What is CrossFit and why should you start doing it?

Correct mistake

What is CrossFit?[edit | edit code]

Crossfit

(
CrossFit, Inc.
) is a commercially oriented sports movement and fitness company founded by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai[1] in 2000 (USA, California).[2] CrossFit actively promotes the philosophy of physical development. CrossFit is also a competitive sport.

Most CrossFit athletes who have achieved significant results use sports pharmacology (most often anabolic steroids), as do weightlifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders (all who work with free weights), which is most often kept silent. Doping tests are not always carried out and are only for indicative control.[3] “ Commercially interested trainers will dissuade you from this, however, you can see for yourself when even years of training will not give the same results as your trainer. The positive image of CrossFit is actively supported by its marketing business system

».[4]

There are numerous negative reviews and critical reviews regarding CrossFit, one of which was published in T Nation magazine (Crossed Up by CrossFit by Bryan Krahn[5]). There have also been concerns about health risks (increased risk of injury and rhabdomyolysis).[6][7]

CrossFit combines elements of various sports areas:

• VIT
• Olympic weightlifting
• Plyometrics
• Powerlifting
• Gymnastics
• Weight-lifting
• Plastic
• Strongman et al.

Since 2010, Reebok has been promoting crossfit.

CrossFit competition[edit | edit code]

All interested athletes over 14 years of age, located anywhere in the world, can take part in the qualifying tournaments. All you need to do is register on the Games.CrossFit.com website.

Crossfit competition Crossfit Games

take place in 3 stages:

1. The Open offers athletes two versions of each complex - scaled and Rx'd. The first option makes it possible to make the competition inclusive, since athletes of different levels and ages around the world can compete in it, and then compare the results.
2. The online qualifier (age group) - the top 200 athletes from the Masters and Youth categories will be invited to participate in a four-day online competition.
3. The regionals (individuals & teams)

Business model[edit | edit code]

CrossFit, Inc. gives permission to gyms to use the CrossFit name for an annual fee of $3,000,[8] and also certifies trainers (basic course in 2 days, cost $1,000).[9] Thus, the head office promotes CrossFit as a competitive sport, while gyms and coaches make money from seminars and sales of sports nutrition, training programs, clothing, equipment, etc.

In Russia, active promotion of CrossFit began in 2013. The cost of 12 classes (for a month) in a branded gym club is approximately 4-6 thousand rubles.

Dani Speegle - leaps and bounds

This woman knows that small steps can become big successes. Dani Speegle is already a household name, and that could work against her.

She placed tenth at the 2022 Kings Point Atlantic Regional and placed 26th at the CrossFit Games in the 2018-2019 season. By 2022 she had an injury and finished worse than planned.

But she is certainly loved in the community. Her Instagram has exploded and her supporters are ready to see her beat out the competition.

Basic CrossFit exercises for home training[edit | edit code]

More about exercises:
CrossFit: exercises

Exercise technique on video

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to do a workout completely without equipment; you will need, at a minimum, a horizontal bar, ideally, also have a sandbag (sandbag) and a pair of dumbbells. At first, of course, you can get by with just one horizontal bar.

Burpee (Burpee)[edit | edit code]

Burpee (Burpee)

- the coolest exercise in CrossFit. Can be performed with or without weight.

• Squat down with your hands on the floor and your feet touching your chest. Throw your legs back, standing in a lying position, then return to the starting position and jump up as much as possible. Then return to the starting position. Do 15 burpees in one circle.

Burpees with weights

For this exercise you will need a sandbag. The principle of execution is the same as when doing burpees without weight, only here you will have a sandbag in your hands and you will not need to jump up with it, you just need to lift it above your head. Do 10 repetitions in one circuit.

Kipping[edit | edit code]

Simple pull-ups on the horizontal bar, but you need to do them as quickly as possible, so make a jerk. Swing your legs back, and then sharply forward, and at this moment stretch your chin towards the bar (do not forget that jerking can be traumatic for the spine). Do 15 repetitions in one circle.

