This is a question often asked and to be perfectly honest I could talk all day about it. I’ll try to be as succinct as I can though. In a phrase its “Constantly varied, functional movements, performed at high intensity”. Its also the worlds leading platform for health and performance! Quite a statement but it’s now in almost every country in the world after just a 20-year history beginning in a garage gym in the USA.
We seek to “increase work capacity across all modal domains” so if you picture the spectrum of fitness, with say the world's strongest man at one end and a marathon runner at the other, CrossFit pitches itself somewhere in the middle. We still want a heavy deadlift or fast mile but also everything else between. So, what is it actually? The Variation comes in a mixture of Weightlifting, Powerlifting, monostructural (i.e., running, rowing, skipping etc) and gymnastics movements.
Overall, there are over 150 movements that are all coached with specific standards to obtain and progressions to lead to your goal movements. We use anything you can pick up and hang from to create workouts which are different every day. Don’t have a press up? No problem we will start you on an incline or banded press ups to begin with, then you’ll progress to a lower incline, smaller band and so on.
Don’t have a pull up? Again, a structured progression is used to allow you to build strength gradually and get to your first pull up. Sessions are planned around a warmup, a strength or skill then a workout of the day (or WOD for short). Every care is taken to ensure that all movements are appropriately scaled and weighted to suit the individual. In short, its Group personal training. Good movement is paramount and technique is trained before load. Who can do CrossFit? ANYONE!Lliterally anyone can begin whatever your age!
We currently have members as young as 17 going up to 75. Do I Need to be Fit to start? Nope! There is a starting place for everyone, and all workouts are scaled and adapted to the individual. We test the fittest and the new starters in the same class with the same workouts. If I am already fit will I be held back by others less fit? Absolutely not! You’ll be tested to the intensity you want to go to. What are the benefits? These are endless and transferrable to everyday life. Increased Strength, heart health, bone density, mobility, wellbeing all round. Some myths tackled I will just get big and bulky: If someone wants big muscles, they need to train in a certain way for many hours a week with specific dietary requirements in what is a very strict regime.
Cardio will burn more calories than strength exercise: This is a half myth. Short term it does, but over a 24-hour period you burn more calories from weight centered training. I’m too old to start training! Age is just a number and its your mind set that counts. The squats I do will ensure that when I reach old age, I can get around unaided. To coin a phrase, you can’t turn the clock back, but you can wind it up again. Check out a lady called Joan @trainwithjoan on Inst Long term we hope to offer classes for seniors, and kids too. If these are of interest you, please get in touch.