Cross Fit

It is like a gym...it is not something you do at home. It is with a group of people and it is VERY intense workouts.

From what I've read on Cross Fit it can be very intense. Very easy to injure yourself if you don't do the weights/moves correctly and if you try to push yourself to hard to fast. It is timed so it's not something you start out slow and easy.

You can join a gym or get workouts from crossfit.com I go to a gym (crossfit lingo refers to each gym as a box) and really like it. I actually just got back from my workout. It can be as intense as you want it to be. Don't get scared by some of the crazy videos on You Tube, the workouts can be scaled for any fitness level and other exercises can be substituted for ability and injuries. If you try a box and don't like it, try another one, they all have a different vibe and each coach programs a little bit differently. I'm 41 and I've been a life long runner, but crossfit has definitely increased my strength and fitness.

Don't get me wrong, the workouts are intense, but you control the movements and the weight. Each routine has something for everyone! Extreme, Modified and something in between.

I was actually referring to P90X...the crossfit schedule, as I understand it can be different based on your fitness level and the exercises performed vary, but it is basically a 5-6 day/week program, which is about the same as P90X.

Unless you have been taught the proper lifting moves I would not reccomend doing Crossfit on your own...you really do need a coach to make sure you ARE using proper form and pushing yourself but not to the point where it will be a burden on your system. Furthermore unless you have barbells at home...along with a spotter for some moves you may not want to try it at home...People who get hurt doing crossfit are probably the ones who try it on their own and use the wrong form or they attempt to go higher weights than what they should...

It is in it's basic sense strength training - with some strength gymnastics moves (rings, handstands) maybe a little cardio thrown in here and there in the form of running and rowing...

I attempt to make it to 2-3 classes a week...every day there is a different Workout Of the Day (WOD)

for example my Monday workout was

Deadlifts 3 3 3 3 (four rounds of 3 reps of deadlifts...)
work on handstands - so we worked on getting into tripod form and working on summersaults to get out of handstands

There are a variety of different workouts - I also do kickboxing 2x's per week and make it to my Golds Gym a handful of times during the month.

I had a few friends who did Crossfit in other states - my local gym had a Groupon ($30 for 15 classes) so I decided to give it a whirl - and I really liked it - I just signed up for 3 months - it isn't inexpensive (I am paying about $130/month for 9 classes) but I don't pay anything for kickboxing and $10 for Golds...I figure my body is important to me so I rearranged my budget to be able to afford it...

I definitely recommend not only someone train you for Crossfit, but work out in the group environment. It's a very intense workout and you can injure yourself very easily with the moves if someone isn't watching to make sure you're in the right form. I find I tend to cheat - so having a trainer barking out that I gotta get lower in my squats, or hold the barbell just so helps keep me honest.

For me, it's highly addictive mentally. Each class I'm nervous and anxious and almost talk myself out of going. Warmup, then tech work, and then the WOD (workout of the day) begins and it's just getting through the current exercise. Can't think about the next one - or how many reps of the entire WOD I'm supposed to do. Just get through the one and then move on.

By the end, I'm physically exhausted but mentally exhilarated. I survived. I did it. I did something that scared me, and I overcame.

To me, Crossfit is something that would appeal mostly to people that like to do everything to the extreme.

Personally, I have never even considered joining. I know so many people that got injured doing their intense workouts, and when they could not exercise for weeks on account of the injury, they regained a bunch of weight and got out of shape. Eventually, they all decided that Crossfit just wasn't worth the pain or expense.

Before you join, you might want to check out these articles about Crossfit:

Getting Fit, Even if It Kills You

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/fashio
n/thursdaystyles/22Fitness.html?pagewa
nted=all

Lawsuit alleges CrossFit workout damaging

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/08/ma

To me, Crossfit is something that would appeal mostly to people that like to do everything to the extreme.