Explosive squats[edit | edit code]

Explosive Squats

- almost ordinary squats, only at the moment when you need to get up, jump up with all your might. Your hands should be behind your head at all times. Perform 15 explosive squats.

Leg raise[edit | edit code]

Hang on the horizontal bar and lift your legs bent at the knees towards your stomach, do this as quickly as possible and try not to swing your body. Only your abs should work. Perform 15 repetitions in one circuit.

Explosive push-ups[edit | edit code]

We do regular push-ups, but when you come out of the bottom point, push your hands up so that your palms come off the floor a few centimeters. Do 15 of these push-ups.

Here are some simple exercises. You can also add running to them if you have the opportunity to train at the stadium, and in the summer everyone has such an opportunity. The approximate program that we will describe below will indicate when to run.

Crystal Cantu (715 thousand subscribers)

Already a big fan of CrossFit, American Crystal was involved in a car accident. Her arm was amputated above the elbow. But she maintained her fighting spirit and continued training. Now she teaches others, she has become a coach.

Finally got to break in the equipment on my own this afternoon.
Keeping everything low volume till I'm up and going 100% again. Photo posted by Krystal Cantu (@krystalcantu) Apr 4, 2016 at 12:19 pm PDT

“I kept telling myself after the accident that I would learn to cope without outside help and not give people a reason to feel sorry for themselves. I worked day after day, proving to myself that I was still strong and independent. And I don’t hide the fact that I don’t have a hand, because there’s no need for it,” Crystal said in one of the publications on her account.

Approximate training program[edit | edit code]

It's time to show you some examples of CrossFit workouts that you can easily do at home. These programs consist of the exercises we described above. You must perform them one by one, trying to rest as little as possible and at the same time keep within the allotted time.

In fact, there are thousands of programs; you can easily come up with a set of your favorite exercises for yourself and perform it for a while. A few simple tips:

• try to rest as little as possible between exercises, over time you will become stronger, and you will be able to do this without any problems;
• you should be very tired every workout. Do not finish the exercises until you are completely exhausted;
• do not drink a lot of water during training, drink a lot after training;
• try to use as many different exercises as possible on different days;
• select exercises in such a way as to work all muscle groups.

Larisa Cunha - achieve success

Larissa Cunha is a 30-year-old athlete who holds the title of the strongest in Brazil as the current record holder. She's in her prime!

She placed tenth at the 2022 Kings Point Atlantic Regional and placed 26th at the CrossFit Games in the 2018-2019 season. By 2022 she was injured and finished worse than planned.

But she is also loved and supported in the community. Her Instagram has exploded and her supporters are ready to see her fall in love with her competitors.

Criticism[edit | edit code]

In one of his interviews, Mark Ripptoe, one of America’s most popular strength training coaches, author of many books, said:

«You need to understand that CrossFit is only a set of exercises, but not a “Training Method.” Exercise is an activity in itself, something that gives an effect today. Training methodology is an activity performed with long-term goals, a specific set of exercises performed to achieve a goal.

»

The coach claims that the main factors contributing to the popularization of this sport are intragroup interaction and variety in exercises. This is useful for beginners, since the athlete’s body is not yet sufficiently adapted to the load, and such training easily causes sufficient stress and subsequent adaptation. As soon as the body adapts to chaotic loads, progress stops. Adding the intensity of such loads leads to an increase in injury to the athlete (sprains of the shoulder ligaments, Achilles tendon, etc.). All competitive athletes are at risk of injury, but CrossFit athletes are injured more often than others in the gym.

CrossFit combines elements of various sports areas and the essence of this sport is to train the entire muscular frame in a short period of time, so the performance of athletes will always lag behind the performance of those who engage in narrowly focused sports, for example, in strength indicators in comparison with bodybuilders and powerlifters. For the same reason, you should not expect muscle growth and impressive volumes from CrossFit training, since the philosophy of the sport does not pursue the goal of building muscle. In other words, as Seneca said: “he who is everywhere is nowhere.”

During classes, cases of rhabdomyolysis, a syndrome that develops as a result of damage to skeletal muscle with subsequent development of acute renal failure, have been recorded. In CrossFit, exercises must be performed without rest, so the heart rate can reach up to 200 beats per minute, which puts a lot of stress on the heart.

