CrossFit

[wizzypow]

Anyone here been exposed to CrossFit as of yet?
What are your thoughts on it?
Does anyone have any objections or questions about it.

If you've never heard about it - why not post a few questions here and lets get a CrossFit chat going

 

[USZA]

I've been introduced to it when I was doing functional fitness training. Found it way more hectic than functional training though so I'd rather stick to functional training for now. Not that I won't ever do it; just want to get my fitness level up before attempting it.

 

[Zukat]

What are you trying to achieve with crossfit? Be good at exercising? Its pointless activity IMHO just one of those IN thing at the moment, there is much better and more specific focus alternatives that will help you achieve whatever your goal might be...

 

[goswald]

I started CrossFit 3 weeks ago and am loving it. I've never worked so hard before.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

What are you trying to achieve with crossfit? Be good at exercising? Its pointless activity IMHO just one of those IN thing at the moment, there is much better and more specific focus alternatives that will help you achieve whatever your goal might be...

Maybe just all round body strengthening? A lot of the exercises are core-focused, so it's functional and practical body improvement, too.

 

[wizzypow]

What are you trying to achieve with crossfit? Be good at exercising? Its pointless activity IMHO just one of those IN thing at the moment, there is much better and more specific focus alternatives that will help you achieve whatever your goal might be...

I'm keen to hear why you think its pointless? What do you know about CrossFit - have you tried it? What do you do for training?

As for my goals - I am trying to improve my physical well-being and be prepared / capable in the random real world tasks that we encounter in life...

CrossFit is not about being good at exercising, but, that is a by product of it -all round fitness, performance and wellbeing!

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's an "IN thing at the moment" - it's pretty damn huge and is growing at a phenomenal rate - why? Because it makes sense.

 

[wizzypow]

I've been introduced to it when I was doing functional fitness training. Found it way more hectic than functional training though so I'd rather stick to functional training for now. Not that I won't ever do it; just want to get my fitness level up before attempting it.

Yeah - it can be pretty hectic to a first timer... Functional fitness is really the key here and if you are able to get that in at your own relative intensity - then no reason it needs to be branded CrossFit! I will say that up until a year ago, the only exercise I had done in 8 years was play pool in bars and walk to the car... In other words - I was the farthest thing from fit you could find... It wasn't easy and it was definitely not painless, but, diving into it head first was the best decision I made

Thanks for the input!

 

[USZA]

What are you trying to achieve with crossfit? Be good at exercising? Its pointless activity IMHO just one of those IN thing at the moment, there is much better and more specific focus alternatives that will help you achieve whatever your goal might be...

Actually, CrossFit is about challenging yourself. It's about pushing your body to it's physical limits.

 

[Bobbin]

I started crossfit beginning of last month. I go 3 times a week. It's bloody hectic is all I can say

I'm also not fit at all and probably one of the worst performers in the group, certainly amongst the guys (And some of the girls there could probably lift me too). Granted when I started I could hardly get through the warm-up sessions and now already I'm starting to finish pretty strong albeit scaling back on a few things.

Something like "Good enough for a marine, scalable for the queen" is one of the motto's I recently saw. It basically implies there is place for advanced athletes and beginners alike because every workout can be scaled up and down accordingly. For example one guy the other night weighing in at 78kg's was cleaning 100kg's while I couldn't go much further than the barbell itself while maintaining form (I'm still learning ).

Lastly I would recommend just going to your nearest Crossfit studios and checking out the trainers and members. Fortunately where I am at the trainers (They refer to themselves as coaches) are fantastic but I suspect others may not be.

 

[USZA]

Yeah - it can be pretty hectic to a first timer... Functional fitness is really the key here and if you are able to get that in at your own relative intensity - then no reason it needs to be branded CrossFit! I will say that up until a year ago, the only exercise I had done in 8 years was play pool in bars and walk to the car... In other words - I was the farthest thing from fit you could find... It wasn't easy and it was definitely not painless, but, diving into it head first was the best decision I made

Thanks for the input!

I've actually been training functionally with a private gym that specialises in functional training. If ever I thought that I was fit, then they thought me something else. What I want to do is work to a point with them where I can then get into competitive crossfit but competitive crossfit has very specific entry requirements.

 

[Zukat]

I'm keen to hear why you think its pointless? What do you know about CrossFit - have you tried it? What do you do for training?

As for my goals - I am trying to improve my physical well-being and be prepared / capable in the random real world tasks that we encounter in life...

CrossFit is not about being good at exercising, but, that is a by product of it -all round fitness, performance and wellbeing!

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's an "IN thing at the moment" - it's pretty damn huge and is growing at a phenomenal rate - why? Because it makes sense.

Im a true believer in old school heavy iron weights! Nothing can beat proper hard work with the free weights, if your goal is to gain muscle mass or to lose weight or even if you just want to get fit.

The modern society became more concern about their wellbeing/living a healthy lifestype and obviously enterpreneurs are riding the wave to accomodate rising demand by bringing new ways of training (crossfit, powerplates etc) and im not saying there is no benefit from crossfit, there definately is as compared to sitting on the couch, but achieving your goals will take much longer.