Personally, I have never even considered joining. I know so many people that got injured doing their intense workouts, and when they could not exercise for weeks on account of the injury, they regained a bunch of weight and got out of shape. Eventually, they all decided that Crossfit just wasn't worth the pain or expense.

Before you join, you might want to check out these articles about Crossfit:

Getting Fit, Even if It Kills You

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/fashio
n/thursdaystyles/22Fitness.html?pagewa
nted=all

Lawsuit alleges CrossFit workout damaging

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/08/ma

Hi Rachel :laugh:

I started CrossFit in September, and I'm so glad I did.

I've never been into fitness, and I've never had success sticking to a workout regime until I started CrossFit. It's all instructor-led classes, which I love. It's way more interactive than going to a gym and working out by yourself to an iPod - you make new friends and that keeps you motivated to keep going back. Everybody I've met has been super nice and encouraging, which totally helps you finish your hard workout when you're the last one doing squats and everyone is standing around cheering you on! There are also team workouts or partner workouts, where everybody in a team or pair contributes to an average score to try and win, which is a lot of fun.

I also like the variety - I hated going to the gym and doing the same basic thing every day, even if I had 4 or 5 different workouts for a week. I'm the kind of person who always needs a change. At CrossFit, every day is different, although the basic building blocks of the workout stay the same. You're running around pushing weight sleds, carrying sandbags, jumping on boxes, doing gymnastics, walking on your hands, climbing ropes, etc. There's no way to get bored!

CrossFit is as intense or extreme as you want it to be. Common WODs will have stuff like "do as many rounds of x pull-ups, x box jumps, and x push ups as you can in 10 minutes." So you can always scale the workouts to your personal pace, and take breaks if you need them. It's all about beating your prior times, not anyone else's. And every exercise is scaleable - I can't do handstand pushups, so I do pushups kneeling over on a box. There's a way to scale everything to your ability. And the instructors at our gym are great - they really take time to teach you how to do each lift properly, so there's really no reason why you should be injured unless you aren't listening to your own body.

It IS a bit pricey - but for me, I'd rather pay $90 a month for CrossFIt when I KNOW I'll go regularly than $40 a month for a gym membership that I'll probably ignore because I can't motivate myself.

Anyway, I think whether or not you love CrossFIt depends on what you're looking for out of fitness. I personally need the motivation from other people, someone watching my every move, and the variety, so CrossFit is perfect for me, but I totally understand why it would not be for everybody!!

Look to see if you can find a course that is for kind of "trying out" I did a 6 week Crossfit program that cost me about $185 and I loved it cuz it was full of not so in shape people and he gave you two types of work outs one for the beginners and ones that wanted a more intense work out...he pushed you but not to the point of injury...I never got hurt and was never forced to lift more weight than necessary...if you can find that its a great experience I absolutely loved it...but I cant afford to join a gym lol but it did at least get me started on the right track and now I 'm in the middle of INSANITY which is the same idea but wayyy cheaper

The beginner Crossfit classes are just a new marketing scheme to get people to join.

Don't fall for it, because the regular Crossfit workouts they graduate you into are WAY more extreme and very likely to cause unnecessary injuries.

If you have that kind of money to spend, you would be much better off hiring a non-Crossfit personal trainer.

Why don't you go create an " I hate Crossfit" page and post all the stuff you want about how much you hate an activity you have never tried yourself and post all your useless articles on there and leave these threads open to experienced crossfit athletes are at least people who have tried it???

The beginner Crossfit classes are just a new marketing scheme to get people to join.

Don't fall for it, because the regular Crossfit workouts they graduate you into are WAY more extreme and very likely to cause unnecessary injuries.

If you have that kind of money to spend, you would be much better off hiring a non-Crossfit personal trainer.

Ok I am not a Crossfit extremist - I do question how long you did crossfit for...and at what Gym...cause for you to be spouting that it is bad and people will get hurt you must either have been doing Crossfit for quite awhile - and please tell us you own PERSONAL experience with it, went to a crappy gym or just read things and regurgitate stuff...

