Crossfit: a set of exercises for beginners and advanced, training program for men and girls

There are many different areas of sports that appeared not so long ago, but quickly managed to prove their effectiveness to the world. One of them is CrossFit. What is it? CrossFit trainer Evgeny Kanunnikov notes that CrossFit is interesting to him as a community and as a training method that unites this community.

Evgeniy Kanunnikov

crossfit trainer

CrossFit will help you improve your health, adjust your figure and weight, and become stronger and more resilient.

A set of exercises for beginners

It is good because it gives a noticeable load on all muscle groups, but does not have a negative effect on the joints. We perform this complex for 20 minutes and without breaks between exercises.

Burpee

• From the “lying support” position, we perform push-ups, then we pull our legs to the body and sit down in a “crouching position.”
• From this position we jump out, straightening our body completely and clapping our hands above our heads.

We do it five times.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Push ups

• Lying position, hands positioned slightly below shoulder level.
• Lower your torso to such a level that your elbows are bent at a right angle.
• Then we return to the starting position.

We do it 10 times.

Crunches

• We lie on our backs, legs bent and pulled towards the body, feet firmly resting on the floor.
• We raise our torso to our knees, trying to use the abdominal muscles and not help ourselves with our hands.
• Then we lower ourselves to the starting position.

We do it 15 times.

Squats

• Feet are shoulder-width apart, toes are turned slightly to the sides, arms are lowered along the body.
• From this position we lower ourselves down by bending our knees, while raising our straight arms and holding them in front of us.
• We lower ourselves deeply to form an acute angle in the knees. At the same time, keep your back straight and don’t lower your head.

We do it 20 times.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Jumping Jack

• We stand straight, legs together, and arms along the body.
• Then we jump, spreading our legs to the sides and clapping overhead while jumping.
• With the second jump we return to the starting position.

We do it 25 times.

CrossFit training for amateurs

If you have recently come to the sport, full-fledged CrossFit training is not yet available to you, since your body is simply not ready for it. It takes time for the muscles to become stronger, the joints and ligaments to become stronger, and the heart to become more resilient.

Tips for building a program

The CrossFit training program for men who decide to engage in this sport at the amateur level is compiled taking into account important features:

1. The most important thing is an experienced, qualified trainer. Considering that two or three-week courses are being opened throughout the country, upon completion of which all students receive certificates and have the right to officially work in any fitness club, this may be difficult. A good coach is not one who has a “crust”, but one whose clients have achieved good sports results without harming their health.
2. Don't overdo it with the volume and frequency of your workouts. Three workouts a week will be more than enough. There is no need to go out of your way and perform 6-8 complexes at each workout. To begin with, three complexes or just combinations of several simple exercises are quite enough. Rest between approaches or complexes should be at least three minutes, during which time breathing and pulse will return to normal. The duration of each workout is about one hour.
3. Gradually introduce free weight exercises. Start with an empty bar. Exercises such as bench press, deadlift, squats, snatch, clean and jerk, cleans, etc. are technically quite complex and should only be studied under the supervision of a trainer.

As part of the CrossFit training program, we will study basic functional complexes and ligaments. The program is designed for one month, there will be a total of three workouts per week. The first and third weeks will be completely repeated, as will the second and fourth. This is necessary in order to consolidate the results achieved and subsequently move on to more complex exercises and complexes.

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CrossFit program

An approximate training program for CrossFit in the gym for beginners is as follows:

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A set of exercises for advanced

Suitable if you can already easily cope with the first one or have learned to work with your own weight.

The exercises are performed one after another, only three circles, without breaks.

• 1 round – 21 repetitions in each exercise.
• Round 2 – 15 reps of each exercise.
• Round 3 – nine reps of each exercise.

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Raising legs to the bar

• We grab the bar, placing our palms approximately shoulder-width apart.
• We raise our straight legs to the bar until we touch it with our toes. Then we lower our legs down.

