Exercise Trends: The Truth About CrossFit

Posted on Aug 15, 2015

So we’ve all heard of this new trend called CrossFit. From what many people know, it is a bunch of muscular men and women Olympic lifting weights for what seems like 100 sets. Contrary to what many people think, it’s for more than just a body builder and athlete. CrossFit is a surprisingly diverse program for people of several different ability levels.

A little History..

CrossFit itself was created by coach Greg Glassman over several decades ago, although it increased in popularity about 12 years ago. CrossFit coined their own definition of fitness and has been used all around the fitness world. To them, fitness is defined as “increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains.” For us, this means increased work ability over distance and time. While CrossFit is known as the “sport of fitness,” it has combined the competition and fun of sport while yielding intensity that cannot always be met by traditional sports. “It is our observation that men will die for points. Using whiteboards as scoreboards, keeping accurate scores and records, running a clock, and precisely defining the rules and standards for performance, we not only motivate unprecedented output, but derive both relative and absolute metrics at every workout. This data has important value well beyond motivation.” CrossFit revolutionized traditional fitness with the added intensity of competition that has ultimately sparked interest of athletes, fitness enthusiasts and others alike. Much like a sport, CrossFit has seen such great success because of the community it has built. As the program is designed to create community, it has shown success in creating a supportive and motivational environment for those who are involved and keeps people coming back! Its use of functional movements, is what ultimately gained CrossFit its legendary fame. These functional movements include anything that are considered “core movements of life” and can help individuals with their activities of daily living. Its additional safety, efficacy and efficiency are three more aspects that add to this contagious program.

What’s The Truth?

CrossFit is a great program that challenges an individual both mentally and physically. While it provides challenges for some of the most elite athletes, it is also perfectly suitable for someone with little experience. From older individuals to even those with heart disease, CrossFit has the ability to be flexible while changing load and intensity without changing the program. This program is especially great if you are someone who struggles with motivation and commitment. With the help of your CrossFit friends and family you’ll have no problem making it to your sessions. With such a high intensity program, you are able to burn a large number of calories in a shorter period of time compared to your traditional weight lifting. As a result of this, it has been shown to help improve regulation of hormones, as well as, aerobic fitness. With that being said, there are many steps a person must take to do CrossFit properly. Due to its intensity, there is an obvious risk of injury. Each participant must follow strict directions to ensure proper lifting form to avoid future injury. The process an individual must go through is outlined by ACE.” An individual should first develop necessary joint mobility (especially at the ankles, hips and shoulders) as well as joint stability (particularly in the core region) to learn how to effectively perform hip hinge, squat, pushing, pulling and rotating movements. The explosive and plyometric exercises in a CrossFit workout require rapid lengthening and shortening of muscles so if a participant does not take the time to develop the necessary flexibility and movement skills first, the joints might not allow a full range-of-motion which could affect muscle tissue and cause an injury.” So, while it does have some downfalls, CrossFit is a great program for someone looking for something challenging.

Want to learn more? Check out additional information found on ACE’s website and CrossFit.com

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