The relatively new training program, crossfit, has already won sympathy worldwide. Both professional and amateur athletes are supporters of this exercising. But few people know about the history and concept of training.
Crossfit is a brand?
Interestingly, the name originally emerged as a commercial one. The founder of the Crossfit brand is Greg Glassman. The idea itself was realized in 2000, when the first gymnasiums were opened.
Just a few years later, the program spread around the world. The brand profits from the work of gyms, training of trainers in the workout. The concept (essence) of the industry – the rejection of specialization. The creator himself claims that life is more like climbing stairs with a barrel of beer than a 1-mile run on Tuesdays.
That’s why crossfit combines several workouts:
- weightlifting;
- gymnastics;
- aerobics.
In one training session, methods from different sports are implemented, but it is not for the sake of exercises, but the training of a “universal soldier”.
An athlete in the crossfit pulls up equally well on the bar, enduring, flexible, with good coordination. He can be called the perfect athlete. Also, the ideology of the brand is that anyone, even unprepared people can exercise in the gym. There are even gentle training sessions for beginners and children.
Crossfit Features
The main differences are the intensity and significant load on different muscle groups. And since the methods are borrowed from different sports, there is a great variety in exercises. Duration from 15 to 60 minutes. The task is to optimize human strength in each discipline: gymnastics, strength, endurance.
At the same time, power, aerobic load with high intensity is combined. Which is used in training:
- your own body weight in gymnastics;
- Turntiles;
- special simulators for rowing;
- espanders;
- weights;
- barbells;
- the tires;
- gymnastic rings;
- ropes.
There is also a competitive element in this exercise, which adds motivation. The two most famous exercises are tire roll and burpees (squatting with jumping out with full weight). You won’t get bored and relaxed, there are heating and restorative complexes before and after training.
Crossfit offers different types of workloads: from amateur to professional. The method is used in schools, and in the training of security, police, special forces, weightlifters, etc. Each program optimally calculates the workload on the body, but still stays true to the concept of versatility, with rapid adaptation to changing activities.
Who would benefit from crossfit
Separate techniques from other types of fitness are being developed:
- Endurance: stimulate the heart, train the circulatory system, improve metabolic processes. You lose extra weight, sleep better, your general well-being comes back to normal. Aerobic exercises also have a positive effect on the respiratory system.
- Flexibility, coordination, precision through gymnastics. Athletes feel their bodies better.
- Strength and acceleration of muscle growth. To do this, athletes conduct weightlifting exercises. Of course, it is impossible to get pumped up to the size of bodybuilders with one crossfit, but that is not the purpose of the program.
Therefore, training is suitable for those who aim at the overall development of strength and endurance, which can be applied in everyday life. The universality of the direction of both plusses and minuses.
On the one hand, you will become a physically sturdy person, for whom it is not a problem to lift weights or run 1-2 miles. But training on the program will never give the maximum result in a particular industry. You will not be able to compete with professional runners or weightlifters, because you work on all muscle groups little by little without focusing on something specific.
Sometimes professional athletes come to crossfit wishing to improve the body as a whole. Often athletes do not have enough strength, and elevators – endurance. But for the average person it’s just a way to train, without choosing a single workout industry.
Contraindications to crossfit classes
Since the first years of the crossfit, hot discussions have been hovering around. Some advocate intensive training, others consider it useless or even dangerous. Therefore, before going to the boxing or special room, study all the disadvantages and pitfalls of crossfit:
- Due to the intense stress on the heart, it is contraindicated for people with insufficiency. The fact is that most training takes place at a high heart rate, which heavily wears out the organ. Therefore, coaches insist on unconditional compliance with the regime of work and recovery.
- The risk of rhabdomyolysis. This is a state of muscle destruction (necrosis) under excessive load. Exercises in crossfit also load joints, so carefully choose the intensity.
- Trauma hazard. There is a high risk of stretches or even sprains if not sufficiently heated. This also increases when working with equipment such as tires or ropes, where the load on the musculoskeletal system is high.
Professional athletes have different opinions. The benefits and harm of crossfit are still being investigated, as it is a very young sport (in America it appeared in the 2000s). The problem of rhabdomyolysis is not denied by the brand creator, however, as he does not consider it indisputable.
Today, the sport is gradually becoming a culture. Thus, the official resources of the brand often publish posts on politics, sociology, philosophy of health. There have even been several notorious scandals within well-known companies producing potentially harmful products.
So even inspired by the methods of crossfit, think well before you start the program. It is recommended to take basic check ups with doctors to minimize the risks to your health and do only usefully.
