CROSSFIT

CrossFit
To an outsider, Cross Fitters may appear like an obsessed bunch of hardcore enthusiasts who are prepared to work out to breaking point and sometimes beyond. As a fitness professional I have been aware of Crossfit for many years, have dipped my toe in the water several times and even tried the occasional workout (they like to call them a WOD workout of the day) but in order to really find out what its all about I needed to check out my local affiliate gym.
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Whats It all-about?

By Paul Mumford

rossFit is the brainchild of Greg Glassman, a gymnastics coach based in California who set up his gym in Santa Cruz 18 years ago. After studying the training routines of many elite athletes he realised that compound exercises (those that require many different muscles at once) coupled with high intensity primal movement patterns are key to establishing an elite level of fitness. Glassman defines this as, work capacity across broad time and modal domains. He then began devising exercise routines using many different methodologies including power lifting, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics and kettlebells. Many have questioned his principles as dangerous but Glassman explains that it (CrossFit) can kill you; Ive always been completely honest about that. However there are now enough people hungry for his way of training to support over 5,500 affiliate gyms worldwide. My local affiliate, CM2 in Chelmsford, Essex is run by Rob Manlove and his gym now looks after a wide range of people with many different goals. He began by explaining more about Glassmans methodology. CrossFit is based around 10 general physical skills: strength, speed, power, balance, accuracy, agility, flexibility, co-ordination, stamina and cardio-respitory endurance. The idea is to build capacity in all of these skills, no one is more important than another. If youre lacking in one thats seen as chink in your armour. For instance, a lack of flexibility will prevent you from getting into the positions required and a lack of strength will prevent you from moving the weight.

CROSSFIT

Burpee Box Jumps

Start by standing in front of the box and then send your legs back descending to a face down position on the ground with your hips and chest contacting the floor. Now stand up and jump with both feet onto the box. Once on the box stand all the way up, fully extending the hips and knees and showing control before stepping or jumping down to start the next rep.

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I asked him about the type of people that take part in CrossFit. Is it for everyone? All different kinds of people come with lots of different goals and although CrossFit is not designed to be sport specific, it will improve your ability in many sports. For instance; we have a basketball player, Kojo that comes here and although CrossFit wont help to increase his shooting percentage, it has certainly improved his co-ordination, balance, stamina and many other skills needed for his sport. We aim to create a well-rounded athlete who is competent in a number of different skills. CrossFit also promotes competition amongst its members. Kojo can compete against someone like Helen, another of Robs members, who is in her late thirties and is working to lose weight. Even though they both have very different goals theyre doing the same programme and getting their own desired results. They can compete against each other by lifting their own level of weight and going head-to-head on endurance and time. Rob added, Generally people who do CrossFit are competitive in nature and because of that this environment motivates them to push harder. I spoke to one of Robs regulars, Christine Cope who is a 36 year old mother of two. Her CrossFit journey is a bit of a revelation. Id seen loads of stuff on the internet about CrossFit and thought it looked cool but way out of my reach. Even though I knew there was a gym on my doorstep it took six months before I built up the courage to get in touch. Now its like my second home. Its an amazing community, more like a club than a gym.

CROSSFIT

How to do a Power Clean

Set-up: Start with your feet just outside hip-width apart (try jumping up and down a few times to find your natural foot position). Your hips should be slightly above your knees, back flat, shoulders in front of the bar, eyes on the horizon and hands gripping the bar just outside shoulder-width and evenly spaced. Then extend your knees, ankles and hips to move the bar to the take-off position, this should be a controlled movement. Arms should remain straight and back flat at the same angle.

Before CrossFit I couldnt do things like lift my children over my head and put them on my shoulders.
So what has Christine achieved so far and how does it really help a busy mum anyway? Pulls ups were a biggie for me and I really love the Olympic lifting, she said. At first that seemed so difficult but because its technically challenging it gives me the opportunity to step out of my everyday life and really focus on something Im doing for me. Before CrossFit I couldnt do things like lift my children over my head and put them on my shoulders. Theyre six and eight now and I can lift them no problem. Its also helped me in many practical ways. If I get a puncture on my car, Im now strong enough to take the wheel off myself and put the spare on. CrossFit is very relevant to my everyday life. UF

Take-off position: With the bar slightly above your knees, arms straight, back flat and shoulders still in front of the bar, fully extend your hips, knees and ankles in a dynamic triple extension and shrug the bar upwards. Then drop quickly under the bar into the receiving position.

Receiving position: The bar should now be supported on your shoulders in the front rack position using your fingers solely as a guide. Feet in the squatting stance with hips, knees and ankles in a quarter squat position. To achieve the finish simply stand all the way up by fully extending your hips and knees.

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Dumbbell Thrusters
Hold one dumbbell in each hand at shoulder-height and squat until your hip crease is clearly below your knee (or below parallel). Then thrust the dumbbells upward, fully extending your hips, knees and elbows and locking the dumbbells out over your head. Your ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and the dumbbells should all be in a strait vertical line at the top of the movement.

CROSSFIT

Robs WOD
Try 4 rounds of the following: 10 Dumbbell Thrusters: 20kg for men, 12kg for women. 12 Burpee Box Jumps: 60cm/24" for men, 50cm/20" for women.

The CrossFit Games

Every year the cream of CrossFit across the globe enter The CrossFit Games and this year over 100,000 people worldwide are taking part. The competition starts at the affiliate gyms with a 5week programme overseen by a judge. Then the top 48 male and 48 female Cross Fitters go onto a regional heat in Copenhagen with the top 3 from each region then travelling to California for the CrossFit Games. A lot of the people in our gym aspire to making the games, explained Rob, but its very tough. I came 16th in Europe last year but one of our members here, Scott who is 42 years old, is currently ranked 30th in the World. What really impresses me about CrossFit is the attention and importance they places on technique. Every newbie regardless of age and experience goes through a thorough foundation course that teaches the basic skills required and the progressions needed to master them. All this is done before you can even start to compete against other Cross Fitters. Rob and Christine both took me through some of the basic movements including cleans, dead lifts and box jumps and Im not ashamed to admit that even I struggled to keep up. Ill definitely be back for more. CrossFit is clearly not just for the boys. Both Christine and I are wearing Inov-8s Bare-XF 260 shoes. They are designed with CrossFit in mind and have a zero drop heel (for optimum proprioception and balance) along with a Rope-Tec grip system to help with rope climbing.

Paul Mumford is an elite trainer, writer and broadcaster. He owns the Mumford Phys. Ed. Training company in Essex. To find out more about Paul go to: www.mumfordphysed.com

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