Crossfit – why is it amazing? Why is it so popular? Why are people so committed, no – dedicated to it? What makes it a fitness regimen that transforms people – both physically and psychologically?

 

It might be because Crossfit combines the best and most effective exercise techniques – and puts them into a fun environment – with a fantastic community of supportive people that gets incredible results. Crossfit creates something that other exercise programs out there don’t: a desire to be the best that you can be, the way to get there, and the support to do it!

 

So - What is Crossfit?

There are a lot of descriptions of what Crossfit is and what it does. To get technical, Crossfit uses the idea that physical fitness means a greater ability to work for a longer amount of time (broad time) doing a larger variety of activities (modal domains). You could also say that Crossfit is a –

 

-       serious of varied combinations of high intensity, diverse movements based on functionality

-       kind of exercise program to develop physical strength, coordination, and fitness that is used by              military, police and professional athletes

-       physical exercise philosophy

-       competitive fitness sport

-       diverse full-body workout that consists of weight lifting, core training, gymnastic elements and                  other physical conditioning moves done with and/or without specific weights and/or                        equipment, and combined with cardio and interval training 

 

And that, my friends, is it. Crossfit increases your physical ability in all ways – you can do a lot more, a lot longer, and your entire body gets healthier in the process.

 

How Does Crossfit Improve Physical Fitness?
Crossfit takes physical fitness to a whole new level by working different parts of the body at different times, and using different exercises and equipment every day. But the central philosophy of the physical exercises is that each move is functional – it’s based on movements we do every day – reaching up, squatting down, walking, etc. Crossfit takes our everyday movements and transforms them into exercises that are done rapidly, repeatedly, and at maximum intensity.

 

How is Crossfit Different from Regular Weight Training in a Gym?

When you go into a traditional gym you’re going to see a lot of machines. Machines like the leg press, the leg curl, the overhead shoulder press, those inner and outer thigh machines – they have great names – but they have no basis in the way we actually move our bodies. They “exercise” your body artificially, the movements are “made up,” they’re movements we don’t actually do every day. Crossfit training doesn’t work that way.

 

Crossfit takes every exercise from something we already do on a daily basis. Here’s an example – the squat. How many times a day do we squat? You may not think about it, but trust me, it’s a lot, because every time you stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down – what you’re actually doing is a Crossfit Air Squat. So, in Crossfit, one of our biggest movements are the squats – and – trust me – we do a lot of them.

 

Another difference is that Crossfit works a lot of muscles, and a lot of muscle groups at the same time. Machines focus on one muscle group. Most athletes or dancers will focus on the specific muscles for a specific move. But Crossfit works them all, and it does it at ultra-high intensity.

 

And the final big difference is that – with Crossfit, you’re never going to get bored, we guarantee it! Unlike the sequences and repetitions you go through on machines, what you do in a Crossfit gym is going to be different every day. Plus – you’ll have the excitement of challenging yourself and others to get better and better – and you’ll see the results – fast!

 

Why Does Crossfit Training Work?

The exciting thing about Crossfit is that it builds on all 10 areas of physical fitness – not just one or two, maybe three at most. Physically, Crossfit works to improve and increase:

1.     Endurance – cardiovascular and respiratory – your heart and lungs actually increase their                  capacity to take in oxygen and pump it where it needs to go.

2.     Stamina – you develop a greater capacity to store and use energy and “stay with it;” and that            means you can keep going, longer, harder, faster, and farther.

3.     Strength – you can push, pull, and lift more and more weight– whether it’s a baby or a bag of            dog food – you are just flat-out stronger.

4.     Flexibility – your muscles lengthen, your joints loosen up – your body can flex and bend easier          – way past where you thought you could go.

5.     Power – there’s strength – then there’s power, and power is where you can slam out maximum            strength fast – and then recover just as quickly

6.     Speed – how quick you are at repeating a movement 5 times, 10 time, or more – you may                start slower than molasses – but you’ll end up fast, fast, fast – in a hurry.

