Water WODs!

In the past two years we have a seen a number of water based workouts included in the CrossFit Games.

In 2011 the opening workout required athletes to complete a 210 meter swim at Santa Monica beach. While in 2012 competitors were required to swim more than three times that distance at Camp Pendleton.

As a result, we now see a number of CrossFit boxes offer water WODs in their weekly schedule.

CrossFit is called the sport of fitness for a reason. Those who are passionate about CrossFit should be just as excited about swimming 100 meters as they are snatching 100kgs.

How can someone claim to be the fittest person on earth and not be able to swim 500 meters?

Swimming and other water based workouts are now becoming regular features in CrossFit training.

While there are a handful of affiliates offering some type of water based workouts, the two that come to my mind are CrossFit Admunson in the USA, and CrossFit Lat 12 in Australia.

Greg Admunson, the owner of CrossFit Admunson, began running his classes earlier this year to help athletes thrive in the aquatic environment as well as on solid ground.

Between the months of April and September, members of the gym head to Seacliff State Beach, the University of California Santa Cruz and Pleasure Point every Tuesday to take part in the weekly WaterWOD workout.

These workouts vary from underwater swims with air squats and double unders on either end of the pool, to short water sprints with thrusters in between.

CrossFit Lat 12 in Australia, however, offer slightly different water WODs.

Based in the remote outback of Australia, in a small Northern Territory town called Nhulunbuy, CrossFit Lat 12 runs Hydrocross workouts every Tuesday.

As well as swimming, the workouts involve farmer walks underwater, as well as kettlebell swings.

In addition, gym owner Rachael Verdel encourages members to jump in the water fully clothed!

“Breath control is a big part of what we teach,” Verdel says. “It’s such an important part of what we need to do, so what I’ve done is included it into a workout.

“I make sure that before they get in the water, they do something like 30 box jumps so when they’re getting in the water they’re gasping for air. They’ve got to learn to control their breath and learn to be comfortable with their breath being so out of control.”

If you’re keen on doing your own water WODs, you can find a number of great workouts on the WaterWOD website by clicking here.

Meanwhile, if you water workouts at your local box, tell us about it in the comment section below: