What is CrossFit?
CROSSFITis constantly varied,
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| Constantly varied workouts keep your training interesting, and prevent you from plateauing. | Recommended: these articles from The CrossFit Journal as introduction to CrossFit |
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You must consider: constant variation describes the broad range of challenges that life might throw at any or all the organisms of the human species, which is why our bodies have evolved to respond to the wide variety. |
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| ‘Train as you will fight‘ — meaning, training that you can apply to life — necessitates that your training be constantly varied. Anything less will not deliver the adaptations you need. |
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A lack of variety results in monotony and boredom, desensitizes the body, and results in efficiency without stimulating development.
Variation is necessary to prepare you for the unforeseen challenges life will inevitably confront you with. The unforeseen, wild card class of challenges may be just as important as the perfectly predictable challenges of aging — especially aging in an overprotected, underused, neglected and coddled into atrophy and premature frailty.
Constantly varied,
functional movements
performed at high intensity.
Functional movements include running, squatting, lifting, throwing, jumping, pulling, pushing.
Functional movements are natural, irreducible forms of human movement. They are millions of years old in their development.
Functional movements are the movements you use in real life: picking up a bag of groceries, a toolbox, a child; putting boxes overhead, etc.
Functional movements consist of universal motor recruitment patterns. They express a wave of contractions from core to extremities.
Functional movements are the most effective means of locomotion or moving external objects.
Functional movements are essential for independent living.
Functional movements, unlike isolated or protected movements, stimulate neuroendocrine response. This is because the body has evolved to adapt by developing strength in response to the performance of functional movements under conditions of high intensity.
Most importantly, functional movements are unique in their ability to move large loads, long distances, quickly… which is why they are the movements we must use to achieve intensity, and thus to get the greatest adaptive response from our workouts.
Constantly varied,
functional movements
performed at high intensity.
At this point we can express explicitly that CrossFit is a radical departure from most of what is practiced in commercial gyms and training programs. Where CrossFit exclusively uses functional movements, gyms are filled with machines – for every natural, functional movement, someone has made a machine that takes the functional out of it by isolating joints, seating or bracing the body, and simplifying the movement. It’s true that ‘functional’ is something of a buzzword recently, and their atttempts to incorporate ‘functional’ training fails dismally: so far their efforts consist of balancing on a ball while exercising.
Instead of variation, most training programs repeat the same workouts long beyond the stimulus necessary to disrupt homeostasis and cause an adaptive response. Consider the training of triathletes and marathoners, often held to be the paragons of athleticism: they repeat the same workouts over and over. The essential feature of all their training is volume – the opposite of intensity.
There’s a simple physics equation to express power: Force * Distance / Time = Power. CrossFit exercises use long lines of motion – moving a barbell from floor to overhead, for example; or otherwise demanding full range of motion from multi-joint, whole body exercises, performed using the form that best enables the body’s strength. The purpose is to maximize the expression of power – to maximize intensity.
Intensity is essential because it is what maximizes the rate of return on favorable adaptations. The body does not adapt to a quiet signal; but an urgent, loud signal demands that the body adapt.
We’ve explained what CrossFit is: constantly varied, functional movements performed at high intensity. But we haven’t said WHY.
Let’s now examine why. Why does CrossFit insist upon variation, functional movements and high intensity? Why have we abandoned and rejected the fashionable, standard approaches to fitness?
Let’s examine the goal of CrossFit – the purpose that dictates every aspect of what we do.
FITNESS
For CrossFit the specter of championing a fitness program
without clearly defining what it is that the program delivers
combines elements of fraud and farce.
— Greg Glassman, http://www.crossfit.com/cf-download/CFJ-trial.pdf
NB: “Work” is used in the sense of Physics; it describes the movement of a mass requiring an input of energy consummate with the mass of the object multiplied by the distance moved. All physical movement is work in this sense, with a measurable energy requirement. This is how we use ‘work’ when describing your body’s work capacity and its measurable fitness.
Fitness is an increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains.
The CrossFit definition of an athlete is a person who is trained or skilled in strength, power, balance and agility, flexibility, and endurance.
The CrossFit model holds “fitness,” “health,” and “athleticism” as strongly overlapping constructs. For
most purposes they can be seen as equivalents.
— CrossFit Journal: Foundations
From the beginning, the aim of CrossFit has been to forge a broad, general, and inclusive fitness. We sought to build a program that would best prepare trainees for any physical contingency—prepare them not only for the unknown but for the unknowable. Looking at all sport and physical tasks collectively, we asked what physical skills and adaptations would most universally lend themselves to performance advantage. Capacity culled from the intersection of all sports demands would quite logically lend itself well to all sport. In sum, our specialty is not specializing.
– Greg Glassman, April 2007, Understanding CrossFit
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/56-07_Understanding_CF.pdf
CrossFit Litchfield Park proposes hard work
(in the form of constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity, if you didn’t already catch that)
…and so much more.