Jumping on a stand

• We stand facing the CrossFit stand at a distance close enough to jump in.
• We move our arms back a little, move our body forward and slightly bend our knees, preparing to jump.
• At the moment of the jump, we swing forward with straight arms, pull our knees to our chest and direct our body forward so that our feet are on the cube.
• We straighten our legs and easily jump back from the pedestal.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Kettlebell swings

• Place your feet wider than your shoulders and bend them slightly.
• We lower both straight arms between our legs and take a weight in them. It should be of such weight that you can lift it above your head without fear of dropping it.
• We slightly move the weight back, after which we straighten both the knees and the torso, and carry the weight upward with straight arms, fixing it above the head.
• Also, with straight arms, lower the weight back between your legs.

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Tips for Designing Workouts

CrossFit is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. CrossFit workouts are not built arbitrarily; there are a thousand and one little things that need to be taken into account. Before you begin your first full-fledged functional training, spend at least one evening to understand the theoretical part of this sports discipline. Learn about advanced training techniques like AMRAP and EMOM and understand how to put them into practice. However, remember that real understanding will come only after a couple of months of regular training in the CrossFit gym.

Warm-up and warm-up

The more complex complexes you are going to perform, the more thorough the warm-up should be. You need to prepare everything for work: muscles, joints, ligaments, cardiovascular system, psyche. Only when you feel that your body is warmed up and ready to work, start performing CrossFit complexes. A standard warm-up takes 10-20 minutes.

Experienced athletes working with heavy weights in basic multi-joint exercises are recommended to use a special warming ointment. This way, working joints and muscles will not have time to cool down between rounds. Powerlifters have been successfully using this technique for decades.

Loads and exercise technique

Do not overdo the axial load on the spine. Doing heavy compound exercises like deadlifts, squats, bent-over rows and military presses with heavy weights in one workout is a dangerous undertaking, especially if you are not sure that your back is okay. Sooner or later, this approach to training will lead to injury, which can throw you off track for several months.

Use a heart rate monitor during heavy workouts in the CrossFit gym. Often, in the pursuit of records, we forget about the heart rate and then wonder why by the evening our pressure is under 180. Constant work at failure (and beyond) exhausts the heart muscle over time. I think the consequences are clear. Remember that our main goal when playing sports is not to become stronger or more resilient, but to maintain and improve our health.

If you are just a beginner athlete, do not chase records in complex complexes built like AMRAP or EMOM. For the first few months, it is better to focus on honing the correct technique for doing the exercises and performing simple combinations of two or three movements. For example, burpees + pull-ups on a horizontal bar or bench press + jumping on a stand. This way you will quickly build a strength foundation for further full training.

Preventive measures

A training program for men in a CrossFit gym, if done incorrectly, can have harmful effects on the heart. To prevent this from happening, do not forget about prevention.

The most effective protective measures:

• Do cardio exercise (at least two hours a week).
• Adequate water intake (at least 33 ml per kg of body weight per day).
• Weekly visit to the bathhouse or sauna.
• Taking a high-quality vitamin and mineral complex.
• Regular walks in the fresh air.
• Rejection of bad habits.

It is also recommended to walk more often and travel less by car or public transport. Then the blood will be more fluid and oxygenated, and training will be much easier.

Preparing the body and central nervous system

For training to be more productive, you need to approach it with a “clean” central nervous system. Constant work in refusal and taking pre-workout complexes negatively affect her condition. It is advisable not to take such drugs on an ongoing basis. Taking a pre-workout complex is permissible before the most difficult workouts in order to slightly stimulate the nervous system for hard work.

But remember that all energy drinks and stimulants are addictive, so breaks in taking them are required.

None of the studies have confirmed the real benefits of working out in the morning on an empty stomach. When doing CrossFit, doing so is not only impractical, but also dangerous. The intensity of the training is such that the level of glucose in the blood will drop significantly by the middle of the workout, and there can be a lot of unpleasant consequences from this.

