CrossFit Training Is Not A Fad It’s Here To Stay

Throughout any given day we might find ourselves doing all sorts of different physical activities-each requiring different muscles and diverse combinations of skill sets. Cross-fitness was born out of this idea. It means to train across multiple disciplines that develop different skills such as strength, agility, speed and endurance. While modern cross-fitness was popularized by guys in the military and law enforcement, its roots can probably be traced way back to the days of the Spartans in ancient Greece.

It has even spawned its own "underground" fitness craze known as CrossFit. In 2002, a guy named Greg Glassman in Santa Cruz California built a website that he used to measure the efficiency of his workouts. From there, it just took off. Today CrossFit is used by law enforcement, public safety, and military personnel as well as thousands of competitive athletes, elite athletes, martial arts practitioners and lots more from around the globe.

One reason is that people are becoming more knowledgeable about overall fitness, realizing that a one-dimensional approach can be limiting. For example, just because a guy lifts weight and maybe looks really buff, it doesn't necessarily mean that he is really all that strong-big muscles aren't always powerful muscles. It also doesn't mean that he's particularly athletic and could compete in a competition that requires strength, agility or endurance.

Strongman competitions are an excellent illustration of what I'm talking about. These guys are not only big-they're also strong, agile and have endurance too. A typical competition might require them to toss kegs in the air, carry up to 300 lbs. in each hand across a distance as fast as they can or they might even have to drag a semi-truck across a field. Qualifying and winning these competitions requires competitors to focus on developing multiple, diverse skill sets at the same time. 

If you are just beginning, then it’s always good to start working out with a certified Crossfit Clearwater personal trainer. This will help to ensure you’re using good form and helps to cut down on injuries. Hot Girls- Crossfit girls have a reputation for being extremely hot.  I am tempted to call this correlation, rather than causation, but I can’t deny it altogether.  The best explanation – lifting makes girls hot, and crossfit makes girls lift. The skills involved are directly applicable to everyday activity. The functional movements are just that. It quickly becomes easier to do things that used to be hard and to try things you never would have considered before. This creates a powerful feedback loop that makes you more excited to go back to the gym and get even better. You can fit this style of exercise into a busy schedule. You feel pretty used up at the end which makes you feel like it was time well spent.

Crossfit is a pretty good protocol for certain people, specifically people who are already quite fit and looking to improve their all-around fitness and performance: some strength, some speed, some muscle, some fat loss.  If you are that person, get after it.  However, anyone focusing on one or two goals specifically, or anyone who is not already pretty advanced in the gym, would do better looking to programs more specifically tailored to his or her goals and skill levels.

CrossFit Training Can Be Done Anywhere By Anybody

A typical session at CrossFit may include a variety of gymnastics, sprinting, and power lifting. These exercises are done with the weight of your own body, kettle bells and free weights. They’re done hard, fast and with little to no rest in between ‘sets’. The reason behind this is that you challenge your muscles more when you do short bursts. It stimulates them making them more effective than low intensity workouts. CrossFit is the whole package of speed, balance, and strength.

When doing gymnastics moves at CrossFit your whole body has to work in sequence and you build up to certain moves. You don’t just walk in there and do a handstand your first day. You also won’t see us doing bicep curls, or leg extensions as they take away from the “chain” that puts these movements together at CrossFit. The compound movements that you do in other workouts will build up your strength so your body is well balanced and prepared for your next handstand.

CrossFit can be done at the gym, in the park or at home-it doesn't require fancy high-tech equipment. In fact, the routine above only requires two pieces of equipment: an Olympic bar and some plates. Overall, these exercises are designed to easy-to-learn and able to be mastered by persons of any skill or competency level. Overall there are ten domains where CrossFit athletes strive for proficiency: stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, coordination, and accuracy.

Training has long been a staple among military, law enforcement and public safety personnel. These people need to be prepared for anything. At any given time they might have to scale a wall, chase down, tackle and subdue a suspect or enemy, carry a person to safety, clear debris to rescue a trapped victim or find themselves in any other number of situations requiring a great deal of physical prowess and skill. So in order to do their jobs right, they need to use multi-disciplinary strategies-a one dimensional approach just won't do. If you are just beginning, then it’s always good to start working out with a certified Crossfit Clearwater personal trainer. So if you're looking for something different, are interested in developing multiple skill sets, really want to get into all-around good shape and are sure that you're up to the challenge, you might want to give this training a try.

