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What
is CrossFit
Crossfit
is a conditioning program that utilizes training formats derived from
Gymnastics, Olympic Weightlifting, Power Lifting, Sprinting, Kettlebells,
Medicine Balls and many other sporting disciplines. We focus on instructing the
importance of proper movement through full ranges of motion and functional
exercises. This produces what we believe to be a fitness level that is highly
transferable to all athletic pursuits as well as any daily physical tasks. The
CrossFit method seeks to condition a person’s all round fitness obtaining
maximum results in minimum time!
The
general public both in opinion and in media holds endurance athletes as
exemplars of fitness. However we believe in challenging all aspects of the human
body to ensure the broadest and most general fitness possible. Our model
evaluates our efforts against a full range of general physical skills, with
focus on performance, and measuring time and or power during each workout. The
fitness that CrossFit advocates and develops is deliberately broad, general, and
inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing, and this is what makes it the
perfect strength & conditioning program, for everyone that wants real
results.
The
CrossFit Method
Each
day CrossFit@Sassom posts a workout called WOD (Workout of the day) on our
website www.crossfit.net.au we use a 5-day on 2-day off training cycle. The
benefit of training with the group is that you are supervised by a trainer that
will coach you to ensure good technique. The atmosphere and intensity when you
train with a group of like-minded people just can’t be created any other way.
CrossFit@SASSOM
has two WOD’s, one is called MetCon (Metabolic Conditioning) the other is
Strength & Skill Development. The MetCon workout will get you huffing &
puffing utilizing many varied exercises to create a workout that is like no
other. MetCon workouts will condition all of the energy systems in the human
body, while placing the muscle & skeletal system under enough stress to
cause a positive adaptation. In the Strength & Skills workouts you will
learn all of the fundamental exercises used in the MetCon workouts, and build
base strength needed in CrossFit, all sports, and all walks of life. The best
thing about the WOD is you never know what is going to be in today’s workout.
Scalability and Applicability
The
question regularly arises as to the applicability of a regimen like CrossFit’s
to older and deconditioned or detrained populations. The needs of an Olympic
athlete and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. One is looking for
functional dominance the other for functional competence. Competence and
dominance manifest through identical physiological mechanisms. We’ve used our
same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one
month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change
the programs. Firemen, soccer, players, triathletes, boxers, and surfers all
want programs that conform to the specificity of their needs. While admitting
that there are needs specific to any sport, the need for specificity is nearly
completely met by regular practice and training within the sport not in the
strength and conditioning environment.
Kids
& CrossFit
CrossFit Kids is
not simply a scaled down version of CrossFit, it is entirely absolutely CrossFit
geared and designed for a special population and the specific developmental
needs of that population.
Many
parents want their kids to grow up healthy, strong and have a lifelong love of
working out, thus avoiding the common problems associated with childhood
inactivity and obesity. Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design,
broad, general, and inclusive. Healthy living requires that our kids push, pull,
run, throw, climb, lift, and jump, effectively and safely regardless of whether
or not they play sport. The CrossFit Kids program is designed for universal
scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual
regardless of experience. CrossFit Kids is a minimalist program. It is not
expensive, often requires little or no equipment therefore can be used across
broad socio economic groups providing an easily accessible low cost but
effective Physical Fitness for all kids.
CrossFit
Kids seeks to develop body control early in life, thereby preparing our children
for the challenges they will face in sport, play and (eventually) work. The
CrossFit Kids program uses the template of randomized, functional exercises,
performed at high intensity. The workouts are delivered in a fun and relaxed
training environment by a trainer that understands kids and enjoys training
them.
CrossFit’s First Fitness
Standard
There are ten recognized
general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina,
strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. You
are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A regimen develops
fitness to the extent that it improves each of these ten skills. Importantly,
improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility come about through
training. Training refers to activity that improves performance through a
measurable organic change in the body. By contrast improvements in coordination,
agility, balance, and accuracy come about through practice. Practice refers to
activity that improves performance through changes in the nervous system. Power
and speed are adaptations of both training and practice.
CrossFit’s Second Fitness
Standard
The essence of this model
is the view that fitness is about performing well at any and every task
imaginable. Picture a hopper loaded with an infinite number of physical
challenges where no selective mechanism is operative, and being asked to perform
fetes randomly drawn from the hopper. This model suggests that your fitness can
be measured by your capacity to perform well at these tasks in relation to other
individuals. The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform
well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying
combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set
notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines,
periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges;
train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and constantly
varied.
CrossFit’s Third Fitness
Standard
There are three metabolic
pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These “metabolic
engines” are known as the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway, and the
oxidative pathway. The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest-powered
activities, those that last less than about ten seconds. The second pathway, the
glycolytic, dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several
minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative, dominates low-powered activities,
those that last in excess of several minutes. Total fitness, the fitness that
CrossFit promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of
these three pathways or engines. Balancing the effects of these three pathways
largely determines the how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio”
that we do at CrossFit. Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and
not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are
arguably the two most common faults in fitness training.