7.     Coordination – how good are you at “picking up” dance steps? Two left feet? No worries –                Crossfit hones your focus along with your physical ability – so that you can put combinations              together and “dance” through them – quickly!

8.     Agility – it’s taking that speed you’re developing – and using it to go through a series of                    movements – one to the next to the next – flash and dash – one, two, three – no sweat!

9.     Balance – you don’t move it you lose it – and that applies to balance especially. You strengthen          your core with Crossfit – you can take anything, move any direction, and stay on your feet and          centered.

10.  Accuracy – you’ve got speed, coordination, strength – but can you put that all together and then         make it go where you want it to go? That’s accuracy – making your foot land where you want it         to land, making the ball hit the target. Accuracy is making your body do what you want it to do         and go where you want it to go.

 

How Does Crossfit Class Work?

Ok – so, you know why it works – now you need to know how it works! Here are the basics. We have classes every day, 7 days a week. Every class lasts an hour, and they all have some kind of warm-up to start with. Then, we’ll have a phase where we work on one of the skills we’re developing, and/or focus on a single movement we’re doing. After this comes the main attraction – the “workout of the day” – also known as the “WOD.” Every WOD is going to be a bit different every day, but you can be sure they’ll include a variety of high-intensity moves, like squats, lifts, push-ups, etc. Sometimes you’ll use a piece of equipment for an exercise, like a kettle bell, or a medicine ball. After that – there’s usually stretching to wind down.

 

That’s it. But the real beauty of Crossfit classes are that – not only do you get a great workout – you have a lot of fun doing it. People meet people, you make friends – and what you have is a community. You come in and – bang! – you’ve got anywhere from five to fifteen other people cheering for you in a class. I truly believe that the class structure is one of the most important elements of Crossfit training; it’s what really makes Crossfit work – and helps people get results. The classes help you bond together because you sweat together, and you become invested in each other’s progress. It’s a fantastic experience: you want them to get better, they want you to get better – and it creates an incredible environment of excitement where you celebrate each other’s achievements.

 

Crossfit helps people build their health and their body through support and encouragement, plus - it’s great for keeping people accountable. You don’t show up – you’ve got a lot of friends who want to know where the heck you were!

 

When Can I Take a Crossfit Training?

We have a schedule that will fit everybody’s bill. Take our classes - we do nine classes a day. We cover the prime times and the not-so-prime times because we have classes just about all the time. So, sorry, guys – in my gym you can’t get away with that well-worn excuse - “there’s never a class at the time I need it.”

 

And if you just really, really can’t make one of our classes, we also have open gym throughout the day. We have athletes with work schedules that make getting to the classes impossible; they can maybe get in here for only 20-to-40 minutes, tops. But because they can just come in anytime, they can still get in a good workout on their own. Plus there is always a coach nearby to get help from, and to keep an eye on your technique and make sure you’re working smart and safe.

 

If that doesn’t work for you – we’ve also got private sessions, and coaches that are super flexible. They’ll put together a one-on-one session for you in the gym, or they’ll put together a home program for you that can be done in a 10’ X 10’ space. Just last week, I had someone that said, “Look, there’s no way I’m going to make it in this week. But I do still want to do some stuff.” So we put together five workouts that he could do on his own, wherever he was. We’re happy to do this because we know it really helps and it really works. And if we’re going to expect that kind of commitment from you – you better believe we’ll give it back!

 

I Travel for Work – I Have a Hard Time Making Classes Consistently

You say you travel? Well, we’ve got trainers that’ll create a program for the road – and they will ask you for your results and track you to boot. Crossfit can be done absolutely anywhere. It doesn’t need a lot of equipment or a specific place to do it. We have people that go out of town for extended periods, and we can prescribe “no equipment” workouts for them, workouts they can do in a hotel room. We can build a great road workout for you that only takes 15 to 30 minutes, and that includes a warm-up, cool down, and some stretching in there as well.

 

Make no mistake, Crossfit is totally portable, and you can get a lot done in a very short period of time in a very small space – it’s the perfect antidote to traveling workout slumps.

