The Barbara Crossfit “Lady” WOD was very first published innocuously on the CrossFit main website as the exercise of the day for Sunday, July 13, 2003. It had no name and included a prescribed five minutes of rest in between rounds which was completely unusual in the early world of CrossFit.

Later, that WOD ended up being Barbara when CrossFit founder Greg Glassman launched the very first wave of CrossFit benchmark workouts a couple of months later on in September 2003. The rep plan and movements stayed the exact same, however the rest interval was reduced from 5 minutes to 3.

Now, the Barbara WOD is utilized in CrossFit boxes all over the world as a test of speed, endurance, endurance, and strength.

The Barbara WOD, done five rounds for time, is as follows.

20 pull-ups
30 push-ups
40 sit-ups
50 air squats
Rest 3 minutes
The Barbara CrossFit “Girl” WOD
Rating: For time– total the WOD as fast as possible.

Devices Needed: pull-up bar, ab mat

Level: Advanced, but scalable. This WOD has complicated motions but can be modified to be both easier and harder.

Advantages
A September 2003 CrossFit Journal article states that the Barbara WOD (among 2 other “Girl” WODs) is “incredibly simple (being made up entirely of typical exercises), extremely hard, [and] dramatically strengthen [s] the pull-up.” This WOD poses an obstacle to numerous energy systems (aerobic and anaerobic) and at the same time challenges both muscular strength and muscular endurance. Here’s how that plays out in real-life benefits.

Speed
If any exercise can teach you to go quick, it’s the Barbara CrossFit WOD.

The designated stimulus of this workout is to go as fast as possible for three minutes, rest for three minutes, go as quickly as possible for three minutes, and so on. It’s a traditional high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout, other than it includes various substance bodyweight exercises instead of a typical cardio movement, such as running or biking.

On paper, it might not look like your average speed exercise, however the Barbara WOD can enhance your speed and effectiveness in some of one of the most standard (and most important) motion patterns: the squat, push-up, pull-up, and sit-up.

Muscular Endurance
To put this poignantly, there are a lots of reps in the Barbara WOD. Do the math: 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, and 50 air squats comes out to an overall of 140 reps. And that’s simply one round! Those 140 reps are repeated four more times for an overall of 560 reps.

High-volume strength training (more than 12 associates per set) is usually accepted as the most efficient method to construct muscular endurance,1 so with the number of associates in the Barbara WOD, you can hold conviction in this workout as one that will enhance your muscular endurance.

Cardiovascular Endurance
We can’t forget the most essential muscle of all: Your heart! An exercise like the Barbara WOD certainly challenges the heart, along with the lungs and entire cardiovascular, respiratory, and circulatory systems, producing general improvements in cardiorespiratory endurance.

The advantages of HIIT on heart health are numerous. It’s understood to improve resting high blood pressure, metabolic capacity, and heart rate reserve,2 in addition to boost VO2 max.3.

Obviously, if you have any pre-existing medical conditions that impact your heart, lungs, or capillary, you should speak with your doctor prior to including high-intensity exercise such as the Barbara WOD into your routine.

Power and Explosiveness.
Though the Barbara WOD challenges your aerobic system since of the length, it primarily taxes your anaerobic system, or the energy system that assists in motion without oxygen (versus the aerobic system, which needs oxygen).

Improvements in anaerobic capacity normally manifest as increased power and explosiveness, two fitness advantages you can’t actually obtain from steady-state workout.4.

What that appears like in practice: You can leap greater, sprint faster, pull and press more difficult, throw further, and raise more for your one-rep max. The interval-style structure of the Barbara WOD is what induces these advantages.5 Three minutes of full-blown effort followed by three minutes of rest duplicated four more times edges simply past anaerobic area and into aerobic capacity, resulting in all-around improvements in fitness.

Calisthenic Strength.
” Calisthenics” refers to a kind of strength training that involves your bodyweight only. This consists of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and air squats– all of the motions in the Barbara WOD– and much more.

Science has shown calisthenic workout to be extremely effective at increasing strength,6 potentially even as much as weightlifting exercises with comparable motion patterns.7.

