When you think of the girls of CrossFit you typically think of workouts like Fran, Cindy, or Grace. Another one you’re going to want to know of though when it comes to the girls of the benchmark workouts is CrossFit ‘Jackie’. This workout falls into the ‘mix it up’ category, which is above the bodyweight benchmark workouts and the bodyweight workouts that include bars. CrossFit Jackie is a great workout to incorporate into your training from time to time to really put yourself to the test thanks to the combinations of movements and pieces of equipment used.

What Is A Benchmark Workout

Similar to what the term gives off, the benchmark workouts in CrossFit are designed to set a benchmark, or a baseline, of testing performance across an even playing field. While yes, you may train from day to day on different movements and workouts as compared to other competitors in the sport, benchmark WODs are a great way to put your fitness to the test. All the benchmark WODs, including the CrossFit Jackie WOD, are easily repeatable and are great measurements of progress. They’re also a great way of learning what areas of your performance you need more work in, when it comes to endurance, strength, speed, power, and otherwise. You can also use a benchmark workout in CrossFit to gauge your short-term and long-term goals.

RELATED: 5 Benchmark Bodyweight WODs

Why Are Benchmark Workouts Named After Women In CrossFit

If you’re unfamiliar, this is why the benchmark WODs in CrossFit are called ‘the girls’. All the workouts are named after women thanks to the founder of CF, Greg Glassman, who was once quoted as saying “Anything that left you flat on your back, looking up at the sky asking, ‘what just happened to me?’ deserved a female’s name.”. Thereafter, the workouts were always named after women, including the CrossFit Jackie WOD.

RELATED: Why Are CrossFit Workouts Named After Women

What is CrossFit ‘Jackie’

CrossFit Jackie is simply a benchmark workout that was launched in the second group of ‘the girls’ originally released in 2003. When CrossFit ‘Jackie’ was published on the main site in 2009 it quickly became a benchmark that was used to regularly test measures of progress in the CrossFit box. The workout itself will really show you what your full body strength and endurance capacity looks like.

CrossFit Jackie ‘Girl’ WOD

For Time (RX):

1,000 meter row
50 barbell thrusters (45/35)
30 pull ups

Scaling

The benchmark Jackie is meant to be performed at very high intensity. Reduce the distance of the row and the weight of the bar to ensure you can push the pace. Modify the pull-ups so you can crank out large sets that test your conditioning. [R]

Intermediate Option
For time:
1,000-meter row
50 thrusters
30 pull-ups

Men: 35 lb.
Women: 22 lb.

Beginner Option
For time:
800-meter row
35 thrusters
20 assisted pull-ups

Men: 22 lb.
Women: 12 lb.

Benefits Of The CrossFit Jackie Girl WOD

While yes, we’ve touched on endurance and strength a couple times, taking the understanding a bit deeper, let’s dig into the other benefits of the CrossFit Jackie Girl WOD. Since this workout contains a weight element (barbell) as well as a body weight movement and an endurance component, you’re going to be able to make strides in both muscular and cardiovascular endurance capacities. When you’re on the row-erg you’re going to want to aim to keep a steady, sustained pace, that you can row with for the 1,000 meters. It may take you anywhere from 2-5 minutes to do this (on average) so you’re not going to want to come out the gate really hot and get that heart rate up really high (trust us on this one).

Muscular Endurance

In addition to the cardio on the row-erg, you’re also going to put to test your muscular endurance, as the rowing is a full body movement that does require quite a bit of strength to push/pull away from the erg. Keep in mind that 90% of this movement is going to be done by the legs and the arms will finish out the last 10% of the movement. By keeping your arms straight until that last pull, you’re going to demand a lot from your core, hips, and legs. Not to mention you’re going to put your muscles to the test on the barbell thrusters in similar areas that the row had you working.

Full Body Strength

Lastly, full body strength is going to be seen when completing your pull ups. Now since this is CrossFit, you are able to butterfly or kip your pull ups, and they do not need to be strict. However, if you don’t have pull ups yet or you’re still developing your full body strength and movement(s), we recommend maybe grabbing a band so that you can focus on form and function over speed. Typically speaking, this is where people see the most improvement in their times, strength, and abilities when tested against previous workout times doing the CrossFit Jackie Girl WOD.

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CrossFit 'Jackie' Goal Times:

While you may see elite-level athletes completing this workout in under 6 minutes, you may want to range between 6 and 12 minutes depending on where you fall on the ability and training scale. Regardless of your time, with regular training, proper nutrition, sleep, and adequate rest days, you can use the CrossFit Jackie Girl WOD as a great way to measure your progress in the strength and endurance categories. You can test yourself with this workout once a month or once quarterly, it is entirely up to you.

CrossFit 'Jackie': Takeaway

The CrossFit Jackie benchmark girl WOD is a great way to test your performance and process in the sport. Not only that but there are quite a few other benchmark ‘girl’ WODS that you can do time and time again that require little to no equipment, depending on what you have access to.