What is Crossfit

THIS is for all of you who read my posts and ask, what is this crossfit and how does it work? For everyone else it's just me trying to explain crossfit as succinctly as possible.

Crossfit is a newish sport that combines endurance, speed, strength, flexibility and power.

Each day you'll arrive at the gym (the box) for a workout (Workout of the Day - WOD) and you work to your own level of fitness to complete it. The WODs are a selection or combination of weightlifting, gymnastics, everyday or standard gym movements.

For example skipping, box jumps, running, sit-ups, dips, muscle ups, squats, pull-ups, deadlifts, wall balls, bench press, rope climbs... basically anything.

Video: this one is a commercial essentially, but it does show the element of surprise and that desire to do better. Fitness is not a sport but crossfit is. It is not the be all and end all just something that has been growing in momentum that I enjoy.

How it works, for me, is through the element of surprise -

The programmer comes up with a workout each day and you don't usually find out what it is until you get to the gym. By not knowing what each day holds, it's less monotonous. It also means you'll work on many different movements so you don't just become good at one thing - giving you better all round fitness. By achieving all-round-fitness it means your skills are more transferable to other sports and everyday life.

The challenge -

Because the recommended weights/movements are so heavy/difficult each week you try that little bit harder to get closer to doing them properly. This doesn't mean you get into the gym and try to do something unachievable it just means you push your limits safely by working at a lighter weight (scaling down) until you can do it properly. Then when you can finally reach that goal you've worked so hard for, say push 50kg above your head or do a body weight pull-up without assistance or even a handstand, it's such an achievement.

The three week rule -

If you've ever noticed you see the most improvement in a sport in the first three weeks then your performance gets stuck and nothing really happens until you change your training? You won't so much notice this in crossfit as the workouts are similar but rarely the same so you constantly improve. By completing the same movement at different weights, speeds, intensity or the number of repetitions you'll reach your goal more quickly. I'll go through the science of this more in a future blog.

Everyone sucks at something - competition -

First off there's a competition with yourself as you try to reach your goals. Then with the people around you who are just that little bit better at the workout, the people you want to catch up with. You also get a chance to put your training to the test rather then just pumping iron at the gym for no other reason then to look good. You get to check your scores against the person next to you and even across the globe. The last thing, I'm not sure if everyone else feels this way but I certainly do, because everyone has that one thing they're not great at you'll beat them at something. For instance you'll probably beat the strongest person at running or the quickest at weightlifting. A little success is a great motivator.

The community -

You can go to a crossfit gym anywhere in the world and still be able to participate. Each person in there is trying to achieve their own goals and there's a fighting spirit about most gyms. You can walk down the street and be able to pick out the crossfitters. It's a niche and a common ground which connects us. Everyone has a tip, story, achievement they're willing to share.

On a more personal note -

I enjoy showing the unsuspecting how strong I am, for instance the other week I was doing a photo shoot for a firefighting story and there was a 20kg container on the ground and in my finest business attire I just picked it up with one arm and moved it hahahaha. I love doing that sort of thing. Also my rockclimbing skills are improving dramatically with my strength. Pretty useless for me personally but I'll take it.

Further more -

If you read last week's post about 'goats' I deadlifted 75kg for 3 reps and my goal for this year is to lift 80kg once really well. So close and it's not even June! As it's school holidays I haven't had my weekly sporting events however I've still gone for two runs.

Also we have a challenge coming up at Crossfit Northside towards the end of the month which I'm looking forward to seeing everyones' improvements from last year :)

Till next week!