CrossFit has grown in popularity in recent years. You may have seen the CrossFit games on TV, have a friend who always talks about it, or maybe you’re a CrossFitter yourself. It is a trend that produces athletes and is proving to be most beneficial for all who participate in it as a means of physical activity. It requires discipline, heart, and fosters a sense of support and community unlike many other forms of fitness.
According to crossfit.com, CrossFit is a fitness regimen and program designed to improve one’s fitness and overall health by “employing a constantly varied approach to training, functional movements, and intensity that lead to dramatic gains in fitness.”
Some common rumors regarding CrossFit that need debunking: it isn’t just for the fittest of the fit, it isn’t a cult, and it isn’t extremely dangerous. There are risks associated with CrossFit just as there are risks associated with running marathons or powerlifting.
If you’ve never tried CrossFit, you ought to do so. Here are five reasons why people are obsessed with it.
1. The sense of community
A CrossFit box is a totally different environment compared to your typical gym. In a typical gym people generally, keep to themselves – they enter with headphones in, lift weights, and leave, whereas CrossFit … is just different. Whether you’re completing the workout individually, in pairs, or as a group, you’re all doing the same workout. You’re working towards the accomplishment of the same goal, completing your workout of the day (WOD). There is support, friendly competition, lots of energy, and someone to advise on your technique.
2. All-inclusive programming
The programming is comprehensive. It always includes a solid warm-up, resistance training, a cardio/endurance component, and mobility work. A typical workout includes at least one gymnastics type of move, one powerlifting exercise, and one method of cardio. Workouts in corporate gyms or at home require you to hold yourself accountable for including all of the important stuff in your workouts. At CrossFit, you simply show up and follow the plan laid out for you under the direction of a certified coach rather than skipping over the elements you don’t like, or aimlessly wandering from machine to machine as you might when working out alone.
The workouts can be scaled based on one’s strength, current aerobic capacity, or any existing limitations they may have. It truly is something that everyone can do.
3. The exercise selection and WODs
Throwing heavy weight around is a must. You get to pick heavy things up and put them down, pull yourself up repeatedly, perform exercises that require tons of athleticism (and just look cool), and shave some time off of your 500-meter row.
There are hundreds of workouts of the day (WODs), all of which incorporate so much variety in exercise selection and intensity. The workouts are typically performed for time, which is an additionally cool perk and something else that makes CrossFit unique as this allows you to keep track of your progress and strength gains pretty easily.
4. The results
Results of those who uptake CrossFit and/or do it regularly include: weight loss, increased strength, increased muscle mass, improved stamina, improved overall endurance, and increased energy.
It is a great means of transformation. Regardless of what your fitness goal may be, there are benefits to adding CrossFit to your fitness regimen. Depending on what your goal may be, it could be best to do it daily or only 1-2 times per week – either way, it’s beneficial for all and doable for all. Someone who wants to put on size, for instance, may benefit from doing mostly traditional bodybuilding training and limiting cardio while doing CrossFit 1-2 times per week. Individuals who seek weight loss may benefit from doing CrossFit regularly, but should also incorporate some longer training sessions in their regimen as well to ensure they are burning adequate calories and increasing their muscle mass to improve their metabolism and increase lean body mass.
5. It is empowering
CrossFit is physically and mentally challenging; it’s badass. Showing up and completing a high-intensity workout of the day (WOD) repeatedly throughout the week is a confidence-boosting accomplishment. Many of the feats you are required to do in CrossFit require a lot of strength, athleticism, endurance, and heart. Knocking out a workout, and improving each and every time can make you feel as if you can accomplish absolutely anything, both in and outside of the gym.
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