CrossFit and Women…What’s the Difference?

Utter frustration.

Bar muscle ups. Ring muscle ups. Ring dips. Bench press. Rope climbs. Pull ups.

All upper body strength movements that guys make look easy.

For women, it’s a whole different story.

A lot of guys walk into a CrossFit box for the first time already having pull ups. Some even muscle ups.

Because they are genetically designed for upper body strength.

Not so women.

And the frustration can be palpable.

As a woman CrossFitter, you need to realize this and set your expectations accordingly. Sure, your CrossFit coach (who is most likely male and doesn’t understand how you feel) can do multiple bar muscle ups and not break a sweat. He’ll make it look easy and you scowl at him with a look of complete, total, and utter hatred.

You? You spend hours and can’t get one.

Why?

It’s nothing to do with you. It’s how God designed men and women. It will take a woman longer to build the strength to do pull ups, rope climbs, muscle ups, etc.

And it sucks.

But there’s nothing you can do about it.

It’s a fact.

So accept it. Work harder. And longer.

Guys don’t get this. They just don’t.

As a woman CrossFit coach, I try to give tips for women on these moves in order to build the strength needed to accomplish these moves.

For women, form will mean a lot more. Your kip will need to be efficient. Your work ethic will have to be stronger to make up for the differences in body types.

And you will need patience. And endurance. You will need to go through the progressions; whereas, men can skip some of the steps.

It will take longer. But it’s not impossible.

The rewards when accomplished?

More meaningful. More rewarding.

And I’ll say it even though right now the day to day frustrations don’t seem to feel that way:

Priceless…