Your Guide to Cross Fitness: What Are the Benefits and Is It Right For You?
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Unlike traditional forms of training, cross fitness is a relatively recent trend doing the rounds in the fitness circuits. It is an interesting training format aimed at achieving overall strength and conditioning of the body by incorporating a mix of various aerobic and anaerobic movements into its routines.
With an increasing number of individuals gaining access to the CrossFit box, data suggests that the format appears to be growing in popularity. CrossFit follows a group training model and promotes a sports-like healthy, competitive environment. CrossFit members often view this training as a sport and leave the gym looking and feeling like athletes.
This article serves as a comprehensive guide to cross fitness. It covers all aspects of this form of training, right from the principle on which the format is based to the benefits of practicing it. The article guides you on how to get started, how to navigate potential pitfalls, and also addresses the queries you may have about cross fitness training.
What is Cross Fitness Workout?
A cross fitness workout is a comprehensive strength and conditioning training program that increases mobility, muscle endurance, fat burn, and cardiovascular fitness. It deploys cardio, functional movements, and strength training, all performed at a fairly high intensity. The movements are borrowed from Olympic lifting, gymnastics, and calisthenics, to name a few.
Cross fitness workouts push your body in ways that help you lead a well-rounded life. The beauty of this form of training lies in its ‘Workout of the day’ (WOD). WOD is the heart of the workout, where the exercises and the order in which you perform them change from session to session, and no two days are ever the same.
Functional Movements
Push-ups, squats, lunges, and every other functional movement practiced in cross fitness training are compound exercises involving multiple muscle groups. All of these movements are used to varying degrees in our day-to-day life. Once you practice lifting weights during a functional workout, you will probably apply the same approach when bending over to pick something off the floor or move a large piece of furniture. Such movements build stronger bones and muscles and also reduce the risk of injury.
Strength Training
Strength training is an important element of cross fitness that helps achieve overall body conditioning. Cross fitness deploys many strength training exercises that use body weight. The usage of equipment like barbells (affiliate link) and kettlebells (affiliate link) is also common. The compound strength training movements help build lean muscle mass.
Metabolic Conditioning
The body has three metabolic systems that produce energy, namely the phosphagen system, the glycolytic system, and the oxidative system. Metabolic conditioning or ‘metcon' are exercises or workouts that aim to increase the efficiency of these energy systems. They are considered one of the best ways to improve body conditioning. Cross fitness uses metabolic conditioning workouts to burn calories effectively.
Is CrossFit Good For Beginners?
Based on the philosophy of building broad, general, and inclusive fitness, CrossFit is a good option for almost everyone, including beginners. The WOD remains the same for all trainees.
However, if you are a beginner, it is highly recommended that you first assess your ability to lift weights and then perform compound movements. If your ability to lift weights is lower than the weight prescribed in the session, you can begin with smaller weights or go without them. In a scenario where you are unable to perform a movement, an equally effective alternate movement will replace it. In essence, start slow, ensure good form, and work towards building strength and stamina.
Is CrossFit Good For Losing Weight?
An effective fitness program includes both aerobic and anaerobic activities. Cross fitness workouts include aerobics, strength, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). This mix efficiently leads to calorie burn and is beneficial to anyone looking to lose weight.
That said, exercise never works in isolation to achieve weight loss. It needs to be accompanied by a healthy diet and sufficient rest. If you need a list of foods that will support your fitness goals, check out our Healthy Transformation Grocery List (affiliate link).
5 Benefits of CrossFit Workouts
1. Effective Calorie Burner
CrossFit is perfect for burning extra calories. The metcon exercises used in these workouts fuel the cause. The aerobic exercises burn calories while performing them, while the anaerobic exercises allow the body to continue burning calories even after you complete the workout. Together, they ensure maximum fat burn and help build a slimmer physique.
2. Increases Mobility
The explosive compound movements in this form of training engage the core, shoulder, hip, and ankles to a great extent. Regular engagement of these body parts while exercising ensures flexibility and an increased range of motion, leading to greater mobility and reduced risk of injury in the long run.
3. Builds Muscle
Many CrossFit workouts involve weight training and HIIT. Weight training focuses on building muscle. HIIT also is an effective way to increase muscle strength and growth. Adding equipment such as dumbbells or resistance bands to the HIIT exercises helps amplify muscle growth. While muscle building is not the goal of a CrossFit workout, it will probably be a great result to achieve anyway!
4. Improves Physical Strength
The WOD aims to complete multiple repetitions of exercises within a specified time. The workouts are ever-changing, and this format surprises the body and mind. It makes the mind alert to perform any move that is thrown at it. CrossFit also challenges the body, conditions it, and increases strength and stamina.