Another reason why CrossFit is still gaining popularity is that it is profitable for trainers and fitness centers to make money on the ignorance of young athletes who quickly drop out at every stage of preparation.

Supercompensation principle

The principle of supercompensation regulates the frequency of training. This is an opportunity to learn to feel your body and work on it exactly when it is most effective.

To understand the principle of supercompensation, let’s divide the training cycle into 5 phases:

1. Traumatization . A phase that lasts throughout the workout. Muscle fibers are injured, and other systems of the body receive microtrauma. Important: during training, muscles are injured, not grown. By training you make possible growth in the future, but not in the present. Therefore, there is no point in training too often.
2. Fast recovery . Within 30-60 minutes after completing the workout, the hormonal system is partially restored, and the nervous system recovers from maximum tension. The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are restored after stress. Treatment of the resulting muscle injuries begins.
3. Slow recovery . The phase lasts until all body systems are completely restored to pre-training levels. Muscle recovery occurs, and the desire to exercise appears.
4. Supercompensation . The body creates a reserve in case of repetition of a similar load. If during the first workout the load was prohibitive for you, then if you repeat a similar load, it will seem more familiar to you. The body has adapted to it in order to spend fewer resources. After adapting to the current load, you need to give the body a new training stress. Carry out a progression of loads. This is only possible in the supercompensation phase. Training only makes sense in the supercompensation phase!
5. Loss of super compensation. If the athlete does not train in the supercompensation phase, the body stops maintaining the created reserve and the body returns to its pre-training state.

Using pull-ups as an example, a workout in various stages of recovery might look like this:

Monday. Training

Tuesday. Recovery phase. You can't train

Congratulations, enthusiasts: with your second workout, you have increased the concentration of stress hormones to the limit. The training didn't work. Now you feel completely broken, in the morning your whole body will be very sore, and it will take much longer for your body to recover. The consequence is a slowdown or complete lack of progress.

Wednesday. Recovery phase. You can't train

The recovery is not yet complete. You cannot repeat the volume of a previous workout.

Thursday. The recovery phase is over. You can't train

The recovery is over, but supercompensation has not yet arrived. Training does not harm, but does not bring benefits.

Friday. Supercompensation. You can train

The optimal moment for training. You fell into supercompensation and managed to comply with the principle of load progression.

Saturday. Supercompensation. You can train

Another optimal day for training.

Sunday. Supercompensation is gradually lost. You can train

You managed to follow the principle of progression of loads, but the last repetitions were especially difficult.

Monday. Super compensation lost

The athlete returned to pre-training conditions. You can train, but you won’t be able to follow the principle of progression of loads.

The problem with most amateur athletes is that training is carried out at the wrong time. Either in the recovery phase (the athlete receives an excessive amount of stress hormones, driving himself into overtraining), or in the phase of loss of supercompensation (undertraining).

Over time, you will learn to understand the body and accurately determine the optimal moment for training.

Now proceed from the following rules:

1. During training, the working muscle group should not hurt. There should be no muscle discomfort. Pain and discomfort are signs of the recovery phase.
2. Excessive psychological fatigue is a companion to the recovery phase of the nervous system. Drowsiness, lethargy during or after training is another signal that you need to take a break.
3. The inability to adhere to the principle of progression of loads with sufficient recovery is an indicator that you either “jump over” the supercompensation phase, do not notice it, or overestimate the degree of readiness for training.

CrossFit navigation[edit | edit code]

Source: " Cross-training"

»
Author:
instructor O.B. Derval, 2016

• Crossfit workout for beginners
• Crossfit warm-up Sandbag: exercises
• Exercises with a rubber band
• Rope exercises
• TRX trainer – TRX exercises – TRX training
• Standing barbell push
• Barbell Chest Raise
• Standing barbell press
• Exercises with a tire
• Barbell snatch

• Crossfit and running

Julie Fouche (415 thousand subscribers)

Are you registered for the @crossfitgames Open yet?! I can't believe the season is almost upon us again.