Have you ever wondered how top athletes perform during training sessions? Now you don’t have to. I spoke with Amy Kringle, the UK’s top crossfit athlete, to get one of her exercises done – and it’s not for the faint of heart.
As a coach who attends CrossFit, I was hungry to get my hands on a replica class of competing athletes. Aimee is one of the most talked about UK sports on the European CrossFit scene and topped the charts in 2022, so I knew this workout was going to be a beast.
Our fitness team loves a challenge—from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man workout to Chris Hemsworth’s 200-rep workout, we’re ready to put just about anything to the test. This routine tests strength, cardio, and skill using just three exercises in a Workout of the Day (WOD) format, designed as the ultimate full-body strength and conditioning combo.
If you have limited equipment, this strenuous full-body dumbbell workout builds strength with just six exercises. Otherwise, get the best wireless headphones, stream music, and train like the best CrossFit athlete with this killer CrossFit workout.
What is Amy Kringle’s CrossFit?
“CrossFit is a full-body training routine, and this exercise will work all of your muscle groups,” says Cringle.
“The bike uses the lower body (quads, hamstrings, hamstrings, calves) and upper body (chest, biceps, biceps, and triceps). Pull-ups also work the muscles of the upper body and lower body. From the body to stabilize.
The hanging squat clean mainly targets the lower body (hamstrings, glutes, quads). However, this movement also improves your upper body (traps, shoulders, and lats) while clearing the bar on your shoulders from a hanging position. Your core muscles work too, especially when standing up from the bottom of a squat.”
the exercise
The exercise follows the WOD format every 4 minutes for 20 minutes (5 rounds).
This means that you do each of the three exercises for the specified number of repetitions within 4 minutes, and then repeat them every four minutes. If you complete all repetitions before the four minutes are up, rest for the time you have left before starting again.
Eco / Offensive bike, size 27/21 cal
For this workout, use the attack bike to burn 27 calories for men, or 21 calories for women. This is the guideline, and you can scale it up or down. Try to loosen your grip on the bike as the other two movements require it. Keep your heart engaged and try to avoid bending over. If your bike calories are taking longer than 1:45, reduce that but keep it steady each ride. To measure, adjust the weights or movements.
15 chest to bar pull-ups
The chest-to-bar pull is an advancement that requires your chest to reach the bar instead of your chin. You can expand to hard chin-to-bar pull-ups, jump-ups (jumping up and controlling the low “eccentric” stage), or rows, but you shouldn’t break reps each round.
Stand under the bar, jump up, and hold the bar a little wider than shoulder width with your thumb wrapped under it. Hollow out your body (slightly like a banana) with legs crossed over/under the crossbar and stomach. From here, swing into the arched position (opposite) by pushing your legs back and pushing your head forward. Practice moving between the two. From the hollow position, suspend your hips and bend your knees slightly, then push your hips forward and extend your legs as you lead your chest to the crossbar. Reverse these steps for one rep.
9 Hang Squat Cleans @ 40 kg for Women, 60 kg for Men
Do the deadlift (hand grip), standing completely at the top with your shoulders back and down and your core engaged. The tape should be touching your thighs. Keep your weight evenly across your feet with your eyes pointing forward. Keep your back flat as you hinge at the hips and lower the bar toward your knees, then extend your hips and knees in a quick motion while ignoring the bar up and into the front rack position (palms up) as you squat. Re-Set. :
Cringle says he doesn’t aim for a more than 10-second difference between your times on each round, so don’t get too hot in the first two sets. Each round should be challenging and aim for comfort only during equipment transitions.
I trained like the UK’s top crossfit athlete – here’s what happened
Don’t be fooled by the limited number of exercises in this workout – what it lacks in terms of quantity it delivers high quality and surprisingly whole body. As I lay next on the floor in a puddle of my sweat, I briefly wondered why I sought out Amy’s expertise in the first place, but this exercise is definitely worth persevering. Even if it’s just to feel the hit of endorphins after a workout and feel a wobbly leg, I’m always addicted to it.
The most important things first yes It’s a technical exercise, and I would recommend a foundation level experience to master lifts without increasing your risk of injury. However, you don’t need to be a sculpting god or CrossFitter goddess to reap the rewards of this workout (I certainly am not), and I love how scalable it is. Believe me, as someone with a long shoulder injury, you can still pack the power even if pull-ups aren’t handy.
I recommend dropping the weight or opting for the best adjustable dumbbell if you need more sizing options, ensuring you at least a firm chin-to-bar pull in your repertoire before applying to your chest. You choose to lower the pull-up bar and do rows instead, and if you have gymnastics rings at the gym, that’s even better.
Hanging squats require movement of the wrist, so I recommend including wrist extensions in your warm-up and practicing the components separately before smashing the reps completely. For example, warm up with a few rounds of suspension clean-ups, then do squats on the front rack, focusing on raising your elbows and achieving depth in a squat position.
Inclusive? This painful. Oh, is it painful? The Echo bike is no one’s friend, and it certainly isn’t mine, but it was interesting to experience what one of the best CrossFit athletes in the UK does for fun. If this is just an excerpt from a typical training day, it shows what these athletes pledge to reach dizzying heights for CrossFit champion glory.
Amy Kringle
Aimee Cringle is one of the UK’s most talked about sports on the European CrossFit scene. Her charge at the top of the UK CrossFit rankings began in 2018 when she finished second on the Isle of Man during the CrossFit Open (the first stage of qualification for CrossFit Games). Fast-forward to 2022, and she took first place in the UK, leading her to compete in the CrossFit semi-finals, finishing 12th on a stacked field for European athletes and winning the first event.
Are you looking for something more fix? This bedtime yoga routine is the perfect post-workout conditioner, and this 10-minute Pamela Reef workout can build core strength to complement your next workout.
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