Top 30 CrossFit Girl WODs

I don’t care who you are, where you live, or what CrossFit “box” you train at. You, like everyone else in this space, has the same story.

You walked into “CrossFit (insert name of your first CrossFit gym here)” looked around, and noticed a few posters on the wall. At least one of these had a few names in parentheses. You quickly realized that all of the names were women’s names and that each name corresponded with a WOD.

A tough WOD.

One of the CrossFit Girls WODs, to be precise.

Truth be told, there are only so many of these workouts, but most lists seem to tap out at ~20 names/WODs. Today, we’re gonna do you 10 better. Welcome to the…

Top 30 CrossFit Girl WODS

Cindy

A lot has already been said about this one, but one of the most impressive things about Cindy is her accessibility. This is my first ever named CrossFit workout (and second CrossFit WOD, altogether) and I completed it in the corner of the old (and horrible) Bodyplex of Athens gym.

I didn’t break 13 rounds that day, for those following at home!

Angie

Another very accessible CrossFit WOD, Angie is, as expected, also classified as one of the top CrossFit bodyweight workouts. Unlike Cindy, if you’re at least somewhat experienced with fitness in general, you can get through this one in under 20 minutes.

Once you finish those pull-ups, it’s all pretty much downhill (in a good way!) from there on!

Barbara

I feel like the vast majority of WODs that include a built-in rest period make it something like 1 minute…or even less. Personally, I think this is more of a tease than anything else; I’d rather just keep chugging along through the workout!

Barbara is awesome, though; 3 whole minutes between each round!

The trade-off? You gotta move when it’s time to work. I can assure you those squats end up getting spicy by the end of each round!

Lane

One of the new, “new girls”, Lane is definitely a workout that favors a lighter athlete…

…or athletes who are really good at snatching and handstand push-ups!

Don’t get too crazy during those rest periods; it is possible to actually get “cold” during these periods of you wait too long between sets!

Eva

Eva is sorta of like Helen’s (who we will meet below) really mean and really scary older sister. More rounds, swings, and pull-ups as well as longer runs.

What’s not to love?!

The good news? While Helen can turn into an all-out sprint for top athletes, with Eva, you have a bit more room to take things…casually.

(you should still go really fast though, that way you’ll be finished sooner!)

Nancy

A classic CrossFit girl, it doesn’t get much more simple than running and overhead squatting.

…that is, unless you, for some reason, find 65 overhead squats to be somewhat difficult to perform after a mile-plus amount of running.

I don’t care who you are; you feel it in your legs during this one, but if that’s not enough, you can always try the “advanced” version of this one!

Kelly

I’ve written about Kelly before and, to be blunt, she is my most hated of all of the CrossFit Girl WODs!

There is just something about the combination of box jumps and wall balls (not to mention the running) that kill me!

…although, come to think of it, I haven’t tackled this one in a long time (like, 6 or 7 years)…

Do I have to do it now?

Ingrid

Another one of the newer CrossFit Girl WODs, Ingrid is to Isabel what Grettel is to Grace. You got the same number of snatches…but with the addition of 30 burpees.

I mean, I know I’d rather be staring down 10 sets of 3 than 30 straight reps of…anything. However, Ingrid takes away your ability to really get used to…well…anything in the workout (and it sure as hell takes away any stretch reflex you may be counting on).

Have fun!

Diane

We recently looked at Kelly, my most hated of the CrossFit Girl WODs.

Now we have Diane who, in my opinion, is the greatest of the CrossFit Girl WODs!

I mean, what isn’t too love about a fast workout with moderately-heavy deadlifts and by beloved handstand push-ups?

The bad news? Those times to beat above…I totally disagree with; you’re not really elite unless you’re taken Diane down in less than ~2:30!

Isabel

We mentioned Isabel in our discussion of Ingrid (because how can you really not mention her there?) and for those who prefer a more straightforward and “simple” sprint workout, this is the one for you.

