Helen is one of the “Girls” workouts, a series of words developed by CrossFit founder Greg Glassman to check the strength, speed, endurance, and agility of CrossFit athletes. the women WoDs are named within the way the National Weather Service names storms because they're going to leave you feeling like you have been hit by a hurricane.

Helen starts with a 400-meter run followed by kettlebell swings and kipping pull-ups. This tough workout should be completed periodically, like every six months or once a year, as a benchmark to live your fitness progress.

How to do the Helen WoDScore: Helen is scored “for time,” which suggests you complete the workout as quickly as possible.
Equipment Needed: Kettlebell, pull-up bar or rig, space to run 400 meters.
Level: Helen is an intermediate workout, but features movements with many scaling options for beginners.

Benefits

Because of its varied movements, Helen is often a confusing workout in terms of stimulus. Some athletes view it as a full-out sprint while others view it as a quick but moderate effort. regardless of how you check out it, you'll reap these benefits.

Speed

A good Helen score requires a quick 400-meter run. Anywhere from 90 seconds to 2 minutes is great, and Helen will test your ability to take care of that speed for 3 intervals with little rest in between.

Endurance

Transitioning from a quarter-mile run to a weightlifting movement and a gymnastics movement—and then back to a different run—is no easy feat. Helen will test your cardiovascular and muscular endurance. the foremost well-rounded athletes get the simplest scores on this WoD.

Upper Body Strength

Kipping pull-ups and kettlebell swings are largely full-body movements, but they are doing tax your upper body the foremost. After Helen, expect fatigue in your biceps, shoulders, traps, lats, and upper back.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Want your best Helen time yet (or just want to crush it on your first attempt)? Follow the following pointers and step-by-step instructions.

Running Tips

Depending on your strengths and weaknesses, the 400-meter run at the start of every round can either seriously help or hurt you. If you’re stronger than you're fast (or conditioned), use the run as a lively respite. meaning you ought to run hard enough that your pulse elevates, but not so hard that you simply can’t transition right to the kettlebell swings once you finish.

If you’re an excellent runner—especially if you’re far better at running than the opposite two movements in Helen—use the run to push yourself. If you aren’t great at pull-ups or kettlebell swings, the 400-meter run is your chance to urge ahead.

How To Do Kettlebell Swings

The kettlebell swing involves lifting a kettlebell weight from the ground to the overhead position in one smooth, sweeping motion. Here’s the way to roll in the hay.


  1. Stand together with your feet shoulder-width apart; the kettlebell should be in between your feet, slightly ahead of your body. Bend over to grip the kettlebell with both hands. Palms should face your body and your spine should remain during a neutral position.
  2. Brace your core and maintain “active shoulders” before starting the exercise. Having active shoulders means you retain your lats engaged, drawing the shoulder blades back and down. Keep your hips right underneath your shoulders at the highest of the movement.
  3. Lift the kettlebell off of the bottom and permit it to swing slightly backward between your legs. Your knees will bend slightly: consider it as going into a quarter-squat. Keep your spine neutral and shoulders active!
  4. Drive your hips forward until they’re fully extended — a helpful cue to recollect is to squeeze your glutes. Don’t use your arms yet; the kettlebell shouldn’t travel above your shoulders.
  5. Once your hips are fully extended, use that momentum and your upper body strength to tug the kettlebell overhead. you ought to reach full extension with locked-out elbows and a decent core (don’t hyperextend your back).
  6. Return the kettlebell to the starting position during a controlled manner. don't drop the kettlebell from overhead.

How To Do Kipping Pull-Ups

Kipping pull-ups are a highly technical movement unique to CrossFit, though the kip originates from gymnastics. The kip may be a full-body movement that athletes use to make momentum, which allows them to either A) do more reps, or B) propel themselves in ways they wouldn’t be ready to without extra momentum.