1.5-2 hours before training, you must have a meal rich in protein and complex carbohydrates. Just before your workout, you can drink a portion of pre-workout complex, BCAA and creatine, and also eat some simple carbohydrates (amylopectin is ideal). This will energize you for the coming hours.

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Organization of training

Take into account a few tips on organizing the process and training regimen in a CrossFit gym:

1. Adjust the training process to fit your schedule. For example, if you do heavy physical labor every day, working in production or construction for 10-12 hours, you are unlikely to be able to do intense training. It is better to move the most difficult workouts of the week to the weekend, when you will have the opportunity to recover better. On weekdays, do lighter, less intense workouts to keep you toned.
2. You don't have to limit yourself to just the gym. As long as the temperature is comfortable for you and the weather conditions are favorable, train outside. This is no worse than the hall. Run, do exercises on horizontal bars and parallel bars with your own weight. This will make a great workout. And by taking a jump rope with you, you will make the training process even more varied. By exercising in the fresh air, rather than in a stuffy gym, you recover faster between rounds and feel consistently good. By the way, so-called CrossFit parks are now opening in many cities - open areas in green areas, equipped with basic exercise equipment that allows you to perform a variety of training complexes in the open air.
3. Train with a partner. This will increase the intensity of your workout, and you'll also be able to use advanced techniques like negative reps and forced reps. Working out with a partner will add a competitive element to every workout.
4. Give equal attention to all components of CrossFit. Only then will you become truly functionally prepared for any challenge. The training process should consist of basic exercises from powerlifting and weightlifting, kettlebell lifting, plyometric movements, bodyweight exercises, cardio and exercises derived from them.
5. There is no need to overpower yourself and continue training when your body says “enough.” This is not heroism, this is stupidity. It is better to stop in time and complete the workout than to get injured. Monitor your well-being. If during classes your eyes darken, you feel feverish, or you start to feel nauseous, this is not normal. This means that you are giving the body a load for which it is not yet ready.

A set of exercises for professionals

Skyork (skiing simulator) – 500 m

• We stand on the platform of the simulator and take the special levers in our hands.
• We jerk these levers down and behind the body, imitating movements with ski poles with our hands.
• The back is straight, the knees bend slightly at the moment of the jerk, as is the case with conventional skis.

Snatch to a standing position from a hanging position

• We take the barbell with a wide grip in straight, lowered hands. At the same time, the legs are also spread wide and slightly bent at the knees, the pelvis is slightly set back.
• From this position, we jerk our arms with the barbell above our heads, without bending them, and jump slightly. After the jerk, fully extend your knees.
• First we lower our hands only to the waist, at this moment the elbows can be slightly bent.
• Then we lower the bar to knee level, thereby returning to the starting position.

We do it 15 times.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Bar release

• We take the barbell in our hands shoulder-width apart and lean it back onto our chest so that our elbows are bent and looking forward.
• Legs stand shoulder width apart, feet parallel to each other. From this position, we squat deeply with the barbell and, at the moment of lifting, straighten our elbows, lifting the barbell above our heads.
• Then we bend our elbows again and return the barbell to the chest.

We do it 25 times.

CrossFit program for experienced athletes

Let's assume that you are a fairly well-built man who has been involved in CrossFit or other strength sports for many years. You have already perfected to automaticity the performance of such exercises as power-ups on the horizontal bar and rings, push-ups of barbells, butterfly pull-ups, and you have decent strength indicators in the bench press, squats and deadlifts.

Obviously your training process will be different. The workouts will be more voluminous, the intensity will be higher, the working weights will be greater, and the rest between sets will be reduced to one and a half to two minutes. Taken together, all this will lead to comprehensive development. You will gain muscle mass, become more resilient when performing aerobic exercise, increase strength, get rid of excess subcutaneous fat, develop explosive strength, and become faster.

