Decoding CrossFit #11 — Because apparently the clock is part of the workout too.
Welcome back to Decoding CrossFit, the series where I translate the workout board and slowly learn that the clock is not there to help me!
Today’s abbreviation is EMOM.
It means Every Minute on the Minute.
At the beginning of each minute, you complete the work written on the board. Whatever time remains before the next minute starts is yours to rest.
In theory, that sounds almost generous...In practice, the word “rest” comes with terms and conditions.
How does an EMOM work?
Imagine the board says you have to complete ten wall balls every minute. If you finish them in 30 seconds, you have 30 seconds to rest. If you finish them in 50 seconds, you have ten seconds. If you finish at 59 seconds, you have enough time to take one breath, question your life choices and start again!
Some EMOMs repeat the same movement every minute. Others rotate between several exercises, with each minute assigned to something different.
Either way, the clock does not care how dramatic you are feeling. When the next minute begins, so does the next round.
The 24-minute example
The WOD board from 2 September had a 24-minute EMOM with four different stations:
- 12 broad jumps;
- 10 calories on the rower or 7 calories on the bike;
- 10 wall balls;
- a 100-metre run.
After the fourth minute, the sequence started again. Over 24 minutes, that meant six rounds of the four stations.
This is a perfect example of why I cannot simply say that I like or dislike EMOMs...It depends entirely on what appears beside those four letters.
The format itself has good and bad sides. Knowing exactly when each round starts can help me organise the work, and sometimes I even finish with enough time to breathe.
Other times, I finish one minute just in time to discover that the next one has already arrived.
What counts as rest?
When I do earn a few seconds, I usually spend them doing one of three things:
- drinking water;
- trying to recover my breath;
- searching desperately for the fan lol
The last option becomes especially important when the workout includes running, wall balls or the machine that has chosen to become my lifelong enemy.
Yes, I mean the airbike.
The airbike and I continue to have a deeply toxic relationship. It demands everything, gives nothing back and somehow convinces me that seven calories are much further away than they look on the board...
The movement changes everything
Wall balls and I can get along — up to a certain point.
There is always a number after which they stop being a reasonable exercise and become a personal argument between me, the ball and the target.
Burpees, however, do not get a reasonable stage...Burpees are cruel from the first repetition. Adding them to an EMOM just means I now have a scheduled appointment with something I already dislike!
That is why the same format can feel completely different from one day to another. An EMOM with manageable repetitions and movements I enjoy can feel organised and even satisfying. An EMOM with burpees or too much airbike feels like the clock is repeatedly reopening a problem I thought I had just finished.
EMOM versus AMRAP
An AMRAP asks you to complete as many rounds or repetitions as possible within a set time. You control the pace, even if the goal is to keep moving.
An EMOM interrupts that freedom. Every new minute resets the work and creates its own small deadline.
With an AMRAP, I negotiate with myself.
With an EMOM, I negotiate with the clock.
The clock usually wins.
Still, both formats have good and bad sides. The real question is not whether the board says AMRAP or EMOM.
The real question is what exercise has been written underneath it...And whether the fan is close enough...