You got a heavy ball and a wall you don’t mind scuffing up.
You also don’t mind throwing that ball at that wall 150 times (at least now…before the workout, you don’t mind).
If this is you, you’re about to experience “Karen”.
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What is the Karen CrossFit Workout?
In a sport dominated by complicated workouts and “unique” movement patterns, the Karen WOD is the epitome of simplicity.
One of the (almost) original “CrossFit Girls” workouts, Karen involves wall ball shots.
150 of them to be exact.
Men use a 20-pound ball and throw it up to a 10-foot target. Women tackle the WOD with a 14-pound ball, tossing it up to a 9-foot target.
Like I said…” simple”
Due to Karen’s lack of significant space or equipment requirements, it is a very popular workout. It shows up in the CrossFit class setting often and regularly shows up in CrossFit competition qualifying workouts.
If you’re just starting your garage or home gym endeavor and want to attempt a benchmark workout on a limited budget…well…I think you know what you gotta do.
Good CrossFit Karen Times
Karen’s popularity has resulted in tens of thousands of data points. With this data, we have a pretty accurate view of where athletes stack up in the Karen workout pecking order.
Now, we all know that the elephant in the room is “athlete height”. Can we expect a 5’2″ female athlete to score in the realm of a 6’5″ male CrossFitter on a wall ball workout?
Unfortunately, a direct study looking at athlete height in relation to Karen times has not been released. Thankfully an analysis of the CrossFit Open 19.1 provides a pretty good snapshot of this relationship.
This workout required two movements (wall ball shots and rowing) that are generally believed to benefit taller athletes. Using CrossFit Open competitor-provided height data, the geniuses at Behind The White Board found these correlations between athlete height and performance on the workout.
As a guy who barely tops out at 5’7”…I feel vindicated. The Karen WOD is one of my worst benchmark workouts!
Karen Alternatives
Coming up with alternatives that include 150 wall ball shots is understandably difficult. Because of this, you don’t often see Karen alternatives or advanced versions programmed into workouts.
Advanced Karen
There is a “Heavy Karen” version which involves a 30-pound ball. The athlete performance in the video below, completing Heavy Karen in a time faster than my regular Karen time, is phenomenal (and old school!)
Well done, dude!
Over the last few years, Karen has found itself featured in a couple of different qualifying workouts. For some reasons Balkan countries seem to lov