Features of the program

Training in a CrossFit gym for men who have already moved from the beginner amateur category to a more professional category has important features:

1. Often, experienced athletes tend to ignore warming up. They think that they have learned to feel their body perfectly and are able to immediately begin doing hard work. This is a huge misconception. No one has ever suffered from spending 10-20 minutes on a light joint warm-up before starting the main workout. If your goal is constant progress and athletic longevity, then warming up should become an integral part of your workout.
2. Use a weightlifting belt when performing heavy exercises with free weights. This will slightly reduce the load on the lumbar spine. The use of straps during heavy pulling movements is also acceptable. With them, you won't have to constantly strain your hand and forearms to support the weight, and you'll focus entirely on contracting your latissimus dorsi muscles.
3. Vary the intensity of your workouts. If you feel that your progress has stopped, your strength indicators are not increasing or even falling, your overall health has worsened, your sleep has become worse, and your own weight is decreasing - you are in a state of overtraining. The first thing you need to do is take a week of complete rest from training and start leaning on protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. After a week, gradually begin light training and gradually increase the volume of the load. To avoid overtraining, listen to your body.
4. If you feel that your productivity during training is decreasing, feel free to reduce the load. Reduce the number of exercises and complexes, increase the rest time between them. Sometimes it’s even better to take a day of rest than to go to training in a completely broken state and completely exhaust yourself. There will be no setback from the rest, only benefits.

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What is the minimum equipment needed for CrossFit at home?

It is quite difficult to assess what home equipment a particular athlete needs. This is due to the fact that athletes with different levels of training and fitness will need different amounts of equipment. However, the beauty of the discipline is that thanks to the scaling and variability of the loads, you can adapt your CrossFit workouts to whatever equipment you have at hand.

There are several approaches to choosing equipment; they have significant differences, but allow you to train perfectly even at home:

• Without equipment - the most “primitive” option, excellent for preparing the body for subsequent hard work with equipment. CrossFit calisthenics has a lot of advantages, but quickly reaching the development level can be considered a disadvantage.
• With dumbbells - this option allows you to perform most of the movements. If you have the opportunity to choose only one apparatus, then dumbbells will be the best option (optional - kettlebells, although their capabilities in the variety of loads are slightly lower).
• A complete set - the best option for beginners includes: sandbag, dumbbells/weights, rubber bands. For advanced athletes, it's worth adding a CrossFit hammer and tire.

In general, CrossFit has a fairly large number of different types of loads and exercises, which allows you to work effectively with any set of equipment, and even without it.

Features of organizing crossfit classes

A separate program is selected for each lesson in the system. The workouts included in the complex develop different physical abilities so that the whole body develops harmoniously. The effect of exercise is noticed quickly - endurance and strength increase in a short time. The main thing in training is to maintain regularity and not miss classes.

The key foundation of CrossFit training is the correct sequence of exercises. It should exclude the presence of exercises that load the same muscle groups. The emphasis is on quality, not quantity. The training is divided into segments:

• Weightlifting;
• Gymnastics;
• Cyclic training.

Achieving effective training results depends on adherence to the technique and cyclic execution of exercises. The classic program involves 5-7 approaches, after which you need to rest and replenish your oxygen supply.

Crossfit and weight loss

The reduction of subcutaneous fat occurs not only due to stimulation of the endocrine system. The main advantage of CrossFit programs is the combination of strength and cardio loads in one workout. This combination helps speed up metabolic processes and quickly burn calories. As a result, the athlete strengthens his muscles and at the same time loses weight.

Functional training is very useful for men who lead a sedentary lifestyle. Often, office workers suffer from weakening of the abdominal wall, causing prolapse of internal organs. Most exercises in CrossFit directly or indirectly train the abdominal muscles. By strengthening the abs, the athlete gets the opportunity to get rid of the effect of a “lost” belly.

It is worth noting that CrossFit training is contraindicated for obese men. In obese people, the heart muscle is under constant stress. Therefore, combined physical activity will only be harmful.

Overweight men first need to start losing weight. Sports walking, cycling, jogging, and light fitness are best suited for this.