5 Reasons To Try Crossfit
Posted on 26 January 2009
This is a guest post by Chris Stroud, author of On being a Crossfit Athlete. Chris is a certified Crossfit instructor and has competed in the international Crossfit games.
Why Start Crossfitting?
For those of you who are not familiar with Crossfit, it is basically a bad ass conditioning program that many of the worlds elite athletes, police officers, firefighters, and the guys for 300 used to get into shape. It pulls functional movements from many disciplines such as gymnastics and weightlifting and builds from those movements to make work outs that leave you on the ground gasping for air laying in a pool of sweat. This program is not for the faint of heart or the weak of spirit!
Many Crossfit work outs only take twenty minutes leaving you with time for other things. Also, many of the work outs can be done at home, at the park, or just a regular gym with no or minimal equipment.
The Three E’s
Crossfit can be said to have 3 main Benefits it will Make you:
- Effective
- Efficient
- Efficacious
With short work outs you may be curious to know if it is enough work, well it is! Since most work outs are timed you are forced to do as much as you can in an allotted amount of time, which equates to more power.
Competetive
Your in a class with 10 other crossfitters. The work out is Angie, which is 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 air squats. You can not move to the next exercise until you have finished all 100. The trainer yells “3-2-1 GO!” and the music starts. Everyone starts moving so they can have the best time on the board. You realize that this is more of a competition than a work out. With any competition that athlete is motivated to change their life style to get better. Does your current work out give you that mindset?
Functionality
Crossfit utilizes movements that your body is meant to do. For example, you are probably sitting in front of a computer right now, what are you going to do when you stand up? Squat! When your ancestors were running from danger and had to get into a tree to evade danger what did they do? A pull up or muscle up! By utilizing movements that are ingrained in your gene pool you get the most bang for your buck.
Community
If you decide to join a Crossfit gym you will develop a camaraderie with other members. Shared suffering creates strong bonds. The friends I have made through Crossfit is the best part about doing Crossfit.
Aesthetics
Though Crossfit is almost exclusively concentrates on athletic performance, a result of this training is a very lean muscled look. For instance, the actors in the movie 300 did Crossfit for 3-6 months before the movie and they were ripped!
It Rocks
In my eyes, these are the most prevalent reasons why a fitness enthusiast would want to use Crossfit as their training program. If you have any questions, feel free to Contact me.
Big Thanks! to Chris for writing this article. I myself have dabbled wit Crossfit in the past and have to say it get’s you in an awesome mindset and in amazing shape. I wholehartedly reccomend that anyone who has a local CrossFit Affiliate give it a go. Also read up on the CrossFit Site and Message Board they are both packed with great information!
Comment by David at Animal-Kingdom-Workouts.com
26 January 2009
The crossfit philosophy sounds interesting. I like the emphasis on functionality. As well, training with others in a kind of competitive manner should really push you to the maximum. I can see how you’d get results fast with this kind of training.
- Dave
Comment by Anne
26 January 2009
I would really love to try crossfit. However, I don’t think there are any crossfit gyms or crossfit trainers in Oslo, Norway. I guess it just hasn’t spread here yet. And I don’t want to start doing crossfit all on my own, as I worry about not getting the form right and end up hurting myself.
Comment by JC
26 January 2009
I am a fan of the competitive environment that is present within the Crossfit community. It brings back memories of when I was training and competing as a varsity athlete. While I am not a huge fan of the CrossFit workouts, I can appreciate the intensity they pour into their training.
The only major problem I have is the fact that many Crossfitters have not been coached to perform the Olympic lifts properly. It is painful seeing some newbie Crossfitters who watched a few videos on youtube working on some cleans with the worst form I have seen in my life. It’s not their fault as they haven’t been properly coached… However it is an accident/injury waiting to happen.
Comment by Methuselah - Pay Now Live Later
26 January 2009
I love the idea of crossfit and I do a lot of the exercises and routines I have seen on crossfit videos – if there was a crossfit gym in Birmingham, UK, I would join it like a shot, but I am pretty sure there is not one. Unless anyone out there knows different…?