If you wish to get better at moving your own body around, the Barbara WOD can certainly help you develop the strength, coordination, and body awareness you need to do so.

Detailed Instructions.
The secret to totally crushing a CrossFit WOD? Knowing everything there is to know about how to do it before you try it. In this section, you’ll learn exactly how to set up for a successful run through the Barbara WOD, along with how to properly perform each workout you encounter.

Establish for the Barbara WOD.
You don’t require much in terms of devices for the Barbara WOD. In fact, all you actually require is a pull-up bar. Anything else is secondary and by preference just. You may wish to use grips or gloves for the pull-ups to prevent blistering your palms, and an ab mat can help you prevent brush burn on your tailbone throughout the sit-ups.

In addition, ensure you have comfy workout clothing and shoes on and have a water bottle nearby.

How To Do Pull-Ups.
The pull-up is one of the most practical movements out there. If you ever need to pull yourself up and over something, such as a fence or the side of a kayak, you’ll be happy you have the strength it takes.

Note: In this guide, Verywell Fit covers the kipping pull-up, because that is the accepted kind of pull-ups in CrossFit. To find out how to do strict (or regular) pull-ups, see this how-to guide.

Here’s how to do a kipping pull-up properly:.

Jump up to grip the bar with your hands a couple of inches larger than your shoulders, palms facing away from your body. Get a full grip on the bar: Your entire palm should twist around the bar, not just your fingers.
Initiate the kip by putting your body into a tight “hollow” position. To imagine, think about lying face-up on the ground with only your lower back pressing into the ground. That’s the position you wish to imitate for a hollow.
Move from the hollow into the arch position. Push your head through the window of your arms, arch your back, and send your feet behind you.
Kipping is essentially rotating between the arch and hollow position. Start in the hollow, shift to the arch, and return to the hollow to finish one kip.
At the tail end of your kip (the second hollow), use your arms and back muscles to pull yourself up to the bar. In CrossFit, the standard for pull-ups is that your chin goes beyond the height of the bar.
In a regulated manner, lower yourself back to the arch position. From here, enter into another representative or hop off of the bar.
How To Do Push-Ups.
Push-ups, another incredibly practical motion, seem basic but are remarkably hard. This how-to details the steps to a standard push-up (hands and toes on the flooring), however if you don’t yet have the strength it takes to carry out a standard push-up, you can discover modification alternatives in this total detailed guide to the push-up.

Start in the plank position. Your wrists should be stacked straight below your shoulders (arms entirely vertical), and your spine must remain in a neutral position.
Bend at the elbows to reduce your body to the floor. Your chest should touch the floor or practically touch it. Keep your elbows near your sides pointing behind you, rather than to the sides of you.
Once you reach the bottom position, press back up to the beginning position. Keep your elbows close to your body. Repeat up until you complete your 30 reps.
How To Do Sit-Ups.
You stay up in some method, shape, or form every day, even if it’s simply when you rise. Training the sit-up correctly can transfer to your life in beneficial methods. Here’s how to do the sit-up:.

Start by lying with your back on the floor, arms overhead. Utilize an ab mat if it’s comfy for you. Touch the bottoms of your feet together and permit your knees to fall sideways– this is the motion standard in CrossFit exercises.
Agreement your abdominal muscles to lift your torso off of the ground and sit-up fully. If your movement permits, touch your fingertips to your heels, foot, or toes.
With control, lower your torso back to the ground. Your shoulders need to entirely touch the floor before you embrace another rep.
After touching your shoulders to the flooring, repeat action 3 until you complete 40 reps.
How To Do Air Squats.
Air crouches, likewise called bodyweight squats, are the most basic kind of the squat and perhaps the most practical, transferable motion you can establish. Squats are extremely important for activities of everyday living, consisting of things as simple as taking a seat and getting back up from your chair. Here’s how to squat appropriately:.