Don’t forget that resting will help recover your muscles. Don’t take that for granted, even if the workout was only a half hour. Training will never get easy. You can always go faster, or add more weight to your workout. That being said, you won’t get bored as you’re constantly being challenged.

More kids are looking to Crossfit Training as a fitness solution. As with CrossFit for adults, the emphasis is on developing comprehensive, practical fitness we can take onto the playing field or into our daily lives. Kid’s classes, like adults classes, are high-energy and always varied. They’re also a lot of fun, incorporating plenty of play and healthy competition. Movements and exercises are taken from a wide variety of different sports, including weightlifting, gymnastics and various endurance activities. All are modified specifically for kids, aimed at building fitness in 10 key areas: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, power, speed, flexibility, agility, accuracy, balance and coordination.

Become More Physically Well Rounded With CrossFit Training

CrossFit has become massively popular in the past year or so. This has been both good and bad for the methodology or – as some would consider it – the sport. Because there are a lot of misconceptions propagating throughout the internet, I’m going to back up and lay a bit of foundation for you. That foundation will help you understand CrossFit from a perspective that will allow you to make good decisions about trying it, training in it and finding a quality gym if it’s something you want to get into.

One thing this training does exceptionally well is add an intensity component to workouts. The high intensity “Met Con” (metabolic conditioning) work wasn’t invented by CrossFit, but I think they’ve perfected it and elevated it to someplace it’s never been before. All serious CrossFitters pretty much demand crazy intensity in any workout you give them. It becomes addicting.

Trainers are taught to be fitter, more physically well-rounded human beings across all these fitness domains, and it is producing athletes whose sport is essentially "fitness". As a result of this all-encompassing model CrossFit has become a highly popular strength and conditioning program for the military, emergency services, tactical operations teams, martial artists and any individual or profession demanding complete physical capability. These are people who desire fitness when they don't know at what point their physical skills and ability will be called upon, or indeed in what form.

CrossFit training is as fiercely condemned as it is followed in some circles, as people cite the dangers of such intense training methods and the extremely physically taxing demands it places on followers. If you're just starting out with your fitness training, then take note that the workouts would challenge even the world's best athletes and you should scale the workouts accordingly to pitch the training correctly for your fitness level whilst ensuring that you make solid gains. Approach CrossFit workouts cautiously at first because to throw yourself into the training probably won't end well. Try reducing the recommended loads, reps, and sets and ramp up as you progress and your body adapts. As you develop a feel for the program you'll become more aware of your own capabilities and how to structure the training effectively, yet safely. If you are just beginning, then it’s always good to start working out with a certified Crossfit Clearwater personal trainer.

As described, this training is intense and varied, encouraging participants to explore many ways to physically express themselves and apply their fitness skills. This broad, almost random approach to fitness is somewhat contrary to mainstream training methods of stringent exercise sets, reps, order and control and is more akin to our own views. CrossFit places an emphasis on gymnastics and body weight exercises, training participants in body control, and developing balance and flexibility whilst maximizing strength-to-weight ratio. Olympic weightlifting also features quite strongly in these programs, focusing on the core lifts such as dead lifts, squats and presses. Weight training is primarily used to develop explosive power and strength. The training program is designed to be scalable to people of any age or experience with the necessary commitment to apply themselves. Load and intensity of the training is altered accordingly but the program remains the same.