Here is the thing - pretty much every crossfit gym...the ones that use the crossfit name is an affiliate - a PRIVATELY owned affliate - these are their lively hoods - this allows them to do what they love and put food on the table and a roof over their heads...they are not going to push people to the point where they would injure themselves because that is bad for business...someone gets hurt = they don't come back or they tell people it is horrible - they don't want that...

as with ANY exercise/strength training program you can have good instructors and bad instructors...I happened to find a gym with WONDERFUL instructors...

Like a previous person said - some gyms have levels - my gym has 3 classes someone can take -

Level 1 - basic moves...fairly simple to attain WOD's - it teaches you proper form and function - like a pp stated you aren't competeing against anyone but yourself. My coach suggests weights based on previous things I have done - if someone is new he starts them out slowly...he doesn't force anyone to lift more than he thinks they can - and on occassion I have heard him tell people to go down in weights because THEY think they can pull more than what he knows thier body can do. I know our coaches are more concerned about your form than the amount of weight you lift - so if that means doing all your reps with an empty bar so you can get the form correct...then that is what happens

Level 2 - more intense WODs - designed for a higher level athelete or those who have been doing it for a while who hve the basic moves down - in our gym they have to go through a testing to even be able to register for those classes...so if you can't push a certain weight or you can't do unassisted pull-ups or handstands you aren't going to the higher level classes - some people have been doing it for 2 years and still take Level 1 classes

Barbell class - no WOD - just a series of various lifts...designed for someone who at least knows the basics of each lift type and knows their max reps. The coach doesn't want people signing up for this class until they have a number on the board (we have big boards where people can put thier numbers) for each type of lift


The classes are small (ours only allow for 6 people at any one time) - and the people I have done classes with are very genuine and they cheer you on...

Crossfit people come in all shapes and sizes - I am an overweight 38 year old mother of tweens...I have taken classes with a woman who is 8 months pregnant, with a 60 year old grandma, with young 20 something physical therapy students.

You do work with heavy weights on occassion and your form is very, very important...hence why you can't really do "crossfit" at home...to maximaze what it is you need a good gym with good coaches...

As far as hurting yourself..heck I misstepped at a stupid aerobics class one day and sprained my ankle and was out for 2 months...and well damn - I pulled a groin muscle doing Wii Fit Hula Hoops and my daughter mananged to bust her lip open when she was doing Wii bowling (smashed the controller right into her lip)...so by your reasoning that crossfit is bad and can injure you - well heck then I guess I need to go on all the Wii question topics and spout how Wii is evil and causes people to get injured

Start with 30 day shred (jillian michaels). You can do this at home. If you can handle the shred, you can handle cross fit

I am new here, but I would just like to comment. Just like with any workout you have to do what you enjoy and build your fitness. My personal path was Jillian Michael's DVDs (yes, Shred is amazing and will whip you into shape!), graduated to P90X... it was my gateway to more intense fitness and gave me the confidence to step foot into a Crossfit gym.

Crossfit is very intense and the key, like others have mentioned, is learning how to do the moves correctly so you do not hurt yourself. Due to the recent partnership with Reebok Crossfit has more visibility, but most of the gyms I have around me have been around awhile. You want to check out your local "box" to see if they have a version of a beginner class, often called "on ramp". Where, over the course of several weeks they teach the moves and modifications. The coaches should be available. If there is no class and not a lot of guidance then it is probably not a gym for a beginner.

That being said, I prefer to workout on my own at home. Crossfit is an intense and often competitive environment... if that is your thing then go for it. I found a lot of websites (including crossfit.com) that offer a lot of "body weight" WOD's that do not need special equipement and allow you to do a very intense workout on your own. Best of all... tons of free info on the internet if you take the time to look. There are a lot of great ways to get in a good workout on your own.

Good luck!