Crossfit is a very intense work out program. One that needs to be taken very seriously, a lot of people in the military, special forces, policemen/women, etc do it but so do a lot of lawyers, housewives etc. If you google Crossfit you are going to get varied results. Some that love it and swear by it, the others relating it to the devil. The people that dont like it feel that it isnt safe or safe enough. Bare in mind, these posts are mostly from 2005 and earlier and a lot has changed since then. From what I have seen I dont think it is any more unsafe then other fitness programs. You can get bad instructors who teach you the wrong ways or you, yourself, can ignore common sense and/or your teacher do the activity wrong and hurt yourself on your own through no fault of the sport or instructor. There are plenty of people who get hurt or worse in gymnastics, boxing, horse back riding, weight lifting, etc. I do believe it would be a lot easier to get hurt in Crossfit due to the activities but I also think that the person doing Crossfit needs to be aware of his/her ability and not do too much to fast and learn to stop rather then keeping going. I think the line between safe and unsafe is alot thinner in Crossfit.
Now that I have scared you all to death, at The Warehouse where my gymnastics is located (the gymnastics company is Ultimate Gymnastics Academy or UGA) has a Crossfit gym within it. A lot of Crossfit is done on your own by following the website, in a barn/warehouse, or if you are lucky enough in a gym. If it were not in a gym setting I do not think I would be so eager...I somehow feel safer about it and feel it is more legit when it is in an actual gym then if it were in someones barn. However, I recognize a lot of gyms are threatened by it. I have met with the Coaches for Crossfit and they are amazing people. They definitely have a safety first mentality and are just a blast.
So what is Crossfit? www.crossfit.com is the official website. This is what you would use if you were to do this at home. They have an exercise a day and they are either named after girls or men. The men are referred to as "heroes" as they are all military personnel who have passed away in recent years. On that website it tells you in details what the exercise is, has access to videos showing you how to do said exercise and a link to another website giving great substitution ideas in case he weight/activity is too much for your level. The standard on the website is your goal...not what you should be starting out at. Mainly, Crossfit is circuit training without machines. They do have a ridiculous diet your "supposed" to follow but I am sticking to my own...sorry cant eat like a caveman (literally!) I need my pasta and potatoes among other things. These activities are also timed, I think this is where you would get really hurt if you dont watch yourself. They mark how well you are doing by not your form but how fast you can do said exercise. The faster the better. A lot of people give up on the form and therefore get hurt lifting all that weight so quickly. I want to do the exercise right first, fast second.
Crossfit is not an exercise program to get you better at a specific activity. If you really just want to box better...Crossfit is not for you. It is more general then that. They look at over all strength and endurance and use aspects of yoga, gymnastics (yay I have that!), weight lifting, rowing, etc. to get you in shape. They also dont use machines. They do use some free weights but mostly you are using your own body weight or calisthenics. If you Google Crossfit images you will see a lot of parallel bars, rings, other gymnastics tools, and rowing machines. Everything else is lifting things you would never think to lift....a HUGE tire or bar bells with a huge amount of weight on it. I am excited that I have so much gymnastics under my belt as maybe I wont be so weak/beginner then I would without it. This is more of a renaissance exercise program (good at all but not great at one specific thing) though it has been shown that people doing Crossfit often beat people who actually train for specific activities. They will run faster, farther then a runner who has trained to be a runner. That being said, since I am not an actual athlete I dont think I care about it being generalized, I think that is what I want as I have nothing specific to work towards. Crossfit also encourages doing sports or activities outside of Crossfit. They believe that everything they do will help you in prove in anything you would want to do. Where as people who are training to run wont transition well to boxing. And most anything you do outside of Crossfit will help you within Crossfit as well. I like the fact that while they believe in what they do and will give you results with just Crossfit, they recognize and encourage you to try other activities. I often feel that other programs are "us just us" and thats not fun.
Since I dont exactly understand the exercises yet and therefore cant explain them, I will post pictures of a few. I know very little about form right now so these might be examples of people doing them wrong but it will give you an idea. I am not afraid of my coaches telling me to do it wrong as they are now in my gymnastics class and form is very important to them. They are also great motivators. I have been having so much fun since they joined and I have improved dramatically and have become a lot more consistent since they joined as well.
On to the pictures (I have googled all images):
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| I think this is a good overall picture of what the exercises consist of |
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| He is throwing a weight that they use a lot |
I got the idea about Crossfit before I even started gymnastics but thought it wasnt for me at the time. Between the activity level, cost and time, it just didnt work. Because I am already a member of the Warehouse I am hoping they will knock down the price a bit which would be nice. I may be able to play with my schedule to make the class times doable and because of gymnastics and Curves I think I am at the right activity level to start. I started to rethink it last week when the Crossfit trainers came to my gymnastics class and decided on it last night during gymnastics class.
So that is Crossfit, and that is what I hope to be doing in January if we stay in the area. Yes I know very long post but to leave something out would help leave the wrong impression.
And LOVING blogger and how EASY it is to post pictures! I dont even have to upload them! This also served as a test for that ;)
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