These are the pillars of our club:
- Community and Camaraderie. We support each other. We are all getting better, faster and stronger – healthier – from the same fantastic endeavor. We struggle and suffer together and we win together. We love to cheer each other on, celebrate each other’s successes, and compete with each other as well.
- The most effective exercise possible.
- Motivation: Scores are easily recorded and charted. You can record your times or scores publicly on the whiteboards or online forums. Constant progress is a huge motivator, and so is competition.
- Constant improvement.
- Huge variety of workouts and challenges, skills and techniques.
- Nutritional guidance, support and reinforcement.
- A deep well of continuing education on fitness, nutrition and performance.
WORKOUTS
The best armchair introduction to CrossFit might be looking at some of our beloved workouts.
Of course, the WOD – Workout of the Day – changes daily.
The common denominators in our workouts are intensity and functional movements; and a series of exercises which meet these requirements. But there are essential, classic, “benchmark” workouts that exemplify CrossFit. Many of these workouts are named; collectively we call them ‘The Girls’. (Another group of workouts, ‘The Heroes,’ are visited less often and pose longer duration, more austere challenges.)
Another important feature of a CrossFit WOD is the simplicity of its performance metric. Most of the workouts are performed FOR TIME. For time means your goal is to complete the workout as quickly as you can; it’s a race. It also means your performance has a single score: the time it takes you to complete it.
A consequential aspect of CrossFit is that our workouts become competitive events. This simple fact has enormous portents, which you’ll experience both as an ongoing motivation to work hard and as a growing embrace of CrossFit as a sport of fitness.
Functional movements. These are good exercises:
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{Gymnastic / Bodyweight } |
{ Weightlifting } |
{ Equipment / Objects } |
| Sprints | Deadlift | GHD sit-ups |
| Pull-ups | Clean & Jerk | GHD hip extensions |
| Push-ups | Back Squat | Rowing |
| Handstands | Snatch | MedBall – Wall Ball |
| Sit-ups | Shoulder Press | Jumping rope |
| Air Squats | Push Press | Kettlebell swings |
| Ring dips | Push Jerk | Kettlebell clean, jerk, snatch |
| Muscle-ups | Overhead Squats | Turkish Get Up (TGU) |
| Handstand Push-ups (HSPU) | SumoDeadlift High Pull (SDHP) | Tire Flips |
| L-sit | Bench Press | Box jumps |
| L-hang Pull-up | Front Squat | Sled dragging |
| Knees-to-Elbows | Power Clean | Farmer’s walk |
| Burpees | Good Mornings | Sandbag drills |
| Rope climb | Squat Thrusters | Keg Cleans |
Most CrossFit workouts have a “For Time” prescription, meaning you are trying to complete the workout as quickly as possible. You have a score for the workout – how long it takes you to do it.
Approximately 90% or more of our workouts are 20 minutes or shorter in duration. Combined with 10-15 minutes of warmup, the most effective training will take you less than 40 minutes to complete.
Thank you for reading! Please contact us if you have any questions or thoughts about our training or our fitness programs in Litchfield Park, Arizona.
Sincerely,
Kirez Reynolds
Testimonials
Here are some great quotes, taken from CrossFit Denver’s site.
“CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program built on constantly varied, if not randomized, functional movements executed at high intensity.”
- Coach Greg Glassman
” CrossFit is my training program. Thanks CrossFit!”
- B.J. Penn,
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt World Champion, UFC Competitor
” There is NO better fitness program for fire fighters or law enforcement.”
- Mike Bender, 10 time winner of the “Toughest Cop Alive” competition
I’ve trained everywhere with everyone these guys are the best hands down.”
- Eva Twardokens, U.S. Olympic Skier
” I am a U.S. Marine Combatant Dive Course Instructor. I need to be in tear down the walls, crush your enemy and eat his bones shape. A Navy SEAL friend told me about CrossFit. During the first workout I thought my heart was going to explode. I’ve always had problems balancing the broad needs of a combatant diver. With CrossFit, I have improved my strength, endurance, and power simultaneously!”
- Staff Sergeant Mike Joyce, U.S. Marine Corps
“CrossFit is the greatest training philosophy and methodology that I have ever witnessed first hand. Nothing prepared me better for the nationals and world championships.CrossFit Denver can change your life for the better.”
- Allan Talusan
2006 US Heavyweight Full Contact Stick Fighting National Champion
Here is one of Coach Glassman’s statements of What CrossFit Is:
CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program. We have designed our program to elicit as broad an adaptational response as possible. CrossFit is not a specialized fitness program but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of ten recognized fitness domains. They are Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy.
The CrossFit Program was developed to enhance an individual’s competency at all physical tasks. Our athletes are trained to perform successfully at multiple, diverse, and randomized physical challenges. This fitness is demanded of military and police personnel, firefighters, and many sports requiring total or complete physical prowess. CrossFit has proven effective in these arenas.
Aside from the breadth or totality of fitness the CrossFit Program seeks, our program is distinctive, if not unique, in its focus on maximizing neuroendocrine response, developing power, cross-training with multiple training modalities, constant training and practice with functional movements, and the development of successful diet strategies.