5. Improves Cardiovascular Conditioning
CrossFit training is known to enhance the strength and conditioning of the body. But it is also known to improve cardiovascular conditioning. The wide variety of routines included in this training gets your heart rate up to its highest capacity. Like any other form of exercise, it also works on the physical and physiological levels of the body and lowers risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol, all of which contribute to heart health.
What Does a Typical Workout Look Like?
A typical CrossFit workout consists of four main elements- warm-up, strength workout, WOD, and cool down.
Warm-ups consist of a few minutes of cardio followed by mobility and muscle activation specific to the WOD exercises.
Strength training is essentially that block of time where you learn or practice techniques for strength training exercises such as squats, snatches, clean, and deadlifts. This segment sees a couple of repetitions performed by trainees. The goal is to perfect the technique and form of the movement- both of which command the highest level of importance.
WOD is considered the heart of any CrossFit training. It consists of a high-intensity circuit that combines aerobic and anaerobic exercises. WOD is performed for about 20 minutes and challenges your levels of fitness.
Cool down marks the end of the session. It consists of static stretching and breathing exercises to lower the heart rate to normal.
Injury Risks of High Intensity CrossFit Workouts
Injuries arising from workouts are common, and injuries arising from CrossFit are no different. Since this training requires you to perform the WOD within a relatively short period of time, CrossFit-induced injuries are almost always a result of rushing through the exercises to finish repetitions or getting over-competitive in the box, leading to improper form and fatigue.
While some competitiveness within the box is healthy, excessive competition can ruin the experience, causing injury. Compound movements like snatches and cleans are intense. Rushing through them can lead to improper form, decreased concentration, muscle fatigue, and loss of balance, all of which are triggers and risks for injury.
Is CrossFit For You?
CrossFit is a great option to stay fit and healthy without experiencing the monotony of mundane exercise routines. The beauty of CrossFit lies in its scalability. The scalability allows the modification of an exercise to suit every fitness level. And this is what makes CrossFit a popular choice for just about everyone.
Finding the perfect CrossFit box or gym is essential to help your progress. When looking for a box, make sure to choose one that offers a variety of scaled approaches to the workouts. Before getting a membership, try to ensure that the box is led by trained fitness professionals who can help you work outside the CrossFit scaling system and find the right challenge for you.
Final Thoughts
CrossFit training is a format that can get addictive in a short time. The ever-changing routines break the monotony of a dull workout and keep you interested and invested long-term. While we have spoken enough about the physical benefits of CrossFit, it is important to note how it benefits the mind as well by constantly challenging it. It pushes you out of your comfort zone, allows you to shed your fears, and try something new.
CrossFit exercises are scalable and adaptable, making them a favorite amongst those who wish to strengthen or embark upon their fitness journey. Lastly, what is strikingly different about CrossFit is the group exercise format that helps you to build a sense of community with like-minded people.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CrossFit better than gym?
Any kind of workout is better than no workout at all. Gyms and CrossFit boxes ultimately burn calories and help achieve physical fitness and well-being. However, their workout styles are very different. While gyms focus on weight training to increase strength and muscle mass, CrossFit focuses on overall strength and conditioning of the body, as opposed to one specific goal.
Gyms rely heavily on the use of machines and equipment, while CrossFit workouts use varied high-intensity functional movements. These are primarily bodyweight based and also involve the use of some basic equipment. Gym workouts often offer a defined set of exercises that are performed in set reps and sets. CrossFit offers a different WOD designed for each day, which helps break the monotony and try newer exercises that you would otherwise never explore.
Gym sessions can be long, while CrossFit sessions are short, aiming to maximize benefits within that period. Given these facts, choosing a gym or CrossFit is a personal choice and depends on your fitness goal.
Is CrossFit the same as HIIT?
While the terms CrossFit and HIIT get used interchangeably, they are not the same. HIIT combines strength training and cardio exercises to create a high-intensity workout that increases your heart rate. HIIT recruits simple movements, as they allow higher intensity. The high-intensity workout periods are followed by an active recovery period before you go again.
CrossFit is a format that deploys HIIT as a part of its overall workout. CrossFit involves complex movements like snatches, deadlifts, and squats, all of which require knowledge of skills and practice of the techniques. These workouts may not always be high-intensity and do not use the work-rest interval format all the time. The strength and conditioning achieved by CrossFit are higher and cannot be compared to HIIT.
How does CrossFit change your body?
The aerobic exercises in CrossFit provide cardiovascular conditioning, while the compound movements improve strength and muscle endurance. Not only does CrossFit increase physical strength, but if practiced right, it has the potential to give you a lean-looking and athletic physique.