 

How Often Should I do a Crossfit Session?

The recommended Crossfit prescription is three days on, one day off. Three days on, one off day means that you can really maximize intensity, because you have what we call a rest or active recovery day. However, I would also say that – in the beginning – you should try to come as often as possible, because that’s going to really help you settle in and take off. You’ll see results that much quicker, and that’s what will keep you going. Personally, I like to see people come in five to six days a week, because then they can take a weekend day or weekend off, when they probably need it the most anyway. Most of my people typically come five or six days, and that seems to work well for the majority of people.

 

Won’t I Be Sore Training That Hard That Often?

Here’s the truth – if your workout program isn’t making you sore at some point – then it’s not doing anything for you. “No pain, no gain” really is true, it’s not just a catchy saying. The physical fact is that you cannot build muscle without breaking it down a bit first, and breaking muscle down is going to make you sore. It’s nothing to worry about and it’s not going to hurt you. Plus – if you skip workouts because you’re sore, then not only is your progress going to be incredibly slow, it will make it that much worse when you try again. The soreness will get better as you get into better shape, so enjoy it, it’s a good thing!

 

What about Diet? Can I Lose Weight Doing Crossfit?

Crossfit is about a total fitness program, so of course, we also incorporate things like good nutrition. Healthy eating is one of the building blocks of everything that we do, because – even with our program – you’re not going to get results if you stick with donuts in the morning, fast food for lunch, and take-out dinners. What you eat is incredibly important, and we’ll sit down with you and go over what you’re eating now, and how to make some healthy changes as we go along. Because Crossfit is such a high intensity, high-frequency mode of exercise, protein becomes really important, and there are ways to increase your protein and cut back on sugar and grains that will totally super-charge your workouts, and help you lose weight as well, if that’s your goal.

 

Where Does Stretching Come In?

Mobility stretching is going to reduce the likelihood of injury, so that’s why we include it at the end of every WOD. However, at my gym, I think it’s important to take that further, so one of the things we incorporate into our program is yoga. Every two weeks, on Sunday, we have a yoga class that’s designed for stretching, flexibility, and active recovery. And the great thing is that our yoga coach, Nicole James, is one of us. She does Crossfit everyday, so she knows what we do, and what we put our bodies through. That means she’s able to tailor a yoga sequence that will complement the training we’ve done the week before – as well as prepare us for what we’re going to be doing the next week. Her classes are incredible, and add to the effectiveness of our Crossfit program.

 

What About Massage?

Generally, people think that massage is only for injuries, that you get one only after you’ve hurt yourself. Plus, it’s funny, a lot of people also believe that doing any form of exercise automatically means that they are going to injure themselves, that there’s no way around it. That’s completely untrue, however, and every trainer on my team works super hard to make sure your technique is on point, so that you’re doing a safe and injury-free program. 

 

But here’s the thing – people don’t realize that massage actually helps to prevent injury as well. Massage reduces inflammation, so it not only helps the body recover and repair itself the way it should, it helps prepare the body to work better and harder in a training. A good massage will take care of those tension spots and “knots,” those tight places we get that tend to make us not want to move because something hurts. We’ve all had them at one time or another. A lot of us get them from staring at our computers all day. You know that tension that runs along the back of your neck and shoulders? When you’ve got that kind of tension or tightness going on, it can throw off your ability to hold onto proper technique and form while you’re exercising, and that’s what can cause an injury.

 

And that’s why we’re so lucky that we have Matt with Twisted Tree Health right upstairs. Matt is an incredible sports massage therapist, and he works on a lot of the Crossfitters in this gym. We’re lucky to have him, and I recommend clients to him on an hourly basis, just about. Massage is something that people who train like this really need. It’s important to work out the knots in those sore muscles – both before and after a training. Matt knows that if he can relieve some of that tension, it will release the muscle so it can go a little bit longer, a little bit stronger – and that will give you more flexibility, a better range of motion – and a better workout!

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