Tips for Crossfit Beginners

How To Perform The Squat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For fitness enthusiasts all over the world, Crossfit exercise training programs are gaining more and more popularity and acceptance. The popularity of this fitness company, founded in 2000 by Greg and Lauren Glassman, could be attributed to the ease and convenience of doing the exercise programs. Practitioners of the program need not go to the approximately 6,100 affiliated gyms in the United States and elsewhere, or hire a personal coach or trainer in order to do the exercise programs. Anybody, avid practitioners or beginners, can access the company’s website and work on the daily workouts posted.

 Variety, high intensity and functional movement towards improving overall fitness describe Crossfit’s conditioning and strength program. A beginner should not be intimidated by the company’s stated goal of “work capacity across broad time and modal domains,” which simply translates into general physical preparedness. The workouts offered here are uncomplicated and usually lasts 30 minutes or less. However, they are intense and require all-out physical exertion.

The power-packed combination of a variety of movements such as sprinting, climbing, jumping, weightlifting, flipping and even rowing involving different equipment like ropes, tires, barbells and dumbbells, gymnastic rings, jump boxes, pull-up bars and different exercise balls  more than make up for the shortness of the programs.

These programs, prescribed as Workouts of the Day or WODs, are combinations of the above elements and can easily be done.  Crossfit practitioners perform the same prescribed WODs, with the goal to finish the workout in the shortest time possible or to do as many repetitions or rounds as possible during the 30 minute period.  A beginner need not worry though, because the workouts can be fitted to any fitness level. An easier variation of the exercises being performed can be done by a beginner with the help of a personal trainer.

The intensity of Crossfit programs and its accessibility through the internet pose risks to people who are in poor form or are not physically fit to perform the exercise programs, especially the WODs. There have been concerns also regarding the potentially dangerous exercise environment that Crossfit seem to promote, by encouraging newcomers or beginners to train past their limit resulting to injury.

Still, with proper guidance, Crossfit can and should be used safely and sensibly. Beginners should especially bear this in mind when they scale the day’s prescribed workout to their fitness level because only they know their capacity and limits.

The exercise programs in Crossfit are also described as easy to perform. What maybe challenged in the beginner is his or her speed and endurance because of the need to perform as many repetitions as possible within the time frame. This might deter a beginner from continuing the Crossfit exercise program and causing him or her to lose out on the benefits altogether,

Personal trainer assessing a client’s goals and needs as they write a fitness programme Category:Fitness Category:Fitness_training Category:Personal_training (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For beginners to familiarize themselves with the Crossfit program and to get them into form, they can start practicing with the following fairly basic routines. Use these activities to get yourself into good cardiovascular shape. Just remember, the goal is improving overall physical fitness.

1. Squats. A beginner can practice with any variation of Crossfit squat in the living room or in the gym, with or without equipment. One type is air squat which require the beginner to move from standing position to a squatting position and back to standing. During the squatting position, the hips should be lower than the knees. The athlete can also perform this on one leg at a time. This type of squat is referred to as pistol.

 2. Pushups. A regular push-up in Crossfit starts in the plank position with the arms straight. The athlete then lowers himself until the chest touches the ground, then pushes himself back up into the plank position, with the body kept straight throughout. For variations, the beginner may use gymnastic rings for weighted push-ups and ring push-ups. Instead of the hands flat on the ground, here they are supported just above the ground by gymnastics rings.

 For speed preparation for Crossfit workouts, the beginner can also do clapping pushups. It is basically the same as the regular push up, except that you have to clap your hands twice in between pushing so that you have to push much faster.

 3. Sit ups. Another pretty simple routine to prepare you for Crossfit is when the athlete performs the sit up by moving from a back-lying position, with both shoulders touching the ground, to a sitting position with both shoulders perpendicular to the hips. The feet may or may not be anchored.

Aside from the above, there are a lot of other Crossfit movements a beginner can choose from depending on his or her self-assessment. Just adjust the level of the activity to the level of fitness. So do your warm-ups and enjoy your next WOD from Crossfit.