Hi Everyone, Rebecca here. Today I want to tell you why I love CrossFit and recommend it to my clients.
I am relatively new to Crossfit, I just joined in February of this year. I wasn’t sure what to expect, like many people I’ve heard that it can be intense. But I have to give it two huge thumbs up! My initial thought was “why didn’t I start this sooner?!?!” I am absolutely in love with this fitness program and I will tell you why.
First, I was a competitive athlete my whole life and only stopped playing water polo in 2015. I love that CrossFit feels like a team and family. I haven’t had that kind of group mentality in years. Even as a beginner, the best of the best are cheering me on, giving me tips and tricks and are helping me become a better person and athlete.
Second, CrossFit targets all areas of fitness in ways that I have never been able to achieve independently. This is my first time performing Olympic style lifts and gymnastics. Why would you do biceps curls when you can do pull ups and engage your LATs, biceps, deltoids, posterior erector muscles, abdominal muscles, etc, and feel like a badass at the same time? (Ok, so I can’t do a pull up yet, but I am getting close and putting in the extra effort to get there.) Olympic style lifts are also the only lifts shown to increase maximum oxygen uptake which is an important marker for cardiovascular fitness.
Third, CrossFit is defined as “constantly varied, high intensity functional movement.” I want to emphasize the functional movement aspect because I am a physical therapist, and this is what I do. Everyone has to squat; we stand from chairs on a daily basis. Everyone has to deadlift; we lift our children, groceries, or laundry baskets. Everyone has to be resilient. We cannot control what life throws at us, but we can control how strong we are to withstand the stressors. If someone runs past you and knocks into you there are a few things that can happen: will you fall? Will you have enough core control and balance to withstand that force and stay upright? Will you stay upright and still have enough anaerobic capacity to sprint after that person and the flexibility to drop kick them in the face? I’m kidding of course, but you see my point, don’t you?
Fourth, it is scalable! Everyone can do a CrossFit work out when it is scaled to that individual. You need a good coach who knows how to scale and will enforce appropriate modifications to prevent injury and achieve success! I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to keep up and do the workouts, but my coach knows exactly how to make the workout achievable and still challenging without setting me up for failure or for under-training.
Overall, I would recommend CrossFit to anyone who wants to be healthy, happy, and move well.
Thanks for reading, feel free to comment below.