Not HeroWOD Shawn

July 06, 2025•2 min read

As we go back through the 2015 CrossFit programming, the attentive among you will notice that we have made some changes to workouts to better accommodate the fitness levels of our athletes, the space/equipment available to us and the time allotted to each class. Often the tweaks are minor or offered alongside the original programming when possible but some of the workouts require a few more modifications.

Remember HeroWOD Shawn?

Do you remember HeroWOD Shawn? It is a 5-mile run which requires you to stop every 5 minutes to perform 50 squats and 50 push ups. The first time I did this was on Dunbar Street on a rainy day. I recall doing push ups in puddles full of worms. This workout punishes slow runners like me, and I believe I ended up performing over 450 push ups. I remember because during my final set, someone pulled up alongside the curb, rolled down his window and suggested that if I wanted to make the push ups harder, I should try doing them on one leg only. Believe me, as strong as my push ups are, by that time, they were plenty hard enough!

Next time, HeeHee and I did this as a trail run in the autumn. I performed my last set of push ups on the side of the trail in some leaves and when I rose to finish the run discovered that one glove had been planted firmly in some freshly laid dog droppings that someone had considerately buried under a blanket of leaves. I returned home with only one glove.

40 minutes is more than enough time

Running, squats and push ups are about as basic and fundamental as you can get but the heroWOD version is too long for group classes. We want you want to master these skills, but 40 minutes is more than enough time. Each round will begin with an 800m run which most people can complete in about 5 minutes. 50 air squats should be easy for everyone, but 50 push ups is a lot so to keep you moving, we have reduced the rep count to 30.

It is easy to get sloppy on the push ups when you are tired. The key is to keep your sets short. Always take a break when you have one or two good push ups in reserve. Do not do struggle reps as these will drain you and expose you to increased risk of injury. Short, crisp, efficient sets is your key to push up mastery.

And remember, no matter how slow you go, unlike with the original version, you will be finished in 40 minutes!