CrossFit definition
It's a training philosophy that coaches people of all shapes and sizes to improve their physical well-being and cardiovascular fitness through varied and challenging workouts.
Each day, the workout will test a different part of your functional strength or conditioning, not specializing in one particular thing, but rather with the goal of building a body that’s capable of practically anything and everything.
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Every day there is a particular workout prescribed that is completely scalable based on your skill. For example, if the workout calls for barbell squats with 135 pounds but you can only do squats with the bar (45 pounds), then that’s where you’ll start.
- Beginners to weight training: If you have never weight trained before, CrossFit is a great place for you to start, provided you have a great coach.
- People looking for support and community: Every CrossFit gym has a really tight-knit community feel to it.
- Fitness fanatics: The general protocol is 3 days on, 1 day off, but many CrossFitters end up at the gym more frequently.
- Masochists: You’ll often be in situations where you use all your effort to finish a workout and continue to push yourself beyond.
- Former athletes: You get to compete with people in your class and go online to see how you did against the world’s elite CrossFit athletes.
- Specialists: CrossFit prides itself on not specializing.
- Sport-specific athletes: CrossFit won’t improve your specific sport skills unless you are training for those specific sport skills.
- Solo trainers: CrossFit is group training, which means you won’t have that opportunity to get your stuff done on your own.
- You’re often told to complete a number of strength training or endurance exercises as fast as possible. It’s really easy to sacrifice form in exchange for finishing the workout quicker if you don’t have somebody spotting you.
- It attracts folks who push themselves so hard they actually do bodily harm.
- A very small portion of CrossFitters can push themselves so hard, their muscle fibers break down and are released into the bloodstream, poisoning the kidneys. The medical condition is called rhabdomyolysis.
The usual structure:
- Introduction class: Usually there’s a quick overview, then a basic bodyweight movement workout, and then they talk to you about joining.
- On Ramp/Elements: The purpose of these is to teach you the 9 foundational movements of CrossFit and all about proper form.
- Regular classes: It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. Everybody starts at the same time, there are instructors walking around helping out and keeping track.
Most CrossFit gyms will split their classes into 3-4 sections:
- Dynamic warm-up: Functional movements, stretches, and mobility work that compliment the movements you’ll be doing in the workout that day.
- Skill/Strength work.
- WOD – the workout of the day: you’ll be told to do a certain number of reps of particular exercises as quickly as possible, or you’ll have a set time limit to do as many of a certain exercise as possible.
- Cool down and stretching.
Breakdown of what you may see from coaches:
- CrossFit Level 1 – an ANSI-accredited certification. The person attended a weekend-long course and passed the exam.
- CrossFit Level 2 – It involves far more in-depth training in coaching.
- Certified CrossFit Level 3 Trainer – Coaches who have passed both the Level 1 & Level 2 certification courses as well as a CrossFit-specific exam.
- Certified CrossFit Level 4 Coach – The highest certification level available.
- Specialty Seminars – These are one- to two-day courses on specific topics.
- Other non-CrossFit certifications.
Every day, CrossFit.com posts the workout of the day (WOD) free of charge to anybody that is interested in doing them.
You can follow along at home or in your office gym, provided you have the right equipment.
- GREAT community aspect.
- Constant coaching and support
- If you don’t show up, not only do people notice, but they call you and ask where you’ve been.
- Leveling up. You get to see constant improvement.
- Humbling yet encouraging. You have a sense of accomplishment when you finish a workout faster than last time.
- Competition. You’ll push yourself when surrounded by other people cheering you on.
- It introduces SO MANY people to weight lifting.
- It’s a good outlet for former athletes who like to compete.
- You get to find out what you’re made of.
- It builds great physiques.
- It builds good muscular endurance and all-around fitness.
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According to numbers from The American Council on Exercise, over 60% of the Crossfit population is comprised of women.
Human bodies can get stronger and more capable faster than many people think, but it takes more equipment than a few resistance bands and dumbbells.
On-ramping yourself in small doses to new habits can be helpful, but bigger bites may make the new habits stick. However, this is a great time to maintain your strength in different ways.
You can get a training session before starting classes. This will depend on your gym (your box) but some offer a free session to teach the techniques.
Boxes also let you sign up for a series of beginner-specific classes before you jump in with everybody else.