Everybody In The Pool

Bonita and I have been throwing around the idea of a swimming WOD for months. And since it’s been over 100 degrees in Austin for more than a week, now seemed like the ideal time to jump into Deep Eddy and swap running the track for swimming laps.

I dug up a workout from an old CrossFit Journal article, put my own spin on it (i.e., shortened the swimming intervals because most of us hadn’t swum laps in ages), and voila! our first swimming WOD:

For time:
66* yards freestyle + 10 pushups
66 yards breaststroke + 10 kettlebell thrusters
66 yards freestyle + 15 kettlebell swings
66 yards breaststroke + 20 walking lunges
My time: 9:08
*Deep Eddy pool is 33 yards wide, hence the odd numbers.

In hindsight, I think I would’ve added the following to make the workout a little longer:
66 yards freestyle + 20 situps
66 yards freestyle, all out!

Having said that… it was pretty demanding. Swimming is way, WAY harder than I remembered. The burning lungs! For your amusement, here are the other things I pondered while slogging back and forth across the pool:

The water in Deep Eddy (a bracing 68 degrees) is very… refreshing, once you get used to it.

Ten pushups are a snap… until they’re preceded by a 66-yard swim after neglecting the pool for four years. Then they’re a lifetime.

A wet kettlebell is a slippery kettlebell.

Walking lunges done poolside, after a 66-yard swim, is a wobbly endeavor.

We might be inured to CrossFit wackiness, but to civilians, a CrossFit workout done by the pool is a compelling curiosity. We had a lot of questions and one dear older woman told Bonita she had a body like Madonna.

Swimming, like lifting heavy stuff, is both humbling and exhilarating.

Despite the massive amount of pride swallowed along with pool water, I liked this workout a lot. If you want to try it yourself, my recommendation is to pass on using weights or kettlebells and focus on body weight exercises between the swimming intervals. Stuff like situps, pushups, squats, burpees, sprawls, dips, lunges, and jump squats would all be good. Bonus points for pullups or reverse rows!