Extreme But Simple Workouts During CrossFit Training

When bench pressing, your shoulder girdle should be kept in a RETRACTED position. This may take practice at first if you’re not used to it. Stand normal with your hands against the wall. Now take one step backwards. From here, without bending at the hip or leaning forward, stretch your arms out as far in front of you to try to touch the wall. That is the PROTRACTED position. To get to the retracted position, you have to do the opposite and pull your arms as far back as possible at the shoulder girdle (no bending of the elbows). In a sense you are squeezing your shoulder blades together. Practice for 5 minutes a day for a few days or a week and you'll have it down in no time. This is the position your shoulders should be in for the safest and most powerful bench press.
The bench press hits a large amount of upper body musculature with the primary focus being on the pectorals (chest), deltoids (shoulders, especially front and middle), and triceps (back of the arm). Any number of the secondary muscles will be hit, but these are the main ones that are being targeted. I’d note that some don’t feel that the bench press is a very good chest exercise; usually this is because they never learned to use the pecs while benching. I addressed this in detail in Benching with the Pecs. I’ve also seen it argued that the bench isn’t even a pec exercise and that it’s only triceps. While that might be true for some types of geared power benching, that certainly isn’t true for what I’m going to describe.
It’s safe to say that, in the US at least, the bench press is one of the favorite exercises of most trainees (especially males). Let’s face it, if someone finds out if you lift, their first question is invariably “How much do you bench?” And, while it’s difficult to decide which movement is done more poorly in the average gym (let’s face it, 99% of people have atrocious technique), the bench is right up there. I’ve seen staggering amounts of truly amusing things done on bench press, usually by guys who want to lift more weight to impress their buddies and/or hit the minimum macho poundage (which ranges from 225 to 315 depending on what type of gym you’re in). Never mind that the bench is realistically more or less responsible for more shoulder injuries than any other lift, the reality is that trainees will want to do it. So they might as well do it correctly. And that’s what I’m going to describe here. It’s always best to train with Crossfit Tampa personal trainers when starting your new fitness training.
Now, let me say right up front that I am going to be detailing a very specific variation on benching, which is the raw generic power bench press. Let me explain those terms. Raw means no gear as in no bench press shirts. Yeah, a lot of guys belt but, unless you’re using the belt to hold down your bench shirt, it’s pretty pointless. And I guess you could consider wrist wraps gear, I can’t say I’ve seen many non-power lifters use them. But raw in this context means no bench shirt.
My use of the phrase generic power bench may confuse some people. I’m using the term generic to delineate that this is the generic form I’d teach a beginning/non-competition athlete trainee under most circumstances. Yes, there are exceptions. With a bodybuilder, I might do something a bit different, for a power lifter, it would depend on their fed and their gear.

Your CrossFit WOD Should Include The Bench Press

The bench press is one of the most popular upper body exercises at the gym but also one of the most dangerous. If you don’t bench press properly you could risk hurting yourself, and not only that, if your form is wrong you won’t see any results as fast as you should.

Variations of the bench press - There are a few different variations of the bench press but these are the 3 major ones that are controlled by the angle of the bench: Incline Bench Press - Attacks your shoulders as well as your upper chest muscles; Flat Bench Press – Neutral position; Decline Bench Press - Allows you to lift more weight than the other two positions

What you must remember to do when performing the bench press - Safety is very important when performing the bench press due to the weight of the bar and its position directly over your chest. Keep these pointers in mind and you’ll lower your risk of injury.

Use a Spotter – The bench press is an exercise that you always want to use a spotter. In your later reps you might stall the weight on your chest and need help to get it up to the rack. Nothing looks worse than someone yelling for help when they can’t get the weight up to the rack. Also by using a spotter you can get a few more reps out of each set. This will help you gain muscles faster. Keep your thumbs wrapped around the bar- If you grip the barbell using a thumb less grip you run the risk of the bar slipping while you are pressing the weight. Chances are it will fall onto your chest and it’s going to hurt pretty badly. Stay at a comfortable weight - It’s not smart to always lift your maximum for the bench press. Start with a reasonable weight until you get comfortable with your form, then increase in small increments.

The average gym member will usually try to increase their bench press by doing more reps, sets, or weight on bench press. When in reality they will gain more strength and make better progress over the long term if they focused their effort on improving their bench press lifting technique rather than simply lifting more. It’s always best to train with Crossfit Tampa personal trainers when starting your new fitness training.

The best way to make big strength gains in your bench press in the shortest period of time is to improve your form. The techniques listed below are used by the best Fitness Trainers in the world. But keep in mind that changing your bench press technique can take a bit of getting used to and initially your poundages may go down before you get the hang of the new technique.

Ok, so you know how to position yourself for the bench press. Now all you have to do is raise the bar off the rack with your elbows locked and position it above your chest. Keeping your elbows locked lowers the risk of the bar falling on your face. Now lower the bar to your chest while keeping your elbows at right angles to your torso. When you push the barbell back up keep it in a straight line and your elbows beneath the bar. Don’t forget to keep your shoulder blades together and your chest up during the press.