Start standing with your feet shoulder-width or hip-width apart (whichever feels the most comfortable for you).
Slightly hinge at the hips (send your butts backward) and begin decreasing your body by flexing your knees.
Keep your knees tracking over your toes (do not let them cave in) and keep your chest high. Keep your eyes forward; don’t look at the ground.
Lower yourself into the bottom position, preferably with your thighs past parallel, while keeping your feet fully flat on the flooring (don’t enable your heels to increase off of the ground).
Pushing through your heels, stand and go back to the starting position.
Repeat for 50 reps.
Common Mistakes.
Keep an eye out for these common mistakes as you prep for and complete the Barbara WOD.

Misinterpreting the Barbara WOD as Easy.
A lot of CrossFit professional athletes– generally those who have a few years of CrossFit experience but aren’t yet advanced or elite athletes– mistake the Barbara WOD as an easy workout. Newbies might take a look at the WOD and feel daunted, while elite CrossFit athletes know that built-in rest implies organization.

Do not fall under the trap of thinking that integrated rest makes a CrossFit exercise much easier. The fact is exactly the opposite. When you see recommended rest intervals in a CrossFit WOD, that suggests you are expected to work incredibly difficult during the working periods.

That suggests each round of Barbara ought to cause a deep burn in your working muscles– your back, biceps, triceps, lats, core, glutes, and quads– and you must be breathing heavy, fighting to push simply a little bit harder. The pause ought to appear to zip.

Naturally, this is only real if you are performing the Barbara WOD as a bona fide standard exercise. You can completely feel free to travel through the Barbara WOD if you’re not concerned about your time as it makes for an extraordinary aerobic workout if you go through it at a slower rate.

Not Making the Most of Your Rest Interval.
If you carry out Barbara as meant, your rest interval will appear to be over before it began. Attempt to make the most out of that desired 3 minutes in order to get your finest time for the WOD.

Perhaps the greatest error you can make is sitting or resting. This might sound counterproductive, but it’s real. All longtime CrossFit athletes know that when you stop moving completely, your body becomes “heavy” and the beginning of the next round will feel harder than it should.

Instead, keep moving slowly and lightly for those three minutes. Don’t overthink it: This can merely mean shaking out your legs, rolling your ankles in circles, flapping or swaying your arms, or pacing throughout the flooring. Do anything to keep your blood streaming and prevent the sensation of accumulation in your muscles. You’ll thank yourself when your coach yells “Three, 2, one, go!”.

Failure to Strategize Rep Schemes.
The Barbara WOD was developed to be completed “unbroken,” meaning that athletes must move through all of the workouts in each round without taking a break. This may be possible for sophisticated and elite CrossFit professional athletes, but it is of course not achievable for some.

If going unbroken isn’t a choice for you, think about planning your associate plan before the workout starts. If you do not have much proficiency at pull-ups, you might want to do them one-by-one. If you tend to stress out quickly on push-ups, maybe divided them up into sets of five.

One very popular approach of strategizing representatives in CrossFit WODs is to utilize a “coming down ladder” plan. Within each motion, carry out the reps in sets of decreasing reps. Here’s an example of how to segment the Barbara WOD into a descending ladder:.

20 pull-ups: Do 8, then 6, then 4, then two.
30 push-ups: Do 12, then 8, then six, then four.
40 sit-ups: Do 15, then 10, then eight, then seven.
50 air squats: Do 20, then 15, then 10, then five.
This not just makes the WOD physically simpler but likewise psychologically easier. Going into a movement, especially one you don’t take pleasure in or aren’t especially great at. feels a lot simpler when you can say, “Well, at least the rep count gets lower each time!”.

Failure to Pace Yourself.
If you’re thinking, “Pace myself? You just stated I must go full-blown on each round,” hear me out. To get the designated stimulus of the Barbara WOD, you must offer your full effort on each round. That doesn’t indicate you should forego pacing yourself totally. Among the most difficult aspects of this exercise is that you need to strike a balance between pressing and managing your pace.

An elite CrossFit athlete understands that throughout a WOD like Barbara, their extremely last round needs to be just as fast (and even faster) than their preliminary. An elite CrossFit athlete understands that heading out the gate too fast spells end ofthe world for this WOD.

Take this into account when strategizing for the Barbara WOD: your rate ought to be fast, however not too quick. You must have some capability delegated push the rate on the last round.