Crossfit training to get started. Rules and principles.

CrossFit is an American-born fitness regimen from the 1970s. In the 1990s, however, thanks to Greg Glassman (founder of the first CrossFit gym in California), he began to have his own identity.

The goal of Crossfit is to “increase the working capacity over time, in an endless series of activities and exercises”. Create a wide and transversal fitness program, a training methodology through which prepare the subject to face any eventuality. In its genesis, therefore, the CrossFit addressed especially to all those who needed an excellent physical performance in the workplace (soldiers, police, firefighters, etc.). Nowadays, the discipline is aimed at all those who want to maintain a good state of health by interacting with the environment, in everyday life, in the best possible way.

In fact, with the CrossFit, functional movements are always different and high intensity, movements that reflect the gestures of everyday life. An important aspect is the fact that, in addition to making functional movements, with the performance CrossFit increases the ability to move large loads over long distances, quickly.

The concept of power in CrossFit is defined with intensity, thus indicating the level of physical commitment required in the execution of a given activity or exercise.

The more work you produce in less time, the more intense the effort.

Given these premises and entering a little more specifically in the approach to the CrossFit for newbies, the fundamental mantra in the training of each aspiring CrossFitter is:

Mechanics ==> Consistency ==> Intensity

Let us look specifically at the meaning of each of these phases.

1. Mechanics

When the athlete of CrossFit, neophyte or expert, begins the athletic gesture, his focus must be totally focused on the correct execution of sports-specific movements and, if the movement provides for progressions, on the correct execution of the latter.

2. Consistency

When the movements, and any progressions are correct, then, we can move on to the next phase, consistency, which involves making many repetitions under controlled conditions.

This phase does not have a predetermined and equal duration for all CrossFitters, it depends on many individual physical and mental characteristics. There are athletes who in a short time become familiar with athletic gestures and progressions and can therefore face immediately the next step (Intensity), for others instead, it may be necessary to insist longer. What is important is that we do not move to stage 3 if the previous two stages have not been properly completed.

3. Intensity

Only after stages 1. and 2. have been passed (phases that can last even years for more complex movements) does intensity come into play (Intensity).

The CrossFit neophyte should give daily priority to sport-specific work (CrossFit) adding from one to three weekly work sessions aimed at improving their own areas deficient (weakness).

For the beginner athlete, in fact, it may be necessary to improve:

– Movements or scenarios in a metcon* slow down performance.
– General deficiencies in aerobic capacity (aerobic base), strength (strength base), core stability (core stability) and mobility (mobility).

We must dedicate time to the correct execution of specific gestures and work on the creation or improvement of an aerobic base, fundamental in CrossFit.
Even athletes from other disciplines that appear for the first time at CrossFit, if in previous experiences have not trained their cardio-respiratory-endurance, will have to place a lot of emphasis in the search for this set-up.

A good cardio-respiratory-endurance performance, in fact, brings more than one advantage:

– Increased density of capillaries and mitochondria.
– Improved recovery in all competition and training contexts.
– Improved lactic ability due to the possibility (gained through basic aerobic work) to push more intensely in specific workouts.

In the CrossFit activity it is also essential to control the pulse with a chest strap and the heart rate monitor: the heart range, in this type of training, must remain in a range between ~130 and ~160.

This range of heart rate is considered, by scientific studies, safe (in healthy subjects), such as not to create too much systemic stress. In addition, maintaining this level of heartbeat even during intervals, means that even breaks are workouts!

Below are 3 practical examples of basic air conditioning work in CrossFit, examples drawn in mixed-modal and monostructural modes:

A.

6 sets of:

6′ AMRAP @70% effort:

400mt Run

+

AMRAP of:

5 Toes to Bar

10 Push Ups

15 KB Swing @24/ 16kg

Rest time: walk until you heart rate drops down to 130 bpm then start a new interval with run.

B.

Complete:

9′ Row @5k pace +15″

-1′ rest

9′ Assault Bike @275watt

-1′ rest

9′ Ski Erg @5K pace +20″

-10′ rest and repeat the whole sequence

C.

40′ AMRAP of:

60 Reverse Single Under

10 Box Jump Step Down @24″/20″

60 Reverse Single Under

15 Burpees no Jump

60 Reverse Single Under

20mt Bear Crawl

These examples are only indicative of 3 different possible types of CrossFit workouts, however, it should be reiterated that the choice of exercises and working time are linked to individual needs and the common denominator must always be sustainability.
The respiratory rhythm should be constant and bpm in the heart rate monitor should remain within the prescribed range.

The athletic path that faces in the CrossFit, therefore allows each individual person to deepen the knowledge of their body, also linking to the performance and bpm.

* Metcon is the crasi of the words “metabolic” and “conditioning” and, with it, are defined methods of training short but very high intensity (with the aim of increasing the metabolic demands of the organism and the consequent consumption of energy) and, in general, mixed-jobsmodal of all possible time domains.