The “best” thing about Isabel? Even “normal” guys can kill this one! Heck, just check out Hiller almost going sub-1:00:

Ellen

Truth be told Ellen is new to me; before writing this, I have never seen her, yet alone “performed” her.

One first glance, this she looks to be pretty manageable, particularly if you keep a steady pace and don’t come out like a hero. There are no obvious sticking points and as much as the thrusters will suck (the only really challenging part), you “only” have 12 of them each round.

Find your pace on the burpees, break the snatches and thrusters one time each (tops) per round, and you should be smooth-sailing through Ellen.

Andi

Maybe I’m thinking too hard about this one…or maybe I’ve hit the nail on the head…but…Andi is like Angie with a barbell.

…or maybe I’m the only one seeing this…

As it is, like Angie, it starts with a pretty big set of a “harder” movement (I would argue that the hang snatches are the most difficult movement here) before things start to die down (although the final front squat are no picnic).

So…even if you don’t see my Angie comparison, then have fun performing a Filthy 50/Randy crossover!

Grace

Another one of the classic “30 reps of an Olympic lift with a moderately heavy barbell” that some of the CrossFit big dogs can do really quickly.

Yeah, that’s Grace.

Lynne

Another one of those “do a bunch of reps, take a bunch of rest, don’t get cold” types of CrossFit “named” workouts.

To be honest, I’m not really that big of a fan of these workouts…but…you do you.

That out of the way, this is another one of these workouts that really favors lighter athletes (I mean, bodyweight bench presses and pull-ups…c’mon). So…if you’re a big guy…good luck, man.

Linda

Like some of the CrossFit Girl WODs, Linda has now made multiple appearances in some of the highest levels of CrossFit competition. Athletes took Linda on (albeit, a dumbbell bench press version) during the 2023 CrossFit Semi-finals competitions.

Competitors also worked their way through Linda back in 2018 so if you’re interested to see how athletes have “evolved” over time (and can get past the differences between dumbbell and barbell bench presses), this is the workout to assess (and then do).

Gwen

Gwen is sorta like the Lynnes and Lanes of the CrossFit Girl WODs world where you really need to be a bit calculating if you want to do well.

However, Gwen ups the ante a bit more because if you bite off a bit more than you can chew, you can’t even finish the workout (properly, at least).

Tricky!

Unless you’re doing this one for some type of qualification or whatever, plan to find your “real” score the second time you tackle this one. Your first time you’re always either going to leave money (weight) on the table…or you’ll fail one of the sets.

Elizabeth

Those rings dips…don’t often see those in these workouts (kinda give you JT vibes, doesn’t it?!) Combine with ambiguous cleans and you have a rather unique workout.

Don’t have rings or a barbell? No problem; this one can easily be modified into something more akin to a hotel CrossFit workout (do regular dips and dumbbell cleans).

What a girl, Elizabeth is. Easily modifiable so you can always hang out with her!

Jackie

Jackie used to be one of the CrossFit benchmark workouts and it was hard to find a qualifier or competition (to include regionals and the CrossFit Games (sorta)) where Jackie wasn’t used as a “test”.

To be fair, considering that it involves rowing, thrusters, and pull-ups…it is kind of a “CrossFitter’s workout”.

So, you want to cross one of the best CrossFit Girl WODs and an all-time great benchmark WOD off the list…Jackie is the WOD for you!

Chelsea

Yeah…you took a look and thought I had made a mistake and posted Cindy again.

Nah, man; Chelsea is like Cindy…but kinda different.

To some, Chelsea is “harder Cindy” since it goes on for 30 minutes and one has to perform 30 rounds in order to complete the workout. For others, Chelsea is “boring Cindy” since they can easily knock out 25-plus rounds during Cindy which leads to a bit of standing around and waiting every minute.

Whether you’re in the “hard” or “boring” camp, you have to admit it’s awesome.

Grettel

As promised, we have Grace…with the addition of burpees and a lot of breaks between movements. This is a similar workout to Ingrid (clean-and-jerks) and probably the best way to “discuss” this one is to sit back and watch the 2-time champ take it down.

