CrossFit Training: Here’s What You Need To Know About This Popular Exercise

Scrolling through social media is perhaps one of the quickest way for me to understand what’s going on around the world. This way, I also get to spot the new trends that are taking over. In the last couple of years, a lot has been happening in the fitness space, since health has become a priority. I’ve come across a lot of fitness enthusiasts and celebrities promoting CrossFit. Now, this brought up a lot of questions about what it is, if it works, etc. If you too have the same questions, we’ve got a fitness expert to give you the lowdown.

To begin with, let’s state some facts. CrossFit is a company founded in 2000 in the United States that created a lifestyle or regimen of fitness and nutrition that’s now popularly known as CrossFit or CrossFit training across the globe. Avinash Mansukhani, body recomposition and transformation specialist, Fight The Sunrise Fitness further adds, “The exercise aspect of it consists of constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity. These movements are mainly functional and attempt to optimise physical competence in each of 10 fitness domains: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. It’s basically an exercise routine that aims to improve your fitness in an all-round manner."

Benefits

Mansukhani points out the following benefits of CrossFit training:

• There is attention given to almost all components of physical fitness, which is why CrossFit helps you improve your stamina and endurance. This, in turn, helps you improve each of your energy systems, as you’re taking in more oxygen. Increasing your oxygen intake through exercise also results in better health all around.

• The other benefit of CrossiFt is that it generally happens in a group fitness environment, which promotes a community kind of vibe. The workouts are generally competitive in nature where you are racing against time or reps or weight. This makes the classes more fun and may motivate people to get fitter.

• The different combinations of exercises help you improve your agility and flexibility, which is an important part of any CrossFit workout.

Drawbacks

Some of the drawbacks, as shared by Mansukhani entail the following:

• When it comes to community fitness, the workouts that are designed for a variety of body types may not always get you to your goals. They are great to get you active but then it’s pretty easy to plateau. So, sticking to the same set of workouts as the rest of the team members may not be suitable for you.

• Most of the CrossFit boxes/gyms have their own coaching programme, and if the programming of the workouts isn’t good, then the customer may suffer. Badly programmed workouts can lead to injuries, ranging from sprains to fractures, and not enough recovery. Additionally because of the competitive aspect of most of the CrossFit workouts, people tend to sacrifice on proper technique and form in the hopes of winning the workout, and this, more often than not, can also lead to injuries.

• The fee for joining CrossFit classes tends to be higher than the fee for regular gym sessions. So, for low-income fitness enthusiasts, it may not be a viable option.

The Takeaway

CrossFit can be counted as a high-intensity workout, but that doesn’t mean there are any major limitations if you want to try it out. Mansukhani elaborates, “According to me everyone should try CrossFit for a few months at least. It’s exciting to learn new skills, and new movements and work on different aspects of fitness. However, I would suggest that once you’ve learnt what you can, you get on a more specific program that’s designed towards your body and your goals.”

For those who may be suffering from heart ailments, or joint pains, it is recommended to work with your health expert and trainer to chart out a workout that is suitable for you.