The kipping pull-up is more about coordination and timing than it's about strength: you want to skills to maneuver your body through an outsized range of motion while suspended within the air. Here’s the way to do a kipping pull-up:


  • Set up: From underneath the pull-up bar, jump up and grip the bar. Your hands should be outside of your shoulders, together with your arms creating a “V.”
  • Initiate the kip: Begin together with your body during a tight, “hollow” position and push your arms down and away on the bar. consider this movement sort of a straight-arm lat pulldown on a cable machine. Keep your hips open and your lats and core tight.
  • Move into the arch: At the highest of the hollow position, your body will start to return to the starting position. Push your body past this position by extending your back and shoulders. during a proper arch, your head is going to be ahead of the bar and your legs and feet are going to be behind the bar.
  • Complete the kip: Once you reach the arch position, down and away once more, but this point you’ll forcefully drive your hips upwards (much like during a glute bridge on the floor) and use that momentum to tug your body up to the bar.
  • At now, you ought to be on the brink of achieving the pull-up without having bent your elbows yet. do this now: Use your upper body strength to urge your chin over the bar. Your elbows should point toward the ground and your lats should be tight.
  • To begin another pull-up, descend by pushing your body far away from the bar back to the hollow position, then follow the steps again.

Common Mistakes

Every workout presents opportunities for mistakes, but also the chance to find out from them. Whether you’ve committed these mistakes before or haven’t tried Helen yet, keep the following pointers in mind during your next attempt.

Going too fast on the run

This may seem counterintuitive, but you shouldn’t go all-out on the 400-meter run. A key component of an honest Helen score is quick transitions; that's, you ought to be ready to start the kettlebell swings just three to 5 seconds after you finish the run. Push the pace, but be wary: If you run too hard, you would possibly risk wasting 30 seconds to recover before beginning the swings.

However, if you’re a proficient runner, you'll be ready to make this run faster than most. It all comes right down to strengths and weaknesses, but many CrossFitters tend to be stronger than they're conditioned, and they’re happier reserving their efforts for the strength-based portions.

Breaking up the reps an excessive amount of

The Helen WoD is meant to be quick—a good score for intermediate athletes is simply 11 to 14 minutes. If your run takes, say, 2 minutes whenever, you’re left with just 5 to eight minutes to finish all of the kettlebell swings and pull-ups.

You should be ready to do each round of kettlebell swings in two sets and every round of pull-ups in one or two sets. To do so, you would possibly get to scale (see Modifications and Variations below).

Kettlebell Swing Mistakes

A challenging lift, the kettlebell swing can cause injury if not done properly. Here are mistakes to avoid:


  • Using the rear rather than the legs: you ought to always bend your knees slightly when doing a kettlebell swing. Doing so allows you to descend into a quarter-squat and use your legs to drive the kettlebell up. If you don’t use your legs, your back muscles will compensate, which may cause soreness or maybe injury.
  • Not extending fully overhead: In Helen, you’ll do American-style kettlebell swings, which (as against Russian-style) involve bringing the kettlebell overhead. during a good overhead position, your elbows will lockout and your core will stay tight.
  • Letting the kettlebell drag you down: you ought to use a kettlebell weight that permits you to end the swing during a controlled manner. If the kettlebell is just too heavy, it’ll drag you down and cause form mistakes, like using your back muscles rather than your legs.

Pull-Up Mistakes

The kipping pull-up may be a unique skill. Avoiding these mistakes can assist you to avoid injury and achieve a far better time.

Not using the complete range of motion on the kip: There’s no sense in kipping if you don’t use the skill to its full potential. Your kip should involve an enormous hollow and a sweeping arch (like in wheel pose in yoga), so you'll use momentum and therefore the force of your hips to drive your body up to the bar.

“Suicide grip”: When doing pull-ups, you ought to wrap your thumb around the bar. A “suicide grip” means your thumb rests on top of the bar with the remainder of your fingers, instead of wrapping around it. this will cause grip fatigue early, which may slow your pull-ups at the best and cause you slipping from the bar at the worst.