Comment by Leslie
26 January 2009
I crossfit 3-4 times per week. I’ve been doing it for 2 months now and have seen tremendous gains in my performance and power. I love the intensity. I’m a girl that’s hangin’ with the big boys and starting to do the workouts as prescribed. However, all that being said, I’m also a strength training expert and knew how to move efficiently before coming into the program. Take the time to learn how to do the moves correctly before trying to post a badass time to the board. Like someone else said, there’s nothing more painful than watching a sad set of lifting that’s gonna lead to injury.
Today’s workout: 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats max rounds in 20 min. rest 5 min and then do: 100 situps, 100 double unders (jumprope double reps w/ 1 jump), 100 mountain climbers and 100 painters.
Obviously most are going to have to work up to this level of intensity, but don’t be afraid to test yourself and work towards your fitness goals!!
Comment by Chris Stroud
26 January 2009
(Author)
I am glad everyone is already familiar with Crossfit and even use it in their own programming.
With any program that focuses on intensity comes with a degradation in form, even from the most experienced practitioners of that movement. With any good Crossfit affiliate (Yes there are bad ones) there is a extreme focus on good form. The problem is that for new comers to Crossfit they usually give it a try with out any regard to proper form (guilty) with a unifying focus on rounds/time/weight.
Most people will want to try out some work outs before the head into a good Crossfit gym so if your one of those people please do this. 1.) Pick a WOD with movements you are familair with 2.) Study the movements before trying it so you have a semblance of proper form 3.) Video tape your self doing the work out. If you are embarrassed about taping your self in public just hide the digi cam in your jacket or something. When you finish watch the video and make look at your form. I record almost all my workouts and watch them after to make sure my form is spot on.
Comment by Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips
26 January 2009
Hi Chris & Chris. Thanks for the heads up on Crossfit. I’ve never tried it before but it certainly sounds interesting. I will have to look into it when I get the chance.
Comment by Anna
27 January 2009
I’ve been eyeing Crossfit for quite some time now. I just have to convince the hubby to let me get the certification and that I won’t change my mind about it. Thanks for the detailed info! The workouts look like a lot of fun…or not
Comment by Keith Norris
28 January 2009
I can’t say enough positive things about the CrossFit methodologies. For a solid, general purpose, all-around fitness regimen, it’s unsurpassed in it efficacy.
I hear this knock on Crossfit quite a bit — that to try to be good at a lot of things, you wind up being good at nothing. But what these critics fail to consider is the target trainee audience. CrossFit was never intended to be a sports-specific training regimen; by design it is meant to be GPP for the sport of “active life”, no more than that.
Another knock is the issue of form in the Oly lifts. Critics here should remember that the purpose of CrossFit is not to train Oly lifters (and the accompanying flawless form), but to train athletes with Oly & derivative lifts as a part of the overall scheme. Big difference here. Safety is a concern of course, but there’s no need to be fanatical about form in the later group.
Comment by Justin
2 February 2009
I’m not sure CrossFit can lay claim to the 300 actors — the claim seems to be in contention anyway: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_investigative/the_truth_about_crossfit
Just as a matter of course, Mark Twight, who trained the actors for 300, is a professional athlete with years of training and experience under his belt. In his own words discussing the 300 training, he makes no mention of CrossFit ( http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=35 ). Beyond that, it’s been well documented that the 300 actors put hours in the gym every day to get their physiques ready for the movie. Compare that to CrossFit which is 3 days on, 1 off and the workouts are usually completed in well under an hour (including warm-up time).
Anyway, just struck me as disingenuous to use 300 as a selling point for CrossFit — it seems awfully similar to holding out the ripped body of the 1 in 100 who lost 50 pounds using 6 minute abs.
Comment by Eric
23 July 2009
Justin, after reading that article on “300″, while it doesn’t specifically mention crossfit, every exercise pictured or mentioned is one that crossfitters would know very well. i have been crossfitting for a few months now and have done workouts equivalent to the “300″ workout mentioned. functionality is the core concept of crossfitting and was mentioned numerous times during this article. look forward to seeing you on the WOD daily message boards.