A CrossFit Athlete Shares Her Favorite 3-Move Beginner Workout to Get You Ripped

Updated on April 5, 2018 at 11:50 PM

The Riker Brothers

If you've seen the movie Wonder Woman, Brooke Ence's face and superstrong body may look familiar — she was an Amazon warrior! Hollywood wasn't originally her scene, though. She's a CrossFit athlete, who even after suffering from a neck injury in 2017, recently qualified for the 2018 CrossFit Regionals, not even 12 months after her operation.

It's clear that Brooke knows how to sculpt and strengthen her muscles . . . and not just for the movie screen! Here's her favorite beginner CrossFit workout to not only help you tighten and tone your arms, upper back, core, legs, and booty, but also to make you more agile and stronger for any of life's challenges.

Brooke says that in CrossFit, simplicity is a powerful thing — it's usually the simple workouts that are the most deceiving and the most challenging. This workout below is a perfect example.

The Workout

Directions: Complete three rounds of this three-move workout. For the first round, complete 21 reps of each move, then 15 reps for the second round and nine reps for the third and final round. See how fast you can complete all three rounds with correct form. Brooke says, "As you get better, you'll get faster getting through it and might be able to push more weight."

For the ring rows, use a TRX or gymnastics rings. If you don't have access to either, you can do a modification using a sturdy table.

For the thrusters, use a set of medium-weight dumbbells that are eight to 15 pounds. For the burpees, feel free to skip the push-up and the jump at the end if it's too difficult.

Keep reading to see explanations of each move.

TRX or Ring Rows

Stand with your feet hip distance apart, holding a TRX handle or ring in each hand, palms facing each other.
Walk your feet forward until your body is at a 45-degree angle to the floor, arms fully extended, and your body in one straight line. To make this harder, walk your feet further forward so your shoulders are even closer to the ground. The advanced version of this would be to have the body almost parallel to the floor.
Holding the core stable and the legs straight with either the feet or heels planted on the floor, bend the elbows behind you, keeping them close to the body, pulling the chest toward the hands.
Straighten the arms to lower the torso, completing one rep.

Dumbbell Thrusters

Stand with your legs just slightly wider than hip distance apart, arms raised to shoulder height with your elbows bent, holding the weights by your ears.
Bend your knees as if you were sitting in a chair, keeping weight on your heels.
Press the dumbbells overhead as you straighten your knees to return to standing.

Classic Burpee

Begin standing with your feet hip distance apart.
Lower into a crouching squat with your hands on the floor.
Do a squat thrust by jumping your feet back into a plank position.
Do one basic push-up, bending the elbows and then straightening back to plank.
Step or jump the feet forward to the hands and come into a squat.
Do an explosive jump straight up, getting as much height as you can.