Your first CrossFit class: what actually happens, step by step

You have booked a class for tomorrow at 18:00 and the same question keeps coming back: what will actually happen in that hour? Should you wear running shoes? Will someone ask how fit you are? Will you be the only person in the room who does not know what a WOD is? Here is the whole day of a first class, step by step, the way it runs at our box.

If you already train CrossFit somewhere else and just want one class while you are in Warsaw, read how to drop in instead. This piece is for people who have never done it.

Step 1. Book in the app

Bookings, passes and the timetable all live in the eFitness app. Download it from the App Store or Google Play, search for the club “CrossFit Wilanów” and buy your first class. It is a single entry, valid for 7 days from purchase, with no commitment. Then pick a class from the timetable and reserve a place. The timetable in the app is the same one that hangs at reception, and you can see it in a browser too.

You can cancel a reservation up to one hour before the class. If the app gives you trouble, call reception and we will sort it out.

Step 2. What to pack

Comfortable sportswear, clean trainers to change into (the club rules ask for them) and water. Lockers are there for the time you are in the club, and you can leave valuables at reception. Everything else, from barbells to jump ropes, is in the box.

If you come by car, there is an underground car park in ALTO, 1.5 hours free, and reception validates your ticket.

Step 3. Fifteen minutes before

For your first class you arrive 15 minutes early. This is not a polite suggestion: the coach may not let a latecomer into the class, and that quarter of an hour is what the rest of this section is for. You get in with the QR code from the app or by showing your pass at reception.

In those 15 minutes the coach shows you the changing room and the box and asks two things: how you train (or how long it has been since you did) and whether you have any injuries. Answer precisely. The club rules ask you to tell the coach before class about pregnancy, conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, injuries and any medication that may affect training. The coach does not treat or diagnose, but can adapt the exercises or ask you for a note from your doctor. If you have a chronic condition or are coming back after surgery, talk to your doctor before you come. The rules recommend a medical check before the first class for everyone.

From that conversation the coach suggests which version of the exercises you will start with. Most of your first class is decided in that moment.

Step 4. The hour in the room

A class lasts 55-60 minutes and always has the same shape: warm-up, a skill part, the workout and a stretch. One coach leads the whole group from start to finish. There are at most 12 people in the room, so the coach can see everyone.

The warm-up uses the movements that are about to appear in the workout, in a light version. It raises your body temperature and gives the coach a chance to watch how you move. CrossFit’s Level 1 Training Guide names this as a job of the warm-up: the coach uses it to judge what scaling each person will need.

The skill part is learning or revising the movements of the day. If the plan has a barbell squat, you start with a squat with no weight or with an empty bar. If it has pull-ups, you get a version you can do today, for example with a resistance band, or a ring row.

The workout, the WOD (Workout of the Day), is the same for the whole group. What changes is the weight and the version of each movement. On the board you will see three levels: Beginners, Intermediate and RX, which is the workout as written and the reference point for the other two. You start with the first, and there is nothing to catch up on. Everyone trains at their own pace and their own weight, beginners and experienced athletes side by side, and nobody counts anyone else’s reps.

The stretch closes the class. Then the equipment goes back where it came from.

Classes are in Polish. If anyone in the room does not speak Polish, the coach runs the class in English, so mention it when you arrive.

Why you start lighter

This is not a soft option for new people. It is the method. The Level 1 Training Guide sets an order that our coaches follow: mechanics, then consistency, and only then intensity. First the movement has to be correct, then repeatable, and only after that do load and speed go up. The guide is plain about what happens when you reverse that order: the risk of injury rises and long-term progress suffers.

Scaling, adapting the workout to the person, has one rule: keep the stimulus. The workout should do to you what it does to the person next to you, even if they lift twice as much. The first thing to change is the load. The guide notes that people new to weightlifting often work at less than 50% of the weight on the board, and that a coach should rather err on the side of scaling down too much than too little. Only after the load do the reps or the movement itself change.

For some people, simply learning the movements will be intense at first, and the guide expects that. It also recommends clear scaling for at least a month, and for many people several months. If you leave your first class feeling you could have done more, the coach did their job.

What new people worry about

“I won’t be able to do it.” Every exercise has a version for someone doing it for the first time. Fitness is what training gives you, not the price of entry.

“I’ll be the weakest in the room.” You might be. In the same class someone is in their fifth year and someone is on day one. Everyone does their own version and looks at their own numbers.

“I’ll hurt myself.” Movement always carries some risk. That is why we ask about injuries before class, and why you start lighter than you think you can. If something hurts in a way that is not just tiredness, say so straight away, not after class.

“It will be a race.” You do not have to race anyone. You write your results down for yourself, so that in a month you can see what has changed.

After the class

If you want to log your results, use the SugarWOD app: search for CrossFit Wilanów, and reception gives you the password. You do not have to.

After one class you know whether this is a place for you. If it is, you choose between the 4-class pass and the OPEN membership, and we help you pick after the class. If you decide on OPEN on the day of your first class, its cost comes off your first OPEN instalment; tell reception after the class. Every new OPEN membership starts with 12 weeks of care: a coach who looks after you, a goal and three consultations with a body-composition scan. What those weeks look like is in CrossFit for beginners: the first 12 weeks.

The best advice for your second class: leave the first one wanting a little more, and come back the next week. All the steps, with answers to common questions, are on How to get started.

Sources

• CrossFit, Level 1 Training Guide (PDF), chapters “Responsible Training” (mechanics, consistency, intensity; scaling for beginners) and “Running a CrossFit Class” (the purpose of the warm-up)
• CrossFit Wilanów, Terms: § 3 (reservations, arriving 15 minutes before your first class), § 7 (clothing and shoes, telling the coach about your health)