Modifications and Variations

Like all CrossFit workouts, Helen is often scaled to any fitness level. Here are a couple of ways to switch this Girls WoD.

The Run

Scale the distance: 400 meters could seem like too far of a distance for beginner athletes. therein case, scale the space to 200 meters for every round.

Scale the movement: this could be finished with people with injuries only. If you can’t run due to an injury, you'll either grow on the indoor rower or erg (500-meter row = 400-meter run) or cycle the Airdyne bike (half-mile bike = 400-meter run).

Kettlebell Swings

Scale the weight: you ought to be ready to do all of your kettlebell swings in no quite two sets, but ideally unbroken (one set). If you can’t do 11 swings, pause, and do 10 more swings, choose a lighter kettlebell. The prescribed weight for Helen is 24kg (53 pounds) for men and 16kg (35 pounds) for ladies.

Russian kettlebell swings: If an injury prevents you from extending your arms overhead, you'll do Russian-style kettlebell swings, which involve bringing the kettlebell to shoulder height. Your arms should be extended straight call in front of you during this version.

Pull-Ups

Strict pull-ups: most of the people won’t choose this scaling option because it’s harder than kipping pull-ups. However, if you don’t have the go to bed, but you’re strong enough to finish 36 total strict pull-ups, you'll choose this.

Ring rows: Ring rows are a bit like TRX rows, but performed on gymnastics rings. to form them harder, keep your body as horizontal as possible. to form them easier, bring your body to a more vertical position.

Jumping pull-ups: this is often an excellent option for newer athletes who don’t have much (or any) experience with pull-ups. Place a box or stool underneath the bar where you would like to try to do your pull-ups. Stand on the box and grip the bar. Lower your body until your arms are fully extended, then jump to tug yourself to the bar.

Kipping pull-ups with a band: This modification should be reserved for athletes who can kip, but aren’t quite strong enough to tug their body all the thanks to the bar. A resistance band offsets the athlete’s weight, allowing them to practice the kip and full range of motion.

Beginner Helen
Considering the varied scaling, a beginner version of Helen might appear as if this:
  • 200-meter run
  • 15 kettlebell swings
  • 9 jumping pull-ups

Safety and Precautions

Before starting any workout, you ought to take certain precautions. Consider these before attempting Helen.

Wear the proper shoes

During Helen, you’ll run nearly 1 mile (three 400-meter intervals). for a few people, that’s not enough to warrant trainers, except for others—especially athletes with prior injuries of the ankle, leg, or hip—it is. The important thing is that you’re comfortable with everything about the workout. If meaning wearing trainers rather than CrossFit trainers, do so.

Wear grips or gloves

Protect your hands! Kipping pull-ups are notorious for creating CrossFit athletes “rip”—a blister or callus builds up then tears, exposing tender new skin underneath. Ripping usually leads to a searing pain or burn-like sensation. To avoid this, wear grips or gloves designed for CrossFit or gymnastics.

Warm-Up

You should always warm-up before exercising, completing both a general warm-up and a selected warm-up. Your general warm-up should include some sort of light cardio exercise, like jogging or cycling, also as dynamic stretching. Your specific warm-up for Helen should include light kettlebell swings, kip swings, and other movements that will prepare your body for the workout.

Eat and Hydrate Beforehand

You don’t want to start a Girls WoD on an empty stomach. Hydrate throughout the day and fuel up with healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, and protein. If you’re doing Helen very first thing within the morning, eat a little but mighty breakfast, sort of a banana with almond butter.

Cool Down Afterward

After finishing Helen, likelihood is that you’ll join other athletes in heaps on the floor—if you set within the correct quantity of effort for a Girls WoD, that is. Once you’ve recovered enough to maneuver, confirm you shake out all that carboxylic acid build-up. Round out the day’s distance with a 400-meter slow jog or walk, followed by foam rolling and static stretching. specialize in your quads, hip flexors, shoulders, and upper back.