Our athletes are trained to bike, run, swim, and row at short, middle, and long distances guaranteeing exposure and competency in each of the three main metabolic pathways.
We train our athletes in gymnastics from rudimentary to advanced movements garnering great capacity at controlling the body both dynamically and statically while maximizing strength to weight ratio and flexibility. We also place a heavy emphasis on Olympic Weightlifting having seen this sport’s unique ability to develop an athletes’ explosive power, control of external objects, and mastery of critical motor recruitment patterns. And finally we encourage and assist our athletes to explore a variety of sports as a vehicle to express and apply their fitness.
Most of the following studies came to my attention in 2007, when I was still training primarily with distance running. These studies helped guide me to seeking a fitness method enlightened by these findings, which led me to CrossFit:
Tremblay A, Simoneau JA, Bouchard C., “Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism
,” Metabolism, 43 no. 7 (July 1994):814-18. This study compared high-intensity interval training (not clear how long the intervals were) to long slow endurance training. The key finding: “Despite its lower energy cost, the [interval] program induced a more pronounced reduction in subcutaneous adiposity [fat] compared with the [endurance] program. When corrected for the energy cost of training, the decrease in the sum of six subcutaneous skinfolds induced by the [interval] program was ninefold greater than by the [endurance] program.”
The sprinting (high intensity) regimen used less than half the energy per workout, but the work performed was nine times more efficient at burning fat.
Helgerud et al., “Aerobic High-Intensity Intervals Improve VO2max More Than Moderate Training
There is no longer any legitimacy to believing that “cardio aerobics” and other varieties of ‘aerobic’, ‘cardio,’ long-slow distance are the effective means to increasing aerobic capacity or burning fat. Or even longevity, hearth health, mobility. Not when so many problems are found in those methods, and so many more beneficial regimens are proven to achieve these nominal goals with greater efficiency and greater overall benefit.
Brain Enhancement From Exercise Is Intensity Dependent:
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of a family of neurotrophic factors that participates in neuronal transmission, modulation and plasticity. Previous studies using animals have demonstrated that acute and chronic exercise leads to increases in BDNF in various brain regions. PURPOSE: To determine the effects of acute exercise on serum BDNF levels in humans, and to determine the relationship between exercise intensity and BDNF responses. Additionally, the relationship between changes in BDNF and cognitive function was examined. METHODS: Fifteen subjects (25.4 +/- 1.01 yr; 11 male, 4 female) performed a graded exercise test (GXT) for the determination of VO2max and ventilatory threshold (VTh) on a cycle ergometer. On separate days, two subsequent 30-min endurance rides were performed at 20% below the VTh (VTh - 20) and at 10% above the VTh (VTh + 10). Serum BDNF and cognitive function were determined before and after the GXT and endurance rides with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the Stroop tests, respectively. RESULTS: The mean VO2max was 2805.8 +/- 164.3 mL x min(-1) (104.2 +/- 7.0% pred). BDNF values (pg x mL(-1)) increased from baseline (P<0.05) after exercise at the VTh + 10 (13%) and the GXT (30%). There was no significant change in BDNF from baseline after the VTh - 20. Changes in BDNF did not correlate with VO2max during the GXT, but they did correlate with changes in lactate (r=0.57; P<0.05). Cognitive function scores improved after all exercise conditions, but they did not correlate with BDNF changes.
CONCLUSION: BDNF levels in humans are significantly elevated in response to exercise, and the magnitude of increase is exercise intensity dependent. Given that BDNF can transit the blood-brain barrier in both directions, the intensity-dependent findings may aid in designing exercise prescriptions for maintaining or improving neurological health.
Maybe in your next life you’ll find a universe where laziness and entropy get better results. In this life, TANSTAAFL. Extropy is the rule for complex, self-organizing systems.
High-Impact Anaerobic Running (sprinting) Increases Learning:
Regular physical exercise improves cognitive functions and lowers the risk for age-related cognitive decline. Since little is known about the nature and the timing of the underlying mechanisms, we probed whether exercise also has immediate beneficial effects on cognition. Learning performance was assessed directly after high impact anaerobic sprints, low impact aerobic running, or a period of rest in 27 healthy subjects in a randomized cross-over design. Dependent variables comprised learning speed as well as immediate (1 week) and long-term (>8 months) overall success in acquiring a novel vocabulary. Peripheral levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine) were assessed prior to and after the interventions as well as after learning. We found that vocabulary learning was 20 percent faster after intense physical exercise as compared to the other two conditions. This condition also elicited the strongest increases in BDNF and catecholamine levels. More sustained BDNF levels during learning after intense exercise were related to better short-term learning success, whereas absolute dopamine and epinephrine levels were related to better intermediate (dopamine) and long-term (epinephrine) retentions of the novel vocabulary. Thus, BDNF and two of the catecholamines seem to be mediators by which physical exercise improves learning.