Karen

We did a deep dive into this one before, but the result is still the same with this one.

You have to do 150 reps straight of the same exercise, in this case, wall balls.

Sure, some people don’t have a problem with wall balls, but for shorter-than-average guys like me (heh), this one is a monster.

…yes, this one is quite a Karen (zing!)

Lyla

Another of the more obscure CrossFit Girl WODs that I haven’t actually completed before. However, like many of the other Girl WODs discussed, this one definitely appears to favor lighter athletes.

Women normally weigh less than men do…so…maybe that’s intentional?

(probably not)

With any 10-1 scheme, just remember that once you’re finished with the third round, you’re halfway through (knowing this makes the guantlet seem much more manageable!)

Mary

Probably the toughest of the bodyweight CrossFit Girls WODs while also being the most “girl” workout of them all.

I mean, heck, when the men and women performed Mary during the 2019 CrossFit Games, one of the women (Kari Pearce) got the most reps…of anybody:

Well done!

Helen

A classic, sprint workout, we got to watch the best in the world take on “Helena” (a slightly more difficult version of the workout) perform this one during the 2023 CrossFit Games.

Some fast running, a lot of kettlebell swings, and some pull-ups. Doesn’t get much more simple than that!

Amanda

The 9.7.5 rep scheme is a tricky one we don’t see in CrossFit very often. However, when we’re talking about ring muscle-ups and squat snatches…well…you’ll be glad that you’re not in some 21-15-9 workout scheme.

Annie

Barbara Ann

Don’t you just love when CrossFit gets all cute and “creative” with its names? In Barbara Ann, you have elements of Barbara and elements of Annie!

(I’m not sure where the handstand push-ups and deadlifts fit in, though; they should have called this one “Barbara Di-ann”!)

A bit more “skilled” and “heavy” of a workout than Barbara so don’t feel bad if this one takes awhile!

Candy

100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats…where have I seen this before…?

(hint: it’s Murph!)

An excellent (almost) “pure” bodyweight workout, Candy is going to expose some weaknesses if you’ve been neglecting your upper body and lower-body muscle endurance training.

The “fun” part? None of the individual sets look that tough. 20,40, and 60 reps of pull-ups, push-ups, and squats are “hard”, but certainly not impossible.

Now do those 5 times!

Fran

One of the most if not the most famous (infamous?) of the CrossFit Girl WODs, Fran teaches you everything you’d ever need to know about “the sport of fitness” in a quick, under-10-minute workout.

Bodyweight movement – check

Upper body and lower body barbell movement – check

Soreness from decently heavy weight – check

Fran lung – check

Fran is, as my dad used to say, a “Welcome to the NFL” type of workout!

Nasty Girls

While technically not a CrossFit Girl WOD, Nasty Girls is a very closely aligned workout and is named after three iconic women of the CrossFit world (Nicole Carroll, Eva “T” Twardokens, and Annie Sakamoto).

It’s such an odd mash-up of movements, ranging from the very beginner-friendly (air squat), intermediate (hang clean), and advanced (ring muscle-ups).

A great overall test of CrossFit fitness and skill as well as being a true classic.

Go and Find you a CrossFit Girl to Workout With Today!

It’s a well-known fact that I met my wife (a CrossFit girl, albeit not a “named” CrossFit Girl) in the gym as she was preparing to do some ring muscle-ups.

If that doesn’t convey the sheer power of CrossFit Girl WODs, I don’t know what does!

I can’t promise you that you’ll meet the love of your life while you’re tackling Mary or Linda, but your prospects will likely be at least slightly more fit and stronger (as well as being more sober) than they would be if you were looking for love at happy hour.

…and if you’re already hitched and/or uninterested in this little anecdote about CrossFit Girl WODs + relationships, cool; just do one of these ASAP!

A lot of the workouts covered today involve running portions. If distance work happens to be your thing, check out our list of the top 22 CrossFit running WODs. While we think you’re crazy for liking this stuff, we hope you enjoy it, nonetheless!