Wednesday, April 28th, 2015
WE KNOW WE LOVE IT, BUT WHAT IS CROSSFIT ANYWAY?
CrossFit HQ defines CrossFit as “Constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement.” Wow, that’s a lot of big words. Let’s break it down further and see what what’s really driving our obsession. CONSTANTLY VARIED – our workouts are constantly changing never allowing our bodies to get comfortable or our minds get bored. This variety encourages us to develop a wide breadth of skills and constantly challenges us. This variety helps us avoid plateaus in our training as well. We display this variety by using different movements, different time domains, different orders, and any number of other variables. HIGH INTENSITY – the concept of high intensity can be applied to CrossFit in two ways. The most obvious way it can be applied is that focus and effort we put into our workouts. Intensity however for Crossfit’s HQ’s definition can be seen from a more scientific way, as we define it as our ability to display power which is Force X Distance / Time. Let’s say I get the 200 pound bar from the ground to my shoulders by cleaning it. The distance from the ground to my shoulders is 5 feet and it look me a blazing single second to execute this move. Hang on, I was told there would be no math! OK, I will do it for you. That one move gave of 1000 Foot Pounds Per Second (200 pounds X 5 Feet / 1 Second ) of work. This is the goal of CrossFit – moving large loads great distances in short periods of times. We vary the loads in infinite numbers of ways using gymnastics (body weight moves like pull ups, pushups, and squats), weight lifting (using objects like kettlebells and barbells), and body weight conditioning movements like rowing and running (we call these monostructural exercises). As you can see we apply our variation to how we express high intensity exercise. FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT – the movements we see in life. We are constantly seeing versions of deadlifting, squatting, lunging, pressing and other CrossFit movements in life. How often do you do a curl in life other than having a beer? These movements have a tremendous benefit in our training as they promote neurological and hormonal responses that lead to strength, coordination, balance, core stability, agility, and mobility gains. These moves prepare us for life. So if anyone asks you why you CrossFit, you can go on and on about the amazing community, the intense workouts, the high you feel afterwards and more. Or just tell them “I want to be fit FOR LIFE”!SKILL WOD
10 Pull ups (can be kipping, strict, static holds, negatives and any variety of exercises)
10 GHD Sit ups
4 Rounds
WOD
400 M Run
30 Cal Row
25 KB Swings
3 Rounds
25 min Cap
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