PS Im a fitness fanatic, model and competitor.

 

[wizzypow]

Im a true believer in old school heavy iron weights! Nothing can beat proper hard work with the free weights, if your goal is to gain muscle mass or to lose weight or even if you just want to get fit.

The modern society became more concern about their wellbeing/living a healthy lifestype and obviously enterpreneurs are riding the wave to accomodate rising demand by bringing new ways of training (crossfit, powerplates etc) and im not saying there is no benefit from crossfit, there definately is as compared to sitting on the couch, but achieving your goals will take much longer.

PS Im a fitness fanatic, model and competitor.

Great - well you're sorted then

Have you researched CrossFit though... We use free weights and body weight... It's not a fad.
Think Gymnastics combined with Olympic Lifting and added to endurance sport training...

As for the entrepreneur side - yah, I don't mind supporting a clever business, especially if it benefits me too.
But, if you're not keen on forking out - you could take the philosophy and workout program free of charge and adopt / adapt it...

Why not take a peek and come back to me after you've explored it more

CrossFit in 100 words.

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.
~Greg Glassman

 

[USZA]

Im a true believer in old school heavy iron weights! Nothing can beat proper hard work with the free weights, if your goal is to gain muscle mass or to lose weight or even if you just want to get fit.

The modern society became more concern about their wellbeing/living a healthy lifestype and obviously enterpreneurs are riding the wave to accomodate rising demand by bringing new ways of training (crossfit, powerplates etc) and im not saying there is no benefit from crossfit, there definately is as compared to sitting on the couch, but achieving your goals will take much longer.

PS Im a fitness fanatic, model and competitor.

You do know of course that well-being is more important than building muscle.

And whereas achieving fitness goals does take longer with crossfit or any kind of cross-training for that matter, it's a more natural and more sustainable model than bodybuilding.

PS: I speak from personal experience as I do a mix of bodybuilding and functional training.

 

[Zukat]

Actually, CrossFit is about challenging yourself. It's about pushing your body to it's physical limits.

Yes true, but you can say that about any other physical activity.

The question is what will benefit me more lifting a 10kg bar 300 times or 100kg 10 times, if we assume 300 and 10 are my physical limits for those weights?

This can be compared to a marathon runner and a sprinter, which type of physique would you rather have?

 

[USZA]

Yes true, but you can say that about any other physical activity.

The question is what will benefit me more lifting a 10kg bar 300 times or 100kg 10 times, if we assume 300 and 10 are my physical limits for those weights?

This can be compared to a marathon runner and a sprinter, which type of physique would you rather have?

What's more sustainable? Lighter weights and higher reps or heavier weights and lower reps? Even the answer to that is subject to what you want to achieve. A more balanced build would be the ideal; not huge and hulking but not emaciated either.

 

[wizzypow]

Yes true, but you can say that about any other physical activity.

The question is what will benefit me more lifting a 10kg bar 300 times or 100kg 10 times, if we assume 300 and 10 are my physical limits for those weights?

This can be compared to a marathon runner and a sprinter, which type of physique would you rather have?

On that question for what is better - 10kg 300 times or 100kg 10 times. The answer is both... So train for both

 

[Bobbin]

The question is what will benefit me more lifting a 10kg bar 300 times or 100kg 10 times, if we assume 300 and 10 are my physical limits for those weights?

I speak with little experience, but I don't think that's exactly how it works.

At least in my sessions after you have done warmup and a technical training session where you have already maxed out on a given workout you'd then mostly be given a time limit within which to do something similar to supersets. And if you can lift 100kg 10 times before dropping the weight, well that's what you do. Other times we do say 3 sets of 21-15-9 reps of two or more weighted exercises. They vary it a bit but the same applies.

The only thing I have seen thus far that is synonymous to 10kg 300times is I have done 150 x 10kg squat wallballs to 10ft. But there again they mix and match cardio, body weight stuff and strength. So it seems we do both. And a helluva lot of burpees in between

I guess maybe its like the MMA of the fitness/workout world

 

[Peder]

I do crossfit, its quite straining but i can definitely see I am becoming more fit every week.

We do a programme from the internet. Not sure of its name.

I don't think i ever worked so hard as with Crossfit and i have been doing normal gym for 2 years already.

The Only thing i hate about Crossfit is the burpees

 

[prod]

just one of those IN thing at the moment

While I agree with you on that point, think about it a bit...it's physical exercise. If it gets people up from their lazy as$es then it's not pointless, even if it is just a fad. It's a good fad.

 

[wizzypow]

I do crossfit, its quite straining but i can definitely see I am becoming more fit every week.

We do a programme from the internet. Not sure of its name.

I don't think i ever worked so hard as with Crossfit and i have been doing normal gym for 2 years already.

The Only thing i hate about Crossfit is the burpees

Hahaha yep - burpees.
On my birthday I had to do 10 burpees for every year old I was... Was 'loads of fun'