CrossFit ideology is that a person’s athletic skills are as good as his or her endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination are. Actually, these are the areas that CrossFit covers.
What makes CrossFit distinct from other types of training is that your workout of the day is always different. And each of them will focus on improving a certain physical ability. Thus, CrossFit helps you building a body that is capable of anything.
CrossFit is a circuit training (that is, the exercises are continually repeated in a sort of chain), the complex involves exercises that help develop body in multiple areas, such as strength, endurance and agility. These trainings do not involve isolated exercises performed on machines, these workouts are as functional as possible. The routine covers basic weightlifting, gymnastics and cardio exercises. Be prepared to do pulls, presses, snatches, pushes, power cleans and combos of these exercises using weights, barbells and dumbbells. However, body weight exercises (parallel bars, high bar, gymnastic rings, jumps, lunges) and endurance exercises – running, jump rope, cardio machines, swimming, cycling are also not neglected.
A workout lasts 45-60 minutes. CrossFit includes 4 stages.
1.Dynamic Stretching
Unlike fitness where warm up is usually done on stationary bike or tread mill, CrossFit warm up involves jump rope, box jumps, dynamic body weight exercises (push-ups, squats, lunges). It also utilises exercises to warm up joints and stretch muscles that will be engaged in the main part of the workout.
2.Strength or functional exercises
Strength training is about front squats, deadlifts, clean and push jerks,
while functional training covers such exercises as pistol squats, lunges, hanging knee raises, burpees.
3.WOD training (Workout of the Day)
WOD is a training routine for the current day that will be performed simultaneously by all participants. You will compete in: either who will faster perform a certain number of reps and sets, or who will perform more reps in a given length of time.
4.Cool down and stretching
Normalization of heart rate, breathing, stretching of ligaments, muscles after exhaustive and tough work.
Before signing up for four times per week crossfit workouts, it is your advisable prepare your body for a heavy load.
- To train your cardiovascular system, you can do sprints or swimming for a month or two. It will strengthen your heart muscle and increase endurance.
- Many CrossFit exercises engage leg muscles and core stabilizers. The below exercises will help you get them ready for intense activity:
- barbell back and front squats;
- deadlift;
- various abdominal and back extensors exercises.
3. As for exercises with hard technique, it is better to address a professional instructor, for example, a weightlifting trainer. Trying to master them independently using videos possesses high risk for joint, ligament and spine injuries. Plus, correcting bad technique is much harder than learning the good one from scratch.
Surely, this doesn’t guarantee good result in doing crossfit programs, but it will definitely prepare you for mastering them.
6 reasons opt for crossfit
1. This is a good way to ease in.
If you have never had regular sports in your life (jogging once in a blue moon doesn’t count!), then consider CrossFit as a great way to ease in, to start liking going to trainings and master basic exercises. But having a competent trainer will do good for you and help you avoid injuries and not fade away at starting.
2. Competitive spirit
If you like competitiveness, teamwork, companionship and support during training sessions, then CrossFit might be the best choice for you. Trainings always take place in the hall with 10 more people doing the same program, so you will be motivated to perform “better, faster, stronger” and get a support of companions and your trainer.
3. Good for fitness fans
There are people who can train every day and even feel something is missing in their life if they haven’t trained for a day. CrossFit training plan is often designed so that you have to train almost every day. A popular regimen is 3 on 1 off, which means 3 days of training followed by 1 day of rest. But there are such CrossFit fans who workout every day, sometimes 2 times a day. But even here adding variety to your routine is possible.
4. Good for killer workout fans
Often, CrossFits involves WOD (workout of the day) that is performed in a shortest length of time. This means that every time you will have to go all-out. There are many motivational CrossFit videos online, where an athlete having finished the last set falls dead-tired on the floor. This is exactly the case. You will have to train with your last bit of strength, go an extra mile. Sometimes this may result in overtraining, so try to find a balance between training sessions and rest.
5. When going to gym is boring
CrossFit will also serve for those who want to get back to good shape but feels bored in the gym. CrossFit helps to gain physical strength and lose weight, or build muscles. Yet, CrossFit does not guarantee you will get your dream body, however you will definitely improve your exterior, provided you eat clean. Yes, not all crossfitters look like fitness models. But none of them has a jelly belly or slouching back.
6. It develops skills useful in life
Skills that CrossFit develops come in handy outside the gym as well – when hiking, when doing any other types of sport, and even in fights. After all, it is more useful to be good in different sports rather than an expert in either of them.
Source: Forbes.
