By now, most people have heard of CrossFit. Some have gone on to search “CrossFit” and seen all kinds of videos of people doing crazy workouts, flying around the gym in what seems to be an uncontrolled mess of a workout (by the way, these videos are not a good representation of what happens during a properly programmed CrossFit workout). Few have actually delved far enough into CrossFit to truly understand what it is about and the purpose of its methodology.
CrossFit has become so popular because of the results that it produces. Those who participate in CrossFit lose fat, gain muscle, become stronger, have better conditioning and generally improve their overall health markers. This is all great and makes CrossFit highly desirable to participate in, but what is it really all about? At its essence, CrossFit is the pursuit of all around fitness.
Olympic lifters, powerlifters and strongman athletes aim to be the strongest and most powerful that they can. In pursuit of this, their cardio gets neglected. Marathon runners and endurance cyclists aim to have the best cardio that they can achieve and in doing so, their strength and power suffer. For CrossFitters, we want to have balance between these two worlds. We want to be able to lift heavy (maybe not as heavy as a strength athlete, but still fairly heavy), while still being able to go for a 5-10km run and completing it in a decent time without being broken afterwards. This is essentially what all around fitness means, however let’s delve even deeper to get into the details of what CrossFitters are after.
CrossFit has broken down fitness into 10 general physical skills. Cardiovascular endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. This is what we hope to not only achieve, but to do so in a balanced approach. As humans, we are in need of each of these skills. If we are deficient in one, our functionality in life, and often our health as well, suffers.
This is even more true as we age. We train today so that when we are older, we can remain independent, able to get out of our cars, chairs, tubs without the help of another. Able to lift, carry, and play sports. Able to pick up our grandchildren, climb up a set of stairs without difficulty and enjoy life to its greatest potential. As such, we need to keep our hearts strong so that we have energy to move throughout the day. Our bodies need strength and power so that we can move ourselves and any objects that we need to. Flexibility is important in order to move through full ranges of motion. We need balance to avoid falling, etc. There is not one of these skills that we can do without and still live a full and functional life.
Our CrossFit programming is geared towards developing each one of these skills in a balanced approach. This is where the elegance of the system really shines. The way that our workouts are programmed, we elicit a neural and hormonal response which has incredible effects on the human body. Processes are triggered which stimulate fat loss, muscle gain, insulin sensitivity, neuro-protective adaptations and hormonal responses, which improve mood and mental clarity. Basically, the human body functions at a higher level when following our programming.
This is what CrossFit is really about –becoming better at every facet of your life. This is what we strive to achieve with every member at AIO. I can’t begin to tell you how many times we hear from members who have been with us for a few months and are shocked by their response to CrossFit. They are experiencing benefits they never thought were possible. This warms our hearts immensely and we can’t wait for them to see what happens after a year of CrossFit.
If you’d like to learn more about the AIO approach to CrossFit, please book a Free Intro Session, where we learn more about your goals, your fitness background and current fitness state, in order to recommend the best membership option for you. You can book your session today by clicking here. It may just be your first step towards functioning at your highest level.
