“I don’t think CrossFit is for me.”
– My mom
What is CrossFit? CrossFit is a super-intense exercise program to be done with your shirt off, in a large group, with barbells so heavy they could snap your neck if you look at them wrong. You have to be able to jump on a box that’s up to your waist and do 10 pull-ups, or don’t even bother showing up. That is one definition of CrossFit, usually reserved for people that have never walked into a CrossFit affiliate gym, or even more specifically my mom, or your grandpa, or anyone that sees a CrossFitter looking lean and mean and thinks to themselves, “I can’t do that.”
So, if that’s not the best definition of CrossFit, what is? Greg Glassman (the founder, “Coach”) describes it as constantly varied, functional movement, executed at high intensity. Sounds a little more tame, and a lot more broad. Maybe those broad terms can apply to anyone that wants to become a bit more fit, no matter where they are coming from in the spectrum of fitness and health? We’re still using that INTENSITY word, but it’s important to note that intensity is relative to everyone’s current capacity. What is intense for an experienced athlete would be foolish, if not impossible for someone first starting out, and so we scale intensity to each of our members, starting almost insultingly easy and building as we get to know your skills and your tolerance for more intensity.
CrossFit is also not necessarily defined as group classes. There are many people that are not motivated working out in a group — it might actually make them uncomfortable. Totally fine, and actually this is how CrossFit started! The first “CrossFitters” were Coach Glassman’s personal training clients at a standard gym with lots of fancy machines, but he had them focus on “functional movements” – things that make sense for the real world. Pick something up off the ground. Put it over your head. Makes a lot more sense than using a machine that focuses only on your groin muscles opening and closing your legs. Maybe.
The only reason that CrossFit became associated with group classes is so more people that had a similar goal could join in the fun! But having a trainer that is fully versed in CrossFit training methods design a program for you, and coach you through your own personal workouts? That is probably the ultimate expression of fitness training, as you will achieve YOUR goals in the quickest possible manner. I asked a CrossFit Kent Island member that has been doing personal training with one of our coaches for a few months for some feedback, and he said, “It’s going great — only negative thing is I should have started PT a couple years ago. The workouts are definitely more in tune for me and I feel I’m getting through longer workouts with less breaks. Plus I’m down 25 lbs since this {expletive deleted} started in March.”
If you are motivated by working out in a group, as many of us are, then our group classes may be right up your alley. Again, we focus on constantly varied, functional movements – so there is not very many workouts that you will experience multiple times. If you focus on doing the same thing all the time in your fitness regimen, you will become very good at that thing… and very bad at everything else. Our goal in group classes is to give everyone a chance to work on their weaknesses by including all kinds of movements and workout formats, so that everyone will be especially challenged at some time (and everyone will get a chance to do things they are good at too!)
Wherever you are starting from, CrossFit is the right program for you. You get to pick the delivery method. Reach out to us today to get started. If you can promise hard work and a willingness to learn new things, we can promise results, and fun!