The Sport of Fitness has Arrived

Crossfit has been known to serve people a generous portion of humble pie. So you’ve been going to the gym for five years now? Crossfit will still crush you. Have you come back from military training? Crossfit will still crush you. You just ran a 10k marathon? Yup, Crossfit will still crush you.


Crossfit started out as an online community where people shared workouts of the day (WOD for short) and then post videos or pics of them doing these workouts. It was a bunch of people who basically gave the middle finger to commercial gyms, pink dumbbells, and cute workout DVDs, and instead decided to do excruciating workouts that would actually yield results. Now, there are actual Crossfit gyms everywhere, and each one is personally operated, so each one is different. Each one has a different WOD.

So what does Crossfit aim to do? What does it train? Well, Crossfit operates on ten principles, the ten basic elements of fitness: agility, balance, speed, power, accuracy, stamina, coordination, flexibility, strength, and cardio. You will probably be better at some of these things, and struggle with others, but Crossfit will cross-train so that you are well balanced in each area. So one day, you could walk in to a Crossfit gym, and the WOD revolves around dead lifts and pull ups for time. The next day, you walk in, and they have you doing 175 burpees for time. There is always something different. And thankfully, if you are not yet able to do a certain workout, they scale it to your level of fitness. For example, if the workout of the day includes dozens and dozens of pull ups, you are allowed to use resistance bands for assistance, or a box to help you get up. Eventually, though, after taking the longest to do a workout or being the only one using a resistance band, you will not need help. You can do the workouts perfectly. Everyone competes for either the fastest finish time, or the heaviest squat, or the max number of push ups you can do in thirty seconds. 

Be warned, though - even if you went to Crossfit for years, they will always find a way to challenge you. Always.