand. Kayaking is an awesome core and upper body workout as much as it is cardio and renting kayaks are usually fairly inexpensive.

Until next time, keep calm and crossfit! hnh