CrossFit boxes - talk me through what I should look for

[ExMachinaDeus]

I’m going to be working in the US for about 5 weeks. I know I’ll miss my friendly gym here and my fantastic PT but I thought if use it as an opportunity to try something new.

I wondered about CrossFit. I lift pretty heavy (deads at 90kg regularly - almost can DL. 100; squats at 50-60 kg), sled PB of 300kg and while I’m not a natural runner, my PT’s adherence to metcon and interval training means I’m pretty fit and I know my way round most regular gym exercises and routines.

But I’ve never done CrossFit - any aficionados here? What should I look for in a box, and what IS a WOD? How does a session work? Is it like a HIIT or Bootcamp session, where you do an exercise for, say, 1minute then have 20 secs rest while you move to the next station?

or what?

A really good coach, not a random who had only got the basic cert.

Boxes can vary in size tho from basic garage gyms to huge.

A lot of good ones have deaffilated tho, so they might not be on the cf map.

Enjoy, great fun!

Google Invictus, they put up their workout of the day (wod) on the website.

Ah I used to love cross fit!
sometimes (although not sure about the US) a box will do an intro or trial so you not have a sign up straight away. I have always found it to be a good environment and if you already lift weights (I did not!) then you will be well away.
bascially a wod is “workout of the day” so everyone does the same workout that day at you box
you do the warm up and are shown what to do it has massive variety and can seem a bit intimidating but I have always found cross fitters a friendly bunch.
Massively depends on the workout, but you all go at you own pace so if you need a 10second rest to drink you water you do that
it is really a lot of fun I hope if you give it to you will enjoy it

Forgot to add it does not work out like bootcamp circuits etc
you all have you own equipment and do the workout in you own space (unless you have a paired workout or you need to share a box for box jumps or something)
if there is something you cannot do they scale it for you. I have disabilities and low muscle tone so a lot of the workouts had to be adapted for me so they can be flexible

I've been doing CrossFit for 5 years and whilst not the strongest or can do every technique (think handstand pushup) I absolutely love going. Each session is usually a warm up for approx 10 mins, focus on a move for example deadlifts then the WOD which will include the move you have been working on. I know most CrossFits require you to do 3 OnRamp sessions which shows you the moves involved. Then you can join the regular sessions.

To add some WODs are as many rounds as possible for time, some are as many rounds in x timeframe, some are YGIG (you go I go, with a partner so they do a round then you do), some are individual WODs, some can be in teams of 3. So much variety

Thanks everybody. This is all really helpful.

I've looked at a couple of places online for the city where I'll be - one of them talks about the "On Ramp" induction, so I'm interested that it's not just a gimmick of that gym, but a recognised process.

My PT has suggested I could spend the first week I'm away just trying loads of different gyms on free one-day trial passes!

And gosh, I may have to learn how to do handstands against the wall and the like. New skills, new gains.

Or I could just run for 30 minutes everyday, but for me, a couple of tough sessions of weightlifting & throwing myself around is always preferable ... I'm so close to pulling 100k in my deadlifts, I don't want to lose too much form.